Seriously, that's it?

This Veteran's Day weekend Chris and I decided to take a drive down the coast on MA to check out some of the countries most well known landmarks. And so we ended up in Plymouth, Massachusetts.

I've never claimed to be a history buff, by any stretch of the imagination, but I must say that Plymouth, MA was not all that's it's cracked up to be...

I mean, you've got your typical small town feel, paired with a replica of the Mayflower, but other than that, there is not much to do. And the rock, Plymouth Rock that is, happens to be no more than a small, concrete-mended, boulder that sits on the edge of the water. I like to think that it used to be A LOT BIGGER.

Room with a View

Most days this is about all I see of Boston. Don’t get me wrong, it’s a spectacular view of the apartment across the street, but it occurred to me last weekend that experiencing the fall through the (small) window of our apartment just wasn’t going to cut it. It was almost a “Forest Gump” like moment as I watched what could have been the last leaf fall from the scraggly tree that sits across the street. Charlie Brown himself would have been depressed by this sad representation of my first, and likely only, fall in Boston. And so, with that, Chris and I ventured out and saw a little of this beautiful city on a picturesque Fall day in New England.



The Charles River

Don't Forget Your Hail Mary

First and foremost, I did not visit a priest to say 22 Hail Marys, nor did I convert to the Catholic Faith. I did however attended another New England sporting event, but more on my Hail Mary later. This time it was not baseball but football at Boston College (or as everyone up here says, BC.)

A friend of mine from high school lives in Maine and has season tickets with a group of his friends to the BC football games. I was able to attend as one person decided to skip the game on Saturday...Not sure why he skipped the game....I mean...the high for the day was 45 degrees with wind gusts, at the Stadium, of up to 55 mph and driving rain. Who in there right mind would give up tickets to a game on such a nice day...

I can say without a doubt that football in the South is not better per se, just incomparable. The diiference is night and day. BC is having a great year, even though they choked against FSU, (and for the record I cheered for BC, it's time for Ole Bobby to retire!) but the feel of the game was like being at a top rated High School game in South Georgia. The first quarter sucked due to the rain, the cold, and the wind. About the middle of the 2nd quarter it cleared up. It was still cold and windy but at least the rain stopped. Come to think of it, this was my first Nor'easter but without the snow (I want the next one to have snow so I get the full experience of a Nor'easter.)

The BC Eagles lost to the Semi-holes when they threw an interception at the end of the game, which took away the chance for them to score the wining touchdown. It was not like back in the day....they should have had the Flakes...

Back to my Hail Mary. So as I started my 22nd Hail Mary, I noticed that everywhere I looked at the game I saw the #22. It was on the wall of the stadium, on jerseys, t-shirts, and a bunch of posters. Then it dawned on me that The Fans in Boston remember every detail, even at the collegiate level. The #22 was the number of the quarterback who performed the most famous Hail Mary of all: The one and only Doug Flutie (or the man behind the "Miracle in Miami" back on the 23rd of November in 1984, one of the greatest moments in college football.) I think his jersey has to be the best selling one of all time. Pretty crazy thinking that was back 23 years ago.

What time is it?

Let me start out by saying that, generally speaking, I’m all about daylight savings time. I enjoy falling back and springing forward just as much as the next person, but I have a problem. The problem is this: It’s Monday afternoon, and I’m sitting in front of the window, type, type, typing away, as I always do on Monday afternoons, and I see it. Or rather, I don’t see it.

Can someone please explain to me why, at 4:31 in the afternoon, the sun is GONE?

Geesh. Next thing I know it’ll be snowing or something. Nothing like a good snow in the dark to get you excited about winter in Boston...

Oh you Red Sox....They are Truly Crazy!

So as you all know by now the Sox won the World Series.

On Tuesday, after the sweep of the Rockies, the Nation (Red Sox Nation that is) celebrated with a huge parade from Fenway Park to City Hall. The parade ended right at the corner where we live (which is the corner of Irving Street and Cambridge Street.)

I'm not sure that people support and celebrate baseball anywhere else like they do here in Boston. The picture below was taken at City Hall* 3 hours before the parade even started (*a complex close to the place where the parade ended.)

