Bortherly Love

Philadelphia's not a far drive from Syracuse.. just about 4.5 hours or so. I have lots of Syracuse friends from the Philly area too, and SU Admissions takes many trips there. But somehow, until last week I hadn't visited since I was about 9 years old. On the way down my dad and I reminisced about that visit (now more than 15 years ago)-- we visited all the sites, the Liberty Bell, independence hall... and Dad at the time working for the American Steel industry had a connection at the Philadelphia mint... and we got to walk the floor sticking our hands in the newly printed coins... we also got a first look at the State-by-State quarter series that was about to release... remember before American quarters had State images on them, they had eagles? Yeah, I told you this was way back in the day. At nine I knew this was a special trip... not many kids get to visit the mint and see the plans for American currency for the following decade. But I think it was a little side story that Dad told me about our Philly trip that stood out to me the most the other day.

When I was nine, I saw my first homeless person in Philadelphia... now you may be surprised by this, but remember where I grew up... and vacations we had taken before this were often to family's suburban homes around the States. This may very well have been my first big city trip. Apparently I was struck by this man's misfortune and bombarded my parents with questions, exciting my brother with curiousity and before they knew it.. I desparately wanted to feed this homeless man my sandwhich. I don't remember anything about this part of our trip, but aparently to my parents it was quite a part of the weekend's discussions. I'd say at nine I was demonstrating qualities of my future composed self: intense curiousity and an unwillingness to give up on satiating it, an overwhelming concern for others almost never putting myself first, and an openness to asking questions and exploring similarities and differences in people.... and yes, I got all that self-analysis from a side story about a homeless man and my sandwhich from a trip to Philly when I was nine.

This trip to Philly was quite different. While yes, I did see some homeless people... there wasn't much touristy-exploring. Instead there was a 1pm arrival, and some lunch at the Reading Terminal Market... definitely visit this place while you're in town, and then some work in the hotel room. The iSchool once again hosted an evening presentation on social media... this time at the Comcast Center's (definitely check out the super cool video wall in the lobby) Table 31 restaurant. Back in the hotel around midnight, we were on the road again at 8:30am. The quick trip definitely peaked my curiosity though, and I'd love to go back soon... with lots of sandwhiches.

The Mouth of the Rat?

Last Tuesday night at 8pm I arrived in Boca Raton (I've spent a long time wondering why it's named that...) Last Thursday morning at 6am I left. But let me tell you that Wednesday in between was excellent. Sitting poolside in the sunshine (getting tons of work done... Anthony and I were the only ones at the pool who brought our laptops), wearing a sundress, flipflops kicked to the side. Just for a moment, it felt like a vacation.

However, we were of course there for work, so while it was all fun, it definitely wasn't all vacation.

Boca is an interesting place. The people who live there seem to love it there. There is in fact a majority older crowd, but it's apparently a hot place for younger professionals to be heading. And why not? Nice beaches, beautiful scenery (check out the photos below), good food, lots of sunshine, some big industry and good jobs, every restaurant chain and department store you can imagine... plus lots of tourists/visitors and easy trips to Miami, the Carribbean, and anywhere from JetBlue in Fort Lauderdale... while it's not a place for me, I see it's appeal. And hopefully i'll be back again soon.

**"The meaning of the name Boca Raton has always aroused curiosity. Many people wrongly assume the name is simply Rat’s Mouth. The Spanish word boca (or mouth) often described an inlet, while raton (literally mouse) was used as a term for a cowardly thief. But the “Thieves Inlet,” Boca Ratones, appeared on eighteenth century maps associated with an inlet in the Biscayne Bay area of Miami. By the beginning of the nineteenth century, the term was mistakenly applied to Lake Boca Raton, whose inlet was closed at the time. The “s” and later the “e” were dropped from this title by the 1920s, yet the correct pronunciation remains "Rah-tone". "** See http://ci.boca-raton.fl.us/city/areaprof/history.shtm for more Boca History.