busy Boston week

I was in Boston most of last week doing recruiting. It was kind of fun; usually when I go back it's just for a weekend, and usually for someone's wedding, so I never get to do much. This time, I had almost two whole free days just to hang out and visit with people. It was still pretty hectic though, now that I think about it.

Let me think...

I took the Tuesday night red-eye, and checked into my hotel Wednesday morning with just enough time to shower before I was supposed to meet up with the whole group at 8am. Interviews started at 9am, and pretty much ran through the rest of the day. I did get to eat at the food trucks for lunch (Goosebeary's!) We did a feedback session and then I went to meet a friend who was in town from New York (and some of his co-workers). We went to a nice French-Cuban place near Harvard Square called Chez Henri, which was fun except that the three of them were Yankees fans and so did not greatly enjoy the screaming and hollering coming from the bar in the next room (mostly during Damon's grand slam).

The next day I woke up late, went to the Coop to pick up some more MIT gear for my mom, and then spent the rest of the day walking around Boston. I dragged a co-worker down to Kenmore Square, where we fought through a horde of crazy people to grab a couple Red Sox AL Championship T-shirts, gawked at the broken signs and glass, and wondered about the police investigation on Landsdowne Street (we later learned about the Emerson College student who was killed). We had lunch at the Elephant Walk, went to Dunkin Donuts, walked around Newbury Street and Boston Common, and then finally wound up at BU where we were supposed to answer questions after a co-worker gave a talk. Afterwards, some of us headed out to the Pourhouse, where there was supposed to be an MIT alum event, but as far as I could tell, only about 30 people showed up. I won a Budweiser baseball cap by answering some cheesy 80's trivia question, we had some burgers, and then we stopped by Crossroads before heading back for almost 6 hours of sleep.

Friday, I had another full slate of interviews, but afterwards a friend took me to eat at Oishii, a very small (14 seats) but very good sushi restaurant. Apparently one of the chefs used to work at Nobu. We had dessert and coffee at a little place in Davis Square, which was nice because the temperature was getting down into the 30s. The next morning I met some friends at Mary Chung's for Saturday brunch, and then visited another friend's apartment in Brookline before having dinner at a Southern restaurant called Magnolia's. Afterwards, I crashed in front of the TV watching Game 1 of the World Series, and then caught an early morning flight Sunday morning.

Whew! Boston was fun and nostalgic, but I'm glad to be back.

As an aside, the entire greater Boston area has become Sox-crazy. Every other window has a ALCS pennant in it, and most people have a Red Sox logo somewhere on their person. The Patriots are finally starting to get some love too, with their incredible 21-game winning streak and two Super Bowl wins. Seems like it's still a baseball town, though.