I Suck At Chauffeuring

wednesday nights are my usual nights to pick up the two miss daisies (karen and hot amy) from simmons college and chauffeur their sorry butts home. now, i suck at chauffeuring. yesterday, however, was quite the occasion because last night marked the end of my driving duties for the year. karen and hot amy are done teaching at simmons college for the semester . yay!

to prepare for the final ride, i donned on my yellow and blue simmons t-shirt. in case you are curious, the only reason why i even have a yellow and blue simmons t-shirt is because the t-shirt used to belong to karen. karen ran cross country for the simmons "sharks" and ended up receiving a t-shirt for her efforts. sadly, the t-shirt was too large for her. hence, i ended up showing my solidarity with simmons college by being able to fit into the t-shirt.

as well, i tidied up the car for the final ride of the season. okay, so maybe i did not really tidy up the car for the final ride. by "tidying up", i mean i moved my little stuffed animal in the back seat... up to the front. i have a red stuffed animal of a lobster, who i call "rock". karen had given me the lobster when we were in college. the reason why i moved "rock": hot amy.

awhile ago, i kidnapped hot amy's stuffed animal (wally) from the back seat of her car to see if she would even notice the disappearance. well, as it turned out, she did not notice the disappearance of wally until i posted a message about it on this blog... which was over a week after the actual kidnapping. i am still holding wally hostage, but it's okay. wally appears to enjoy being detained... evident from the big happy smile on his face.

anyway, in my stuffed animal's (rock) usual place, was a container of armorall cleaning wipes. for anyone curious, i don't own any armorall cleaning wipes. the cleaning wipes actually belonged to... you guessed it... hot amy. i happened to steal those from the backseat of her car too. and the funny thing... she didn't notice that the cleaning wipes were gone either until she saw them in the backseat of my car.

needless to say, it was a good thing that i moved my little stuffed lobster because hot amy immediately inquired about his whereabouts when she got into the car. i had a hunch that she would attempt to kidnap him in retaliation and i think i may have been right. (it pays to be one step ahead...)

regardless, the ride home was fun. no accidents is always a good sign. as it was karen and hot amy's last day teaching at simmons, we decided to celebrate. the place we chose to celebrate: blue-22.

(pictured below are hot amy and karen celebrating their last day of teaching for the semester.)


we were hoping to see my friend (garv) at blue 22 because he is usually there on wednesdays. sadly, the very intellectual garv... as hot amy would have you believe... was "slacking" according to his cousin (steph). garv was out playing hockey.

so instead, we enjoyed ourselves to dinner and... some trivia. (for anyone curious, i had a burger... and also for those who do not know: wednesday nights are trivia nights at blue 22) trivia was actually pretty fun. the three of us did not actually play. but, we did help out garv's wife (leeann) and her friends (neluka and patti). (we had noticed patti from afar, as she was in her scrubs.)

anyway, it was a good time to say the least... especially since my chauffeuring duties are over.

I Suck At Chauffeuring

last night was my usual night to drive karen and my friend (hot amy) home from simmons college. karen and hot amy teach a course together at simmons college. as there was a red sox game starting around the time karen and hot amy would be finishing with their teaching, i figured traffic would probably be a little congested. luckily, i suck at chauffeuring.

in preparation of the traffic, i quickly threw together a sandwich for hot amy. the sandwich was the usual peanut butter and jelly sandwich... and sadly, the jelly was not monk-created, so it probably tasted a little different than normal to hot amy. i'm afraid i already devoured all of the trappist jam... it just tastes so good.

karen, however, did not want anything because she still had her peanut butter and jelly sandwich from lunch. (you may be noticing a peanut butter and jelly theme...)

needless to say, i actually left an hour and half before the designated rendezvous time. i was concerned with traffic after all. i can see why my favorite brother-in-law (pj) gets obsessed with traffic. traffic is such an annoyance, especially when there is no one else in the car to chat with. on an semi-unrelated note... if i could complain about my job, it would be the long commute home from work with traffic and no one to chat with... that alone drives me crazy at times.

anyway, it took me close to an hour to arrive in town... which is not bad considering i live about half an hour away from town. and as luck would have it, there were plenty of parking spaces available on the street near simmons college. being a half hour early, i decided to read a little. (as surprising as it sounds, i do occasionally read.)

