Last night The Wiff and I went out to see Ad Frank and the Fast and Easy Women play at Harper's Ferry in Allston. I hadn't seen them play in probably a year or so and it was a really good show. As it turns out, it was also a bit of a reunion of sorts. First off, Nancy and Mike were there! They're great people and I was trying to think of the last time I had seen them and it has to be about 2 years maybe? God, I need to get out more often. I suck. Mike occasionally plays keyboards for the band (actually I asked him and he said that the last time was probably 5 years ago...technically still occasionally right?). I also got to say Hey to Linda Bean P.! One of my all time favorite peoples.
Continuing with the reunion theme, I saw this guy Phil that I knew from a million years ago. Then later on I saw Joey Diaz whom I worked with at the copy place in Harvard Sq. (I worked at a few copy places in my day. I actually was working at a copy place during the time when that frickin' "Copy Guy" skit was playing on Saturday Night Live. People would come in and say "Heh..Makin' copies!" as if they were not only the first person that day to say it to me but the first person ever to say it. They weren't. Luckily for me, I was already dead inside. Side note: who knew that the "Copy Guy" had a name? It was Richard. Wow..I really do suck).
Then on came American Music Club and they sounded fantastic. I wasn't that familiar with their stuff but they're really good. Great even. We hung out for their set and realized that it was now 12:15 am on a school night. Fudge. The Wiff turned to me and said "I have to get up in 5 hours." By the time we said our goodbyes and got out of Allston and back to the castle we call home it was 1 am. So right now I'm functioning on about 4 hours sleep (thereabouts). Not horrible when your younger and dumber but when your old and (still) dumb, 4 hours really doesn't cut it. I feel jet lagged without having to take my shoes off and walk on industrial carpeting.
Wednesday, April 23, 2008
Wednesday, April 16, 2008
A Failed Attempt at Being Green(er)
First a little history: I didn't get my drivers license until I was 25 (The Wiff didn't get hers until she was 28). I didn't really need it up until that point. I lived in the city and I could easily bop around on public transportation (the dreaded T), my bike, my feet or I could mooch a ride from one of my friends. Plus, the dumb jobs I had up until that point were usually close enough that most of those forms of getting around worked fine.
Then I got a job where I actually had to drive around all day as part of the gig. Well, poop. That means I'm gonna have to learn to drive or something. So I did (thanks Rene and Bruce! oh, and Gary too!). Then I bought a car (affectionately named Sally but also not-so-affectionately called The Leper). A 1983 Mercury Marquis. It broke down a lot. I mean a LOT. But it was mine. And then I gave it to my sister Mary (and it broke down on her. A lot. Sorry Mary).
ooooh..sexy!
So blah blah blah and we move away from the city (not the royal 'we'...The Wiff and me). We moved far enough away that it's actually kind of a pain in the booty to get into the city where, unfortunately, our jobs are. At least that's what I had been telling myself for most of the time that we've lived out there. But last year they started construction on our commuting route and it totally fudged up the ride in. It was taking well over an hour to get into Cambridge. It's only 15 frickin' miles. It was time to abandon the car and go back to taking the train. Actually, I'd never taken the commuter rail before. It was always the regular trains and/or busses for me cuz I'm classy like that.
I made the jump back in October and for a while there, it was ok. I didn't really mind giving in to their schedule. I didn't really mind most of it really. I'd get on the train, go to North Station and then walk over to my office here in Kendall Sq. Then at night, reverse the route. It was kinda nice. A short-ish walk in the morning, and another at night. Stare out the window of the train and listen to music. No traffic. No big whoop.
Then the delays started. And winter happened. And I started to notice how annoying my fellow humans are, especially in close quarters before I've had my coffee. Hmph. I figured I could endure though because I'm doing the right thing here. I'm being a responsible citizen or whatever by actually using our mass transit system. This is ok, I would tell myself but I wasn't listening anymore.
I started to find more and more excuses to drive in to work. And then one day last week during one of those guilty-feeling drives into work, Charlie Card judging me silently from my bag in the back seat, I said quietly to The Wiff: "I hate the train." She was concerned mainly because we'd miss our walk. But I argued that we could walk after work along the beach (awwwwwwwww) since we live right there. And it would be a much nicer walk than the one we do from Cambridge to North Station. Pretty good argument. And bonus, they have finished the road construction on our commuting route so our commute is now 35-40 minutes. When we take the train and walk it can take an hour and a half. We were getting home at 5:45 or so. Now we get home at 5:10. Hmmmm. More time to go for a walk or just relax or whatever the hell.
