A quick, personal tangent - back from the Windy City
by MaPatsFan on Jan 30, 2010 12:20 PM EST
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My apologies for not writing that much this past week. I was sequestered in a conference room with my boss and peers for the better part of the week. The "Big Guy" is from Plantation, FL so we were all excited when he decided to have a face-to-face. We quickly found out Schaumburg, IL was the destination. Half the team is from the Chicago area and it would have been more expensive to have the meeting in Florida. Oh well.
It was a mild disappointment for me, trading one cold weather area of the country (I'm about 10 miles south of the New Hampshire border) for another. It was, however, more than a mild discomfort for my warm weather counterparts, one from Arizona and the other from Texas. Comments like "What's this white stuff on my shoes" or "I never knew the zipper on my jacket went all the way up" kept the mood light despite the single digit temperatures. My favorite quip? "What's this?" as my Texas friend holds up an ice scraper for the car. Good times.
The Monday flight out from Manchester - Boston Regional Airport could have been a nightmare; rain in Manchester, NH as well as bad weather in Chicago could've landed me in Milwaukee. Luckily, things cleared up before we were diverted from O'Hare.
3 solid days in a conference room were offset by nights with friends from the area. Happy hour at the hotel and a full breakfast in the morning made the trip more bearable (sometimes it's the little things when you're traveling). The highlight of the trip was dinner and beverages at Schaumburg's Finn McCool's. Chatting with friends while sharing "Table Tappers" was a blast.
The flight home to Manchester Airport was anything but pleasant. The cabin was about 80 degrees and I was nursing a hangover. Turbulence-wise, we were ok until 10 miles from the airport. The landing was particularly rough. I'm sure the "South Shore Girl" (aka Marima) will tell me it's because I used a North Shore airport, that TF Green in Warwick, RI would've been a better choice. Maybe she's right.
It's good to be home, in my own bed, and surrounded by my own stuff. Some say business travel is "exciting". I say, "Give it a few more trips."
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Glad you made it back in one piece
Travel is the part of my job I like the least, and I really hate O’Hare.
Is the deep dish there worth the hype?
The 2010 New York Mets: Maybe it's the Phillies' turn to have 95% of its roster on the DL
The 2009 New England Patriots: At least we got our division title back
Nicklas Bergfors for the Calder Trophy!
Not to me
It’s absolutely LOADED with cheese and more like a pie with no top. Not a fan. Give me thin crust and light on the cheese, please.
Blogger at SBNation's Patriots blog, Pats Pulpit
You can't treat it like thin crust...
It’s a different animal. Also, because there’s so much in the pie, its really easy to screw up. I preferred Pizzeria Due when I lived there…
Rock me, sexy Jesus...
by nuthinboutnuthin on Jan 31, 2010 11:38 PM EST up reply actions
Deep dish
Best way for me to go at a deep dish is the fork-and-knife kinda thing. As an Italian-American (with hints of proud Irish roots, btw), it’s not natural to use that technique on any pizza. Then again, I’m willing to make exceptions.
The 2010 New York Mets: Maybe it's the Phillies' turn to have 95% of its roster on the DL
The 2009 New England Patriots: At least we got our division title back
Nicklas Bergfors for the Calder Trophy!
Plantation, FL; Schaumburg, IL; AZ and TX
Sounds like the bat-wing boys of Mot.
My life has been a trivial pursuit. Trivia: where three roads meet.
The more you know, the more you know that you don't know.
by SlotMachinePlayer on Jan 30, 2010 3:01 PM EST reply actions
No
I know alot of guys that are.
I was offered a job in Plantation, was interviewing in Schaumberg, and decided to pursue other opportunities.
My life has been a trivial pursuit. Trivia: where three roads meet.
The more you know, the more you know that you don't know.
by SlotMachinePlayer on Jan 30, 2010 10:20 PM EST up reply actions
Nice to have you back MaPatsFan
Rough landings in Manchester, hmm? Now, I’ve never had the pleasure of traveling through that particular airport, but if you ever want a smooooooth arrival I can give you the directions to T.F. Green sometime : )
Keep the faith!
Hope it wasn't too bad
I’m sure you would have liked to take a stroll in downtown in Chicago – it’s a nice place. Even though I pass by there all the time, specifically during rush hour, I’m still enamored with my hometown. :D
A LO PROFUNDOOO...NOO, NO, NO, NO, NO, NOO...DIGANLE QUE NO A ESA PELOTA!! GANAN LOS CACHORROS DE CHICAGO!!
Agreed
I had a chance to walk through Chicago this past July and it was a great night. Architectural river tour, dinner, and a giant, shiny bean. I’m not kidding. Super, super clean. It put Boston to shame.
Blogger at SBNation's Patriots blog, Pats Pulpit
Ah, the Bean
One of my pals’ favorite picture spots. :D
Ice skating below the Bean is pretty fun in the winter, comparable to the Rockefeller Plaza rink.
Summers in Chicago are excellent, there’s much to see, many places to go.
But for some reason, I seem to enjoy the winter quite a bit too.
A LO PROFUNDOOO...NOO, NO, NO, NO, NO, NOO...DIGANLE QUE NO A ESA PELOTA!! GANAN LOS CACHORROS DE CHICAGO!!
by Azul Cachorro on Feb 1, 2010 1:03 AM EST up reply actions
The benefits of "city planning" are vast.
Boston, unfortunately, did not start planning until it was too late.
