I invaded enemy territory this week. As a lifelong and passionate fan of the greatest sports franchise in the history of sports (need I name the Yankees?), I’ve always considered Boston a swirling vortex of evil. But my son moved there two years ago and we cashed in our frequent flier miles and booked three seats from Omaha to Boston’s Logan airport. After a rather roundabout trip (four flights instead of two) we landed in Boston Monday night.
First, my son took us on a tour of the MIT Media Lab (a playground for people with astronomical IQs) where he has worked and studied the last two years. We played ping-pong on a table that has animated fish swimming on it which responded to the sound of the ball hitting the table like real fish might. We looked at robots and high-tech experiments of every kind.
Matt tried to explain his work, and I almost understood it a little. I haven’t understood much he has said since he was about 8 and started watching the science channel in the summers for fun, so this was no new experience.
We took the Boston Duck tour on Tuesday and wandered around the historic sections seeing the Old North Church, Patrick Henry’s house, and the little tavern where the Revolution was planned. Wednesday we wandered around the harbor and ate at the Barking Crab (hard to imagine a food bill that high when no alcohol purchases were made). We wandered around a little and checked out the Museum of Fine Arts (Chihuly glass was amazing).
That is when the storm hit and we decided to get supper in Chinatown at a place either called the Emperor’s Garden or Empire Garden – they had two signs outside it, one with each name. It is an old opera house converted to a Chinese restaurant.
To my left was a large party of old, frumpy-looking men. We found out later that this was a celebration for the 87th birthday of a professor at Harvard University who was a Nobel Laureate. I never got his name, but the owner of the restaurant told us who he was. I think, perhaps, his Nobel prize was in Physics, if my memory is correct.
Then, things got interesting. I have one of those little Flip HD video cameras and my son picked it up and started interviewing my wife and I about our trip to Boston. We both thought it was a little odd, but we answered his questions. It was only as we were leaving that we found out why he did that.
At a table behind my wife and me two women were seated. As they came in, my son immediately recognized one of them, a popular young actress named Mila Kunis. She left about the same time we left and walked past us on the steps. I recognized her as well.
Here’s the odd thing. One person in that room was a Nobel Laureate who had made significant contributions to knowledge. I didn’t even bother to get his name. On the other hand, we stood in a little awe as this young starlet walked by us.
What does that say about me? I was not particularly interested in the Nobel Laureate but agog at the presence of a woman who has acted on some morally suspect TV shows and movies. Am I alone in being more interested in celebrity than contribution?
On the brighter side, the Sox lost all three games they played while I was in town!
Dave,
I would be even more worried about you than I already am if you were more interested in an 87 year old physicist than you were in Mila Kunis!
More shocking to me, as an abstentionist, is the suggestion that you have paid higher restaurant bills than at the Barking Crab, but only when alcoholic purchases were made.
Next time, buy Mila a drink and tell the server to let Mila know it came compliments of the 87 year old physicist.
I may have to reword that one sentence.
Just for the record, I’ve never purchased an alcoholic beverage in my life.
Why do you mention the Yankees at the same time you talk about being a fan of a great sports franchise?
You’re fans of two teams?
I think I am going to shun you from now on, Doug!
Ah, you’ve got your 27 World Series Championships to be happy about. Expect the haters, man. It’s us guys that support teams that can’t make the playoffs that fume out of jealousy.
🙂
And safe trip to Phoenix next week. We need a central-US Voices gathering. St. Louis in the fall, maybe?
Dave,
You’re not alone, that’s for sure. But, you also have to realize that the Nobel Laureate probably does not crave the attention the starlet does. Some people glitter intentionally and it is hard not to be caught in the glare.
Dave,
I’m planning on attending the Conference in Phoenix next week. I live about 35 miles away, I get to hear some great speakers and it’s free. What’s not to like?
Warning… Phoenix in June is miserable. What were the planners thinking?
I hope to catch up with you there. I’ll have a collection of brown paper bags so you hide the alcohol and my lips will be forever silent. LOL.
Seriously, I hope to meet you in person.
In His Grace……
Everywhere we end up is miserable in June. I’m wondering what will happen next year for New Orleans: 100 degrees plus 1000% humidity or a massive hurricane?
Doug,
You have a very good point. The humidity makes the heat a zillion times more uncomfortable. We do get humidity during the monsoon season, but it’s generally not more than 6 weeks long. I hope the Convention Center has all of its central cooling units working.
Well, with the higher temps in AZ, I think it balances. My wife grew up in the Middle East, and now she’s stuck in Arkansas with me. Someday we’re moving to Canada or something!
If you’re worried about heat and humidity in summer . . . have the Convention on the coast of Maine. It’s BEAUTIFUL.
No need for sea-food lovers to go to the expensive Red Lobster as there are fish houses everywhere and your meal is right
out-of-the-ocean fresh.
There’s another advantage: being ‘present’ to God on that magnificent sea-coast is conducive to prayer and to a more peaceful spirit. Might be good for the Convention in some unforeseen ways.
Ah! These Yankee fans, my pastor (who preached Cat Fish Hunetr’s funeral), my son who was a gung ho Reggie Jackson fan as a kid, us poor rebels held with the Cards, and there were the Braves, and Astros. ( A friend of mine’s son was the manager, Phil Garner). Get to be 70 and you will care more about the physicist on his subject. Harmones lost to the intellect eventually. MIT is a place of fascination to me ever since I got hold of acopy of The Media Lab and some work on Chaos. Did you know there is an order to chaos!!! Really, what is the real emphasis needed in present day faith is some kind of MIT school for theologians and Preachers who are one and the same. There are great areas of theology that we have missed due to Romanticism and the rejectin of Intellectualism which is really the Hallmark of true Bible believers de to the fact that the Bible is inspired by the Omniscient God and thus reflects the profundity of depth in simple clarity that one would expect from such a source. In any case, my study of intellectual history moved me to become excited and thrilled about the biblical teachings. Imagine my suprise at finding the old doctrines were really evangelistic, exciting, designed to hook the interest and to hold the beholder spellbound for the rest of his or her life. Like old John Robinson declared by way of a question, “Who knows what new light is getting ready to break forth from God’s word?” Talk about dynamic, electric, dramatic, gripping, motivating, moving the mind to think deep, long, intricate, complex, and complicated algorithms of theological formulations of truth that meet the sinner in the place of his or her need, while leading to the purpose of life in glorifying God.
Once the Moderates were removed with their hindrances to thinking, namely, the historical critical approach (really old French Infidelity of the 1700s)(using the enemies tools to try and understand God’s word???Clearly meant to hinder the whole process), my hope was that we would get back to doing some deep theological thinking like Edwards did. Alas! the tidbits o simplicisms were thrust in the way to continue the hindrances jut like the historical critical. Even so the MITs of other fields remind us of the fact that there might be much more to the Bible than we had previously imagined. Think of matters like paradoxical interventions, reframing the subject, intellectual and synthetical types of experiments with biblical teachings to find out what it is about such two-sided teachings and how they set up a tension in the mind which makes the believer become balanced, flexible, creative, and magnetic. Sigh!