Waiting in DC

I am sitting in a cafe in Washington DC across the street from the Woodley Park Metro station. I have no wireless and must wait for an hour and a half before Noreen shows up after work. I flew into BWI around one and made the quick decision to wait for Brandy in DC instead of Baltimore; the ticket is only a few bucks more and DC is more interesting and less explored by me than Balto. It also turned out to be more convenient b/c Brandy picked up some riders from Craigslist and they are going to DC, hence one stop instead of two.
The flight was my first on Southwest and was quite nice. Despite my significant experience in traveling, sometimes I still make absurd luggage choices. Two small, tightly packed backpacks and a laptop satchel are not the ideal choice when lots of walking transit is expected. I chose this method as opposed to the large backpack b/c I didn't want to check any bags, but didn't consider just how crippling it would be to my transit. There's no chance in hell that I'm leaving this coffee shop before Noreen arrives.
On Wednesday after I made my last post I went to the volunteer center to find out what I could do without going into the field. The answer was not much. It was a veritable convention of retired people standing around drinking coffee and eating donuts. Since it was obvious that I was not interested in these activities and actually wanted to do something, they tried their damnedest, maybe, but were only able to produce some annoyingly mundane busy work such as throwing out boxes and sweeping the floor, which didn't really rate high on my list since it is a warehouse floor. You don't sweep warehouses and, if you do, they raise such a cloud of dust, probably nasty, that I might as well have been out in the field. Thus I left after about an hour and a half and took some lovely back roads to Madison. After eating of course. The roads were curvy, hilly and desolate. I only saw a handful of cars along the way.
I called Jeff and Terra about half an hour before I arrived in Madison telling them that I was coming and would like to stop by their apartment off of Old Sauk Rd in Middleton. When I showed up Terra was still flustered by my late notice and getting ready, heh. We chilled out there and then I headed into the city to have dinner and meet up with Hannah and unfortunately, not Melissa. I had a tasty Walleye sandwich at the Weary Traveler and headed over to Hannah's place on S. Broom St. It was funny being back in a college house, especially one occupied by a graduate. Her roommate has the best bedroom in the world. The two of them share the attic of a house of six people where they have their own little living room and a closet, Hannah has a large bedroom and the roommate has a cubby hole for the bed. It's actually just an old crawl space that some creative soul decided would be ideal for sticking another human. The ceiling is short and veed and and a full-sized bed just fits inside with wall all around. The door in is about 4 feet tall and has no knob, just a string that you pull to close it behind you. It's like a little tomb and I would love it. It even has its own little window with a view of John Nolan Dr and the lake.
After picking up in Monona her boyfriend and the keys to Shaunna's place, where I would be crashing, we met Jeff and Terra and her friend Dana at Genna's. We also attempted to meet up with Charlie and Nolan, both of whom lived on my floor of the dorms, but were unsuccessful. After a few drinks we went over to Nachspiel, which is a bar which is new since my departure. On our way in who should we see smoking outside but Andrey. Andrey is a Russian guy I used to live with and is quite a character. I had forgotten that he had moved back to Madison and hadn't called him.
It was a nice evening with old friends and I am glad that I chose Wednesday instead of Monday to go. It was the first time Hannah and I had hung out unchaperoned by Jennifer. She is a good friend of Jen's and has become friends with me, but we had never hung out before and it was pretty cool.
Getting out Thursday morning presented me with more work than I had expected, so I wasn't able to hang out in Madison at all, but that's fine since I will be coming back next week. I did get find a Jamaican place in Monona that has a very delicious buffet for about $7.
That night was nice and calm as Sonja and I just relaxed around her place in the godforsaken Chicago suburbs. Thankfully she will be living in a real place in the city when I come back next week.
Today was a myriad of transit options as I rode in car, Metra, el-train, plane, MARC train, Metro, and will be driving again once Brandy gets here. My body also gave me some good news today, feeling better than I did when I woke up yesterday, although yesterday was horrible, so today is only good by comparison. Hopefully I will kick this nasty cold soon, ideally before I make my overnight run for Louisville and then Chicago at the end of the weekend.
By the way, Washington Metro escalators are the slowest in the world. Good God. It is also the most complicated damn fare extraction process I have ever encountered. You have to know which stop you are getting off on, then find it on a chart on the machine, put your money in, push up and down arrows to get the correct fare, provided you are only going one place and want your change. Then the important part, after you put your card through the entrance gate DO NOT throw it away. You will need to insert it again as you exit at your destination to show that you haven't underpaid by $0.10, God forbid.
Well, the coffee shop closed half an hour ago, so I must leave and sit outside for awhile, uuhhngg.

