EclecticLip

On a Boston-bound business… trip.  (What’s a word that begins with “b” and is synonymous with trip?)

Cultural anthropology and other travel notes below:

First off, unlike what my mom taught me, it’s good to talk to strangers.  Turns out the guy sitting next to me in the airport worked for my company some time ago, and now works with a university classmate!  (Hmm… on further reflection, I suppose the real lesson might be, “things you learned as a kid don’t always apply as an adult”.  Especially the playground wisdom about getting cooties from girls…    )

I didn’t realize that flying to Toronto with checked luggage puts you in a “fast lane” for going through US customs — I’ll be remembering this lesson on all future trips.  And I found Pearson Airport beautiful, as airports go; I don’t know if it’s worth $4.4 billion, but it’s nice.  I especially enjoyed how the fast food menus were bilingual.  Guess that’s how you know you’ve exited Western Canada. 

While on the flights, I read most of The Toyota Way (I’m on a business reading kick) and boy, am I happy we’re not competing with Toyota.  I’ll write a more detailed analysis later, but one thing really, truly leapt off the page for me: Toyota was scared of Chrysler in the late 90’s because Chrysler had topped them to become the most profitable-per-vehicle car manufacturer in the world.  Fortunately for Toyota, Daimler took over, and everything went to hell.    This is literally true, as Chrysler was taken private by Cerberus, an investment bank named after the dog who guarded the gates of hell.

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At first glance, Massachusetts is the kind of state I could live in: not only is there a town called Braintree, there’s a town called New Braintree!  Sadly, liberal as it is, MA isn’t that kind on the womenfolk.  Not only are there two Salems (the original infamous one, and a copycat), there’s a Shrewsbury, and a, uh, Milford.  There’s also a landlocked town named Townsend; Townsend Harbour down the road is also landlocked.  Massachusetts humour, I suppose.

The in-car GPS system was awesome — once you corrected for the fact that it was about 800 metres late with all its directions.  I learned quick though, only requiring one unplanned U-turn for this lesson to sink in. 

The hotel was booked solid, so Mani (my junior coworker) and I wound up sharing a room; pulling rank, I got the bed, leaving him the sofa.  Seniority is AWESOME!!     We went to former (current?) Warren Buffett stock-holding, Outback Steakhouse, a Florida-based faux-Aussie diner joint.  Sadly, we didn’t know about their Aussie Cheese Fries — named by Mens’ Health magazine as the worst food in America, clocking in at 2900 calories and 182 grams of fat!!

I think that bears repeating — 2900 calories and 182 grams of fat.  (Based on a 2000-calorie-per-day diet, that’s three times your daily recommended fat intake!  In one sitting!)

No, we ordered a blooming onion — a “mere” 2200 calories and 134 grams of fat — and almost finished half.  I’ll just note the Wikipedia entry: “the egg wash and deep frying preparation process of the blooming onion makes it massively caloric.”   ‘Nuff said.

Fortunately, we had ordered what we thought were light main courses.  I had a chicken salad, and asked for the salad dressing on the side.  The server gave me the salad, and what must’ve been about four fluid ounces (half a cup!) of honey mustard sauce.  Mani had a steak salad, which came with fries.  In the salad. 

More adventures from Beantown soon…