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Excuse me, but one is not "stuck" in Minnesota. One is thrilled to be fortunate enough to be able to spend time in the magnificent state of Minnesota.
quote:Originally posted by Bokonon: Since we'll likely stick to being in town... A Boston experience? I nominate Paul to be Verily's spouse!
-Bok
Wouldn't that be the Provincetown experience?
Myr: would Sat. be significantly easier for you? How inconvient would that be for Paul and Verily? What about sarahdipity, who earlier said she would come from Amherst if it were on a weekend? Like I said, I'm relatively open either night.
Also, if the consensus is somewhere like Bartley's, that's also fine by me. I'm the one who brought up the desire for a "family-friendly" meeting place, but I'm perfectly willing to let that go (and honestly my wife would probably be relieved not to have to drag the whole family along for the evening. Maybe I could even convince her to get a baby-sitter).
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quote:Originally posted by ElJay: Excuse me, but one is not "stuck" in Minnesota. One is thrilled to be fortunate enough to be able to spend time in the magnificent state of Minnesota.
Oh. Right. That's what I meant....
When does the Minnesota clump have a party?
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Well, the other thing about Bartley's is that it isn't near candlepin We'd have to go to Sacco's, which is fine on a weekend afternoon, but possibly more problematic on a weekend night. Sacco's just isn't that big. Plus I hate cosmic bowling.
Of course, if Verily is committed to the 4/20 date, we'll just have to improvise
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I would probably not come out on a friday as that means leaving here late and getting there around 7 and then driving back alone late at night after only being in the city 3-4 hrs. However, no one only knows how lazy I am going to be that weekend so plans should not be made around me. I'm guessing the Boston clump could meet for dinner and something afterwards. But for a tour of the city most people couldn't ditch work on a Friday. And you can't tour the city w/o light.
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I'm not committed to Friday. I have room enough to be flexible; if Saturday is better for the majority of people, I'll go along with that. I certainly don't want a bunch of people to have to be left out just because Friday is slightly more convenient for me. Posts: 1814 | Registered: Jul 2004
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quote:Originally posted by Dragon: Oh. Right. That's what I meant....
When does the Minnesota clump have a party?
Awwww, you're sweet. Unfortunately, neither Ryuko or Traveler seem to be around much anymore, so the MN clump is basically you, me, and people related to me. So that's not much of a party. I'd be happy to meet you for lunch or dinner sometime, though, and if it's dinner Enigmatic might join us. (I work in downtown St Paul, so meeting someone in Mac/Groveland for lunch would be easy. Enig doesn't.) You're just here until May? I don't think dkw, Bob, & the little one will be up before then, but maybe we can all get together next fall when you're back and have a real party. If we time it carefully, twinky might be here, too.
But I'll stop hijacking the thread, email me through the forum if you'd like to get together before you leave, or we could start a new thread if you'd like to try to lure out some of the MN lurkers. Have fun in New England, Verily! I'm jealous. Posts: 7954 | Registered: Mar 2004
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We've done bartley's twice. We should find something different.
Saturday may or may not work for me, its my birthday, but am celebrating my birthday with family later on, so... it sorta depends.
Posts: 4112 | Registered: May 2001
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Sarah - and this goes for anyone - if you came down on Friday you are totally welcome to crash at my apartment, my roommates and I have couches and a sleeping bag and a floor mattress.
Friday isnt impossible for me (gah my CTRL-F Find thing in firefox keeps coming up every time I use an apostrophe so sorry for the lack of them!!), I would just get out of work at 7ish, possibly later, so Id probably have to join the party late is all - so I guess its not difficult so much as unsure about times (hooray design profession), Ill just be late Saturday is wide open for me.
For restaurants, what other suggestions do we have? Places that can hold a crowd that are sure to have food that everyone will like... Theres Sunset (at BU)... Silvertones downtown has great food but it might be too bar-y. Tavern in Central... John Harvards? Ohh, I really enjoy Border Cafe (Harvard Sq). Thats all I can think of, I dont know my restaurants very well.
Dragon - we ll have to have a gathering when youre around! I dont think Ive seen you since Bartleys, like, four years ago!!
