Stan's archives will always be up on this site.

Luckily, I've found a few ways to lessen the disappointment of missing the holiday while some people are caravanting around the wilds of Maine. First, I've decided that, regardless of whether people written their names on the packaging, I am entitled to as many Jello snackpacks as I can find in the company fridge. The one's that specifically write "Do Not Eat" on the package lose their Jello first. And second, I've temporarily lifted all bans on the amount of coffee I'm allowed to drink in a day. This is especially nice since, as I'm all alone in the office and all, I can stick a whole office coffee dispenser thing in the fridge to make a nice, big batch of iced coffee.

Of course, none of that changes the fact that I'll be lifting off the runway at Logan on my way for another week in Houston just as the Pops start playing. Luckily, it isn't suppose to top 95 degrees there this week.

The view of Boston over the right field wall...

...and of Fenway from the same spot.

Pesky Pole among threatening clouds. There is actually a guy stationed next to the pole after games specifically to stop people from approaching the Pole with markers to sign their names.

Jason Varitek warms up Mike Timlin above.

And the most important picture.

At The Squeling Pig in Mission Hill
Boston, MA

So today, I decided to take it up a notch and throw a little culture into Day 2. I stopped at the Christian Science Mapparium, since walking inside a giant stained-glass globe seemed like it might be fun and I've walked by the building about 700 times in the last 8 years without going in. Sadly, they didn't allow photography inside the Maparium, so you'll just have to take my word that, while pretty, it wasn't exactly awe inspiring. On the way out, the tour guide allowed each of us to whisper any "thoughts or encouragement" to the world, to which I'm sure the most common response is to lean in towards Iceland and gently whisper, "this wasn't worth six bucks."

Another little exhibit they had there was the "Hall of Ideas," which was basically a light display flashing inspiring quotes on the walls and in a fountain like so:

Other than that, it was basically a bunch of Mary Baker Eddy and/or Christian Science Monitor propaganda - they are both really great, according to the museum. My favorite part of the whole thing were these ceiling lamps:

After that I went to play pool for two hours and had a couple Dunkin' Donuts iced coffees; not much of a cultural event. But then I stopped by the Boston Public Library to peek at the Boston Ink exhibit about the Boston Society of Printers' history. It was both free and interesting, I learned some things about the history of the Western Alphabet that I'm sure can go right onto my resume.

That was it for Day Two, other than to report that I got a haircut today and, lets just say that in the future if the barber is an ex-military man I'll refrain from insisting that I want my hair "really, really short." Also, we'll be heading to a little barbecue later on. I've heard reports that the steaks, "really do look good," so I'm looking forward to that.

Stay tuned for tomorrow, I'll be dropping by the Sox v. Indians afternoon game at Fenway.

Later on that night, with the beans thankfully gone and with the tonic water sadly gone as well, we concocted the lime martini, which Sara refused to drink but I actually thought wasn't half bad:

After the lime martini was done, we were pretty much out of options. We decided that the pasta and olive oil martini or the orange popsicle martini, while tempting, might be more of a sign of a problem than efficient use of cabinet contents. So we just called it a night, dignity intact.

Update: And the Sox tie the game in the 8th, to the chagrin of the Indian's broadcast team!

Fly to Boston; Fly to Houston; Fly to Boston; Drive to Chicago; Fly to Houston; Fly to Chicago; Fly to Houston; Fly to Chicago; Fly to Boston; Fly to Chicago; Fly to Houston; Fly to Chicago; Fly to Houston; Fly to Chicago

Then somewhere in there I've got to find a new job in Chicago.

On the up side, I expect that they'll be letting me fly the plane starting around mid-September, so that'll be fun.