Despite a two hour delay, Randy made it home safely last night. Because of the delay, I was able to meet him at the airport. Well, him, his suitcase, his carry-on, and two full cases (24 bottles) of wine.
So happy I was for his return that I cooked him dinner. Well, I heated up the frozen pizza and microwaved some cauliflower. But still, I did that AND did the dishes. I think that makes it fairly obvious that I was glad to see him.
I fully admit that I’m walkin’, talkin’ ball of contradiction, but please hear me out.
I was watching the news last night and they showed footage of some U.S. marines (America’s finest, yeah, right) standing by a cliff. Anyway, it showed two soldiers; One was all talk, the other was holding a puppy (or small dog) by it’s back with one hand. The dog was just hanging there looking sad (it made me think of that cartoon dog, Droopy).
There was some joking going around, then all of a sudden the man holding the dog pulls his arm back and tosses the dog through the air and over a cliff. You can hear the dog yelping as it hurdles across the sky and down the cliff.
WTF!?!?!
Who the hell does shit like this?
Now, here’s where my contradiction appears. I’m 100% against the death penalty in this country. I don’t believe in that whole “an eye for an eye” theory of punishment. But in this case, I want this man tortured. I want him to suffer excrutiating pain. Waterboard him? Fine by me. Whip? Sure. Cane? Absolutely. And while you’re at it, I wouldn’t mind so much if you accidently cut him a few times with dull knives. Then pour lemon juice on top. OOOOH – how about singeing all of his body hair with flame?
Seriously, I was so disgusted by that video and I’m not even a dog person. Then again, I’m also the guy who hates killing bugs, too. I’m not afraid of them, in fact, I love to watch them do their thing when they’re on a surface near me. They’re so alien. If I find a bug or spider in the house, I’ll bring it outside.
I’m sure this lean, mean, killing-machine of a marine is not the standard marine. But I hope his ass gets caught…
…and then pummelled with the sharp end of a broomstick.
I sound like Phil Collins. But unlike his ballad about longing to spend one more night WITH a person, i’m thrilled to have just one more night WITHOUT a person. Yep, Randy returns home from the west coast tomorrow and life returns to normal.
I’ve come to realize many things in his extended absence:
1 – I don’t move in bed when he’s not around. I wake up and the sheets are all nicely tucked and the bed barely looks slept in. When he’s there wtih me, sheets are all over the place because some sort of magentic energy pulls me toward him.
2 – He motivates me. Seriously, I’ve been so lazy with him gone. I did nothing Friday or Saturday. Well, Saturday night I finally left the house to play Wii with some friends. But I missed a call from other friends hoping to get together because I even left my phone off. At night, I sit by the TV, watche DVR’d shows, and play on the computer. I went to the gym once (in 6 days). I went to a movie, but that’s it. No sketching. No hanging out with friends. No cleaning. Yet when Randy is home we seem to be out and about entertaining ourselves, running errands, etc…
3 – I eat less. I suppose this is one area where I’m better off when he’s not home. But since he does the cooking and I usually do the cleaning, he cooks more than I would. I’m a simple guy: some chicken and veggies. Done. He does side dishes and larger portions. He likes dessert. When I’m alone, I forget to eat. And when I do, it seems to be less (that probably explains why between breaking up with Matt and meeting Randy, I’d lost over 25 pounds…and since meeting Randy have gained OVER 25 pounds).
Anyway, despite my looming obesity, I’m thrilled that he’ll be home soon.
I wonder what we’ll have for dinner tomorrow night?
**The picture above was from Christmas 2002. At least I think my new fatness is less noticeable (it’s just in my belly). Back then, it was in my face more.
That’s sometimes how I feel living in Somerville. This past weekend I decided to see a movie at the Kendall Square Cinema in neighborhing Cambridge. With only one subway station in all of Somerville (Davis Square)…and with our house being a mile from that station, I opted to drive to the theatre. Besides, according to the GPS in Randy’s car, the theatre is only 3.7 miles away.