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Oh- and theres that AMAZING gormet pizza place across from Border Cafe. The booths are big and cozy.
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This is true. And problematic. I will be home for quite some time though so we can plan a summer clump reunion.
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Well, I think avoiding a bar would be preferable, out of deference to senoj (he being LDS). Border can be a madhouse on a weekend night. There's the "Japanese Mall" in Porter that has a Japanese restaurant, plus 4-5 mini-restaurants of various aspects of Japanese food (a sushi place, ramen, and a couple more).
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None of those are exclusively bars, but I was trying to think of places with the right atmosphere which is hard since my establishment-experiences are mostly related to, well, bar-hopping. Anyway, I eat at that sushi bar at least once every two weeks (I used to go every Monday with a coworker whose internship recently ended, boo). I'm addicted to it. I've been meaning to try that Japanese place to the back and right (with the fish tank).
Posts: 3636 | Registered: Oct 2001
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Okay, I've finally managed to get online. For a while, it looked like I might not get to have Internet access while I was here, and then I'd have looked like a real jerk simply not showing up to the gathering.
So I've been in New England since yesterday afternoon. Things I've learned so far:
-It's a pain in the nether regions trying to connect your laptop to the Internet from a hotel room if you don't have a wireless card.
-Posted speed limits on the highway are for the amusement of locals rather than, you know, slowing people down. Driving north on the Maine Turnpike this afternoon, a not-particularly busy road at the time, in the pouring rain, with a posted limit of 65 mph, I had to drive at 80 just to keep people from tailgating.
-New Englanders are psychic and don't need to be told what road they're on. How else to account for the almost total lack of road signs? My GPS will tell me to turn right on such-and-such a road, and I won't know where that is. I'll cruise right through the intersection where I was supposed to turn because the name of the road wasn't marked anywhere! What the crap!?
-Sales tax is a pain. Why does anyone put up with it? Supposedly Anchorage used to have it, but the people voted it out a long time ago, so I've grown up paying the listed price for everything. I don't like having to pay more than ten dollars for a book which is marked "$9.99".
Aaaanyway. Now that I've got Internet access again, I can check Hatrack periodically and see what further developments have been made in planning the get-together. All I really need to know is where and when we're meeting so I can be sure to show up. Directions to the meeting place would be very helpful, too, since I'll be arriving in Boston on the T with no idea where I am. Other than that, all I can say so far is that Maine is wicked pretty, and I'm looking forward to the get-together. Posts: 1814 | Registered: Jul 2004
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True, I was thinking about our non-drinking folks though. If they're cool with it, John Harvard's is a good time. Myr, we need to hang out more. We live about a 5 minute walk from that place.
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John Harvards and sunset both SERVE alcohol, but aren't really hard core drinking locations ( at least until after about 8:30). Its simply a part of the entire resturant, I think.
And if necessary would could probably make it a non-alcoholic gathering. Those two places are both good even without the beer.
Posts: 4112 | Registered: May 2001
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Verily, be careful the next couple days, it's going to get ugly with the Nor'Easter out there. But aside from that, welcome!
New Hampshire has no sales tax, but has a meals tax.
Don't be pressured on the highways, especially those two-lane ones. Just stay right, at the speed you are comfortable with. Most people cruise at about 10MPH over the limit. Also, the mid-atlantic is worse than New England where drivers ignoring the speed limit are concerned.
As for meet up time, what day is easiest, and what time is preferable. If you park at Alewife (recommended), then you can get to my neck of the woods in 5-10 minutes on the train, and Harvard is a couple minutes more than that. Boston itself is about 25 minutes on the T from Alewife Station. Also, mbta.com is pretty nice, but ignore the times for subway arrivals/departures. They just run back and forth as necessary, you can't count on the times.
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What's the sales tax in Maine? When you grow up with it, you just get used to tacking it onto the price of whatever you buy. Here we just know that 99 cents is a $1.05.
quote:Posted speed limits on the highway are for the amusement of locals rather than, you know, slowing people down. Driving north on the Maine Turnpike this afternoon, a not-particularly busy road at the time, in the pouring rain, with a posted limit of 65 mph, I had to drive at 80 just to keep people from tailgating.