But dude, you say, what about the environment? Gas prices? Your shitty cars? The retards out there on the roads? Well, I say, Feh. Meh. Pffth. F Them. I have to be completely honest. I cannot stand taking the train everyday. It's ok once and a while but as my main form of transportation it just doesn't work for me. Not when it takes as long as it does and I get all sweaty and gross on my walk to work. I'm pretty revolting actually. I was actually considering having a complete change of clothes with me every day if I was to continue to take the train and walk every day in the summer. Me in the heat and humidity is downright awful.
So the train can blow me. I'm driving.
Then I got a job where I actually had to drive around all day as part of the gig. Well, poop. That means I'm gonna have to learn to drive or something. So I did (thanks Rene and Bruce! oh, and Gary too!). Then I bought a car (affectionately named Sally but also not-so-affectionately called The Leper). A 1983 Mercury Marquis. It broke down a lot. I mean a LOT. But it was mine. And then I gave it to my sister Mary (and it broke down on her. A lot. Sorry Mary).
ooooh..sexy!
So blah blah blah and we move away from the city (not the royal 'we'...The Wiff and me). We moved far enough away that it's actually kind of a pain in the booty to get into the city where, unfortunately, our jobs are. At least that's what I had been telling myself for most of the time that we've lived out there. But last year they started construction on our commuting route and it totally fudged up the ride in. It was taking well over an hour to get into Cambridge. It's only 15 frickin' miles. It was time to abandon the car and go back to taking the train. Actually, I'd never taken the commuter rail before. It was always the regular trains and/or busses for me cuz I'm classy like that.
I made the jump back in October and for a while there, it was ok. I didn't really mind giving in to their schedule. I didn't really mind most of it really. I'd get on the train, go to North Station and then walk over to my office here in Kendall Sq. Then at night, reverse the route. It was kinda nice. A short-ish walk in the morning, and another at night. Stare out the window of the train and listen to music. No traffic. No big whoop.
Then the delays started. And winter happened. And I started to notice how annoying my fellow humans are, especially in close quarters before I've had my coffee. Hmph. I figured I could endure though because I'm doing the right thing here. I'm being a responsible citizen or whatever by actually using our mass transit system. This is ok, I would tell myself but I wasn't listening anymore.
I started to find more and more excuses to drive in to work. And then one day last week during one of those guilty-feeling drives into work, Charlie Card judging me silently from my bag in the back seat, I said quietly to The Wiff: "I hate the train." She was concerned mainly because we'd miss our walk. But I argued that we could walk after work along the beach (awwwwwwwww) since we live right there. And it would be a much nicer walk than the one we do from Cambridge to North Station. Pretty good argument. And bonus, they have finished the road construction on our commuting route so our commute is now 35-40 minutes. When we take the train and walk it can take an hour and a half. We were getting home at 5:45 or so. Now we get home at 5:10. Hmmmm. More time to go for a walk or just relax or whatever the hell.
But dude, you say, what about the environment? Gas prices? Your shitty cars? The retards out there on the roads? Well, I say, Feh. Meh. Pffth. F Them. I have to be completely honest. I cannot stand taking the train everyday. It's ok once and a while but as my main form of transportation it just doesn't work for me. Not when it takes as long as it does and I get all sweaty and gross on my walk to work. I'm pretty revolting actually. I was actually considering having a complete change of clothes with me every day if I was to continue to take the train and walk every day in the summer. Me in the heat and humidity is downright awful.
So the train can blow me. I'm driving.
Monday, April 14, 2008
Why Am I Surprised?
The pen show was awful. Let me 'splain...I was hoping (and my sister Mary was also) that this would be like a art supply show or maybe even a coolio stationary store kind of vibe. But what it ended up being was a bunch of dudes (mostly dudes with a smattering of women) who are into COLLECTING pens. Yeah. Not really what I had in mind. I was looking for stuff like Kohn-i-Noor rapidograph pens (they're made for drafting but I use 'em for doodling) and my sister was looking for these fancy-pants pens that she uses in her art. We ended up doing one lap of the room and then bailing. Lame lame lame. Cost me $6 to walk around a hotel conference room once. These people were an odd bunch. We noticed that a lot of the guys were wearing these safari vests. Dunno why that is...more room for pens?
Saturday, April 12, 2008
Games We Play
When I was a kid there were some games that my sisters and I would play whenever we had to drive somewhere. There was always Punch Buggy but I don't remember that as being wildly popluar in the back of the Great Beast (my dad's 1973 Pontiac station wagon). At night we played Padiddle (which I still play to this day). We didn't do the point system thing it was more of who could spot it first and yell "PADIDDLE!" at the top of their lungs. We also used to hold our breath when passing a cemetary (because it is impolite to breathe in front of those who cannot). My dad would more often than not slow down when going by cemetaries. He'd end up with 4 kids slowly turning blue stubbornly refusing to let him win. He always won that one.
