As promised, more pictures from my trip to the Bahamas have been posted here. I didn’t post all of them because in typical fashion, I took many photos of the same things (beaches, beaches, and more beaches), but I did post a lot because I think many of them are really good. So, enjoy. Click here to see the pictures.
So I have to say, the biggest disappointment about my trip to City of Palms Park on Monday wasn’t the Sox losing 2-1 to the Dodgers, and it wasn’t the fact that Jason Varitek didn’t play, and it wasn’t the fact that I never got to see Gabe Kapler when I went to the minor league facility. No, it wasn’t any of those things. Instead, my biggest disappointment was the fact that City of Palms Park doesn’t sell Fenway Franks. They sell the Globe and the Herald, and they sell old World Series champ merchandise, and they play “Sweet Caroline” midway through the eighth inning. But no, the one piece of Fenway I was most looking forward to on this trip to see the Sox in their springtime home, that I was denied.
Otherwise, it was a great time seeing the Olde Towne Team in Fort Myers. The whole thing had the feeling of a reunion: for the fans, it was the first time we were seeing the boys since October, and many seemed quite happy to have us cheering for them again. For the Sox, it was a chance to hang out with Nomar and Grady Little (Rudy Seanez and J.D. Drew made no visible attempts to hang out with their old teammates). Getting to the stadium at 10:30 for a 1:00 game meant we could hang out and see the guys bonding, laughing, reconnecting, enjoying themselves. It was really fun. Hell, people were even asking Grady Little for his autograph, and Nomar received some of the biggest cheers of the day. And it was also amusing that if you wanted to find Dice-K, all you had to do was look for the mob of Japanese reporters and fans. They travel with him around the stadium in a pack, just like his own personal entourage.
And as if that all wasn’t enough, the weather was near-perfect, the PA system was playing “Ants Marching” and “Margaritaville” and other sumertime classics, there was a too-vocal yahoo fan yelling out stupid stuff throughout the game, my dad and I sat right behind the Dodgers’ dugout, and best of all, hope seemed to be in full supply (despite the loss). For a few brief hours, it was finally spring. And it was awesome.
But no Fenway Franks. That would have made the trip perfect. Ah well. I’ll just have to wait until I get tickets to see the team play at home.
ps: A really cool “star” sighting at the park was Keith Olbermann. I asked him if he’d be giving Ann Coulter hell for her comments Friday night and sure enough, he tipped me off that even though he was on vacation, he’d be phoning in a segment for that night’s show. And he also gave me a good laugh when he said Coulter was “more mannish” than John Edwards. I love Keith Olbermann. He’s the man. (And clearly Terry Francona thinks so too; Keith sat right by his side at the top of the dugout throughout the entire game.)
I’m back in the States, so I thought I’d check in with a quick report about what I’ve been up to since I last posted something here. Wednesday night I flew down to Florida, and Thursday morning I flew to the Bahamas for four days on a (free) press trip. Not too shabby. The trip was to a hotel in the Abacos, and while it wasn’t the most luxurious hotel I’ve been to, I can say it was the nicest one I’ve ever stayed at in the Bahamas — since this was my first time to that part of the world. There were three other journalists on the trip, all around the same age as me and from varied other publications, so that made it fun.
Anyway, as opposed to, say, Nassau or Freeport, the Abacos are a quieter, more laid-back part of the Bahamas, and the trip’s low-key itinerary reflected that. Thursday night we had a nice dinner at the hotel’s restaurant. Friday we went to Hope Town and walked around there during the day; at night we went out to a couple bars near the hotel for drinks and dinner, and danced with the locals at one place where a great band was playing. Saturday the group of us went island hopping aboard a 20-foot motorboat (easily the best part of the trip), and then at night we had dinner al fresco by the pool. After breakfast on Sunday we headed back to the States, and that was that.
I took about 115 photos while I was there, some really great. I’d have taken more, but Saturday my camera got a bit too wet, and let’s just say it is now on the permanent disabled list. I’ll post a link to more of my pictures when I’m back in Boston, but you can get a sampling here. And yes, I came back with a little bit of a sunburn, like I usually do when I go somewhere warm, and actually, I also busted up one of my toes. But there were good things too, including the fact that I ate stuff like conch fritters, something I’d never had before (and probably never will again). And the times on the boats — Saturday, and the ride back from Hope Town to the hotel on Friday — really were a lot of fun.
I want to add that on Saturday I saw one of the most beautiful beaches I have ever seen, on Guana Cay (pronounced key). Of course, I saw it after the camera broke, so I have no photographic proof of its existence, but you have to believe me when I say that I’ve never seen sand that pristine or water that clear. There were even dolphins swimming just off-shore. And I came back with a really unusual, really cool shell, which is a great memento. We had a star sighting in the Fort Lauderdale airport on Thursday; David Caruso, from CSI: Miami, was also going to the Bahamas (I think to Nassau). And I loved that the airport in Marsh Harbour was literally two rooms: one for arrivals and one for departures. There was not even an X-ray or metal detector before you boarded the plane, nor was there an actual baggage claim area. (An interesting piece of trivia is that this is the same airport that Aaliyah left from when she died in 2001.)
