Boston Day 1

Today we went to Boston to take me and Emily to the airport.  Emily was flying out to Ohio but I was staying in Boston for a few days with Blake.

The day could not have been more perfect for a reunion...

We got to the airport early and Blake got there late. Blake was driving on a spare tire so we went to Pep Boys on the way to his apartment to get a real tire put on. We were told it would take a couple of hours, so instead of leaving the car we just left the busted tire and continued driving on the spare. I got a brief tour of some landmarks and then we decided to drive up to Salem since we had time to kill.

Well, the road to Salem was blocked and Blake's Garmin refused to give us an alternative route (go Garmin!), so instead of seeing Salem we just drove around and walked around a Best Buy.

After three hours and no phone call from Pep Boys, we head back to check on the status of the new tire. When we get there, Blake realizes the receipt he has is not actually for his work, and is addressed Clifford Clark! Also, the tire is in the same place it had been when we left, and obviously no work had been done.

Blake tries to smooth things over and ends up getting his tire, but has to put it on himself! For the price he paid, I would have imagined Pep Boys would do it. We struggled with that for 15 min or so before everything finally clicked and we were finally on our way.

We drove to KT's to park and then take the subway to the Prudential Center, which was basically a mall, to meet up with KT and Paul. Paul, in a typical Paul fashion, was a hoot and socially awkward moments were not in short supply. We went to Uno's for dinner and were "that"table, as we always are. Paul and Blake both blurted out socially awkward things that should not be said in public and I was in stitches. Par for the course with these two actually.

We ended the night taking the subway, where Paul proceeded to spout random mathematical facts and equations from a book her bought, back to KT's apartment to watch Hell Boy 2, but her PS 2 exploded about half way through the movie and her regular DVD player refused to eject the DVD already in.

It was basically a typical college night with this bunch all over again!

Day 8

This morning we went to the cemetery to put Memere's and Pepere's urns in the column...and they didn't fit!!! It was funny and embarrassing but the family had a good laugh as we went to the funeral director, explained what happened, and ordered new urns that would fit to exchange.

The rest of the day is shaping up to be lazy. Mom, dad, and Emily have an appointment with a realtor to look at a house built in 1813, then we are headed out for a lobster dinner somewhere.

Tomorrow I leave for Boston to celebrate New Year's and a few days with Blake, KT, Paul, and whoever else shows up. Looking forward to a good time!

Quick edit for dinner: The lobster was excellent but service in the north is absolutely terrible. The whole ordeal took 2 and half hours, and my water was only refilled twice...and only because I was barely able to flag down the waitress!

Casino Night!

We started off the evening at the Mohegan Sun. Wow, that place is impressive! I think it's the most impressive building I've been inside in North America.

The family decided to eat dinner at Michael Jordan's restaurant, so we made a reservation when we arrived and began to split up and wander around for the hour we were told to wait. Dad showed me an awesome autograph store with autographs ranging from old Red Sox and Yankees players to old movie stars and presidents. They even had an Abe Lincoln signature for $20,000!

Mom quickly lost money, Emily was up 8 cents, and Dad and I hadn't bet yet when we met back at the restaurant to eat....

Well, we missed our reservation even though we came back before an hour was up and the table for 9 wasn't held for us. We waited around for maybe 20 minutes while they cleared a large table in the back, only to be told that it was for a party of 18...Terrible restaurant management and the long wait prompted us to eat elsewhere.

I can't remember the name of the other place, but I settled on the buffalo burger. It was ok, more chewy than other buffalo burgers I've had, so my personal food experience was on the negative side. The rest of the family seemed to be pleased that we were finally eating something.

After dinner we hit the slot machines. My aunt made a killing and I started to leave up $12 (at one point up $45), but on the way out mom coaxed me into playing a Monopoly themed machine which quickly gobbled up 10 bucks.