Flood Work

This post was actually written Aug 28th.

I have not been unbusy since my last post. Here I am back in the calm, loving hands of Minnesconsin. I call it thus b/c, while I have a deep attachment to WI as my home and my people, I also feel a certain connection to MN, as they are not so distant from us in space and heart.

Since camping, we left a day early due to unpleasant weather, I have been lazing around my state, making the rounds of friend and family. From Washburn, I headed to Eau Claire to visit Jennifer. Per my MO, I took back roads along parts of the way and was treated to many lovely, picturesque lakes and swamps that brought me back to my WI roots. In my growing up here I have traversed all parts of the state numerous times, via both backwoods and high-ground, and am therefor pleasantly acquainted with much that the state has to offer, and also have my sentimental being tickled when presented with shining examples. I was even treated to the sight, along a deserted, curving county highway B, of an expansive lake, bounded by forest and quaint lake homes, completely still in a soft dusk, occupied in the middle by a solitary fisherman in a modest rowboat casting the last of the day.

I had a pleasant time visiting Jennifer. We wandered around Eau Claire lazily visiting friends I already knew and being introduced to friends made since my last visit many months ago. We chatted of old times and reflected on our respective love lives since they had been one. It was disappointing though that her new boyfriend was acting jealous and would not meet me. Not that I wouldn't be unhappy with a visit by an ex to a new girlfriend of mine, but I would like to meet the guy nonetheless.

Taking back roads once again, I returned to Wausau last Thursday evening. Along the way I encountered a small town park in the middle of nowhere. The park was a small grassy park ensconced in maples, oaks and pines. The air was damp from a recent rain and the soil and plants were pungently opening to absorb the sweet water. Through a narrow band of forest was the bank of a small river about 25 ft across. In one part there were stones and swamp grasses protruding into the river to provide a pedastal from which I could survey some length of the river and enjoy its gay noises as it played its way through the stones. The park was deserted but for the numerous large frogs relaxing, until my rude interruption, in the grass along the bank. I reverted to my childhood days and caught and inspected one. Frogs are one the most stoic of natures creatures I have encountered in my short life. Even when presented with the most intolerable situation, being rendered immobile in the grasp of a creature 100 times their size, with no knowledge of what will befall them, they still contain the same nonchalant expression that says, “yeah?”

In Wausau I spent my days in the house, seemingly lazing, but actually spending my time working out details of my trip, administrative tasks, and later cleaning, working on and packing Gina. My evenings were spent with friends and family. Thursday night at home with Dad and Dawn. Friday afternoon with Keri, Dan, Mom, and Devon. Kassi made a brief appearance, but quickly darted off to a lock-in. Dan has done quite well making part of their yard into a lovely little sitting garden, where we had dinner during one of the few sunny days of the past couple weeks. Friday night was again spent with Dad and Dawn at the Loading Zone for fish fry. I then went to an 11:30 poker game with Andy. Here I vindicated myself from the piss-poor playing I had put against Andy up north. Playing until four I took second place. I even got to personally knock Andy out of the tournament. I hung on long, but was finally removed as I was forced by extremely unfavorable chip distribution to go all-in with the hope of coming up with the straight or flush. It was take those marginal odds or hope against hope that I would come up with something on the next hand. Saturday I went to a small gathering for Jake's birthday and saw some people who I hadn't seen in quite awhile. I also was invited to stand up in Jake's wedding next year and listened to and presented advice for Simon's little predicerment, which will remain undiscussed at this juncture. Sunday was completely dominated by changing Gina's oil and a collapsed vacuum tube and going through my stuff to determine what would stay and what would go. I finally got rid of my nice TV, which I rarely use and has been primarily a burden. Other than that I didn't get rid of too much. Slowly I am trying to whittle down my belongings, although I know that as soon as I am in a place for a time, they will mushroom out of control once again.

