Road Trip: Detroit

On Day 2 of the great adventure, the all-knowing Google doc once again said to leave at 7am. We had a long day of driving, and we needed to make it all the way to Chicago with time for two detours. Since I was in charge this time, I got up at 6:30, took a shower, and then woke Eehern. At 7:15am, we were outside packing the car.

Figure: Miss Outlier runs on time.

 This was Friday morning, and I needed coffee. Well actually, most mornings I need coffee. On Friday mornings in particular, I'm used to World's Best School coffee hour where I get coffee and a donut.

Eehern, as usual, needed nothing.

But we stopped along the highway at a Tim Horton's, which is supposedly a cult favorite. In fact, two World's Best School Coffee Hours have featured Tim Horton's donuts, brought all the way from Rhode Island.

Figure: Forget the donuts, I have COFFEE.

Figure: But the donuts were delicious too. I had two. 

 I'd like to point out here that along the ENITRE trip, we hardly went an hour without seeing construction. I know summer is known for road construction, but seriously it was ridiculous.

Figure: Orange cones, orange cones everywhere

 Along the way we noticed the beloved Subaru had a home even here, in the middle of random Canada.

And I noticed a store for shopping, not available in Boston. :)

Figure: I asked if we could stop, and Eehern said "Go for it!" So we did.

 I took entirely too long to shop, but again Eehern was a gentleman and didn't complain. I checked out with a new shirt, and I went to find him.

I looked.

I walked around.

I peered over the racks.

I checked outside.

I walked around again.

I had lost Eehern, in a foreign country. I didn't have my phone. And then I recalled when Eehern and I had spent a week in London. I also went shopping there (and again, took entirely too long. It's a vice. I'm sorry.) And AGAIN when I came out of the store in England, Eehern was nowhere to be found. And my phone didn't work. In  London, after I exhausted all my options I ended up sitting forlornly on a bench on the side of the road, waiting for him to come back. In Canada, I stood in the front of the store until he showed up.

I think he just likes to lose me. But he can't be tired of me yet, it's only the second day!

We continued on, heading toward the border. This time we had our story straight - Eehern was ready for the "So what do you have in your car?" question. Tough stuff, those customs agents.... :)

Figure: But it was not to be.

 Instead, we got stuck in traffic. We CRAWLED forward. We could see that waaaaay up ahead was a bridge, and we assumed that customs (and freedom) lay across that bridge.

But with that vision dancing ahead, we were painfully starting and stopping our way down the road. Half an hour. An hour.

I was getting bored. My legs needed to stretch. I wanted lunch.

Figure: Not getting anywhere anytime soon.

Eehern needed nothing.

And hour and a half, and still more of the scooting forward.

I was cramped and impatient.

Figure: I had run out of my road trip drink.

And finally - FINALLY - we found something that made Eehern ruffled.

He was watching the idle RPMs on the dashboard. Wasn't much else to do, really. And the idle RPMs were high - something like 2.5. And then they would wiggle. And then go down. And then go up. And then down.

Figure: It's the middle of the bridge, and Eehern is freaking out about the RPMs.

 He got so worried about the situation, he called up the Cambridge Subaru dealership.

"Hi," he says, "I have a question."

"Go ahead," says the cheery woman on the other end.

"Well," Eehern begins, "I'm wondering what the normal idle RPM speed is for my car. It's shooting up to 2.5, and then whizzing down to 1, and then jumping all around. And I really just want to know if that's normal."

The lady, trying to be helpful, replies, "Well sir I don't really know, it's not my area, but I don't think that's normal, and you should bring it into the dealer."

*facepalm* Lady, don't you know that now we are going to be worrying about this for an entire two week trip...? We spent TWO HOURS in traffic. As we were waiting the final last bit, which seemed forever, and I was hungry, and I needed to stretch, and I needed a bathroom break, I thought "We are never getting to America!"

But thankfully, we did. Next stop - Sonic!

Figure: Ah, road trip drink.

 Sonic is a nostalgic favorite of mine from Oklahoma. It's a drive-in restaurant, where you order from your window and the carhop brings your food out. I love it. I love the Supersonic breakfast burrito, the Chicken club toaster, and ESPECIALLY the Sonic Cherry Limeade.

We even got there during Happy Hour with half price drinks. I ordered my favorite combo, with tater tots, and even Eehern got a cherry limeade.

I practically inhaled my food, as it was like 2 or 3pm and I hadn't eaten.

As I was chowing down, I heard, "Um...." said Eehern, "Would you mind putting your tater tots on a napkin?"

