Busy...Busy...Busy...

Like so many other bloggers these days, I find myself uttering those familiar words, "Sorry I haven't been around lately, but..."

I'm not writing a novel, working two jobs or pursuing an advanced academic degree in my spare time. I think I'm just very poor at time management!!

Friday night, I awoke to discover it was really cold in my house. Unable to sleep, I got up and cranked up the thermostat. I've been trying to conserve the propane this year, to avoid draining my bank account, but it was COLD! When the sun came up Saturday morning, I realized it was STILL cold. As much as I hated to get out from under the covers, it was the day Paul and I were heading for Boston and I still had packing to do. I got up and realized the heat was not working. I flipped on an eye on the stove. Yup...plenty of propane. I went down to the basement (that's where I type from, by the way) and the heat was working here. It's on a different zone. I had hot water. It seemed only the main living space was without heat. The gas company told me they'd have to charge me an arm and two legs to come out on a Saturday and recommended I tough it out for a couple of days, since warm weather was expected. I was going to be in a hotel room in Boston, but I did get hold of a space heater for my daughter and it turned out to be very warm all weekend. Paul came over tonight (poor guy drove an hour each way to spend 30 minutes working on my heating system) and discovered the thermostat was shot. He managed to get it working by soldering some bad wires. It's a temporary fix until he can get me a new thermostat and install it. It's so nice to have a handy guy around. I felt awful to impose on him when I know he's just dead tired, but he insisted.

Boston...the details~

We got there Saturday around 3:00. Hotel was nice. It wasn't in a GREAT location, but not a seedy location either. A few blocks were a little iffy for walking late at night, but they seemed safer when they became more familiar. The hotel offered a courtesy shuttle to places within a two mile radius of the facility and the driver was really nice. We were friendly with him and he ended up driving us to the Blue Man Group on Sunday afternoon, even though it was well over the 2-mile limit. He even gave us his cell phone number, in case we needed him after the shuttle service stopped at 10PM. (We didn't take advantage of it, but it was nice of him to offer.)

Saturday night we went to "Dick's Last Resort" and yes, that is REALLY the name. It's a bar where the staff insults the patrons and treats them like shit, but it's all a game. They put hand-made paper hats on the guests which feature funny or insulting comments. Mine said, "I'll trade sex for booze." I put it on the table when I went to the restroom and someone took it. They brought a replacement which read, "I prefer farm animals." Paul's had read, "I'm wearing red thong panties." There's no cover charge there, the food is very good and the band that night was really excellent. Unfortunately, there's no dance floor. I did drag poor Paul out of his chair and made him dance with me next to the table when the band played "Brick House". (Love that song!)

Sunday we took the Duck Tour. The "DUKs" were land/sea vehicles invented and used during WWII. After the war, the vehicles were sold off to various states and Boston uses their fleet of about 24 of them to give city tours. The tours begin on land, then splash into the Charles River to continue on water. They return to dry land for the last 1/3 of the trip. The tour lasts about an hour and a half and the drivers/tour guides all have character names/personalities. Our tour guide was "PJ Keen" and she wore...yeah, PJs! She had an awesome personality for her job. She was friendly, funny and unbelievably knowledgeable. The tour was absolutely fantastic. People along the route quack (yes, QUACK) at the passing vehicles and the occupants are expected to Quack, in unison, back. It's quite fun.

Sunday afternoon we went to see the blue guys and Paul LOVED the show. I knew he would. It's so great. My name even made it into the show. Early in the show, before the stars emerge, there's a bit featuring the names of randomly chosen theater-goers on a screen. These "lucky" patrons are humiliated by announcements made about them on the screen. It was announced that I had a headache and everyone should tell me how sorry they were...all together. Oops...that loud expression of concern probably didn't help. Sorry! Then the audience was instructed to read aloud: "Relax. Close your eyes. Picture your headache as a cow...a cow grazing in a meadow. Now...KILL THE COW!"

After the show, Paul and I took the 'T' to the north end and tried to find a good Italian restaurant. Paul is very particular and none of the restaurants seemed to be what he was looking for. We got to the end of the road and could hear music coming from inside this one establishment. Stepping inside, we heard accordion music, singing and laughing. I asked the hostess if it was a private party. She replied that it was ALWAYS like that there. We sat at the bar until there was a table available. It turned out to be the owner's birthday that night, so the place was probably a bit more high-energy than usual, but I suspect it's always a friendly and lively place. Musicians serenaded us and the food was awesome. (Kira: some sort of Focaccia bread, followed by salad, followed by Ravioli Rosso. They also had Italian pastries for desert, but we were too full.) When we were done with the meal, we hung around the bar for a while because we were having too much fun to leave! In the end, there were more friends and family of the owner there than paying customers and I was beginning to feel like a party crasher. So we wished Franco a happy birthday, gave him a hug and left. If you EVER get to Boston, be sure to eat at Dolce Vita!! It's the BEST!! And it's not even outrageously expensive. Including drinks, the dinner was only about $50!!

Monday we went sight-seeing by foot, taking in several beautiful old churches, the Boston Gardens, Beacon Hill and Quincy Market. We ate lunch at "Cheers". We walked, all the way from Quincy Market to our hotel on Massachusetts Avenue - MILES, trust me - and I thought I'd NEVER keep up with Paul. He tends to forget that I have to take three steps for every two of his!

That was very likely WAY more than you wanted to know, but now there are the details, as promised!

After Paul left tonight I talked to my son on the phone, balanced the checkbook and paid my bills. Tomorrow night I should FINALLY have time to visit around to all your blogs! Thanks for your patience!

See you in Vegas, Gene! I'll start saving my pennies and you start taking your vitamins!! Let's just leave it at that. :-)