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So after my post yesterday I was headed out the door of the hotel to wait for Trapper and Steve for the BBQ as I said.  I would have never guessed how the rest of that night played out though - sure some of it went as I expected - food, rock band, and meeting Trapper’s wife and kids, but so much more happened.

I left the hotel, and there wwas noise and banging going on everywhere, then I noticed a bunch of streets shut down - apparently it was Pride day, and there was a parade going through - so to try and keep the boys from having to deal with closed roads and congestion from the parade, I thought I would be smart and take the subway over towards Steve’s apartment.  Well I thought I was a big shot and knew what I was doing, unitl I realized I went 3 subway stops the wrong direction, ending up deeper into Boston - no big deal right?  Just hop off and get on the other direction to make up for the mistake.  Except when I  got on the other train it kept stopping and waiting for trains ahead of us, extending the time it was taking to get there - and of course being underground my cell wasn’t really working so there was no way to warn them of my screw up.

Finally things got real interesting, im sitting there jamming to my headphones, and we only regained 1 of the 3 stops I screwed up, and after that would be 3 more.  Well we stopped again and at this point I figured it was just like previous stops, a train in front that was delaying us from going ahead, but I very wrong.  Everyone started running, i mean running out the doors of the train, it was like a movie - there i still sat in almost slow motion wondering what the hell could make everyone run.  I figured I must have missed an annoucement or something and it was something like we had to change trains and everyone didn’t want to miss the other train or something, then I looked behind me - and saw a wall of smoke charging at me inside the actual train.  Apparently something in the station, or the train was on fire.  So of course I got up and ran like hell too.  So now I am 2 stops further into boston than where i was before, I dont really know the city, and neither do they - but we finally made contact on the phone.

So now its about 30 minutes later then we were going to meet, Steve’s GPS can’t find my location, and now there are about 20 fire trucks and hoses going all over the place - and you guessed it MORE blocked roads.  Its like the ability to block city traffic is following me.  Finally they made it into the general area, and as we discussed street signs I figured they were a block or two up the street, I ran up and hopped in and we were finally off to our destination.

We stopped and bought some beverages - which they ended up carding every one of us.  Which I found pretty funny, here the lady at the register is now looking at a North Carolina, a Pennsylvania, and an Illinois state ID - and we are in Massachusetts.  She gave them a look and had the mananger give it the OK, but I found it comical.

Then we made it to the house, met the wife, and the kids after they got up from their nap.  As expected the rest of the family was as nice as Trapper, it took a bit of warming up before the kids stop running from me in fear - but by bedtime I got a bit hug and a kiss on the cheek from Hannah.  Totally unexpected but sweet - and she can really rock out the mic on rock band!

After rocking out and then trying out some Grid - we got a message about the blogs on 360voice - apparently Steve broke them by forgetting to turn things back to automatic after fixing an issue and testing the night before.  After we got the hamsters back on the wheels to resolve that issue it was about time to get some sleep so I could make my flight today - so Steve and I were off back to the hotel.  The GPS went a little crazy near the big buildings, and we ended up just winging it for a bit to find it, but we finally located my home for the night.  Then just when I think its not possible that anything else could create chaos for my night, i get to the seventh floor and my key doesnt work - so I have to head back down and get that fixed before I can finally pass out.

Just to be safe, after all that craziness, I got a wake up call for 6:00 AM, set the hotel room alarm for 6:15AM, and then also my cell phone alarm at 6:30AM.  My flight wasnt until 10:30, but I was taking any chances, and it worked out because I am actually about to board my final leg in philly around the time I was originally supposed to leave boston (there was room on an earlier flight when I made it to the airport)

All in all, an awesome weekend - even with the crazy random parades, getting lost walking around Boston completely aimlessly, the crazy taxi prices, and riding on a subway train apparently on fire - it was still awesome, just plain awesome.

Category: Status Report, Xbox360 by Squidpunch