I paused in the midst of chewing and glanced up. My tater tots were sitting in a cardboard fries container on the dashboard. I had my lap covered with a napkin. Seriously, man? Put a napkin on the dash under the already contained tater tots?

Okay, sure....

I finished, and asked Eehern how his meal was.

Picking at his sandwich, he confessed, "I'm not much a fan of eating in the car."

Laugh! Alright, I get it. :) No more eating in the car. It really didn't bother me, I just didn't realize.

When it comes to idle RPMs and fries on the dash, you don't mess with Eehern! :)

Road Trip: Niagara

After hitting the wings in Buffalo, we pressed on to Niagara.

Well, we TRIED to press on to Niagara.

Figure: Instead, we hit every red light in Buffalo.

No really, I counted. EVERY light. In a stick shift car. It was painful.

But several hours later, about 7pm, we made it to the American side of Niagara. I would like to note that Eehern didn't actually know where Niagara WAS, he thought we would just punch it in as a "Point of Interest" in the GPS.

I consulted a map.

We got out at Niagara and walked around the Niagara side first.

Figure: Observing from the spot where the first French guy saw the falls

Figure: Picture of me in front of the American falls

Figure: Large photo without me cluttering up the view

We walked around the island in the middle of the American side, across the river that feeds the falls.

Figure: Me trying to be artsy. Do you see the spiderweb? I want credit for the spiderweb.

Figure: Looking back at the American falls side.

After we had our fill of walking around, we headed through customs to the Canadian side. I had my passport out and ready, prepared to answer whatever questions the guard thew at me.

The customs agent started with the easy ones - where are you from, where are you headed. Then he threw this out there:

"That's a lot," he gestured wildly in the direction of the car, "of STUFF in there." Peering into the windows, he continued, "What all do you have?"

I turned confidently to Eehern, waiting for the answer.

"Uh...." he stammered, "Well, I have a lot of.... clothes.... and, um, clothes...."

Craning his neck toward the stuffed back of the car, he tried to recall what in the world he had packed in there.

"Oh!" he exclaimed, "and a laptop... computer.... and, um..... clothes."

Thankfully, the guard let him go at that. I have no idea why all of a sudden Eehern could no longer recall what was in his car, but I (and the guard) can only assume the boy has a lot of clothes.

Once through that hurdle, we stopped quickly as the light was fading to gaze at the Canadian falls.

Figure: Or, you know, gaze at me in this pictures.

It is indeed true - the view is prettier from Canada. The horeshoe falls are gorgeous. (So like America to call it the "American falls" while Canada calls theirs something useful....).

Figure: Apparently, they turn the falls off at night to harvest the water. Strange to think of all that power being shunted away. Go engineering!

Tired after the long day (and I had run out of my roadtrip drink), we headed to the hotel in Niagara.

I was in charge of booking the hotel. I picked a "Travelocity Top Secret" hotel, which means you get a great deal and they don't tell you which hotel you are getting until you buy. We got this one, which works because we aren't picky.

I noticed this sign on the way in:

Figure: It was a passing thought, "oh that's nice."

The friendly hotel receptionist at first couldn't find our reservation, and then to apologize (and since it was a slow weeknight) he offered to upgrade us.

Well sure!

So, upgraded room key in hand, we parked the car and gathered our bags.

Well, I gathered my bag. Eehern dug around for 15 minutes trying to find a shirt. Apparently he didn't think to put a change of clothes in a reasonable location....

Then we made our way to the room.

Let's see... one bed? Flowers on the table?

And what's that in the corner? Oh yes, a heart shaped jacuzzi. We'd been "upgraded" to the honeymoon suite of sorts.

Figure: Oh yes. Those are mirrors. Eehern considers this turn of events.

We decided to put aside the matter of the jacuzzi, and head to the casino. Eehern was convinced I was a good-luck charm, since I had never played craps before.


So we played craps.


Well actually, first we watched for a while as I tried to understand the rules. Craps in an insanely complicated game! I played for a bit, couldn't figure out what was going on, and promptly lost.


So we wandered around the casino, observing the local night life while I tried to iron out how the game was played. Buoyed by new understanding, we hit the craps table once more.


This time, I understood EXACTLY how I lost.


Apparently, I am not a good luck charm. Sorry Eehern!


But the night did end well for somebody. On Eehern's last roll, some guy at the other end of the table bet $800 on the "Do Not Pass" line. As I understand it, that means if the shooter craps out, you win.


Eehern sevened out.


The other guy won $800.


So at least somebody was happy!