Yet despite it being a Sunday afternoon (when traffic should be non-existant) it took nearly 40 minutes to get there. I attribute the problem to numerous factors:
It’s astounding, really, since Somerville is so geographically close to everything. Major destinations are all within just a few miles of every Somerville neighborhood. But street patterns just can’t get you there conveniently. Many streets, including ours, are too narrow for what they’re forced to accomodate: which is two-way traffic plus parking on both sides of the street. Yet that’s what they’re forced to do. Driving inevitably becomes a game of give-n-take, where one car drives into the parallel parking spots to let the other car pass. Add in the fact that it snows here and only one side of the street gets plowed, you get snow mounds making the streets even more narrow.
HMMM – I sound kind of grumpy. I’m actually not. I don’t mind Somerville. It’s just surprising to me that it can take nearly 40 minutes to go just under 4 miles (that’s an average of less than 10 miles/hour..and that’s on a weekend)! Plus, the urban planner in me always has ideas on how I’d improve things if it was up to me. And I guess I’ve just got a bunch of ideas rushing through my head right now.
At least the movie was good!
I think something is wrong with me. I just got back a vacation to the southwest on Sunday. Randy had a business trip in Portland, OR, next week so he decided to extend it over the weekend by going to the San Francisco Bay Area for a special wine-tasting event that happens once or twice per year. He left last night and returns next Wednesday (6 days). When planning this a month or so ago he did ask if I wanted to come. I declined since, as I said, I’d have just returned from another vacation just 4 days before and it would seem irresponsible to go away again.
Besides, just 6 weeks ago I was in California and Arizona. A month before that I was in Argentina. And in month from now I’ll be in Mexico. Yet now that he’s gone (and has arrived safely) in San Francisco, I’m kinda’ wishing I’d tagged along. It’s pathetic, really. I mean, his aim is to drive with our friends to wine country and just go from winery to winery sampling wine. I’ve done that before….three times….and, to be honest, I think I’ve done it enough and would be perfectly content to never do it again.
Yet there’s this part of me that wishes I was there. Maybe I already miss him. Maybe I’m envious. Maybe I’m a freak.
I suspect it’s the latter.
…is catching up.
And I’ve had lots to catch up on. First, at work I’ve been preparing for a meeting with our development office regarding my program’s grant. This meeting is today.
At home I’ve been renaming and sorting through all of the photos we took on our vacation last week. Considering how many photos Randy takes (and I take, to a lesser extent), there’s lots of renaming and deleting to do.
Finally, I’m catching up on sleep. For some reason, jetlag really hits me strong and screws with my schedule for weeks. It’s pretty pathetic considering this was just a 3-hour difference. But considering we were staying up later in Las Vegas than we probably would at any other destination, that 1:30AM walk home from the casino equals 4:30AM in Boston.
Still, it’s all worth it in the end; I’ve got great photos and more great memories of places Randy and I have been together. And speaking of being places, Randy is going on his first business trip since taking the new job in January. He’ll be gone nearly a week. To be honest, this may be good for him…and for me…since prior to living together we were both fairly independent. And for the first few months living together he was traveling a lot so we still had that sense of space.
Though, I’m still sure after his second night away I’ll be ready for his return.
Yesterday’s blog post focused mostly on our experiences in Las Vegas. But we spent nearly as much time outside the city. One night we spent in nearby Henderson. It’s essentially a suburb of Las Vegas, but Randy’s friends invited us over for a nice home-cooked meal. Like Randy’s friend’s house in Phoenix from our previous trip, these friends owned a 3,000+ square foot single family house….that they purchased for under $200K. Sigh.
Another day we spent visiting the Hoover Dam. We drove out in the morning and passed Lake Mead (which is apparently 50 feet lower than normal). We also got to see the new bypass road/bridge being constructed. This bridge will be a great thing for vehicular traffic (trucks, locals) who are not interested in viewing the damn but just want to get from point A to point B. It’s amazing seeing a partial bridge spanning such a enormous gorge.
The dam itself is pretty cool. We didn’t do the power plant tour, though. Instead, we drove on into Arizona for a few miles, pulled off to the side of the road, and had a picnic overlooking the desert and mountains. We also pelted Chris with ice cubes – a few even making it up the legs of his shorts.
A few days later we too a real road trip. Our first destination was Zion National Park in Utah. The topography changes drastically as you head northwest from the desert of Las Vegas. There’s a particularly scenic portion in Arizona where the road climbs through/over a mountain range. Although it was bright and sunny when we left Las Vegas, Zion was overcast and 30 degrees cooler. Though, that’s not surprising considering we were much higher in elevation We did mange to get some great shots of the mountains in the clouds. And there was a mile+ tunnel built into a mountain that was cool to drive through (it’s narrow, curvy, and has no lights). Every 1/3 mile or so there was a hole in the mountain creating a small window of light, but that was it.
