It was an action-packed weekend as Melody and I attempted to revisit her alma mater, attend her friend’s wedding, and provide me with a crash tour of the Windy City, all in a matter of less than 48 hours. Our adventure began Friday night, after our flight arrived at O’Hare. From the airport, we rented a rather ugly-looking Chevy Classic which looked totally old school, but to my surprise was a 2004 edition (LOL). After checking into our hotel in Evanston, we quickly headed out for a snack at Pete Miller’s Steakhouse with a parmesan-crusted New York strip for me and a lobster bisque for her, and finished off with a chocolate shake at Kafein. On Saturday morning, Melody gave me an extended tour of the Northwestern campus, followed by lunch at her beloved J.K.Sweets, a candy & ice-cream parlor which interestingly, was better known for the cheap bi bim bap sold in the back. Here, the plot thickens as we returned to our car and found that the car keys were missing! Over a frantic phone call to Hertz roadside assistance, I told them about the car which was registered in Texas, rented in Chicago, but now parked in Evanston, and then gave them my New York state license info, Boston mailing address, and Melody’s cell phone number from LA (my cell was locked inside). Fortunately, after some help from AAA to jimmy the car door, Melody was at least able to quickly change in the car and catch the exchange of vows at her friend’s wedding. Though we didn’t know anyone at the afternoon reception, we were nevertheless content with the delicious meal. After a bit of dancing, we met up with some of Melody’s college friends at their old hangout before crashing for the night at her friend Madhavi’s upscale apartment in downtown Chicago. Sunday was every bit as hectic as the day before, beginning with a contemporary-styled brunch at Orange serving up a Michael Jackson-themed pancake platter for her and a fat mushroom-asparagus omelette for me. We spent the afternoon touring the abstract metallic sculptures at Millenium Park, walking along the Lake Michigan harbor in Grant Park, playing with the beluga whales at the Shedd, and quickly scanning the Impressionist, armor, and photography collections at the Art Institute of Chicago. Perhaps we could’ve seen and done more if we had more time, but alas our busy lives awaited us back in Boston.

It’s been a weekend of coincidences since coming to the Axon Guidance and Neural Plasticity meeting here at Cold Spring Harbor. After a week busting my balls trying to get some experiments completed before the 5-day conference, I left early Saturday morning for my flight down to New York. As always, I was running so late I had to catch a cab to the airport, arriving only 5 minutes before boarding, but only to find out that my flight was delayed by more than 3 hours (of course). Luckily, I ran into an old college friend of mine who was on the same flight, so we got to sit down at the airport coffee shop and catch up on our past few years while waiting for our plane to arrive. Yesterday, at one of the poster sessions here, I noticed the name of an old high school friend on a poster from a lab at Yale. I spoke extensively with the post-doc who was presenting the poster, only to realize that I had already met her when I bumped into that friend about a month ago at the Ikea in New Haven! Aside from these random blasts from the past, the conference has otherwise been quite disappointing. Among the exhaustive volume of talks and posters from 9am-11pm each day, I have yet to find much that I didn’t already know. Fortunately, the weather had been beautiful, and the relaxing environment out here is finally giving me a chance to kick back for a couple of days.

Say hello to Howie and Sammy! The foster brothers have been bonding really well, and Sammy has clearly benefited from Mom’s nursing. Mom however, is a little…. strange. Last night, she mysteriously went nuts and started running frantically in circles inside the cage. In fact, when the top was opened, she gained enough centrifugal momentum to spin out of the bin. We spent a good hour (with Thu laughing in the background) trying to catch her without being bitten by the crazed rat. But once we got her back into the bin, she calmed down pretty quickly and started grooming the pups again, despite their squeaky protests. Now, with Melody getting the next three days off and my boss in London, we’ll be looking forward to a more laid back Labor Day weekend.

It’s official. Our young friend Sammy has been adopted by a young mommy rat and her 8-day-old pup, Howie. The decision came mainly from the fact that rats are social creatures and Sammy was lacking in companionship, and also because we were becoming increasingly concerned with his nutritional support from human baby formula. Despite our progress in advancing his diet (he was eating solids at day 14 when rats aren’t usually weaned until 4-5 weeks), his coat of fur was pretty thin and he was severely underweight for his age. Fortunately, the young mom quickly adopted the little guy, though we’re still concerned whether after being fed for so long by human hands, he would still know how to feed from a mom. We’ll keep further updates on Sammy and Howie’s progress, so stay tuned! In other news, we took advantage of restaurants that have extended Restaurant Week and enjoyed a most satisfying 3-course-dinner last night at Pigalle. I started with some pan-fried duck livers over parmesan risotto, followed by a salmon in port reduction cooked to a medium-rare perfection, and closed with a light but rich milk chocolate pana cotta. For Melody, her meal began with a very unique eggplant terrine, followed by a slightly over-salted mushroom risotto, and ended with a delightful peach tarte tatin. Our memorable meal has quickly placed this French restaurant among our favorites in Boston.

