Botolophston wins the crown!

Today, what I could have billed, MTV-style, as "Gus Van Horn Unplugged Week" draws to a close. (Or perhaps "untethered" would be a better term.) I'll be back in Houston tonight and, after a weekend of catching up on the news and my usual blogs, I'll be closer to my usual mode of blogging than I have been over the past week.

Of course, between not being sure of whether I'd have Internet access at all in a couple of places and then having to pull a work-related all-nighter before I left town (thus having nothing composed in advance until just this past Saturday), I was more sure of it being "Gus Van Horn -- Not" week. All things considered, I am pretty happy with the past week of blogging despite being so out-of-touch, and think I might have learned a lesson or two on how I can proceed after my relocation here.

Usually, when I go somewhere new, I take a morning stroll with a camera, and like last year with Telluride, some of my photos make it here. No photos this time, though. I finally got to take my traditional morning stroll, but I didn't want to wake my wife for the camera, and I'd forgotten to pack the USB adapter for it anyway.

So I'll jot down a few notable memories from the Boston leg of our trip instead....

• On the walk, I found a very old church that would serve as a fitting metaphor for religion itself. It was somehow beautiful and malevolent-looking all at once. Religion bundles together good, higher emotions (e.g., love and reverence) and evil moral teachings (centered on human sacrifice). Don't think that just because blood isn't literally being spilled that sacrifice isn't taking place and never let anyone convince you that self-sacrifice is any less human -- or noble in any way -- just because victim and performer are one and the same.
  
• Within that area was a street -- St. Botolph -- whose Tolkienesque name piqued my curiosity. Wikipedia had nothing on him, but a Google search answered our question of what he might be the patron saint: Boston itself! And the town's name is derived from his, too!
  
• Last night, after going to bed, my wife and I were awakened by horn-honking and yelling in the street. It made me question whether our read on the neighborhood was right after all -- until I checked the news this morning and found this. Twenty points is an ass-kicking. This was nearly forty! Myrhaf's looking to next year and the NBA finals played right into sibling rivalry this year: My wife's city bests my sister-in-law's.
• We got to have lunch with one of my old friends and his wife. He also has an interesting, but time-consuming avocation: He's a comedian.
• We had dinner with another friend who's also part of a couple moving from Houston to Boston. His wife and son will probably end up here around the same time I do.
  
• I witnessed an overwhelming display of love for a daughter by her parents. My in-laws made this move almost vacation-like for us with all their help!
• Last but not least, I had the pleasure during my stay in Boston of meeting one of my fellow Objectivist bloggers for a sociable pint at this very old and very charming pub. Also in the pub while we were there was a cast member of a popular television series, but that would have gone right over my head had it not been pointed out to me....

Next time, there will be pictures!

-- CAV