i'm currently reading a book that my friend (andrea) lent me. it's the sequel to "twilight". the sequel is called "new moon". granted, i was not exactly a big fan of the first book. sadly, since i like to complete things... and sequels being one of them... i figured that i might as well continue with the next installment of the twilight series. i do this with movies as well.

and surprisingly... so far... the second book in the series... much more enjoyable than the first book... probably because there is less of the "i know i shouldn't love you because you're a vampire, but i do" thing.

anyway, i didn't get too far into the book because karen and hot amy had finished teaching earlier than expected. so off we went... to do my little chauffeuring task. nothing too exciting happened on the ride home. hot amy asked if i were less stressed now that the scavenger hunt that i had organized was over. (i may have been somewhat on edge... mostly because i tend to worry about people having a good time, having the right amount of people to participate, and all of that stuff.) for anyone curious, with the event now over... yes, it does feel like there is less weight on my shoulders.

karen tried to get me to spill the beans for some of the other ideas that i have been hatching as possible items for next year's scavenger hunt... should i decide to plan another hunt. obviously, i didn't reveal a thing. but we did briefly discuss the potential craziness for a scavenger hunt next year with more people wanting to join in on the fun. i suppose we'll see how i feel next year. maybe i can switch things up and do an "amazing race" type of event or something. we'll see.

needless to say, that was pretty much my night of chauffeuring. on the way back to our house, however, there was one new interesting encounter. a police car had blocked off route 53 a little before the stop and shop as we were heading home. apparently, the police officer blocked the street because there was a fire nearby and he had to re-route everyone so that the fire trucks could get to the fire. as karen and i lived just up past the stop and shop, the officer was kind enough to let us drive on home. seeing route 53 blocked off is not something you notice every day. for anyone curious, the fire was not in our neighborhood... so we were safe.

all in all, it was an interesting night.

I Still Suck At Chauffeuring

in terms of driving, tonight has been a weird night. that doesn't bode well for me because i still suck at chauffeuring. after all, tonight is my usual night to pick up karen and my friend (hot amy) from simmons college and chauffeur their sorry bums home. i like to refer to karen and hot amy as miss daisies.

anyway, i should have known it was going to be a weird night with the traffic i encountered on my way in to simmons college. when it comes to punctuality, i am generally early for things. like most wednesdays, i give myself a considerable amount of time when picking karen and hot amy up at simmons college.

for some reason, there was stop and go traffic on my way in to tonight. there usually isn't that much traffic heading into town on a wednesday night. had my favorite brother-in-law (pj) been with me, he probably would have gone insane with the traffic. pj is not a big fan of traffic.

needless to say, the traffic actually made me a little late. with the pedal to the metal, i managed to get to simmons college... two minutes over. sure, two minutes over is not really that late, but it's just late enough to annoy me because i am generally early and punctual.

interestingly enough, my tardiness was not even the strangest thing about my drive tonight. tonight, i caught the tail end of a biker getting hit by a car.

on my way to simmons college, i drove by the police station that is near the ruggles subway station. the ruggles station is not too far from northeastern university... my almost alma mater... had i enough money to continue paying the tuition. there is actually an intersection with a set of lights near ruggles station that allows buses to exit the station.

anyway, i was patiently waiting for the light to turn green at that intersection. distracted by my tardiness due to the traffic on the way in, i glanced over at the time display on the car stereo. the next thing i hear is a loud crash.

looking out my window, i see a bike rider kneeling on the ground. the actual bike is smashed and on the ground. jumping out of the black car that hit the biker... a police officer in uniform. the black car was apparently an unmarked police car.

as i watched the aftermath unfold, i saw the biker just kneeling on the ground holding his back. and then after a very long delay, he started crying in pain. it was as though the shock finally wore off and he realized that he had just gotten hit by a car.

the biker's reaction almost reminded me of the time karen was reaching for a canned good stored high up in one of our kitchen cabinets. with the canned good in her hand, karen apparently had a phalanges malfunction and the canned good caught karen on the chin. stunned for a prolonged moment, karen soon started to cry uncontrollably.

obviously, the biker's situation is a lot more dire and tragic. i just think it's amazing how the body functions with the whole delay of pain thing. needless to say, i hope all is well with the biker. he seemed okay, aside from the tears of course. thankfully, the car was not going faster.

