Today I slept late, drove through quiet New England streets past snow covered fields, had a piping hot slice of East Coast pizza, and basically just relaxed. Tommorow I head back to the craziness that is LA, but for one weekend, at least, I was cold - yes, had a sore throat - yes, but I was able to enjoy the kind of peacefulness that only comes from getting away from the day to day and, even if only for a little while, throwin' my cares away.
Okay, so I'm probably romanticizing a bit, but it's more fun to write with a bit of romanticism so bear with me. In any case, it was a good weekend here in CT. To update from my last post - the latter part of my time in NYC was jam-packed. Thursday morning (and I do mean morning) kicked off with my NBC team giving our little presentation to the rest of the Digital Distribution unit. I got in a few choice remarks, so hopefully I made a good impression. But the highlight of the day, at least the work-related highlight, was that the top dog himself, Jeff Zucker (Jay-Z) spoke to our group. It was pretty interesting to hear what he had to say, and I really enjoyed hearing him speak.
But man, even though we only had a half day of meetings, I was completely wiped out by 1 pm or so when we wrapped. As most of my colleagues immediately headed for the airport, I packed up my things, checked out of the Westin Hotel in Times Square, and tried to figure out my plan for the rest of the day. It was still freezing outside, so I wanted to see and do a lot but with as little walking outside as possible. After a quick lunch, however, I was able to make a very exciting trip ...
One of my friends from BU, Mike D, is now in the awesomely cool position of being a writer for one of my all-time favorite humor publications / websites, The Onion. This is especially cool as Mike was a fellow writer for Overexposed, BU's student sketch comedy group, and then both of us went on to intern for Late Night With Conan O'Brien in the summer of 2004. So it's great as, not only do I read The Onion daily, but oftentimes I'll come across an article or two that clearly shows the signs of being Mike's handiwork. In turn, Mike, a very funny guy, has been a longtime reader of this blog, and has even managed to convert a few other staff members over at The Onion into regular readers. Suffice to say, this is very flattering and makes me all the more self-concious that most of the time this blog is pretty much a haphazardly-written, rambling, incoherant mess. I mean right now, it's 1:30 am on the east coast, I'm doing some laundry, checking my flight itinerary for tomorrow, realizing that I rarely spell "tomorrow" right on my first attempt, and pretty much hanging my head in shame at how lame this blog is. So I am honored that anyone who works at a prestigious publication like The Onion would bother reading. Then again, some of my "Lost" reviews are pretty good stuff ...
Okay, getting to the point - Thursday afternoon, I got to visit the hallowed halls of THE ONION! I met a few of the writers, discussed a little TV with Mike, and realized that The Onion has somehow become a haven for young BU alumni. Who woulda thunk it? Anyways, it was definitely a lot of fun to check out the offices, so thanks to Mike D for showing me around - I will try to keep this blog up to quasi-Onion standards, write the occasional tribute to 80's WWF wrestlers when appropriate (those are popular, apparently ...), and be that annoying guy who sends links to every funny Onion story to all of my friends and coworkers.
And one final word / cheap plug. You may have seen a new hardcover book put out by The Onion called Our Dumb World. Well, said book is co-written by the aforementioned Mike D, and from what I hear, it's hilarious! No, I haven't read it yet, but that will soon change as I was lucky enough to get a free copy from Mike. However, I am so sure that it's amazing that I'm going to do my first-ever preemptive review and give it an "A" sight unseen. It's that potentially good. Seriously, I plan to talk more about the book here soon, but you don't need to take my word for it (take THAT, Levar Burton), go buy it now - available at bookstores everywhere!
Okay, so ... after my trip to the Onion, I was cold and tired and went back to the Westin hotel, where I was no longer a guest, and sat huddled in their lobby for a bit like some poor homeless person. Luckily, I would soon be rescued from my plight by Kate the Great, one of my favorite people, who, somehow, I haven't actually seen in probably about 3 years. Ridiculous, I know. But we finally met up and had a fun dinner and great conversation, as is always a given whenever I hang out with Kate. From there, I took a taxi down to Brooklyn, as Erica C. was nice enough to let me sleep on her couch before I headed to CT the next morning. Though her cat was slightly (okay, make that very) scary, it was all good ... the only problem was that I slightly overslept the next morning, and had to take a mad-dash taxi ride through NYC in order to drop Erica's keys off where she works, at the EMI offices, then from there head to Port Authority to catch my scheduled bus to Hartford. It was funny - as I was waiting outside of her apt. for the cab to pick me up, two black cars simultaneously pulled up to the curb, with both drivers yelling at me to get in. I had no idea what was going on, but one driver flashed me his Continental ID and told me the other guy was just trying to steal his business. Apparently I got in the right car, praised be jeebus. Luckily I had this insane taxi driver who bobbed and weaved through traffic like a man possessed, and got me to Port Authority with minutes to spare. I hopped on the bus just in time, with my one regret being that I was starving, as I'd had no time to eat anything. Some higher power (I reckon it was Mayor McCheese) must have been watching over me though, as I fell asleep on the bus, only to be woken up by the driver telling us that we were running early and were therefore making an impromptu stop at Mickey D's. I don't know if I had ever been so excited to see the Golden Arches.
Anyways, I made it relatively safe and sound to CT, though I was already beginning to feel a bit sick from the cold and lack of sleep combo. I tell ya, the nonstop, on-the-go lifestyle has its perks, but overall it's not for me. I like a lot of sleep, a comfortable bed, and the reassurance that my own well-stocked fridge is nearby. Friday night, my brother - in from Beantown - along with my parents and grandparents, gathered for our traditional Friday night Shabbat dinner. My mom insisted that it be a surprise that my brother and I were both home, so we hid upstairs until my grandparents got up to the kitchen, then gave them the big reveal. After dinner, both my brother and I were toally wiped - by the time I suffered through a Utah Jazz game at Matt's insistence, I was done.
Saturday, me, Matt, and my dad shipped up to Boston. We visited my other grandmother (Dad's side), who recently moved into a new convalescent facility in Boston. She was very happy to see us so I'm glad that we got to squeeze in that visit. Then, I saw my brother's latest BU-issued apartment, on Buswell St., not far from the apartments I had on Aberdeen and Beacon. We had dinner at one of my old South Campus-area favs, Chef Chang's. It felt like only yesterday that me, Aksel, and Chris were sharing a meal there, but the Orange Chicken was still as tasty as I had remembered it. It was cool walking around the South Campus area a bit - seeing the ol' landmarks and realziing that not much had yet changed since my days as a Terrier. In any case, we drpped Matt off, drove back to CT, and by that point I was REALLY wiped. Which probably helps to explain why I did little today other than sleep late, make a quick trip to Simsbury in order to pick up a shirt or two from Bob's, and eat a tasty chicken sandwich at Red Robin.
Now, I've watched the FOX Sunday night lineup, written the token blog entry from CT, and done a little laundry (not an easy task in my house, where my dad keeps that washing machine runnin' 24/7). There's nothing left to do but pack up and call it a night.
Until next time, CT. Until next time ...
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