When I enter the word domestic into the handy dictionary dashboard widget that gracefully swoops onto my screen every time I press <F12>, I am presented with two disparate definitions:

The full definitions are actually a bit more verbose, but I like leaving 2 simply as a definition of what domestic does not mean. As it happens, it is about definition 2 which I wish to write in this post.

For whatever reason, most of my travelling exploits have taken place in far away lands. These are places which people gleefully leave every day to come to America and work jobs at which we slightly-less-recent immigrants turn up our noses. For the most part I have loved these destinations. A small sampling of my pictures from one such adventure can be viewed in this gallery. This year, however, everything was different. This year I boarded a plane that did not fly over any vast oceans or cross any potentially hostile borders (you can never be too sure these days). This year I went to a younger version of the Old World. I went to the East Coast.

Somehow I got away with calling myself American for 26 years having never laid eyes on such staples of Americana as Washington, D.C. and New York City. I am convinced that someone would have stopped me before I hit 27. Now, that will not be necessary. The trip was loads of fun. I travelled alone, but was practically always accompanied by one or more friends. Friends who experienced a severe mental lapse (hopefully temporary) and decided to move from, say, La Jolla, CA to New York, NY. OK maybe that picture doesn't do the entire East Coast justice. In fact, I found both D.C. and Boston to be exceptionally beautiful cities.

In D.C. I was able to see a truckload of important gumment sites and monuments. I also spent a lovely afternoon in the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum. Working with Brian and Chris in the Polimetrix D.C. office was entirely enjoyable. In New York I hung out with my friends Kristi, Peter, Scott, and William. I went to Times Square and saw a production of Rent on Broadway. In Boston I checked out MIT and Harvard and I attended a Red Sox game in Fenway Park. Really, I could not have asked for more from a ten day jaunt (three of which I was working).

Check out my photos from the trip to see how I spent my time.

A huge thanks to Brian, Kristi, Peter and the Schwer family, Scott, and Courtyard by Marriott for your unconditional hospitality.