We continued climbing in altitude until we reached 8,800 feet and arrived in Bryce Canyon National Park. The sun was setting, but the hoodoos (the bright red columns a result of millions of years of erosion) were quite beautiful. The hoodoos were amazing to stumble upon because the lengthy drive to them brought us through dense snow-packed forest. In fact, the roads ahead were blocked as a result of the deep snow. To be honest, I’m not sure which scenery I enjoyed best: the red rocks/cliffs or the green and snow. I’m leaning toward the latter possibly because of it’s familiarity. The canyon portion just seemed so alien (yet stil beautiful).
All in all, it was a great trip, We tackled two national parks (Zion and Bryce Canyon) and a national monument (Hoover Dam) in this one trip. Add this to Joshua Tree National Park in December, Cape Cod National Seashore in September, and our upcoming trip to Acadia National Park in August and we’ll have made good use of our National Parks Pass.
Yeah, yeah – that’s possibly one of my least inspired headings ever. But a) it sums it up quite nicely; b) I’m jet-lagged; and c) you’re not the boss of me.
Some of you may know that I never really had a desire to visit Las Vegas. It was never on my travel radar except as a possible overnight stay just to check out (and mock) what I perceived would be excessive neon tackiness.
And that is just not the case with the “new” Las Vegas. I was quite taken in with the glamour and glitz. Though, I should probalby start from the beginning:
Our flight there was delayed by 4 hours, causing us to miss our connection in Los Angeles. They switched us onto another airline, but that required two hours of waiting in lines in Los Angeles before finally arriving in Vegas at night (meaning no pool time!).
We picked up the rental car and headed toward our resort by driving up “the Strip.” Unfortunately, there is a 24/7 traffic jam on the strip and every street within a one block radius. It doesn’t help that their stop lights are the longest I’d ever witnessed. Anyway, the “resort” we stayed in we lovingly referred to as “the ghetto” for the rest of the trip. It truly was a sad complex. There were 3 blocks of clustered 2-story, peach-colored buildings. Over half of the buildings were demolished as a result of a sports complex that Harrah’s is planning to build starting next summer. Ours was across the street from two chain-link fenced lots. Then there was one building, then another mound of sand.
The buildings also resembled housing projects (I wouldn’t be surprised if that was their original intent). The buildings at the end of the block were even retro-fitted with bars on the windows. However, the inside of the unit, though not luxury, was well equipped for a week-long stay (living room with pull-out sofa, kitchen/dining area, bedroom, walk-in closet). We saw the plans for the new resort location that will open once Harrah’s finishes demolition the current buildings and they look quite elegant. Alas, we got to see the resort probably at it’s worst – empty lots and all. The one thing going for it was it’s location: one block behind the strip, connected to a monorail stop, and with back-door access to two casinos (Harrah’s and Imperial Palace).
Our friends, Chris and Pete, stayed at Caesar’s Palace. Now THAT is luxury. Nearly floor to ceiling windows, obstructed views of the Bellagio fountains, his-and-hers bathrooms (or, in their case, his-and-his) with a two-person jacuzzi bathtub AND a two person dual-headed shower.
And that is what most of tourist-oriented Vegas seemed like. Anything built/re-built since the 90’s (which is the majority since most older structures have been demolished) is built for luxury. I was a bit disappointed in the lack of neon since the bling nowadays is mostly only found at the older casino/hotels, like the Flamingo, Imperial Palace, Harrah’s, Circus Circus and the Saraha. Places like the Bellagio, Caesar’s Palace, the Mirage, Mandalay bay/TheHotel, the Venetian/Pallazo, and Paris, Paris are simply gorgeous.
I could write for hours about what we did/and what I think, but here are some bullet points to keep it short(er):
1 – One thing I never expected was for Las Vegas to be a walking city – but it truly is. My feet hurt more from this trip and from any other. It’s rather perplexing because there isn’t much to walk to and see…but the casino-hotels are so enormous that to walk around them (or even through them) is quite a long distance.
