#4 Boston - Main Thing It's Dry - June 30 2006
When our plane landed yesterday in Tulsa, Oklahoma and the pilot announced that it was 96 degrees out there, my first thought was "I don't care, main thing it is dry." Which it is, bone dry and what a welcome change that is after weeks and weeks of moisture-soaked days, thunderstorms, flooded basements, and sweaty jogs along the Charles River in Boston. I cannot leave the house without my hair turning into an afro and just like Medusa (who in Greek mythology was a character whose gaze could turn people to stone), I seem to start out in the morning as a decent looking female, but after a few minutes in this soggy excuse for a summer a do made of venomous snakes appears on my head and makes people stay flinch as they pass me on the sidewalk. A buzz cut comes to mind as a solution, or maybe I just have to figure out how to integrate baseball caps into my work wardrobe. To add a little statistic, the Boston Globe reported that as of 8 PM last Sunday, Boston had seen the most rain in a two-month period since 1872. And we are not done yet, I left Boston yesterday in drizzly weather, both dehumidifiers are humming and the electricity costs associated with it will drive me out of house and home, I am sure. This has to stop!!! I think only this coming Sunday the sun has promised to re-appear in New England.
As you might imagine in crappy weather like that planning a weekend is pretty much useless, and our canoeing expedition set for last weekend got canceled on account of the impending monsoon. Staying in bed seemed the better plan, but that did not happen either. Really, any plans I made got tossed around, but let's just say a little flexibility goes a long way when life just happens like that.
We started the weekend with a very lively and high spirited business dinner on Friday at the very swanky Beacon Hill Bistro (http://www.beaconhillhotel.com/bistro.html) - exquisite food and some nice wine to go with it. Life was good, and after a well-deserved, Malbec-induced rest I had plans for Saturday morning. Big plans - Home Depot was on the agenda, and as many of you know, I am not that fond of the place. As a matter of fact, I hyperventilate any time I am near it - I can approach a nervous breakdown so quickly in there, you have never seen anything like it. In general, have no idea what I am doing in there, and neither do the folks who work there (at least a majority of them - usually 16-year old college kids who know even less than I do about sump pumps or door handles or anything else I had asked for). So, here I was, Saturday 7:30 AM ready to buy a sump pump, and no one at Home Depot seemed to know anything about plumbing. After a somewhat frustrating conversation with one of the orange-clad clowns there I just picked a pump, a hose, a dehumidifier and headed home, my wallet $300 lighter. Well, wouldn't you know it, it was the wrong pump!! Jeez! Who would have expected that? What I needed was not a sump pump, but just a regular pump to get the water out of the basement. My little chalet is quite old you know, and does not have a sump pit, ergo no sump pump needed. Off I go for trip #2 to the Depot of Doom, and grabbed the store manager, who found a heavily bearded character who knew about pumps, and this time I ended up with the right stuff (which of course was more expensive) and a basement set-up that was ready for the next big drencher.
After having spent a nice little sum of money before most people got out of bed that day, I said, "what the heck" and decided to spend some more. With some experienced expert help, I picked out a sports watch at one of my favorite stores, REI (http://www.rei.com/online/store/ProductDisplay?storeId=8000&catalogId=40000008000&productId=48018786&parent_category_rn=10075660&vcat=REI_SSHP_TIMETOOLSOPTICS_TOC) and I am now totally obsessed with timing my runs, and looking at my time splits. It also has a glow in the dark button, which is probably the real reason I bought it. The watch got its first tryout Sunday morning, when I had to head out on yet another rain-soaked day to run 10 miles for my marathon training, and has now solidly established its rank as my no 1 accessory to wear.
Cultural enlightenment this weekend was provided by the Wakefield Repertory Theater and their production of the Thornton Wilder classic "Our Town" - http://www.wakefieldrep.org/default.asp?Con=2006_OurTown . The play depicts life in the small fictional town of Grovers Corners, New Hampshire - but is actually based on the town of Peterborough, NH, where Wilder resided at the MacDowell art colony. The play earned him the Pulitzer Price in 1938 - it is a quite unusual stage play with a narrator (aka the stage manager) taking the audience through the life stories of the main characters. As has been the tradition, the play was performed with a very sparse stage set, just a few chairs and tables, the townspeople sat in the audience and at times addressed us directly in their comments throughout the play. It was a most wonderful experience, and the narrator's warm and reflective descriptions and impressions brought the characters in Grovers Corners to life.
What else is there to tell about the rainy weekend - not much, after running ten miles I was sufficiently exhausted, and plopped myself on my friend Elaine's couch, and watched several episode of make-overs on some women's style channel. That was all I could muster up my energy for and who says that is a bad thing? Once I made it back to my place I continued on the path to do-nothingness by plunking myself on my couch, this time with my friend Peter O'Toole as "Lawrence of Arabia" (love that movie.... - favorite quote: "Thy mother mated with a scorpion...") - NICE!
