bow tie, glass of wine

the typical Harvard guy, at your typical Harvard bar.

Nick & I journeyed up to Harvard Square/Yard, and all those other Harvard-associated places, like Grendel's Den, the coolest name for the most New-England-lookin' bar I can think of.

The place was crowded--a good sign--during "half-price food" hour, a clever replacement term for "Happy Hour" in a state that doesn't allow Happy Hour (right?).

The half-off salad I ordered was half-as-good-as-expected, but the twice-as-expensive-as-anticipated sangria was pretty damn good. And then there was bow-tie-guy.

We first met bow-tie-guy when he came over to compliment Nick's Obama shirt, and to hand us a paper napkin with something written on it. Upon further observation, we found the scribble on the napkin to be a conundrum of sorts, a Latin phrase spelled forward and backward to create a certain desired effect of cleverness (clearly the frayed academic wit of a high school Latin teacher). It said:

ID AMABO | OBAMA DI

(over)

I SHALL LOVE IT or I SHALL LOVE THAT | OBAMA DEMOCRAT ILLINOIS

Cute, I thought. The old academic-looking guy in the maroon suit and matching bow tie picked Nick out of the crowd (okay, so Nick was the only one in the room not wearing a collared shirt).

"Look at him, drinking that classy glass of red wine alone at the end of the bar," I said to Nick. "Either he's a Harvard guy, or he's a crazee."

As we approached the end of our rather disappointing meal (but delightfully refreshing beverages), bow-tie-guy came up to us again, apologized for the strangeness of the napkin conundrum, and proceeded to entertain us in a conversation over music and academics, intermittently filling in with quacky jokes (the kind you prepare yourself to politely huffah at, and end up actually finding funny). It was a surprisingly charming discussion.

And it turns out he's an admissions officer at Harvard.

...

Whoever first said it's a small world couldn't have been more right. The lady I bought my running shoes from today has a niece at Santa Clara University, and while on the T that we jumped onto at the last minute, Nick ran into a guy who he knows from school. It makes one wonder how many friends we're just barely missing as we go about our day..