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Priya is in town, she’s headed to the Cape for a wedding this weekend, and a group of us met up for dinner last night.  We went to Alibi/Scampi at the Liberty Hotel, which I’ve been to one other time (when their lack of attention scored us a free tab) and rather like.  I hadn’t seen her since she got married earlier this summer and it was great to spend some time together. 

Being a Wednesday night, we really couldn’t get all wild and crazy.  In fact, after dinner we tried to go dancing, but to no avail since this town is basically dead until the weekends.  If only we were in NYC :)  We still managed some old-people style debauchery, which basically entails drinking expensive cocktails and acting like asses.

August has been a pretty busy month for me.  A few weeks ago I rented a Zip Car (love!) and headed to The City to see Anna and Leif.  Anna was celebrating her birthday, so it was a great time to visit.  I decided to spend the extra money on the Zip (instead of the usual Chinatown bus) because I wanted to bring Toby along.  Leif has a huge crush on him, so I couldn’t show up ended handed on his doorstep…cause I’m pretty sure he would have turned me away

I’ve only been to the city a few times now (one time was during a blizzard), so I’m still in tourist mode.  Leif took me on a walking tour and in some random-ass part of town (I guess it’s not “random” it just seemed that way) was the exterior used for the Friends building.

I’m still not sure what direction I’m heading in at all, when we leave the house, but he lives near a really cool dog park that Toby loved visiting.  Here’s a shot of Toby being good in the car:

Coincidentally, I had to clean out the car before returning it on Sunday and there was SO MUCH TOBY HAIR.  Anyone who has ever come within 10 feet of this dog knows that they will have Toby DNA on them for the rest of their lives.  Especially if he’s sitting on anything you own

Anna and her friend Steve have the same birthday and so we all celebrated together at a nice spot with an outdoor patio bar (don’t ask me where, it’s on Delancey Street).  The weather was amazing and the drinks flowed…a little too well.  I think my downfall was ordering a round of Patron shots.  I’m an idiot.

Speaking of “celebrities,” has anyone from his party pointed out to McCain that Arnold is the governor of California?  You know, since he was an actual celebrity before office.   Or how about that guy, what was his name….Reagan?  Isn’t some “wrassler” governor somewhere, too? 

Or did McCain only mean people that were celebrities just because of who they are?  In which case, Paris fits but not Britney.  She at least tries to sing.

Besides my troubles with Delta (see earlier post), I had a great visit to DC.  I went down for the week to celebrate my old roomie’s birthday.  On Friday we went to the Sculpture Garden to listen to jazz and drink sangrias at the fountain.  There was a huge crowd in attendance - this is a weekly even held throughout the summer. 

I had the chance to visit the new KIPP building, which is gorgeous, and see some of my old students.  The kids here were fifth graders when I first started working there are in seventh grade now - and look so much older to me!  It was great to get a chance to see them and get bombarded with hugs.  Definitely worth the trip.  I dropped in on the Big Dog BBQ on Saturday to see some old coworkers and bask in the HOT sun (which lasted approximately 20 minutes before I needed to seek some shade).

For poor communication skills.  See, Delta and I have never had a very strong relationship.  I’m more of a US Airways kind of girl and when it’s possible, I’ll always choose JetBlue.  However, I needed Delta recently for a trip to DC.  When I arrived on Friday morning at the aiport, I discovered that they had cancelled the flight - BUT, they had automatically placed all of us on a US Airways (cause they rock) flight leaving 15 minutes later.  Excellent.  Score one point for Delta.

On the way back to Boston, I arrived at the airport and everything seemed a go for the 1pm flight.  We were just about to board when they told everyone there would be a delay.  Apparently a big storm was heading through and they would update us at 2pm.  Storm came and went and they made no annoucement at 2pm.  Various rumors were spreading through the gate - other airports were shut down, some flights were taking off, our plane was here and ready to go - but there was no official word from Delta.  There was, what we thought to be, a Customer Service desk, but everyone working their claimed they could give us no information.  Or book us another flight.  Or basically help us in any way.  They told us to go visit our gate agent (who had been MIA since her original annoucement that our flight was delayed) or call the Delta Customer Service number.   What these people were doing, what their job is, I have no idea.  I still don’t.

There were basically no gate agents at any gate.  There were Delta agents walking around, but they all claimed to 1) not know anything and 2) not be able to help us.  It was really frustrating.  You could see the irritation in people’s eyes, voices, actions.  Delta was dropping the ball, big time.  

They told us they would update us at 3, and when that time came and went with no word, I sought out a worker and told them they we needed an update or they were going to have a angry group of travelers on their hands.   So the woman said she would track down “our gate agent” to make the official annoucement that she herself could have made easily.  It was truly the worst breakdown in communcation I’ve seen in a company in a long time.  Completely useless employees walking around, unable to offer any assistance or keep their word.

That’s really what it came down to, for us.  We understood that we might not be able to depart, storms were headed up the coast, but we needed them to stand behind their promise and just keep us informed.  If you tell us that you will update us every hour, do it!  Even if it’s just to say you have no news and we can’t take off.  Leaving us standing around, waiting on some invisible agent to speak, is unprofessional and rude.  No wonder no one wants to fly these days.