Back at the hotel, I took a shower to rinse off the long day. When I came out (and I swear my showers aren't THAT long), Eehern was already fast asleep on the bed. I had brought my bathing suit, and I was excited to go swimming. 


But when I tried to fill up the jacuzzi, it turns out there was no drain plug! So any water I put in just drained right out. Not useful at all!


So sadly, there was no jacuzzi. I went to bed.


But all in all, Day 1 was packed full - an excellent start to the trip!

Road Trip!

Author's Note: Last weekend I went on a road trip with a friend from here to Chicago. Here follows an account of the trip.

The adventure begins on Thursday, August 12th. My friend Eehern is moving from Cambridge, MA to San Jose, CA by way of a convoluted path across the country.

I am the designated passenger for the Cambridge - Chicago leg. Note that I am not a designated driver, because Eehern doesn't believe I can drive stick shift. Somehow farm truck != beloved Subaru in terms of driving skill. I maintain that if I can navigate cow fields, I can totally manage highway driving, obviously. Same thing, right?

The plan called for leaving at 7am, but he and friends were out celebrating late the night before - so I had my doubts. So despite myself getting up dutifully at 6:45am, I heard not a peep from Eehern until 8:30am. Turns out after celebrating, he had been working from 2-4am the night before, taking care of such important tasks as delivering odds and ends to lab.

So at 8:30am he tells me: "I'll be over in twelve minutes."

Twelve minutes later he calls, "Did you remember your passport?" Yeah. Got it.

At 9:10am I see the Subaru pull in front of my building - longest twelve minutes I've waited in a while. :)

Figure: The car, packed to the brim. I was allowed one carry-on and one personal item.

We stopped at a gas station, and headed out. I always road trip with a beverage. To me, it's a part of the experience. I have nostalgic memories of driving from Stillwater OK to Tulsa OK, which takes exactly the amount of time to drink a Dr. Pepper.

Figure: Miss Outlier's road trip beverage, morning Day 1.

We drove from Cambridge MA to Springfield MA, where our first stop was the basketball hall of fame.

Figure: My grandfather would be proud. He was a basketball coach.

We wanted to, you know, actually SEE the museum, but it was $17 a person.

Figure: So this is what we did instead. Eehern insists there wasn't much there to see, I think that made him feel better. 

Now, before we go much further - let's establish what I was in charge of. My job consisted (since I wasn't allowed to drive) of the iPod, the EZPass, and the GPS.

Figure: So basically, if we didn't make it to Chicago, it was either my fault or the GPS lady. I'm sayin' the fault would be with the GPS.

But instead of relying wholly on the GPS, I thought it prudent to, you know, have SOME idea where we were headed.

Figure: Thus, I also had maps.

We headed out past Springfield, taking I-90 all the way to New York. About noon, I started to get hungry.

Eehern wasn't hungry. As I would come to find out, the boy doesn't need anything. No food, no water, no rest, no - ahem - bathroom stops. Apparently, I'm a high-maintenance passenger. He's always fine.

But he's also a gentleman, so we stopped for lunch.

Figure: Miss Outlier's road trip beverage, afternoon Day 2

We pressed on, heading to Buffalo and the promise of wings.

But Albany comes before Buffalo, and Albany had the following in store for us: rain!

Figure: Putting the RainX to work. Eehern has a devotion to RainX, to the point where he no longer uses wipers. Out of principle. And because his wipers aren't very good.

In fact, I recorded the occasion (and I was bored, having NO DRIVING to do - ahem). For your viewing pleasure:

At 3pm, we took a break. Once again, Eehern didn't need anything. But I needed to stretch and take a bathroom break. Perhaps those road trip beverages have something to do with it...?

Figure: Didn't stop me from getting another one, though. It's the principle of the thing. Miss Outlier's road trip beverage, late afternoon Day 1.

At this point I'd like to take a side tangent - it was at this rest stop I discovered another quirk. Eehern records all gas purchases.

Religiously, in fact. There is a whole lot of data here.

In face, Eehern once considered making a homework problem out of it - and making the students enter in all that data for analysis. At first I thought that was an awesome idea, then I realized he was my TA, and I would have hated that. In any case, there is a gold mine of transportation data here waiting for some industrial soul. Until then, we have absolutely no idea what all this data means.

Moving on.

I am including this just for A.J. - look what we passed on the road!

According to A.J., the world's best grocery store.

Moving on again.

We made it to Buffalo! Home of the original Buffalo Wing. Obviously, we stopped.

We wanted two toppings, and went for the Original and Mild. I think left to his own devices, Eehern would have gotten Original and Suicide, but we were going to be riding in a car for the next 24 hours. I insisted on Mild. 

