On the flight to Boston

I was seated with a business consultant and a cyber security solution manager (thank you Dear Universe, very funny on both accounts!). The business consultant was very sociable and, in an old-school way, dove right into small talk with the cybersec guy on best security practices, on what can be done to up his Mac, Chinese and Russian Hackers, how there has been an increase of attacks from Russia, how things just got worse with the government silent blessing etc.

(...Naturally, by the time dialogue unfolds I already have work laptop open at the last 15 minutes of security educational overview, have Mitnick's "Art of Intrusion" book sticking out of the front sea
t's pocket and, catching the Consultant's glances at my screen every now and then, I'm ready at any moment to respond in the thickest Russian accent: "Wwwhat? I'm learrrning to haahck... Comrades!"

But the point of the story though is that the cybersec guy (apart from his own work laptop and small talks on what's going on with today's world) got himself busy with the Rubik's cube. He'd have the consultant scramble it every now and then, and then would work to solve it again while continuing the conversation. The consultant would time him every time, and the results would be around 5 minutes or less.

The cybersec guy explained:

- My 9 year old son really got into solving these. He was watching videos, practiced for 2-3 weeks, and got really good now. I couldn't do it but I didn't feel like having a 9 year old beating me, so I started practicing myself with the videos, and for the first couple of weeks it didn't make any sense and then I could follow the patterns better and better, and got faster. And now we have family contests between me and him: we time ourselves and see who'd get a better time. He still beats me a little.

Guess what was the first thing I added to my Amazon cart as I got to the hotel?

Rushing around the streets of Boston

thinking that I'll definitely bring family here just as soon as kids are mature enough to appreciate history

I forgot how big and clean the city is, and I think it just got more beautiful since my last time here.

The most amazing thing this time though is the view from the office window. I've no idea how I'd would get anything done had the desks been right by this window. Very distracting

Fun fact: my pre-covid wardrobe is still complete enough to not shop for anything this year, even given multiple family trips, regular hikes and workouts and business travel. Only... the business casual and dress code section seems to need a lot of dusting

... on the other hand some boys come home from summer camp wearing their favorite pair or shoes like this.