It’s official. Our young friend Sammy has been adopted by a young mommy rat and her 8-day-old pup, Howie. The decision came mainly from the fact that rats are social creatures and Sammy was lacking in companionship, and also because we were becoming increasingly concerned with his nutritional support from human baby formula. Despite our progress in advancing his diet (he was eating solids at day 14 when rats aren’t usually weaned until 4-5 weeks), his coat of fur was pretty thin and he was severely underweight for his age. Fortunately, the young mom quickly adopted the little guy, though we’re still concerned whether after being fed for so long by human hands, he would still know how to feed from a mom. We’ll keep further updates on Sammy and Howie’s progress, so stay tuned! In other news, we took advantage of restaurants that have extended Restaurant Week and enjoyed a most satisfying 3-course-dinner last night at Pigalle. I started with some pan-fried duck livers over parmesan risotto, followed by a salmon in port reduction cooked to a medium-rare perfection, and closed with a light but rich milk chocolate pana cotta. For Melody, her meal began with a very unique eggplant terrine, followed by a slightly over-salted mushroom risotto, and ended with a delightful peach tarte tatin. Our memorable meal has quickly placed this French restaurant among our favorites in Boston.

Last Sunday I harvested DRGs from a batch of 6 day old rats, and there was one left over. The options were limited: either dispatch him humanely since his mom was already gone, or take him home for Melody to play with. After five days of hand feeding human baby formula via syringe every 4 hrs (luckily Melody’s on vacation this week) and playing Miyazaki tunes in the background, Sammy has gotten fat and sassy at 11 days old. It’s pretty surprising, given that we weren’t even sure he was going to make even one night without his mom. This has been the only work highlight in the last few weeks. Otherwise, I’m being flogged at work, trying to submit a manuscript by Sunday. There has been some time to enjoy Restaurant Week, however. On Thursday Melody and I went to Anthem, which offered a very creative 3-course meal, preceded by an amuse and followed by a take-home treat, for just $30 each. Lucky for us, some of the other participating restaurants have extended the opportunity for prix-fixe meals, so we’ll be taking advantage of that in the next several days.

This past week marked the grand opening of a new Ikea superstore down in Connecticut, and despite having been traumatized only last weekend by their state troopers, we braved the interstate highways again to get in on the deals. Even more memorable (at least for me) beyond all the bargain furniture, home decor, and kitchenware, was the store restaurant, serving a delicious crayfish sandwich, a mozarella and red pepper panini, and a Swedish meatballs dish all for just $1.99 each! Mmmmmmm… meatballs… =P~

Drove down to NYC this past weekend to attend my cousin’s wedding and along the way got nailed with a speeding ticket by one of those sneaky highway patrols in Connecticut. Who would’ve thought that going 70mph in a 55mph zone was considered speeding? It was certainly news to me. The wedding itself can only be described as surreal. What began as a traditional Chinese dinner banquet with shark fin soup, abalone, and lobsters, turned suddenly into an 80’s dance party, as bridesmaids, groomsmen, and others boogied on the dance floor at the center of the restaurant complete with disco lights and smoke effects. We drove back up on Sunday after a bit of bowling and dim sum with the folks.

With the approach of the summer weather, my past weekends have become much more eventful. Two weekends ago, Melody and I went head-to-head on the pool table at Jillian’s for two and a half hours of 8-ball, with her coming in a close second. =P On Sunday, we headed over to Copley and got a pair of half-priced tickets to the Blue Man Group’s new show through BosTix. Though Melody was a 3-time veteran, the experience was completely new to me, with its array of clever drum plays, humorous stunts, stunning digital animations, and a most memorable tissue paper tsunami during the finale. Even Jeff found some free time from his crazy schedule at MGH to join us for dim sum at Chau Chow City for Sunday lunch.
This past weekend, we grabbed a couple of Vietnamese sandwiches from Chinatown and hopped over to the Commons to attend the Commonwealth Shakespeare Company’s rendition of Much Ado About Nothing. The play was clever and playful (and FREE!), and even featured the casting of a real life couple as the title characters Beatrice and Benedick. We spent the rest of the weekend playing some tennis at a nearby park, and doing some shopping at HomeGoods and Target, rounding out a most relaxing weekend for me.

The annual July 4th extravaganza on the Esplanade here in Boston always manages to trump the fireworks display from previous years. This past weekend was no exception, with a particularly interesting one where glowing strings of light floated down from the sky like catepillars (which we later found out were carried by tiny parachutes). Melody and I, along with Junne and her friend, found a spot with an awesome view of the fireworks where we could immerse ourselves in the dazzling light show, with the thunder of every explosion pounding at our chests. We were much more fortunate than our counterparts across the river at MIT, where ashes carried by the wind rained down onto the audience. We even brought our own little feast in tupperware, with Melody’s famous pot chicken, sausage fried rice, edamame, and cherries. After the show, as always, we didn’t bother with the T and followed the crowds of people onto the street for the stroll back to Brookline. The fireworks, food, and mild weather made for a great night out, almost making up for having to work all three days this long weekend. Btw, check out Spiderman 2 if you haven’t already. It’s certainly worth a look.