2 – You can gamble anywhere. We stepped off the plane and found slot machines in the terminals. You can play at the convenience store or gas station.
3 – Gambling is lucrative. We met up with friends of Randy’s in nearby Henderson, NV, and they said the state has no need for an income tax since the gambling brings in enough money.
4 – The elements of Las Vegas geared toward tourists are first class all the way. There’s an unprecedented level of hedonism and pampering here that I’ve never seen elsewhere. Unfortunately, along with that came classes of people (lots of Los Angeles types) that are completely detestable.
5 – Despite their claims to the contrary, Las Vegas is not a family-friendly destination. Aside from the Circus Circus Hotel/Casino, which has a mini amusement park inside and the Stratosphere, which has an observation deck and three rides, there is nothing else appropriate for a child. In every hotel the child has to walk through smoke-filled casinos just to get to the registration desk or to the elevator lobbies. People are drunk and yelling on the streets. Glaring illuminated signs show ads for scantily-clad go-go dancers or strippers. Men stand on the streets night-and-day handing out business cards for strippers (which include nude photos)…but most people just toss them on the sidewalk so you just need to look down to see titties everywhere. We saw a drug deal on the strip and were propositioned by two clueless prostitutes.
6 – The American desert is butt-ugly. Fortunately, within a few hours you can get to amazing national parks, like Zion and Bryce Canyon. The latter park was at over 8,800 feet above sea level and just stepping out of the car left us breathing heavy. But the snow and forests were absolutely stunning…almost surreal in their beauty. And the red rocks and hoodoos in Bryce were phenomenal. We were unable to explore the full park as a result of the heavy snow, but what we saw was amazing.
There is so much more we could write (like talking with Jay Mohr and his wife about tacky gifts at the Liberace Museum, and how Pete won $512.50 on a penny Wheel of Fortune game), but I think I’ve written enough.
Because, as you know, what happens in Vegas stays in Vegas.
Yesterday was one of those stupid holidays with no other purpose than to sell greeting cards and make people feel bad for a) being single, or b) not getting their significant other something fabulous enough. So, I suppose my lack of enthusiasm for this holiday is a good things considering how Randy and I spent our “holiday.”
He made me go to the gym, then he brought me out to dinner…with him and his ex-boyfriend! Yep, our romantic Valentine’s Day dinner consisted of a threesome (and not in a good way).
Actually, it doesn’t upset me. I’m rather fond of his ex and we’ve all become good friends. In fact, dinner was quite fun. I just think it sounds funny to say that we spent this “supposedly” most romantic of holidays with a third person…not just any person, but his ex-boyfriend of 3 years.
Well, today is my last day of work before heading to Las Vegas. We fly out on Sunday and return the following Sunday. In between it seems we’ll be seeing more of the outlying areas than Vegas itself – despite staying at a resort 1/2 a block from the Bellagio and Caesar’s. We’ve got evening plans on Monday with some friends in the burbs. We planned a day trip to the Hoover Dam. Randy mentioned heading to some Nevada state parks another day. We’re going to Utah for two days (Bryce Canyon and Zion National Park). And while in Vegas, I want to see the various themed hotels (I hear the lobbies and grounds are amazing), the Liberace Museum, and maybe find the Neon Graveyard.
And maybe while we’re out there we’ll find some romance…since it was surely lacking on Valentine’s Day!
I’ve always wanted waterfront property. My entire life has been spent living within a few miles of the ocean. For most of it, I was within under a 1/4 mile. In fact, for a time in Newburyport and in Salem, I even had “obstructed” water views. But I never lived directly on the water.
But that all changed last night. With 3 inches of snow over night then an additional 3 inches of rain all day, I returned home from work yesterday to find our street was a raving rapid. Seriously! We’re on a slight hill…but it’s enough of a hill that water reaching as high as the sidewalks was pouring down the street. So pretty!
Seeing how much water was flowing by the house, I figured I’d go to the basement to lift some area rugs we have (in the event that water seeps in).
Too late.
Just looking down from the basement door I could see the area rug at the foot of the steps was completely saturated. I took the corner and found nearly the entire basement was covered in water. In some areas I’d say it was about an inch…not a lot, but it was enough that three of the little area rugs were actually floating on the water.
It’s times like these when I miss living in hi-rises.