Boston

So I just got back from Boston and I must say that it was one of the best trips I have taken in a long ass while. Originally, I was going to go by myself to visit my friend Karen who I hadn't seen in about three years, but ultimately Chris, Susie, Raymund, Josh, and Kevin ended up coming along. So here is a recap.

We arrived at 5:40 am at Logan International Airport. Each of us slept only about two hours apiece on the plane so most of us were pretty tired when we got there. We took the T (the name for Boston's subway system) to our hotel, the Marriott Copley Place (the Craiglist Killer hotel) and decided it was best to sleep for a few hours before hitting the tourist sites of Boston. Actually, Josh and I just stayed up and had some Dunkin Donuts while the others slept.

At about 9:30, I got everyone up so we could get the day started. We walked down Newbury Street, which I would describe as the colonial version of Sunset Blvd, to the Boston Public Garden. The place was amazing. It is one of the best gardens in all of America. Here is a picture of some tulips with a George Washington statue in the background.

At this point, we started the Freedom Trail. Now for those who don't know what that is, it's basically a trail designed for tourists that passes by 16 American historical sites. For example, the Granary Burying Ground where Paul Revere, John Hancock, and Samuel Adams are buried and Old North Church where the famous phrase "Two if by sea" was coined. Halfway, through the trail, we stopped for lunch at Neptune Oyster. I had heard from multiple sources that the lobster rolls there were the best in all of Boston. That's not an understatement. It could be one of the best sandwiches I've ever had, let alone lobster roll. I guess that's why Zagat gave it a 27 and Yelpers give it 4.5 stars (I know I'm a nerd). Here are some of my favorite pictures from the trail.

After doing the trail, we headed over to Fenway Park to watch the Red Sox play. That was an ordeal in itself. Long story short, we had to transfer three times to get there, and instead of it taking us 15 minutes to get there, it took us an hour. Damn you, Government Center station for being closed.

For those who don't know, it is one of my life goals to see all the baseball stadiums, and Fenway is one of the two most famous in all of baseball (the other being Wrigley). The Red Sox got their asses whooped by the Rays but I was pretty impressed because the fans stuck it through until the very end. If this had been an A's game, the stadium would have been empty by the ninth inning. Here is a picture of the famed Green Monster.

We were exhausted at this point, so we headed back to the hotel for some rest before the evening festivities. Since we are always concerned about spending too much money at the bar for drinks, we decided to pick up some supplies at the grocery store across the street. We picked up all the materials for Silverbacks, which are done like Jager Bombs but are shots of Bacardi 151 dropped in a cup of half Hpnotiq and half Red Bull. If you want to get fucked up, this is the way to go because after only two, I was drunk.

Once we were done pre-gaming, we hopped back on the T to meet some friends at a bar named Tia's. After about two hours there, we left to go dancing at a little dive bar called Jose McIntyre's. All in all it was another hyphy night for us. Some highlights were Chris throwing a jacket in Susie's face and almost getting into a fight, Josh wandering off and almost getting charged $80 by a taxi to get back to the hotel, and us getting our dance on all night.

The next day, I had a huge hangover, but it was not going to stop me from going to see the Library and Museum of one of my favorite Presidents, JFK. So Josh and I headed out bright and early to check it out. Normally, I'm not a fan of I.M. Pei. His pyramid at the Louvre is an eyesore and his museum at Cornell is hideous, but he did a really good job with the JFK Library. The glass room overlooking Boston Harbor with the giant America flag hanging from the rafters is one of the most inspiring rooms I have ever been in.

After visiting the museum, we met back up with the rest of the group and headed up to the North End for some lunch. The North End of Boston has the biggest Little Italy in all of America, so we decided to try out a place that Karen recommended called La Dolce Vita. Although the food was better than most Italian food I've had in the US, it still paled in comparison to Italian food in Italy. It was also a tad bit overpriced.

From there, we headed out to Cambridge to see the campus of Harvard University. I had been there a couple of times, so I knew what to expect. Frankly, it might be the best university in the world, but the campus is just average to me. If you want to see a majestic campus, check out Cornell (and it's not just because I went there). The rest of the group seemed to like Harvard though. Here is a picture of us sitting on the steps of Memorial Library.

We were flying out that night, so we went back to Newbury Street to do some shopping for a bit before picking up our bags at the hotel and going to the airport.We were only there for a weekend, but we packed so much in that it seemed like a couple days. It's funny because I don't think I'd go back to Boston to visit but I'd definitely live there in a heartbeat. Maybe one of these days!

Life

So this is what the next six weekends look like for me:

May 2nd - Home
May 9th - Boston, Massachusetts
May 16th - Phoenix, Arizona
May 23rd - Kansas City, Missouri
May 30th - Minneapolis, Minnesota and Fargo, North Dakota
June 6th - Home
June 12th - Erotic Expo

It's going to be fun I think.

Hannah Montana

Due to me having to get up to go to work on the weekdays, I am unable to sleep in on the weekends. The definition of sleeping in for me is 9am. Since I usually don’t have anything to do on a weekend morning, I’ll sit around and watch cartoons/kid shows. I know it sounds a bit adolescent for me to do that, but some shows are quite good and I can see why kids would enjoy them. One example would be “The Suite Life of Zack and Cody.” But there is one show that draws my ire and that show is “Hannah Montana” starring Miley Cyrus. If you haven’t been living under a rock for the last year, you would known that Miley Cyrus is the biggest teen star in existence today. She is everywhere and frankly I don’t know why. Hannah Montana is the least funny show on television, Miley is a terrible actress, and her music sucks a big one.

