After Hours

I have to admit, part of the reason we wanted to go to the Alumni Conference was to have an excuse to spend a long weekend in Boston. Jeff and I tried to make the most of it and see our friends.

On Thursday, when I arrived, I met up with Patrick in Downtown Crossing and took the T with him to see his and Craig's new house the west side of Malden. It was a beautiful place, and they're doing some painting and decorating that's going to make it look pretty spectacular when it's finished. Patrick then made a home-cooked meal of meat loaf, mashed potatoes, and veggies. I helped out by making (instant) brownies afterwards. Then Craig, Patrick, and I hung out and watched TV - kind of like the old days when we lived in Medford!

On Friday, Jeff was in town, and we went to his old fraternity house to visit friends there. He and I grabbed dinner at Bertucci's, which shares a back alley with his house, and where we've eaten more times than I could count.

After dinner, we went back to the house where our friends were having a "Miracle Berry Party". Featured in the New York Times, this is a new fad in which you eat these berries that have a particular protein that binds to the taste receptors and makes sour foods taste sweet. After eating this berry, you eat other foods, which now have completely different tastes. Biting into a lemon just tastes like a class of lemonade or a lemon jolly rancher - no tartness, just sweet and lemony. Other foods are similarly altered. Bit of an odd thing to do on a Friday night, but that's pretty reminicent of our days at school.

Saturday, Jeff and I planned a big-ish dinner with friends at Vinny T's. We met up with Matt Herman, Matt Carvey, Andrew, Helen, Sunita, and Deepa. The food was great (as always) and dinner was lots of fun. Afterwards we walked over to Kendall Square to stop by Irene's housewarming party. Jeff and I had a pretty long day, so we caught a ride home with Craig and Patrick as they left the Farm Aid concert around 11pm. We hung out a bit at their house and then called it an early night.

Sunday, we didn't have anything planned, so we slept in and spent the morning on the couch. Carvey came and picked us up and we went for brunch at the Ball Square Cafe & Breakfast. The food was amazing. I had the Multigrain Delight - a multigrain waffle covered in fruit.

After brunch, we headed back to Carvey's house, where Andrew, Helen, and Dan Lopuch also live. I played Wii Fit for the first time ever. The games last about 2 minutes each, so you feel like you've done a lot even though you've only been exercising for 10 minutes. Then it was time for Star Trek Voyager - I just got Carvey to start watching this (he loves TNG), and he likes it a lot, so we though we'd watch a few episodes.

After that, Jeff and I headed into Cambridge to meet up with Brice and Dyani for dinner and a movie. We had dinner at B-Sides - which I had never been to before. Then we went to the Kendall Square Cinema and saw "Burn After Reading", which we all liked.

From there, it was back to Somerville, where Jeff and I met up with Jess for a drink at Orleans in Davis Square. We stopped by Jess and Sam's new house and hung out with them a bit. It's very cool to see where people are living, especially now that they own places and are doing all the designing.

Monday morning, we woke up, did a bit of work, and then headed to the airport. Great Boston trip!