Manlio Rules

see them all!!

I got back from my 10 day east coast trip sunday night, and half exhausted i pull myself onto the train to go see what my new job is all about.

It’s hard for me to articulate how i feel about New York. I can hardly remember my initial impressions of a city so big i never imagined that i’d be able to navigate my way around, let alone feel like a local (i got asked for directions twice in 5 days there). But eventually i figured out the tricks that make New York easy to get around (also called the F train), and suddenly the city seemed a little small.

Finding your way around a specific city is apparently more of a short term memory function than i realized. I found myself a little rusty last week, unable to remember names of specific stations and getting crossed up a few times in the West Village (not hard to do). But by saturday, i was pretty sure i had regained my native sense of direction. just in time for me to leave.

I’m not the best planner in the world. I tend to rely very heavily on my phone, and on other people’s willingness to drop what they’re doing and come find me when i’m in town. so most of my time in NY was one long rolling party, moving from one dinner engagement to a drinks meeting to a party. it’s exactly how i want to spend my vacations, but it’s exhausting.

for those of you who don’t know, i’m on vacation this week. i left last thursday night for Boston. as you may have inferred from my previous post, the trip wasn’t awesome, though it was better than some that i’ve had (like the 6 hour delay on jetBlue last year for brie’s wedding).

in any event, i got to boston friday morning, and met trish at her hotel. she’d gotten in a day earlier, since she was here for eBay live. we tooled around boston for a little bit in the morning, had lunch at Quincy Market, then did a little shopping before heading to the red sox game on friday night.

it was a good weekend for the sox, we swept the giants and picked up another game on the Yankees, who are playing great baseball right now and looking to catch up, though i’m still not sure they have the pitching to do it.

anyways, saturday we went to lexington and hung out at my dad’s house, saw my brother and sister, and drove around for a bit. i miss lexington, it’s such a nice little town.

saturday night we went out to dinner in boston

which was delicous.

Sunday was more food and boston touring, and monday trish left for the airport and i headed back to lexington to hang out with my sister and dad.

oops. except i didn’t run that plan by American Airlines, who decided to cancel trish’s flight back to SF, and couldn’t get her on another one until this morning. American Airlines, just so you know, i find it terrible that you canceled that flight and then refused to pay for people to take another airline or even put them up for the night. that’s just bad form on your part. as soon as i use up my frequent flier miles, i’m taking my business elsewhere.

in any event, we went into boston, grabbed trish from the airport, then went to dinner at my cousin’s restaurant in the north end. if you’re looking for good italian food in boston, i highly recommend it.

and today i leave for ny. every trip to boston seems too short. maybe i need to start taking more time there.

some people absolutely are enthralled with the idea of physically moving from one destination to the other. Personally, i’d be happy just to get there.

a few travel observations:

Dear Super Shuttle: when i pay you $40 to get me to the airport, and you pick me up 3 hours before my flight, i usually prefer not to arrive at the airport one hour before my flight takes off, barely making check-in. i understand you need to maximize your van capacity, but driving around mountain view for 2 hours is crazy. next time i’m going to take VTA to Caltrain to BART, save myself $30, and probably get there a little earlier. just so you know.

Dear Ladies who talked loudly all through my redeye: i understand that you maybe are bored and think it’s a good idea to drink a lot and stay awake chatting the whole flight, but guess who might not want to be kept awake with the inane details of your personal lives? that’s right, the rest of us.

Dear American Airlines: Would it kill you to have the foldable head rests on all your flights? Also, after you’ve announced 5 times for volunteers to give up their seats to no avail, maybe you should try raising the comp price instead of suggesting that we take your lousy $300 travel voucher and then give it as a gift for father’s day. and telling me that “if there are three of you, that’s $900″ is a ridiculous statement. does that mean that if there are 3 of us, i get more money? No. it just means that you have found employees who can multiply.

Dear Burrito place in Chicago Terminal: you are my new hero (sorry Joe Perry). a low carb scramble at an airport at 6AM? this truly is the future.

