Pictures from Virginny...

As I write this, Frazer is next to me, enjoying his last night with me before I head back to MA tomorrow....
...some pictures from this past week...

Wallace, the stupid but "sweetest baby," as my mom calls him...
Roy's and Ricky's in Suffolk, VA, where the Smithfield salt-cured ham came from (and where I had an awesome BBQ sandwich in a makeshift restaurant next to the townsfolk...they talked of sports and their work; I hid my pinky ring.)
Suffolk is home to the Planters Peanut Company. Here is their new, modern facility in Downtown Suffolk, home of the brand...


We stopped by an old courthouse. Virginia has many old courthouses like MA. Unlike MA, these old buildings are rarely recognized. The docent implied that we were her first visitors for the day (around 3PM)...
Virginia repealed this form of punishment sometime in...hmmm...the 1970s?
Frazer pondering over the meaning of Thanksgiving and family. Is it a time of celebration for the new Americans, or a time of mourning of the Native Americans? I asked him later, and he said, with his tail wagging, "Are."
Our Thanksgiving dinner on Thursday afternoon...traditional, and fast (we were at the table for about a half hour at most).

An old railroad station, built in 1888, that was recently moved across the railroad tracks to its permanent home. It is still sitting of cinder blocks, awaiting its permanent foundation. I always enjoyed riding by this cool old building in the northern parts of Newport News...

Wallace...
I'll be back in town Monday around 5:00 PM. 'Time to get back to the faster pace of my usual life, and I can't wait.

back down South...

Good Smithfield salt-cured ham from the source on Wednesday (sandwiched with a side bowl of Brunswick Stew), traditional Thanksgiving turkey meal on Thursday, a giant open-faced roast beef sandwich with gravy and onions at a diner called "Monty's Penguin" this afternoon, fresh venison for dinner tonight (my one concession to firearms ownership...my parents' former neighbor is a good shot), a burger at "Sam & Steve's House of Beef" tomorrow afternoon, and turkey hash with leftovers tomorrow night. I have to say, the eating is damn good.

Anyways, things have been quite well down here. Despite my perpetually agitated state, made known to me by my father during a rather heated (and audible) shouting match in a Wal-Mart parking lot on Black Friday (hey, I do as the Romans do down in these parts), I have gotten along remarkably well with my parents (with the nightly aid of Seagrams 7 and ginger ale as my mother watches police dramas and my dad watches shows called "Pawn Stars" and the like).

I bought a new Christmas tree today...3 feet, artificial, pre-lit. I'm excited. It will have to be shipped.

I, with some help from Mom and Dad, also put up and trimmed our 9-foot Christmas tree Thursday night and Friday.

I was really hoping to be able to pick a sprig of cotton for my friend and coworker Piya, who hails from India and thinks Virginians spend most of their time performing war reenactments. There's so much more to Virginia than that. We have cotton fields and ham. There wasn't a parking space in any cotton field for me to stop and pick cotton, and I also remembered that people who own cotton fields also own guns (but also pigs, which make good ham). So, I decided against cotton picking.

Another item crossed off the list...I finished some Christmas shopping for my sister's "Kitschmas Box" at a dollar store the other day. Apparently one can do grocery shopping at Dollar General. Who would have known?

Pictures will be uploaded soon...I have them, but apparently my parents' internet settings won't allow them...I'll work it out tomorrow.

craziness

I woke up this afternoon to the sunset. My sleep schedule is officially fucked.

A bunch of my friends and I spent last night at the Lansdowne to celebrate my birthday. The cover band was decent, the service was awful (I have no room to complain...the place was packed), and everyone passing through our area where we staked out some bar stools decided it was the best place to fart. I couldn't wait to get out of there, but we did. A number of us ended up at Bill's apt in the Fenway, where we ate lots of tasty junk food and an awesome cheescake. Lots of wine...wine...wine...wine.......

To kick off the evening, 4 of us went out to Marlborough to play indoor miniature golf. I kicked ass...truly did...that's why I asked to do this for my birthday.

Have a good night, everyone. My next post will most likely be from Virginia...I fly down there Tuesday. There will be dog-related posts from there.

Safe travels, everyone!!

Long week...and good food....

It's been a week...thanks to those who have kept up with my posts...

