Pilgrimage to Boston

Friday Night Drive

Another weekend, another trip. Last weekend's travels through Jersey were fun, but I was in the mood to leave the state. I headed north to visit Carolina in Boston. On the way, I decided to pick up a friend in NYC. Having a traveling buddy always make a road trip more exciting (not to mention the cost savings of having one); however, there's a price to be paid when you go to NY. Getting into the city can be a major pain. Traffic is always backed up as you try and cross one of the bridges/tunnels. My preferred route is via the GW Bridge b/c you avoid Midtown traffic. However, due to the Yankees game that night, there was a 2-hour delay on the GW Bridge (you take this bridge to cross from Jersey to Manhattan to the Bronx). So much for that idea. I ended up parking it on the onramp to the Lincoln Tunnel for 60 minutes (yes, it took one hour to go two miles).

I didn't mind too much because I was on the phone. Besides, getting mad would have been the dumbest thing to do.

Super Saturday

I needed to take advantage of my one full day in Boston, so the morning began at a decent hour. Carolina, Melissa, and I made a quick pit stop at Costco to buy me some glasses and to have a little fun as well. SuperCuts was just around the corner, so I thought I'd have the lady just trim my hair a bit (to clean it up). She ends up chopping it all off. So much for trying to grow my hair out. :-(

Armed with two newly purchased beach towels and some snacks, we were off to Plymouth, MA. Our original plan was to go to the Cape or to Maine, but we decided on something a little closer. It was funny because when Carolina first mentioned Plymouth, the pilgrims didn't come to mind. It was only when I started driving that I realized I was going to pay homage to the piligrims. I'm not going to lie; I was kinda excited to see where the pilgrims had landed. For those of you who haven't been to Plymouth, it's a quaint little town about one hour outside of Boston; a great place to spend a couple of hours. Down by the harbor, there are a number of historical sites and the tourist information center is more than willing to tell you where to go.

The Massasoit Indian statue was one of my favorite sites of the day. At BYU, we lovingly refer to him as the Naked Indian statue. Yes, it's true. We have the same Indian as the one found in Plymouth! (If you want some proof, read about it on The Board.) The Mayflower II was a little less exciting. It was funny when Mel was disappointed that it wasn't the original Mayflower that the pilgrims had sailed the ocean blue in. Then there was Plymouth Rock is initially confused all of us. We looked on the map and then we looked up and there was this Neo-Greek/Roman monument. This couldn't be it. After all, I never heard stories of the Romans sailing to Massachusetts, putting up some monument and then sailing back in their triremes. Turns out that the actually rock is inside this monument. The rock was a little less than impressive (it's shrunk by a factor of 3 over the years). However, we did take a fun shot where we pretty to be standing on the rock. (I didn't do so well in getting my foot out there since I had to take the picture.)

Then there was the Spooner House. What a last name. Were they originally known for spooning all the time? To celebrate the moment, we decided to take a picture with the three of us spooning. We almost spooned on the sidewalk, but we thought that was going a little too far. Instead, we opted for the vertical spoon. (Who knew you could spoon in so many directions?) It was pretty funny when I asked a lady to take a picture of us spooning. She had a good laugh. With the spooning sensation over, it was time to eat. We found this little shack that served some mouth-watering clam chowder as well as delicious steak and cheese sandwiches. With our stomachs full, it was time to hit the beach and soak in the rays.

My first attempt at the beach was less than desirable. While Plymouth Beach is only a few minutes from all the historical sites, they charge $15 for parking. Pay money for parking? You gotta be kidding, right? I grew up in California where the beach was free (and if I did pay for parking, it was never more than a couple of dollars). Needless to say, I wasn't about to shell out the money. Rather, we drove a few more miles and went to a free beach (where the locals go). White Horse Beach served our needs well. Carolina and I napped for a couple of hours and then the three of us hit the water for a bit. It was a tad colder than Jersey, so I didn't stay in the water very long.