Cambodia

In 2006, I went to Cambodia. It has come a long way since the days of the Khmer Rouge, but it still remains one of the poorer nations in the world. For all my loyal blog readers out there, I wanted to recap an event that still lives fresh in my mind today. One night, I was outside eating on the patio of a restaurant near my guesthouse. Halfway through my meal, a Cambodian girl came up to me crying hysterically. She was speaking in her native tongue so I couldn’t understand what she was saying but I could tell she wanted some money because she was holding out her hand. I’m not going to lie, I was a bit shocked, and so before I got the chance to act, someone from the restaurant told her to leave. For the remainder of my meal, I sat there wondering about that girl. Why was she crying? Before I left the restaurant, I made it a point to ask the lady who told her to leave why the girl was crying. She told me that her brother was sick and that her family could not afford the pills to keep him alive. A deep pang of regret and sadness came over me at that point. I can’t imagine begging for my life, let alone begging for the life of someone I love.

Would it have killed me to give her a couple dollars? Probably not. I would have spent it on a massage or some beers. People say to me, “Jamie, it’s sad. But stories like that are common throughout the third world. You can’t help everyone.” But I pose a question, “Isn’t one life saved better than no lives saved?”

Filipino Veterans

In World War II, President Roosevelt called upon the Filipinos to join with America in the fight against the Japanese. In exchange, they were promised the same benefits and pay as other American veterans. Over 200,000 Filipinos, my great grandfather included, heeded that call, choosing to risk their lives in order to preserve the freedom and democracy that our country was founded upon. At the end of the day, over half of those men would ultimately lose their lives.

The war ended in 1945, but in 1946, Congress passed and President Truman signed the Rescission Act, which stripped the Filipino veterans of all the pay and benefits that President Roosevelt had promised them in exchange for their service. For over six decades, these men have been fighting for justice. In that span of time, the majority have passed away. Today only 15,000 are alive out of over 200,000 that served.

I am glad to say, but do so with a heavy heart, that the stimulus package President Obama signed into law includes an amendment that includes $198M rewarding Filipino veterans for their service. Each veteran living in the United States gets $15,000 and the ones living in the Philippines get $9,000. It’s a small amount and long overdue, but something is better than nothing.

Critics of this amendment say that it has nothing to do with stimulating the economy. I agree with that point. But to me, this is more than that; this is about honor. Especially in America where service to one’s country is one of the highest callings, you can’t ask someone to risk their lives for a country that is not even their own and give them nothing in return. I wouldn’t even borrow a dollar from someone and not pay them back!

I say this not because I’m Filipino myself or because I’m the great grandson of one of those forgotten veterans, but because it’s what decent human beings should do. Critics say this should be a separate bill from the stimulus package. It probably should be. But for over six decades, Congress has refused to do the right thing. So if including it in the stimulus was the only avenue to get it passed, so be it.

A New Begining

Well my first attempt at blog writing was a bust, so here goes another shot at it. I feel like I set too rigid of a structure in which to blog last time, which ultimately led to me not doing it, so this time I'm going to write about whatever comes to mind at any time.

So here we go....

Well, if you know me even a little bit, you know that I love to travel. Now that I have a real job, I make a concerted effort to use every three day weekend to get out of town. Well Memorial Day is around the corner and I have decided to go to.....wait for it.....Kansas City, Missouri!!! Huh?

So you might be asking yourself, Why would anyone want to go to Kansas City, Missouri?

Well there are multiple reasons. Let me run them off.

1. It is one of my goals to see all 50 states. This trip to Missouri and Kansas will put me at the halfway point.

2. It is also one of my goals to see all 30 baseball stadiums. Seeing the Royals play at Kaufmann Stadium will make 9.

3. Independence, MO (a suburb of Kansas City) is the home of my hero, Harry Truman. So I plan on seeing his Presidential Library and gravesite.

4. Kansas City is arguably the capital of BBQ. So it will definitely be good eating.

If anyone is interested in going, let me know!

Abortion

I had an argument with my sister today who is strongly pro life. I posed her a hypothetical: if she were President, would she allow abortions in the case of rape? She said no. I love my sister and all, but not allowing abortions in the case of rape is just about one of the most inhumane things I have ever heard. Let's boil this down to the nitty gritty.

A woman is a victim of rape, one of the most brutal crimes a person can have happen to them, and her attacker inpregnates her. But according to law, she is forced to have the baby of this man even though she didn't do anything wrong? What is the sense in that? You are essentially punishing the victim for being raped. Contrary to what some may believe, pregnancy is a difficult thing.That woman is going to have to put her life on hold for the next nine months, deal with all the aches and pains, and most importantly wake up every morning knowing that she is carrying her rapist's child. All this and she did nothing wrong! If that was me, I would suffer irreversible pyschological damage!

Now there are some rape victims who keep the baby and then put it up for adoption. I commend them for that. But the decison to keep the baby is the victim's and no one else. She should be able to make that decision freely and without fear of retribution.