Last week, I emerged from my position huddled over my glowing computer, as I turned in my paper on Friday and gave my presentation last Wednesday. The (45-minute) presentation and the inquisition afterward went pretty well. In fact, one of the top profs said it went "splendidly" -- so I take that as a good sign :) Feel free to peruse either document. (I'm also glad that I've learned how to use Beamer, the LaTeX-based software I used to create the presentation, as I'm confident the skill will come in very handy throughout my grad school years.)
Each of the intervening weekends were exciting. During the penultimate April weekend, I traveled with old Beast pals to Boston for Yamini and Nicky's wedding! The ceremony was my first of the (South) Indian variety. Unfortunately, the odd mix of Indian participatory culture and Western-style passive observers didn't work so well for the ceremony. Basically, people were straining to see the seated (on the floor) wedding party as they said the Indian prayers. Apparently, in Indian, the guest are not in rows of chairs, but rather mill about in a circle around the Bride and Groom, and throw rice when appropriate. No matter, everyone gets a second chance when Amitha and James get married in a month :)
The reception, held in the Hampshire House, directly above the "Cheers" bar, was a lot of fun: tons of dancing, which was especially surprising given the amount of former MITers in attendance. After dinner/dancing, all of us young'ns searched for a bar to chat in. We tried "Cheers," but it was packed...after much walking, we found a nice place in the Copley area. Alas, by then it was almost time for Seth and I to head back to the NY/NJ area.
Last weekend, I headed South, rather than North, to my old stomping grounds of DC to see friends and attend the Darfur rally. Saturday: lunch with the 'rents at Eastern Market, a nice walk with Jen (who unfortunately will be moving to the left coast soon), and frisbee with Taren and Katie before the DC United game! We were playing FC Dallas, our counterparts at the top of the table in the Western division. The level of soccer was quite high for an MLS game, and in the end, despite several second-half chances for DC, the teams drew 1-1. Not a bad result.
Sunday, we rallied for Darfur! I estimated the event drew about 100,000 people to the mall, but apparently more-reliable estimates were 75,000. Still a good turnout. Lots and lots of Jews...I don't think I've ever seen that many Yamachas outside of NYC or Israel. Our rallying cries was "Never Again" and "Not on our watch". The speaker highlights were: Obama, Clooney's father, Sharpton, and a survivor from the Bosnian genocide. As peace negotiations continue, we're hopeful for a better-late-than-never cease fire. Unfortunately, apart from standing up and being counted, most of what we can do consists of watching and waiting.
My former boss, and Congressman, Mike Capuano also spoke. He gave a decent speech, and I was glad to see him at the forefront of this issue. But then I was reading about lobbying reform on DailyKos, and saw that Capuano was only one of four Democrats to cross party lines and vote against Rep Slaughter's motion to recommit. WTF is a liberal Democrat doing crossing party lines on this issue?! I put a phone call into his office this morning and his legislative point-person on lobbying "reform" is supposed to get back to me. I'll report whatever I find out.
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