Wednesday, August 25, 2010

Productive and frustrating

Today we met a very helpful group of people at Brown. The first person
is the custodian on Evan's floor. She introduced herself and offered
cleaning supplies, got him hangers, a mirror, a rug, and several
lamps. She might even know of a used fridge he could get. She gave her
phone number and said that if he ever needs directions or a ride to
the grocery store to call.

She also have great advice about getting repairs done on the room. The
plaster is chipped and the paint is peeling. Hopefully Evans phone
call will get some action.

Next we went to explore the furniture rental group called the women
and men of Brown. For under $60 Evan pocked up a bed side table, desk
chair, shoe rack, phone, TV, coffee maker, and two lamps. What's
better is that when he returns them he gets half his money back!

We were thankful that the furniture was being distributed from the
building across the green from Evan's, so we didn't have all that far
to carry them. Of course there was a fine rain today, a constant
blowing mist.

Next stop was lunch at a cute diner called Johnny Rockets, there are
juke boxes on the counter and at each booth. The decor is 1950s and so
is the music available. The wait staff wear white shirts, bow ties,
and a little white hat, and when you sit down, they bring you two
nickles for the juke box.

We had delicious hamburgers and onion rings, and a shake served in a
tall glass set on a doily, with the rest of the shake served in a
metal glass. It made it really easy to share!

We were exploding by the end of the meal, and set off to Seeconk MA to
go to Target (a first for us both). We spent a really long time
getting all that Evan needs for school. From pens, to speakers, a
bookshelf in a box, an ironing board, a laundry hamper, a coffee
grinder and thermos, we got it all and much more. Amazingly we could
carry it in only three trips to his room.

Next we set off to the movies to see Inception as an IMAX. The plan
was great in theory. Of course movie theatre have parking (or so you'd
think). We could even see the parked cars, and we found the exit from
the lot but even with close to an hour of searching for the entrance
to the secretive world of subterranean mall parking we gave up,
figuring that street parking after six might be ok. In our search we
had found five other lots all charging $13 for 3 hours, we asked
pedestrians, drivers, parking attendants, and still were
unsuccessful. We did find out that there's a highway to Boston right
by the mall. Twice we were headed in that direction. So, just for the
record, when your GPS tells you to go down Francis street to get to
the mall, don't do it. Go a bit farther and turn, and you will find
parking. We found parking from inside the mall and backtracked to find
out this vital information.

So, arriving 10 minutes late for the movie, we missed previews but not
much more. It was a pretty good movie. There were parts that were
pretty fast for IMAX (I felt a bit dizzy) and others that were so
violent that it was overwhelming. Overall it was a good break from
parking nightmares.

Returning from the movie we unpacked all Evans new things and tried to
assemble a bookcase which said that it had all the needed pieces
inside. All except the two varieties of screwdriver and hammer. So, we
did what we could with a set of nail clippers and a butter knife (not
much). I can try my pocket knife screw driver tomorrow.

My parking expires at 10am so I will start the long drive back at that
time.

What a fun vacation this has been.


Sent from my iPod

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