The only bad part of the trip was that our crooked travel agent told all the Chinese that American food was awful and expensive so that she could send them to Chinese restaurants (ones where she knew the owner), get a huge discount, and charge it like a full meal (I'm sure she made a few hundred per meal). One of my dad's collegues had spent time in camebridge for a continuing education program, and knew a cool pub called "John Harverd's Pub" or something. He got them a reservation there so the agent couldn't do anything about it, and everyone ordered steaks and had an awesome time (if you aren't American and are reading this, our beef is awesome, especially for places like this one that serve prime beef). I think they were kind of peeved at the travel agent, who also overcharged for the rooms (more than %150 markup on already expensive rooms) and sent us to a cheap hotel just out of walking distance from where the lectures were (and where the rooms were only a little more expensive). Meh. It was still a fun trip because Boston is a great city, and I'll be going to Beijing and Shanghai for the continuation of the program. Time to buy that Mandarin Rosetta Stone package =)
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On the software front I've been working on a text game (I'm waiting for some books on art to arrive, and I'm not a good enough artist right now for the sprite-based game I want to make). I'm not sure about the title, but the theme will be arms dealing. After I saw the movie "Lord of War" a while ago, I thought that would be a good idea for a text game, kind of like that old Drug Wars game that was popular. Anyway, I'm still designing it, but it'll be nice to get away from messing with SDL.
Oh, and I got my ACT score back. I got a 30! Woohoo! Now I have two more times to take it to get up to the elusive 36. I'll be taking the SAT soon as well, and I'll be using the same strategy as the one I used with the ACT. Just buying a book with practice tests in it.