I Suck At Chauffeuring

yesterday is my driving miss daisy night... although in my case, i get to drive two miss daisies: karen and my friend (hot amy). so needless to say, i went to chauffeur karen and hot amy home after they finished teaching their class at simmons college in boston. it's too bad i suck at chauffeuring.

for a brief moment, i guess you could say i felt like jason statham in the movie, the transporter... just without the physique, the cool accent, or the martial arts... as i sat behind the wheel of the parked car.

basically, i park on louis pasteur avenue whenever i pick up karen and hot amy. technically, a person is not supposed to park on that street. i believe cars get towed for parking on the street. so, i sit and wait in the car for them because i'm usually early... which i guess is what makes me a good chauffeur.

last night, the usual spot that i pick karen and hot amy up was taken... by two tow trucks. my initial thought was to simply park my car behind the two tow trucks to see if they would even notice, but i didn't want to press my luck.

so in my rather clandestine way, i drove further up the street... pulled over... and sat in my car with the lights off... watching and waiting for the two tow trucks to move as though i were staking the tow truck driver out or something. twenty minutes later, the two tow trucks drove away to which i started the car and pulled into my usual spot for picking up karen and hot amy.

oh yeah... i felt all sly. i am thinking i would make a great private investigator or something. just kidding.

needless to say, karen and hot amy shortly arrived. i wish i could have recorded a video of them approaching the car. there are mounds of snow covering the sidewalks. where i usually pull the car in to pick them up, there is a little path. well, due to the snow, this path was rather wet and muddy last night. so watching karen and hot amy maneuver themselves around the muddy puddles of the path was quite interesting.

sure, i suppose i could do my gentlemanly duty and toss my jacket on the ground for them to step on... but where would the fun be in that? chivalry is dead after all. plus, i know i don't want to walk around with a muddy footprint or two on my jacket.

anyway, the ride home itself was pretty uneventful. hot amy chowed down on the peanut butter and jelly sandwich that i made her... complete with trappist monk jam. karen and i were going out afterwards, so i didn't make anything for karen. in addition, i believe hot amy has now joined the 21st century with cable television.

on the ride home, karen had mentioned something about a coworker who uses the bathroom by standing on the toilet seat, which is an amazing feat i would imagine. and by the time we were done discussing the standing on the toilet issue, it was already time for hot amy to jump out of the car and tuck and roll... okay, so hot amy did not really tuck and roll... although i'm sure she could have landed in a snowbank to cushion her jump.

but all in all, it was yet another successful night of chauffeuring.

I Still Suck At Chauffeuring

tonight i picked up the two miss daisies (karen and hot amy) outside of simmons college and drove their sorry butts home. a chauffeur's job is never done. too bad i still suck at chauffeuring.

as proof that the two miss daisies are getting old... karen has already conked out and gone to bed. did i mention that it is still pretty early as i type this? so like most nights, that leaves me time to write my blog. i'd actually work on the house if i didn't think my actual working on the house would be a distraction for my neighbors with loud power tools and whatnot. (it would probably be a distraction for karen too.)

anyway, karen was not feeling well. in fact, once she stepped into the car tonight, she said she was not feeling well. i wonder if she has been hanging around hot amy too much. (for anyone curious, hot amy is always sick...) needless to say, i hope karen gets better. i also hope it is not something worse because i don't recall the last time karen has literally plopped into bed... exhausted... so early.

and like any paranoid husband, i will probably check on her every 15 minutes to make sure she is at least breathing. i occasionally have these bouts of paranoia, especially when i watch karen sound asleep. as much as i like to see karen peacefully sleeping, i get worried that when she sleeps on her stomach her face will be in the pillow... and then she'll suffocate or something. i probably would have this same fear had my son (braden) not passed away.

of course, maybe karen isn't feeling well because my peanut butter and jelly sandwich lost its legendary status. the nice guy that i am, i made both karen and hot amy a little snack again tonight consisting of my main staple: peanut butter and jelly... with a drink... a chocolate peanut butter cookie... and an apple (because they are teachers). karen did not finish the sandwich tonight... coincidence? just kidding.

anyway, it was another safe ride home. i got to retell my giddy fios tv experience earlier in the day. karen was quite impressed that i knew so much about the fios technician (steve). steve, by the way, avoids the social networking phenomena known as facebook... much like karen. apparently, two of his friends have gotten divorced over facebook. steve's wife, on the other hand, is on facebook all the time... or so he told me.

it's probably time now to make sure karen is still breathing...

