Hail Of A Day

I’m in Boston this week for a conference and I find that whenever I’m out on the road, some of the most fascinating things happen to me. I don’t know if it’s just that I’m more aware of things because I’m by myself or because I’m forced into contact with more strangers than ordinary life. I hadn’t eaten all day so I was pretty excited about going and having a good steak some place. About half a mile from my hotel is one of my favorite steak places. It’s very cold in Boston right now so I took a cab. One side thought: Is there anything more depressing than eating a nice meal by yourself? After an amazing meal I thought, It’s not that far to the hotel so I’ll just walk. That was a bad idea. I got about 10 paces from the restaurant and actually started laughing as I was leaning into a bitterly cold headwind. Have you ever been so cold, that you laugh out loud? I said the Christian equivalent to “F___ this” and walked across the street to another hotel.

They had an awesome awning that had some sort of array of heaters. It was the strangest sensation. I was standing outside, inches from freezing wind, but was warm. Finally, a taxi arrived. From the get-go my cabbie was heatedly carrying on a phone conversation in something like Farsi. You would have thought that he was negotiating the sale of his land. I was exceedingly curious about the content of his dialogue. Then I heard him say in a very clear manner, “mashed po-ta-toes”. I laughed out loud, and thought did he just say mashed potatoes? After some more passionate discourse he clearly said, “french fries”. And the biggest tempest and flurry of indecipherable words occurred right before he banged his hand on the steering wheel and yelled, “KENTUCKY FRIED CHICKEN”.

I would have to say that in my life, I’ve never heard such a passionate articulation about potato products. I would hate to start a conversation about the economy or war in Iraq. He’d probably drive us into a telephone pole.