So, overall, it was a good time. And now I can say I’ve been to the Bahamas. Tomorrow I’ll fill you in on what I’ve been up to since I got back to Florida.
Just when I had adjusted to the three-hour time difference, I’m back from Vegas and very tired.
Overall, it was a good trip, as I’ve already said: productive and cost-effective as far as my work objectives go, and fun as far as everything else goes.
Here are some “reporter’s notebook”-style things I thought I’d mention: Continue reading
You’re not going to believe it’s me saying this, but if I don’t see another TV for a month, it will be too soon.
After three days of CES, I’ve certainly seen enough of them. Plasmas, LCDs, 1080p full HD, etc etc etc. Each one bigger and blacker. LG has a 102-incher, Panasonic has a 103-incher, and Sharp has a 108-incher. Clearly, size matters.
I’ve also seen a lot of cell phones, cameras, mp3 players, iPod accessories, camcorders, blah blah blah … after three days of speaking to PR people and asking about availability and pricing, it’s all blending together (good thing I’ve taken plenty of notes).
And of course, nothing I’ve seen has been as cool as Apple’s iPhone, which is not here because Apple doesn’t do CES. Still, yesterday in the press room, it was all anyone was talking about. Continue reading
Hello from Las Vegas, where I’m at for a few days for the Consumer Electronics Show.
It’s my third time at the show and it’s great fun, as work trips go. I’m so eager to see all the new cell phones, camcorders, TVs, etc. that I got to the show more than an hour too early today (I thought it opened at 9, but it opens at 10). Ha. But it’s all good.
Anyway, just wanted to say a quick hello because this time I have a good excuse for not posting. If I find a couple minutes and something I can write about quickly, I’ll try to say hi. Otherwise, I’ll be back with pictures and stories and a fuller report later in the week.
Alright, I didn’t just put my blog on hiatus these past few days, I put myself on hiatus and headed out to visit my friend Andrew in Chicago. Suffice it to say, a good time was had by all.
It’s been two years since I was last in Chicago, and in that time much has changed. For example, whereas two years ago Andrew didn’t know much about the city, now he still doesn’t know much about Chicago — but he could fake it convincingly by giving me a whole dissertation about the grid system and how easy it is to navigate around. (ha ha) But more importantly, Andrew’s engaged, so one of the biggest reasons I went out there was to meet his fiancee, Rachel.
It was a packed weekend: I got in Thursday night and we went to dinner at Shine Morida; Friday I was on my own and walked all the way down Clark to Michigan Ave., where I went to the Hancock Observatory, did some shopping, and visited Millenium Park; at night we brought in dinner from Bacino’s and saw a show at Second City; Saturday, Andrew and I had brunch at Stella’s, then went to the Field Museum; at night we met up with some of Rachel and Andrew’s friends and had dinner at Las Tablas, then Andrew and I went to Rosa’s Lounge, a great blues club where Jimmy Johnson was performing; Sunday, we had brunch at Panes, and then I headed home.
That’s not really all we did, but something tells me you would be less than impressed if I told you we also watched five — yes, five — episodes of Grey’s Anatomy now that Andrew and Rachel are hooked on the show and are catching up with the season two DVD set. And you probably would have little sympathy for me if I told you I did a lot of walking around in the cold (40 degrees or so) since it was apparently just as cold back in Boston. And it’s a funny story, but the fact that we tried but could not get into Buddy Guy’s Legends doesn’t add much to the overall recap. I also figure you don’t care that Chicago’s WLIT was already playing Christmas music 24/7 and that it made me smile.
But all told, it was a great weekend. It was nice to see different parts of the city than those I saw last time, and it was nice to see that Andrew’s found himself a great fiancee. And of course, I took a lot more pictures than the ones you see here; if you want to see the rest, just follow this link.
Ah, Chicago. It’s my kind of town.
I learned a valuable lesson this weekend: four ounces of hair gel is just too much for one man to have.
Both times at the airport, of all the things I had in my bag — shaving cream, a razor, toothpaste, etc. — the only thing that got confiscated was my hair gel.
Apparently, three ounces is the limit, and God forbid you have one measly ounce more.
Thankfully there are drug stores in NY so I was able to get more, but I mean, can you just imagine how styled my head could have been with that one extra ounce of gel?
I could have been the best-coiffed guy on the plane!
Just thought I’d pass along that Congress (yes, our friends down in Washington), along with the Travel Industry Association and Expedia.com, have declared today, October 23, “National Plan Your Vacation Day.”
As if any of us really needed to be told to get away and take time off from work.
Then again, apparently some of us do need to be told.
According to a survey done by Expedia, one-third of American workers (that’s 33%) do not always take all their vacation days. Continue reading
What happens in Atlantic City stays in Atlantic City, and that applies to my money too.
As opposed to the last time I gambled, this weekend I ended up on the losing side.
But hey, all in the name of a good time.
After all, it was Jason’s bachelor party and we were at the Borgata, where there wasn’t much else to do but gamble.
And eat.
And gamble.
And eat.
So without going into too much detail about what we did this weekend — which was more than eat and gamble, by the way. I mean, it wasa bachelor party — I’ll just say our meal at Michael Mina’s Sea Blue was yummy (especially the Molten Peppermint Patty dessert) and a good time was had by all.
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