I Still Suck At Chauffeuring

tonight is my night to drive miss daisy (or miss daisies as it may be). karen and my friend (hot amy) teach a course at simmons college on wednesday nights. the swell guy that i am, i chauffeur their sorry bums home when they are done teaching class. unfortunately, i still suck at chauffeuring.

i may have inadvertently set a precedent this year when i made karen and hot amy a couple of peanut butter and jelly sandwiches last week. as it turned out, hot amy requested a peanut butter and jelly sandwich for tonight. apparently, my peanut butter and jelly sandwiches are approaching legendary status... much like my awesomeness. just kidding. perhaps that is why karen's cousin's husband (tommy) remembers the sandwich i made in disney. perhaps...

of course, it could be the trappist monk jam which comes straight from the former home town of my friend (pam)... spencer. once you go monk jam... you can't go back. unfortunately for hot amy, i had to use a different flavor of trappist jam tonight because i already used up the other jar of jam. for anyone curious, yes i tend to go through a lot of peanut butter and jelly as it has become one of my staples for lunch. hopefully, the sandwich tonight was still legendary for hot amy. in addition to the sandwich, i packed her a can of soda... cupcakes... and some tootsie rolls.

the only thing that i forgot to pack... was her book "the secret" (also known as "the crap"). i meant to return the rubbish of a book back to her. so yes, the secret was not in the back seat of the car. apparently, the secret is on the dining room table... hubba hubba.

anyway, karen and hot amy told me that they would be done with their class fairly early tonight. and as i generally like to be early for things, i left early enough to account for traffic, especially since the snow started to flurry. as it turned out, it was actually a good thing that i left when i did because karen and hot amy were finished even earlier than they themselves expected. basically, when i arrived they were done. what timing! i didn't get my chauffeur gig for nothing. and for anyone curious, i even checked the nearby walkway around the car to make sure that the path was not muddy... lest i should hear karen whine again about her dirty boots like last week.

needless to say, the ride home was fun and interesting. among the topics of discussion: karen's belief that men are intimated by a woman's intelligence... to which i say... nah-uh! karen also thinks that men need to be somewhat intelligent to carry on a meaningful conversation. and to think... all this time i thought i was just eye candy... a trophy husband... damn! this is what happens when women go to an all women's college... just kidding.

oh... and hot amy is getting cable too. her family is finally getting cable... after 27 years. apparently, house m.d. was the final straw for hot amy. so now that leaves karen's parents as the only family in the world that does not have cable television. very sad... although truth be told, i would avoid getting comcast too. i am not a big fan of comcast... never have been. i'm not alone in that thinking. comcast has placed last or close to last in just about every customer service survey.

according to my trusty geek magazine, wired, an article about comcast featured how comcast's broadband service "appeared to be blocking file-sharing applications by creating fake data packets that interfered with trading sessions." that discrimination and censorship led to obvious backlash against comcast. but that's a whole different topic altogether.

the ride home was actually quite nice. i managed to get everyone home safely amid the flurry of snow. yay me. why... i guess you could say i was like jason statham in the transporter... just without the cool voice... the martial arts... and the hot body.

I Suck At Chauffeuring

last night, i began my semester of driving miss daisy... or in this case... driving miss daisies. karen and my friend (hot amy) are teaching a course together at simmons college. the course, which is scheduled for once a week on wednesdays, is already three weeks into the semester. the first week was canceled due to snow; the second week hot amy actually drove herself (and consequently drove karen); and now this week. consequently, my chauffeuring services were needed. too bad i suck at chauffeuring.

as i was working from home yesterday, i figured that i would be nice (which is an extreme rarity, i know) and make a little something for them for dinner because the class is scheduled during normal dinner hours and i figured that they would be a little famished after teaching. of course, with my limited repertoire of culinary skills, i could not make anything big and fancy. plus, i really could not make anything hot or warm as it would inevitably get cold by the time i hiked into town to pick them up. so, i settled for the old standby: peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. (cue rachael ray's "yum-o" sound.)

