if you could really call it that... (look up "Embraer RJ135" ...that would be my jet plane from BOS > LGA on my way back to ATL. i think other planes eat it for breakfast.)
going back to reality after a particularly great vacation is always tough…. even though i've only got what, a 2-day week ahead? i feel like those two days are going to suck big time. just looked through my work email and winced a bit… eek.
BUT… before we get back, let's just talk a bit about the ridiculousness that has been my flight home from boston, shall we? i don't think i've ever been surrounded by as many morons as i was on this last flight from BOS > LGA (i'm sitting in LGA waiting for my connection to ATL).
now i realize that not everyone has had the privilege of traveling in their lives, but seriously, some things are just common sense. among the things i've witnessed/overheard today:
passenger: so is delta owned by american?
flight attendant: definitely not
p: well is american owned by delta?
fa: …no.
p: really? i could swear that it was…
(as we deboard the plane, and AFTER the flight attendant has already said, if you valet checked your bags at the gate in boston, please wait to the right-hand side of the jet bridge and we will bring up your bags. fairly explicit directions, i would think)
passenger (i think this might have been the same one to ask the delta/american question. meanwhile, she is standing in the middle of the walkway): where's my bag?
gate agent: it's being brought up
p: but the flight attendant said that it would be here
ga: yes, but they have to bring it up from the plane. please step to the right-hand side here, and wait like these other passengers
(she walks away. into the terminal, presumably, and comes back a minute later looking extremely flustered)
p: my bag wasn't at the gate. did you leave it in boston?
ga: no ma'am, please just step to the side and you will see it shortly
p (with a look of disbelief): no, YOU said it would be HERE
ga: please just step aside (as our bags are being brought in…)
meanwhile, while dealing with this idiot, here comes another one…
p2: so if i checked my bag, will it be here?
ga: well that depends, did you valet check it at the gate, or did you check a bag in when you arrived at the airport?
p2: why would it matter?
ga: because if you checked it at the gate… we will bring it to you here. but if you checked it, it will be at baggage claim
(he walks away. and then comes back.)
p2: but i'm not staying in new york
ga: ok… but did you check it at the gate or at the counter?
p2: i don't know.
ga: does it have a red tag on it that says "valet"?
p2: i'm not sure.
ga: please just step to the side and wait with the other passengers…
AMAZE BALLS, i say…. no one looked like they were particularly uneducated… or had not ever flown…. or couldn't understand english… just… wow. WOW. thank goodness for patient people who work in customer service, for serious.
SO ANYHOW… boston. boston was wonderful, and it was so nice to get away. although it worries me a little bit that i'm 4 weeks out from the ride, and i missed an entire week of… well, being on the bike. maybe i shouldn't say that. richard and i went out for a little jaunt while i was up there, but i wouldn't *really* call that exercise… then again, the 1982 seemingly all-steel 40 lb. bike that i was surprisingly able to move DID give my legs a little work out :D but let's be real, it didn't do enough to offset all the good eating we did while i was there:
friday night, after i got in, we went to this lovely little spanish tapas place in cambridge (
dali)where we watched this ittttty bitty woman order an entire carafe of straight up tequila…that she & her tablemates proceeded to take turns pouring into their mouths and then… order another one! i'm not talking like, oh… a little sake bottle full of tequila. this thing was serious… more like they finished off a fifth on their own. (**THE BEST PART** of this story is that saturday, while richard and i were driving around cambridge in the afternoon, i saw this lady walking down the street with a fuzzy hat and i jokingly said, "hey wait, isn't that the girl from last night?" AND IT WAS. and she was still wearing the SAME CLOTHES from the night before. classy, i say… classy.)
saturday…i have no idea what we did on saturday. oh yes. we went to
flour…the new(ish) "it" bakery in boston, owned by my mom's friend's daughter ('s dog's best friend's dad's cousin's…etc.etc.etc. yes.) anyhow, i had been given a mission by mi madre, so being the good dutiful daughter that i am (and being the awesome friend that richard is) we made a little trip to the bakery (nevermind wanting to actually try the goods.) in case you're curious, the pastries were delicious. and there is my glowing recommendation.
