The Phillips Family Connection: Fall into Boston

Greetings from Boston! This is one of my favorite places in the world, and I've been fortunate enough to spend more than just a "passing through" here this week! In the past, I've only been here a couple times during snowy winter, so to be able to see the colors changing amidst the trees has been everything you think of when you picture this season.

The real reason I'm here is because my company was kind enough to oblige my request to attend UIE 13, a conference for user-centered designers and usability professionals. My gal Amy from Chicago was able to attend as well, which was even more reason to be excited since we attended every session together. I arrived a day into the conference on Monday evening, so I picked up with the sessions Tuesday through Thursday. It's nice to attend a professional development event that you actually care about, rather than a forced attendance. I feel I learned some new techniques, strategies, and ideas to take with me back to my team.

I'm staying just across the Charles River from downtown, which means I'm in Cambridge! The land of brainiacs who go to MIT and Harvard! My best friend from high school, Evan, was one of these and when I asked him for activity suggestions, he immediately responded with, "Go run the Charles River!" Now a work conference is like taking a vacation from work...which means, who wants to workout? I was compelled enough to set out on foot, however, and before I knew it I had jogged 5 miles to downtown Boston and back across the river - so awesome! It was such a pleasant jog and went by so quickly because I didn't care about the running, I was taking in everything I love about this place!

The only alarming (literally) thing that has occurred this week was the following. Around 2:40am this morning, I woke to beeping. Loud beeping. "But I set my phone alarm and it doesn't sound like that," I thought. Then a woman's voice, "Attention. Attention. An emergency has been reported in the building." It went on to state that we may need to evacuate. I heard others in my hall heading for the stairs, so I jumped up, got dressed, texted Amy and we decided to head to the lobby. Down 16 flights of stairs. Not only was I groggy from no sleep, but 16 flights down will make you dizzy! We spent about ten minutes meandering through the lobby to figure out what was going on, only to be told we could return to our rooms. We later received word that it was... a false alarm. The conference leader joked later that morning that they were conducting a usability test on the best way to get a group of people out of bed at 2:30 in the morning. Not funny.

At any rate, it's been a nice week away from the office. Amy and I ventured onto the subway over to Harvard Square for lunch, and later stopped at a cafe for a cupcake break, as we grabbed a window seat and watched students passing by. It made me miss school a little! I left my camera at home, so enjoy the iPhotos - I haven't Photoshopped them so they are posted as is, but hopefully I captured some of the beauty I love about this town!