Bean town

Wow, it's been awhile since I last posted a blog! It's all for good reason though - I got sent to Boston, MA for a conference last week, and had a great time. I've never been to the east coast before, unless you count Florida, which I don't since Florida is kind of its own special place. I've been really impressed with Boston. The people are friendly, and the service around town was great.

I took a red-eye flight on Sunday night and arrived in Boston around 6:00 AM eastern time on Monday morning. Although I was squished between two strangers, the flight went really smoothly and all of the children on the plane were pretty quiet. This is in stark contrast to Kati's and my flight to and from Orlando a couple of years ago, where one mother allowed her child to scream almost non-stop on both flights. Don't even get me started - I realize that traveling with children is very difficult, but she became completely offended when passengers around her offered suggestions to try and help the poor kid. Blech.

Anyway, I got to stay at the Ritz Carlton (near Boston Commons) and found the room pretty nice. It wasn't anything all that special, but the bathroom was amazing. I imagine that the bathroom is probably about the same size as my bedroom, bathroom, and kitchen combined. I took advantage of the nice bathtub on Monday night and it was quite nice. The hotel staff were friendly, and the concierge was a total sweetheart to give me some stamps from his own personal supply so that I could send a couple of postcards.

While in Boston, I wandered around Boylson and Newbury street quite a bit. Newbury street has the best shops, including 1154 Lill, where you can design your own handbag! I designed one and it will be delivered to me in about 3 weeks. The gals that work there were really great, and they help you pick out nice fabrics and explain the whole process. I highly recommend it if you're ever in Boston. They have a store in Chicago, too :) I also had a blast in the northend, in Little Italy. There were some great restaurants, and the famous Mike's bakery. We went into the bakery, but I didn't end up getting any canolli because I'm allergic to cheese. But they looked delicious.

Other than that, I was interested to see that there is a Dunkin' Donuts on just about every corner here. Apparently Dunkin' Donuts is to east coast as Starbucks is to Seattle. You literally don't have to walk across a street to find one. I'm not sure what the whole appeal is, since I've had Dunkin' Donuts at home and didn't find them to be anything special. But maybe I'm missing something...?

We had issues with a strike going on with the shuttles that were supposed to take us to and from the center to our hotels, so I started taking cabs instead. Most of the drivers were pretty quiet, but I met a really funny one on my last day. He was from South Carolina and as friendly as can be. I got all kinds of advice about life, most of which I take with a heaping spoonful of salt, but he was definitely a colorful fellow.

The conference was really packed with people, and I met a lot of customers while hanging out to my team's product booth. I was actually sent as an attendee, so I didn't need to be at the booth, but it was fun to hang out and talk between attending sessions. I went to most of the sessions led by my product team and took a lot of notes about things people were interested in. I finished up my trip report today and sent it to my team members so that they get the information they need.

Although I had a great trip, I was definitely looking forward to getting home and seeing my friends and family. It's funny how you miss people even when you're just away from them for a short amount of time :) Plus, I was starting to get sick, so all I could think about was curling up in L.'s arms and getting some rest.