The Last Moments in Boston

I finally went to the Egenera meeting which was the whole point of me going to Boston on this trip (ahem!). It was uneventful, except that we didn't leave the building until 2:45pm as opposed to the orginally planned noon. We couldn't fly again this day because the plane was under maintenance. It was a bit disappointing cuz I'd love to go flying again. It was a very sunny and warm day. I could feel the temperature rising.

We drove back to Winthrop to check in to the Arms again. This time the room was even nicer with a glass table and two chairs. As I went back to the car, Jim said his friends called and we decided to go meet them at the Yirrell Beach to say hello. Neil, Jen, and Ruth were nice people, with Neil being particularly funny. We chatted for a while, then Jim and I went to have a stroll along the 4.2km perimeter of Deer Island, where there was a gorgeous view of the ocean, a nice breeze, and a state-of-the-art wastewater treatment plant.

Then we rejoined Neil and Ruth for drinks at the Elks while watching sunset. It was there that the unstoppable debates between Jimmy and Neil took place. It was hilarious. I drank only one beer. Yup. One. Jim ordered two pepperoni pizzas from Pizza Centre and boy were they good. Grease was dripping from the pizzas but they didn't taste greasy. They were just delicious. It's definitely not something I could get in HK!

We left at around 8:30pm. Jim parked the car by the beach and we listened to some music. George Winston's piano pieces were very soothing. We finally had something different from the weird songs we've been playing all week. It was then that I got a bit sentimental and sad...

Got back to the hotel at 9:30pm. I took a stroll back to the beach for 45 minutes in hopes of easing some of the sadness and to immerse myself in the last evening sky and ocean breeze. Jim came over again to pick me up for the flight at 4:15am. I deliberately came out early and sat on the steps to look at the moon and the stars. We said goodbye at the airport...

At the airport, I was the lucky one to have been picked by United for a thorough security check. I was led to a compartment where I was searched. My every bag, cell phone, camera, laptop, shoe, zipper was swiped and analyzed by some machine on the spot. The lady who did the inspection was polite, so the procedure didn't add much agitation to me, but I still thought going through the American customs just sucked.

My flight from Chicago was delayed due to three independent incidents: Checked luggage without passenger boarding, technical problem with the door or something, arrival of paramedics for an unwell passenger. The flight was otherwise uneventful and we landed in HK at 4pm on Sunday Sept. 9. That was the end of my two-week trip to the US.

Afterword
- It turned out that the temperature of Boston on the day of my departure was 36C. I've managed to avoid the hottest days of Boston both before and after my stay.
- There was a fatal plane crash at the Mansfield Airport just off Runway 22 on the day of my departure. Lucky Jim didn't end up going flying that day.