Traveling in Boston and apologies

My glorious beds. They were awesome.
Anyway, so the last bit about my travels. I mean, besides complaining about psychos on the train.

I got done with my job training around 5:30 on Monday. And, this is boring considering that we were in New York City, but we just went to TGIF, haha. We had to catch the train at 7 at Penn Station, so we couldn't haul ass around the entire city looking for somewhere to eat. After going up and dear the places near Madison Square Garden, we mostly saw fast food (White Castle, Burger King) or small delis. As weird as it seemed to me, TGIF was one of the few restaurants that actually had a big place to dine-in and sit down.

So, I had the Jack Daniels burger, and it was delicious. I will say that New York's idea of putting the calorie counts on menus is wickedly effective. I turned away from also getting an appetizer when I noticed that my burger alone had about 1,600 calories. Yikes!

Anyway, the train was a few minutes late, but nothing major. The back portions were completely full, so myself and two co-workers used the quiet car instead. This made for a pretty unremarkable voyage, so I apologize for not having any stunning, blow-by-blow commentary, like I did the other day.

I got into Boston at about 10. Despite the fact that I've been to Boston before, I of course got lost trying to get to my hotel, which was only two-tenths of a mile away from South Station. Luckily, it wasn't raining. Unluckily, the area around South Station isn't exactly the nicest, and I got accosted by 1) aggressive taxi drivers and 2) two kids who claimed they were stranded in Boston because they couldn't afford bus fare back to New Hampshire. I didn't really believe this though, since they looked like they were on something, and because they asked for way too little (like $8.50).

However, like my stay in New York, the Boston hotel was ridiculously nice. It was the Langham Hotel, and while there weren't any art books in my room this time, there was a leather-bound book explaining all about the hotel's history. (The short version: It's old and famous and awesome.)

The bathroom was a bit smaller and more conventional than the Cooper Square Hotel, but the room itself was MUCH bigger. There was a little hallway that ran into my room, which was connected to the hallway. There were two big beds, giving me ample room to put my clothes out to draw from the soggy walk on Sunday, and the one I actually slept on was soft as shit, to quote Danny DeVito (Frank Reynolds) from It's Always Sunny In Philadelphia.

Here are the sights from my room:


The little hallway I was talking about. The end table was nice, since it allowed me to put my crap out.


Just a plain ole tub. The water temperature was very nice though, and they did include three towels with the room, which is always appreciated.


Just a sink. Sorry, not much to see here. That's my contact solution and holder on the right, and an ice bucket on the left. I'm still a big kid, so I abuse the ice machine at every hotel I'm in, just because I like using the ice machine.


And finally, some chairs. I didn't use them at all though. Sorry, Langham staff.

Because I got into Boston so late - it was 11 by the time I got to my hotel room - I didn't really have any time to do anything. I just slept, got a sandwich in the morning from Au Bon Pain, did my training, and then got another sandwich from Au Bon Pain in South Station. (What can I say? I was a fan of their roast beef.) Maybe next time, I'll have some actual fun. And hey, with the new job, I finally get vacation time, and enough salary to actually take a real vacation.

Finally - I apologize for being a bit absent lately from the blogosphere. I've essentially missed an entire week of posts! :/ If you wrote anything recently that you'd really like some feedback on, or that you'd really think I'd enjoy, please point it out to me. I'm going to try to review a bit of what's been posted the past week, and to just pick up from today forward, but I'll see how that goes.

Ugh, stupid annoying people (with cameos by the train and the weather)

I was going to take the hour I had on the train now to type about my journey from New York City to Boston. But, I just had to get soaked on the 0.2 mile walk to the train station, so I'm not exactly in the mood to format all the pictures from my hotel room and what not. (For what it's worth, this room was even nicer than the last one - Smaller bathroom, but a HUGE room and two beds, so I could spread all my clothes out to drop properly.)