The the parade coverage started at 10am on all of the local channels ndt ran until the 5 o'clock news started. They estimated that over 1 million people came out to support the team, get crazy, and act dumb. (And to make sure that everone knows that "The Yankees Suck".) Not to metion the fact that people were climbing trees, light posts, and stop signs to see the players better and the trophy better.

Above was just across the Boston Common from where we live.

Below is at the corner of our street looking up towards Boston City Hall. This photo does not do the scene justice.

Looking at the next picture you would have thought a bomb went off. Nope- Just the Crazy Faithful that live in Boston...

Faithful to the Sox!!!

In the wash...

Ok, ok. So we’ve slacked a bit on the whole blog thing. But I’m taking a step towards being better about updating it. Only problem is, I’ve not nothing.

My brain is mush, I’m getting very little sleep thanks to my newfound fascination with Red Sox baseball, and Chris doesn’t even have any good stories from traveling. And thus begins the demise of the Miller blog.



I’m hoping to be inspired by the completion of the World Series tonight (fingers crossed) but until then, I’ll leave you with this: I challenge each of you, over the course of the next week, to keep a running record of how many loads of laundry you do. At the end of the week, multiply that number by the three dollars and fifty cents that it would cost you to do aforementioned laundry if you were living in Boston...

And I thought the lack of Duke’s Mayonnaise here was my biggest issue.

Seriously?

I get run over by a girl on a bicycle, and Chris gets to be in Interpol. Where's the justice...

Don't let his modesty fool you. He's been "involved" in this kind of work for a while now. That whole SITA thing is just a cover.

The Man....

Ok, so I am on my way to the airport in Sao Paulo, Brazil in a car the hotel arranged for. First, if anyone has been to Sao Paulo then they know that this place has the worst traffic of any place in the world. I am not kidding either; this place beats Mexico City, London, Atlanta, L.A., or any other place I have ever been.

So back to the story. The Man who is driving me is swinging in and out of traffic like a mad man, but kindly, he is doing it very smoothly, as not to make me sick. We come along a highway that is moving pretty good and he says "we go there". As we approach the on-ramp there are cops that have the entrance blocked off. My driver heads for one of the barracades and yells something to a cop and flashes some type of badge and the cop lets us pass.
The driver pulls through the opening and gets on the highway and then proceeds to tell me that he flashed a Federal Police badge and told them that I was from "The International Criminal Police Organization", better known by its telegraphic address as Interpol, and that I needed to get to the airport.
For those not in the know, Interpol is an organization facilitating international police cooperation. It was founded in 1923 and is headquartered in Lyon, France. Interpol is the worlds fifth-largest international organization in terms of the number of member countries, after the Universal Postal Union, FIBA (the International Basketball Federation), the United Nations, and FIFA (football's international governing body). Interpol's current President and Secretary-General are, respectively, Jackie Selebi, National Commissioner of the South African Police Service, and Ronald Noble, formerly of the United States Treasury. Noble is the first non-European to hold the position of Secretary-General.

Again, back to the story.....The driver said he used to be in the Federal Police as a security instructor (at least I am with a pretty safe person, right...Or so you would think were it not for his driving...).

We then run into more traffic and he just pulls into the emergency lane and kicks it. We go like that for several miles passing the bumper to bumper traffic (think all lanes of I-285 stopped and you pull in to the emergency lane and gun it to like 70mph). Crazy, I tell you, Crazy.

The other crazy thing is that all the while you have vending carts on the side of the road with people darting across the road at any given time.

If I don't post again you will know why.....At least I now work for Interpol.

Just don't tell anyone.

Overrated...

Well, while Chris is off in Argentina hunting for birds, I am here in Boston getting an education. If you've been reading this blog, you know that I got my first paper back last week, and that I did pretty well.

I just want to go ahead and say, for the record, that it was a fluke.

Case in point: I'm sitting in class today trying to keep up with a conversation about Emergent and Conventional Literacy Development, and I raise my hand to comment on the topic. What comes next is both disturbing, and completely embarrassing.

I will say that I did actually think the comment out before I said it. In fact, I even prefaced my comment with the remark, "you're probably all going to be less intelligent after I tell you this".