This I just sort of assumed was the rule pretty much everywhere. Imagine doing that on Michigan roads..oy. Boston scared the hell out of me when I was there. People drove like they were trying to win a race and people just crossed the street ASSUMING that cars would stop. I don't know how people don't die in droves there. When I went to Indiana, I was warned to follow the speed limits or I'd get pulled over. Come to find Indiana drivers are bi-polar. Half of them go 10mph below the speed limit, and the other half drive 10mph over. Did a lot of weaving during that drive.
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In Eastern MA, there are some unwritten rules. Basically, at any light, watch for anyone trying to make a left turn. If they are creeping just before the light changes, odds are they are going to make a break for it. As for pedestrans, its always safe to cross in crosswalks, but if they see a gap in traffic, they will walk out there, assuming the traffic will stop. They assume that the drivers are paying attention to what's ahead of them (rightly or wrongly).
quote:Verily, be careful the next couple days, it's going to get ugly with the Nor'Easter out there. But aside from that, welcome!
Thanks! Yeah, I've been hearing since I got here that a storm was headed this way. I even heard that flights out of Laguardia were being cancelled today because of the weather. That's the airport I went through yesterday. Talk about close!
quote:As for meet up time, what day is easiest, and what time is preferable.
The general consensus seems to be that Saturday is better. As for what time, that's up to everyone else. If we're meeting Saturday, then I'll already be in Boston--I'm arriving Friday or earlier regardless of when we're meeting. So I can basically meet any time.
quote:If you park at Alewife (recommended)
That's the plan. Now, does "five dollars a day" mean I can leave the car there overnight? I already know I'm going to be at least three days in Boston, so should I get a hotel near Alewife and go back to Boston every day, or leave the car at Alewife and get a hotel in Boston?
quote:What's the sales tax in Maine? When you grow up with it, you just get used to tacking it onto the price of whatever you buy. Here we just know that 99 cents is a $1.05.
I don't know. I just pay whatever they tell me to pay. I'm not good enough at math to just think, "Hm, that's x percent higher than the price tag states."
quote:This I just sort of assumed was the rule pretty much everywhere.
To an extent, sure. I'm not going to say Alaska drivers are any good. Most of them don't even seem to know how a four-way stop works. I just thought it was excessive to have to go fifteen MPH over the limit just to keep everyone off my bumper. Posts: 1814 | Registered: Jul 2004
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John Harvard's sounds fine to me. I appreciate the sensitivity to the alcohol issue, but I don't mind bars all that much. And I'm good any time on Saturday. What about 6:30? And I guess Bok, Paul, Myr and Sarah have met each other before, but Verily and I won't recognize anyone; how will we find each other?
Do people want to go bowling afterward? Or pool?
Parking at Alewife is (IIRC) $4.50/24 hours, although it may be $4.50/calendar day (i.e. if you stay past midnight you get charged for a second day). You can park there overnight.
The three closest hotels to Alewife I could find were:
Cambridge Gateway Inn (*this place looks like a dump when I drive past it on Route 2; I've never been inside, so I don't know what it's like. It is, however, very conveniently located near Alewife and major Routes) 211 Concord Tpke, Cambridge, MA (617) 661-7800
Hawthorn Arlington Hotel Suites (*This is on Mass Ave, which means there's easy bus access to Cambridge; assuming there's parking at the hotel, you wouldn't even have to drive to Alewife. Just walk out your door and onto a bus) 1 Massachusetts Avenue, Arlington, MA (781) 643-7258
Best Western Hotel (*Don't know anything about this one. When I saw where it was I thought, "Hunh, there's a hotel there?") 200 Alewife Brook Pky, Cambridge, MA (617) 661-1370
Posts: 2926 | Registered: Sep 2005
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The Best Western is probably the best combination of habitability and affordability. It's down the street from Alewife. It might have it's own parking, so you can save 15 bucks or so I'm up for bowling, or whatever. 6:30 is probably good, unless we want to show Verily the town a bit. Well, the first time we all got together, we all awkwardly and surreptitiously glanced at each other, hoping we were the Hatrack crew. I recommend meeting outside of the main Harvard Square T exit, by the info booth(which is pretty much right in front of you, slightly to the left as you exit to the street.