To make matters worse, I have more annoying people on the train with me. There is nobody trying to make babies at least, but behind me there is a very angry lesbian. I say "very angry lesbian" because she is talking about how she thinks her girlfriend is making a mistake by looking at Harvard instead of a smaller school, oh and also, she runs some sort of car rental company (???) and she has met several people from the United Nations.

If she wasn't so shrill and COMPLETELY uncaring of the people around her, I might care a bit more and listen a bit more closely. I understand I'm not on the quiet car, but wow. I have my headphones on ("C.R.E.A.M." by The Wu-Tang Clan, thank you for asking!), yet I can still hear her yammering about politics and sexual identity in some pretentious novels. Good times, GOOD TIMES.

Anyway. I'll be back in Kingston by 8ish, so I'm going to wrap this up for now. The post with pictures from the hotel room will probably be up tomorrow or later tonight; I'm not sure yet. Lates!

Steve and the City (Get it? It's like that show!) and Food Porn

I'm not a very cultured person. For example, I didn't own a tie until I went to a homecoming dance in the 10th grade, and to this day, I still only own one. (It's not the same one - This one has kangaroos on it, and I inadvertently stole it from my buddy Mike Smith. Sorry Mike!) I own about three dress shirts, and two pairs of dress pants.

Thankfully, my new job doesn't require me to dress up. It does require me to travel to New York City though on the train, which I always find to be an odd experience.

Generally, I'm more used to taking the train up to Boston, or the subway while in Boston. So the mass of humanity milling about, on their way to Connecticut or New York or Washington D.C., is fascinating to me. I managed to avoid having a seat-mate until the New Haven stop, about 90 minutes out from the city. (Unfortunately, unlike every movie I've ever seen about train or plane travel, a foxy Natalie Portman-like lady is not sitting next to me. This woman looks like Medea.)

Anyway, for the first couple stops out of Kingston, the people across from me were, to put it politely, trying to make a baby. Like, they were draped across their two seats, entangled and kissing. It was kind of... really gross. I hope they had a good reason for it.

Also on the early trip were a pair of young girls, who apparently were allowed to travel by themselves. By "young" I mean 10 to 12, which seemed REALLY young to me. They had to call and check in with their mom after each stop, which led to a somewhat comical 2-minute phone conversation each time, since the reception isn't really that great.

Girl: MOM! I'm in Westerly now. West-ter-ly. It's like in Rhode Island or something. I think New Haven is next. New HAVEN!

This repeated itself about five times, since she was wrong each time about New Haven being the next stop. Good times, good times. The Lovers didn't really think much of The Young Travelers, even though they were seemingly doing their best to create future Young Travelers.

My only companion during this long journey is my trusty MacBook. However, in the "Rhode Island Is Too Small" category, I did bump into a girl from college at the train station. I don't remember her name though, and she wasn't traveling alone, so again, I avoided the Portman scenario outlined above. (I wouldn't have minded this necessarily, although I'm not sure how well the "I don't remember your name" thing would have gone over.)

I will note that the MacBook has a ridiculously good battery. It looks like it's going to survive just about the entire four-hour trip. (4:17 p.m. to 7:40ish p.m.) I'm watching Criminal Intent, or at least, I'm trying to. I have the first five seasons, but the first season was skipping way too much, and so far, I've already seen the first 14 episodes of season two. (It is weird to see Holly from The Office and Beadie Russell from The Wire in "Suit Sorrow" though, now that I know who she is. And Daniels from The Wire in "Probability", which ironically cribs from the plot of the fifth season of The Wire.)

Anyway. I finally get off the train, grabbing a slice from one of those pizza places they have in the terminal at Penn Station. By now, it's about 8, and since it's overcast but not horrible out, I decide to hoof it the two miles to my hotel.

After about a tenth of the mile, it starts POURING. I get effing drenched, from head to toe. According to the news broadcast I saw, the city got about two inches of rain in a couple hours. Wonderfully, I waded through it, since I had no idea how much a taxi cost. (Looking it up after the fact, it probably would have been about $5 to $10, a price I would have gladly paid.)

