Seems the towns along Rte. 3 north of 128 are trying to come up with a branding campaign to make their towns more attractive to business - something along the lines of "Rte. 128," only they can't actually name the road because they wouldn't want people to think they have anything to do with those trashy towns along Rte. 3 on the South Shore and all:

... Most people involved in the branding process believe traditional advertising will play a small role in spreading the campaign's message. Instead the campaign may use professional channels ranging from traditional trade shows to online videos and blogs. ...

Ed. snark note: Like I should talk. I used to sit near the reporter who came up with "MetroWest" as a replacement for "Greater Framingham."

Phillip McCarthy photographs the real faux Burlington Mall (or is that the faux real Burlington Mall)?

DJDiva reports from what sounds like the aftermath of a food war:

... Where did all the 'restaurants' go? The whole thing is boarded up shops. It looks like a mall 4 days before it closes forever over there. My hope is that they are trying to clean it up, put in some healthy options (bring back fresh city!) and make it look better for the launch of the new Nordstrom wing. ...

With bonus rantage about the Macy's and other stores there (but with kind words for the Mac stores and Legal Seafood).

Think anybody would mourn? No, didn't think so. On myDedham, Brian discusses what looks to be an interesting book by an MIT professor who imagines wiping the slate clean at the Dedham Mall, the Burlington Mall and Revere Beach and "transforming" them into modern-day downtowns with not just shopping but housing. Hmm, maybe the Natick Mall was onto something, after all? Right. Let's not get too carried away now.

Back in 1930, somebody gave Boston 200 acres of land in the two suburbs on the condition the city maintain it forever as "a public pleasure ground."

Only now Boston seems to want to sell off the land either as a subdivision or a golf course, according to Friends of the Cummings Park, which notes the city took $141,000 out of the park trust fund last year to pay a subdivision surveyor and $13,000 for legal fees this year - while spending absolutely nothing to maintain the land as a park.

Patrick O'Reilly: Mayor Menino, Please don't sell our park!

Alison Rose says speed right over to the Lindt Chocolate Store at Burlington Square on Middlesex Turnpike (NOT the one in the mall), which is having a clearance:

It's a chocolate sale, people--what more do I have to say?

Lynne says Clear Flour Bread in Brookline has chocolate croissants that are almost as good as the ones she remembers from Aix-en-Provence:

... One step inside and you'll be smitten. There are breads of every size and shape (braided, baguettes, country loaves, etc.) as well as tarts, cookies, sticky buns and other guilty pleasures. It is the closest thing that I have seen to the types of bakeries you see in France on practically every corner (those people know how to live). ...

Rob brings his laptop over to the Apple Store in the Burlington Mall when the hard drive dies, but discovers he can't get any help from the Apple "geniuses" because they're all busy helping middle-aged women with iPod problems:

... If you take two synapses and rub them together, you get a spark. But grown women with a gallon of synapses packed unto a cranium seemingly can't generate smoke. How hard is it to figure out how to use an iPod? How difficult is it for them to find a teenager to show them? WHY IN THE WORLD WAS I LEFT WAITING FOR SOMEONE TO TALK TO WHILE A TECHNICAL SUPPORT "GENIUS" PUT AN IPOD SKIN ON AN IPOD FOR A CUSTOMER???? ...

Don't expect Alison to pick up anything for you at a certain Burlington Mall store that begins with a W and ends with "onoma" and has a hyphen in the middle:

... [I]nstead of just letting me say "Thanks for looking--I appreciate that you checked in the back," (which I did) she had to earnestly buttonhole me with, "Now, I just want to make sure that you understand that I provided you with good customer service. When I found out we didn't have what you want, I told you that you can get it at Chestnut Hill. But it's your choice not to go there. So just to be clear: I provided you with choices and good customer service, but you're not going to follow up. Okay? Great! Thanks for coming in!"

Epilogue: Alison found what she was looking for - at a lower price - at Crate & Barrel.

At 9 this morning, Rebecca and Peter checked in from the Burlington Mall, where they were waiting for the opening of the new Apple store:

According to a preliminary count we are 34th and 35th in line. All of the usual suspects are here…The young guys next to us who are watching the Simpsons on their iBook, the twenty-somethings with their earbuds plugged in, the dads and moms with their excited kids ... AND the elderly mall walkers who, on each go round, question us as to why we're in line. ...

Ed. note: I am typing this at 4:40 p.m. without further word from the intrepid duo. I can only hope they were not crushed by the swarming mob when the doors opened but are simply at home enjoying their new Apple iWhatevers (since they have already ruled out trying to get in line for the opening of the IKEA in Stoughton).

Alison reports:

I love driving south on Rt. 3A (Cambridge St.) in Burlington, if only for one reason: On the edge of a playing field near Burlington High, you can almost always see a message on the chain link fence.

A message in styrofoam cups.

Each cup, one per link, forms part of a letter, and the letters always spell out something positive ...