Well, I'm at the synchrotron now, in my room in Cavendish House. Thank goodness for in-room ethernet. I had such a long travel day. I left for the airport at 7AM this morning, and I didn't get into my room until 10PM. I think I'll just go through the highlights...

Airplane:

• I had an aisle seat in the last row of the plane, so I got to hear everyone who went to the bathroom.
  
• I had to keep getting up for the people in my row when they went to the bathroom. I only went to the bathroom once during the entire 5 hour flight. They went at least four times each.
  
• There was this annoying Chinese family in the back of the plane who apparently just sat there at random, causing all the valid ticketholders to find new seats. And I hate how the Chinese use guilt to get what they want.
  

JFK Airport:

• I will never voluntarily fly to JFK ever again. It is one of the worst laid out airports I've ever been in. Plus the baggage claim is in this tiny room, which you have to walk through just to get outside.
  
• I had to walk around for 10 minutes just to find the courtesy phone for shuttles because nothing was marked.
  

Shuttle:

• I had to wait over 30 minutes for my shuttle when it was supposed to arrive in 15 minutes or less.
  
• It was a full van, and I was the last stop (out of six).
  
• Stop 1: Garden City is a pretty nice, rich neighborhood. I liked looking at the houses and thought how this might not be all that bad.
  
• Stop 2: another nice little town. Instead of getting on the highway afterwards, we went down Sweet Hollow Drive, an overforested one-lane two-way road. It wound around, and we even passed a horse stable.
  
• Stop 3: We dropped off two ladies who just returned from a resort in Turkey, where they picked up a 5-week old stray cat. They had it loose in the van. The lady from Stop 2 gave them a kitty carrier, but when they put the cat inside, it shit. So we had to smell cat shit for about 20 minutes until we got to their destination. And it was BAD cat shit smell.
  
• Stop 4: Some family that just came back from San Thomas. They live in Stonybrook.
  
• Stop 5: Some kid from LA that is going to SUNY Stonybrook. He didn't know where to go to check in, so we had to drive around a bit. Then the kid and driver got out to look around. That gave me some time to check out the background on the driver's cell phone (It's a naked chick holding her breasts).
  
• Stop 6: Brookhaven National Labs, finally. Unfortunately, I was now alone with this manic ADD driver who was wearing an ugly black t-shirt with giant heads of Elton John and Billie Joel on it. Not a desirable prospect given that he made several inappropriate comments about the young girls on the Stonybrook campus. We finally made it to BNL, and the guard let us in with minimal hassle. It's now 9:30, and the van ride has taken three hours now. Of course, the housing office, which is supposed to be open until midnight, is now closed. So I have to go to the police station and talk to a guard through a thick plexiglass layer to get my keys.
  

All I got to say is, thank god for in-room ethernet.