adamg's blog

Christine cheers her sister on during yesterday's Boston Half Marathon:

... Afterwards over lunch I asked Sharon how she managed to look so fresh and upbeat at the end of her 13 mile journey. She said that her goal was to stay tuned in physically and mentally during the race; to listen to what her instincts and body were telling her and to move through the course at a pace where she felt energized yet comfortable. ...

Jonelle ran the race, but realized she's getting too old to do stuff like not train AND play in an Ultimate Frisbee match the same day:

... The folly of this didn't really hit me until mile 10 of the race, at which point, I slowed down. In my ten or so years of running this is maybe the only logical decision I've ever made during a road race.

Monarch butterly on Bellevue Street in West Roxbury today. About 20 minutes later, I saw a monarch (the same one?) heading north over the West Roxbury library.

If you're going to park illegally, do it right and break two laws at once, as shown here on Centre Street in West Roxbury today. Bonus points if you're wearing a law-enforcement or guard uniform.

Newly arrived from California, Susan quickly gets lessons in how our fair state's insurance and mass-transit systems really work. First, she's forced to lie about where she got her car, because it was a gift from her aunt and the official form for insurance doesn't list "aunt" as a family member from whom gifts are acceptable:

... I was confused, as I listened to two insurance professionals loudly discuss how to violate insurance law. I mean, granted, Massachusetts seems to have an inordinate number of rules and regulations, but I assumed that was because people LIKED rules and regulations. This appears not to be the case. ...

But for true fun, read her account of trying to buy a T pass.

The other day I was having trouble connecting to our access point from our back porch (those durn metal door- and window frames!). Out of curiosity, I turned on site survey and saw three other addresses pop up - all un-encrypted and one offering direct access to somebody's PC. Since we don't have all that many neighboring houses, it would probably be pretty easy to figure out who the networks belong to and talk to them about, at a minimum, turning WEP on. Should I?

Yet Another Thing to Try to Figure Out

I'll be a judge in a Wicked Boston Accent Contest at the New England Home Show at the World Trade Center on Thursday (the judging starts at 6:30 p.m.; get there early to ensure a good seat and for photo ops and autographs).

Why me? Brigham's thought up the contest to promote its new Wicked Chocolate ice cream; they found my Wicked Good Guide to Boston English via the Miracle of the Internets.

I and the other three judges (somebody from Brigham's, somebody from the Home Show and somebody who apparently is a Trained Professional Linguist) will select a winna from among 10 finalists. As the rules note:

All decisions of judges are final.

To which I can only add: Bwa-ha-ha! BWA-HA-HA! OK, OK, I'll be stern, but fair. I also note this official rule:

Finalists and grand prize winner assume all liability for any injuries or damages caused or claimed by his or her participation in the contest and/or as a result of the acceptance and/or use of any prize and releases from any such liability Brigham's, Inc. and its agencies.

So I'm really hoping nobody strains their throat or falls off the stage while discoursing on Haymahket or Mahblehead or whateva.

Auto describes a ride on the Red Line:

... As we stood, hand on pole, back aching under a week's worth of books, we stared at what passes for faces on a weekday afternoon T. Then, from to our left: "Fuck you, motherfucker!" We spun toward the expletives. Six inches away stood a man, slightly hunched over, with his hands on another's collar. The standing man was in his mid-twenties, with a face that seemed to demand a mullet. His body obscured the object of his rage. Was this a fight among friends? A pocket-picking gone wrong? Should we intervene? We slid left to see the sitting man's face and found a silver-haired, red-faced sixty-five-year-old grandfather. Right at that moment the standing man jerked his elderly prey, adding an "I'll fucking kill you." Without thought, our right hand went up and onto the back of the youngster's shoulder. With a pull, we ripped the man's hands from the collar and sent him two feet back. As we stepped in front of the old man and did our best Clint Eastwood stare, a 6'5" man of approximately 45 years rushed over and yelled at the twenty-something. "What the hell do you think you're doing?!" he demanded to know. We all demanded to know. ...

Keep reading to see how there's always more than one side to a story.

Who says the Metro's just good for messing up the T? Erin's ripping through the Metro crossword on the Red Line this morning when another passenger notices how fast she's going. Before she gets off the train, she has his business card and a request to send in her resume.

Historic Hyde Square is a new blog-based site by residents of Jamaica Plain's Hyde Square section:

In 1984, the Boston Landmarks Commission identified six areas in Hyde Square that were eligible for listing on the National Register of Historic Places.

Historic Hyde Square is a group of residents who are organizing to pursue these historic designations.

Sure, it's shiny and gleaming, but when you get right down to it, the Silver Line through Roxbury and the South End is still just a bunch of buses, one subject to all the whims of Boston drivers, John writes:

The Silver Line never really sounded like a real transit line, and it's proved to be the fraud that many predicted.

