Random Update (7.22.12)

Going back to Thursday (7.19.12), Pat, Chris, Matt, Emma, and myself drove down to Nick's house in Stone Harbor, NJ for a mini BC summer fling at Uncle Buzzy's famed getaway, Manland. Although the weather was overcast, swimming in the bay was quite refreshing; Nick's house is right on the water with the back porch morphing into a dock. Thankfully there was a bunk room designed for such large gatherings of friends and family. Thursday and Friday consisted of hanging out and around Stone Harbor with friends; late nights finished at the house, for it was well-stocked with food and drink. Saturday, July 21st, my birthday, was fantastic. My to-be-roommate Pat and I woke up at 6:30 AM for the Manland Triathlon which allegedly started around 7:30 or 8:00 AM. So we walked over at 7, registered, and were told to come back before 8:00 AM. So we walked a few houses back to Nick's place and wrapped ourselves in blankets (it was slightly chilly that morning). At 8:00 AM we all jumped into the bay and tread water for a minute or so. We started the race with a quarter-mile swim. I struggled. I moved on to an eleven-mile bike. I was average here. Having not been on a bike for nigh on six-years, I was pleased with this. I moved on to the run. Based on splits, I finished 2nd in the run. Overall I finished 28th with a time of 79:55. Pat (darn it!) beat me by two minutes and change, finishing in 21st. Afterwards, there were refreshments for the athletes. Nick's mom took a lot of photos, which will be up as soon as I get them. from 11:00 AM to about 2:00 PM I slept. From about 11:30 AM to 3:30PM, Pat slept. Boy, that was a wonderfully deserved nap!

That afternoon, Nick's cousin Quinn, Pat, and a bunch of other guys went to the basketball court to play some ball before the evening festivities. The highlight of the day (besides going 6-2 in 5v5) was the most epic almost-alley-oop ever from myself to a Pat flying down the paint from the free throw line. So close. Sooo close. After showering, we held off our appetites for the Manland festivities. Essentially around 80 of Nick's family and friends all come to his great Uncle Buzzy's famed Manland, a converted-garage old-guy-with-some-dough creation. It's actually quite modest. Just a small bar and stuff. But it's decked out with some sweet stuff. Couldn't name it all, but there is a "Mancipation Proclamation" and a shot-ski. Anywho, there was a ton of food and drink, and it was a great time over at Uncle Buzzy's just chilling with friends and enjoying a perfect summer evening after a hard morning of athletic achievement. After food, Nick and company meandered on back to his house for the remaining of the night. Highlights include playing Settlers of Catan, a few folks singing classic and new-classic songs outside with the wonderful talent, Quinn's sister, and on the whole enjoying my birthday immensely. 

Before swim (I'm in the white shorts, Pat's in the black)

After the swim. On to the bike.

Random Update (7.15.12)

Friday was my last day of work, and it was really fun. Each day we go in different "crews" around to different areas of Boston. My last day I got to chill with Mark, Ogechi, Meredith, and Felix, all of whom I knew really well. We got to skip some all of the more monotonous car training, so we jammed out and hung out on the way there. The whole group did really well, in terms of raising money. Together we raised $1,368!
Fridays after work there is a ritual. Everyone goes to Kung Fu Garden, a hole-in-the-wall Chinese place in Chinatown to eat. It is also referred to as "KFG" and my personal creation "Kung Fu Panda". They have amazing scallion pancakes. So I said goodbye to some of the people I work with after having a good time eating good food. But it wasn't a last goodbye for everyone! Yesterday night I invited a nice group of guys and gals over to have some good food and good music. By the end of the night there were much more people than I imagined, because my house roommate Charae had also invited some of her friends! It was a nice way to say goodbye to Boston for the summer. I cooked a bunch of hotdogs and learned how to make a cork-screw-like hot dog by slicing diagonally around the dog. It cooks deliciously and crispy-ly throughout!
This morning everyone headed on home after a few hours of crashing on the couch watching The Iron Giant. This afternoon Nick, Sam, Dennis, Joe, and Amanda went bowling downtown. Tomorrow I'll be going to New Hampshire for a water park adventure, Thursday I head down to New Jersey, and Sunday I'll be in California!

Random Update (7.8.12)

Worked on Thursday and Friday, and I ran into some more memorable characters.

Dominican Sustainer

So, in the canvassing/membership business, there are folks who give once a year and folks who give smaller amounts every month. I had just talked to one side of a two-family building in Salem (the witch city). The wife warned me that the woman next door didn't speak English very well. She was correct. And I talked to her in Spanish for about half-an-hour about her son who's studying finance and marketing at Suffolk and currently in Japan, about Gabriel Garcia Marquez and his Nobel Prize acceptance speech, and about what I'm studying. Did I mention it was in Spanish? I translated our memorized speech into Spanish and walked her through the process of being a coveted 'sustainer'. It is fulfilling to use Spanish for something productive!

Absent Control Freak

They weren't home. The only reason I actually knocked was because I wanted to confirm that the creators of this sign were insane. 

Saturday I played some soccer for a few hours at BU's turf field. That was lovely. Then I bought some brie and diet Dr. Pepper and headed on home. I got some grub with Nick and Mike at Chipotle, and then relaxed on my own with some music from The Head and the Heart. Today I went to see the New England Revolution play the New York Redbulls with Sam, Dennis, Meredith, and Amelia. What a nice stadium, it was pretty full for an MLS game. And I knocked off one more "Boston Bucket List" item.

Random Update (7.4.12)

After a long weekend home, I'm back in Boston for the last installment. I worked Tuesday, and I was really excited because my whole crew did really well! It's nice working with cool people. I took the 4th off, and slept in a little until rousing myself slowly with some music by The Head and the Heart. They are class. For lunch, Sam, Dennis, Matt, Zach, Najee, and a few other folks meandered on down to Boloco for lunch. After eating and debating the legality of littering compostable plastic cups. Zach wants to plant some and see what happens. This also brought up the question of littering biodegradable items like banana peels. We need a president who knows the concerns of its constituents, right now both candidates are so out of touch. They have no idea of our concerns and questions.
We walked back to the house, and lots of friends of friends were over doing American things like playing "Born in the USA" (ironically a very critical song of America!). Matt is up from Jersey and back from Ecuador, he's good at FIFA. 

Prudential building and moon.