I had to work from Monday to Thursday, so I booked a flight for the Friday before and returning the Monday after. Since I had to work 4 days, I figured I would spend 10 days out there. Makes sense, right? Right?
So I flew on Friday and went right up to Beverly, to hang with my buddy John and his wife, Melissa and his super friendly 1-year old, Ray. We treated ourselves to some Nick’s Roast Beef. Personally, I dig the Super Beef (on the onion roll) with a slice of American cheese and ketchup
Saturday, I drove up to Methuen to visit an old high school friend. I hadn’t seen him in at least 10 years even though we had talked through email a few times and even on the phone twice. He is thinking of getting into comedy and it was fun to talk about how you get in while drinking beers at the 99. I forgot how cool he was and how funny he was, so I am fired up for hearing how his venture into comedy goes. After hanging with him, I went up to see goofy friend, Jay. He is one of those friends who I act 100 times more retarded than I normally do. We really act like 12 years together, it is really pathetic. His wife, Ghazel cooked an awesome salmon dinner and we just chilled out all night.
Sunday was probably one of the highlights of the weekend. My buddy Matt, had a cookout at his house in Plainville. Exciting sounding town, huh? Trust me, it lives up to the title. But Matty’s house was a blast because I got to see most of the college crowd, but I also got to see their kids. Jeff and Dana, Jay and Ghazel, Sean and Kim, Erin and Chris, Greg, Rob and Nikki, Karen and Rich, and Carol all showed up to Matty and Heathers. Everyone’s kids were adorable and pretty darn funny. They had a blast because Matty rented one of those inflatable bouncy things that the kids can climb into and jump around. Greg and I thought it would be a good idea to climb in and hop around. That turned out to be way harder than in looked. We were completely out of breath and bitching about our knees within 5 minutes. I think I heard CJ (Sluggo’s oldest) whisper “pussy” as I stumbled off the toy.
Monday I had to set up our booth in Boston. It was in the Hynes Convention Center attached to the Prudential Tower. It was a lot more work than I thought it would be, but we finished in enough time for me to wolf down some dinner, change and head back to the show for 2 hours before we headed out and watched the Patriots kill the Bengals.
The cool thing about this show that went till Wednesday evening was that it was a Millipore reunion. I used to work at Millipore before I moved to the wild Midwest. It seemed like half the show was either current Millipore employees, or ex-Millipore employees (like myself). Two of my best friends from the Millipore days, Jon and Matt, we there and it was cool to catch up with them. We went to some of the seminars together, we grabbed lunch one of the days and Matt came out with us Monday night to watch the Patriots kill the Bengals (did I mention that the Patriots won?).
Tuesday Night I went to the North End with two co-workers and had some really cool Italian food. Wednesday we tore down the booth and I scrambled to meet Rob and Nikki at Boston Beer Works to watch the Red Sox game. It as killing me that the game started at 6:30, but I was pretty sure I could make it close to the start of the game and I was fired up to have my favorite beer, Pumpkinhead Ale. I soon found out that they had no Pumpkinhead (DAMMIT!!!!!). But I made in time to see the game. Rob and Nikki caught up and we had a blast. When the game ended, we had to catch our trains (mine to Beverly, Rob’s to Walpole). We each had a train for 10:30, but I started talking shit about how cool it would be to hang out for another 2 hours and catch the 12:30 trains. Rob has that sparkle in his eye that he was on board, fortunately his girlfriend, Nikki has more intelligence than us and recommended that we call it a night. She was right because I was ready to fall asleep as I got onto the train. Also, if I drank for another two hours, getting up for customer calls the next day would have been a whole lot harder.
Thursday, I went Kent (our Sales guys and avid Patriots and Red Sox fan) to my old stopping grounds, Millipore. More of the reuinion stuff. It was really cool to see some old faces and see the new facility. The visits took up most of the day and I ended up back in Beverly to catch up with an old friend, Michele. We caught up at Bertucci’s (kick ass pizza) and she brought her adorable little 3 year old girl, Kaitlyn. Her daughter was an absolute cutie and extremely friendly. Michele and I caught up as Kaitlyn got to realize how childish I am (which I think she enjoyed).
Friday was my scary day because that was when Holly and Quinlan were coming to Boston. I say scary because I was petrified on how Quinlan would like the flight. I was worried that he would have a three hour meltdown that he would hold a grudge for into his college years. There was a delay on the runway in Minneapolis and they landed an hour after schedule. He ended up being awesome on the plane and he was cute as a button when they came off of the gate. We brought him to Kowloons (so Daddy could get the best chicken fingers on the planet) and then to Beverly so he could meet John, Melisssa and Ray. Later that night, John and I went to his brothers where the two of them and their friends beat me up in poker (I finished 2nd once out of 4 games, I suck).
Saturday, Holly and I took off for the wedding. We checked into the hotel in Milford, let Quinlan nap and then brought him to my college friend Liz’s house in Millis. Unfortunately, we rarely get to see Liz when we fly home, so this was cool to see her, plus I get to meet her baby for the first time and see Meredith for the 2nd time. Both of her girls are adorable (naturally). Liz agreed to watch Quinlan while we went to the wedding and I kept worrying the whole night that the little guy would be a wreck for her. I guess he did great (or so she claims), and we left the wedding a little early to grab him. By the time we got back to the hotel, we were toast. Some of the wedding guests were partying in the lobby, but I had nothing in me. The wedding itself was fun because we got to hang with Matt and Heather, Sluggo and Shannon, Rita and Rob, Sean and Kim and Carol. Not to mention watch Chris and Erin tie the knot.
Sunday was a lazy day. We went to Rob’s place in Walpole and watched the Patriots beat the Browns and the Red Sox complete the sweep of the Angels. It was a blast to watch the games on HDTV and hang out with a friend who I don’t get to see as much as we should. We ended the week back in Beverly so we could get up at 3:15 for our flight the next day.
It was insane how quick the week went by. What kills me is that even though I ran around like crazy, got to a see a ton of people, I missed out on seeing some people I was hoping to see. I really wish I could have seen Lashy and Christy, but time never permitted. One thing about the week is that I do not think I had a healthy meal the whole week. I ate about as bad as I have ever eaten over the course of a week. I had a ton of Dunkin Donuts iced coffees, a few chocolate glazed donuts, three steak and cheese subs, two super beefs at Nick’s, Italian food in the North End as well as Tiramisu at Mikes, Dunkin Donuts breakfast sandwichs, appetizers at Champs, Finnish pancakes from Melissa, pizza at Bertucci’s, chicken fingers and a scallion pie at Kowloons, etc. I think the only decent meals were the salmon from Ghazel and the turkey tips at Beer works. I was already on an awful role with eating the two months before, but last week really went over the deep end. I think I gained 5 to 10 pounds last week (I wish I was lying). I actually scheduled a physical for Monday when I came back.
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