a history of me

OK, I'm back and ready to Blog. I haven't written a decent post in a few weeks so let's get to it.

Boston

Joe and I went to Boston on July 28th. For maximum economy we shared a room (but not a bed!) at the Motel 6 in Braintree, MA. This allowed us easy access to the city via the subway. Not that we checked, but I imagine all the hotels in the city would have been booked due to the mass of people in town for the Democratic National Convention. Security was very intense. We first emerged from the subway in Boston Common and saw at least five cops/soldiers hanging around plus four or more mounted policemen roaming the area. We purposely came to Boston without an agenda so the only plan was to walk around. The first thing we saw was pretty nuts. In the park a large number of demonstrators had gathered to protest China's persecution against Falun Dafa (a.k.a. Falun Gong). It was quite the set up, with dozens of people pantomiming the torture and abuse that people are facing in China right now. If you'd like to learn more, check out http://www.flgjustice.org/.

We kept going, first looking at the Robert Shaw memorial. No, not that Robert Shaw. Robert Gould Shaw, the civil war colonel who led the first all-Black regiment into battle. You probably saw the movie.

We spent most of the day following the Freedom Trail stopping occasionally to take pictures, eat, or drink beers. Mostly drink beers. By my count we drank beers in at least five different locations including the original Cheers. The most fun I had all day was at Bunker Hill. We got there after dark so no one was around. We were all alone and far from the chaos and security of the convention. No guards, no tourists, just the two of us and a 221-foot obelisk. We ruled that place. We could have stayed there as long as we wanted. In fact, the only reason Bunker Hill is open to public today is because we decided to leave.

The second day was less exciting because after a full day of walking the Trail my feet were killing me. We found time to see the U.S.S. Constitution, which is still a commissioned naval vessel so the security was quite tight. Seems a little silly, but it makes sense for the Navy to protect all of its ships, no matter their age. We tried to visit the aquarium but it closed early that day. We pretty much left right away. Joe was eager to see John Kerry's acceptance speech back at home. A fun little trip.

Joe

Joe is fine. You can read his response to my earlier post. The only downer was he didn't feel well enough to join me on Thursday. Speaking of Thursday...

Yankee Stadium

On Thursday, August 5th I went to a game at Yankees Stadium: Yankees vs A's. I had two tickets but I had no one to go with. So I went alone. My seats were in the very last row in the upper deck (they call it Tier Reserved) but it was pretty nice. I had a roof which gave plenty of shade. I had a nice view of nearly the entire field and I stayed for the entire game. The Yankees won 5-1 but no one hit any home runs. New Yankee John Olerud went 3 for 3 and got hit by a pitch, all on his thirty-sixth birthday. On the way out I sang along with "New York, New York" all four times it was played. I went down to the lower village, ate at the Otafuku and treated myself to a few DVDs over at Mondo Kim's, the most awesome store on St. Mark's Place.

Philadelphia

So Friday night Dylan called and casually mentioned he was going to Philadelphia. I invited myself and-presto!-I found a weekend getaway. When I found out Dylan was going there with his girlfriend Dani I tried to un-invite myself. Three's a crowd, after all. But then Dylan was insisting so I relented. We almost left Friday night but good sense overcame us. We would have arrived at midnight or later and gone directly to bed. Hotels aren't cheap, you know. So we instead made arrangements for Saturday night and left in the morning. The drive took way too long thanks to the endless traffic jam that is New Jersey. As soon as we arrived we walked into a hat store where hip black men sold Dylan and I hats. We tried to see some sights but everything was already closed. But one idea we had in mind was open 24-7: Philly Cheese Steak sandwiches! There are two famous spots in Philly to get 'em, Geno's Steaks and Pat's King of Steaks. The two restaurants are across the street from one another and they have no indoor seating. All you do is get your food at a window and sit outside. Dylan and Dani waited on line at Geno's while I waited at Pat's. My line was much longer so Dylan and Dani sat at Pat's table waiting for me. The guy cleaning up wasn't too thrilled to see them sitting there with Geno's food but I wager lots of people try both sandwiches. Dylan told him what was up and he confidently told him that Pat's was better. Eventually the three of us ate the sandwiches along with some "pizza fries," fries topped with Cheez Whiz and tomato sauce. Both sandwiches were good but we decided Pat's was, in fact, the King. Dylan told the guy he was right and the guy told us to tell the people at Geno's that "they suck." We declined to endanger our lives.

We returned to "City Center" or "Center City" (signs say both) to get drunk. We found an old pub named McGillin's Ale House and did our best. Little did we know it was Karaoke night. After a few drinks we started goading each other to get up there. I ended up singing "Working for the Weekend" and Dylan sang "Road to Nowhere." Somehow Dani got out of singing anything.

On Sunday we finally got to see stuff. We went to Independence Park to see the Liberty Bell and Independence Hall. The first thing we were struck by was the absurd level of security. What was once an open park is now surrounded by fencing and concrete planters. The first stop for any visitor is the security checkpoint, which means metal detectors and intense scrutiny. Then you can enter the small museum containing the Bell. While inside there are at least six park rangers watching you. Dylan had a bottle of water which was allowed so long as it was capped. When Dylan absent-mindedly took a sip, one of the rangers asked him to keep it capped and reminded him he was "in a museum." What the fuck does that have to do with anything? Dylan asked where he could throw it away and he was told there are no garbage cans inside for "security reasons." So we've been scanned and searched already but we might still attempt to put a bomb in a trash can? Get serious. I took a picture with the bell but Dylan didn't bother. I suspect he was irritated by the hoopla surrounding it.

After leaving the Bell the rangers offer a choice: remain inside the "security" area and continue across the street to Independence Hall or leave the park. Of course this is all open-air and there's cars driving through. This is about as "secure" as Central Park. We waited behind Independence Hall for our tour to start, amazed by the money and effort wasted to protect an unprotectable, un-endangered building. What should (and used to be) an free area to congregate was now a permanent police event. And it seems that some people want to increase the security. Sights like this make me want to blow this popsicle stand and live abroad.

Movies

In case anyone was curious, I saw a couple movies during these past few weeks. I rented Starsky & Hutch, I bought 2LDK at Kim's and last night we saw Collateral on the way back from Philly. I recommend all three films, although 2LDK was quite odd. I also bought the new Predator two-disc set. Predator is one of my favorite movies and it contained a free ticket for the new Alien vs. Predator movie. So I suppose I have no excuse not to see it.