Finally, Boston

My flight is 6ish this evening. What a hectic trip it is! Anyway, I decided to take a look at the city until my flight. At least, I needed to say hi to Benjamin Franklin and Samuel Adams because I came to Boston. So, here's Benjamin Franklin (above) and Samuel Adams (below). Nice to meet you.

East Coast

Wow, I feel I'm really on East Coast. See this sign saying, "New York." Wow.

The Esplanade

Sitting along Charles River, relaxed with comfortable breeze ... an oasis in a big city.

Boston is nice to have this kind of public area such as the Esplanade and Boston Common.

There are a lot of first things in Boston. This public library is also the first thing of the kind. This is gorgeous.

Poster!

So, as scheduled, my flight arrived in Boston around 3 in the evening. My session was scheduled to start at 5. I didn't know how long it would take to get to the conference venue. So, I skipped lunch (domestic flights do not serve free meals anymore), and rushed to the venue.

I'm glad that the public transportation system is good in Boston (not like Japan though), which makes it easy to get around in town.

Fortunately, I arrived at the hotel (conference venue) around 4. I posted my poster and other stuff on the board as fast as possible, and went to the nearest shopping mall to grab some food. Yes, I was hungry.

The session was OK. In fact, I think poster sessions may be better than presentation sessions in which some audiences would get bored. In the poster session, only interested people drop by, so you enjoy more talking with those people.

On Sale

Boston Globe is now on sale.

Geez, this news must be harsh on the employees because they just recently agreed with the New York Times Company to accept concessions in order to avoid a possible shutdown. I want to talk with Boston Globe employees about how they think about their situation. Dehumanized work relations ...

T

I thought the Boston subway system, T, is good (yeah, I remember I said this in the post above). But I found it is not so good.

My hotel is in Cambridge, which is several stations away from the conference venue. To get to the hotel, I was supposed to take one line and get off at the terminal station of that line.

I got on the subway at the nearest station to the conference venue. The train ran a couple of stations without problem. And I heard an onboard announcement by saying, "This train is taking out of service." What the hell?! Man, I thought I could take a shower and go to bed in 10, 15 minutes. See, I was tired after a long flight and conference. I didn't expect that I had to get off the train halfway through.

Complaining does not lead to anything. So, I waited another train coming. But, next train was also out of service. Train after train, they were all out of service. People were still standing at the platform, waiting. Finally, the station announced that there was an electric issue at somewhere, and no train would go farther from this station. Damn. I cursed Boston. You know, I'm tired!

I was told to get to the ground and take a bus. But which bus? What number of the bus? This guy said, "It doesn't matter." Really?! Skeptical about what he said, I climbed up the stairs and got out of the station. Ta-da, there was a bus, sitting next to the station! The signboard of the bus said, "Lechmere," which I was going, yea! It turned out to be a shuttle which the subway arranged.

I usually don't like buses because I don't know where they take me. Well, it is not exactly right. They have their routes, so passengers know where they take them. But, you know, I don't know with what timing I should ring the stop button. And there are other stuff which makes me nervous on the bus. Anyway.

Tonight, I was comfortable on the bus because I knew where it would take me and where I would get off. Also, I enjoyed a short but free sightseeing. Nice.

Noooooo, United!

Y is sweet, he gave me a ride to the airport. The problem happened after he drove me off.

It is a small airport so that it takes, say, 5 minutes to get to the gate. So, I was at the gate one hour before the flight, which was scheduled at 8:30ish tonight. Then, a gate agent announced the flight delay because of a visibility issue--foggy San Francisco, which was my first destination, not the final destination. I needed to catch a connecting flight in San Francisco.

I talked with the gate agent. She punched the computer and found no later flights today from San Francisco to Boston, which is my final destination. I need to be in Boston by 4 tomorrow. Conference! My session will start at 5 tomorrow!

The agent gave me the only option for me: Fly to San Francisco tonight anyway, and take the 6 in the morning flight to Boston tomorrow, which will arrive in Boston at 3ish in the evening. Of course, because this is a delay because of the weather, United has no obligation or responsibility to put passengers in hotels.

Well, I didn't have another choice.

Finally, I got to San Francisco around 11:30ish. I was wondering during the flight: "Well, I will arrive in San Francisco almost midnight, and take a flight early in the morning. Is it worth taking a room to stay four hours?" Guess what? I chose to stay at the airport. Geez, I cannot sleep on these uncomfortable chairs in this freezingly air-conditioned airport.