The Mutter Muuseum - Philadelphia, PA

Everyone knows the cliché that a picture is worth a thousand words. Unfortunately, the Mutter Museum does not allow photographs or else this entry would be approximately 1.000.000 words long, minus all the reading that would entail. Rather, I will try to describe the contents of the Mutter Museum in a whole lot less verbiage.

It is beyond my comprehension why certain museums do not allow photography. From athe perspective of medical museums or exhibits like the Mutter Museum or the Bodies Exhibit, I would assume it is a show of respect for the deceased and the deceased's family. However, most of these specimens belongs to people who died over a century ago. If my great-great-great grandfather's gigantic bowel obstruction is found somewhere in the Mutter Museum, I would not care if someone felt the need to document it with their cell phone or digital camera. Hell, I would encourage it if only to spread the dangers of gigantic bowel obstructions. A wonderful thought following the gluttony known as Thanksgiving.

Speaking of the dangers of gigantic bowel obstructions...

This photo of Kim Jong Ill, the North Korean Nuclear antagonist, shows up on google when searching images for 'gigantic bowel obstruction'. If that's the case, they might be more dangerous than I originally thought.

Obstructions of the bowel aside, imagine, since I can not show you any pictures, if medical specimens were baseball cards and kids still put baseball cards in their bicycle spokes. I have trouble with this mental imagery since my parents’ generation was the last to do this. My grandparents were not willing to pay for collectible nostalgia like the generations just previous to mine and those since. My theories on nostalgia purchase aside, this Mutter guy had enough medical specimens to fill all of the bike spokes on the East Coast. They would be disgusting, messy bicycles, but I think my point is clear. The Mutter Museum contains a whole lot of medical specimens, vintage medical equipment, and paraphernalia. It was a sight worth seeing, especially if you had a student ID to take $4 off the entrance fee.

And naturally, here is a picture of me in front of the museum to satisfy those you stuck on the url for this blog.

Geocaching - What nerds do when they want to go outside!

Maybe the title is a little harsh, but I did take a break from my chemist job to use my GPS and find a plastic container next to an abandoned lot...





Yeah, that's my nerd coat right there.


For those of you who don't know, geocaching is essentially treasure hunting with a GPS. On geocaching.com there are a plethora of lists of caches and their coordinates. A geocacher (usually a nerd like me) can download the coordinates to their GPS and then go look for the cache's hiding place. Once the cache is found, there is usually a log and often items to trade. In this instance, I left a Sponge Bob Cachepants pathtag and took a mini-teddy bear. The idea is the next cache I find or the next nerd who finds this particular cache will trade more items.



Essentially, it's a modern treasure hunt mixed with a swap meet. I like to compare it to real-life World of Warcraft. Though I do not play WoW, the idea of going on a quest to search for treasure seems pretty comparable between the two. That and the nerds...


Regardless of the nerdiness level, geocaching is a good excuse to go outside and see exotic locales like Rahway, NJ...

At least it was good excuse to get outside!

Veteran's Day Eve - Twin Lights State Historic Site

Ooooh, that's pretty isn't it?!

That's the view from the north tower of the Twin Lights State Historic Site in Atlantic Highlands, New Jersey. Late Sunday morning, I did not intend on visiting this historic site, but ended up here because the New Jersey Veterans Memorial was crowded. In case you forgot, Veteran's Day is on Tuesday. Be sure to thank a veteran for the sacrifices s/he and her/his family have made for our country. Since the memorial was crowded, I headed north to return to my apartment. On the Garden State Parkway, I spied a sign for a historic site I had not yet visited. Being a sucker for random historic sites, I took a detour to the historic lighthouse that overlooks Sandy Hook National Recreation Area and New York Harbor.

It was a lovely November day and I climbed to the top of the north tower. In case you are concerned, Twin Lights is not a misnomer. There is a south tower which is not open to the public.

The lighthouse is situate high on a hill overlooking the harbor and with the beautiful weather, my fellow visitors and I were afforded a beautiful view.

But aside from that view, here is what this blog is really all about...

ME IN FRONT OF STUFF!

That's me in the north tower acting casual and soaking up the lovely day.

And I am glad that it was a lovely Veteran's Day weekend and the memorial was crowded or I might have missed out on such a great view on such a lovely day.