One Down, One to Go!

My lack of blogging is due to my first of two term papers being due this past Wednesday. It ended up being 23 pages on the topic of "political theater" focusing on the current bills in Congress addressing the public funding of congressional campaigns. (H.R.1826 and S.752 if you are interested)

It was an interesting topic and that made it easier to crank out the work.

I'm so glad to be finished with that paper, though we are still scheduled for more readings (yeah, right) and 3 more classes. I've mentally checked out, all I have left in that course is to do a 5 minute presentation on my paper - no sweat!

My next paper is due December 3rd and will be easier to compile. It is an election analysis/prediction for Pennsylvania's 11th district congressional race. A good primary race combined with a volatile economic and political climate should make this paper nearly effortless.

I am hoping to get some work done on the paper before we head to Massachusetts so that our Thanksgiving break can actually be a break!

I feel like this grad program has been good for me and could help me in my chosen profession, I'm really glad it is almost over and I now know that I have absolutely no desire to ever go back to school again! (Please remind me of this post if I ever start talking about going back to school again)

Yankees 1, Red Sox 14

Last Saturday, after hanging around Boston all day we headed down to Yawkey Way to see the Red Sox play the Yankees.

This was my first official game at Fenway. We came to tour Fenway a couple years ago, but when we got there there was a game going on - it was the "Futures at Fenway" game, a double-header of minor league Red Sox affiliates. So instead of a tour, we bought tickets for $5 and sat in right/center field for a few innings. This was different, this was Red Sox v Yankees, and it was awesome!

The game started at 4:10pm, which made it a hot one for those of us in the outfield seats. The infield was in the shade for the entire game...the sun set on us around the end of the 8th inning, and even then it was only behind the park, not entirely down. I wore sunscreen, and even reapplied a bit somewhere in the 4th inning.

When Frank bought the tickets he bought 6 seats and parking - that was the way to get the best seats at the most reasonable price. So we set out on a mission to sell the other four seats. The day of the game we sold two seats to a nice couple that we arranged to meet in Boston Common, we sold the parking to a guy about to pull into a garage further away from the park, and the other two tickets...well, we sold them to these yahoos:

Jenny Orr and Megan Ratley! Jenny works at Salem Academy now, but I've known her since the mid/late 90's as she was the intern with my church's youth program back in the day. Megan graduated from Salem a year after me, and also works at the Academy now. These crazy girls bought tickets from us, booked air fare, found a hotel and flew up to Boston on 2 days notice! They even bought Yankee-hater shirts just for the occasion!

It was a successful day and a winning game for the Red Sox - lucky for us, too since they dropped the other two games to the Yankees that weekend.

It was an exciting game full of high-fives and new friends in the seats around us. And it was worth all of the heat when the last out came and "Dirty Water" blasted over the speakers, followed by a very current version of "Tessie."

And for a little more perspective, this is where we sat. We had our share of the Dunks that weekend, too. Somehow it is imperative to go to DD when in Massachusetts even though there is one across the street from us here in Alexandria.

Down by the banks of the River Charles

I had never really been to Boston until this past weekend. I've flown in and out of Logan, but I never stuck around to see the city. I finally had the chance when Frank and I went in for the day before the Red Sox game on Saturday afternoon.

We drove to Quincy, MA and got on the 'T', now I need to hit the 'L' next time I'm in Chicago and I'll have all of the major city's subway's checked off the list! We took the Red Line to Park Street/Boston Common and began to wander from there. The Freedom Trail runs right through the Common so we followed the brick line for a while

We saw a lot of churches, some old meeting halls, and about 80 billion cemeteries! One of the cemeteries had Paul Revere's grave in it - funny thing was, his original grave marker is very small, even less significant than the other citizens buried there....

But then, after the famous poem was written and made famous another grave marker was placed next to the original....and it was a bit more impressive!

Then we made our way toward Faneuil Hall (which I cannot for the life of me pronounce correctly) and Quincy Market. We met some old friends there, Sam, the mayor, and Red

Here is a "did you know" for you! In Boston, and I assume the rest of the North/Northeast they call funnel cakes "fried dough." I mean, that statement is true but somewhat dull don't you think? AND I didn't see one person buy a funnel cake/fried dough all day! Strange people in Boston, very strange.