Also, I may have inadvertently freaked a girl out. Apparently, she decided to walk from Penn Station to Broadway (where my hotel is roughly) as well, and I trailed behind her the entire time. This was mostly because I had two bags to carry, and couldn't really work up a good pace, since it was raining and all that.

However, once I finally made it to my hotel, the night got radically better. My room is ridiculously nice, and the only downside is that I just get one night in it. Womp womp womp. It was completely dark by the time I got here, so you might not get any pictures of the skyline from the windows. The room is very, very nice and spacious:


My bath tub and shower. I used this almost immediately, since I was trying to thaw out from getting soaked in the rain. As I was waiting in the lobby to be taken to my room, some people saw me and said, "Oh wow I'm glad we decided not to go out!" Yeah, well, I guess that was smart on your part.


A nice flat screen.


A ridiculously plump and cushy bed. I'm practically nodding off laying on it right now.


However, bookshelves continue to taunt me. My room has one, and it is full of classy books on art and conventional fare. Unfortunately, I don't really have time to read, otherwise I'd probably poke around a bit.

Considering my night though, I didn't feel bad about splurging on room service, the first and (probably) only time I will do this. Here is some of that delectable goodness:


Described as having taleggio cheese, caramelized onions, pickled mustard seeds and herbed fries. Whatever was on it, it was delicious, although not as good as...


Holy smokes these things are like a DRUG. I devoured them, along with the green herb stuff that accompanied them.


I also got some stromboli. It was fancy stromboli though, and it was delicious.

And last but not least, they have their own fancy, delicious mustard:


Anyway, as you read this, I'm on a train from New York City (7 p.m. Monday) to Boston (10:30 p.m. Monday) for the second day of training on Tuesday. I'll probably have an entry about that whole experience as I go through it ready for Tuesday night's post. I'm finally back in Rhode Island on Tuesday night, and probably sleeping off most of my travel on Wednesday morning. I'll be back to regular posting at that point.

Happy Heroic Hockey Happiness!

The view from the balcony.

This weekend, I experienced by first Boston Bruins game in person, and I must say that it was an awesome experience at that. They got a small measure of revenge against the team that eliminated them from the Stanley Cup playoffs last year, the Carolina Hurricanes, as they brutalized them on the scoreboard and in the fisticuffs, 7-2.

I consider myself somewhat odd in that I love watching blowouts by teams that I follow far more than watching a close game. I was thrilled when the Celtics blew out the Lakers to win the championship in 2008, and when the Red Sox mashed the snot out of the ball in their game seven win against the Yankees in 2004. I could careless that the games lacked drama, because the margins of victory meant that I could relax and enjoy the games.

Similarly, the Bruins jumped ahead of Carolina by three goals after the first period, and added a couple more in the second before the Hurricanes could score. Carolina failed in all aspects of Saturday night's game - They couldn't clear the puck when the Bruins were on the attack, their own scoring chances were sloppy executed, and a porous defense forced them to switch Ward out after he gave up four goals in a period and a half.

The best part though was the fisticuffs. At the end of the second period, Milan Lučić beat the crap out of Jay Harrison. Sure, he got in a couple cheap shots to bust Harrison wide open, but that'll teach Harrison right good! After that fight, Zdeno Chára also mixed it up with someone, and the Bruins got a total of 19 minutes in fighting penalties, which was awesome.

To make the night even better, I was there with my friend Amanda Meyer. Thanks to her Twitter account, she won a free ride on the Zamboni! I was secretly a bit envious, but this is something for me to shoot for the next time I go to a Bruins' game. She also got her face on the big screen, but of course, I couldn't get my cell phone camera out fast enough to snap the shot.

Picture taken by me, with my cell phone camera, which is shockingly good, at least by my standards.

Storytime with Amanda Meyer: Profoundly pitching perfect proposals

[Left] This martini costs more than a year of college did for me.

