April 2005 Archives

The Gorn photos from my recent trip to New England can be found here.

My last day in Boston I had visions of going to Harvard or down to Boston Common again to see the outside of the Cheers Bar, but alas, I decided instead to sleep in and be a bump on a log. It actually turned out to be a good thing since it helped keep my system on West Coast time.

The flight back was OK, but again I vowed never to fly a 737 cross country. It is hilarious when people have to pass in the dinky aisles. I should have watched the movie, but I was too busy with the Gorn photos to pay any attention.

I am glad that I have Thursday and Friday off again as my normal days off. It will give me a chance to catch up on everything around the house.

One of the things that Nathan finally convinced me to do was sign up for a free-trial of Netflix. Honestly, I should have tried it years ago, but I really don't rent a lot of movies. Recently, my movie-going has really slowed down and there have been a lot of movies that I have wanted to see but haven't. I figure if I keep it, I will need to watch 6 movies a month for it to pay for itself. Depending on how I get through the movies I selected, I might go down to 2 movies at a time instead of the three.

Today was a very adventurous day! We started out with the Nathan special breakfast - eggs and sausages and then headed out on our way to Salem, MA. Salem is one of those towns that you hear about in school and you always go, gee, I wish I could go there. So off we went. I won't get into the details of what happened along the way, but let's just say that I don't approve of MA speed traps!

Once we arrived in Salem, we decided to walk around and see if we could find anything. Thankfully, we found a NPS Visitor's Center that pointed out all the good places to see. Pretty much the only thing really neat was the Salem Witch Memorial that has these cool stones coming out of walls that has people's names and when they put to death for witchcraft. The rest of the area was full of goofy museums that charged way too much and quirky little Wiccan shops that look like Patsy’s mom ran them.

So back to the car we went and then headed over to the House of Seven Gables - made famous by the Scarlet Letter Man himself - Nathaniel Hawthorne. Again, a nice, quaint little museum with an $11 guided tour through a dinky house that we passed up. I especially liked the "Garden Cafe" which was a little alcove that was all closed off. Well, it is the off-season.

So after waking up to the mess in the sink and realizing that there was no water to be had, Nathan and I basically sat around until the water came back up. I then spent some quality time at the sink in the bathroom making things right again.

After some showers, we were off to Plymouth, MA. Along the way, we passed some nice areas - I can only imagine what they look like in the fall with all the leaves on the trees rather than just bare branches as they look now. We stopped for lunch at Baja Fresh, and actually made it there in about 45 minutes. Everything is so close!

I had been warned not to expect much from the actual rock itself, so I was surprised to find it in this out-of-place looking stone structure at the beach. I snapped some quick Gorn photos then it was off to see the Mayflower II - a recreation of the original ship. We opted not to pay the $8 for the cheesy museum, and just posed for photos. We then did a quick walk around town. It seems that it was just getting ready for tourist season, and most of the major attractions were closed or empty. I actually liked that - no crowds to deal with. I can see why people love the cape so much - I bet it is tre-fabulous in the summer. One of Nathan's friends (and Nathan too) has told me I MUST come back in the summer to experience it.

We then headed back to the apartment for a nap and then off to dinner at Jae's - sort of a Japanese fusion place with a great steak (despite the fact they were out of the Filet). A quick dessert stop and we headed back to the apartment to watch a movie and then turn in. Nathan is a Netflix junkie. I think I might have to sign up – it’s so easy! A very low-key day, which was a perfect, follow up to Friday night.

Tomorrow its up early and then off to NH and Maine!

Decided to sleep in a bit since this whole Eastern Time thing really bites. By the time I got out of Nathan’s apartment, it was already 10:30am. I headed down to Boston Common to walk the Freedom Trail - a really cool touristy thing where the city fathers have placed a red line (sometimes painted and sometimes brick) from Boston Common to Bunker Hill past 16 major historical sights. I had planned on just hopping into the visitor center to get a guide map, but there was this guy in period costume that told me that if I hurried, he'd let me join his soon-to-be-departing tour. He seemed to have a good personality (important for a tour guide), so I plunked down the $10 and away we went.