It was amazing how fast the afternoon went. With a few evening hours left, we hit the mall. For whatever reason, I totally forgot that malls had Father's Day sale. I didn't mind. In fact, I ended up getting lots of stuff from American Eagle, Hollister, J Crew, and Banana Republic. Since it is my birthday this week and since I had a gift card, it really wasn't too expensive!

After a quick stop at home to shower, we were dressed to kill and ready to enjoy the nightlife of Boston. We headed over to the North End in search of Boston's finest gelato. I think we may have found it. To tell you the truth, gelato is tasty, but people make it to be the best thing on earth. I tend to disagree. It's good, but I think I like B&J's or Dreyer's better.

Random Thoughts

Just after picking up Ladd, we were on the West Side Highway and this guy starts honking at us. He gives me a thumbs up and I look back totally confused. No sooner does he pass me that I realize that he and I are both cruising in Pontiac G6's. I felt like I was in some sort of car club (like the Mini club).

While eating in Plymouth, a parade of 1960's Corvette convertibles pulled into town. That was pretty sweet.

On the drive home to NYC/NJ, we saw this Mazda SUV nearly crash. I think it was going to hit somebody in the fast lane, so it swerved into the middle lane. It swerved four time before regaining control of the vehicle. I was a little concerned because I thought it would hit a car in the fast lane causing car behind it to rear end vehicles in the fast lane; this meant that I might be part of the accident since I was only 3 cars back. Fortunately, all was well.

Lastly, Dana (Suman) & Casey Willard were in Boston this same weekend--and they were in Plymouth at the same time as us! Yet, we managed to not see each other (may have missed each other by 30 min or so. And...had we gone all the way to Cape Cod, we would have run into them twice! So, totally random meeting that never happened. So sad. It would have been fun to randomly run into Dana and her husband.

Jersey Shore

I'm skipping over the weekend in NY. Been there, done that. Let's just say that the LDS harbor cruise left something to be desired...A few girls hit on me, which was entertaining. It was fun, but I was tired after walking around all day. I did find a couple of nice shirts at BR, so it was a good day.

Let's talk about New Brunswick. Oh, wait. There's nothing to report. I live in the University Center dorms and I haven't stepped foot onto another piece of Rutgers. I don't really have time during the week and on the weekend I try and leave the city. There's really nothing to do in NB. Seriously, all the locals tell me that too. That's why they go home.

Well, last Saturday, I went to the Jersey shore (which I call the beach). I was so excited to see the ocean; it was great to actually relax at the beach. I went to Pier Village, which is in Long Branch, NJ. There weren't many waves, but it was great to have sand between my toes. I love that feeling. I tried getting as much sun as possible, but the sun was not fully cooperating. It would hide behind the clouds and say hello on occasion. Jenny and Yuan (two new friends here at ML) had fun playing in the sand. My roommate, Eun, fell asleep for most of the afternoon.

Since we were at the beach, Eun and the girls felt like having lobster. I thought that was more of a Bostonian thing. Frankly, I could've gone for some greasy pizza. Then it would have been like old times at San Clemente. Ahhh, I love that place. So many memories from high school. At first, they were talking about going to Red Lobster near New Brunswick. I objected. We were at the beach and we had a rental car. Why would drive back to boring ole NB? I interjected and said that I wanted to eat somewhere near the beach. After all, there were plenty of restaurants at Pier Village. So, we chose this picturesque restaurant overlooking the ocean. I ordered some lobster served on top of linguine. It was pretty good; I've had better lobster. It was a little strange to not see the sunset. Sometimes I forget that it rises over the ocean back east.

Just to highlight a couple other notable events, we did a Costco run before the beach (which was fabulous) and stopped by Wal-Mart afterwards. I am now fully stocked and ready to make my own food at home. It's a good thing too since eating out 3x/day is expensive!

The First Week

Obviously, blogging has slowed down since I came back to the US. Life is a little bit less exciting; however, it's much "busier" (read: time commitments have increased, but not actual work). My vacation seems so long ago. I feel like I'm aging at warp speed. My poor body is still dead tired.

Since I am now working for a company, I will try and make sure that my entries about politically correct (with regards to what I say about them). There's all this talk about people getting fired over there blogs and I wouldn't like to be me.