There is no way to not embarrass myself in the setup of this story. All you need to know is that I enjoy wedding shows on Style Network and WEtv a lot more than I should, considering that I have no immediate plans to get married. I love the drama and the fashion and the elegance of weddings, so it’s no surprise that I absolutely love good proposal stories as well.

I have recently learned that The Oak Room at the Fairmont Copley Plaza here in Boston serves a martini that will cost some lucky lady’s future husband a whopping $12,500 for what I can only describe as the perfect proposal. But naturally for that kind of bank you’re getting more than a drink. This tasty cocktail comes complete with an overnight stay in one of their suites (which they deck out with roses, candles and of course champagne), breakfast in bed the next morning, and the most important part, a ring! This can be picked out at the upscale jeweler located in the hotel.

How perfect does that sound? Pretty perfect, right? At least to me. But it got me thinking - What could Google tell me about other creative proposals? I assume guys blog about this sort of thing since you very well know they aren’t getting these ideas on their own. Unfortunately, I was hard pressed to find anything that topped the martini proposal.

What I mean by this, is that a creative and unique proposal idea seems to be one of the following:

- Using a scoreboard at a sporting event
- Playing a practical joke with a happy ending
- Placing an ad in the local paper
- Having a local radio DJ pop the question for you
- A “Marry Me” screen saver on her computer

Can I just point out how terrible each of these ideas is? I really hope that people aren’t using these tips!

I have actually seen two rejected proposals at Celtics games before. It’s awkward and you’re put on the spot in front of thousands and thousands of strangers! Ick!

A practical joke? Really? I had a boyfriend do something along these lines on a much smaller scale of course and I didn’t talk to him for a week. Girls don’t like that stuff, or at least I don’t.

As for an ad in the paper, that seems sort of creepy to me. It’s not like I read through the classifieds regularly anyway.

The DJ idea is just ridiculous, and although my old roommate actually said she likes this idea, I am really against taking the easy way out of it. Own up and ask yourself! Come on guys!

This is also the same logic I am using to ditch the screen saver idea.

So the point of my long ramble today is this: When in doubt, don’t trust Google on this one, instead trust big fancy hotels with big shiny diamonds and lots of liquor and the girls who watch wedding shows when it comes to this sort of thing. I’m a little let down that I couldn’t find any better ideas out there (easily anyway, because I am assuming a guy would not look much more extensively than I have).

And on that note, I may just start frequenting Copley and scoping out rich looking young men at the bar!

The picture from this article and more information about the $12,500 martini can be found here.

Varitek and the fallacy of game-calling

They broke up, and Varitek still sucks.

Game-calling is largely a junk "ability", and I think it should be consigned to the same category of dubious baseball beliefs that pitching and defense win championships, and that clutch hitters exist.

I say this largely in response to the idea on Boston talk radio that unless Jason Varitek catches Josh Beckett, the Red Sox will be screwed in the postseason, or that Varitek's game-calling ability somehow justifies his place on the roster. The talk was especially heated in the off-season, as the Red Sox and Varitek tried to hash out a contract in a year after he batted .220 / .313 / .359 in 2008. He was an all-star anyway, in what has to be one of the worst non-mandatory or fan selections of all-time.

The Red Sox re-signed him for (I'm guessing) two reasons: A lack of better alternatives on the market and in the system. Available in free agency were Rod Barajas, Henry Blanco, Toby Hall, Mike Redmond, Ivan Rogriguez, Javier Valentin and Gregg Zaun. Redmond has been a very good back-up for years, but the Twins had an option on him that they picked up, so he wasn't actually available. I also don't mind Gregg Zaun, especially since he seemingly kills the Sox every year, but the point is that nobody available was a clear upgrade over Varitek.

On the farm, the Red Sox's options coming into the year are written up pretty well right here. I basically agree with him, except that Brown is nothing more than a back-up at the Major League level. He proved it in Pawtucket this year, as he hit .264 / .345 / .329 in 86 games and 295 ABs. He is also 27, so this is probably his peak ability.

