No, I don’t work for the Boston tourist bureau. But I have lived in the area just long enough to know that a beautiful day in winter is cause for celebration. And three beautiful days in a row, well … it can be tough to stay inside a convention center.

The convention center’s huge windows overlooking the city don’t make it any easier. It’s another gorgeous sunny day, and I’m looking down on one of my favorite Boston neighborhoods. It’s filled with quirky stores and cafes and bars, but best of all, right next to the convention center is the prestigious Berklee College of Music. I’m in awe of Berklee – at least one of my favorite musicians flunked out of there and a few, I think, actually managed to graduate – and I love seeing the young musicians sulking around the neighborhood, hauling cellos and guitars on their backs and oozing ‘brilliant but misunderstood’ from every pore.

But it’s time to head in to hear Angela Belcher talk about engineering using biomaterials. She assured me the talk would have plenty of pretty pictures, so I’m optimistic that it’ll be worth staying inside to hear it. And I’ll come back to blog about something other than the weather in just a bit.