I'll be the non-descript Bostonian. (What? Not helpful, well saying I'm the 5'10" white guy with brown hair doesn't exactly help either )
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I may or may not be able to make it saturday night. I hope to, but my mother decided that was a good day to come see my new place. As I said, its my birthday, so it will be touch and go.
If I can't make it, I cede my conversational rights to Bokonon.
Posts: 4112 | Registered: May 2001
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Wow, Verily's got a good grasp of New England, already I have never been to John Harvard's but it sounds good to me. Also, bowling's ALWAYS welcome.
Posts: 3636 | Registered: Oct 2001
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We aren't big Florida people. We went to Ft. Myers/Sanibel for a wedding a couple years ago, and were not too impressed. The gated communities weird us out.
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Okay, good to be back in a hotel with Internet access again.
Between the storm, my own incompetence at traveling, and the fact that my GPS died yesterday, leaving me stranded in Nashua, New Hampshire for twenty-four hours until a new one could be delivered to me (thank you, Avis!), I am terribly behind schedule. I hardly had time to check out any of the suggestions for New Hampshire, although today I did manage to get an ice cream at King Kone. (Order the big one, my eye! Even the small was friggin' huge! ) I had a small mocha cone, and it was very good. And then I headed to Concord to fill my gas tank, and then took the I-93 all the way up into Vermont. So I'm fairly sure I saw the Kangamangus Highway; if it is the part I think it was, then I agree that it's very pretty. It reminds me of the drive toward Anchorage on the Seward Highway back home.
As for the next couple of days, I must be in Boston on Friday morning, which means I will be spending tomorrow night either in Boston itself or, probably more likely, at a hotel near the Alewife Station. My intention is to spend at least three days in Boston, which means I'll be there all day Saturday. So anyone who wants to meet me before 6:30 is welcome to do so, since I'll be around anyway. For the moment we'll have to assume that the time and place for meeting will be frozen at wherever it stands as of the time I leave this hotel tomorrow morning. If I can manage to get a hotel tomorrow night from which I can get on the Internet with my crusty old non-wireless laptop, then I'll be sure to get on and post something tomorrow night, and we'll know I'm okay to receive updates right up until Saturday morning.
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Sorry you're trip isn't going more smoothly, Verily. I hope the next few days are better. The weather at least should be improving.
So, I'm planning on meeting Verily, Bok and Myr at the info booth outside the Harvard T station at 6:30 on Saturday. I'll probably be wearing an English style hounds-tooth flat cap (I generally wear it wherever I go, and it's distinctive enough that people can recognize me in a crowd). Hopefully I'll be bringing my wife along, if I can convince her to get a babysitter for the night. Otherwise I'll be flying solo. And just because I'm paranoid about not being recognized, here's a picture of me (notice the flat cap) and family from last Christmas. See you there.
Posts: 2926 | Registered: Sep 2005
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Stranded in Nashua? I am SO sorry. We call it Trashua out in the suburbs...
I'm glad you got to the Kone though - with the flooding I was worried that it might not be open. Last year that entire section of the highway was covered in water for a day or so. And I know the cones are kinda huge (we get a raise the day we make our first large cone that makes it out the window to the customer) but I was hoping you wouldn't wise up and you'd order one anyway. The coffee is my favorite flavor though, so good choice.
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quote:Originally posted by Dragon: (we get a raise the day we make our first large cone that makes it out the window to the customer)
You know, I can believe it.
quote: but I was hoping you wouldn't wise up and you'd order one anyway.
Well, while I was trying to decide what flavor I wanted, I happened to catch a glimpse of a photo in the window of some young women holding colossal ice cream cones. That was enough of a red flag to make me at least start with the small. Posts: 1814 | Registered: Jul 2004
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quote: Originally posted by Bokonon: Myr, we need to hang out more. We live about a 5 minute walk from that place. [Smile]
Yes.
quote:Originally posted by Kwea: Just don't make plans to do it with Myr, she fibbs.