I had been hoping to get out early on Monday morning so that I could get down to the flood areas near La Crosse and Winona early enough to help out, but knowing myself I did not expect such a miracle. My sloth, or should I say easygoing nature with unreasonable expectations of myself, afforded me to have lunch with Simon on Monday. I had the greasiest, albeit delicious, burger of my life at Jamar's.

I took more beautiful back roads down to Winona. On Cty Hwy H south from Stanly I saw at least a dozen deer and two dozen turkeys. Turkeys by the way look rather stupid as they run away from you at what could certainly not be considered a breakneck pace, all the while craning their long necks to look back at you. I also took some very small back roads the width of one vehicle, one of which was called Sector One Road, heh.

I finally got to my Bangladeshi host's place at about 8:45. He and his Russian wife were very hospitable and even fed me with far more food than was necessary. A Bangladeshi married to a Russian with an obviously very American son, who also speaks Russian is not exactly what one expects to find in Winona, MN. I love Couchsurfing. After receiving no response from the plea for a couch or tent space that I had posted on the MN and WI groups, I sent emails on Monday morning to about a dozen people in and around Winona. Within a couple of hours Mohammad, my host, had already called and offered his place. By nightfall I had already received four more calls from people who were ready and willing to share their place to me. As far as I am concerned, Winona/La Crosse area gets a gold star for hospitality.

I had planned to get to bed rather early so I could wake early and be solid, but my plans were shattered when I opened the book that Brandy lent me for my trip, The Sirens of Titan, by Kurt Vonnegut. As Vonnegut tends to do the book took me away and I read for a few hours before going to sleep. I was also prolonged by a lengthy, although welcome phone call. I still left the house early since the adults had to leave for work, but I drove to a quiet shaded street around the corner from the volunteer center and napped until about 9:30 before going in and offering my services. I was quickly redirected to the JC Penny's where the volunteer center had recently been relocated and from there I was sent with another volunteer to an address where my help was needed.

We were greeted by a seemingly kind, although reasonably somewhat in shock, woman in her 60s. Her and her husband's house had been inundated up to several inches on the second floor and all that water had brought with it no small amount of debris and muck. They had actually walked out off of a balcony on their second floor onto the rescue boat. The water came out of nowhere and reached this level within a half an hour. The current was such that the boaters were extremely scared and one of them even was a seasoned river worker. It came so fast that the neighbor was pulled off his van, which was rotating in the current at the time, parked literally 30 feet from dry ground. Among the debris deposited in the yard was most of a garage, from where I could not determine. One of the walls was completely gone, leaving the structure resting feebly on its remaining side and the edge of the roof. I looked inside and there were still a hammer and several screwdrivers hanging from pegs in the wall. It is amazing that the forces of the water had torn away one wall and moved this whole garage to another property, but had left untouched several tools on the wall.

They had already cleared out their basement and torn out all of the plaster and drywall from the rest of the house. We spent most of the time cleaning about 6-10 in of mud from a storage area under the balcony. Wow, was that ever a task. That muck was gloppy and extremely heavy. Think of the heaviest snow you have ever shoveled and double that. Not only was it wet and heavy, but it stuck like glue to the shovel when you tried to dump it, and the storage area was only about four feet high, so every load was an exercise. I can only imagine what my arm muscles will be telling me tomorrow. We pulled out a stinky set of waterlogged encyclopedias, some lawn chairs, a couple sets of dishes, a Christmas tree and a bed frame, among other things. These were all, except the dishes which were to be saved, placed in a jumbled pile in the driveway. A man in a front-end loader came by later and dumped the detritus in a large dumpster. During our work, the Red Cross came by with meals for us. I am very impressed by the order exhibited by the Red Cross and will be supporting them in the future.

