Baird's Blog: January 2007

Exam season was a trying time, but I feel satisfied with my efforts. 2nd semester drops on the 16th. Over break, I visited Charlottesville, VA (home of UVA), Lancaster, Baltimore, Philly area, DC area, NJ, NYC, Boston, and Vermont. I have put in some efforts on my job search, while also catching up on some movies and television.

My running comeback is still coming back. I had a few stretches of 3-4 days, which were interrupted by this or that. I ran when I could, and still plan to phase it in over the next 6 months and see how it goes. I did my last mile on the treadmill at the Hyatt in Boston this week close to 6 min, finishing up at 5:30 pace, and my achilles is finally coming around.

Here are a few photos, left-click the photos to enlarge. Sorry, the way this is posting they are a little mixed up.

Happy New Year, mammals.

zoom zoom

After Boston, we headed further up North, to Vermont. We went skiing at Killington for 2 days, while staying in nearby Rutland.

You may notice the scarcity of snow--the weather was preposterously warm--50s and 60s. The first day of skiing was fine adequate, but the second, which was accompanied by sometimes downpouring rain, was rather poor. Still, I enjoyed participating in this wintertime activity for the first time in 10 years.

On Saturday, I decided to try snowboarding. "Riding", it turned out, was much harder than I realized. It was rather humbling to go from slashing through the double black diamonds on skis to literally not being able to put on my snowboard or disembark from the lift without falling. I had a few good moments, but most ended on my rear. I did not know how to stop, and was concerned to really get going. After a painful morning, I traded in the board for my trusty skis and never looked back.

We left in a downpour that probably was taking care of any remaining snow. After a lesson, Stacy won the Most Improved award for the weekend. We were both so sore that we were lumbering around like Frankenstein's monster.

All in all, the trip totalled 1100 miles.

Stacy and I headed North after New Years. We spent 1 night in New Haven, and 2 nights at the Hyatt in Boston. I had a few law firm functions, which went well. Here we are at the Garden for a Celtics game. The Celtics fell in an exciting game, where LeBron James showed why he's such a fabled basketballer by, among other clutch plays, making a last second shot across the court at the end of the 3rd quarter.

Hanging with frogs in Boston Common. Today was also the inauguration of the governor of MA, which was occurring quite near me and the frogs.

The Family Baird hits the Big Apple.

On tap: Tarzan on Broadway. It was entertaining, with hordes of singing, swinging gorillas.
Unfortunatly, I twisted my ankle the day before and hobbled around the City with a brace on.
Yes, that's right, I actually had a stretch of a few consecutive days of running before the untimely twist. My other mini-comeback was stopped in its tracks by a nasty stomach bug (or food poisoning?) the week before Christmas.
On a side note, I willed myself through a long dentist apointment in between spouts of vomit during the illness.