Weeknote #49 (20250824-20250830)

meta

It’s been quite a while since I spent a week in the NYC area and I’ve missed it.

hofstra move-in / orientation / welcome week

  • Sunday, we got up, got some bagels for breakfast, and then did yet more dorm room shopping for Mx18
  • Mx18’s move in-window was 3pm-9pm, but when we rolled up at around 245pm, we went right into the registration process, got a mini-tour of their dorm, and then started unloading the car. We ended up needing to make a couple trips from the hotel to the dorm, but eventually everything got unloaded, we assembled a few small furniture items, took a little break to get some dinner, and then around 8pm, TheWife and I left Mx18 at the dorm and came back to our hotel room
  • Monday was Parent Orientation day - we started by getting more bagels, then spent most of the day listening to one presentation or another. Mx18 had their own distinct orientation events, but we saw them for a bit after we were both done, then TheWife and I grabbed some dinner and returned to the hotel
  • Tuesday we met up with Mx18 for breakfast and a little hanging out before their orientation program started — and then they gave TheWife and I a ride to the train station and we headed into the city proper. Some LIRR and a couple subways later, we settled into …not the nicest part of Long Island City I’ve ever stayed in (but it was fine). I introduced TheWife to Fifth Hammer Brewing, we had some dinner, and cashed out
  • Wednesday was our Manhattan day — we grabbed some bagels in LIC, ran an errand or two, and then took the subway down to Washington Square Park, and started walking north. We paused for this and that, had some sushi at a random hole-in-the-wall sushi/ramen place, had a couple beers at Judge Roy Bean Public House, and then eventually took the subway back to the hotel for a nap. All in all we walked a little over 10 miles!
  • Wednesday evening we met up with a former co-worker of mine at John Brown BBQ for a lovely dinner / catchup session
  • Thursday we got up early and took the subway/LIRR back out to Hofstra to meet up with Mx18. Their roommate and their suitemates were moving in, and they wanted to stay out of the way, so we mostly just hung out with them all day — breakfast at a classic diner, various errands, some lunch, etc. Their welcome week events started at 3pm, and around 230pm, after a while of sitting with us on a bench outside their dorm (with all of us quietly blubbering), they said, “I guess y’all can leave now”. We took the hint and got a car back to the LIRR, and hot-messed ourselves all the way back to our Queens hotel
  • Thursday evening we met up with a different group of ex-co-workers at Anable Basin, and had a few pitchers of beer while catching up with them. It was a nice way to wind down the trip
  • Friday, we bargained our way into a slightly later checkout time, sat around the hotel for a bit, got packed up, and elected to take a car back out to JFK (managing suitcases, etc., on the subway was a bit of a drag on the way end…) Our flight wasn’t until 530pm, so we ended up sitting at a concourse back for a couple hours. Flight home was uneventful, as was the drive home after that
  • And that, was that!

things i did that weren’t college trip things

  • I’ve mentioned in the past doing the Willamette U Data Science Masters as a part-time thing. I’ve been having trouble getting signed up for the HHMI educational benefit (I missed a deadline I didn’t know about because it was buried in a FAQ document that’s only linked in a very weird location), so I withdrew from my class while waiting for things to resolve. I’ll either sign up back next week (if the benefit comes through) or shelve the idea for the moment (if, as seems likely, it doesn’t) sigh
  • Updated the git.genehack.org forgejo instance

photo

Love a good crepuscular ray

I do love a good crepuscular ray…

looking forward to

Not exactly looking forward, I guess, but I am anticipating getting settled into a new Mx18-less routine.