I am now comfortably sitting here in Stillwater, Oklahoma for a little vacation over the 4th of July weekend - I will have to do some marathon training today (in the gym of course, I will NOT run in 96 degree weather) and tomorrow we are heading for Bartlesville to see the Price Tower, built by famous architect Frank Lloyd Wright and I think we are also visiting a buffalo ranch. Yiiiihaa!!
I am attaching a little morsel for you from the Boston Globe website today, an article titled "Are flip flops damaging your career?" (Have I not been saying that my friends?) http://bostonworks.boston.com/news/articles/2006/06/29/are_flip_flops_damaging_your_career/?p1=MEWell_Pos1
On that note, have a great 4th of July, wherever you are!
pet:)
As you might imagine in crappy weather like that planning a weekend is pretty much useless, and our canoeing expedition set for last weekend got canceled on account of the impending monsoon. Staying in bed seemed the better plan, but that did not happen either. Really, any plans I made got tossed around, but let's just say a little flexibility goes a long way when life just happens like that.
We started the weekend with a very lively and high spirited business dinner on Friday at the very swanky Beacon Hill Bistro (http://www.beaconhillhotel.com/bistro.html) - exquisite food and some nice wine to go with it. Life was good, and after a well-deserved, Malbec-induced rest I had plans for Saturday morning. Big plans - Home Depot was on the agenda, and as many of you know, I am not that fond of the place. As a matter of fact, I hyperventilate any time I am near it - I can approach a nervous breakdown so quickly in there, you have never seen anything like it. In general, have no idea what I am doing in there, and neither do the folks who work there (at least a majority of them - usually 16-year old college kids who know even less than I do about sump pumps or door handles or anything else I had asked for). So, here I was, Saturday 7:30 AM ready to buy a sump pump, and no one at Home Depot seemed to know anything about plumbing. After a somewhat frustrating conversation with one of the orange-clad clowns there I just picked a pump, a hose, a dehumidifier and headed home, my wallet $300 lighter. Well, wouldn't you know it, it was the wrong pump!! Jeez! Who would have expected that? What I needed was not a sump pump, but just a regular pump to get the water out of the basement. My little chalet is quite old you know, and does not have a sump pit, ergo no sump pump needed. Off I go for trip #2 to the Depot of Doom, and grabbed the store manager, who found a heavily bearded character who knew about pumps, and this time I ended up with the right stuff (which of course was more expensive) and a basement set-up that was ready for the next big drencher.
After having spent a nice little sum of money before most people got out of bed that day, I said, "what the heck" and decided to spend some more. With some experienced expert help, I picked out a sports watch at one of my favorite stores, REI (http://www.rei.com/online/store/ProductDisplay?storeId=8000&catalogId=40000008000&productId=48018786&parent_category_rn=10075660&vcat=REI_SSHP_TIMETOOLSOPTICS_TOC) and I am now totally obsessed with timing my runs, and looking at my time splits. It also has a glow in the dark button, which is probably the real reason I bought it. The watch got its first tryout Sunday morning, when I had to head out on yet another rain-soaked day to run 10 miles for my marathon training, and has now solidly established its rank as my no 1 accessory to wear.
Cultural enlightenment this weekend was provided by the Wakefield Repertory Theater and their production of the Thornton Wilder classic "Our Town" - http://www.wakefieldrep.org/default.asp?Con=2006_OurTown . The play depicts life in the small fictional town of Grovers Corners, New Hampshire - but is actually based on the town of Peterborough, NH, where Wilder resided at the MacDowell art colony. The play earned him the Pulitzer Price in 1938 - it is a quite unusual stage play with a narrator (aka the stage manager) taking the audience through the life stories of the main characters. As has been the tradition, the play was performed with a very sparse stage set, just a few chairs and tables, the townspeople sat in the audience and at times addressed us directly in their comments throughout the play. It was a most wonderful experience, and the narrator's warm and reflective descriptions and impressions brought the characters in Grovers Corners to life.
What else is there to tell about the rainy weekend - not much, after running ten miles I was sufficiently exhausted, and plopped myself on my friend Elaine's couch, and watched several episode of make-overs on some women's style channel. That was all I could muster up my energy for and who says that is a bad thing? Once I made it back to my place I continued on the path to do-nothingness by plunking myself on my couch, this time with my friend Peter O'Toole as "Lawrence of Arabia" (love that movie.... - favorite quote: "Thy mother mated with a scorpion...") - NICE!
I am now comfortably sitting here in Stillwater, Oklahoma for a little vacation over the 4th of July weekend - I will have to do some marathon training today (in the gym of course, I will NOT run in 96 degree weather) and tomorrow we are heading for Bartlesville to see the Price Tower, built by famous architect Frank Lloyd Wright and I think we are also visiting a buffalo ranch. Yiiiihaa!!
I am attaching a little morsel for you from the Boston Globe website today, an article titled "Are flip flops damaging your career?" (Have I not been saying that my friends?) http://bostonworks.boston.com/news/articles/2006/06/29/are_flip_flops_damaging_your_career/?p1=MEWell_Pos1
On that note, have a great 4th of July, wherever you are!
pet:)
posted by My Boston at
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