It was delicious. We polished it off, with no sides needed save for a few measly celery sticks.

The carnage afterwards.

Full and happy, we checked off the first stop on the trip. Buffalo, been and done. On to Niagara...

Shirt Design

I am an officer in the Mechanical Engineering student club, and my job is to do the orientation for new mechanical engineering graduate students when they arrive in the fall (about 160 of them, I think). World's Best School has a very extensive and involved Orientation period, and it's a big deal with lots of events. It's a good job for me, because I've been hosting events as an RA for a couple years now.

The student club that I am in designed and sold club T-shirts back in 2006, but that was before I was here. I thought it would be a great idea to do T-shirts again this year.

I sent out a department e-mail to the students, offering a $50 prize for T-shirt design submissions. We got submissions from only three people, although one person submitted five options.

I didn't really like any of the designs. So I decided to come up with some of my own. But then the judging is biased, so I decided to call in more opinions. I showed my handful of designs (anonymized of course), plus all the submissions, to a bunch of friends and the club president.

One of my designs was the unanimous favorite! But I'm wondering what the internet at large thinks, as my friends are a small and perhaps skewed data set.

Artwork done in Adobe Illustrator, so it's infinitely adjustable and scalable.

This is the back of the shirt, the front has a pocket design with World's Best School MechE logo on it. Just imagine the front is awesome. Planning to make navy blue ones to sell, and green ones for club officers. Because we can. :)

What do you think? Comments, suggestions? Would you wear this shirt? Is it kinda funny, or just doesn't make sense?

Diving With Sharks!

Last year, I had planned to go diving with sharks. It didn't end up happening, but when the same trip was rescheduled for this summer - you bet I signed up!

Once again, I gathered up all the dive gear. I was carpooling with other people, and they wanted me to be at their house by 4:30. That's AM. The subway doesn't even run that early!

Fortunately, my friend took pity on me and let me sleep over the night before, to avoid having to take a cab at 4 in the morning.

Now, the dive master had sent out a sheet on how to avoid seasickness. I followed those instructions to the letter. One Dramamine the night before, an additional one the morning of (although I contend that 4am is still the night before). No coffee, no acidic juice, a small filling breakfast so as to have something in the stomach. No drinking the night before (easy, of course), and a good night's sleep. The recommendation was to go to bed at 9pm, but I can't sleep that early - but I at least was in bed by 11pm.

There were five of us driving down to Rhode Island for the trip. Nobody else took Dramamine, and everybody but me had coffee in the morning. Two of the girls didn't go to bed until 2:30am, and then got up at 4am. And then they had greasy Egg McMuffins along with their coffee in the morning.

Guess who wasn't sick? And guess which other people were heaving over the side for the whole trip? Yeppers, Miss Outlier was very glad she can follow instructions!

Thanks to Bill Buckley for the following pictures.

Here's me, with the shark cage just loaded into the boat. It's pretty small, no?

Figure: First we loaded the shark cage on the boar, in preparation for the 1.5 hr ride out to sea.

When we got out to a good spot, we tossed chum in the ocean (fish oil and fish guts and chopped up fish) to attract the sharks. The seasick people loved that, let me tell you. :)

And then we waited for the sharks to show up. And fished while we waited.

And waited.

And waited.

And JUST as we were about to give up for the day, this guy showed up:

Well hello! We quickly got into out gear, and jumped onto the shark cage to take a look.

The shark came over to investigate.

At this point we thought we'd better get into the cage. Well, I got into the cage. The photographer didn't want to have the bars of the cage in the photos, so he stayed outside just swimming around.

The shark decided to investigate the camera.

I was watching from that platform. That's my face you can barely see up between the bars. I was plenty close.

But the photographer is even closer. Yikes!

Well actually, I was pretty close too. :) It was so thrilling to watch this shark swimming around me. I just wanted to reach out and touch it - bad idea, of course, but the feeling is there. That big 'ol shark eye staring at me reminded me that you don't mess with these creatures.

Well hello to you too, Mr. Shark! After a while, we tagged the shark with an encoded tag for data collection purposes. That made him irritated, so he swam away.

Here's the group of us, coming up for air after the shark was gone. I'm the back left person - it's hard to tell apart the wetsuits... Such an adventurous crew!

We loaded up the cage, and headed home for the day. I slept on the hour and a half ride home, because, well, I got up at 4am that morning. :)

Fantastic day all around, out between the sky and the waves and the depths below. Who knows, maybe someday I'll do it again!