Frankly, orientation wasn't too bad. The first day was less interesting (see, I'm doing good w/ the PC lingo), but I partially blame that on the fact that I flew a red eye and was at work within two hours of arriving at my dorm. There's something about sitting all day that is just tiring. The last day of orientation was much more fun and enjoyable. Plus, it was in NY. It's always fun to go to the city. The downside is that I get home late.

Since I was in NY, I went to dinner with my brother. We found this trendy restaurant that served good food at a trendy price. Needless to say, I can't afford this type of dining. It was a fun occasion even though I was a zombie by the end of the night.

My first day on the job was filled with lots of meetings. I was struggling to stay awake. Again, it wasn't due to the topic (b/c I found it exciting--Oracle and web technologies--yes, I'm a geek), but again, to the long periods of sitting down with little movement/interaction. I was ecstatic when 4:30 rolled around. My first weekend to relax! Or so I thought...

I pretty much stayed in my bed all afternoon. I had an extended phone conversation with Diane that was quite enjoyable. By 11:00 pm, I was out. My roommate, Eun, couldn't believe that I was going to bed so early. Frankly, I was looking forward to sleeping.

I spent the weekend in NY (I'll write about that in another entry).

So, the last couple of days haven't been bad. I've received my assignment and I'm excited to start it. However, like most internships, things are a little slow at the beginning. Just reading documentation for now and trying to familiarize myself with the systems they're using. Time for a nap.

Snakes

So, that snake still hasn't been found and apparently it was let loose just 3 doors down from where I'm currently living...

The Joys of the Dorms

Just a quick post. I got this email the other day...

24 Hours: Part II

The Drive Home

After landing, mom picked me up and we stopped by Costco where she had some lunch. I didn't start feeling hunger pains until we got home. Nothing much else happened. Just a typical drive home.

Errands

When I got home, the first thing I did was check my email. I had to figure out what I was going to do about my flight to New York. It turns out that I had to buy my own ticket. I had about 6 hours to find a ticket, buy it (w/o paying a small fortune), etc. Turns out that the cheapest one-way ticket was $615. I ended up seeing if I could get a buddy pass through a relative. She was at work (read: on a flight somewhere) and wasn't going to be home until at least 8:00 pm (CDT).

In the mean time, I had to fix the family computer, which committed suicide the day I left for Hong Kong. I backed up all of the files and felt that I was going to have to wipe it clean and reinstall Windows. However, I tried fixing the problem one last time (the way that I had prior to my vacation) and this time it worked! Dumb computer; I don't know why it worked, but I really didn't care. That was miracle #2. God seemed to like me today.

I then proceeded to hastily package a gift (which was so pleasantly received on Friday). I was out the door with a laundry list of things to do: ship package, deposit check at bank, go to pharmacy, get a new cell phone—do everything within 75 minutes. The first two tasks were quickly accomplished. The pharmacy told me that they would have to call the BYU Health Center (which was closed) and that they were really busy. I told them to forget about it and I ran off to the Sprint store.

The Sprint Store was an ordeal. The man that helped didn't really know what he was doing. He was very nice, but lack experience, I guess. He had to keep asking other workers for help. It also didn't help that my Treo was retarded. Somehow, it was registered to an account, but nobody could figure out which one. It also thought that it was registered to my current cell number. Needless to say, I couldn't switch the Treo over to my family plan like I wanted.

My LG sucks, so I was desperate to get a new phone. Having the $150 upgrade available, I went ahead and bought the Samsung Upstage. It is a trendy-looking phone and had some features that I wanted to try out. If I don't like it, I can always replace it within 30 days. After 90 minutes at the store, I finally had a new, working phone.

I made it back home and mom had dinner on the table. By now, it was close to 6:30 pm. I quickly ate (very good meal, btw—I will have to make this sometime) and finished packing my things. It was nearing 7:00 pm and I still had not ticket. My flight was schedule to leave at 9:15 pm from John Wayne, so I didn't really have much time left. The phone rang soon after 7 and I was able to get on the flight. After thanking her, I was off to the airport.