With the lack of alternatives, it was defensible for the Sox to sign Varitek to a low-risk contract and hope for a bounce back this season. In the first half of the season, the Sox looked like they made the right choice, as Varitek hit well enough at the plate to justify the one year, $5 million contract he signed.

Since then, he has tanked badly though. His overall line for the season is now .208 / .313 / .390. He's hitting for a bit more power this year, but that is mostly because of an early-season power surge - he only has one more HR this year than last. Because the Red Sox are a pretty smart team, they did acquire Victor Martinez from the Indians. Martinez was hitting .284 / .368 / .464 for Cleveland, but it has surged to .335 / .405 / .503 for the Red Sox.

However, some people in the Boston area still think that Varitek has a role on the team because of some shaman-like ability to handle the pitching staff. My issue with this is that there is absolutely no way to prove this.

Most of the "evidence" relies on two points: 1) Pitchers say they like working with Varitek, including an anecdotal statement from Curt Schilling saying that the only hit he gave up in a near-perfect game came when he shook off Varitek and 2) Citing dubious stats like catching ERA.

Tackling the first point, uh, first, it isn't surprising that pitchers say they're more comfortable working with Varitek. I'm guessing they said this because players very seldom say anything interesting or controversial, unless they are named Milton Bradley or Carl Everett. Players say they like Varitek's game-calling ability because the alternative is to say they don't, which will cause them to catch holy hell.

As far as the second point goes, some people like to use the catcher's ERA stat as "proof" that Varitek has a positive effect on the team's ERA. The issue with this is that Varitek catches everyone but Wakefield, so of course his ERA is going to be lower than whoever his backup is. He did miss significant time in 2001 and 2006, which you might be able to use to compare the issue a bit, except that the Red Sox finished a bit off their usual pace in both years.

Baseball Prospectus has looked at the issue multiple times, and if a catcher does have an impact on a pitcher's ERA, the effect is so small that it can't be measured. The most exhaustive study was done in January 2000 by Keith Woolner, and also appeared in Baseball Prospectus 1999, if you want to look at the methods and conclusions yourself.

This is the biggest reason why I think playing Varitek for his "ability" to call a good game is so silly. There are a lot of things in baseball that can be proved well by statistics, and the best of them all is hitting ability. There is a preponderance of tangible evidence to suggest that Varitek is done at the plate, as his replacement holds a 100-point edge in him in all three important hitting statistics. Given this, why even bother going down the twisted, contorted road of catching ERA to justify him starting a playoff game? Varitek is a backup (at best) at this point, and he shouldn't be starting unless Martinez needs a breather that day.

The pitcher of Heidi Watney is taken from The Boston Globe here.

Storytime with Amanda Meyer: Psyched for the Bruins

Maybe it’s all that French-Canadian blood I have, or maybe I just enjoy watching hot guys on skates throwing punches. I can’t quite put my finger on it, but I can say with certainty that I am one hundred percent head-over-heels in love with the Boston Bruins.

Today is the final day of preseason hockey for the Bs, and going into their match-up with the Columbus Blue Jackets, they are 4-1-1. For those of you who are unfamiliar with hockey, that’s four wins, one loss in regulation, and a loss in an overtime shootout. Some notable changes to this season’s lineup are the addition of goalies Tuukka Rask and Dany Sabourin and the loss of right wing Phil Kessel. These are the more significant roster changes for the 2009-10 season and therefore worth discussing.

With last season's backup goalie Manny Fernandez not on the roster and Tim Thomas looking sloppy in practice, these 35 year olds who together won the William M. Jennings trophy last season were bound to be replaced. The solution? Tuukka Rask of Finland at the ripe age of 22, drafted in 2005 by the Toronto Maple Leafs who has been playing for the Providence Bruins since 2007. Rask has won both preseason games he has played in and is looking really sharp on the ice.

