BOSTON-2002

Friday:  Flew to Boston on United amidst rumors of bankruptcy.  Checked into the Back Bay Hilton for the NSDC (staff development for mentoring) conference. 

Saturday: Spent the morning with David Wu (AP chem '90 -- finished PhD ("Effects of Cellular and Tissue Pharmacokinetics on Control-Released Growth Factors') at MIT '00; now working towards MD at Harvard; happily married '00; grad UIUC in eng '95.) touring MIT, Harvard Med School campus and Harvard main campus.  Dave is still doing active research and has access to labs everywhere....did we see some cool stuff.  I want to be a student again...of course I could never get into either MIT or Harvard.  I was so surprised at the newness of MIT and just in awe of all the great minds that have walked the same halls that I was walking.  Harvard had the "old school look" to it and more of what I expected.  Thanks to Dave for being an excellent tour guide.  Ate lunch in the Harvard Square with Dave and his wife.  I spent hours on the subway system...very good and cheap$$ too.  Tested out a nice restaurant and some of the mall shopping.  Boston is really OLD.  Harvard was founded in 1636...the elem school where Ben Franklin went to school is still standing in Boston...an old church that looks like it should be in Europe....tombstones that date back to before the revolution....it was all just so "historic".  I am ready to go back again soon.

Sunday: Spent the day in conference sessions then went to for dinner and would you believe no one knew my name!!!!  Went to the "Top of the Hub"...tallest building in Boston to see the city at night.  Not quite Chicago at night, but still impressive. 

Monday:  All day in sessions again.  United airlines declares bankruptcy and I am wondering if I will become a Bostonian even though they kept saying that there would be no delays.  Took the subway out to the Harvard area for dinner with the alumni.  Those in attendance were:

Tasso Kaper (81) -  currently working with his dad (now 65) on math models for chemical reactions in a joint effort with Argonne chemists; prof at Boston U.; married to Antonella Cucchetti `93, kids: Julia '02 & Marco '99; grad Caltech with PhD '91; grad U of C '86 in math and physics. 
 
Linnea Meyer (81) - physician at a community health center in Lowell, MA; started acupuncture school '02; psychology degree.
 
Bill Fick (87) - working in Boston as an attorney; married with two daughters.
 
Judith Lin (88) - first-year Vascular Surgery Fellow at Tufts-New England Medical Center.  It's a two-year program with the first-year in research and second-year in clinical care '02; surgical resident at Mt. Sinai hospital in NYC; grad from Brown Uni.
 
David Wu (90) - finished PhD ("Effects of Cellular and Tissue Pharmacokinetics on Control-Released Growth Factors') at MIT '00; now working towards MD at Harvard; happily married '00.
 
Dave Laitar (97) - worked for Exxon/Mobil in New Jersey for summer '01; starting grad school at MIT fall '01; grad as a Chem major at Notre Dame '01.
 
Blair Schaefer (01) - moved to Minn; going to Boston College.
 
Jeff Asavalertpanich (02) - engineering at Brown.

We spent several hours eating, talking and catching up on DGS memories.  I had the most wonderful evening...thanks to all the alum for making the effort to attend.

Tuesday:  All day in sessions again...most of the sessions are really quite good.  Many valuable tips and ideas about improving schools, the way kids learn, the future of education and how to better train staff.  I really had to think about the way I teach and what I can do to be even better.  After dinner there was a free concert by Peter Yarrow (of Peter, Paul and Mary fame) attended by about 300 people.  Boy did that bring back memories of my youthful college days.  We sang "Puff the Magic Dragon" and many other "oldies".  It was a night to remember.

Wednesday:  Sessions in the morning...United still spilling red ink...a snow storm is headed toward Boston so I decide to head back to DG as soon as possible.  I go to the airport and put my name on the standby list for the first flight out...and I get it.  Made it back to DG three hours early and United is still flying.

Thursday:  Back to school....oh well.....it was fun but it was nice to be home too.