Monday evening the plan was to meet the lovely Blocked and her handsome husband some place for dinner, but wouldn't you know Spirit Airlines called and said they were going to deliver Robb's bag "sometime" during the day. So we came up with an alternate plan. Robb would meet them at the Greek Corner Restaurant, they would get take-out and we would have dinner in the apartment. So that's what we did. They got two take-out sampler dinners; one meat and one vegetarian. Other than the stuffed grape leaves and the hummus, I had no idea what we were eating, but it was super delicious. Robb stopped at the liquor store and got a bottle of wine, but had to go back to get another. That too, though it was a name I had not known before, was quite good. All in all, it was an excellent evening and we really enjoyed getting together with Blocked and her hubby again. They are very delightful people. It's too bad we live so far apart (did I mention they live in England?). Robb would like us to go to London and see them there, but I'm not sure I can do that. We'll see how it turns out. Oh, it was after midnight before the guy from Spirit arrived with Robb's bag!
Tuesday, Robb got a virus on his laptop. It was something called System Care. I tried to run the anti-virus program, but the SC wouldn't let me load it. I tried to get on the internet, but it wouldn't let me do that either. So I got on my laptop to see what kind of information I could find about getting rid of it. I found a few sites that addressed the issue and checked one. They provided a phone number, so I called. That was my first mistake. The guy at Advanced Tech said they could clean the laptop for only $199! I don't know what I was thinking, but I agreed! Mistake number 2. They accessed Robb's laptop remotely and began doing whatever it is they do. Well, it took forever and several hours later it still wasn't done. It was around this time I started thinking maybe they were part of the scam. I went back onto my laptop and checked. That's when I saw something that I should have thought of in the first place: simply shut down the laptop, wait a few minutes, turn it on again, hit F8 and get on using Safe Mode, then run System Restore. Why I didn't think of it at first, I have no idea. But that's what I did and Robb's laptop was back to normal within a few minutes. Then I decided to call Advanced Tech to get my money back. I didn't really believe I had a snowball's chance, but figured what did I have to lose? Surprisingly, they gave me no hassle at all. So Robb's laptop is working again and I saved $200! For dinner, I had discovered a Japanese Restaurant on Massachusetts Avenue and wanted to go there because I LOVE their ramen noodle soup! Sadly, they closed at 19h00! I couldn't believe a restaurant would close that early, but it seemed most of the restaurants along the avenue were already closed. So we returned to the apartment where we ended up eating some of the Chinese food we had brought home Sunday night. It was a bit tastier this time.
Wednesday evening, we called a taxi and went to the Boston Museum of Fine Arts because Robb wanted to see their Impressionist section.. Entrance to the museum is rather expensive, so just getting there and getting in cost us $75. But it was worth it because they had one of the largest Monet collections I've ever seen anywhere. The bonus for me was that I was able to get a wheelchair and didn't have to walk around the whole place. It is a large museum. Since it was almost 20h00, we decided to have dinner at the museum. They have two restaurants and two snack cafes. We dined in the Bravo restaurant (scroll down, click on "Bravo" - the red-haired guy in the bottom photo was our waiter). Robb had salmon and I had the Red Snapper. I drank Sauvignon Blanc. Robb had a wine recommended by our waiter (Loimer Lois Grüner Veltliner 2011), who was very knowledgeable about the food and the wine (he normally works behind the bar). Robb loved the wine. For dessert, we both had Mocha Crême Caramel. The dinner was not too expensive and everything was excellent. If you're ever in the Boston MFA at dinnertime, we highly recommend it.
Thursday = RAIN!!!!
Dumb Law of the Week: In Minnesota, it is illegal to tease skunks.
À la prochaine, mes amis.