There is a game that I still play to this day and it doesn't necessarily have to be played whilst driving. I'm going to credit my sister Patty for this one but I'm not entirely sure of its origins. How you play is when you see a Post Office truck, van, jeep-thing or whatever, you cross your fingers on one hand. The goal is to keep those fingers crossed until you see another mail truck. When you see the next one, you can uncross your fingers and you get ... wait for it ... Good Luck! Yep! How exciting! And, the longer the time between crossing and then uncrossing, the longer the good luck will last. However, if you uncross your fingers BEFORE seeing another mail truck, you get Bad Luck! And the same duration rule applies. OOoooOOooh! Scary!
As far as I know this game doesn't even have an official name or anything. It doesn't even have clearly defined rules. Or at least it didn't always have rules. Over the years I have added special conditions and other regulations to make it more complicated. For instance: what is the relationship between length of real time with crossed fingers and the resulting good/bad luck? My sister Patty never really addressed this important question. So I had to. The relationship is 1 to 10. If you cross your fingers after seeing a mail truck and successfully uncross them at the next sighting 10 minutes later, you will get 100 minutes of good luck. Holy hell, I sound like a crazy person.
But it gets weirder. In my travels I have often found that might have to uncross my fingers for just a second or 2 (like to pick something up or maybe flip someone off. Have you ever tried to give someone the bird when your fingers are crossed? It totally loses its oomph) but I don't want to get penalized for this. Ah, no problem. In every game of ... whatever this is called ... you are allowed a 5-second uncrossing. But you must immediately re-cross after this 5 seconds is over. Failure to do so will result in DOUBLE the bad luck. Harsh? Meh. What's worse is you have to make a really embarrassing move to make sure the uncrossing is recognized as the 5-second variety. You must "throw the cross into the air". Yep. You read that right. You take your hand with the crossed fingers and flick them up into a "peace sign". Then, and only then does the 5-second rule come into play. You can only do this once per, uh, session.
I wish I was lying about this but everytime I happen by a Post Office with a whole bunch of mail trucks all lined up in the back, I cross and uncross my fingers like..well, like a madman. Is this too much sharing? I also get genuinely disappointed if I am unable to find another mail truck and have to concede to uncrossing my fingers and enduring the bad luck penalty. Similarly if I see a truck and decide NOT to "take it" (as I call it) and then later I see another truck, I get kinda pissed that I missed the opportunity. Wanna hang out? No?
There is a game that I still play to this day and it doesn't necessarily have to be played whilst driving. I'm going to credit my sister Patty for this one but I'm not entirely sure of its origins. How you play is when you see a Post Office truck, van, jeep-thing or whatever, you cross your fingers on one hand. The goal is to keep those fingers crossed until you see another mail truck. When you see the next one, you can uncross your fingers and you get ... wait for it ... Good Luck! Yep! How exciting! And, the longer the time between crossing and then uncrossing, the longer the good luck will last. However, if you uncross your fingers BEFORE seeing another mail truck, you get Bad Luck! And the same duration rule applies. OOoooOOooh! Scary!
cross, uncross, cross, uncross, cross...DAMMIT!
As far as I know this game doesn't even have an official name or anything. It doesn't even have clearly defined rules. Or at least it didn't always have rules. Over the years I have added special conditions and other regulations to make it more complicated. For instance: what is the relationship between length of real time with crossed fingers and the resulting good/bad luck? My sister Patty never really addressed this important question. So I had to. The relationship is 1 to 10. If you cross your fingers after seeing a mail truck and successfully uncross them at the next sighting 10 minutes later, you will get 100 minutes of good luck. Holy hell, I sound like a crazy person.
But it gets weirder. In my travels I have often found that might have to uncross my fingers for just a second or 2 (like to pick something up or maybe flip someone off. Have you ever tried to give someone the bird when your fingers are crossed? It totally loses its oomph) but I don't want to get penalized for this. Ah, no problem. In every game of ... whatever this is called ... you are allowed a 5-second uncrossing. But you must immediately re-cross after this 5 seconds is over. Failure to do so will result in DOUBLE the bad luck. Harsh? Meh. What's worse is you have to make a really embarrassing move to make sure the uncrossing is recognized as the 5-second variety. You must "throw the cross into the air". Yep. You read that right. You take your hand with the crossed fingers and flick them up into a "peace sign". Then, and only then does the 5-second rule come into play. You can only do this once per, uh, session.