Dear Man who gave me a dirty look after i sat in “his” seat: in a crowded seating area, leaving your empty cup of coffee on the floor and walking away does not constitute “fives”. society must have rules.

love you lots

-manlio

hey there rockstars. i hope none of you are finding out about this over the blog, because it means i’m not doing a good job keeping you informed, but tonight i fly to Boston for the weekend, followed by a 5 day stint in NY starting tuesday the 19th.

i’ll try and remember to take photos, so you can all share in the revelry of my travelling. because i know that’s what you love.

also, when i return i will be starting a new position at my company, which will hopefully be a lot of fun.

and i’ll be back in SF the 25th. just cause i know you care

it was a long weekend. it was a good weekend. it was one of those weekends i remember from college where i wake up monday and go to work and am still trying to figure out exactly what all happened and if i have more or less friends than before, and then i remember everything that i did and said and decide that it’s probably a wash.

i suppose the weekend started thursday night, at aubrey’s guys night. because it was a classy affair we started at hooters and then went to the gold club. i am usually not one for either hooters or strip clubs, but who am i to argue when the masses have spoken.

luckily, there are no pictures of the strip club.

friday i worked from home (umm… tricia’s place), feeling pretty terrible. like, throwing up carbonated water terrible. i don’t recommend it. friday night trish and I saw oceans 13. i know i’m prone to hyperbole, but i really do think it may have been better than oceans 11. and it of course leaves oceans 12 in the dust behind.

saturday was another cooking class, courtesy of first class cooking. i’m not sure i talked about this the last time, but basically it’s 8-12 people in a very large kitchen, and you cooperate to make one meal in about 2 hours. sunday we did chicken picatta and caprese salad. i was mostly in charge of pounding and frying the chicken. luckily, i am good at both of those things. Jay and Dori came with us, but Jay was in rough shape from the night before and only stayed for about half. Trish also went on the DL from the frittata she ate that morning. After class we went to Jay and Dori’s place, where Dori convinced trish in maybe 30 minutes that she needed HD TV.

then i ran around and found 70lbs of ice for aubrey’s party that night. safeway, you get an F for ice. Walgreens, you get an A. muscles, you get a C for not being able to carry all 70lbs but also not tearing apart when i tried.

Saturday night was Aubrey’s official 30th birthday party, held at sean’s house. it was a fancy dress affair, but i forgot that in SF, fancy dress for guys means jeans and a sportcoat. so me with my nice black suit was riding the high end of the over dressed.

it was a fun night, but it was very late. Sunday I was so tired that there wasn’t a whole lot i was capable of doing. Trish and I went to Concord to see her dad fly in an old school WWII airplane. pretty awesome i have to say, they took video and everything.

and sunday night, sleep.

is looking for new clients. if you need a massage or a personal trainer, and are in the NYC area, i highly recommend her.

Maureen Giese, LMT
megiese@gmail.com
973.768.5978

Maureen Giese is a New York state licensed massage therapist and
certified personal trainer. She graduated from the Swedish Institute
of Massage Therapy in December of 2005 and earned her New York state
license in February of 2006. She has been certified by the National
Academy of Sports Medicine as a personal trainer since April of 2005.
After receiving her massage license, Maureen began an intensive study
of Myofascial Release, a modality which she now considers her
specialty.

A typical session with Maureen involves a gentle yet deep fusion of
Myofasical Release, Deep Tissue Massage, Shiatsu, Neuromuscular
Stretching, Trigger Point Therapy and Swedish Massage. Each session
is designed with the client’s specific needs in mind and can address
such things as chronic pain, muscle imbalances, scar tissue
realignment, sports injuries and a general desire for relaxation.
Maureen also holds a Bachelor of Arts in English from Gettysburg
College and is working toward a Masters of Science in Traditional
Oriental Medicine at the Pacific College of Oriental Medicine.

for whatever reason, i appear to have stopped taking pictures of everything that i’ve been doing. which may lead some of you to believe that i no longer do a whole lot, and others of you to speculate that i have managed to lose my camera. neither of these are true, though i do think that i need a spiffy new cameraphone so i can start taking photos again, which is of course ridiculous, but that’s not going to stop me from pining away for one.

ANYWAYS, the last 10 days have been fairly relaxing. Memorial day was pretty decent, a good amount of eating, walking around the city, that sort of thing. this weekend i’ve had a bunch of people in town, so i’ve been running around trying to see everyone, with good success. and i’m getting excited for my trip to Boston/NY, which is in less than 2 weeks!

and the red sox are in town, so i get to go and scream things at other grown men for a few days. and we all know that’s a good time.

oh, and i still need a new place to live.