Right. Thank you Steph, I'll pick up a copy of Bust.

If we can avoid delaying our decision/discussions on the F2F it would be best. Let's see what we can get done in the next week.

It’s hard for me to even start telling stories of my Buffista field day in Boston yesterday- I could talk about a zillion and one things and still forget bits, but I’ll do my best.

vw bug and Emily met me at the train station in the morning, and they even made me a sign!! Well, the train actually beat them to the station by about a minute, so they didn’t actually get to HOLD the sign, but they gave it to me. And it makes me very happy. I actually had some butterflies in my stomach pulling into the station, because this was my very first F2F with anyone from the board ever, but they were gone almost right away. You lot all seem to have a knack for making people very comfortable!

We hopped a bus from the station to the Museum of Science where we met DXMachina, Matt the Bruins Fan, and of course, NILLY! And I’ll testify for Nora- Nilly is extraordinarily huggable. It’s a strange and wonderful thing to see someone across the room, see them wave frantically once you’re pointed out, and hurry across the room to give you a hug. She was a doll right from the start, saying she was so glad to be there the first time I met Buffistas.

From there, we went upstairs to the LOTR exhibit, which was just cool. We saw all kinds of costumes, weaponry, armor, an 8 foot tall anatomically correct cave troll, and THE ONE RING. (The room the ring was kept in was so neat, I had to go back three times……I miss The Precious.) Nilly was so cute- on walking in, she kept her hands in fists behind her back to keep herself from touching anything- really, the stuff ached to be touched. Also, Matt, I was true to my word- I’ve got The Fellowship of the Ring in the DVD player now.

After that, we went into another wing of the museum, and Nilly and I each took a turn on a bed of nails! (Yes, I’ve got pictures of that. It was too good to pass up.) In true Buffista style, we even played an actuary game, in which Matt ranked a touch more adventurous than me and DX, who were deemed boring. (And therefore, insurable, I suppose.) We also visited the Theater of Electricity (Not just a clever name.) As promised, there were loud noises and shiny things- Buffista heaven!

Next came the Math Room. Yes, the Math Room. Which, I won’t lie, went largely over my head. It was well worth it, however, to see the look on Nilly’s face as she strolled the “Wall of Math”. I’d have taken a picture, but I didn’t want her to notice and stop. Overall, she really seemed to enjoy the museum, and thought that the exhibits were such good ways to teach people.

I think I’m going to have to make this a two-parter- I feel like I’ve gone on forever as it is, but there is much more to tell! So…. To Be Continued. (If there’s interest. If I am prattling on and boring, just tell me!)

(If there’s interest. If I am prattling on and boring, just tell me!)

If you don't write more, I will kill you. Softly. With my song.

I agree that we should wait until Nilly returns to move on to the F2F 2005 issues. The important posts may (and probably will) get lost amongst the squealing and stories. One week will not kill us.

more stories ! NOW!

Sounds good. We can push the selection date back until Sept. 8th. That gives us an additional week. I'd still like us to do as much work as we can amongst the Nilly love right now.

Excellent Boston Adventures Part Two: They Eat Muppets, Don’t They?

After a while in the Math Room, I excused myself to run down to grab a bite to eat, which the entire group took as a cue to leave. (And I say again, I sincerely hope no one thought I was trying to rush them out. I would have been happy with the museum all day. I just needed calories.) vwbug and Emily suggested a place and we hopped a bus then took a nice stroll through town. On the way, we passed a used bookseller with a wide array of both mathy and Hebrew books. Seriously, it was about all the guy had out. It was eerie.

We restrained ourselves and made it to the café, which happily was Nilly-friendly. Nilly and I both decided to try something new with her foray into honey mustard dressing, and my tuna salad panini sandwich. Nilly seemed happy to see me pull a tomato off my sandwich, and we agreed that tomatos could only be tolerated if violently murdered and no longer anything resembling an actual tomato. This turned (of course) to a talk on who did and did not like olives, and then Emily and I related our feelings on the “mithril” display of the LOTR exhibit. (Long story short: an over-enthusiastic woman explained that mithril was not yet available in OUR world, and then proceeded to show us the closest thing, which was nothing like mithril at all. Except that it too, was metal.)

After our very good lunch, we parted ways with Emily and vw for a bit so they could nap (having had to get up to come fetch me for which I thank them SO MUCH!) and then walked down to Boston Commons. There is something so delicious about an unstructured sunny day with good company. DX played the part of a most excellent tour guide while we walked, and I heard stories that I’d either forgotten or hadn’t heard before. We saw the duck statues, then real ducks, as well as Canadian geese and a swan. It seemed that, with every bird we saw, I got a song from Sesame Street in my head. First it was “Doing the Pigeon” and then, of course “Rubber Ducky”. Someone (and I’m so sorry, now I can’t remember if it was DX or Matt) told us the story of a sketch on the show “The State”, in which someone’s house became infested with Muppets (BTW? Cutest infestation EVER.) and they started hunting them for food. Horrifying, yet funny. As we started walking the Freedom Trail, DX explained the history behind the statues and landmarks we saw, and we developed a theory that the best statues wear hats. It was enchanting to revisit so much history with Nilly there- she seemed so eager to hear it all that it was fun to learn it all again.

After a walk we decided to go see Bunker Hill and the U.S.S. Constitution, so we headed back to the museum to pick up DX’s truck. I pretended to be Emily to get our parking validated, and Nilly stood next to me and said “We’ll be right here, EMILY.” to keep me in character, which almost cracked me up. We all squished into the truck and drove to Charlestown, navigating by Driving Towards the Tall Things. We got a choice parking spot and listened to DX tell the story behind “Don’t shoot ‘till you see the whites of their eyes.” Funny thing- all the battles that are celebrated and remembered in Boston, and everyone one of those damn stories ended with “…we lost that one, too.”. It’s a wonder we ever won that war. Theodosia called while we were there, and we headed over to her place.

Yikes, it looks like there’ll have to be a part three now. I think I need an editor and should start leaving out the details!

I think I need an editor and should start leaving out the details!

Raise your hand if NO!

sorry ,need ALL the details. so keep typing Ms. Lilty Cash

raises hand