Weekend

My little sister came into town on Thursday night for an interview at BU, which she apparently rocked. On Friday, we met up and rolled south to Providence, where we met up with redmed and went out for awesome sushi. redmed has already mentioned the dragon roll, pictured to the right.

On Saturday we went North to the Science Museum, where there was a Star Wars exhibit with lots of robotics goodness. There was also a butterfly garden, and a 2.5MV Van De Graff generator. I liked that part, though I totally failed to get a picture of the sparks.

For a Valentines surprise, I had scored a room at the Commander hotel, where George Washington assumed command of the rebel forces as Vader was consolidating his hold on the empire. Or something. I get confused on this stuff. Anyway, when it snows, Washington looks like a conehead.

The concert by Apollo’s Fire (the Cincinnati Baroque) was amazing. The ensemble was young and dynamic, and the space was a lot of fun. The high point was that I learned about a totally novel instrument. The theorbo is a form of archlute, apparently. They augment a traditional lute with 8 drone strings which are played un-fretted to add a built-in continuo. It ROCKED! This instrument is so cool, I have no idea why it died out. The rest of the ensemble was pretty cool too.

Then, as has been noted in other sources, there was a little snow. We ate a leisurely brunch at Henrietta’s Table before coming home. I had never thought of starting my day with oysters before … but it turns out to go pretty well.