for anyone curious, i make a mean peanut butter and jelly sandwich. just kidding. interestingly enough, karen's cousin's husband (tommy) who lives in lowell remembers having a peanut butter and jelly sandwich that i made in florida... and he loved it. i should probably clarify that. i did not bring the sandwich back from florida so that he could have it. at the time, a bunch of us (including tommy) went to disney together. fun times... fun times. things were definitely simpler back then.

anyway, i left to pick up karen and hot amy at the time they originally thought they would be finished. as i was on the highway, karen called me telling me that they would be later than expected. naturally, i began devising ways to kill time while i waited. my first idea included going to the south bay mall for some shopping. as tempting as the idea was, i decided against it because i really was not in the mood to shop... not that i ever get into a mood to shop... even though there is a home depot located there. speaking of home depot, i would be curious to see what time the "women of the night" start prowling in front of home depot. i've only heard rumors... i've never seen them. they are like santa... or the easter bunny that way... just probably with more diseases.

what i actually decided upon to kill time was simply waiting where i would normally pick them up... and read. fun, i know. reading by streetlight... very tough. too bad i don't live in new york (not that i would ever want to). new york is supposedly getting new led streetlights... at least according to my friend, wired.

regardless, i had a book about the construction of what the author calls an "eco-shed". so far, the book is rather blah. the book is called "almost green" by james glave. i was originally curious about the book because the tagline ("how i saved 1/6th of a billionth of the planet") sounded like it would provide ideas on how to make a "greener" home. sadly, no ideas yet. damn those taglines. that's how they get you.

needless to say, karen and hot amy came scurrying out of simmons college... made tracks through the snow and mud... and got into the car while i was reading. (in my defense, i did try to park where there was less snow and mud. the only other parking option would have been to park on the actual sidewalk... which probably would not have been a good idea). and then off we went.

i think karen and hot amy enjoyed the peanut butter and jelly sandwich surprise. hot amy seemed intrigued by the jelly. i don't know if that meant she liked the jelly or not. for anyone curious, the jelly was created by monks... trappist monks... from spencer... once the home town of my friend (pam). just so you know, the only good thing about spencer... monk jam. regardless, i hope karen and hot amy liked the sandwiches. after all, the peanut butter is laced with salmonella. just kidding.

anyway, it was a successful chauffeuring night... no accidents. when my chauffeuring was done for the night, karen whined that her boots had mud on them. i think she was looking for me to clean them for her. so... i simply handed her a wet paper towel. after all, my driving miss daisy duties were done for the night.

I Still Suck At Chauffeuring

today is my last day... of chauffeuring.

i'm retiring my little black chauffeur's cap (not that i actually own one) because i still suck at chauffeuring. so as of this moment, all of my miss daisy friends will have to use the very reliable... very comfortable... public transportation system known as the mbta. very sad, i know.

anyway, i offered to give my friend (hot amy) a ride home today as i normally cut through boston. as is quite typical of my behavior, i generally bolt out of the door when it's closing time at the office. so, i didn't know if hot amy took me up on the offer or not.

knowing hot amy does not like to sweat, i assumed she would want the ride. plus, truth be told, i was hoping she would want the ride. commuting home from marblehead... very boring, especially when you have to sit in traffic by yourself for over an hour if you're lucky. it sometimes drives me crazy (assuming i was not crazy to begin with). needless to say, i was hoping for some company on my long commute home. and actually, i thought it would be nice to see hot amy again. i don't think i've seen her in quite some time. i don't remember the last time i did see her. so, i thought it'd be good to catch up on things.

as it turns out, i arrived in downtown boston fairly early. hot amy didn't want to fleece the taxpayers of the commonwealth by leaving too early (although if we went shopping, that probably would have been acceptable). so hot amy declined my offer for a ride home. thinking nothing of it, i decided to call my friend (aimee). i was in town anyway, so i figured i'd see if aimee would leave early. plus, i haven't seen aimee either in quite some time. (it seems like i haven't seen a lot of people in quite some time.)

well, aimee and i chatted for awhile. she finally convinced me to wait a little while longer so that it would not be too early if she left for the day. so, i drove around a little to pass the time. i contacted hot amy again to see if this time she would would want a ride. as i was waiting for aimee, it would not be as early so hot amy took me up on the offer. i then called my friend (carlos) to see if he could leave early too. unfortunately, he could not... stupid job.

