Lest you think I'm too busy thinking about the Red Sox to get work done, note that the last two days have seen afternoons swallowed whole in the name of staff bonding.

On Wednesday, the res life/housing portion of the office went to the local Merino Lookout Farm to do some apple picking. Turns out you can also pick pears, nectarines, peaches, and a variety of berries. It was a great day to be outside - temps in the high 60s, slight breeze, and sun. I could have just hung out in the orchard with a book or napping.

My nose also took me on a journey back in time, as the grape vines used to provide cover for the main walkways reminded me greatly of a similar set-up at a friend's house back in the day. I even went as far as to pick a cluster of grapes (though we were warned no snacking - bad me) and had a few before my boss pointed out the possibility of some sort of pesticide. That's why she's the boss, she thinks of those sorts of things beforehand. Suffice it to say that my typing here now to you nice people means that if I did ingest something, it didn't kill me. It probably just planted the seed for some really horrifying ailment down the road.

As much as I enjoyed the day, I must say that the farm has a nice little racket going. It's $3 to get out to the orchard on a "train" (I suppose you could walk, but I think they'd still whack you for the $3) and $1.50 per pound of fruit. I suppose I should just be happy that I now have apples that weren't artifically ripened and shipped halfway around the world to get to my fridge.

Yesterday saw a staff lunch at the Dolphin in Natick, a seafood restaurant that one of my co-worked pointed out was named for an aquatic animal that wasn't actually on the menu. I noted that lobsters aren't as photogenic. Sadly, there were no tuna steaks on the menu, so the chance for irony couldn't be converted.

Post-lunch saw a return to the laser tag venue I mentioned back in January, where we played mostly everyone for themselves but also a game of men versus women (women won, but did have a numbers advantage for their team). We also participated in skee ball, pop a shot basketball, etc. so we could win enough tickets to get a new office mascot. You'll be glad to know that the Babson College Office of Campus Life now sports a plush stuffed alligator.

After that I had to get over to the Brookline town hall to apply for a marriage licence. Amazingly, for the entire process, we did not have to offer one bit of identification. Shouldn't John Ashcroft be doing something about that?

The one thing we did have to offer were certificates proving that we'd had out blood test. Massachusetts tests for syphillis and rubella (women only), and only requires AIDS education. You'd think maybe they'd check for HIV or hepatitis C or something more, say, dangerous to the public health. Another one of our antiquated laws.