Rask’s partner in crime is Dany Sabourin of Québec, a seasoned 29-year-old who signed with the team as a free agent over the summer. He got a win in Toronto but received a loss during the shootout in Columbus this past week. The team’s loss in regulation was against the Montreal Canadiens for Thomas though he made up for it by winning in overtime against them in their second match-up.

This brings me to some heartbreaking news, the loss of Phil Kessel to the Leafs. Signed to the team in 2006, Kessel was the fifth overall pick in the draft for the rookie maximum salary of $850,000 a year for three years. Just a few months later, Kessel was diagnosed with testicular cancer, which was treated quickly, and less than a month later he was playing down in Providence. Four days later he was back in Boston, missing only 11 regular season games.

Impressed? It gets better!

He was clutch in shootouts, winning game after game for the team in overtime. He scored the first goal of last season, got his first two NHL hat tricks, and managed to get the highest record number of NHL regular season goals (36). So you can see why I was sad to lose this wonderful asset to the team, and did I mention that he’s also gorgeous? Because he is.

But of course, pesky salary caps were making it nearly impossible for him to actually stay here in Boston, so every one should tune in on December 5 to see his first game against the Bs. (Better yet, buy tickets, it’s in Boston!) As a side note, the Bruins took Toronto’s first and second round draft picks for next season and their first round pick for the following season.

So, hopefully this catches everyone up to speed for the season. Some other minor notes to make for those of you who didn’t previously love hockey:

- Milan Lučić has shown that he hasn’t lost his edge... or his temper, getting a 10 minute ejection in a preseason game and already racking up penalty minutes for fighting. Useless fact: I used to have a huge crush on him until I found out he is six months younger than me. I can’t go for younger men.

- Team Captain Zdeno Chára hasn’t seen much play time yet, but what he has shown is that he has a great chance of winning his fourth consecutive “hardest shot” contest during this year’s all star break.

- New addition Steve Begin and veteran Dennis Wideman are showing excellent shooting skills and even better skating skills, which is good considering Wideman got sloppy in last year’s playoffs.

- Alternate captains Patrice Bergeron and Marco Sturm have had a strong presence in the preseason and their efforts of assisting the newbies and bringing the team together off-ice have really come through on-ice as well.

So there it is: the 2009-2010 Bruins in 752 words. I hope everyone is now just as excited for the regular season to begin when the Bruins open at home against the Washington Capitals on October 1. The game is at 7 p.m. and will air on Versus.

Storytime with Amanda Meyer: Theme party phylum

In the words of The Beastie Boys, "If I knew it was going to be that kind of party I'd stick my dick into some mashed potatoes!" ... Yeah, I don't know what the means either.

So as previously mentioned, it’s now seeming like fall and it’s definitely back to school. Now, I don’t know if you know this, but Boston is kind of a college town and our city’s population has very recently swelled to 800,000, accommodating an additional 200,000 or so twenty-somethings. And what’s a better way for these co-eds to spend a night at than at a party? Specifically, at a themed party!

A ride on the Green Line last weekend reminded me of just how hip and happening themed parties are here. I would say that a good 60 to 70 percent of the parties I am invited to have some sort of theme. Popular themes include white and/or black parties, the 1980s, CEOs and corporate hos, Boston sports figures and the roaring twenties.

Now, I admit, from time to time I have been the host of such a party. Last year, my roommate and I got a tad drunk and we ended up whipping out our credit cards and buying some costumes online. It was July. Later that week the costumes arrived and we realized, “Oh crap! We just wasted $60 each on costumes... in July!” So we had a very, very premature Halloween Costume Extravaganza. (I want to make a quick side note, I was very happy with the costume, which was purchased here. I highly recommend the site if you find yourself invited to a themed party or if you are considering a career as a stripper and/or exotic dancer.)

I’m going to include some photos inspired by this party to really illustrate the rest of my story, which I call ‘The Three People You Meet at Themed Parties.’

