Boulder beginnings

Of course I'll be blogging from Colorado. It is the frontier, but they do have Internet.

Thanks for all you suggestions of what to do while I'm here. I'd like to get to Denver, but that may involve complex bus connections, so this weekend I'm planning to just stay local.

Although I have lived in the West before, I haven't been here in a while, and there's small amount of cultural adjustment required on my part. The people here are so relaaaxed. I forget how uptight we all are in DC. I like uptight. It's the German in me, what can I say?

With respect to local diversions, my taxi driver with the long bleached-blond hair  told me which radio show features good discussions about aliens, and I was invited on a hike (which I regretfully declined, due to the fact that my feet fall off if I get too much exercise). 

My environments here (both work and home) are startling different than those in Maryland. There are the mountains, of course, and the more arid landscape, which is cram-packed with emptiness. The house I live in is a step above a hovel, thank goodness, but only one step up. It seems like the kind of place that if there's a hole in the wall they shove some rags in to fill the gap. There is an alarming infestation of slow-moving beetles, and because Andrew has more or less convinced me that it's bad to kill bugs (except roaches, of course - I show them no mercy) I find that I carry one outside every fifteen minutes. The roomies seem most friendly, though, so I think I shall be fine. 

The physics building I work in is awesome. At home I share a concrete block office with eight other people. Here no more than three are in a room, and the room has (Are you ready for this?) windows! Which look out on to the campus from ten stories up! And let in natural light! So there's an actual live plant on my desk! (I must pause here for today, lest I exclaim myself into breathlessness. But the window does induce a bit of giddiness...)