that afternoon, we walked around MIT (ohhhh the MIT kids are just as nerdy as you expect them to be, based on the bulletin boards we passed :)) and HahhhhhhhVahhhhhd (no, i didn't feel any smarter while on campus), and then met up with mara in the south end for dinner at this place called
pops (the lobster & peas baked mac & cheese was DELISH!) after some pre-dinner drinks at
the beehive (sadly, we missed out on some live jazz that night!)
sunday… we ventured down to rhode island! [
side bar: i often forget how close NE states are to each other… drive 30 minutes, and you could be somewhere new! it's amazing! drive 30 minutes out of dallas or atlanta… and you feel like you're somewhere new, but really it's just well - you know - redneck country…but still the same state.] anyhow, we went down to RI to join mara & friends for an afternoon of baseball as the
pawtucket red sox took on the buffalo bisons (what a TERRIBLE decision on mascots… really?) as much shit as i give boston for its (not-so-terrible) but cold weather, sunday was a picture perfect day… 60 and sunny and …well, perfect. we grilled out at mara's after the game, where mr. elisseou met us (LAAAAAAA-SER!) i haven't seen nick since …. well, i met him in chicago when he & slp were in their first year of med school, so that was a treat!
monday… marathon monday! richard and i had GRAND plans of taking some bikes up to wellesley to watch the marathon from there…bike around… etc. etc. etc. yeah, let me tell you how well that worked out… but we DID watch the marathon (from the couch) and then grabbed some bikes in the afternoon and went up to concord/lexington to ride around. monday was a nice gray color. but still super fun. i love that people in massachusetts celebrate "patriots' day" and get all dressed up like revolutionary soldiers and march around with muskets! what i love even MORE is how cute and quaint these little townships are all outside the city. i've heard that it doesn't even begin to compare to VT or NH, but seriously… it's as cute as those books you read and almost as good as i've imagined them (hey, i have a great imagination!)
tuesday… i ventured out into boston on my own to meet up with mara for lunch. as much shit as i gave those plane people earlier in this post about being a bit challenged… i think i may have been one of those mildly umm… challenged people as i stood in front of the ticket machine to purchase a ticket…and couldn't *quite* figure it out. well, if i had been given a little more time, i'm sure i would've been able to figure it out. but really -- why do they make those things so non-intuitive? :) this nice MBTA man did help me out and made me feel slightly less lame standing there in front of the machine hitting "cancel" every two seconds. anyhow, lunch with mara was fun -- while we just stayed on campus (UMass-Boston), i swear their sodexho dining options were far more exciting than ours are...
and THEN richard finally took me to go get the "world's best" cup of hot chocolate (i believe those were his words) at
l.a. burdick...and yes, it was delicious. and rich. and totally what the doctor ordered for a dreary afternoon. afterward, we walked around hahhhvahhhd square and went to
newbury comics, eastern mountain sports (so much better in person than when you just order things online... shocking, right?) and the harvard coop/bookstore, which yes...is a B&N, but it seemed like so much more. we all know how i'm like a kid in a candystore at a bookstore... and this was like walking into a candy emporium... it's not so much that it had out of this world books or anything... more like i just really like spiral staircases! wood-vaulted ceilings! wood....paneling (but not in that disgusting 70s kind of way...)! reading nooks! makes me smile.
ok, moving along. i had my seafood dinner my last night in boston (no lobster (boo), but i suppose that just means i'll have to go back up during lobster season :D) at this fun little place in cambridge (
east coast grill) that apparently also does BBQ (i'm not *quite* a bbq snob, but let's face it. does anyone do it like they do in texas? no.) but if given the opportunity, i'd totally go back for their "smoked pig sundays" (now THAT looks like fun).
all in all, an awesome trip that was way too short and now... i'm back at work. boo. i can't believe we're a week away from may. what the crap is that?! and i never wrote about the awesomeness that was my first cartersville ride from 2 weekends ago. THAT was fantastic.
oh. and, i'd post pictures, but i didn't take a single one. between richard & mara, i think we took 3. who needs an iphone? yeah... that'd be me.
