Weekend with parents = fabulous. Halloween in Braintree = LAME!

I gave you a quick little preview of our last few days. We were lucky enough to have my parents come and visit us in Beantown and were spoiled rotten. After living in Boston for two months, I had my first (and second) tastes of clam chowdah that did not come out of a can. I could have been living in the ocean with all of the seafood I ate this weekend. You would think this is a common occurrence as we live by the water, but though it is more plentiful, the seafood is definitely not cheap. Seafood was eaten and wine was drunken so basically it was a regular Guilbeault family dinner transported to the East Coast. Wonderful. The only unfortunate part was the weather. Our Saturday trip to Gloucester was interrupted by fulfledged snow. There was at least an inch of snow which was previously predicted to be "a few flurries what would most definitely not stick." It sure stuck alright-- all over the highways we were traversing. Even more annoying is that this 34 degree day was followed by a 67 degree day. Of course, by that time my parents were back on the plane to Appleton. However, a few snowflakes is nothing to complain about after a great weekend.

Something I can complain about though is Halloween Braintree style. Apparently it doesn't exist. No dressing up, no trick or treating, no waiting at the stairs to see which Disney movie is most represented this year. Highly disappointing. Driving through Braintree, Bill and I saw three witches. Bill tried to cheer me by attempting to convince me that a guy in a football jersey was dressed up as a football player and a clearly very old man was just dressed up as an old man. What a good husband. My real fear is that we live in the neighborhood that parents tell their kids they are not allowed to go in even for free candy like the apartments near Bill's Appleton house. For once I was the one saying something would never be like this in Appleton and I'm sticking by it. No trick or treating is like no Santa Clause. They probably don't believe in him here either. Come on Braintree -- have a little holiday spirit.

Adventures in B-Tree

Bill clearly outdid himself in the last post. Hilarious. I did in fact sit in "no man's land" on the way home today, which inevitably breaks many of Bill's rules. I was in my train neighbor's space and my arms were actually in the air so I could read my book. I decided on my walk home that had that train experienced some emergency that required extended periods of time with those people, I would have had more than one enemy. Good thing I will likely never see them again. Speaking of an emergency, Bill and I saw Braintree deal with one this weekend. While we were doing the laundry at a local laundromat, a tree fell down bringing all sorts of power lines with it. The news had warned of this due to the 8 straight days of rain and high winds. Being the nosy people that we are, Bill and I investigated the scene. Bill was not impressed with the lack of organization and assured me repeatedly that, "this would never happen in Appleton." It took a good 15 minutes for anyone important (electricians, firefighters, police officers) to get to the tree, so there were a lot of confused drivers making the scene even more ridiculous. Once they arrived, the important people stood around and watched one guy (with no protective equipment) pull huge wires from under the tree by hand. Some smart police officer put cones on a street where the cars were supposed to turn to avoid the drama. Apparently though, the residents did not think the cones applied to them and drove right around them, one even being bold enough to move a cone to fit more easily through the space. No news came to cover the emergency because the real reporters are in Boston and could care less what happens in Braintree. However, we did see about 1/3 of the population of the city standing on the corner with us. Interesting folks we live near. Fortunately, half of the city regained electricity so Bill and I were able to finish washing the clothes. The moral of the story: Appleton is better.

Train Etiquette

Since you all are planning to come visit us sometime, you will most likely have to ride the T. Let me give you a few rules about proper train etiquette.

1. Try to keep all body parts on your seat. This means when you read don't stick you elbows into the person next to you. This also means don't rest one leg on your knee. This causes the bottom of your dirty shoe to be in an inconvenient place for your train neighbor.

2. Along the same lines as rule number 1 try to control as best you can involuntary body movements. This means that when the train comes to a screeching halt, try not let your entire body weight slam into the person next to you.

3. This leads to rule number 3. If you cannot find a seat, you will obviously have to stand. But please don't be that guy who tries to ride the train without holding on to anything. This "train surfer" as they are called have a tendency to end up walking all around the train, usually slamming into or stepping on people's feet. This guy also takes up way more room than most people, and no one wants to stand next to him causing more congestion in other parts of the train.

4. Speaking of seats let's us a little courtesy people. If you have just gotten on the train, and there were already people standing on the train before you got on, they should probably get a seat first. What makes you so important that you need a seat? Don't you think that the person who has already been riding 10 mins longer than you had a hard day and would like to get off their feet as well.

5. It's common courtesy to let people off the train before you get on. It is also common courtesy, although I don't think people know it, to let the people who waited to get on the train because they were letting people off, to get on first. This is my biggest pet peeve. When you are waiting next to the door in line while people file off the train and some asshole walks right between the two lines and gets a seat. DON'T BE THAT GUY.

6. The last no so much a rule, but an observation. Beth is one of the few people who can squeeze in between to people who take up more than their fair share of a seat, if you know what I mean. I am however, not sure why she takes those seats, but Beth nonetheless is a rare exception of people who fit in the no man's land seats.