Unfortunately I am getting really run down with this cold that has bugged me for the last couple weeks and I need to rest a bit. I have asked not to be sent into the field, which is a bit of a drag b/c that's where the most help is needed. Of course my health will always come first.

First Leg

My roadtrip has begun and I am writing this from the shores of Lake Superior in northern WI. My family takes a yearly camping trip here and I try to join whenever possible. I arrived on Wednesday night after a long day of driving and such. I started Wednesday by leaving Sonja's place in the NW suburbs of Chicago right during rush hour. I had been lulled into a false sense of security by having driven all the way across Chicagoland the night before right during PM rush hour, with no problems whatsoever. Construction on 53 ground me to a halt and, realizing that I had a long way of stop and go traffic to go, I decided to take my chances with the surface streets. These moved well for me and quickly deposited me at I-90. Unfortunately all ramps were present, except the one I needed, WB onramp. This was exceedingly frustrating, but not nearly so much as when I drove to the next interchange and encountered the same problem. I ended up having to drive several miles on surface streets and probably wasted a bunch of time.

I did get to Wausau by 3, with a short stop in Madison to go to the bank and consume some BMSS, Big Mike's Super Subs...I know they changed their name years ago, but they will always be BMSS to me.

I piddled around the homestead for several hours unloading superfluous stuff from Gina and reloading with firewood and finally got going, Waldo included, around 7. Route 13 is a long lonely drive up through the northwoods and I quite like it. It's very relaxing, pretty and pleasant.

The campground where we stay is right on the lake and the views are spectacular. The water is also delicious and a quick swim reminded me how much I missed fresh water, especially Superior. We also went up to a beach further up the peninsula that has some even better views.

My trip began on Monday, after delaying my departure for over 30 hours due to many extenuating circumstances. I finally go on the road around noon, but NYC, the jealous whore she is, still wouldn't let me go. Traffic on the BQE was worse than ever. I go into Lancaster around quarter after 4 and hung out with Bill for awhile before moving on to Harrisburg to meet some frisbee players for dinner. I finally left Harrisburg, 20 oz coffee and 1.5 lb bag of chocolate covered espresso beans in hand, around 9:30. I took the Turnpike across PA and then cut over into OH on back roads. It was the last night of the Perseids meteor shower and I took my chance to pull off the highway and lay on the roof of my van watching the spectacular stars and meteors. The stars are something that I have been missing since I moved to PA two years ago, and I have taken every chance I get to gawk at decent stars.

I made it until 4 AM when I finally had to pass out in the middle of nowhere OH. I was abruptly woken an hour later by a sheriff at my window. Turns out that the little gravel area along the road was actually private property, and the residents were wondering what some sketchball was doing in their driveway. When I checked out fine they were friendly enough and pointed me in the right direction for some other places to crash.

The next few hours were pretty rough as I tried to get a few miles under my belt between each subsequent nap. Mid morning I finally got my shit together and didn't have to sleep again until I reached Sonja's around 6 PM. A warm shower, hot dinner and early bed were all very welcome.

As if This Was Unexpected

I didn't make it out of New York yet. In fact, I am still packing. I will leave tomorrow. Hopefully I can get to Louisville, but I will probably have to skip that and go straight to Chicago.
On the plus side, I did get to meet up with the CS unitard pub crawl last night.

