House on the Beach

Today, I woke up relatively early and drove up to Wingaersheek beach to enjoy a couple of hours reading at the ocean. When I got there at 11am, there were only about 10 other cars in the lot, and very few people on the beach. I decided to put my stuff down and go for a walk.

I hadn't gotten very far when I was accosted by an adorable little girl, probably about 6 years old. She asked if I "wanted a tour of their house" and gestured toward a group of rocks spanning about 50 square yards that the beach is known for. I noticed her mother there, caught her eye for approval, then said, "Sure."

She walked me over to the rocks, and her little brother (probably about 4) joined in. Together they walked me around: "this is our master bedroom...this is our guest room...this is where we pee...(you have to poop in another place). This is our fish pond (we don't have any fish yet; we still need to catch them). This is our whirlpool..oh! and here's our pool. This is the grand ballroom. It's where our mommy and daddy got married."

brother: "Show her the jacuzzi!"
sister: "we don't have a jacuzzi. (pause) Oh, wait! Yes we do. (points at rock) Here's our jacuzzi. It's new!"

The tour went on for about 10 minutes. I asked about future additions, then got the tour of "Grandma's house," which was the group of rocks next to the main one through which I had been touring. Poor Grandma; the place to poop was actually a hole in the ground dug right in the middle of her guest ballroom. Luckily, as the little boy pointed out, "We haven't used it yet. We still have to go up to her real house over there." (Points to Grandma's real house. Grandma is one lucky lady, let me tell you). By the end, the little girl was grabbing my hand and saying, "Come HERE!" It was so cute that I am smiling still as I write this.

I think the tour would have gone on for about an hour or so if I hadn't finally stopped and thanked the little girl for her time before she put too many new additions on her rockhome. Her mother in turn thanked me profusely for accepting the tour, and I said I had enjoyed it. It was great to see the brother and sister creating a house of rocks. (So can they throw glass in it? Sorry, bad joke.) It was a wonderful break from reality (i.e. writing my thesis) to be reminded of how incredible children's imaginations can be.

I ain't got no class no more

I had what most likely will be my last class from the SDM program today. I front-loaded a lot of my classes because they were directly applicable to the work I was doing for my former company at the time, so I have all of my required classes out of the way.

I am really going to miss the SDM classes. I loved seeing everybody, and many of the classes were fun and interesting. I still have my thesis to do, and am not graduating until January 2007.

After class, I had lunch with Paul B., Joe, and Biju. Mmm....Anna's burritos...

On meetings

I can't stand meetings, and therefore loved this article on meetings.

Who'sh a bad blogger?

I am!

Quick update:
In the last few weeks, I have kept very busy with my new job at Car Gurus, travel, and school. I am LOVING my job...it is so much fun.

On the travel front, I visited my dear friends Kellie and Allen and their daughter Payton down in Raleigh. I've also been to the beach up here a couple of times.

Other things sucking up my spare time have included driving in Boston. Since the tunnel collapse, traffic has been unreal. One thing that has struck me as ironic is that drivers in other sections of the Big Dig are driving more slowly than usual. Personally, I just want to get the hell out of that place as quickly as possible. Not quite sure what the slow-driving logic is, but I am trying to zip through the poorly built hole in the ground.

Now I'm in Supply Chain class, the second-to-last class of my last required course here at MIT.