The Upstate Life

Monday, November 29, 2004

Caught Up On Months of Sleep Edition

Coming into work on a Monday after a relaxing four day weekend just isn't the greatest feeling. I'm already missing my bed back home, probably because I spent 50% of my vacation in it. But since yesterday is the new today, let's continue with the Wrapup.

I left work a few hours early on Wednesday to catch my flight from BWI to Albany. All forms of transportation, excluding water I guess, were employed between 3 and 6 pm. I took the Green Line Metro to Greenbelt, from which I would then catch the B30 Express MetroBus that goes directly to BWI. If you don't want to drive or take the SuperShuttle and are near a Metro station, you should definitely check out the Greenbelt-BWI Airport Line. It's only $3 each way and usually takes about 30 minutes to ride, which is unless you were traveling the day before Thanksgiving, like TUL unfortunately was. The traffic was insane heading up to the airport, but I, like mostly everyone else on the bus, fell asleep the majority of the ride.

I'm curious if Metro employees are required to take a week long seminar on how to be unhappy and provide poor customer service before going on the job. The MetroBus was sitting at the station with its door open when I arrived at Greenbelt, but of course, the driver was missing. Apparently she had gone to use the bathroom when I asked another perplexed rider. By the time she had returned, there was a line of about 20 people waiting for Mrs. Bus Driver to start letting people on despite the fact the bus was supposed to depart five minutes ago. After everyone boarded, the driver stated in the most furious tone that no one stand while the bus in motion, obviously throwing in the renowned no food or drink zinger as well. I forgot to mention she was practically yelling these bus riding commandments while walking all the way to the back to make sure every single person heard them. I kept looking for the whip but it was nowhere to be found.

The one hour flight from BWI to Albany wasn't too bad except for the fact I was surrounded by hyperactive kids the entire time. Combine that factor to a completely sold out flight and you have one incredibly annoying trip. I thankfully was effortlessly able to take another nap before arriving back home. Had a nice family dinner at the house and then headed out for the evening. We all went to Steph's new apartment and did a little pregaming before going out for her birthday in downtown Saratoga. Since the night before Thanksgiving is one of those supposed big nights, the bars were extremely crowded that included people from TUL's high school that I could've cared less running into. The persistent raining all evening was a little shitty too. However, it was nice to be able to go to the bar and only pay $3 for a Bud Light. I somehow miss the cost of living back home, maybe because it was so damn inexpensive compared to DC.

We spent this year's Thanksgiving at our parent's friend's home which was really nice. TUL, as expected, easily devoured mass consumptions of food including two delicious slices of pumpkin pie. Later that night, the entire CP gang came over and watched some DVD's at my house before calling it a night. Friday night, we all went up to downtown Saratoga again sans the rain and swelled crowds of Wednesday's jaunt. It was a lot more fun this time around as we got to sit down and have a drink at Gaffney's before going across to the street to City Tavern the rest of the night. I ran into a few friends from high school that I enjoyed talking to whom I haven't seen in what seemed like ages. Some were married, others in law school, but it was interesting to find out what everyone was doing during these post-college days. On Saturday, all of us laid low for the evening and watched The Girl Next Door at GF's house. It was actually better than I thought it would be, but then again, how could anything with Elisha Cuthbert be that bad anyways?

Arrived back to BWI around 8pm, took the SuperShuttle home to Bethesda at about 10, and now TUL is back in the area for what should be a fun couple of weeks. This coming weekend, you'll be able to catch me at the BB&T Tournament at MCI Center to cheer on the Terps with a bunch of Maryland alumni. Then a week from Wednesday is The Pixies show, closing out a great streak of concerts I've attended the last few weeks until another good act comes along (hopefully The Arcade Fire!). I'd write more and all, but I think I caught a cold or something from the plane either to or from Albany since I can barely hear myself typing. I can't even imagine how this Wrapup would've sounded had I been doped up on the cough medicine.

Posted by Brett at 4:39 PM |