Friday Night

Busy, busy, busy is what I've been. Trying to see people before I leave, still meeting new ones and trying to get all my shit in order for the move. I'm supposed to begin another crazy night in about an hour and a half and yet again have done nothing. Hopefully I'll get a little packing done before I go.
Yesterday was rainy and cool, much a change from Wed when it was in the high nineties and humid. After a morning of crazy logistics, I finally bought my tickets for my moving travels. I also have one confirmed passenger, Shaunna.
After getting all this together I rushed out the door to meet Larisa for lunch at Think Coffee. The place is really expensive, but I still think it is way cool and your costs are going into keeping a place around in expensive NYU area where you can buy a coffee and sit there on the free WiFi all day.
I was chagrined to find that their food was only served in the PM, so I had nothing. We had a nice time, but short because she had to get back to work. Right after she left CSer Raul showed up and we went to find masks for the evening's masquerade party. Well food, then masks.
I got this really creepy full-face mask with silver, gold and black stripes. I am definitely going to wear it as I drive out West.
After getting my mask I went up to Astoria to meet Sasha, and later the others, at the Egyptian Coffee Shop. When I got there Sasha informed me that she wouldn't come until later, so I went shopping for a hookah. I bought a smallish one for traveling convenience.
We went to two different hookah bars, both of which were significantly cheaper than Kush of last week. They were alse much more authentic and the one had amazing tea. There turned out to be a group of about 9 people which was pretty cool.
The group whittled down as some of went to the Bohemian Beer Garden, while others went off to the party. The beer garden was cool, or at least it probably is really cool with tons of people; the place is huge. I was annoyed when the bouncers who are "very serious about our jobs" wouldn't let me take in my fucking leftovers from dinner. Luckily CSer Pim lives around the corner and I deposited them there.
We finally made it to the party around 1:30 and it was a little more low-key than the last party there. It was still a lot of fun and several of us stayed until about 5.
Four of us shared a cab to Brandy's apartment in Williamsburg and then we just crashed there...I know i couldn't be bothered to walk all the way home from there at that time.
We got up a painful few hours later and had brunch at this really delicious place on Grand Ave. It was a nice surprise too that it turned out to be next to this place that Julie and Matt had taken Eric and I our first time in Bky. I had been wondering where the hell it was, not for any special reason, but because it bothers me when I know that a place exists, I've been to it, and it's nearby, but I have no idea where it is.
After breakfast Brandy and her cousin split and I guided our new suburbanite friend to the subway. I then decided that I didn't really feel like walking home, so I went back over to Seth's to pick up some shit I left and help clean a bit.
There I climbed the neighboring building, about 15 stories, on the fire escape and got a nice view.
I then hurried up to the LES and met Pim for a quick coffee and then finally headed home around 3:30, and finally some sleep.

My Dear New York

I shall be leaving soon, but I shan't forget you...

New York
A city to love
A city to hate
A city to elate
A city to berate.

Tonight the BQE (Brooklyn-Queens Expressway) was my friend. Actually the convenience of having this ugly, noisy viaduct cutting through my near neighborhood has served me quite well in my time here. Not only does she provide me quick access to LGA, but also a shortcut to the L train. She provides not only a guide for visitors to easily locate my abode, but a protective buffer against the foolish drivers and, as proved tonight, against the elements.
This raised expressway, I-278, was cut through the neighborhoods several decades ago for quick access to Brooklyn, Queens and Staten Is. The dead space below was filled with a lengthy expanse of parking. I have recently taken to riding my bike to the L train on my nightly excursions b/c the walk back late at night while tired is not as pleasant as during the early evening. The shortest way back is along Meeker St, which is a one-way pair running on either side of the BQE.
Being a one-way pair however makes biking this route not the safest. I recently made the not so novel discovery that I could ride along the parking in the middle, duh! Tonight I was pleased also because it kept me dry on a rainy night. I hadn't had to ride back in the rain before and for some reason it pleased me so much to have the double benefit of safety and shelter that I felt it necessary to write, likely more for my own future amusement than for not boring the hell out of my few readers. By the way, I love you guys and will be seeing most of you soon!!