I still plan to visit you and Disney World!!! Now that I'm finally in a position that I *may* be able to swing the plane tix, I have no vacation time!
quote:Originally posted by Paul Goldner: I officially will not be able to be there. Sorry guys. Have a great time.
We'll have to do one up in my neck of the woods during the summer when we can beach.
Noooo! Just another good excuse for a summer gathering. Have a great birthday!!
mr. Senoj - what a lovely family!!!
During the day I will be interviewing at least a couple people to be our new sublet so I'm not sure how free I'll be (I know we have an appointment at three) so daytime stuff may be out for me, unfortunately.
Posts: 3636 | Registered: Oct 2001
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I may or may not be there. I of course, natrually, have no idea what's going on in my life however if I do come I'm going to bring random non-hatrack person with me. Posts: 872 | Registered: Mar 2002
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I can probably hang out before dinner, Verily. Let us know what hotel you are in, and email me at the address in my profile if you want to coordinate something.
I IMed mack about what was going on, haven't heard anything from them. Myr, can you get in touch with Mike and the gang, see if they are up for something?
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Verily- THe kangamangus is a road between conway nh, and lincoln nh, that is very windy and goes through a national (or state?) park in the mountains. If you took 93 straight from concord to vermont, you didn't see it... although you passed very close to it. Sorry you missed it But yeah, 93 up into vermont is a nice drive.
Sorry I'm not going to get a chance to meet you. Have a good rest of your trip.
Rest: I am tentatively looking at june 23rd (saturday) as a possible date I could host a BBQ at my apartment after a day at crane's beach.
Posts: 4112 | Registered: May 2001
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quote:THe kangamangus is a road between conway nh, and lincoln nh, that is very windy and goes through a national (or state?) park in the mountains. If you took 93 straight from concord to vermont, you didn't see it... although you passed very close to it.
Nuts. Well, maybe I'll have time to go back up into New Hampshire after I'm done in Boston. I'll still have a number of days left, and I currently have very little to check out in Connecticut and nothing in Rhode Island. If I can, I'll head back up there next week to check out things I missed.
Okay, I'm now checking out of my hotel in Vermont and heading out. By tonight I'll be in whichever hotel in the Boston area that I'll end up in all weekend. So the plan, as of right now, is for us to meet up at the info booth at the T station in Harvard Square at 6:30 on Saturday. If I can get on the Internet from my new hotel, then I'll be free to make earlier plans with anyone who is so inclined. If I can't, then I'll see you all at 6:30!
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You should check out Newport, RI, in the extreme south of the state. Neat town, nice beaches (and the weather is in the 60s from Saturday to Tuesday!
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It is now inconceivable to me that not even a week ago, I found Portland, Maine to be intimidating. The world holds no fear for me now that I have driven to Hell and back. And by "Hell", I mean Boston.
Okay, I exaggerate for effect. It's kind of crazy, but I've seen (albeit not driven myself in) worse. My only real problem is that I've run out of credit card, and I couldn't find a hotel in Boston that would take cash. Also the Alewife Station had a big sign saying its parking garage was full. I had to make a retreat back to New Hampshire for tonight. That's going to complicate tomorrow somewhat (I absolutely, positively must reach the Hynes Convention Center tomorrow), but it's not like I'm all that far from Boston right now.
Posts: 1814 | Registered: Jul 2004
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Oh no!!! I wish I had given you my phone number, you totally could have had my floor. (we have three extra guests today but we do have a nice floor mattress!!)... I'm sorry Boston had such a bad reception for you!
Posts: 3636 | Registered: Oct 2001
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We'd have to go to Sacco's, which is fine on a weekend afternoon, but possibly more problematic on a weekend night. Sacco's just isn't that big. Plus I hate cosmic bowling.![[Eek!]](eek.gif)
Other than that, all I can say so far is that Maine is wicked pretty, and I'm looking forward to the get-together. ![[Roll Eyes]](rolleyes.gif)
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The coffee is my favorite flavor though, so good choice.
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