May 2006

I know it’s only Wednesday but I’m already thinking about our activities for the upcoming weekend. There’s so much to do with such little time – it’s bear night in Rochester, I believe it’s Pride weekend in Buffalo, there’s BBQ to be had just about anywhere; the list goes on and on. But there’s one thing that tops the list of “must-do” activities this weekend.

We’ll be waiting for our cable repairman.

Nothing says “fun-filled weekend” like waiting for the fourth visit of the Adelphia repairman. It really is a necessity, since our internet connection only works when the sun isn’t out and the temperatures are cool. I suggested to the technician on the line that predictable outages may be related to a heat issue but I think I deviated from the script or something because they immediately sounded flustered and mumbled something about writing that note down in my technical file.

I wonder what else my technical file contains. Are there notes about my demeanor on the phone? Because technically I hate Adelphia, but they’re the only game in town when it comes to broadband internet so I have to put up with them. But they’re not good at what they do and I’ve told them that.

I know what you’re saying. “It’s only your internet connection.” First of all, how dare you speak such profane things to a Super Geek like myself and secondly, our phone service rides the same connection so our telephones don’t work when the sun is out or when it’s warm.

I called Adelphia on Monday where they set up the service call for me. “Oh, you’re lucky, there’s an appointment available on Sunday.”, said the perky technician.

“Yesterday was Sunday.”

“Yes, but I’m talking about this coming Sunday.”

I just sighed and took the appointment, grateful that I didn’t have to wait for some second coming or something. So this weekend I may be arrested for kidnapping the cable repairman and holding him hostage until he gets this internet connection fixed. Let’s hope he’s cute.

I’m still getting used to iWeb, but I’ve posted a few pictures from our harbor cruise while we were in Portland, Maine.

Portland, Maine Lighthouse.

Originally uploaded by macwarriorny.

Earl and I spent the day in Portland, Maine doing the things that tourists visitors in Portland, Maine do.

I don’t know if I’m the only one that has noticed this, but “Tourist Information Centers” on the turnpikes have become “Visitor Information Centers”. Apparently in our über-PC world, “tourist” has become a derogatory word and instead we need to use “visitor” instead. Maybe it has something to do with accessorizing with fanny-packs. I found the whole concept amusing.

Anyways, Earl and I went on a boat cruise around the sites of Portland, Maine. This little boat ride focused on the various lighthouses, summer mansions and scattered islands around the Portland area. It was a very enjoyable journey.

Afterwards we walked around the Old Port area, which is very, uh, “visitory”. We picked up a couple of Christmas ornaments for our tree; it’s a tradition in our merry little household to pick up an ornament from every place we visit so that we can reflect our journeys around the holidays. There was talk today about adding a third tree to our holiday decorating to accomodate these new ornaments and of course I’m very excited about that. I’m writing about it in my blog now so that I remember the conversation come December.

After a little shopping we went to a local microbrewery for lunch where I had a Lobster Roll sandwich. It may have been the first time I’ve ever had lobster. While quite tasty, I don’t know what the big deal is, but then again I’m really not into seafood all that much. I was semi-expecting some sort of salt water orgasmic experience after observing the way some people carry on about lobster, donning their bibs and cracking over the poor little beast’s various appendages with something that looks like a walnut cracker. At least it didn’t taste like chicken.

Afterwards we made the trek home and once in Massachusetts we opted to do some shunpiking, taking the more scenic Mohawk Trail/MA 2. We stopped at the restaurant at the famous Hairpin Turn just east of North Adams for supper and ate out on their patio that overlooks the mountains and the parking lot. We both found the parking lot quite entertaining, watching cars try to manuever their way around the very small area that sits on the edge of a cliff. Good times.

There was more shunpiking home as we made our way through the darkness along NY 5S, winding our way through the Mohawk Valley.

We’re all ready for our next adventure.

Portland, Maine.

Originally uploaded by macwarriorny.

Earl and I have a road atlas that we picked up a couple of years ago. While its growing further and further out of date, there is an important list of noted in the front. Using the contents page, which lists all 50 states, we keep track of the states that we’ve been in and those we still need to visit to complete the list. Our checked lists have been unbalanced because I have been in one state that Earl hasn’t.

So tonight we’re spending the night in Portland, Maine.

Always looking for a good trip, I’ve been planning three different trips that are relatively local to our home. So I’ve thinking about driving to Maine for the past couple of days and while doing research on good barbecue, I ran across Beale Street Barbeque, which has three locations in Maine. I mean after all, when you’re looking for some good barbecue, one naturally thinks of New England.

So after a five and half hour drive, here we are. The barbecue joint was *wonderful* and is highly recommended. Afterwards we went and caught “X-Men: The Last Stand”. While we both enjoyed the movie, we didn’t think it was as good as the first two.

Downtown Portland seems to be pretty hoppin’, we’re going to go check it out again before calling it a night.