Hanging out to Reduce Productivity

While the flooded subway was a disaster for my plans, it did prove extremely beneficial for my couchsurfers, who were coming in from NE and were going to have to take transit into the city and then wait until I got home at 7. Not going to Montauk, I was able to pick them up at LGA and bring them here in 15 min as opposed to an hour by transit.
After getting back here we chilled out for a bit before going out to get coffee and food. We went to the little nearby coffee shop next to McGorlick Park and chatted quite a bit about our respective cities and travels. Seth and Robbie are from Lincoln, NE and Robbie, the actual CSer, just got back from living 11 mo in Prague. They had each always wanted to check out NYC and the Beastie Boys concert at McCarran Pool gave them just they needed to make the trip.
We then walked through Greenpoint and then on to Bedford St in search of food and I took them to the Read Cafe, which is a cozy little coffee shop on Bedford. They have tons of books on the walls and a really nice little garden in the back. When I refer to a garden in NYC, I mean a little backyard seating area. That seems to be the nomenclature here.
We then walked the remainder of Bedford and tried to go to the Reliquery, but it seems to be closed for renovations or something. We continued down Metropolitan and I pointed out a few more places. By this time though we were all pretty tired from waking early, them much earlier than I, so we started back with the suggestion by Robbie that a cold beer would improve the moral of the walk. We stopped at a little bar on Graham Ave where they had the Family Guy pinball machine. I played several games, finally giving up my last free one because of boredom and the antsiness of my companions.
We got home in time to leisurely get ready for a dinner that I had planned in the East Village with Jan and Larisa. Ji was supposed to come but apparently she got incredibly ill on her trip to Seattle and was not yet well. The dinner was at a nice little Italian place on Ave B called Max. We ordered several appitizers and entrees and shared, which turned out quite well.
As usual Jan had brought Zoff im Zoo so we went off in search of a place to play while consuming cold beer. After scoffing several reasonable places, like good picky New Yorkers, we settled on a small chic-looking place. It turned out to be a good choice though since there were good tables with plenty of light and a very comfortable back room that we got to ourselves.
After beginning play we were treated to the sounds of some excellent live Jazz spilling in from the main part of the bar. This only added to the comfort and charm of the place.
After a good amount of card playing we left, Jan to his home and the rest of us to Barcade in Williamsburg. Barcade is this interesting bar on Union St near the Lorimer L train stop. This is hipster central and nowhere would you be less surprised to find a bar such as this one, however it is a very cool place. For those of you in my age bracket and slightly older, do you remember all those great video games you grew up playing? Yes, I mean Galaga, Out Run, Toobin', Rampage, Centipede, Mrs. Pac Man, 1943, Gauntlet, Punch Out and Tapper, among many others. Yes, these games are all present here in arcade game form. There are also some 20 beers on tap. We rounded out the night with several of these classics. I was supposed to meet Kristin here for a Galaga face off, but alas I came too late and she was gone.
Today we got a bit of a late start and the CSers didn't leave until about 11. I and Kerri, a CSer from Philly/NJ had planned a lunch since she was leaving today to go to London and Stockholm. We went to this Thai restaurant near Lorimer with a garden that I have been wanting to try. We ended up collecting two other CSers despite the late notice. There was Carrie from NJ, heh, who is living in Granada Spain but is back in the States for a bit because she broke her arm and foot. There was also Jolena from Zurich who is travelin' travelin' and is Casey Fenton's girlfriend, who is the creator of the site.
We ended up sitting at the restaurant until 3 and then, after seeing Kerri off on the subway, walked down to Bedford and had coffee at this other nice coffee shop and hanging out there for another couple hours and doing a short walk up Bedford. This seems to be the story of my time here in NYC. I am always on the run doing something, everything ends up lasting much longer than I expected, I'm always late and I don't get anything productive done. Hmm, at least I have made a lot of great friends and had an excellent time. And I have actually gotten some things done, just not as much as I'd like.
Now Eric and I will play Scrabble and then I will go to the Revival CS meeting. There won't be as many people there b/c they are at Daft Punk, but should be fun anyway. Now I must go.

