almost 2 weeks ago, rob was fired (or let go, depending on who you talk to). it took until now to finally organize a belated farewell celebration for him. everyone met at the black rhino, a bar on the outskirts of the financial district, in the shadow of the custom house tower which was beautifully illuminated in the night's sky, just days before summer officially ends and autumn begins. it was slightly cold but i was dressed for the occasion in my blue sweater. when we saw rob, he had a new goatee which made him look like evil rob.

the group i was traveling with - laurie, amy, ed, amanda - first went to laurie's apartment in central square via car so laurie can dropped off her vehicle. she might've been willing to drive into boston except the only person who wasn't drinking - me - didn't know how to drive a manual stick shift car back. it felt weird being in cambridgeport, especially where we were, outside of laurie's apartment, across the street from prince street, where i've visited 3 times already just looking at the property on 12 prince street. being there, it felt like being at home, even though i don't live there - yet.

so we then walked from cambridgeport to central square and took the t into town. we got off at government center and amanda led the way, she having been to the black rhino a few weeks ago (also with our fellow coworkers). when we got there, we sat down and started drinking right away (at least everyone other than me, i just had a few rounds of coca-cola, the hard stuff). who was there already: hannah, stef, allie, eliza, laura, rob (the guest of honor himself). later, rob's friend ed came by, and so did tom and john (stef's bf).

black rhino's an interesting little dive, the clientele appears to be mostly afterwork financial district people. so it wasn't the kind of bar that catered to the pretty people (other than us of course) is what i'm saying. no greasy men in mesh, no hooches in eyecatching minis. there was a live band (actually just a lone electric guitar cover artist), and from the outside we could see him playing with some people eventually dancing further in the background. it's a quaint little place, a little far from where we are, but i suppose there are more drinking establishments in the city then in kendall square.

by the end of the night, people were toasting with shots. our tab (at least the first tab, people kept on drinking even after it was tallied) ran a mighty high number. i think some of the more seasoned drinkers were surprised at how much it was. drinks can be expensive! another good reason why i don't partake in the alcoholic libations. after black rhino, what's left of the party (laurie + tom, rob, ed, stef, john) were getting ready to go to another bar while amanda and i walked back to government center and took the green line to our respective homes.

during lunch i went to central square to pick up a travel journal for my trip plus a few pens. i went to harvard square to check out that brown corduroy jacket i saw last week. turns out the thing doesn't have any pockets. for $50 i expect my jacket to have pockets at least! so i didn't buy it. i quickly came back to the office, got a large bowl of wild mushroom soup from au bon pain.

today was a depressing day. besides having a lot of work to do, i couldn't help but to think i'd be losing my current work space. when i come back from my vacation, come back to work, october 9th, it'll be like going to a new job. plus, because i won't be here next week when they start moving people around, i won't be able to move my stuff. some unknown person is going to do it for me. i think it'd be funny if i hide some incriminating items around my desk area. a leather mask, some rave flyers, maybe a home pregnancy test. whoever moves me will get a big surprise!

when i got home, i called northwestern/klm to confirm my flight for this saturday. everything is all set. i got my plane tickets, i got my passport, i got my northwestern frequent flyer mileage card. just three more days. how do i feel? god, you know, i almost don't want to go turkey! today i realized how much work i have to do when i come back from my vacation. it's going to be two weeks of hell again. i'm going to burn a cd with my work. if i should somehow get bored during the two weeks i'll be in turkey (i know, i know, i am committing one of vacationing's greatest sins!), i can do some coding. but maybe these two weeks will do me good. i need to relax. i've been waiting over a year for a vacation. last year's trip to china wasn't really a vacation, more like a nonstop three weeks sightseeing marathon across the middle kingdom. i'm hoping this turkish trip, at least the first half, will be like my cancun trip two years ago, where i actually felt relaxed for the first time in a long time. maybe a nice turkish massage, rubbed down by strong hairy turkish men might do me some good! who knows. it'll be exciting. i can't wait.

also today those rechargeable nimh batteries i ordered over a week ago finally arrived. they're recharging (as we speak). powerex brand, 1600mah, whatever the heck that means. all i know is i have even more juice to take photos now.