Thai Dinner? Maybe...

I think I'll try a Thai restaurant today. A guy from the lab asked if
I wanted to go to dinner. I really don't want to go but I think it is
important to socialize with the people here. After all I'm staying
here 6 months... Let's see what happens.

Fortaleza

I'm here in Boston but I can't forget my Fortaleza (soccer team). This morning the sub-15 team beat Gremio 2x1 and has advanced to the semi-finals of the tournament. Our forward was called to join the Brazilian squad. :) The sub-18 years old is playing now against Flamengo and we are winning 1x0. Let's hope the result continues to be in our favor. And later today the professional team will play Guarany in the state cup. I want 3 victories today!

(UPDATE: Fortaleza won on sub-15, sub-18 but only manage a 1x1 on the professionals. But it was okay!)

Got my card

Hurray!!! I got my NEU card (see picture) but no luck on registering for the gym/squash. I now have to find a letter with my visiting offer to take to the people there. Just bureaucracy. They say they need the letter to confirm I'm working here. But I have a NEU card! And I had to use the letter to get this card. So isn't the card enough proof?! Go figure! But I think tomorrow I'll be able to go to the gym here... and then I can also use the shower here and don't have to worry about it in the house.  

Pictures of the Lab

Since I was the first here this morning (and BTW last one to leave yesterday), I took some pictures of part of the lab. I'll post one of the conference room sometime in the future. The first picture is from one side of the lab where two offices (each sits 5 people) can be seen. The second picture is my office which I like quite a lot because it has a lot of natural light. The last picture is from the common room area. You can see the two printers on the back and a white board that is always being used. 

The labs are always full meaning that they have plenty of people working and more trying to work. Today they have more interviews for a post-doc position. One curiosity about the picture on the wall is that it is bio-inspired. All the art here relates to cells in the human body. Quite nice I think.

Different world! Right World?

The longer I stay here the more impressed I get with people living here. Take for instance the situation now here in the T. The guy sitting in front of me is reading a book on Gödel's proof while the other next to me is reviewing a paper from IEEE transactions. We rarely see here people just doing nothing or reading Oprah's magazine. They read a lot and concentrate on things that matter.

Just now both people reading the book and the article left at Kendall station. Do you know what is on Kendall station? MIT. Everything is explained now!