Mass. trip report: arrive in Mass.

[pyesetz]

(Based on my recollections, financial records, and Kid #1's diary. Not only is Kid #1 older than the kid mentioned here, whose parents are jrittenhouse and marmot63, but Kid #2 is also older than that kid!)

Tuesday, August 5th

(Recollections are poor for today.  The financial records do not record which town we were in when spending money at a national chain, nor the time of day for the purchase, while Kid #1's diary for today is a stream-of-consciousness jumble with no clear timeline.  I suppose I could look through my receipts-wastebasket and recover the time-and-place information, but who cares really?)

Woke up to find the hotel bill slipped under our door.  This has become the new standard for hotels.  With a plastic room-key and pre-authorized credit-card billing, we can leave the hotel via any door and never talk to any hy00mans on our way out!  But we stop by the front desk anyway to turn in our key-cards for recycling.  We leave at 10:45 AM, which is quite unusual.  Usually we barely manage to get going by the check-out deadline; when the kids were younger we often asked for an extension and usually got it.

First stop: the local Barnes & Noble bookstore.  Kid #1 was just about finished with all the books she brought with her, so we bought her a new one for the next leg of the long car ride.  (Kid #2 was using a GameBoy Advance for entertainment.  At some rest stop or other there were new cartridges for sale but he didn't buy one.)  While we were in this plaza, Wifey browsed in a clothing store but didn't buy anything.  This may have been the plaza where I hit the ATM to get some US dollars.  The ATM accepted my Canadian ABM card, and the exchange rate wasn't totally ridiculous, but I later discovered a hidden $3 "foreign ABM system usage fee" on my account.  Kid #1 recorded that we were considering a visit to Wal*Mart (because Wifey is accumulating small gifts to send to her friend's brother in Iraq) but we ended up skipping it for some reason.  Apparently I pontificated about why Wal*Mart is so much cheaper in the States than other department stores are (more info) which Kid #1 then dutifully recorded as if Wal*Mart's improprieties were established fact in a court of law.  This reminds me vaguely of PZ Myers' daughter Skatje (who has her own blog).  Skatje's atheism *may* be authentic by now, but presumably she began by parroting her father's beliefs.

Driving route: New York Thruway to Mass. Pike to I-495 to Franklin MA.  I was supposed to get rid of my E-Z Pass transponder last year, but didn't get around to it.  The unit in my car is now an obsolete model and E-Z Pass sent out replacement units, but I didn't get one.  I sent them an email about that and they said, "Call us" but I haven't called them yet.  Meanwhile, I'm continuing to be charged $1/month for the privilege of owning a device whose original raison d’être was that it would save money for the State of NJ.  But it's sure getting a workout on this trip!  Stopped in Yorkville NY to spend US$ 60.00 on more gas.  I suspect that Wifey bought a lottery ticket at this point, but there's no record of it.  I subscribe to the belief that lotteries are "a tax on people who can't do the math", but Wifey and the kids seem to think that it's a reasonable amount of fun to get for a dollar.

Arriving in Franklin at five-ish, we head out to Shaw's for groceries to stock up our hotel fridge for the week.  My ABM card was accepted: US$ 137.27 (CDN$ 146.61) for food—apparently only cash withdrawals get the foreign-usage fee.  This total included large quantities of apple-bars, Cheez-Its, Krispies, and other products not sold in Canada that we planned to take back with us, plus some items for the Iraq package.

In the same plaza, Wifey went to Bath & Body Works to get more vanilla-scented wall-powered stench emitters.  While in the store, we passed by an early-teen boy who obviously thought Kid #1 was nice to look at.  "Ugh," she says, "human mating calls".  The same plaza also had a sign claiming that Franklin was "home of the nation's first public library" (hence the naming of the town after B. Franklin).  We decided to come back another day and take a photo of Kid #1 in front of that sign.

Same plaza: Longhorn Steakhouse.  Kid #1 and I had some chuckles over the marketing-speak on the menu, such as "corn-fed beef" (but grass-fed is better!) and "flown-in-fresh Pacific salmon" (jet fuel is environmentally unsound; Kid #1 prefers Atlantic salmon).

Evening: more Company 𝔾 work for me, while the family watched another DVD.

My bank's website tells me that there was an $18 donation to the "National Kidney Foundation" made today, but I have no idea who authorized that.

Comments

[jrittenhouse.livejournal.com]

Yeah, well, my kid's sicker than your kids. (We think she's got strep throat, and I'm keeping my distance. Have to.)

Well, look. Either we took your kidney and left you in a tub full of ice, or we docked your credit card. Be grateful.

[stuffedwithfluf.livejournal.com]

I authorized the donation. I'm sponsoring a friend in a Kidney Foundation walkathon.

[avenginglioness.livejournal.com]

WHY is it that corn-fed beef is supposed to be so good? Especially when grass-fed beef is better for you? Is there a taste difference? I don't know what kind of beef I eat. Poor cows. So tasty...

[pyesetz]

Corn-fed beef are fed a manufactured diet, with specific varieties of corn, added vitamins, etc., so their meat has a consistent taste.  Grass-fed beef eat whatever is underhoof.  Corn is very high in Omega-6 fatty acids, so corn-fed beef is too.  A diet with a high Omega-3/Omega-6 ratio is associated with emotional-control issues in sensitive individuals.

Poor cows. So tasty...
I agree