Week of July 6th

	sunday
	monday
	tuesday
	wednesday
	thursday
	friday ell, the day is finally upon me. Weeks of planning, surfing the web and looking for old friends to stay with for free are finally coming to fruition. My bags are packed, and all I need to do is get a haircut and I'll be on my way.
	ast night my friends threw a little going away party for me. Well, I had to invite them all over, and supply a keg of Harpoon IPA to get them to stay, but still, it's the thought that counts. The place is kind of a mess right now. Maybe I can pack up my stuff and leave before my roommate Murph wakes up. Probably not a good idea.
	hen people found out I was going cross-country they invariably asked where I was going first. "Maine", I'd reply, and then they'd laugh and make some joke about me needing to get a map. However, Portland is one of my favorite cities I've ever been to, and I've got a lot of great friends up there, like Amy & Jeff and Lisa & Dave who always have a couch with my name on it.
	my & Jeff also introduced me to the joys of whitewater rafting, and you can check out the picture on the left of us rafting from a couple of years ago. I'm the one with the blue and purple bathing suit with his ass hanging out of the raft.
	hile I was up there I also saw my good friend Matt who was my peer-advisee at Skidmore. When I first met him he was a confused young man looking for direction. Now he's happily married to Roberta, and expecting a child in September. I can't take all the credit for putting him on the straight and narrow, but still... long with Christopher and Kelly we went out to Two Lights Lobster Shack where you can order soft shell lobster, spread out a blanket and eat it by the sea. Later we went out to Brian Barou's, a great local Irish pub to throw back a couple of pints. A great beginning for my trip.
	saturday fter a quick breakfast at Becky's, a great greasy spoon near the waterfront, I took off for NYC. One pitstop: Hawthorn, NY, where my Aunt Barbara & Uncle Eddie live. They also have an apartment in Manhattan which they're allowing me to stay in for the few days I'll be here.
	wo quick bottles of champagne later, I've got the keys and I'm on my way to The City. You've gotta understand: I hate The City. I hate how people in New York call it "The City" as if there wasn't another goddamn city in the world. guess a lot of it comes from the fact I'm from Boston. NYC casts a long shadow, and I think sometimes us Beantowners get a little pissed off about that. We're always comparing ourselves to New York so it's especially disheartening when the Yankees habitually beat our Sox. (If anybody out there hasn't heard about the Bambino Curse, I'll be happy to explain it through email.) t's tough when their theater is so much better than ours. When their restaurants are better. When their subways run all night and ours stop at 12:30. (However, it is not true that their bagels beat ours. NY bagels are the most overrated in the world.) think that for Bostonians it's like having an older brother who plays quarterback on the high school football team. Why compete? We're two different cities. I wouldn't live in New York if Pitino convinced the Celtics to move to Brooklyn. It's like apples and oranges. Or apples and clam chowder. But I digress. nce I got in my friend Jill took me out to a French restaurant called "Jewel" and then we hit a couple of bars. There's a good bar and a good place to eat on every block of this city.
	next week
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