I finally made it out of DC, but only becaused I called Customer Service and was able to rebook my flight.  The 7:10 flight finally took off around 8:45.  I felt bad for the people that went upstairs to rebook their flights, as suggested by the fake Customer Service people at the desk that serves no purpose, because none of them were able to get a ticket for that evening. 

That was the other thing; they made people leave the gate, go back upstairs to the ticketing area, and get new flights.  Then they had to go through Security all over again and there was a HUGE backup there because of it.  Honestly, worst system I can think of. 

I took some time this holiday weekend to take pictures of the gardens. The bridge shot shows the reeds, where all the illicit action takes place. Speaking of which, I’ve seen police SUVs back there, I think they are trying to weed things out - pun intended.

I’m staying in a one bedroom sublet for the next two months. It’s a cute place, next to Fenway. The girl who lives here is studying in Australia this summer; she’s getting her PhD in something fancy. She left me some instructions about the place, where the laundry is, how to get the mail. She also asked if I could “water her plants.” Sounds easy enough. Then I looked at the next page of notes - it was entirely about how to take care of the plants. I looked around the room, scanning them. There were a lot of plants, I thought. I counted. Twenty six. Yes, you read that right - TWENTY SIX PLANTS.
There were ferns, orchids, plants in stones, plants in bark fertilizer, a virtual garden in the damn apartment. And I guess this girl thought I could handle it. Little does she know I have a black thumb. I kill everything I touch - well, everything plantlike. My mother has a bright green thumb; she can take the leaf off a branch and two weeks later have a small tree growing out of a bucket. Unbelievable. I’m hoping to have 12, maybe 15 plants left when she returns.
Speaking of plants, there’s a community garden across the street from my place. Beautiful plots, rented out by people in the city, where they create a Secret Garden of sorts in the middle of Boston. There are trellises of roses, goldfish ponds, stone walkways. It’s really a treat to have here. Toby loves walking through them.
However, what he REALLY likes, is the “dirty water” next to the gardens. The river winds through the city and the banks fo the river are overgrown with bamboo and reeds. The first few days, I let him wander through the paths next to the river….but then I started to notice strange things. Condom wrappers mostly, packets of Joe Lube, empty beer bottles. I thought it was the local youth having some fun. But then I started seeeing all the men. Various ages and types, hanging around the back of the gardens by the reeds. They were there ALL THE TIME. Morning, afternoon, evening, you name it; shady men just standing around, waiting for something. So I asked a neighbor what that something might be. Gay sex ring. Yes, you heard it, gay sex ring in my backyard. Hmm, front yard? Turns out that this area is infamous for it’s sexcapades. It’s gotten pretty bad in the last couple of years, many people don’t want to use the garden anymore because of it. The police just ignore the problem because, well, the want no part in it.
Hey, I’m all about free love, but I do have a problem with trash. Pick up after yourselves boys! Also, zip up BEFORE you come out of the reeds (saw that one the other day). It’s sad that they have to use this area for that - are there no whorehouses?

One of the benefits of having Trustees at the school is that they give out “goodies” from time to time.  Literally like the rich giving to the poor.  I benefited from this hand-out on Monday night, when I went with two coworkers to see the Sox play.  In the Pavilion section box seats.  It’s basically where the fancy-fancy people sit….and me, when given a ticket.  You can enjoy the air conditioning in the restaurant/bar area, which still has a beautiful shot of the field, plus a million flat screens to give you detail.  When you’re ready to sit down, you go out onto the box seats which place you just high enough above the game that you feel like you are controlling them with your fingers, like puppets :)  Yes, I felt like royalty.  The only downside is that you can’t bring mixed drinks out there.  Apparently hard alcohol and sports fans aren’t always the best combination.  So of course that just meant that I snuck mine out.  Hey, I’m gonna have my rum and cokes and ain’t nobody stopping me. 

I stopped by the Post Office this morning to pick-up a package from Gummy; my long-awaited Finger Rolls have arrived!  Up in Hudson Falls, there is a place that has amazing rolls.  And by amazing I mean buttery and fatty and delicious.  Gummy sent me some for my birthday last year (score!) and because of my move, waited until I got to Boston to send me my batch for this year.  There are about 15 of them and I’m guessing they will last no longer than three hours.  Kidding.  At least six.

I started my new job, in my new city, so I’ve been pretty busy and haven’t had time to post until now. It was really hard to say goodbye to DC and all the friends I’ve made there. I know that I will definitely be back to visit soon (I promise!), but until then, I’ll just keep the memory of The Blue Castle in my mind.

My last day at work happened to coincide with our last day at the building. We moved into our new building this week, but before we did, I had everyone take one last shot outside.

On Saturday I packed up the U-Haul (and by I, I mean the two high schoolers I hired - and by U-Haul I mean Budget…it just sounds better for the story) and said my goodbyes to Tiff and Sheila. Even though I’ve know her for less than a year, Tiffy Taffy has become one of my favorite people and I’m seriously going to miss her.

Next, I headed up to Jersey to see my cousin and her family. She had a little girl, named Malina, last year and I had yet to meet her. Malina was completely infatuated with Toby…who, in turn, was not amused that a one year old was chasing him. I think he’s used to begging for attention and this kid threw him for a loop with all her lovin’.

I was surprised with a little blue box on my birthday; my good friend, Leif, sent me a beautiful bracelet. It’s funny because I have the same one already, just the fake. Now I’m authentic and shit

Pretty!