Boston

Boston has been a blast. It started on the plane ride over. I met this guy named Dan, who was a chemical salesman from Boston. AmGen, I think. He told me that a critical part of being a salesman is offering suggestions. He noted that when you compare prices and products at different stores, you are most likely to buy something from the salesman who tells you "what you really need is something that does this, and this is the product that does that." Instead of someone who says "yeah, I think that is a good choice." I thought that was interesting.
Here in Boston, I have gotten excited about research, and realized that a lot of people have no idea what they are doing, and just are publishing what they have found. So I think I'm on the right track with my having no idea. It comes naturally for me. I also saw some interesting approaches to things, and was inspired to try some different stuff when I get home. Things that impressed me were the way people handled the changing of pathways throughout developmental cycles, and how they used a combination of techniques to conquer problems.
Today we got tired of the conference (it's been three days of listening to lectures from 9 to 10 with short coffee breaks and an hour lunch with feta cheese) so we decided to see a little bit of Boston. We saw Bunker Hill, the Old North Church while listening to Dad read Longfellow, and even saw the MIT museum which was really interesting and motivating.