He points to this Herald article, in which a T spokesman blames delays over the past month on the Jan. 23 blizzard:

"We had 2 feet of snow. It was the most significant snowstorm since the blizzard of '78," T spokesman Joe Pesaturo said. "With each passing day, the situation gets better."

With each passing day? The blizzard was A MONTH ago, and they still haven't figured out how to work with the city to clear away the snow - much of which had since melted? Throw in yesterday's snow, and maybe things will be back to normal by, what, June?

Carpundit is just loving the newly redone John Adams Courthouse (for you viewers at home, you can see it in the opening credits for "Boston Legal"):

... The only failing of the renovators, I think, was in their failing to secure permission to raze Center Plaza, which hides the courthouse from the city. Like City Hall and the JFK Federal Building, Center Plaza is an architectural insult that detracts from the city's old beauty. ...

H2Otown is all Watertown all the time, powered by local blogger par excellence Lisa Williams. So if you live or work there, rush over right now.

Note: Lisa's using Drupal, the same community software we use here at the Hub, so she's obviously good people :-).

The view down our street this morning:

Bradley sees, records and reviews Ida's show at the MFA on Sunday:

One of the best things about Ida is how relaxed them seem to be, how effortlessly their songs come across, how easily their three voices flow together. There's a real comforting, almost family atmosphere to their shows. Elizabeth, Dan, & Karla were joined by voilinist Jean Cook and drummer Ruth Keating, who were note and beat perfect.

He has MP3s up of Ida's songs.

Mike takes his two kids to see They Might Be Giants at the Braintree Borders. He reports the show was excellent and that the band went out of its way for the kids in the audience:

... A few minutes before the show started, John Flansburg got up and told all the people who didn't have kids to move to the back and let people with kids come to the front. There were a few dozen teenage and college-age TMBG fans that had staked a large area right by the stage that didn't want to budge. John got back up a few minutes later and made a more firm statement (because people weren't moving) and said that backing up 3 feet isn't going to change what you adults can see but it will make a world of difference to the little kids. ...

Sometimes clicking on the link control in the WYSIWYG editor works and sometimes it doesn't. Problem with a conflicting JavaScript call? In any case, do something about it already!

And do something about the <!--break--> issue!

What would be cool would be to create pages on the fly that bring up the latest Boston-area postings on breaking news (think gay marriage, the DNC, the February blizzard, etc.).

Drupal has a "news page" module for just that purpose - enter a keyword and the module checks incoming RSS items for it and then posts. Only problem: It works on a per-category basis. So I've created an "All" category and have been adding existing blogs into it, in addition to whatever real categories they belong in.

Now all we need is a big news story to test it out on. ...

UPDATE: And that big news story would be: Tedy Bruschi's stroke

What's the difference between a "story" and a "blog entry?"

Groups: What are they and do they actually work? If they don't, get rid of them before they confuse people.

How do you get stuff done in general?

Lisa and husband agree they're tired of living in a state with imported Republican governors:

... Maybe we'll join the town committee and try to do something about it. Vote for Dean, too, for national chair, what the hell.

Charley on the MTA explains why it would make all sorts of sense for the T to raise bus fares to an even dollar (especially if they added a transfer system).

Dan is getting annoyed with the inability of Boston meteorologists to speak English:

... Boston meteorologists need to lighten up and give a straight forecast. The forecast last night called tonight's anticipated "snowstorm" as one that will be plowable.

Plowable?

Geez. What's the alternative? That New England shuts down for four days because the plows can't get out?

Plowable.

You wonder: Back in 1941, at what point did Yankees fans realize that Joe DiMaggio was heading for a record-breaking hitting streak? When did they get the sense they were watching something amazing unfold? I think it must be something like what you might feel now reading the Herald: The spunky little tabloid came through in the clutch today with its fifth front-page Metro story in a row. And ya gotta love the picture of a crumpled-up Metro sitting on top of some trash, as well as nice objective statements such as:

But the dirty little detail suggests executives from the Times and Globe may have rushed through early due dilligence on the $16.5 million agreement.

Michael reminds us that tomorrow is the 86th anniversary of the Great Molasses Flood, when 21 people drowned in molasses after a giant North End storage tank full of the stuff burst. Molasses fans will recall it happened on an unseasonably warm January day - good thing there aren't any molasses tanks left in the North End today, eh?

The Forest Hills overpass at Hyde Park Avenue.

Ana requests that somebody not stuck in an office take some fog photos:

... It is absolutely amazing out there. Fresh Pond is a wall of white smoke.

Beth also wishes for a camera:

... The fog has been hanging around all day, making the view from the windows at work -- usually a harsh and angular one framed by the hospitals and labs -- almost pretty.

Fondofelves comes to the rescue, offering up three fog photos. Bri risks dismemberment to capture a commuter-rail train slicing through the fog. John takes a series of fog photos across the city.

Sonia, meanwhile, wonders what happened to those near-record-high temps the weatherfolks promised us:

I feel ripped off that it's not 60 degrees today.

Update: Ana went out at lunchtime and got some nice shots of trees in the fog.