And that should have been the end of it.

No such luck. I'm not sure what reaction I thought my comment/practical everyday connection would evoke, but I'm pretty sure that after the words, "when I was watching 'The Biggest Loser' on TV last night" came out of my mouth, I lost my target audience.

I'm just going to let you think about that for a little bit. And trust me, there was no mind-blowing comment after that.

Oh well. One A at Harvard is nothing to scoff at...

**Did I mention that I got run over by a girl on a bike yesterday? Clearly I'm suffering from some sort of mental block as a result of the collision. OK, so she just ran over my feet, but I've definitely been traumatized...

Don't Cry for me.........

"Don't cry for me...
..Argentina"

Ok, that was dumb, but it is a connection to Argentina that everyone should know. This picture is the view from my hotel looking down Avenida 9 de Julio which is in Buenos Aires. Its name honors Argentina's Independence Day which was July 9, 1816. It is also the widest avenue in the world (at least that is what Wikipedia said), which is a tidbit you can now use when playing Trivial Pursuit.

I am here for work/pleasure and will be returning to Boston on the 18th of October. I am heading to Cordoba, Argentina for the weekend with Allison’s Uncle and my friend David Malin to go hunting for Dove (or as they say in Spanish “caza de la paloma”).

This will be my first hunting trip for anything other than cars or electronics.

I'm pretty sure that hunting for cars or electronics doesn't count, as you normally don't use a gun in either of those endeavors. It should be a lot of fun. Hopefully I will be able to hit at least 1 of the 25 million dove in the Cordoba region.

Just an update for you if you are playing “Where in the world is Chris Miller”…..

Now I'm off to think/sing about other dumb connections to places I am visiting...

What did you get?

I guess Allison is a little modest. Not only did she get her “VERY FIRST GRADE from Harvard” and it made her “One Happy Cookie” BUT the girl got an A.

That is right. An A at Harvard. I guess she did not want to jinx any future grades, but since I posted the actual grade then that cannot happen. Especially since I jinxed myself long ago never to get an A or a B for that matter.

Smart Cookie

I bought this shirt with the hope that it woud make me smarter through osmosis.

It seems to be working...

I got my VERY FIRST GRADE from Harvard today, and I am now One Happy Cookie...

Thanks for all of the prayers, and keep 'em coming!

More of Boston

More pictures from Brad's trip up to Boston last weekend. I must say, rubbing John Harvard's foot for luck was no match for the excitement we experienced at the Sox game the night before...

I haven’t yet mastered my own personal “Boston Walking Tour”, but I think we did pretty well. Chris, Brad, and I got to see a lot of new things, take a lot of pictures, and even eat at two “World Famous” restaurants in one day! From the church where Paul Revere warned of incoming troops to a house made out of paper (not a typo...) we pretty much covered all of the bases. Next on my list of things to do: Duck Tour, Boston style!

Sweet Caroline...

I’ve never claimed to be a huge baseball fan, but my attitude is quickly changing towards the sport.

One word- Sox.

For those of you that need some clarification, that’s Sox as in “Red Sox” (Brad generously pointed out that none of the “locals” refer to the team by it’s full name...)

So, as luck would have it, Brad came into town last weekend, bringing with him (figuratively speaking) none other than, you guessed it, tickets to a Sox game. I was excited to see Fenway, and happy to be going out in Boston, but I really could not have prepared myself for the whole Sox experience.

If you’ve ever been to a MLB game, you understand the gist of how a baseball game works. You go watch the game, eat some food, pay way too much for drinks, cheer on the team, and then go home. In most cases, I’ve never been too affected by whether or not the team won, as I usually just go to the games for the fun of it.

Friday, September 28, 2008. Red Sox vs. Twins.

I don’t know enough about baseball to write up a play-by-play of the night, but I will tell you this. The Sox needed a win, the Yankee’s needed to lose, and everyone in Boston would be happy. Guess what. Boston is a happy place. It was an amazing game followed by an amazing show of fan support as over 1000 people stayed at Fenway in the hour following the game to see if the Yankees would win or lose. So, they lost, the Sox did some crazy celebratory champagne/snorkeling on the field, and everyone, and I do mean everyone was happy.