The night was still young so we headed out to the Foxwoods casino. It was an older building and didn't have the same majestic awe of the Mohegan Sun. The family stuck to slots again, and again, my aunt made a killing, Dad made enough to recuperate Mom's losses and leave with some profit, and I lost $60 on various machines. Rae Ann randomly played a dollar game on the way out and won 200, so she gave Emily and I the winning ticket so we both came out ahead on the evening.

I had a much better time at Mohegan Sun, but the evening was fun overall.

Day 6: The funeral

Today was obviously highly emotional for everyone.

The service was held in the church Dad attended as a child, so it was particularly touching for him. A couple of old people who knew dad while he was growing up were stunned by how much I looked like him when he was my age. Everyone knew I was "Bobby's" son.

Emily and Mom delivered readings, I brought up the gifts with Norman, Memere's companion for the last two years, and then Dad blew us all away with an excellent eulogy. He gave one at his father's funeral in 2001 as well. It was so well done we joked later that he would have to record his own for his funeral!

Becca and her family were very sweet and sent a beautiful flower arrangement.

After the service, the was a big gathering for lunch at Memere's favorite spot, and the seafood was excellent. I guess that's what is to be expected in New England.

I did have an embarrassing moment when I discovered I had packed not matching black dress shoes to go with my suit, the kicker being they were both the left foot! Luckily, Uncle Don had a pair of brown shoes that fit, so it was more a funny episode than a catastrophe!

Tomorrow the plan is to go to a casino, probably the Mohegan Sun, to get our minds thinking about something fun.

Day 2-5

I had intended to blog every night, but there were some Internet complications for a bit. Except for Christmas, the rest of the week honestly went by in a blur. We looked through old photos and reminisced with various family members and family friends, and just kind of waited until Saturday to roll around.

I got some nice Carolina gear, a sweat shirt and cap, to support my alma mater from Emily. Mom and Dad gave me Kevin Youkillis wine and a Russian doll based on Red Sox players, that they found in Prague, of al places! Stocking stuffers and cash from relatives rounded out a small Christmas.

One day, and I've now forgotten which one since they've all run together, Emily, Mom, and I built a snowman, made snow angels, and had a mini snowball fight with Dad. I miss the snow and hope that I am not stuck in the South forever

Christmas 2008

Goodness gracious! It's Christmas Eve already!!!

Work has put a freeze on travel and I haven't really done any exciting personal travel until this Christmas trip to Connecticut to see family. Originally, we had planned to continue our new found family tradition of celebrating Christmas in a new country (2006-Denmark, 2007-Ireland, 2008-Italy), but Memere's help began to deteroriate so we decided to celebrate Christmas with her while we could.

Getting to Connecticut proved to be rather difficult. My direct flight on the 21st out of Houston was cancelled about 5 min before board time because of an ice storm in Boston. This turned out to be somewhat of a blessing in disguise, as Dad was able to be with Memere when she passed the same day rather than on the way to the airport to pick me up.  I would have loved to have seen her one last time, but at least I was able to see her at my college graduation and for a few weeks afterwards last year. The funeral will be this Saturday.

Boston had much better weather the 22nd, and I was able to get a 4pm flight out of Houston with a short 30 min layover in Memphis before arriving in Boston at 10:30. Well, the plane is delayed 30 min from Houston, so I am in panic mode when we land, and I book it to my connection flight...only to see that it has been delayed 2 and a half hours! Apparently there was some mechanical problem coming from Oklahoma to Memphis. I ended up landing shortly after midnight, and spent a good deal of time looking for my luggage in baggage claim before being told that it flew to a different terminal because it was checked the day before on my cancelled flight. All was well in the end, my parents beat me to the terminal and found my bag for me and we made it to the house about 2:30am.

Day 1:

Slept late and then greeted my aunt and uncle before looking through some old family photos. My baby photos look strikingly like my dad's baby photos, so if you couldn't tell I'm his son from the sense of humor, the pictures do the job.  It was a fairly lazy day, I put my presents under the tree and then we went to the local mall and watched a college football bowl game.