Your second "did you know" for the day: every 4th person in Boston looks like me, or my brother, or that girl I went to high school with, or... you get the point. I think I could run away to Boston, change my name and attend a family reunion without anyone ever being the wiser! They all look like me, and let me tell you, that is one good looking city.

My favorite part of the city was the Public Garden, and I was on a mission. A mission that began when I was a little girl and my mom would read us books at night...a mission to see a duck?

no, that's not it. A mission to.... find many ducks together?

nope. They are cute, but that isn't what I came here for. I came here to.....

Make Way for Ducklings!

...and one goose

"Prepare to be underwhelmed"

That is what Frank said to me as we drove to Plymouth Rock on Friday. While he was right about the rock itself, the area was very cute and we had a great time with my in-laws!

No one in the Carolinas ever told me that people took pieces of the actual "Plymouth Rock" home as souvenirs in the 1800's, but that is the story and now the rock is approximately 1/3rd the size that it was when the pilgrims landed on it in 1620.

I took multiple pictures, the one up top is of the entire rock from 10 feet above; and the picture below shows part of the numbers and a penny, for scale.

The park ranger stationed at Plymouth Rock really knew his stuff; I came away assured that the pilgrims really did 'land' on the rock. It seems that the beach was entirely bare and the large boulder was the only thing on it, so they used Plymouth Rock as a natural dock of sorts and stepped out onto it from the smaller boats used to ferry people and supplies to/from the Mayflower.

He also told us that on the actual voyage across the ocean only one person died - but one person was also born! So when the Mayflower got to America it had the same number of passengers as when it left England - half of them died in the three months it took for winter to pass once they were anchored off of the Massachusetts coast, which really furthers my theory that they would have been better off somewhere in the Carolinas...but that is just my opinion...

There were gift shops, too. They reminded me of the Hammock Shops in Pawleys Island (especially the part where I bought too much fudge). Frank like the hats, and even got Chuck in on the hat action!

The Mayflower II is docked at Plymouth Rock; it is a replica of the original Mayflower and was sailed from Plymouth, England to Plymouth Rock, MA in the 1950's by a crew of 30 or 40 men. The coolest/craziest part is that they used only wind power and did everything as the pilgrims would have done it in the 1620's (the only exceptions being a few minor 'safety' features required by international maritime rules). We got to go aboard and it was as legit as can be! It even smelled like 40 dirty men had just been there!! Here's to historical accuracy.

The cannons on board and presence of lots of pirate stuff in the gift shops really got my attention - as Frank will tell you, I LOVE pirates, mostly Jack Sparrow. It took some restraint to not buy a bag of 'pirate gold,' but it seems that I have come to view gift shops as being full of "stuff I'll throw away in 2 years anyway." I am already beginning to worry about the angst my future children will cause me when they buy "stuff" - ugh! (sorry mom, sorry for all of the 'stuff!')

I would have bought this, if I had a boat and a pirate problem - or better yet, if I had a boat and I were a pirate!

We wrapped up the afternoon with D'Angelo's so that Frank could have his lobster roll, then we settled in for the Yankees @ Red Sox game back at Casa Webb. While the Red Sox took a terrible beating, we had a great time hanging out with my in-laws and, of course, Quincy (the wire-haired jack russell mix, of whom I somehow took no pictures) (we're best friends though, so I'll take pictures next time)

Shippin' up to Boston

We're off to Massachusetts tomorrow! Frank and I are headed up to visit the In-laws and to catch a Red Sox v Yankees game at Fenway Park. The funniest part is that when we bought tickets to the game, we actually bought 6 because that was the way to get the cheapest seats...well, now we're still trying to sell two of the tickets and a parking pass, and the other two tickets have been bought by my friend Megan (college friend, one year younger than me) and Jenny, who was the intern with the youth program at my hometown church a million years ago!! So, I'll do my best to take lots of pictures and have fun stories to tell when I get home - but for now I've got the giggles about going to see a baseball game in Boston with Megan and Jenny; what a random world we live in!

I'll leave you with these hilarious pictures of our dog. He has taken to walking into the curtains in the office and draping himself, oh so elegantly in the shears. Enjoy...

He'll stay like this until he has to go outside or eat

I wish I could tell you that I do this to him, but as you can see, since I can take more than one picture in the same position he is clearly happy with what he has accomplished.

Good night moon,

annie