What a night!

Lorraine comes to town!

Hooray for visitors!!! Lorraine came into town last weekend for a quick visit, and it was really nice to have her around! While I haven't yet mastered my "tour de Boston" repertoire, we still managed to see lots of stuff. We spent the day exploring Boston on our very own “walking tour” that ended up lasting 5 ½ hours. (Bring your walking shoes if you come to Boston...) We even managed to find a GA Bulldog’s bar to watch the game!

Goodbye, I will miss you...

Two big things happened over the weekend. First, my trip to Geneva was canceled (Thank goodness. I'm kinda over flying long distances for short meetings). Second, my computer blew up!!!!!! Well, it didn't really blow up but it might as well have; the hard drive died. Which really stinks. I spent the day trying to recover data (which was mostly successful).

I feel so disconnected and unable to keep in touch with the world. Maybe it is withdraw symptoms from not being able to surf the net for useless information. I am also shaking a lot and have a cold sweat....wonder if I should look into getting help.

I am able to post this tonight as I stole Allison's computer. So if you do not see anyting from me for a while it's because I am επίθ as the greek say, or "disconnected". (Or I may have gone on another CIA mission.)

Welcome to Boston, Chris

Chris is finally home. And he'll be here for A WHOLE WEEK before he's off to conquer the world, er, I mean sell some computer programs or something...

Maybe I'll give him one of my famous walking tours while he's here!

The response has been AMAZING...

OK, so I was hoping that people would have a chance to look over the Blog and kind of laugh along with Chris and I as we document our year here in Boston (and around the world), but I have truly been amazed by the amount of emails that I have received concerning one particular post. So many of you have lovingly expressed your genuine concern over a matter that I thought might be the one reason to pack up and move back home.

No Duke's Mayonnaise.

If you're not a Duke's mayo fan (what are you, crazy???), than there is no reason for you to read on.

We have had people offer to ship us the stuff, and I don't think they were kidding. This is serious. Since I'm going to be doing quite a bit of research over the course of the next year, I thought I'd start off with something close to my heart (but not in my fridge, because, clearly, the nice folks up here have no IDEA what they are missing...)

Fun Facts FYI
- Duke’s original sales force was all women
- Famous Duke’s users include Paula Deen, Ina Garten and Race Car drivers Richard Petty, Dale Earnhardt Jr., Jay Haas, Davis Love, JEB Stuart IV and RE Lee V
- Southerners have hit the web to yelp, blog and even broadcast their love for Duke’s Mayonnaise. You can find Duke’s on Flickr, YouTube as well as the blogosphere
- Duke’s is not only a favorite among the SE, it’s shipped to Germany, Russia, Africa, Iraq and other international locations monthly.

***Just so you know, that came off of the Duke's website. That's right, they have a website, and as it turns out, they'll SHIP their products anywhere in the world!

Life is good.

(A special thanks to Chris's dad (not a Carolina boy) for trying the Duke's Vs. Kraft taste test. Unfortunately, his taste buds are dead from years of exposure to other "sandwich dressings", and his opinions on the matter cannot be taken into account.)

Oh boy...

Well, I did. If nothing else, I can now tell people that I made it through an entire week at Harvard University. Not a small accomplishment, considering the fact that I feel like I just ran a marathon. There is a distinct possibility that my head will explode if I have to read any more, and Chris will be forced to clean up the mess, and head off to take pictures of barns and turtle-rocks...

My posts might become much shorter in the coming weeks. So far, this has been the most rewarding and challenging week of my life (academically speaking), but it has been fun. I can't wait for Chris to come back to Boston and experience this great city with me.

I found out today that I will be completing my internship at the Martin Luther "King" School in Cambridge. I chuckled to myself as I walked into the building and considered the irony of having to come 1000 miles away to teach in a school named after the man who played such a dominant role in Atlanta. God does have a sense of humor...

