Moving

You know that person who always seems to leave exactly 3/4 of a parking space in front of their car, making it impossible to find parking? Tonight that is me. Because Lord help us all if I need to maneuver this beast of a UHall around anything in the morning.

Fire Alarm

We had a fire alarm at my apartment building just now. It wasn't a huge deal, just routine. The fire alarms blared, I grabbed my sandals and went outside, and considered going to the store while I was out anyways. A couple of trucks arrived, so did the building superintendent. Firefighters stomped inside, they presumably did some investigating, and then the noise stopped and we got to go back inside.

On my way back inside, I saw one of my neighbors, slowly making her way to the door. Because she has MS and moves slowly, she never made it outside before the alarm was over. All that time, and she never made it out.

If this were a "real" alarm, she would have been in serious danger. It blows me away that there's not something - anything - in place to make sure she gets out of the building quickly when needed.

If I weren't moving away this week, I'd offer to check on her in the future. But even that would be a bandaid to a larger problem. Could technology solve the problem? Apps to let the Fire Department know if you're still in the building, maybe?

What a strange interlude in my day...

Dance Performances in the Park

Also from last weekend... We found a dance festival going on at Cambridge Commons. Here are photos from my top 3 performances...

I love all of my pictures of these girls, because they all look like they're floating :-)

And these junior members of the same dance group just had so much energy!

These ladies were my favorites... I think they announced that they were all in their 50s and 60s. Their performance was really fun. It started with acrobatics (photo from the bottom right of the collage, and had lots of drumming on big green balls to accompany the dancing.

Food Truck Festival

Last weekend I attended a Food Truck Festival in Cambridge. The world is a cool place.

Whitehouse WAVES II: SUPER Visitors

Back to data!

I started looking at the data the White House releases about its visitors in this post, in particular the distribution of last names of visitors.

Today, here's a look at the top individual visitors. As you might expect, most people who visit the White House don't visit frequently.  Of 13,707 visitors in January, 13,549 of them visited 3 or fewer times.  Another 148 people visited 4 to 9 times.  And 10 people visited 10 or more times. Let's find out who the Super Visitors are!

With 10 visits each: 
Janice C Eberly (It looks like in January she would have been about to be nominated to be Assistant Secretary of the Treasury for Economic Policy.)
Donald Y Yu (A lawyer from Fairfax, Virginia.)
Christopher J Meade (At the time, was the Acting General Counsel at the US Dept of the Treasury.) Has since been confirmed as the General Counsel in April.)
Natalie W Earnest (Now the Secretary for Public Affairs at the Treasury Department.)
Randall J DeValk (Counselor at U.S. Dept of the Treasury.)
Esther M Olavarria (Deputy Assistant Secretary, Homeland Security.)

With 11 visits:
Jonathan J Hopkins (Not sure - may be the President of an environmental consulting firm Called Delineations Plus which seems to help companies obtain permits for work that has the potential to impact wetlands & streams.)

With 14 visits:
David M Simas (Aide to Senior Advisor David Axelrod.)

With 16 visits:
Trevor G Nelson (I can't seem to find any other option than the British DJ and BBC presenter. No idea. He was visiting a Danny Moore. He was also known in the records as Dan and Daniel... why can't people write their names down consistently on these forms...)

With 18 visits:
Alastair M Fitzpayne (Assistant Secretary of the Treasury for Legislative Affairs.)

So... the conclusion is that the vast majority of Super Visitors are there to focus on the economy. Seems reasonable.

Sorry I disappeared, here are some updates!

Wow. Somehow my life just exploded into busyness. Somewhere between the apartment-searching, a cappella-practicing, and travel-planning, my blog got lost.

Here are a few pictures and observations from the past week.

Apartment hunting can be tiring. When I looked down at the floor inside the elevator of a building I was visiting, I thought it might be moving, but that it was more likely that my eyes were playing tricks on me. Nope! The pigments actually move around when you step on them. I love this elevator! And it looks like I'll probably be moving to the building that it's in, so I'll get to step on its floor frequently. Yay!

My A Capella group, Collective Measures has a concert coming up, and it's going to be a great show. This Saturday June 8, Brighton Beer Garden. Doors open at 7, show starts at 7:30. My solos are near the beginning, so don't be late! Other than our Christmastime engagements, this will be my only performance with the group. I'm sad to have to leave, just as the group is picking up speed (and after memorizing a dozen songs of repertoire in the last few months.) Anyways, come see us!

The zoo in Guatemala apparently throws crazy parties. This photo is supposedly from the elephant's birthday party in January. I may need to visit this zoo... and I'll have the chance in July! I'm starting to get excited about the upcoming trip. Please let me know if you have suggestions for what to do, what to bring you as a souvenir, or resources for brushing up on my Spanish.