The conference in Boston was mostly a pretense; I needed a vacation.
I arrived on a Friday (8/14) at Logan and Saturday I drove up to Rumney
with Dan Nguyen, meeting Paul Milde and a friend of his from work,
Jonathan at the crag.  It was grey and
threatening but there was plenty of dry rock.  We messed around at
the Meadows for a while.  No flashing, but everyone did Supreme
Onion Sacrifice (11a) on TR; we all got to work on Apocalypse Later
(11c and overhanging) - Dan got it on TR.  The hold on the 12c to the
right were pretty thin, even for our star (Dan).  No crowds, just
the guidebook author and John Mallery.  The latter's social skills
have not improved since '82 when I first met him, but he did appear
up at Waimea later to workout on Urban Surfer (13b) with Dan.  I flashed
Flying Hawaiian (11b, more like 10+, really), Paul and Jonathan both
had trouble at the roof.  I had my own troubles on 3 Easy Pieces (11a), and
Paul used my camera to capture me hanging on the first bolt, stick clipping
the second...  Light fading, we raced up to Bonsai, I led Peer Pressure
(10d), Paul and Jonathan followed, no time for Social Outcast before
darkness fell.
  Thursday I snuck out of the conference and went back to Rumney with
Dan and the 17 year old Bowie (named for David B. by ex-hippy parents).
RP of Supreme Onion for me, failure on Flying H. for Bowie, more work
on Urban for Dan.  Hangs on Arm and Hammer (11a) and Captain
Fingers (11c) for me, then had to
watch Bowie pink point and strut on the former - argh!  Then we all led the
Bonehead Roof (10c), Bowie's choice.  Explained to Bowie how to tell if
a girl is married, which should be of use to him in later life.
  Friday was going to be a rare sunny day so it was goodbye to science
again and up to Rumney with Bowie.  Felt funny driving his car with
handpainted "art" - just seemed to scream "arrest me" to the cops.
Scene of the Crime (10c) and Space Shuttle (9+) on the Main Cliff to
warm up the youngster, then I RP'd A and H and went to work on 
Sky Pilot (11c).  Thanks to beta from Bowie, got it second try (PP),
and was very happy.  Bowie, who has it pretty wired, led it also.
Pushed my luck on Captain Fingers again, but didn't have the tips
for it.  Bowie almost got it on TR - had to withhold beta at the top
to avoid embarrassment.
  Sunday I met Wayne in Western Mass. for a tour.  We began at Rose
Ledge.  We were supposed to warmup on The Lunge (11a?) but the 
humidity gave us trouble.  So we TR'd Tennesse (10c) and some
11c thin crack - I did not get this.  Wayne's friend Dave accompanied
us to drier sections of the crag.  Rosetta Stone, Wayne's big route,
looked very difficult and thin.  Wayne TR'd Partners (11d) for my
benefit, but I could not get it.  Nice route, though.  Then we
went to the secret crag.  Wayne set up the two easy routes (10c and
11a) so I could pink point. Then he and Dave led the classic 12a,
which I tried to TR, etc.  We had a nice talk with Mike Heinz, whom I
had not seen since my formative years in Connecticutt (1980 or so).
Most of the conversation centered around keeping the crag's location
hidden from the "King", Ken Nichols, who would not view the many
bolts kindly.  Nice rock out there, a sort of gritstone with many
horizontals, cross between Stanage and the Gunks.

Joel