Dunkin’ Donuts

Boston: Day Two

October 24, 2007October 24, 2007
The Events that are: My Life

Note: This actually took place 10/14/2007. I’m just super busy and haven’t been able to get it all typed up until now.

The following takes place between 6ampm and 2am, Boston Local Time:

Three hours of sleep is not near enough. Fortunately, it was race day and the adrenaline began rushing soon after the alarm went off. We were all out by 6:40am and had Colin dropped off around 7am.

We drove to the prime spectating spot and then found a Dunkin’ Donuts for breakfast.

It wasn’t long before Colin made his first appearance. I think he took us all by surprise since when had no idea where he was in the pack. Jeff, Tim, James, and Elizabeth were ready with Gatorade, goo, and change of clothes. I stood back a bit with the camera.

Colin shed his hat and jacket and kept on running. It would be about an hour before we saw him again. Elizabeth, with some input for others, made a hilarious sign for Colin.

The next time around, we were a bit more ready. Gatorade and goo hand off, plus a little bit of running along by Tim.

As we later learned, Colin never notice the sign. Which is unfortunate because it’s awesome.

Once more around the loop for Colin. Tim and James when a couple miles down the way to prepare for jelly bean dispensing (pure sugar for a quick energy boost). Meanwhile, Jeff, Elizabeth, and I moved across the bridge for the third meeting.

Colin was looking good. The last Gatorade and goo handoff when without a hitch and Colin was on his way. The three of us jumped into the van and drove to the finish line.

Traffic was hectic near the end. With streets blocked off, runnings in the road, and bridges closed, it was near impossible to get around. Jeff dropped Elizabeth and me off near the stadium where the finish line was. We started into the arena when I saw Colin passing me on my left.

Not wanting to miss him finishing, I took off in a dead sprint to beat him into the stadium. Unfortunately, I had no idea where I was going and was almost bear hugged by a volunteer to prevent me from racing onto the field.

I back tracked a few paces, whipped out my camera and had plenty of time to capture Colin crossing the finish line.

Colin recovered pretty quickly. We doddled around the stadium for a while, took a group picture to commemorate Colin’s Boston Marathon Qualifying Time, and then headed back to BC.

I had a nap on the way back since I was dead tired.

We had dinner when we got back; which reminds me that BC has pretty fantastic dining service. It’s frustrating that Mines is locked into Aramark, because they do a pretty shitty job. This, however, is a topic for another day.

To cap of the day, Jeff and I went to Mass. I think I’ve only been to Mass once before, and that was for Stephanie’s High School Graduation. My Mom’s cousin was married this summer and they had a Catholic wedding, but no Mass (although we all bet heavy money that there would be one).

Boston: Day One

October 19, 2007October 19, 2007
The Events that are: My Life

The following takes place between 1pm and 3am, Boston Local Time:

The plan for the day was simple, go back to Jeff’s place and sleep some more. Then, get up and go to Chelmsford and check into a hotel to watch the Boston College at Notre Dame game. The next morning Colin would run the BayState Marathon in his attempt to qualify for the Boston Marathon.

We woke up around one in the afternoon, had a bit of breakfast (i.e. the bagel and cream cheese we picked up that morning), and then took off.

We made a stop at a local market to get some food and Jeff and I picked up some Arrogant Bastard. We hopped on the highway, only to figure out about 25 minutes later that we were on the wrong highway. As it turned it, we going in generally the right direction and we were able to get to Chelmsford without any major rerouting/back tracking.

We checked into the hotel and then Colin, James, and I drove into Lowell so that Colin could check in.

Check in was as at Lowell High School (Random Wikipedia trivia: Lowell High School opened in 1831 as the first co-educational high school in the United States and is currently the state’s second-largest public high school). We all decided that:

All high schools look the same, no matter the state, and
Being in high schools when there aren’t high school kids around is still kind of weird.

On the way back, we stopped by Dunkin’ Donuts which seems to be the thing to do when your in Boston. James introduced and treated me to the iced regular coffee, which is actually coffee with cream and sugar. So thanks James, you’ve got me hooked on something else ;).

We made another stop at a grocery store to find the rest of the items Colin would need for the next days marathon, and then to the beer store because it seems that most grocery stores don’t sell alcohol of any sort (not even 3.2%).

One of things I try to do is sample the variety of beers, always trying to find something great. If I go to a restaurant and see a new beer on the list, I’ll try it. If I’m far away from home (such as in Boston) and I’ll try to look for beers that aren’t in Colorado/Seattle. We picked up Samuel Adams October Fest (I can probably get this in Colorado/Seattle, but it’s Samuel Adams and I’m in Boston….so, I kinda had to), UFO Hefeweizen, and a Magic Hat of a type I can’t recall (help anyone?).

Boston College beat Notre Dame. We hit a up a Applebee’s-type place called The 99 Restaurant or maybe just 99, I’m not quite sure. It was good food and decent service, plus a good time had by all.

It was approaching 9pm local time, so we headed back to the hotel and jumped into the hot tube for a half hour or so before heading back up. It was 10:30ish by time I was dried off. People started to head to bed and the lights were out by 11:15pm.

I however, was still pretty awake (remember that it was only 9:15pm in my mind and I had woken up at 1pm local time…a double whammy). I basically spent the next 4 hours watching Boston loose it to the Indians in the ALCS and then time on the interwebs getting caught up on my feeds and email.

I finally made it to bed around 3am, just in time to get around three hours of sleep.

Boston: Day Zero

October 17, 2007
The Events that are: My Life

Fall break has come (and now gone) and I elected a rather long time ago to spend my four wonderful days of in Boston (or as I like to call it, Bah-ston).

The previous week had been a shit week, which I think is the typical feeling on Friday for many Miners. I hadn’t been feeling well as of late Thursday night and I now had a paint in my lower left ribcage that was coming and going throughout the day. To compound things, several exams had reared their ugly heads that I would need to spend a portion of my vacation studying for.

Feeling rather anxious (in a bad way), I packed my carry on with all the reference material I might need to study and Mom dropped me off at the airport just a little past 10:30pm.

Day 0: 11:35pm to 6:30am
jetBlue has a wonderful red eye flight at that takes off from Denver at 11:35pm local and lands in Boston at 5:15am local. Just enough time to get about three hours of sleep.

I was only able to get about an hour of sleep before arriving. I gathered my things, let Jeff know that I had landed, and starting walking toward the arrival area.

Perhaps the fun part about being up so early is that you can see all shops opening. I don’t why I like the feeling, but it feels good and exciting to see places opening for business…especially early in the morning. I feel part of the city at that point I guess.

There was also a man sleeping in a wheelchair. I couldn’t figure out if he was homeless or not…I should have taken a picture, but I didn’t.

Jeff and Tim picked me up (using James’ van). We made a stop at Dunkin’ Donuts for some bagels, cream cheese, and a bag of coffee to be made later, then proceeded to the dorm unit to catch some more shuteye.