Life After Grad School

- Make friends with the smell of chlorine, we can’t help it
- Pam cooking spray can be found in the triathlon bag, not the kitchen
- Food is never safe!
- Yes, we really do need multiple pairs of swim suits, running shoes, goggles, cycling shorts, bicycles etc.
- Body glide is not nearly as sexy as it sounds
- We don’t need no stinking television, except to watch the Tour de France, the Ironman Hawaii and the Swimming World Championships and contrary to the common homo sapiens we find all of the above fascinating
- We run, bike and swim, and we can talk about it non-stop
- More than one rainy day and we have a severe case of cabin fever
- Depending on disposition we collect, give away, wear or make quilts or pillow cases out of race T-shirts

indecision
: a wavering between two or more possible courses of action

I am frequently plagued by bouts of indecision. Sometimes it’s driving me crazy, other times it’s just funny. And it’s the little things that get me. Like last night. I left work a little after 5pm and went to the MIT student center to read a few more chapters of the book that’s been hogging all my attention these days. I read for an hour until it was time for swim practice and then … decided that I’d really rather go home than plunge into a cold pool. So, I packed up, walked over to the bus stop, stood there in the cold for what seemed like an eternity, no bus came. At this point it occurred to me that I was being ridiculous and, since I was already there with no ride home approaching, I might as well go to practice. Which I did and very much enjoyed. Could one possibly be less decisive?

When checking out the MBTA’s new trip planner, I did a search for transit services near my home. As a vast improvement from previous versions the results now include a map. On it I found a curious landmark: the Holy Ghost Hospital. Funny, I didn’t think a hospital with that name existed in Cambridge. A little bit of research unearthed the following facts: the Youville Hospital used to be called the Holy Ghost Hospital for the Incurables (now that will cheer you up!) until it was renamed in 1970 in memory of its founder, Marguerite D’Youville, incidentally the first Canadian born saint. How information this old made it onto a digital map copyrighted in 2007 beats me. But thanks for the history lesson anyways!