Ryan's Journal

I actually had a game plan for whenever a thunderstorm might strike in Cambridge. I'd grab my gear and race over to the Stata Center and set up on the ninth floor of whichever tower had windows facing in the right direction. Of course, plans like that don't pan out when reality hits.

So I found myself first meandering the staircases and halls of my building, looking for a window in the upper floors that might afford a view of the mighty present storm (time between lightning and thunder: none). As that proved entirely ineffectual - though I found a mysterious fifth floor of my building, accessible only by private stairwell; I'll have to befriend those inhabitants before the next storm - I grabbed a jacket and ran out to the ankle-hight flooded street at midnight to execute the master plan.

Why was this not a good plan? Not only was the Stata Center not facing the right direction from any of the multitude of windows I could access for this storm, there was too much light emanating from it. Even places where a brightly lit up section of cloud would have made for a good photo were ruined by the 24/7 lights. Word to the institute - you might save some money by turning some of those lights off during the wee hours of the morning.

I'll have to find another tall building with a dark interior and with windows I can reach.

And yet, all was not lost. After running around - I do mean running, and now I'm realizing the benefits of all my aimless jogging - trying to track the progress of the storm amidst the surrounding buildings:

This is the reason I wanted to get into photography.