Steve Garfield was at the Chestnut Hill Mall at 7:05 this morning to get his new phone. In the report below it only appears like he's in a bunker to keep frenzied hordes of iPhone wannabes from overrunning him and taking his phone - we know Apple fans are not that crude:

No big deal, unless you happen to live next door to Jason Varitek.

Nothing like a little smash action during the morning rush (in this case, on the southbound side by Rte. 9) to slow things down.

Tom Nealon sings the praises of Baza, a Newton market dedicated to all things eastern European:

... Stand outs are the selection of herrings, smoked, dried, salted, and the salamis. I've certainly seen impressive arrays of salamis before - hanging from the rafters in salami enthusiasts basements or overhead in fancy meat markets, but here they are neatly arranged in the deli cabinet with their English names and prices easily visible (which can be a problem at other markets for those of us who learned all their Russian from watching A Fish Called Wanda). ...

We went to Echo Bridge in Newton today, and it really is amazing - you can basically whisper and hear your voice echo back from the other side of the Charles (so you can imagine what it was like when an exuberant kidlet decided to yell). Up river, near the old mill, we spotted the above large bird (so for those of you who know the distance, yes, it pays to have a zoom lens). Anybody know what it is?

John Halamka sings the praises of his daily after-work six-mile kayak trip through the Lakes District section of the Charles:

... The early evening on the Charles is a perfect time to view widelife - Great Blue Herons, Trumpeter Swans, American River Otters, Snapping Turtles, and enormous Carp. The river is different every time I kayak with variable weather, changing wildlife, and new people. Today I did a rescue of a mother and daughter from Montreal who tipped their kayak in the deepest part of Charles. ...

Now, Halamka is both a doctor and an IT executive, so he has a very precise formula for deciding when to go out on the water: When the sum of water temperature plus air temperature is greater than 120. Much less risk of hypothermia that way should he fall in.

Krissy reports she rode commuter rail between Newton and Boston yesterday and wasn't asked for a ticket in either direction.

Wicked Local Newton posts some video showing some Newton alderman expressing his complete outrage at the mere thought that Newton is being compared to Somerville about something (specifically, Somerville's use of a computer program to track resident complaints) instead of Cambridge, Brookline or Northampton.

... This is the first time I have heard that we need to do what Somerville's doing. SOMERVILLE?!? Why not Everett? Or Chelsea? ...

Paul Levy reports on the tsouris he is having thanks to a Bank of America ATM in Newton Centre that ate both his ATM card and the checks he was attempting to deposit.

He follows up with a post on his travails with a Bank of America rep who contacted him via Twitter.

Boston Restaurant Talk reports Bloomingdale's at the Chestnut Hill Mall has just opened a restaurant called 40 Carrots.