The tour covered the first half of the trail and gave WAY more history than if I was to just read signs and try and stumble around and find things myself. Among the sights: the new State House, Park St Church, Granary Burial Ground - home to patriots like Paul Revere and Samuel Adams, the Old South Meeting House, the Old State House, the site of the Boston Massacre, and then down to Faneuil Hall. From there, I was off on my own to Paul Revere's house (which I admired from the outside, Old North Church - which is where the famous signal lanterns were hung, the USS Constitution "Old Ironsides", and the Bunker Hill monument. There is nothing like climbing 294 steps to get to the top of a monument after a 3-mile walk. The view was amazing from the monument - however I think the stairs are worse than the ones at the Duomo in Florence or the Arc de Triomphe in Paris.

After the Freedom Trail, I headed back to Nathan's via the public transport. Luckily the station nearest to me was the one at the former Fleet Center - home to the Boston Celtics. A quick metro and walk later, I collapsed at Nathan’s and relaxed until he came home from work.

After months of waiting, I am finally off on another adventure! I was a little nervous approaching this weekend, since I have been fighting off the Nicole-induced sickness for the past two weeks. Nothing like long hours and sickness to just wear a person down. Thankfully, the last two days I have felt much, much better - so I was eager when I woke up this morning to head out to Boston to visit Nathan.

My carrier of choice was American as usual. I mentioned before I wanted to fly Jet Blue, but my desire for the frequent flyer miles and the slightly cheaper ticket sent me to American. I dread flying American from LAX non-stop transcontinental because their than JFK, most of the routes are covered by 737s or worse, MD-80s. So I was not looking forward to a 5+-hour flight on a dinky plane. Especially after flying on the luxurious 777 to Tokyo last year. I noticed when I packed, I kept thinking I was going to Tokyo and that I would need to take all the little things, then I remembered I was going to Boston, so I was able to not sweat the small stuff.

Daniel whisked me to the airport in record time, and thanks to the fact I got my boarding pass last night via the aa.com web site, the airport was a breeze. It still confounds me that LAX is less of a hassle than Ontario or Orange County. Maybe it was a good thing that I didn't go Jet Blue out of Long Beach. Another annoying trend is the lack of meal service on long haul domestic flights. Not that I really liked the food all that much, but gone are the glory days when I could order the Great American Burger...

The flight actually went fairly well. I was worried at first because the unlucky guy in the middle seat next to me was rather muscular and large. Fortunately a smaller man came up and asked the guy if he'd swap for an aisle seat so he could sit with his wife. Sometimes, you just get lucky. I watched the in-flight movie "National Treasure" which surprisingly didn't suck as much as I thought it would. How Nicolas Cage gets cast in action-adventure movies, I will never know. He is so much better suited for drama or comedy. The movie did help the time pass, and with the iPod at my side there were really no complaints.

When we arrived, as we were waiting for the orderly exit out the aircraft, the guy behind me was about 2 inches from me. He also kept huffing and puffing with annoyance the longer it took. My suspicions were confirmed when he made a b-line for the bathroom in the gate area. It also reminded me that East Coast people have a harder time with that whole personal space concept. Maybe it is because they don't have any here.

Nathan was waiting for me at the airport and with minimal fuss, we were out and on the highway. Along the way, we got to see such sites as Fenway Park, Harvard Square, and a few other sites in a circular route back to his pad. The last place of Nathan's I saw was a small apartment in Paris where the bathroom was in the stairwell. Nathan hadn't really talked much about his apartment, and I was amazed at how large and luxurious it was. As one would expect, it is tastefully decorated throughout and convenient to all major attractions. It even has a cool balcony out back overlooking the alley with the skyline of Boston in the distance.

Tomorrow I am on my own till around 6pm so I will be heading to Boston Common and probably tackle the Freedom walk with the Gorn. It all depends on how adventurous I feel in the morning.

Stay tuned!!

Not being a catholic, it is an interesting experience to live through a death of a Pope. I think my main interest is twofold: First, seeing how all of the catholics react to the death of the church, and second, seeing all of the ceremony and processes to select a new pope - something that has changed little since the founding of the church. Another thing that intrigues me is who the next pope will be? Will it be someone from Africa or South America? An Italian? Will he be someone progressive about things like abortion and women in the church or will he be more conservative?

At any rate Pope John Paul II's shoes will be hard to fill. He was charismatic, beloved, and respected by many. He really is the only pope I remember.

In local news, I am just getting over a nasty bug. I think everyone at the new Buzz ride has gotten sick since it opened. I am not sure if it is the hand sanitizer or just the enclosed space with thousands of people every hour passing by. I dunno. At any rate, yesterday was my first day back after being off two regular days and calling in for two days.

I am glad to get over it now since I am due to head to Boston next week! I can't wait to get a real non-sick vacation!