Walk for Autism

As most of you know Lauren is completing her directed study and undergraduate honors thesis in the study of autism. In an effort to raise money for research and to find new participants for our studies, the lab that I work at will be walking as a team. We are called Boston University Making Strides and we need need to beat Teamster local 25!! That's $130,000! So donate today at the link below!

Donate Today!! This will redirect you to my WALK FOR AUTISM personal page!

Donate as much as you'd like, and most importantly please spread the word.

what lauren did this summer

I had an amazing summer in Boston. I lived with the Huangs (kim, harry, brady and dillon) where every morning and night was an adventure. Then during the day I went to a camp in Charlestown (in Boston) to work with 5 11-13 year old boys with Aspergers syndrome. It's pronounced "ass burgers" and one boy who was interested in the latter found this to be very funny. The idea of eating something made of that part of the body doesn't really seem very appetizing to me either. But then what do I know, I am an herbivore. So here is a glimpse, a day in the life, of my summer camp experience...

YouthCare Video on Boston Channel

enjoy! (You might see me in the background if you look closely!)

New York finale, the Cabin, Camp, and the Hall of Presidents

I left New York, came home to Maryland for a while, then went back to Boston to begin RA training. I just had my first floor meeting with my residents this morning. We trained for about two weeks including a two day stint at Camp Burgess. I have included a couple of pictures in New York, a picture that gives a taste of the new look in the cabin, some shots of the Cape Cod camp, and some shots that I took of my floor decorations that follow the theme, The Hall of Presidents.

Gary's Trip to Visit Lauren in Boston

I left on Friday after class to surprise Lauren in Boston. We played Wii, went to the beach, and walked around the city a little bit. I made my way to Boston and back via the Fung Wah bus. In the slide show are photos from my journey and visit.

Ashley and Jamie in the city!

I'm working in Boston this summer at a summer camp for children with autism. Ashley and Jamie were able to ride up with me, though I drove the 7 hours on my own. I definitely have a new respect for big Gary and anyone else who has to make this drive with a quick turn around. There is no way I would drive this roundtrip in a weekend! (At least not just yet!)

The three of us got to Boston in the afternoon and after checking in to their hotel, we met the Huangs in Chinatown for dinner. A long day of driving left us pretty tired, so we went back and planned to tour the city in the morning. We drove to Kaity's house (Ashley and Jamie's next location) then walked to the T. Once downtown we took the Old Town Trolley tour and saw most of the hot tourist spots. We lunched at P.F. Changs and then viewed the city from the Top of the Hub, the second tallest building in Boston. It was just a taste of the city, but everyone seemed to have a good time. I think Boston will always be special to them anyway...

Below are some photos of the trip. Enjoy.

Summer in New York City

I am now living in the Brooklyn Heights neighborhood, where Bob Dylan, Norman Mailer, Truman Capote and a host of others have lived. It is very cool and happening. I commute into school each day by subway to the CUNY Graduate Center on Fifth Avenue. I study Greek there all day and then go home to Brooklyn and study Greek all night. I like the people in the program and the instructors are friendly and personable and I'm learning Greek with amazing rapacity. I really like New York thus far. I've been splitting dinner between the pizza place and Chinese Restaurant right next to my building and have managed to find some time to stroll around the neighborhood, go to a movie and to see Vampire Weekend today at Central Park Summerstage. It rained hard nearly the entire time, but it was still a great time. There are some pics of the family in Brooklyn Heights, my walk to school on 34th Street from 7th Avenue to 5th Avenue, the Summerstage concert, and my walk back to the Lexington Ave. subway stop past Madison and Park Avenues. Don't worry about getting all the streets straight. Just check out the pictures. Some are pretty neat.


Lauren just added some of her pics as well, check them out!

help us to win a dyson!

just click, hey maybe you'll win it!

At the Red Hat for Drew's Birthday/Graduation

I just figured I would post some pictures of my friends so people can see what they look like.

Marathon Monday

Marathon Monday is so named because a few things happen on this day; the Boston Marathon, no school thus a 3 day weekend, and a lot of alcohol consumption. Gary and I had a lot of work so really we didn't participate in any parts of it. We did however get to witness some of the Marathon near BU and eat a delicious pizza (The Upper Crust) in the Boston Common. I am now finished all of my papers (edits remains however) and Gary is still slaving away. We'll be back in Maryland in just a few weeks; wow how this semester has flown! As usual here is a slide of what we've been up to:

a night at the castle

We went to the castle Saturday night, March29th. The castle looks really big and beautiful from the outside, but inside it is only beautiful. I suppose to keep heating costs down people in the medieval times liked to be cozy. Not that it was small, it just wasn't huge. We ate sundried tomato penne and asiago cheese tortellini, delicious! The cake was also amazing with a yummy chocolate mousse in the middle. We had hors devours, ate dinner, and then danced the night away. I sleep like a baby that night!

Here are some pictures from the evening...

In Like A Lion

Well, we are now in April. It isn't very cold anymore, although it does rain a good bit. Today Lauren and I had a good time. I got a new bag and blazer at the Goodwill in Somerville. Lauren got a new outfit and we each got a few books. After that we saw Juno. We just finished our semi-regular Sunday food binge at the BU Towers dining hall and are now doing internet things at the computer lab. Above is a picture of Lauren doing some internet things.

