Water Blogged
A friend from DC visited the Boston area with a friend this weekend. We met up for lunch at Charlie's Kitchen on Saturday, and then we checked in with each other yesterday afternoon. Amy and her friend were at the New England Aquarium, a scant three T stops away from where I work. In an uncharacteristic fit of spontaneity, I decided to leave work and meet them there. Even though I've lived in Boston for six years, I've not once been to the aquarium. And that's a crime. Amy was my trigger.



After getting my ticket for $13.50 (which is kind of pricy, but a membership only costs $40, and that means you can get in for free -- go at least three times a year, and you're set), I walked around the first floor for awhile before finding them. We'd called each other on our cell phones. I don't know how this would have happened before the advent of cell phones. Where would I have left her a message? Would she have called me from an aquarium payphone? What if we'd never found each other?



We checked out some of the exhibits along the outer wall of the aquarium, and then we made our way up the center spiral walkway around the Giant Ocean Tank. The huge turtle was amazing, and the shark refused to eat what a diver offered it. We were impressed by the large assortment of fish -- and how ugly some of them are!



At the top, we watched a staff member feed the fish. There was one extremely chubby fish that was quite greedy, and it was hogging much of the food. Kept coming back for more! Then we wound our way back down to the main level, where we headed over to the ship Discovery for the 4:30 p.m. sea lion presentation.



The show was great. We saw two California sea lions (one was named Tyler; I forget the other) that had been trained to wave, roll over, balance a ball on their nose, fetch a plastic bottle from the pool and deposit in a recycling bin, and do other tricks. The staff member MC'ing the show made a point of distinguishing between sea lions and seals -- and worked in a subtle environmental conservation message.

All in all, a fun afternoon -- and high time I got to the aquarium in Boston! I left Amy and her friend to their host and headed home as they headed to dinner, the airport, and eventually DC.

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Speaking of water, there was no hot water in my apartment building Saturday at 9:30 a.m., and this morning at 8, there was no hot water yet again. It's never been a problem in the past, so it's not because people were showering and depleting the supply. Must be something wrong with the water heater. I shower every morning, and it feels kind of odd not having done so. Not that you need to know that, but I miss hot water. Will have to talk to my landlord soon.