First, we see the girl who drunkenly (though often these costumes are bought stone cold sober) bought an elaborate ‘army girl’ costume (and yes this is exactly what I bought, and you should all just stop laughing right now). These are the people who secretly (or openly) love themed parties and want to go above and beyond to fit in at the event, they are also usually female. These people are the ones who are “attending” on Facebook, who instead of bringing their own beer, brought their own tequila. These people aren’t just in costume, they have the makeup, shoes, and jewelry to complete the outfit. They are absolutely offended by the other types of people at this party.

This leads me to person number two. This person is called “guy in the horse mask.” This guy responded as “maybe attending” on Facebook, because he loves parties, but doesn’t love themes and is holding out for a better offer. When a better offer is not found, he will pull together a lame excuse of a costume at the last minute, but will ensure it has enough comic value for him to still get appreciation on the effort. This person is usually a guy, and his prime motivation for complying to the theme is the possibility of getting laid later on by one of the girls who fell into the first category.

The last type of person at a themed party is “that other dude.” This guy (and this person is almost certainly a guy) came for the booze and didn’t even bother to dress up, and he probably didn’t even respond to the Facebook invite. He knows he’ll get crap for his lack of dress, but only until everyone in costume is wasted, at which point they will promptly forget about it. This guy probably came under duress, as a date, or possibly due to peer pressure from a good friend. In the end, he still has as much fun as everyone else, possibly more, and the pictures on Facebook the next day are far less embarrassing for him.

Now I’m not here to pass judgment on any of these people, just a few observations I have made at the many parties I go to. I will even be so bold as to say that while you were reading that, you said “oh my gosh, it’s like she knows ME” during one of those descriptions. And by the way, since I clearly fall into the first category, if anyone has some cool and not overdone themes to suggest for my future parties, please let me know. I might even invite you and make you the guest of honor!

Storytime with Amanda Meyer: Seasonal shifts in the great coffee battle

So this fine Saturday, I want to talk about coffee. Specifically, I want to talk about my inability to start brewing my own and further inability to stop spending far too much money daily on my caffeine fix.

I’m a sucker for advertising. I define Corporate America’s targeted demographic. And yet, if Dunkin’ beat Starbucks, why does The Bux continue to beat my wallet on a daily basis? I’ll tell you why in four short words: pumpkin spice soy lattes. Okay Dunks, you win my vote on iced coffee, but fall is in the air. I know, I know, summer just ended, but if you don’t believe me, look at the foliage freaks screwing up traffic on 95N starting at the 128 Split all the way up to New Hampshire.

So other than the foliage and back to school, fall in Boston means that it’s a lot windier than I’d ever like it to be, and thus, my lattes double as a way to keep warm. Starbucks re-introduced the pumpkin spice flavor this week and I am already hooked. In my humble opinion, it’s absolutely perfect. The soy milk makes it extra thick and the nutmeg on top is like the icing on a cake.

“But Amanda! You live in Boston? Wouldn’t it be much more fun to hang out at some tiny hole in the wall cafe drinking fresh brewed coffee that isn’t mass produced?” Well, in a word, yes. But to elaborate, that takes time, time I don’t have as one of this city’s many impatient “Massholes,” and I like I said, their advertising is good. Basically what I am telling you is that getting out of bed early to brew coffee is less appealing to me than standing in a line, having an anxiety attack about being late to work, and spending no less than $5.21 (venti soy flavored latte with MA 6.25 percent sales tax) on enough espresso to get me through the day.

Call me crazy, but that’s just how I roll. And for the record, when I do have a lazy Saturday morning with nothing to do but homework or reading, I absolutely love scouting out “real” coffee shops and spending some nice time there with my iPod and my books. But in the great rush to work Monday through Friday, that is the last thing on my mind.

Making the pilgrimage to Sonic

[Left] The spoils of my trip.

