On My Way Out

I couldn't leave for Paris without providing a quick update...

The last month in Boston has been a strange experience. When we arrived we couldn't find a hotel room and floated around the first week. We ended up in a very nice hotel very near to where I am working. However, the hotel and work are in Braintree, and everyone we know is in Franklin, about 30-40 minutes away depending on traffic. So, I have felt at best disconnected and at worst tortured by this trip at other times. I've been working a lot, both on my project where we have had cutovers on various nights at 10pm, and on other work-related stuff.

The first three weeks were mostly rain all the time. For two solid weeks we didn't even see the sun. Those were the two weeks that Angie's cousin Jenifer came out to stay with us. It wasn't until her second to last day here that the sun finally came out. It was a revelation! We hiked the Blue Hills, but that was about all we did the whole time.

Our favorite mini golf spot, The Water Hazard, in Holliston, is closed up. You've probably heard about this place before. It's mini golf, with the goofy stuff. No windmills, no clowns, just interesting hole layouts with green, rough, sand traps, and water hazards, like real golf. Everything is still there, but the place is locked down, for sale. Quite a depressing sight, especially when you drive all the way there expecting to play golf.

I had to find a new mini golf spot. Online, I found there are courses in practically every town, and professional mini golf associations. The best looking course was Atlantic Golf in Attleborough, convenient because my Greg, Cindy, and Domonic live there. We picked up Dom and his friend Joelle and headed over. This was perhaps the best maintained mini golf course I have ever seen. Everything was in mint condition. The holes layouts were a bit unrealistic, but without resorting to themes and windmills and such. Very nice, and quite challenging. No one got a hole-in-one the whole round, and the par for the course is 54. I eeked out a 53, the best score of the bunch, but a little depressing compared to Water Hazard, where I know the course and hit a 33 (maybe even a 32) last time out. There is a bonus hole after 18, which I did get a hole-in-one on to win a free round. So, I guess I'm coming back! Atlantic also has a 9-hole pitch and putt course and the most beautifully manicured driving range ever.

We saw MI3 while we were here. I've been meaning to write a proper review, though it's sort of pointless now. Summing up, I was impressed. It's my favorite film of the franchise (first film was too stuck on paying tribute to the TV show, second was absurd on many levels). J.J. Abrams influence shows through, there were shades of Lost left and right, which is a good thing. I thought the character development was good for an action flick, and it actually had somewhat of an intimite and gritty feel. Loved the global locations, and the anamorphic cinematography was beautiful. The whole affair actually felt like a film, not a video game.

The NMWG CD is out to the factory. Parker's special surprise graduation present is in process. So, we're on out way to Paris. Hardly prepared to speak the language as I would have liked. Catch you in a week.