My apartment smells of bacon right now. I asked my mom to send me a recipe for a very yummy stew/soup-ish recipe earlier in the week, and she delivered. I went grocery shopping tonight for the ingredients (discovering a new generic brand at Shaw's...something called Shoppers Value) and came home to prepare this most awesome sweet-and-savory stew (you readers are not entitled to the recipe, I am sad to announce). It ended up involving cooking 12 ounces of bacon and a pound of lean ground beef, mixed with many beans and other condiments (including various types of sugar). The best part is that it will all cook together while I am at work...all slowly cooking in my Crock Pot. I didn't realize that frying bacon would end up with a 1/4 inch layer of fat in the pan, but that just added to the wonderful aroma experienced from cooking this dish. The grease is now in a soda can in my refrigerator, for later use ;-)

The weekend was great...spent the daytime reading my New Yorker and at night either at my friends' place smoking (ahhh...and now, we are not criminals) and hanging out at the local bar at Kenmore Square debating just how many people who work there are gay. We drove out to Worcester last night with the sole purpose of eating at Arby's Roast Beef, which isn't that common at all around here.

'Have a good week at work, everyone!!!

Autumn Frollicking

'Twas a rather good weekend. Started out at Cornwall's in Kenmore Sq playing darts and Taboo over drinks before Bill and I headed to the St. Botolph District for a few more drinks with Matt...then back to my place for more drinks.

Yesterday...slow start, but I managed to make it on time for my hair cut appointment. Bill picked me up Downtown to drive to the Burlington Mall, where we met up with the Bootys for the sole purpose of eating Chik-Fil-A. We also happened upon a LEGO store, where each of us bought something. I am now the happy owner of a 66-piece Christmas tree ornament that will grace my parents' 9-foot tree that I will inevitably be trimming in 3 weeks.

Bill and I stopped by the Christmas Tree Shops in Lynnfield on the way home...I bought a bag full of crap, which was so much fun. Much of it will end up in my sister Ellie and her partner's "Kitschmas Box" this year...a tradition we started in 2007. It's my turn this year.

Party last night in a depths of Jamaica Plain. Bill fared worse than me, but I managed to get him up and out of bed for a trip to Mt. Auburn Cemetery in Cambridge...America's first garden cemetery and designated a National Historic Landmark by the Department of the Interior. Enjoy the pics!!!





















Tonight's great find: a barf bag (unused) from Lufthansa Airlines...near the front sidewalk to my building.

Interesting Photo...

I just found this photo on my Facebook account tonight...apparently I log into Facebook so infrequently that I am not aware of when I am tagged in photos.

This was taken back in late August/early September when a group of people at the lab took a grad student out to lunch because she was leaving her program to pursue other interests in NYC. We are at the corner of Jersey Street and Park Drive, just feet away from Thaitation (one of my favorite restaurants), a block from where I live. The cause of celebration is third from right (in all black). My boss is near the center, wearing a green shirt. I am to the far right (yes, unflattering picture in those jeans...they really don't look like that).

Why is this picture odd? I am 5'8", and I am the second tallest person of the group. This is the truth, too...not just because of visual effects from the perspective from which the picture was taken.


As a prequel of pics to come, I offer the following of myself, dressed as Jack Sparrow from Pirates of the Caribbean. It involved a little makeup, but the costume was borrowed from my friend Matt, who celebrated his 33rd BDay last night (on Halloween!).'Hope everyone had a safe and fun Halloween! Enjoy the early sunsets from your windows at work at 4:00PM!!!! They are quite stunning of late.

Life is peachy...

...patient-doctor stabbings at MGH, sodium azide poisonings at the Harvard Medical School NRB, sexual assault across the street from my apartment, and a fortunately discovered window leak at my desk found just as I was walking out of the lab this evening, aside, it's been a good week.

The sun will be out tomorrow and Friday (until 5:30PM)...we get an extra hour of sleep this weekend. And I have a Halloween costume in place for a party on Saturday. All I need to do is figure out if I need to shave the chest...or keep it natural. I'll be Jack Sparrow from "Pirates of the Caribbean"...any thoughts? There will be eye makeup, oh yes.

These are the days that make life in Boston worth living (I keep telling myself, at least). I still think back to the day on the roof in Mission Hill (around August 10th)...ahhhhhhhhh.