Melançon Enterprises • a multidivision multinational since 1980

is easy when the guest is great.

powwowed with Ed, Dani on the book.

Susan,
Lane,
Moshe,
Bryan

Talked with Dries so much i wish i had something more substantive to say. It's a fine line between issues (like, in the issue queue) too specific to be discussed in a social setting and what is too general to be really meaningful. I would have to plan ahead to have a chance of something to say. Actual social conversation well i have no idea.

Nadia talked for a while to a quite a few people, which is pretty cool, two days in the country and socially handling with ease the biggest nerd party around.

H got onto the journal she wanted!! They called a day late (two days late, actually, i guess) but she's in! Bit of a rare honor for a first-yearer!

Walked N downtown. On the former railroad tracks. Apparently no one has walked the stretch from Whitney to the train station in a while. Not all winter anyway. Lots of fallen trees to climb through, thornbushes encroaching, and the soggy area under the bridge appears to be more like a foot or two of water, which at unevenly frozen was quite interesting to walk over. Rusty broke through but fortunately was able to back up.

No one else is allowed to visit Boston for a little bit, because i have officially spent my last dollars.

Lovely time, conversation at My Thai (the former Buddha's Delight)

Picked up Nadia at Logan, a little late.

After meetup last night, when should have solely been focused on book plans, Moshe, Ed, and i were fixing the political problems of the world. It's the media.

Glen Greenwald highly recommended, maybe i should read him more than about twice a year.

C was very patient during the interruptions.

Fairly inspired meal, for no planning, and the inspiration being, too much cauliflower:

white rice, cooked with some garam masala and such.
small white beans added in with the rice after it was cooked

two carrots, one very small onion, one head broccoli, one half of a huge head cauliflower, one small yellow squash, one zucchini.
cooked in the (phoenix-like risen from the ashes?) wok in olive oil, with salt, turmeric, paprika, curry powder, and more turmeric, and a little soy sauce, touch of sesame oil.

Chopped ahead of time and cooked pretty quickly.

They take away your right to drive in New York state and they turn the fine over to collections.

(False accusation of driving without a seatbelt, Brooklyn, NYC, that i didn't have time– or, you know, the presence in the state, to fight. The online form did not work– i tried it right away and then again later and e-mailed them all the failures– and the letter had one option, pleading guilty.)

To hell with you, New York shakedown crew.

Worked all day Saturday with Michelle visiting and working (well i was mostly online working with other authors, that continued overnight), Sunday with volunteer martyr -- i mean, editor -- Ed at MIT laying out the book in reality, printing out all the parts of the book we had and writing and editing for a nice 12-hour session. Intense, difficult, and exciting!

South Street Diner, at the corner of South and Kneeland, a block from South Station, is open 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, and is awesome.

Good veggieburger with sauteed mushrooms and onions, hot sauce available, never hassled while staying and working on my computer for three hours. In fact, my waiter kept refilling my water.

Very interesting staff and some of the clientele, too.

And a phone that will take a dime to make a local call?! On closer inspection of the phone, i guess not. Still a great diner.

Sounds like a have to worry about turning to the Dark Side, and all i'm doing is drinking pomegranate-cranberry juice.

Jo Dee Messina is singing "throw a dollar in the wishing well" which reminds me i took a dollar in change out of the dry fountain outside the 84 Diner.

What? I'm not superstitious and i needed the money.

New Hampshire

New Hampshire state liquor store prices were appreciated.

The heated pool under the stars (one night) and snow (another) also greatly appreciated.

Dimitrius getting his feel for the skis back.

Skiing in the rain– i had a completely private mountain, for real, not a single other skier, for the last hour.

New York City

Andrew treated me to Wild Ginger, vegan pan-Asian food, in Williamsburg, and the food and the service was excellent.

Leaving NYC

Electrical outlet on the greyhound-- score!

That's the lesson learned today trying to fix poofy slept-on-the-motel-floor hair at the 84 Diner in Fishkill, Pennsylvania.

Re-wet it down and it was fine.

But it would be impossible to embarrass Mom and Grandpa as long as i'm wearing the sweatshirt Eva got me: "I'm Ben. I'm kind of a big deal."

I need to go back West and continue my makeover at the hands of friends, not family...

look at yourself, your pavement, your signs
the mountain has hidden itself from you
are you not ashamed?

(loudly intoned, slight British accent. I was not arrested)

K and i were both sort of looking at and holding onto my laptop, and dropped it off the table when the waitress brought some free advance food. (K

Now poor Ebony needs the side of her monitor duct-taped up. Can't quite get everything to pop in. Have to hold it and be careful when closing the lid. Never stopped running.

And the tamale came with what the chef swore was not cheese, but she couldn't identify the ingredient, either. Got to trust people a little, i guess. There was an in-between ingredient that definitely wasn't cheese

Couchsurfing Host: Oh ok. Sounds good. She likes to sleep in the passenger seat. Don't let her scratch the walls. She likes to do that too.