anyway, i started to get hungry. seeing a van drive away from the curb, i parked my car in the recently vacated spot. i looked at the meter and thought... great... there's still time left in the meter from that van. woo-hoo!

thinking nothing of it, i literally walked down to cvs, walked down the candy aisle, picked up a bag of watermelon pull 'n peel twizzlers, picked up a bottle of powerade, got in line, paid for the items, and walked back to the car. when i returned to my car... there it was... the little orange ticket! my entire trip to cvs could not have taken more than 5 minutes.

needless to say, i was a little disappointed. after reading the ticket, i saw that i was cited for parking in a no stop zone. i then looked around and saw the sign. d'oh! what a bummer.

anyway, i picked up aimee and hot amy and we headed off to the mean streets of quincy.

(pictured below is hot amy. the picture was taken by special guest photographer... aimee.)


i drove like a bat out of hell all the way to quincy. i was slightly bummed by the ticket. and since i already broke the law once for the day, i didn't think lightning could possibly strike twice in a given day. so i figured i had free reign to break more rules of the road. pedestrians were diving out of the way... it was like the video game, grand theft auto... just kidding.

aside from the parking violation, i did actually have a good ride home. i got to see two of my friends who i haven't seen in quite some time. (of course, it'll probably be the last for a while since i won't be chauffeuring anymore.) seeing aimee and hot amy reminded me what it was like to work in town... not that working in marblehead is all that bad. marblehead is a very beautiful town. it's just that i don't have good friends to spend time up there with.

oh well. and in case anyone is curious... it was the best $75 bag of twizzlers and bottle of powerade i ever had... karen was not too pleased. hence, the retirement of the chauffeuring business...

I Suck At Chauffeuring

feeling all nostalgic for the good o' days when i used to work in town and could go to a rolling rally whenever there was one, i decided to meet up with my friend (hot amy) on my way home from work.

hot amy used to work around the corner from me when i was in town. (i use the term "work" loosely because she "works" for the commonwealth of massachusetts, and you know how diligent and hard working state employees are...) on my commute home, i drive through boston, so making a pitstop to pick her up was not much of a problem.

the last time i was supposed to meet up with hot amy, i stood her up. thanks bottle of scotch. just kidding. although, it probably is a good lesson to not drink hard alcohol during working hours. needless to say, i may have felt some residual guilt from that incident. so, i offered to do what i haven't done in quite a while... chauffeur her sorry butt home.

(pictured below is hot amy leaving "work".)


i suck at chauffeuring. as it turns out, it's a good thing i offered to drive miss daisy (hot amy) home because she actually had no way of getting home from the subway station. (she recently sold her car with the blood splatter stains of her past ex's.)

anyway, i had a very enjoyable ride home. my regular commute to and from work the past few days has been extremely boring as i simply listen to the radio by myself in the car. thus, having someone else to talk to definitely made the ride more fun. plus, having hot amy in the car was almost like the good o' days when we would take the subway home together after work.

truth be told, i wouldn't mind chauffeuring her sorry butt home every week or so. after all, it would almost be like the times where i had to drive her and karen home from simmons college during the spring semester. i think all i need to do now is convince her to go to braintree so that we can use the hov lane. just kidding. or i suppose i can always drive the sorry butts of my other friends too who are in town... like aimee and jen. we'll see how this shuttle business goes.

I Still Suck At Chauffeuring

yesterday was the last night i would be driving the two miss daisies (karen and hot amy) back from simmons college. apparently, the semester is over and now all they have to do is work on grading the students. thus, my chauffeuring duties are over for now... which is good because i still suck at chauffeuring.

so in remembrance of my fine driving skills is the following quote:

"Oh, Miss Daisy, yesterday, while you was out visitin', I went and ate a can of your salmon. Now, I know you said eat the left-over pork chops, but they was kinda stiff. So, I stopped at the Piggly Wiggly and got you another can. You want me just to go on and put it in the cupboard?"

yum. canned salmon. (pictured below are the two miss daisies [hot amy and karen] on their final day of teaching this semester)

I Still Suck At Chauffeuring

today, my mother returned from her vacation to hong kong. my father was quite excited. he seemed almost giddy and anxious to ride with me to pick her up at logan airport. one of the duties of a good son according to ancient chinese tradition is to obey your parents, help them with things, and all that jazz. so, i had no problems with picking my mother up at the airport. unfortunately, i still suck at chauffeuring.

