From a white house in Bloomfield by-God Connecticut ...

Just wanted to write something quick, mainly because I enjoy the novelty of having the blog originating from different points across the country.

It's been a packed week or so here on the east coast, and it's hard to believe it's already time to pack up my bags and had back to Los Angeles. But for what, to me, seemed like a fleeting moment is, unfortunately in the working world a long, long time. Remember those halycon days of summer vacations that stretched on for months at a time, with more than enough time for idle rest, relaxation, and lots of nothing? Yeah, me neither.

Anyways, a lot has been done since I arrived last Saturday in Bradley airport. My flight from Burbank was long and tiring. The plane stopped in both Phoenix and Chicago, but there was no layover, so I had to stay on the plane the entire time, and go through three separate takeoffs and landings. I did some reading (new Rolling Stone and Stephen King's The Stand - my current book of choice), but mostly drifted in and out of a cramped, uncomfortable sleep, looking out the window and seeing, alternatively, mountainous ranges, crop circles, vast fields, soaring cityscapes, and finally the green forests that symbolize you're in Connecticut country.

For the first few days in CT, I hung out with my brother (in from NYC until Wednesday) playing videogames (hard to reignite our virtual WWE Smackdown feuds now that Chris Benoit is a murderer ... but we did it anyways ... lol), playing basketball (Matt won our sole game, but denied me a rematch due to dubious claims of an injured shoulder ...), and watching DVD's (Matt and I spent two nights watching Rambo parts 1 and 2 - glorious). On Sunday, I saw rising political star Stephanie P., and also Kirsten S., who I hadn't seen in way too long, as she is now a resident Australian, even sporting a bit of a Down-Under accent. The three of us reconnected at a classic staple of New England fine-dining, that haven of family-fare classics and ice cream treats known as Friendlys. Monday night, we had some Chines with my grandparents in Windsor, and then the Baram men all took in a slightly advanced screening of Transformers (more on that later, short version is: overall okay, simultaneously awesome and retarded). Tuesday night, my parents decided to throw a party for all of their family friends, meaning that the day was spent cleaning, and the night was spent trying to explain my job and describe life in LA to many a baby-boomer couple. On Wednesday, aka July 4th, we drove down to the Big Apple to drop off my brother at his slightly sketchy East Village apt, which he and his friend are subletting for the summer, now that my brother has a swanky NBC internship coutesy of yours truly (they say you gotta hook a brotha up, and I did that ... literally ...). Amusingly, the tenants of this apt seem to be pretty big punks / hipsters. This is amusing since it was funny to picture mild-mannered Matt living in a bohemian East Village apt decked out with CBGB posters and stacks and stacks of CD's of bands of whom I have never heard of.

From the NYC apartment of Matt Baram, I went several blocks uptown to see Erica C., as she and her roommates were having an Independence Day party, the highlight of which was the NYC monster-sized fireworks display, easily visible from the roof of their apartment in St. Mark's Square. So that was a good time - watching the fireworks, catching a bunch of episodes of Flight of the Conchords (hilarious), and meeting some of Erica's friends. The next morning, I set out to explore some of NYC. Unfortunately I didn't end up connecting with some of my other BU or CT friends now residing in the city, so I kind of just wandered around aimlessly, revisiting old haunts like 30 Rock and Central Park, eventually ending up at the legendary Midtown Comics. I was pleased that I had enough NYC attitude for the guy at Midtown to ask me for an account number, though I was no longer a regular customer and had not been since the fall of 2004. So Thursday morning was alright, but I was totally exhausted from walking so much and it was ridiculously humid in NYC, also not helped by the fact that I was carrying around a dufflebag as I walked (dont' ask me why) from 42nd street to 60th and back to 40th with a number of detours on the way. Still, NYC is the best place to wander aimlessly, so it's all good. But yeah, I was happy to board a train bound for New Haven at Grand Central and return to Bloomfield to veg out, as I got home, did nothing of much note, and then watched Good Night and Good Luck with my dad (great movie).

Friday I did some shopping (gotta hit up Bob's while in CT, and of course grab a quick slice of Luna's Pizza while in Simsbury - and yes, my brother and I had some Bertucci's earlier in the week). Friday night my family and I had our traditional Shabbat dinner, though this time it was at my uncle Micheal's house in Longmeadow, MA, which I had never visited before since he moved there a while back (now, it turns out, they are moving again). We carpooled with my grandparents so I was somewhat squished on the ride there, but it was nice to see Michael, his wife Laura, her son Michael, and my cousin Abby (now in eigth grade). Friday night I completed the Rambo trilogy with a late-night viewing of Rambo III - once again, glorious (though prob not quite as glorious as parts I and II ...). Saturday, my parents were in NYC again for a Yankees game to celebrate my mom's birthday, so I deemed it a day of Relaxation, during which I slept late, barely left the house, and did nothing but read and watch TV and play Final Fantasy and watch some Curb Your Enthusiam on DVD. Pretty good. Preeeetty, pretty, preeeettty good.

Today, my dad and I drove up to the outskirts of Boston, MA to visit my grandmother in Newton. She was very happy to see us and it had been a long time since I had seen her, seeing as how I was last home in the east coast in December. We didn't really have a chance to go into Boston proper, but the main purpose of our visit was to pay a visit to Grandma Baram, so it's all good. Of course, a visit to Bloomfield wouldn't be complete without sampling whatever new restaurant is the talk of the town at the moment (there's about one every year or so). Last year it was the Ruby Tuesdays, this year it was the IHOP (see, I wasn't lying that I come from a small town!).

A funny story about our dinner tonight at IHOP. The service and food was all pretty bad, and did not even meet the standards of other IHOPs in places like Burbank. Upon paying at the cashier's desk, my dad complained, and I guess another couple heard him. As we left, this guy came up and, seeing me in my polo shirt or whatever (also the fact that we were conspicuously caucasion ...), was like "yeah, they need better waiters here, but don't judge us too harshly, it's only Bloomfield, and we're trying, at least you can come right here and don't have to go ot West Hartford." My mom explained that we were proud Bloomfield natives. We began to walk away, but I felt we needed to further display our Bloomfield street-cred. "Yeah," I said, "that's the former Mayor of Bloomfield there!" "Whoah," said the guy, "they gave bad service to the mayor?!?!" As we pulled out from the IHOP lot, the guy pulled out next to us and gave us a friendly honk of the horn. Only Bloomfield, huh?

So anyways, it's soon back to the grind and back to LA, where it's supposedly hot as hell right now. I've got more to write, as usual, but thought I'd quickly sum up my trip while I had a chance. I saw my parents, brother, grandparents, family friends, college friends like Stephanie, Kirsten, and Erica. Went to NYC and saw fireworks over the East River, ate Friendlys and Bertuccis, watched all three Rambo movies, and caught up on sleep. Not bad, not bad. So while I'm here, it's only fitting that I do this one blog, from here, in Bloomfield.