If anyone knows anything about multivariate evidence for a convergent skills model of reading development, please call me IMMEDIATELY. I've got a paper to write, and I don't think my stack of Organic Chemistry books is going to help me on this one. (Nice observation, Mr. Sandlin. Are you on Facebook?) :)

Ahhh, Park City

So I have made it back to the US of A from Asia and all its earthquakes. It was only a 7 hour flight from Singapore to Seoul (a 30 min layover) and then a 10 hour 30 min flight from Seoul to San Francisco, and then another 1 hour 30 min flight to Salt Lake City, Utah. So a grand total of 18 hours on an airplane, do I know how to spell F-U-N or what?.

The flight path coming into San Francisco was amazing. We flew parallel to the coast and the Golden Gate Bridge. After the bridge we banked to the left, flying over the city and Alcatraz. It was such a pretty view from a great vantage point.

I decided to go to Salt Lake City, Utah to spend the night with my dear friends Mike & Teash Lawson and their two kids Aden & Amelia in Park City. I have not seen them in a long time ,and by visiting them I was able to avoid the Red Eye flight back to the East Coast, and sleep in a bed instead of an airplane seat...That is what I like to call a bonus item.

So if anyone is wondering what it is like trying to adjust back to a time zone that is 12 hours different from the East Coast,... Sometimes it is not too bad but other times it is, well how do I say....hmm...well....it sucks. Last night I slept great but today I have been up since 4am EST, which is 2am Mountain time. Later today should be very interesting!

Yesterday was a nice relaxing day. It started off with a nice bagel and a cup of coffee, followed by a very competitive trash- talking game of Sorry! (which I have not played since I was about 10 years old, man it was fun!) against Mike and his son Aden (I was winning right up to the end when Aden pulled 2 Sorry! Cards and pushed me back home. I do not like to lose-not even to a 5 year old). After dropping the kids at afternoon school, Mike and I had a great sushi lunch with a nice bowl of miso soup to warm us up (it is a bit cool here), and followed it up with a great steak dinner. (Thanks Mike- it was good and needed after 10 or so days in Asia). And then another round of Sorry!, which I lost.

I am glad to be here visiting the Lawson Family and enjoying the wonderful weather and views here in Park City. (I could see Allison working here and me being a SkiBum, note to self....... "talk to Allison about future plans in Park City upon returning to Boston"). However, I am looking forward to getting home (well Boston) and spending some time with my wife. I have to check the blog to remember what she looks like.

The time will be short as I found out today that I am heading to Geneva, Switzerland on Sunday night and returning on Thursday. I will then be in Boston for the last weekend of September to host Brad Owens (Allison's Dad's wife's son, did ya follow that?) who is coming to visit with tickets to the Sox game next Friday night. NOTE: We have not set any gift minimum to visit us, but Brad has now set the bar pretty high for anyone who follows him.

On the following Monday, October 1st, I have to go to Sao Paulo for a business meeting, and then I am heading to Cordoba, Argentina to go Dove hunting (man I hope I do not pull a Cheney) with Allison’s Uncle. And finally, I'll be returning to the Boston on the 15th of October. So this month was a blur and next month will be one as well.

**Play will start next week for "Where In The World is Chris", with the winner being able to take Chris's place on his next business trip some place in the world.

Oh, and the picture is of The Mcpolin Barn in Park City from Jeff Swindell at www.postercaseproductions.com

Allison Miller, HGSE student

Well, it's official. I am a student at the Harvard Graduate School of Education. Whoo hoo.
I had my first class today, and all is well. They sure do expect us to read a lot here though...

Next step, become a die-hard Red Sox fan (sorry Chip and Kristin.)

Make way for the ducklings (and the Millers...)

Ok, so it turns out that not EVERY day in Boston is either rainy or cold. Thank you God! Today was a perfect example of how wonderful Boston can be! I made it to a worship service at the oldest church in the area (est. 1809), Park Street Church. I even had an opportunity to meet other grad students at a reception that followed. There's a lot to be said for the connection between free food and fellowship...

Classes start tomorrow, and I know that I am going to be VERY BUSY for the next few months, so I took the opportunity to get outside today and take in some of the Boston scenery. I hung out with the ducklings in the Public Gardens for a while, saw the Swan Boats, a Duck Tour, and even got a little sun on my face from the reflection off of the Capitol Building dome. What a beautiful day it was in Boston.