Labor Day was especially, uh, special to me this year, because I finally completed one of my life's goals. No, I didn't make it with a lady, and how DARE you for thinking that. I got to visit my first Sonic, since one opened up in Peabody, Massachusetts about two weeks ago.

Firstly, the reports of the traffic jams around the restaurant are no exaggeration. My friend Amanda went with me - you might know her from a few past entries - and we sat in traffic from 4:15 p.m. until about 5:45 p.m., when we finally made it to the drivethru order box. The traffic literally stretched about a third of a mile back down Route 1 North, and that isn't counting the line for the pull-up service, which stretched down an adjacent street and behind a nearby hotel.

Anyway, before I get the comment that the food isn't that great - Yes, I knew that going in. But after getting besieged by clever, quirky advertising for Sonic for years, I really felt the need to go now that one was (relatively) close to me. Some of the food also seemed interesting enough to intrigue me, as did the wide drink selection.

So on the advice of my friend and blog commenter Kristi Coleman, I did try the cherry limeade, even though I don't normally do fancy drinks. This was the highlight of the visit, even though it was just a sharp cherry cola, with a lime, and plenty of crushed ice. It was strangely delicious - Maybe they added another ingredient that I didn't realize it?

The rest of my meal was somewhat ho-hum, though. I got Sonic's version of a big double cheeseburger, except it was $4 for something about the size of a McDonald's double cheese, except with pickles, lettuce and tomato on it as well. (It was about the size of two Wendy's Jr. Cheeseburgers.) Amanda and I both got tater tots, but they barely filled our cartons. I also got a steak, egg and cheese burrito - I decided to go big, because how often was I going to be visiting Peabody? - which was passably delicious.

However, as some old white guy probably once said, the journey matters more than the goal sometimes. Yes, the actual food was only average, but I was finally able to visit a medium-quality fast food restaurant that had been blitzing me with effective advertising since I was 17. What could be better than that?

Storytime with Amanda Meyer: Crazy roomies, FreeCreditReport.com and Sonic

Back in the day, when Johnny Carson went on vacation, he would have Joan Rivers fill in as the guest host. Well, in an effort to lighten my writing load from seven entries a week to six, former Tag Team participant Amanda Meyer will be doing an entry every Saturday about the various crazy stories she has. I'm also not opposed to farming Sunday out, so if you're interested, shoot me an e-mail at sgre6768@gmail.com.

Here is my crazy roommate story as promised, which has somehow turned into a rant about Free Credit Report ads...

Anyone with cable has probably heard at least one of the many FreeCreditReport.com ads. You know, that geeky guy sings really awful jingles about how he didn't know that his "credit was whack." I find these songs very annoying, although catchy, and really hate when they get stuck in my head all day as they often did for a whole year while I was living in East Boston.

You see, my roommate did not find these annoying, she somehow found them awesome. I am sad to say, I now know each by heart...

She loved them so much they were on her iTunes, and she would sometimes start playing them during parties. This was always an awkward situation to explain to friends, and generally, they all ended up thinking she was crazy. I don't know what it is, but I seem to have odd luck when it comes to roommates.

However, in this situation I actually went from finding these ads annoying to downright wanting to throw objects through my television when they came on. Not only is the character singing clearly being dubbed over, he looks like he almost never showers and tends to make beyond-goofy facial expressions, which are a huge turn off from an advertising standpoint.

Furthermore, these are misleading ads and that is one of the first things pointed out when you visit the actual website. Why do I have to be subjected to a man singing about renaissance fairs, delinquent fiancees and credit roller coasters when all three major credit bureaus are required by law to give me my report once a year (and it's actually free)?

In another note entirely. SONIC.

Thanks for the entry Amanda! The last line is in reference to the great, wonderful news that a Sonic has finally opened in New England, which apparently is so popular it is affecting the traffic pattern, and the current plan is for me to visit it with her on Labor Day. I'll let everyone know how that turns out.

I also find myself humming the Free Credit Report songs, even if they are crass commercialism at its worst.