The K-T Boundary

(I know. I'm sorry I haven't posted in a while. I've had time and internet-access issues.)

I'm in Boston! We've been camping up here since Tuesday. melannen and I are currrently sitting in the library at UMass using the free internets. It's been raining a lot, though right now the sun in shining, and we managed to find two geocaches.

I've done a little bit of apartment hunting. The chocolate factory would be perfect, but they didn't have anything available to show me, and it's just a little bit more expensive than I was hoping to go. I found one that I can afford that I sort of liked, but the more I think about it the less I like it - I can see myself holing up in there and never coming out, which is not what I want to do for next two years. No one on craigslist wants to rent to someone two months ahead of their move-in date. I'll do a little bit more looking after I post this, but I'm pretty much resigned to not getting a place until I come home at the end of the summer.

Yesterday we went down to Newport, RI and visited the UMass field school there, behind a couple of 18th-century commercial/residences. The stratigraphy was very clear and the GPR plots were much less ambiguous than I've usually seen. Dr. Landon was very nice showing me all around, and so were the students; hopefully they didn't think I was as much of an idiot as I felt!

The UMass campus is small and pretty, the buildings are expansive, the T seems like it will be very workable (I just need to find myself a place near a stop!). We've stopped by the department twice now and no profs or grad students have been around. I chatted with the office admin, though, and she seems very nice! I'll check in again in a few minutes in case anyone has stopped by; otherwise I guess I'll be meeting everyone for the first time at the airport tomorrow evening. I did check on blogging, and I'm allowed to post about everything we do, without restrictions like waiting for publication or worrying about proprietary data, so I'm really excited about that - that was one of the more annoying things about working for $Giant_Aerospace_Corporation. Now I just have to make sure I make time to post ... ! (They might also want me to keep an official department blog starting in the fall, which should also be exciting - I'll let you know about that when it happens.)

Oh, speaking of school -- I bailed out on finishing my internship before leaving. I needed to pack more than I needed to write it, and I do technically have until the end of the semester to turn it in. I'm hoping to find some time in Iceland -- I have all the data with me, and I *am* taking my laptop after all. I should be able to turn it in over email.

( lots of pictures! )

Tomorrow: beach, reorganize luggage (again. I am obsessive), and then ICELAND!

I've told my apartment that I'll be leaving June 21 (that's a Sunday). I have to fly out from Boston June 27 (the following Saturday). I'm thinking I'll head to Boston either Monday midday or early Tuesday. And I'm thinking about camping ...

Wompatuck State Park is about 20 miles (30ish minutes) from UMB, and many of the places where I'd be looking for an apartment are probably in between the two. It's $14 a night - I'm not sure if that's per site, or per person, or if the rate goes down as more people join. Anyway $14 is MUCH BETTER than a hotel.

I'm sorry it's not over a weekend, but it really cannot be, considering I have to fly out on Saturday! So I'll definitely understand if people can't make it. (Or if you can make it for only part of that time, that would be great too.) I'll need at least one person along to drive the car back, but that could probably be Mom, assuming she's willing!

Anyway. Thoughts, my regular camping peeps? Or, really, anyone on the whole East Coast, or anyone at all - I'd love to have you along. I'll be spending a lot of the time at school and apartment hunting, of course, but you could certainly hang out at the campground all day if you want. :D

ETA: It's $14/night/campsite, 4 people per site. sweet. And they support geocaching!