Boston is the home of Mass-holes.
That's like "Massachusetts" and "ass holes" put together... just in case there are fifth graders (or others in my current mental condition) reading this blog.
I did finally make it to Boston and met up with my parents and Miguel yesterday... if you've been keeping track though, that'd be a SATURDAY arrival, a day later than I was originally scheduled to arrive. "How could this have happened??", you may be asking yourself. Well I'll tell you; it was one of those "a butterfly flaps its wings in Africa and there's a hurricane in Florida..." type situations. Except in this case, the butterfly would be the visit of President Bush to Chicago, pushing flights back at O'hare International Airport, and the hurricane would be me watching the flight status of United Airline Flight 828 change from "8:45 pm departure" to "9:55 pm departure" to "10:50 pm departure" to "2:05 am departure" to "CANCELLED." No joke, that was the actual progression I had to sit and watch after flying 13 hours from Shanghai in a very small, coach window seat. Fortunately, the problem turned out to be mechanical so the airline was forced to give us hotel vouchers. Even better, over the course of the four status changes I had developed quite a nice relationship with Elizabeth, the custom service representative for United at the help desk and when I finally stumbled up to the counter at 11:00 pm, she managed to get me on the 6:45 am flight the next morning, AND upgraded me to the Hyatt Regency Hotel near the airport. I actually ended up getting 5 good hours of sleep in a huge king-size bed before getting up and returning to the airport. Sadly, even though everything in my carry-on had passed inspection at security at PuDong International Airport AND at the O'hare security checkpoint the night before, my cologne, facewash and hair cream were not safe from the "I'm up too early, plus I hate my job, oh and white people too" transportation security officer as I headed for my gate the next morning. That small annoyance aside, I got to the gate and managed to make the (relatively) short trip to Boston where my parents and Miguel were waiting for me at the arrival gate unmolested.
Yesterday ended up being more relaxing than I could have hoped, and for some reason I'm not that jet-lagged at all... which is nice. We grabbed breakfast at an amazing little diner around the corner from Miguel's apartment in the South End (which he has been awesome enough to provide for me for the next four days) called Charlie's that has been around since 1927 and somehow gets away with not having a bathroom (even for employees) and only accepting cash. Charlie, who stands out front and regulates on the teeming mass trying to get to one of the eight tables in the place, was my first exposure to the phenomenon referred to by outsiders as a "Mass-hole." I met a few more of the xeno-phobic locals over the next few hours as I got the nickel tour of the South End and Beacon Hill from Miguel and his girlfriend Jina. We also shopped at the largest mall in Boston, which made it painfully clear how much I had missed being in the states and having access to good bookstores, shops that sell clothing where I'm not an XXL, and of course Wal-greens, or "The Wall" as Dane Cook likes to call it. I'm all re-stocked on the things that were robbed of me earlier in the day at O'hare, as well as a ton of great reading material and of course, roll-on deoderant.
My mom and dad are taking me around to do some tourist-y Boston stuff today and then we're hopefully headed to Smith & Wolenski's for a great steak tonight.
I did finally make it to Boston and met up with my parents and Miguel yesterday... if you've been keeping track though, that'd be a SATURDAY arrival, a day later than I was originally scheduled to arrive. "How could this have happened??", you may be asking yourself. Well I'll tell you; it was one of those "a butterfly flaps its wings in Africa and there's a hurricane in Florida..." type situations. Except in this case, the butterfly would be the visit of President Bush to Chicago, pushing flights back at O'hare International Airport, and the hurricane would be me watching the flight status of United Airline Flight 828 change from "8:45 pm departure" to "9:55 pm departure" to "10:50 pm departure" to "2:05 am departure" to "CANCELLED." No joke, that was the actual progression I had to sit and watch after flying 13 hours from Shanghai in a very small, coach window seat. Fortunately, the problem turned out to be mechanical so the airline was forced to give us hotel vouchers. Even better, over the course of the four status changes I had developed quite a nice relationship with Elizabeth, the custom service representative for United at the help desk and when I finally stumbled up to the counter at 11:00 pm, she managed to get me on the 6:45 am flight the next morning, AND upgraded me to the Hyatt Regency Hotel near the airport. I actually ended up getting 5 good hours of sleep in a huge king-size bed before getting up and returning to the airport. Sadly, even though everything in my carry-on had passed inspection at security at PuDong International Airport AND at the O'hare security checkpoint the night before, my cologne, facewash and hair cream were not safe from the "I'm up too early, plus I hate my job, oh and white people too" transportation security officer as I headed for my gate the next morning. That small annoyance aside, I got to the gate and managed to make the (relatively) short trip to Boston where my parents and Miguel were waiting for me at the arrival gate unmolested.
Yesterday ended up being more relaxing than I could have hoped, and for some reason I'm not that jet-lagged at all... which is nice. We grabbed breakfast at an amazing little diner around the corner from Miguel's apartment in the South End (which he has been awesome enough to provide for me for the next four days) called Charlie's that has been around since 1927 and somehow gets away with not having a bathroom (even for employees) and only accepting cash. Charlie, who stands out front and regulates on the teeming mass trying to get to one of the eight tables in the place, was my first exposure to the phenomenon referred to by outsiders as a "Mass-hole." I met a few more of the xeno-phobic locals over the next few hours as I got the nickel tour of the South End and Beacon Hill from Miguel and his girlfriend Jina. We also shopped at the largest mall in Boston, which made it painfully clear how much I had missed being in the states and having access to good bookstores, shops that sell clothing where I'm not an XXL, and of course Wal-greens, or "The Wall" as Dane Cook likes to call it. I'm all re-stocked on the things that were robbed of me earlier in the day at O'hare, as well as a ton of great reading material and of course, roll-on deoderant.
My mom and dad are taking me around to do some tourist-y Boston stuff today and then we're hopefully headed to Smith & Wolenski's for a great steak tonight.
posted by Mr. Frisky | 5:58 AM
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