In 23 days I will have completed the spring semester. Lauren will have another week, I think. Lauren has secured a job as an overseer of a group of autistic kids at a camp in Charlestown. She'll be living with Kim and Harry. I am awaiting a reply from the Latin/Greek Institute in New York City to see if I have been accepted into their Greek language program. I'm not sure if I'll get in or not as I don't have very much experience with studying languages. If I'm not accepted, I might try to study German at Middlebury College in Vermont, or stay in Boston studying and working. I've been accepted as an RA for next school year. If anyone has any ideas for a floor theme, let me know.

Since the last post, we have each been home for Spring Break. We went skiing in Vermont at Okemo Mountain. Kim, Harry, Brady and Dillon came along. Brady was not very successful in his attempt at skiing. Vermont was a lovely place. We had some good apple pie and I bought some nice postcards with pictures of cows. I still haven't decided to whom I shall send them.

Following the trip, we returned to Boston and played Cranium. We left the next day, leaving Lauren to resume her classes. All I remember about the trip home was that we ate at a Ruby Tuesday's.

Once home I spent a good deal of time hanging out with Pop and my parents. I dined at D'Lorenzo's Pizza twice and conversed with the proprietor-woman in Italian after we had a mutual revelation. It turns out that she is originally from Palermo in Sicily and I originally spent four months living in Sicily. I saw some friends and family, opened a new checking account, and then returned to Boston. Since then we've been studying and entertaining ourselves. We also went to a dance. I'll have to get Lauren to post pictures of us at the dance as we were looking resplendent. Well, I hope this blog has been informative, educational, and a pleasure to read. I'll try to keep everyone posted. Here are a few other odd shots.

Lauren and Gary in Winter

Yesterday we went to Walden Pond. Lauren had never been there, and I wanted to get a sense of what it must have been like to live there, as Thoreau did. It was very quiet. The ground was covered in fresh snow and the pond is still completely frozen over. In the warmer months, either leaves or pine needles shuffle around as you walk, there is a sway to the foliage and the water ripples. In the winter, nothing moves. The trees are heavy with snow and there is only a slight compacting sound as you walk. On a bright sunny day like it was yesterday, I can imagine Henry would have been feeling warm and content in his little alcove and cabin. But as the sun goes down and the light becomes so unsaturated and the temperature drops sharply off, it would be trying and intimidating, facing each night all alone.
We walked to the reserve, checked out the pond and cabin site, walked back, got pizza which tasted a lot like Steak & Shake, and rode back to the city. The other pictures in the slide show are from the other snowy days.

A few weekends ago, my parents, Pop, and Pat came up to visit. In the above photo they are at the Haymarket and standing by fish. We walked around the city, and went to Quincy Market, the Somerville Theater to see "Charlie Wilson's War", Whole Foods, the library at Copley, L'Osteria in the North End, Kim's House, and a few places on Charles Street for pizza and breakfast, respectively. My mom writes about the experience more on her blog. Everybody stayed in the city on Friday night. Lauren and my mom cuddled in her twin bed over at BU and the other four of us camped around my room. A good time was had by all. Here is a slideshow. I also threw in some old Childrens' Museum and BU Guitar Hero pics.

Gary turns 21!

This post is a little late, but better late than never...

Gary turned 21 one day after the groundhog decided that winter would be 6 six weeks longer! :( Not a sad face to the monumental 21st, but rather to the groundhog who has been right, oh so very right.

To celebrate the weekend Gary Sr., Kelly, Pop Doug, and Pat came to Boston! Friday morning was a mess! We set out toward Faneuil Hall from the far end of the Boston Common on foot. Normally a great walk, a view of the state house, some rather large squirrels and a glimpse at Gare's old dorm. This particular day, was perhaps the worst day to see these sights. For one it was raining, no pouring! And to top it off it was windy, not freezing cold at first but once you walk for so long drenched to the bone you'll feel cold regardless. Kelly's lined pants were soaked through, and probably pretty heavy! Pop's umbrella didn't hold up very well to the wind. And big Gary was running from building to building for shelter, but still managed to fully drench himself. Gare and I are just plain tough, so it didn't faze us at all! (ha!)

We ate at Quincy Market for about 4.5 hours until we throughly dried off. Pat bought some "gifties", Pop bought some food, and the rest of us just enjoyed the warm and dry. A fireplace would have been oh so nice.

The six of us took the T to a movie in Somerville, "Charlie Wilson's War." I highly recommend it, it has nudity, love, and some history lessons- a perfect selection for our crowd. The popcorn was superb, I think it was with real butter! (Nothing like that cheap butter powder!)

Friday night we stayed in the city with the Garys, Pop, and Pat at Gare's apartment and Kelly and I in my dorm room. Both places seemed to have lively parties going on so no one missed out on any dancing fun.

Saturday was spent shopping for Gare's awesome new Camper shoes, a lovely tour of Newbury street sans RAIN!!! :) And then a delicious dinner at La Osteria with the four Huangs. We were all pretty tired from the previous days' excitement but managed to stick it out.

On Sunday we ate lunch at a pizza place near Gare's room, then watched the game. Life went on as usual. No drunken runnings through the common or public displays of drunkeness to be had on this 21st. Thank goodness, he doesn't have a roommate to clean up the mess!


Gare opening a present from my parents, a coffee table book with pictures about Syracusa (where we lived in Sicily).


Pat and Pop at Kim's for birthday cake and gifts.

Boston - Apartment and Snow in Common