if it weren't for bad luck, we wouldn't have any luck at all...

so mike and i did in fact make the earlier flight last night which was one of the first to land last night at logan after it re-opened. since there was a severe lack of taxis, the security guard at the airport was trying to consolidate passengers going to multiple locations into one taxi to expedite travel. we were put into a cab with another couple going to brighton (which was somewhat on the way) and found out after pulling away from the taxi stand that the first group would pay what the meter showed and the second group would pay what the meter showed minus $2 when they arrived at their location. needless to say, this was not fair at all, but we couldn't do much of anything seeing that it was 1:00 am and we had already left logan.

the couple in brighton needed to get to the 1700 block of comm ave and gave the driver specific instructions as to how they would like to get there. we got on the pike heading that direction only to have to stop in the middle of the pike for the cab driver to get out of the cab and pull his windshield wipers off of his windshield since they had frozen and weren't working. this didn't help and we continued the drive in the active snow sans windshield wipers. of course, he thought this would be an opportune time to get on his cell and turn up the radio to increase our safety...

continuing on our way, mike and i noticed that we were going an awfully long way outside of the city to get into brighton (the male of the other couple has only lived here for 5 months and the female was visiting - both of whom made it known that they didn't really know the best way anywhere). mike piped up when we were on storrow drive down past harvard u. and were making our way back to brighton to double back to newton to drop us off. needless to say, we were about 8 minutes from our place (we got off storrow near new balance) and called the driver out on how he was really taking us for a ride. his defense was that all the streets in the city were closed (lie) and that he couldn't get into any of them from where we were (lie). meantime, the guy from the other couple took this opportunity to tell him that he was full of shit since he had used the t to get to logan to pick up his friend and that, while it was still snowing, the streets were perfectly clear and there had been plenty of drivers on the roads.

the four of us decided to tell the cabbie to pull over at the intersection of western ave. and market st. and we would take our chances on getting another cab from there. the driver pulled over and the meter said $26.80. the guys pulled their wallets out and were prepared to give him $13.40 each when the driver tells us that it is $26.80 each couple...which is crap (which we told him) but there wasn't anything we could do since he had our luggage in his trunk.

mike took the opportunity to chew the guy out and tell him he was full of horseshit while i was on the phone with the boston pd's taxi hotline lodging a complaint. finally we were able to get the bags after paying the cabbie when i decided that, with it now being 1:30 am and we were out in the middle of nowhere (so to speak) with no cabs or drivers other than plows, we would be best served to walk to the boston state police barracks located on the on-ramp from market st. to storrow drive. we did such and were greeted with 3 of the nicest troopers i have ever met (one of whom spent well over an hour trying every single cab company in the city - minus the one we had just taken - while the other two flagged down cabs during their patrol and sent them to the barracks to help us and the other couple out). mike and i tried calling our friend karen who we had been traveling with who lives by northeastern to see if she might be able to get there seeing as every single cab company was closed or, the few that were open, didn't have any cabs in the area; my brother who lives down the street from us, and mike's sister who lives in brighton to see if any of them could come get us. finally the trooper was able to get a cab company with a taxi dispatched to come pick up one of the couples (which would be there in 20 minutes...which turned into over an hour) so we let the other couple take the first cab (which mike helped him pay for since the guy had little $ left after the first cab) and waited for another one...and waited...and waited...and waited...

finally around 3:00 am another cab that had been flagged down by one of the troopers (mind you they had literally put out an apb for any taxis in the area to be flagged down and sent to the barracks for us) and we were on our way home.

we got home around 3:30 am and were nothing but elated to be back. we walked in dropped our bags and proceeded to go into our apartment in search of our cats and our bed (where you find one, you will find the other). when i turned on our bedroom light and walked in i immediately noticed that my jewelry box was open...then i noticed that my bureau drawers were open...when i walked around our bed i noticed that half of the contents of my bureau were scattered on the floor...then i turned and looked at mike's bureau and noticed that his drawers were open and had been rifled through. i immediately got my brother on the phone (again) and asked if he had, for any reason, gone into our bedroom (he had been coming once a day to feed our cats). he said no and it was then that mike and i noticed that our front door had clearly been kicked in since the chain from the door was hanging from the door and was no longer securing our apartment.

yes, that's right...after everything else last night we came home to find that our apartment had been broken into. nothing is noticeably missing (other than some cash mike was holding onto to pay back someone from brookline h.s. for the food stand they run during volleyball games), but we were instructed by the cop that showed up to take our statement not to touch anything in the event that one of the detectives would want to come out today to dust for prints (he didn't think that there was much of anything that they might be able to lift prints from).

needless to say, we didn't get into bed until well past 5:00 am and that was with half the lights on in the apartment since i was both exhausted and still spooked.

so now we're playing the waiting game to see what we have to do next...remind me never to go on vacation again...