Never Make it to Montauk

Apparently we were never meant to go to Montauk. The original plan was to go on Monday, but since Jan and I had both gotten back rather late on Sunday night, we got a poor start. By the time he got to my place it was 11 and it seemed like the weather would not hold. Also, we would still have to wait for Sasha to get here. I made an executive decision that we should reschedule for today, since it is the only day both of them could make and the weather forecast was amenable.
I awoke this morning to Jan worrying about the weather. It was grey, but looking at the forecast, there was to only be AM thunderstorms. I consulted Sasha to figure out what to do and she informed me that the subway was flooded and the green line was not running and, oh God, the buses would take forever and there were hundreds of people waiting on the street for the buses.
A look at the MTA site confirmed that not only was the green line not running, but neither was the L, which was a disaster for Eric who needed to get to work. Since there was no chance in hell I was going to drive into Manhattan, we sadly canceled our trip.
This city is so wonderful to not require a car and have excellent public transit, but damn, when that transit fails, it's a disaster. This is the second time this summer that the subway has flooded. The first time was not as bad and apparently the storm was quite severe this morning.
It just doesn't seem like we are fated to go to Montauk.

Finally Rid of MySuck

I have finally taken the whole 10 minutes that were necessary to open up a new blog here so I no longer have to use MySpace, which sucks major donkey balls.
Going right into it, I spent the weekend in Boston with a ton of the NYC CSers. Bastien, who a very active CSer here organized the Boston Invasion and over 2 dozen of us made our way to Beantown for a weekend of exploration and debauchery.
I took five other people up in my van on Friday night. The beverages were flowing for all but me and the festivities were lively. Everyone slept off the workweek for the first hour, but after our first stop, lively music was blasted and everyone got going. We spent a good amount of time singing to classics that everyone knew and screaming about Boston and the Fung Wa. The Fung Wa is the Chinatown bus that most of the invaders, about 14, were taking. Reports indicate that Gina was much livelier than the Fung Wa. Score Gina!!
We got to the News, bar where we were meeting the Bostonians, and found that we greatly outnumbered them. It was a good thing that Seth had gotten a hotel room where the Gina crew ended up. Despite the useless and rude waitresses, we had a wonderful time partying it up at the News. Once they closed at an atrociously early 2 AM, the restless New Yorkers who are used to 4 AM bars headed out in search of a party about which we had been informed.
The Gina crew decided to go check into the hotel first. Seth Google mapped it and was dismayed to find that the hotel was not 3 blocks from the News as he had previously believed, but way the hell out in the outskirts. This was the first in a series of atrocities caused by the horrible Boston city planning.
I must interject my professional opinion on the planning on this city. First of all, it is rather small and very logical, albeit not necessarily the
most efficient. The roads are kind of crazy like a European city, but they all radiate out from the center with rings and nice shortcuts, so it should be rather easy to get around. Wrong. First of all, there is an antiquated address system that doesn't actually seem to follow any reasonable system at all. In fact, it would seem to be based on confusion. There is at least one part of Boston, as as empirical evidence points, that was once a different city. When it became a part of Boston in 1805, no one thought it necessary to change any of the addresses despite the fact that some of the same streets with the same names went from Boston into the other part. This means identical addresses in vastly different parts of the city. Next, there are lots of roads that change names when they cross a major road. Now I am used to this in the NE and in Europe, but the signage for such changes is terrible. Signage in general is horrible. There is always only one, if any, street signs to tell you what the intersection is. This sign is usually small and conveniently placed behind a tree or other sign. At one point I was driving down a huge boulevard with four lanes, divided, with two rails in the middle and a row of mature trees along either side of the rails. I was looking for Dean St to turn left. What I was unaware of was this boulevard is one of those roads that divides street names. Dean St only went left, where it continues on the right is a different name altogether. Of course the only sign for Dean St is on the far side from where I was driving in heavy traffic and placed behind a tree. I could have looked for Dean St station, which is the name of the train station here, but they are not signed either. It only says 'station' at every one. Furthermore there are not warnings that you must turn at one intersection b/c the next one is one ways all coming towards you except for the leg that takes you onto the toll highway on which there is no exit for several miles. And yes, almost every road is a one way, often changing directions from block to block. Have I ever said what I think of one ways?
