Work - Finally!

I haven't posted in a while because I finally got some work. I am temping but working full-time hours at Viisage L1id. The company deals with biometrics, fingerprint scanning, ID cards, etc. I'm just helping out the HR manager who is overwhelmed because the director recently left and the company is growing like wildfire. It is in Billerica which is about 40 minutes away, but my boss is really great and it seems like a nice place to work.

On another note, there are a few things I've noticed about Boston.

First, they have no idea how to make coffee. The only "flavorful" coffee I've found so far uses beans so dark the whole mess tastes burnt. The rest of it looks like dirty dish water and tastes about as good. A proper cup of joe should not be the color of tea. Dunkin' I love your vanilla flavored coffee - if only you knew how to brew it!

Second, the "r" at the end of a word is completely optional. This one threw me at first. I was listening to a lady at work talk about how she got this sad call from "Petaah" and it seriously took me at least a minute to realize she meant "Peter" and not PETA the animal rights organization. But other than the occassional confusion, the Boston accent is highly entertaining. I'm sure my Southern accent makes them smile too, but somehow sitting through car commercials is so much more entertaining when every five seconds they say "caaah" instead of "car."

Third, people on the streets are either unnervingly friendly or Massholes (as the locals call them.) There seems to be little middle ground. On the one hand, people will go out of their way and walk blocks in the opposite direction just to show you how to get somewhere. And some of them love to talk up random strangers on the street. These people are especially drawn to Dan. It is like he has some magical lonely boy magnet. He'll be standing alone at the T stop, headphones on, tapping his fingers to his iPod when some stranger will walk up and start talking to him about their dreams for owning a music store. And yet, within the span of 30 minutes, you'll enivitably bump into a total jerk. People honk and flip the bird for no apparent reason. The other day we were catching the bus and this car behind the bus started honking like crazy because it was forced to stop. There was clearly a line of people getting on the bus at a designated stop, but the car driver didn't care. He or she continued to lay on the horn the entire time people were boarding. Then, once we starting driving down the road, the car cut in front of the bus and stopped in the middle of the road as some sort of revenge. It all makes it a bit hard to know how to react when you first run into a person. Which category will they fall into?

And on yet another note, Rebecca made us some awesome food Monday. I have pictures but I'm too lazy to upload them to my computer right now. So I'll save that for another post.