My experience of Boston so far

[Receptional]

See also: [webmasterworld.com...]

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So - I thought I'd travel with extra connectivity this time. My sparkling new PDA has Wifi, Triband, 3G, GPRS/GSM and can even act as a USB modem if my laptop is out of a wifi area.

I left if on the Taxi on the way from Logan Airport.

After some sleep, I got out my laptop, got the Internet going in my room, and used Spype to call home and got onto my UK phone provider to cancel the SIM and render the phone/pda useless. So far so good. I then used skype to call my travel insurance company.

Halfway through the call, the laptop blew up. Literally - the screen went white and everything as dead as a doornail.

After swearing considerably, I decided to simply relax and went to the Aquarium.

When I came back I noticed I didn't have my Raymond Weil anymore - a present from my wife from Harrods. I don't know if it was stolen in town or from my room, but it has gone.

I sat in my room, to finish off "Tipping Point". Suddenly the phone rang... It was the taxi driver who had realized he wasn't going to get through the password protection screen (thank goodness) before the battery gave out, so wanted to return it to me in an Easter day spirit of goodness. I couldn't believe my luck.

He charged me $50 bucks to give it back.

I am so delighted that I have it back. Pity I chose my only phone call to make it inoperable...

Buy me beer please.

Dixon.

[edited by: Brett_Tabke at 2:42 am (utc) on May 8, 2006]

[jabird]

Check your pm or email

[engine]

>Buy me beer please.

It will be my pleasure to do so.

[300m]

Sorry to hear that. When i read this, I thought to myself, man thats some bad luck. Then I decided to walk to 7/11. Well to make a long story short, I almost got mugged by a group of 5. They were hanging out in an area between 7/11 and starbucks (no windows to see out.) As I was approaching the 7/11, 2 broke off and approached me. One went behind me and the other tried to talk me in to the area that was not visible to people. 3 others kept watch. I said straight up, look, it's not happening to me today, back off. Needless to say i spent time in starbucks until i could find a way out. The moral of the story? Do not go to 7/11 at 7:30 am if you look like an out of towner.

[seanpecor]

Hey Dixon, I hope your Boston experience ended on a higher note than when it began. I had great fun meeting you and won't soon forget the impromptu adventure to Harvard's Berkman Center. Having never gone to college and then taking the roundabout route towards entrepreneurialship, I certainly never imagined setting foot on Harvard grounds! So being mildly drunk AND setting foot AND speaking with some degree of authority on certain topics among Academics was both educational and wildly hilarious in retrospect :)

Sean

[lawman]

So being mildly drunk AND setting foot AND speaking with some degree of authority on certain topics among Academics was both educational and wildly hilarious in retrospect

Apparently someone somewhere conferred upon you the honorary degree of Th.D.

[jabird]

Sean & Dixon,

I hope you both enjoyed the blogging session. I just like the fact that I gave you directions how to get there, but never found it myself!

And I'm supposed to be the one with the maps. How the hell did that happen?

Update - I left all my stuff back at the hotel, and by the time I got to the Law School, I think it had got translated from Berkman to Beckman. The guy in the library tried looking it up, but these things can easily get lost in the void of that huge Harvard campus.

[Essex_boy]

But apart from that your having a good day?

[Receptional]

Hey Sean - I enjoyed Harvard too. Thanks for a stimulating afternoon. Sorry you got lost midway Jabird - the Harvard Blogging thing was a fantastic way to finish Boston.

Back to the saga... I got my watch back! Great News. I had a good time in Boston and thought the little pile of bad luck was over... then I landed in England...

£104 (US$190) for a week's car parking after my usual parking spot had changed status. I'll blame Doug for those that know him ;)

Took the car straight to my kids' school, where they were having a quiz night fund raiser. Needless to say, after a few beers (again) I walked home. The next morning I found my car broken into and the satnav gone.

Then opened the post (mail).... Speeding fine!

Really ... I am not at all unlucky most of the time... but this WAS a cursed trip.

Still well worth the effort though :)

[jabird]

Essex boy,

Were we chatting at the bar? So did you get to the blog event too?

That would make 3 people who could work out the directions I provided that still got me lost!

Receptional, thanks for agreeing that the place was still hard to find. Would it be worth getting a taxi next time, or have you had more bad experiences with those, apart from what you mentioned above? I won't provoke by suggesting a train!

[seanpecor]

jabird, Dixon and I didn't have directions on hand but he had recorded the name of the building in his awesome little European smart phone (#*$!! haha). Unfortunately our cabbie was fresh off the boat and barely managed to make it to Cambridge :) So we cut our losses, got out and started asking anyone toting schoolbooks how to get first to the Law School and once we were there how to get to the Berkman Center. It was great fun. The walk helped burn off some of those, er, carbohydrates, swirling around in my brainpan after drinking five guiness stouts at the Elephant in the Castle ;)

Sean

[mattglet]

Sean-

It's actually "Elephant & Castle"... just an FYI in case you're ever here again, so people don't think you're crazy :)

Brett kept calling it something weird too during the presentations, but I forget what.

[seanpecor]

Elephant & Castle, duly noted! Next year they should have it at Dick's Last Resort, because well, now you've got me wondering how Brett could transmography that one ;)

Sean