But I digress, after half an hour we got to the address where the hotel should have been. It was the middle of a residential area with no signs of any hotel. There was a closed gas station though. A call to the hotel got us the info that the hotel is actually on the OTHER 822 Washington St, right downtown. Morale plummeted. We decided to go the party then b/c it was much closer than going back downtown. This turned out to be a small hassle only, but when we got there, we got a call saying that it was just a couple of drunk dudes hanging out, so we decided to call it a night. We had turned around and just left the neighborhood when we got another call from the others that everyone from the bar had arrived there, so we went back. We only stayed for a little bit b/c we were all pretty tired. The hotel floor was very welcoming.
The next day we got a late start and just spent a few hours wandering around downtown...Beacon Hill, Financial District, Historical stuff, etc... The thing that struck me the most is that Boston is incredibly cleaner than NYC. In fact, it is one of the cleanest cities I've seen, outside of Iberia.
Sat night we went to the house of a CSer, where there was a party going on for another CSers birthday. The party was quite large and really fun. There were about half and half CSers and other friends, maybe even more CSers. I met and talked to many cool people and there was plenty of debauchery and hooking up. I did neither of these, and I believe there may be some sort of correlation. I had tons of fun though.
I wore my Manu Chao shirt, which I find is incredible for leading to conversations, and heard so many times, "do you like Manu Chao?" Perchance me wearing his shirt is not enough of a hint?
I was also interrogated by a trashed French dude with a lobster hat about why I knew Manu Chao and liked him. I spoke with Claudia, a Quebecquois who was too drunk the second time to remember that we talked before, and got to hear her say douchebag in a cute French accent since it was a word she had just learned. I also taught her the word cockmaster. Bastien had this ridiculous 'magic' unicorn hat that he wore all day that had functioning wings. During the day, not drunk at all, he decided that he should run around in one of the fountains downtown in his underwear + unicorn hat.
I drove the hotel crew back around four in Nicky's car since the cabs would not take 5 people. Nicky, who was drunk out of his mind, made it very clear that I was to be careful and that I should lock the doors. I accommodated.
On Sunday morning I took the girls who were leaving early back to the house where they were to meet their ride. There I woke several rough-looking sleepers and took the hour required to organize 9 people for a breakfast trip. This was not what I wanted because I had wanted to walk all over Cambridge, where the party was, and see the Harvard and MIT campuses. It was fun though and I got to see Harvard at least. Breakfast was delicious and we went our separate ways.
Brandy, who was taking the place of one of the early departers on the way back came with me as I went to play some ultimate with Ely, one of the Boston crew. She got to partake in the Dean St/boulevard escapade.
After ultimate, I met up with the group downtown and took off. This was not before, of course, going out of my way to drive through the Big Dig. It was really cool and the entrance ramp was pretty trippy.
We took a slight detour so that we could go through RI, my last continental state to visit. We went through the city of Newport, which seemed pretty nice and got to cross a couple really cool bridges. Dinner was right on the border of CT in a nice little lounge with an excellent waiter who gave us 15% off for no apparent reason.
The rest of the ride was pretty standard. A little traffic and a drunk driver, but that was all. I chatted with Brandy who is an interesting girl. She works in the fashion industry and I got to learn more about the process of bringing fashion to market. Despite my feelings on fashion in general I am really fascinated with all kinds of industry and their impacts on and dependence on cities and regions. I was invited to her farm on the edge of the mountains in VA for Labor Day weekend, and it sounds really cool, but I doubt I'll be able to make it back out from WI. Perhaps though it will be an opportunity for me to get my car one step closer to Portland?