Another successful Summit in the books

{editor’s note: this blog entry was typed out Monday morning at approx 1:30 a.m., while waiting . . . and waiting, in LeGuardia}

I reflect back on this weekend, and can only say that I am truly blessed to have a brotherhood of men to whom I can turn to and always count on to be there for me, no matter what. This weekend, four of my fraternity brothers and I went up to Boston for the weekend. We got in Thursday night, and left this (Sunday) afternoon. Actually, they left this morning, while I had a little time to head over and walk around Harvard Yard for awhile before my flight this afternoon. We did a ton of stuff, cramming as many activities as we could into what was, essentially, two days and three nights.

What I’ll remember from the weekend, though, is not the sights and sounds of Boston. Those, of course, were great. I’m actually extremely impressed with Boston, and Fenway was everything you’d think it would be. What I’ll remember most, though, is just how important these brothers are to me. It truly underscored to me how vital have true friendships and connections in our lives can be for our overall health and outlook on life. No matter what storms in life may come, I never doubt for a minute that these men are always there for me. Till next year and New York, boys.

Boston Highlights

With all of that in mind, I do want to take a minute to sing Boston’s praises. We stayed at the Back Bay Hotel in the heart of Boston’s Back Bay neighborhood. It was just a great place, completely “walkable”. In fact, both Friday and Saturday night, we hung on the street outside the hotel till 2:00 a.m. just smoking cigars and watching the foot traffic. Saturday, we actually walked all the way around the neighborhood, going up and down Newbury St. As I mentioned, Fenway is a place that any baseball fan has to go and check out. Watching a game there is the kind of experience that you can only get at some of the true Meccas of baseball, along with Wrigley and, I can only assume, the old Yankee Stadium (reports on the new one make it out to be a bit of a cavern).

Of course, we did many of the “tourist” highlights as well. We walked the Freedom trail, strode aboard the U.S.S. Constitution (“Old Ironsides”), had some fresh oysters at the Original Oyster House, and shared food and laughs at the original Cheers bar. I’ll also give this little tidbit out to you – if you love you some Dunkin Donuts, this is the city for you.

Watching the sun come up on the tarmac

I’m typing this wonderful little entry in New York’s LaGuardia International Airport. I will be pitching my tent here tonight, thanks to US Airways and LaGuardia thinking that the severe weather was just too much to handle earlier tonight. On the way to Boston, I had a non-stop flight from Indy to Boston. Coming back, my path was to go from Boston to Buffalo to New York to Indianapolis. Unfortunately, we were held up in Buffalo, and then once we were near LaGuardia, we were put in a holding pattern for almost forty minutes. At that point, our plane had to go to Newberg-Stewart Airport (??) to land and refuel, and we had to deplane and figure out what on earth was going on. By the time we finally got to LaGuardia, all my worst fears had come true: US Airways flight to Indianapolis – CANCELLED.

So now, I’m set to leave here tomorrow at 10:59 a.m. and get into Indy at 1:22 p.m. US Airways, this was our first dance; it will also be our last.

Thoughts at the closing bell:

• The Dow closed above 9000 this week. It’s too early to be sounding the victory bells, and unemployment is not correcting itself anytime soon. Still, it was nice to see.
• I finally finished a book! On the flights this weekend, I officially closed the last pages on “The World is Flat” by Thomas Friedman. It was a little sad how proud I was of myself to have actually finished a book for the first time in almost a year. Seriously, that’s a little pathetic.  Next up – “The Road”
• Tigers took three of four this weekend from the Chi Sox to take a two game lead once again in the AL Central. They’re going to keep my blood pressure nice and high until September.
• You’re gonna be, a shining star, with fancy clothes, and fancy cars. And then you’ll see, you’re gonna go far, cause everyone knows just who you are. So live your life.

On love to you all. Holla.