Anyone who has ever been on the Freedom Trail, taken a Duckboat tour, gone to Plymouth Plantation, or attended elementary school in Massachusetts knows the following tale of our titular descendants, that goes something (more or less) like this:
Cattle was an important part of the local economy. To aid the industry, government officials designated large areas of land for “free grazing.” The cows were left to graze, often unattended, and would roam around the area that we now call Boston, dining not-so-fastidiously on whatever greenery found itself nearest to the cow’s maw. These “free-range” cows slowly chewed paths in the greenery. Owners used these paths to find their cows and, later, as a means to more quickly get from place to place (since the paths were already there!). Soon, these paths became our roads. Instead of starting over from scratch, we kept the aimless cow paths as the central arteries for our means of transportation. This random network of intermittently interwoven grazing trails STILL forms the logistical nexus of Boston’s administration.
So imagine planning a city, complete with infrastructure and maintenance, around random cow paths strewn through a swampy, hilly mess?
Conversely, imagine planning a city largely from scratch (so you can neatly grid it), with generally flat terrain that is amenable to development (i.e. buildings don’t sink into it). Much simpler task, making subsequent administration of the city FAR more manageable.
The Chicago fire helped to clear out the "Old Chicago"
It cleaned things up quite a bit.
My life has been a trivial pursuit. Trivia: where three roads meet.
The more you know, the more you know that you don't know.
by SlotMachinePlayer on Feb 1, 2010 2:10 PM EST up reply actions
So basically, our city was planned by cows
unlike other major cities that were planned by (hmph) professional city planners. Where’s the quaint charm in that???
Keep the faith!
didnAustralia
Non Sibi Sed Patriae.
i love my ZX-6r Kawasaki.
I bleed Scarlet and Grey...A Buckeye for Life
crap...meant to say didn't the English dump prisoners in Australia ?
Non Sibi Sed Patriae.
i love my ZX-6r Kawasaki.
I bleed Scarlet and Grey...A Buckeye for Life
back in the 1700's
Non Sibi Sed Patriae.
i love my ZX-6r Kawasaki.
I bleed Scarlet and Grey...A Buckeye for Life
Hey it used to be legal to shoot Rhode Islanders
who crossed into Massachusetts. I wonder if that one is still on the books.
Keep the faith!
what?...i never heard this when i lived in NH....why was it legal to shoot the rhode islanders?
Non Sibi Sed Patriae.
i love my ZX-6r Kawasaki.
I bleed Scarlet and Grey...A Buckeye for Life
in the 1600s
Massachusetts used to send its criminals to Rhode Island, and it was legal for residents to shoot any they caught crossing the border. I’ll try to find the reference.
Keep the faith!
A lot of the first emigrants to Australia were prisoners or guards, yes
Although a lot of the prisoners were guilty of ‘being Irish’, basically. It wasn’t entirely legit, but when you send the prisoner to Australia, they don’t have an unfortunately public appeal to show how stupid the conviction was. That, and a lot of them were sent there for petty theft in the middle of what was basically a depression and food shortage. Steal a potato? To Australia for you!
PS – when I went to Australia as a 9 year old, the customs man was being a smartarse, bent down to child-height and asked me in a patronising tone if I had a criminal record. I didn’t take too kindly to that, so I responded that “I didn’t realise that people still needed one to get into Australia”. I still got in the country, though.
Token southern hemisphere guy - 14,688km from Foxboro. That's 9128 miles, for you heathens.
lol
so do Kiwi’s have this love hate relationship w. Aussies like how Americans have w. Canada?
Non Sibi Sed Patriae.
i love my ZX-6r Kawasaki.
I bleed Scarlet and Grey...A Buckeye for Life
Very much so
Although the US and Australia share one outlook, and NZers are closer to the Canadian mindset. We think they’re knuckle-dragging zombies who are ridiculously loud, arrogant and crass, and they think NZers are overly vanilla, cardigan-wearing, polite and slightly-odd speaking cousins from the least-important state of ’Straya.
One of our Prime Ministers got the best verbal jab in: when asked about emigration from NZ to Australia by an Australian newspaper, he said that he had no problems with it because “It increases the average IQ of both nations”.
Token southern hemisphere guy - 14,688km from Foxboro. That's 9128 miles, for you heathens.
so Aussies have rednecks and love country music
is there any difference in the accents of both nations?
In Canada, they can’t pronounce the O’s. In Arkansas, people can’t pronounce the R’s…which is sad because they say “Ah-kin-saw” instead of Arkansas (pronounced Ark-Kin-Saw)
Non Sibi Sed Patriae.
i love my ZX-6r Kawasaki.
I bleed Scarlet and Grey...A Buckeye for Life
Yeah, there's a clear difference in the vowels
Australians stretch out their vowels a lot more. So we theenk they speeak loike thees.
The most common example is fish and chips – an Australian saying it to a Kiwi makes it sound like “feesh and cheeps”. And New Zealands elide their vowel sounds, so they think we say it like “f’sh and ch’ps.”
Token southern hemisphere guy - 14,688km from Foxboro. That's 9128 miles, for you heathens.
by Comedic.Sans on Feb 3, 2010 12:43 AM EST up reply actions
So the difference between the two is basically a vowel movement?
Got it.
My life has been a trivial pursuit. Trivia: where three roads meet.
The more you know, the more you know that you don't know.
by SlotMachinePlayer on Feb 4, 2010 11:30 AM EST up reply actions
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