We can't wait for you to come to Boston, and now you won't be "that guy" on the train.

Another List

Here are some funny things I learned/realized today. Apparently, it was a very enlightening day.

1. My left-hand ring finger has seen its glory days-- it's all downhill from here.
2. It is NOT a good thing when you are excited to go to work because your boss will be gone all day at a funeral. Good people would be sympathetic.
3. For a person with my beliefs about dinosaurs, I spend much too much time playing with dinosaur figures and completing dinosaur puzzles.
4. Nor'Easters (East Coast storms) can be rain or snow. Now I get to curse them all year round instead of only in winter as I previously thought.
5. Continuing on the weather thought, Bostonians are ridiculous about cold weather. All day I heard people whining about the cold. I walked outside and it was 60 degrees. Put away your winter coats people. This is nothing.
6. I am no longer a Red Sox fans. Dad, Brian, and Kim you can sleep soundly now.

That's all I've got. Hope everyone is doing well.

Weekend on the Cape

Bill and I had a classy weekend on the Cape. I know you are all impressed with our hoity-toity East Coast living, so I'll bring a little Wisconsin back and have you know that we were camping in a torrential downpour. For those of you who are not aware, the Guilbeaults don't have the best track record for camping. Wet weather, tornadoes, and general unpleasantness seems to accompany most camping trips with or without the neighborhood Scamper. I thought I would leave this legacy behind with the new married name, but the rain does not discriminate. To be fair, it only really rained the last morning we were there and despite the uncooperative weather, we had a grand old time. Bill and I, along with 4 other people volunteering with us this year went to Nickerson State Park. We went hiking and visited the Bay. It was all very pleasant. Bill is definitely a better camper, but only because he's got a few years on me. I didn't make any horrible camping faux pas, although I'm sure Bill would be the only one who would notice if I did. I even proved useful in the cooking arena and overall entertainment -- complaining about and mimicking my boss guarantees laughter. Because Massachusetts is strange, we had yesterday off. It proved a nice day of recovery from our adventures in camping. Even better than all of the above is that a plumber came and fixed our bathtub. Now you can shower while you visit without a foot of water swirling around your feet. If that doesn't sell some of you, I don't know what will.

Desperate Housewife

Bill teaches a night class twice a week, so on those days I find myself at home... alone. It's a little depressing. I try to fill my time with educational pursuits such as reading and Dr. Phil, but I often end up doing housework. Speaking of housework, there is a strange smell coming from our bathroom/kitchen sink (as they are one in the same), and if anyone could offer me some advice I'd be grateful. But back to my housewife-ism. Dishes and the works wouldn't be so awful if I didn't do it all day long at work. Bill mentioned early that I work for a bit of a control freak. I spend my time preempting her complaints about dirtiness so I won't hear her say, "Now Beth, what I like to do is..." and then explain how to wash a tray. For 13 preschoolers, our classroom is spotless. One of the other teachers is very scared of this lady's cleanliness and thrives on making things perfect for her. Oh, the dynamics of nursery school. At least I have school to entertain me during the day while Bill is at school. I wonder how real housewives survive before children come along. I mean, Dr. Phil is good for an hour, and you could throw in Oprah for an hour too, but after a while you can only handle so much advice. Maybe I'm just a social person and need others to entertain me more than I'd like to admit. Or maybe we just need a dog. I'm going to vote for the dog.

Take me out to the ball game

Sorry once again about the delay. Bill and I are having major issues with our internet supplier; basically, they are not supplying. Bill is being a very proactive husband and has taken on customer service in the form of mean e-mails and nasty phone calls. Obviously, I am very proud of him. Now on to business. Except for Marquette basketball, and maybe Appleton West sports, I wouldn't say I am a huge sports fan. I attribute this lack to my childhood. It's tough trying to be a Bears fan in fanatical "Packer Country." Cheering on teams thus far has been either cheering with the person I am watching with or cheering against the person I am watching with just to spite them. However, my sports worldview is starting to change. My life has been simplified leaving the Packers back in Wisconsin. I am guaranteed time with Bill on Sunday that does not include conversations with the televised Brett Favre. The news has also been free of all Packer references. Being purged of the my childhood influences and the Packers has given me time to appreciate the better things in life... the Red Sox. I will freely admit that I only like them because they are good and I also admit that Boston is beyond fanatical about their team. But something about them being in the classy East makes their pride endearing rather than obnoxious. Also, Johnny Damon is quite good looking, which doesn't hurt anything. I am such a fan, I almost bought a $5 Red Sox shirts yesterday. If that doesn't prove my loyalty, I don't know what does. I even visited the Boston Red Sox webpage, but I haven't decided yet if that was genuine research, or research with the goal of impressing Bill with my random Red Sox knowledge. For some reason, Bill never finds that game as much fun as I do. So anyway, I consider myself a legitimate fan now and therefore have the right to say: GO RED SOX!