The Airport

I was surprised to learn that John Wayne no longer offered free wireless Internet. LAME. I killed time listening to my iPod and bought a salad from McDonald's for the red eye. (You don't get a meal on the flight.) I was sad to leave the world of flying in Asia. I got hot meals on every flight (even the two-hour flights!). I forgot how Spartan the US airlines really are.

Oh yeah, when I checked in, the Continental representative informed me that even though the flight wasn't full, there was no empty row. Meaning, I wouldn't be able to lie down and get some sleep (hadn't slept more than 3 hours in the last 24 hours). I had a full day of training when I landed, so I was anxious about passing out in the middle of training. God seemed to like me a lot today. While the flight attendant's words played true for the most part, I was the only one with three seats to myself. I could lie down! Heaven knows that I needed a few goods hours of sleep.

24 Hours: Part I

OK, I finally have some time (and energy) to write another post. It's been a long, crazy week. I can't believe I actually did what I did.

Monday

I already told you about it. I miraculously made it to the airport and to Hong Kong.

Tuesday

I slept in a bit because I had a late night. I left myself about one hour to relax before heading off to the airport. One cool thing about HKIA (Hong Kong International Airport) is that you can check in from the city (up to one day in advance). You go to the HK station, check in, and then do what you want. It's especially convenient since you don't have to lug your luggage around all day. Besides, the airport is off on some remote island with nothing to do, so there's no point in getting there early.

When I checked in, the Cathay lady informed me that there were no aisle seats available. I was pretty sad. 11 hours next to a window with two people between me and the aisle. I thought it was going to be miserable flight home. To get my mind off that and onto something better, I went to the IFC Mall and looked for gourmet chocolate. After all, I promised a certain someone, that I'd bring her some chocolate. And not just one candy bar (like she mentioned in a chat session). It was nearing lunch time and I had already missed breakfast, so I headed over to McDonald's for a bite to eat. I only had HK$8 on me (about US$1) in coins left. That really didn't leave me with much...just a McChicken sandwich. And it was probably the only place that I could eat for so little. Otherwise, I wouldn't have gone there.

While at the City Super, I realized that I actually had HK$20 in cash in my wallet. So, I had to spend that. The bakery offered some French bread and a croissant for exactly HK$20. I ate the croissant and saved the French bread for when I was at the airport. On the last trans-Pacific flight, I starved b/t the two meals (not knowing that they had snacks in the middle of the plane). I figured that I'd save the bread for an emergency. Turns out that I didn't need it; it was wonderful, though.

The Flight

As I boarded, I was praying that there would be nobody in the middle seat. I got on pretty late and it looked like things were going to work out. Seriously, I was nervous every time a person walked down my aisle. One lady passed, another man soon followed. Final boarding was about to end when two men hopped on the plane...Where are they going to sit? Please, not here. I'll pay the man US$100 to sit somewhere else. The one gentleman quickly takes his seat and the other man does too (a few rows back). Is this for real? Did I somehow manage to get one of five open seats (on a 747, mind you)? Miracles do exist and prayers are answered! (At least, some prayers are answered in my favor—a few other seems to have been answered with a "no" to my disbelief.)

I actually was able to sleep for a few hours (and comfortably) at the beginning of the flight. I chatted briefly with the man in the aisle seat. He was in the jewelry business (for the Middle East) and loved to tell me how Americans don't care about jewelry (i.e., they rush out to Macy's and pick out some jewelry in less than one hour). Also, he said that diamonds in America are cheap (lower quality cuts and more cookie-cutter than in the Middle East). In the Middle East, people will spend a week or two trying to decide on what cut they want; they want it to be custom and special. Blah, blah, blah. Another foreigner trying to tell me why he doesn't like America.

The rest of the flight was good; nothing really exciting to write about. I did find the snacks and I gorged myself. I had a ham & cheese sandwich, plenty of peanuts, some individually-wrapped Tim Tams cookies, some biscuits, Cup-O-Noodles, and plenty to drink. Needless to say, I wasn't hungry when I got off (well, I was hungry within two hours).