I wish I was lying about this but everytime I happen by a Post Office with a whole bunch of mail trucks all lined up in the back, I cross and uncross my fingers like..well, like a madman. Is this too much sharing? I also get genuinely disappointed if I am unable to find another mail truck and have to concede to uncrossing my fingers and enduring the bad luck penalty. Similarly if I see a truck and decide NOT to "take it" (as I call it) and then later I see another truck, I get kinda pissed that I missed the opportunity. Wanna hang out? No?
Friday, April 11, 2008
Welcome to 30 Years of Not Thinking About My Roof
Huzzah! The roof is done and done! The guys did a fantastic job and I would recommend this company very highly. As a matter of fact, I'll do just that right now: Hire Ferreira Remodeling. One of the best parts is that Alex (the guy who owns the company) took pictures for us of the work in progress. Check it:
This is from the back of the house looking towards the front.
This is looking down at side of the house. That's The Wiff's office under that blue tarp thing.
This is the roof of The Wiff's office being worked on. The van is in our driveway.
This is a shot of the flat part of the roof. This is the roof that started this whole project. Looks shitty right?
Well...blammo! Here's the new roof. See how pretty!
This is from the roof of The Wiff's office looking at the little bump-out over our dining room bay window. You can actually see the mess that the previous owners made of the roof. All that black crap at the top of the gutter is roofing cement that they slathered on the old roof so stop the leaks that they had. Hey! There's Alex's van! Call him! He rules!
Here's a shot of the main roof and the chimneys. We now have shiny flashing! Previously we had goopy roofing cement. Booo!
And a shot of the front entrance roof. I like the architectural shingles cuz they have a really nice pattern.
Our next-door neighbor hired Alex to do her gutters based on our recommendation and the quality of his work. He also may get another job from the woman who lives right across the street.
Whew. I'm so glad that this worked out the way it did. I've heard (and had) bad experiences with contractors but at the risk of repeating myself, Alex Ferreira is a great contractor.
Ready for conversation whiplash?
My sister and I are going to completely nerd out on Sunday and go to the Boston Pen Show at The Holiday Inn in Somerville. I'll just wait here as you re-read that. Yep. I'm going to a pen show. On purpose. And I can't frickin' wait. I have a problem. I'm addicted to pens. There, I said it. I'm pretty sure I get it from my dad who was clearly addicted to pens (and his napkin for some reason. I remember whenever it was my turn to clear the table after dinner he would guard his napkin like it was a treasure. "Don't take my napkin!" Uh, no problem there dad. I really don't want it. Honest). The pen show is $6 to get in and goes from 10am to 4pm. See you there? Yeah, prolly not huh...
Aaaaaaaaaand The Wiff and I are going to see Eddie Izzard on the 29th. That should be a great show. I'm looking forward to that.
This is from the back of the house looking towards the front.
This is looking down at side of the house. That's The Wiff's office under that blue tarp thing.
This is the roof of The Wiff's office being worked on. The van is in our driveway.
This is a shot of the flat part of the roof. This is the roof that started this whole project. Looks shitty right?
Well...blammo! Here's the new roof. See how pretty!
This is from the roof of The Wiff's office looking at the little bump-out over our dining room bay window. You can actually see the mess that the previous owners made of the roof. All that black crap at the top of the gutter is roofing cement that they slathered on the old roof so stop the leaks that they had. Hey! There's Alex's van! Call him! He rules!
Here's a shot of the main roof and the chimneys. We now have shiny flashing! Previously we had goopy roofing cement. Booo!
And a shot of the front entrance roof. I like the architectural shingles cuz they have a really nice pattern.
Our next-door neighbor hired Alex to do her gutters based on our recommendation and the quality of his work. He also may get another job from the woman who lives right across the street.
Whew. I'm so glad that this worked out the way it did. I've heard (and had) bad experiences with contractors but at the risk of repeating myself, Alex Ferreira is a great contractor.
Ready for conversation whiplash?
My sister and I are going to completely nerd out on Sunday and go to the Boston Pen Show at The Holiday Inn in Somerville. I'll just wait here as you re-read that. Yep. I'm going to a pen show. On purpose. And I can't frickin' wait. I have a problem. I'm addicted to pens. There, I said it. I'm pretty sure I get it from my dad who was clearly addicted to pens (and his napkin for some reason. I remember whenever it was my turn to clear the table after dinner he would guard his napkin like it was a treasure. "Don't take my napkin!" Uh, no problem there dad. I really don't want it. Honest). The pen show is $6 to get in and goes from 10am to 4pm. See you there? Yeah, prolly not huh...
Aaaaaaaaaand The Wiff and I are going to see Eddie Izzard on the 29th. That should be a great show. I'm looking forward to that.
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