Shaken, not stirred. Gin is for chumps.

Monday night was excellent. Progress at work and drinks in the Hub. Since I know you're not interested in work, I'll talk about Boston.

Driving through Boston isn't as nightmarish as other cities (I'm looking at you, Chicago), although parking can be a bitch. Most of the streetside parking is reserved for residents, and they'll tow your car if you try it. Luckily for me, however, I found a fly spot about a block away from the public library on Boylston St. where I met my friend Tiffany. She graduated from Virginia Tech with a Ph.D a year ago and has since moved to Salem, MA. She's the type of person who can live in a place for a week and meet more people and know more great restaurants than I could had I lived there a year.

We then headed towrads the back bay to find a place to eat and ended up at Cactus Club, a Mexican restaurant right across the street from Berklee. Feeling adventurous I ordered a hamburger (gasp!) with a delicious black bean salad. Although it didn't have garlic, it was accented nicely with cilantro, an herb I generally dislike. The burger wasn't bad, although since it's been over a year since I've had one I thought I'd enjoy it more. Tiffany and I, as usual, had a nice conversation ("If money weren't a factor, would you see a Madonna concert?"). After polishing off a Harpoon IPA, she convinced me to order a mojito. I'd never had one before. I thought of it as a caipirinha but with mint, and rum instead of cachaca. Have you noticed how popular mojitos are now, though? You can't throw a stick without hitting someone drinking one.

Afterwards we headed to Match where we ordered a couple of martinis (each). The espresso martini was nice, but a bit sweet. The vodka martini was the best I've ever had, though. Damn... and I mean damn! It was as if angels were watching Finding Neverland and you collected their tears in a shaker with ice (because who didn't cry at the end when she comes downstairs and they lift the curtain and... well, I don't want to ruin in for anyone).

My friends Nick and Ben are flying in tomorrow for the weekend. We've got a lot planned. Red Sox game. TMBG concert. Duck tour. Cheers. Sam Adams/Harpoon tour. I'm totally stoked.

My friend Marcus is coming up, too, although he didn't tell me until about three days ago. I hope we can hang out before he goes back to DC.

Oh yeah, and it's a 4-day weekend for me. I can't wait to be in the city for the celebration.

And I just know Nick is going to read this and add a comment saying he didn't cry at Finding Neverland... but he's such a liar. He bawled his eyes out. I have pictures.