Took a delightful 3 day trip to Acadia National Park with some business school buddies. Acadia is alllll the way up there in Maine but it is amazing. The views up there were awesome and the weather was perfect for a couple great hikes. Here are my favorite pics from the weekend, click ‘em for the full size: (full gallery here)

Gorham Mountain View

Ocean View Near Otter Creek

Scotch on the Rocks!

The Crew!

Roosey & I embarked on our most audacious walk ever last weekend – a complete traverse of the Orange Line!

Downright crazy?

No, it was crazy enough to work, we did it and had a great time. Thanks to GPSy we were able to get some good walking stats and to geotag up some purty photos for your viewing pleasure, enjoy!!!

Oak Grove -> Malden Center -> Wellington – -> Sullivan Square -> Community College -> North Station -> Haymarket -> State Street -> Downtown Crossing -> Chinatown -> New England Medical -> Back Bay -> Mass Ave -> Ruggles -> Roxbury Crossing -> Jackson Square -> Stony Brook -> Green Street -> Forest Hills

Date of Walk: 9.26.2009
Total Time: 5h 41m 49s
Total Distance: 15.5m

I like how these photos blend together…

The snake in the first 2 photos was about 4 feet in the air in a large bush – not sure how he got up there but seemed to be enjoying life, tree snakes are a  somewhat terrifying proposition for city dwellers who are afraid of serpents…

The cat is my fave neighborhood kitty, Leah – nearly every day on the way home from work I see this friendly feline, always down for a lil’ headscratchy & some sidewalk stretching…

Jeremiah Weed Sweet Tea Flavored Vodka & Bourbon Whiskey, originally uploaded by nate_marsh.

As the result of a yet undisclosed massively cool project I became the proud owner of some 80+ miniature liquors, more commonly known as “nips”.

These cute little fellows share varying degrees of likeness to their 750ml parent bottles but all share the joy of 50ml of pure fun. Using my lil’ light tent, I made a set of photos of these characters, trying fairly hard to match up the lighting & the colors. I am pleased with the results.

Fairly soon I will introduce an interesting application of these carefree shots, but for know you can simply lose yourself in this forest of booze!

Magic Machine, originally uploaded by nate_marsh.

This is a shot of one of many painfully awesome kinetic sculptures by Arthur Ganson that you can find at the MIT Museum. Most of them involve some type of viewer input, a little hand crank or a button on the floor to start up the gears & other weird things strung together to create his odd yet beautiful machines.

The MIT Museum is right off Mass Ave near Central Square – if you’ve never gone you are missing out on a Boston nerd-gem (they have a lot of sweet robot/hologram stuff as well!)

Blue Jet, originally uploaded by nate_marsh.

There’s a neat spot in Boston where you can watch planes, like this puppy, as they land. They zip by right above you on their final approach to the runway – they are huge and loud at this point, pull out all the stops for the last 1/2 mile.
I really like the way this one turned out!

Leah, originally uploaded by nate_marsh.

This is a friendly local feline (FLF) that spends its day sunning on top of parked cars and waiting for a for some free petting.
You had me at “meow”!

Just Ducky, originally uploaded by nate_marsh.

Look at this little fellow!

When I first saw your price on the syllabus,
I couldn’t believe it was serious

“The TI BA II + Professional is required for Finance”
And it costs more than a meal in France!

I thought “$70 dollars for a stupid calculator?”
I would soon eat my words for being a hater

Our first couple outings left me less then impressed
I got the wrong answers no matter what buttons I pressed

(I know that last rhyme is pretty lame
but those words are not technically the same)

After a few classes,  I began feeling more comfortable with you…
And against all odds – we formed a friendship, pure and true

Suddenly mortgage schedules were simply a joke
And PV/FV? Just a single key stroke

We tore through annuities and destroyed cash flows
We became more than friends – we became bros

As our relationship progressed you noticed Excel
A being of 100% pure awesomeness and well…

It’s not really fair to compare the two of you
One is rubber, the other glue

After a lot of arguments and misty digital eyes
I think we’ve worked to a fair compromise

The most difficult stuff goes into a spreadsheet
I’m sorry buddy, but those formulas are totally sweet

But as for other calculators -  don’t worry your pretty little head
Your are my calc 4 life – if I stray let the Lord strike me dead!

Giant Soccer, originally uploaded by nate_marsh.

Waiting for some peeps in NYC I saw some soccer team warming up and kicking around a giant soccer ball – they had a crazy flag that said ‘Chinatown Soccer Club’. What made it all the better was that it looks and moves similar to a real ball, knocking people over and causing mayhem but luckily making the perspective amusing in these photos…