because my dad was a little excited, we left a little early. when we arrived at terminal e of boston's logan airport (for international arrivals), we were not surprised to find that we had some time to kill before my mom had to pick up her luggage and all that. naturally, we thought we could just circle around the airport.

too bad we didn't follow the signs correctly. we ended up exiting the airport altogether, paying the toll, exiting at south boston, looping back to the airport, and back at terminal e (like deja vu). sure, it was a roundabout way. the drive, however, did kill the necessary time as when we arrived the second time, my mom was ready and waiting by the curb for us. (i suppose in retrospect, we probably should have just double-parked our car by the curb, but i felt that was somewhat illegal.)

anyway, i managed to drive my parents back home safely. when we got to my parents' house, my mom gave me my necklace back. (pictured below is the necklace.)



my mom had given me the necklace shortly after i got married. the necklace, however, broke a link and my mom brought it back to hong kong to get it fixed. why she chose to bring it back to hong kong and not somewhere in the united states, i do not know. i assumed it had to do with some family tradition or something.

anyway, for anyone curious (and i know it's hard to tell by the picture), the chinese character on the charm is "fook". according to google answers, fook

"means fortune/luck/happy. The word 'Fook' is often used at Chinese new year, on lucky red packets for giving out gifts of money, on greeting cards, and particulary as a lucky charm where it is appears as a diamond shaped poster stuck on doors upside down.

It is stuck on upside down as a charm, because in Chinese it means 'Fook Do' meaning 'luck is coming' ('Do' in Chinese also means upside down, which is phonetically the same as 'come' hence why it is turned upside down). Anyone displaying their 'Fook' (on a door) the 'correct' way up is actually displaying it wrongly! It is stuck on a door as the door is the way into the house (to allow an entrance for the fortune/happiness to come into the household)"

so yes, the character on my necklace is upside down so that the luck will not run out. and for anyone who is also curious, on the other side of the fook character (the side not pictured) is a tiger, which is the year i was born in based on the chinese zodiac.

I Suck At Chauffeuring

i suck at chauffeuring.

today is my normal day to don the little black cap and chauffeur the two miss daisies (karen and hot amy) from simmons college. karen and hot amy teach a nutrition course together at simmons college and they usually dismiss class around 7:30pm.

well, today i almost ran a little late. i took the mbta subway train home with my friend (carlos) from work. as it turns out, hot amy asked me to see if carlos would be available to accompany her to a wedding this weekend. the wedding is for her hairdresser and apparently hot amy needed a date. you would think that someone who has the moniker of "hot" would not need to find a date, especially since she recently had a pleasurable night out compliments of the united states navy, but apparently that is not the case... such a bizarro world.

needless to say, the nice guy that carlos is... he agreed to go. as we took the subway train home, carlos asked if i wanted to grab a quick drink before i went to pick up karen and hot amy. never one to pass up alcohol, i agreed. plus, we had gotten back to wollaston station at a pretty good time. (i also ended up picking up two bottles of wine at wollaston wine and liquors too, but that is another story. hopefully, the wine will taste okay... not that it will matter really as i will drink it either way...)

anyway, carlos, the two bottles of wine, and i ended up at the hancock tavern. the hancock tavern is one of carlos's favorite places as he apparently knows the bartender (john). we each had a drink. shortly after, we were getting hungry so we ordered appetizers (i ordered chicken tenders. carlos ordered mozzarella sticks.) we thought we still had plenty of time. unfortunately, we were wrong.

although the food had yet to come, i had to leave to pick up karen and hot amy (or else they would have to wait... and no telling what would happen to them... surrounded by sketchy simmons women of ill-repute.) so, carlos and i agreed that i would bolt to my parents' to pick up the car, come back to pick up the food (and carlos), and then head on in to town to pick up karen and hot amy.

needless to say, i ran to pick up the car. might i add, running with two bottles of wine... is very difficult. i drove like a madman, picked up carlos and the food, and headed into town. surprisingly, there was no traffic today. so i made it to simmons in record time. both karen and hot amy were a little confused when i arrived because carlos was with me. they were also pleasantly surprised by the mozzarella sticks and chicken fingers too. (they ate most of the food before carlos and i could delve into it.)

but all in all, it was an interesting day.