there are a number of places i've never been in the US that i'd like to visit - portland, martha's vineyard, charleston, boston.
lucky for me, this past week i had the pleasure of going to boston for work. even luckier for me, i'll be back next week as well (when it rains, it pours).
i had a 3 pm flight so i headed to the airport about 1hr 30 min beforehand just in case the security line was long. just as the cab pulls to the airport, i receive an alert - my flight is delayed 40 min. awesome. i get to my gate and park myself. after playing angry birds on my phone for about an hour, i realize that i should probably charge it so i head over to a station to plug in. then i hear, "last call for flight blah blah blah to boston." hmmm, "aren't i on flight blah blah blah," i thought? after a quick look at my ticket, i realized, that yes, i was in fact on flight blah blah blah. i unplugged my phone, grabbed my coffee, and ran over to the gate (which was apparently not the gate i was sitting at). i get there and the agent asked if i was going to boston. i said yes, and that i'd been sitting there the entire time but had thought the flight was delayed. she said that they'd changed it back (how nice of them). so i board, grab a seat, and examine the 3rd degree burns i suffered from the spilled coffee during my race to the gate (good news, minimal burns. i will make it).
as the plane pushes back, there is a pop (while i did not hear any pop, the pilot said there was one so i'll take his word). the pilot let us know that we needed to have maintenance inspect it and give us the ok before we could go. so we waited. and waited. and at 3:55, we get ready to push back. at this point, i'd been on the plane an hour and my fellow passengers had been there an hour and a half! by the time we finally took off it was 4:10. good thing i ran to the gate an hour ago. thanks for that, delta.
once we land, i grab a cab and tell him i'm headed to the blah blah hotel at the airport. he informs me that the hotel is actually not at the airport but 7 miles away in a lovely little town. great, let's go. i get in and the cabbie starts to talk to me about this nascar convention (i dont' think it was a convention but i don't remember the word he used) that he was at a few weeks ago and they stayed a hotel outside of town. he went on to tell me about the escorts who were at his hotel which naturally transitioned him into the story of the craigslist killer. (you know what i didn't want to talk about upon my first visit to boston - anything related to murder). from there he had a few other amazing conversation topics that i won't get into. as we get closer to the hotel he tells me about the nearby attractions, including (but not limited to) a friendly's, an uno pizzeria, a burlington coat factory, and for entertainment, a strip club located across the street (how amazing and fantastic). we pass by a neighborhood which he mentions is like the projects but one or two grades above (where exactly is my hotel???). we arrive, i thank him and exit the cab. i check in, go to my room, log on to the internet, and book a new hotel. i check out, get in a new cab, and head to my new hotel. this cab ride was a little different - we listened to bon jovi (at the highest volume the radio would permit) and he asked me if i was an interior designer. must have been my awesome color blocked ensemble that misled him to believe i worked in a creative and interesting field. he talked about the weather and other normal human being topics. we passed by MIT and i thought "isn't that where that grad student was murdered by a janitor?" of all the things for MIT to bring to mind, i chose murder. i was clearly in a healthy mindset. we get to my (new) hotel, i thank him, exit, check in, and relax in my nice clean room which does not include a view of a highway on-ramp or a strip club...thankfully.
the next few days i go to my meetings and get asked some awesome questions, such as:
1. am i the usual scribe for meetings?
yes, i travel to meetings to take notes that i then just keep for my personal record. my company paid for me to come here just for that.
2. where did i get my watch because their 22 y.o. daughter wants the same one?
awesome! note to self: buy rolex or cartier watch immediately. maybe both. just to be safe.
3. how do you type so fast?
like this......[cue rapid typing]. tada.
4. what is your other coworker's name? i know you're natasha and your other coworker is.....?
oh, my name is actually not natasha (am i at the right meeting?) and i think the coworker you're thinking of is also not named natasha. there's actually no one on this project named that.
but it wasn't all business. my trip also included me witnessing a a fight between my cabbie and another cabbie. i think at that point i thought, "oh no no, this trip will, in fact, be ALL business - no non-essential cab rides (hotel - office - hotel only)."
strip clubs, friendly's, bon jovi. oh boston, you know how to charm a girl.
until next week. xoxo, natasha.
