Lisa digs up a page that not only lists complaints about MDC (or DCR or Mass Highway or whatever it is today) roads but provides responses from the state! Of course, this being Massachusetts and all, the page hasn't been updated since last April.

Ben, meanwhile, claims a Quincy police cruiser crashed last Thursday on a lightly dusted Furnace Brook Parkway, you know, one of those state parkways that got Katherine Abbott fired as DCR commissioner and that the crack crews at Mass Highway would henceforth clean up lickety-split:

So who was responsible for keeping the Parkway safe on Thursday night, acting DCR Commissioner Steve Pritchard, or MassHighway Commissioner John Cogliano? And if their negligence caused a police officer to crash and "our focus has to be on public safety. That comes first, and there really can't be any latitude on that front," can we have another blood sacrifice? Please?

Invoke Precedent Romney! Pritchard or Cogliano must go! Actually, since a police officer was involved, Pritchard and Cogliano must go. ...

Brian checks out the new Trader Joe's in Burlington and once again remembers why he can't stand that chain:

... It's always depressing to hear people say "I love Trader Joe's!" because you just know these people never eat a decent home-cooked meal and have reached the point that pre-packaged sushi is a refreshing change from Lean Cuisine or Papa Gino's. Nuking a "rice bowl dinner" is not cooking. Heck, it barely qualifies as eating.

Dave posts photos of birds on the Mystic Lakes:

Yes, that is, in fact, a bald eagle here in Medford/Winchester. It is wintering on the lower Mystic Lake. If you've never seen an eagle up close before, well, it's a very large bird. They are around 3 feet in height with a wingspan of six feet or so. ...

John reads how North End City Councillor Paul Scapicchio wants youth workers to use Zipcars to get to emergencies. His first reaction:

I wonder how long before someone would steal one from a crime scene to use in a drive by.

Eliot, a psychiatrist, reads a New York Times article by a California man with a son addicted to speed. He discusses how the article makes him feel:

... As someone who treats detoxing substance users on my psychiatric hospital unit, it is useful for me to have a window into the experience at least some of their loved ones might have. When my ability to be compassionate to one of my patients is frayed, one of the mantras I use to get back to where I want to be in caring for them is to remind myself that this is someone's son or daughter, that this patient was once a babe in arms cuddled and loved by some mother or father. But it also makes me desperate to go and hug my sleeping children, still too young to have been exposed to drugs, and never let go.

Brunahildm posts photos from the recent New Year's celebration in Chinatown.

Washington Street at the West Roxbury Parkway tonight.

Michael reports that one of the workers at the Congress Street Dunkin' Donuts has shaved off his eyebrows and tattooed "PUERTO RICAN" over each eye:

... I'm thinking of doing the same thing except I'll write something like "CAUCASIAN" or maybe "DOUCHE BAG."

You may recall Adams' role in the Massacre aftermath - he defended some of the British soldiers. The BPL in Copley Square has an exhibit on that unusual bit of history, which Lis highly recommends:

Loads of primary source documents about the Boston Massacre and trial, including depositions by witnesses and pages from John Adams' diary during the trial. I'm incredibly glad that I had the opportunity to see these artifacts.

Open through March 5.

Rob cannot believe that the state is shutting the Frederick Douglass Charter School in Roslindale - or that the media didn't give the school's side of the story. He says the school is in good financial shape and its test scores are in line with other inner-city schools:

Not one news organization has bothered to print the school's side of the story. And I should point out that zero public schools have been closed down for poor test scores or for financial mismanagement. Funny how that works, huh?

Jay discusses "the rookie," the new kid at work whom he keeps winding up next to in the men's room:

This guy is wicked proud of himself everytime he steps up to the urinal; you know, look-ma-no-hands, shoulders back, hair blowing in the wind. ... He stands like 6 inches outside of the urinal guards.

Come on! Step up to the plate! Get in the batter's box! At least one hand on the bat at all times!!!

Cynthia proves riding the T isn't all drudgery and sardine-can packing:

Yesterday I was in the Harvard subway station slightly after 4pm and a woman offered me tea. High tea, I suppose. She had a table set up and tea and cookies laid out out and she was wearing a taffeta gown and hat and affecting a British accent. ...

The National Hockey League officially cancelled its 2004-05 season today.

(Does anyone care anymore?)

Should Patricia White call off her latest bid for a seat on the city council because she's pregnant?

Aaron sternly lectures her on her responsibilities as a mother:

... She is being a poor role model by continuing to run for an office concurrent to her pregnancy, and potentially serving that position while being a new mother. ...

Plus, he seems to find the idea of lactation rooms in public buildings icky.

Beth 1 wrote yesterday why the Ford F-150 is the vehicle of evil. Beth 2 agrees:

It's amazing to me how many incidents, in the very short time since I started driving again, I have had with Ford trucks. I've been bullied, cut off, or otherwise treated meanly, and it's almost always by owners of that particular vehicle. It's weird.

Carpundit, though, attempts to show how the Beths are wrong in singling out the F-150:

... The F-150 has been the single best-selling vehicle in America for more than 20 years. They're only giving you their proportionate share of trouble. ...

To which I feel compelled to add: Sorry, but Toyota Camrys and Ford Tauruses are also very popular vehicles, but when's the last time you got cut off by one?

Chris, of Philocrites fame, reports:

An announcement for Philocritics in the Boston area: I will be preaching this Sunday at the Eliot Church in Natick, Massachusetts, at the invitation of my friend (and UU blogger) Adam Tierney-Eliot. The congregation is a community church affiliated with the United Church of Christ and the Unitarian Universalist Association; the service starts at 10.

Adam can't understand why Verizon makes it so hard for him to consolidate all his phone bills into one:

... Last night, I called Verizon Wireless Customer Support, asking them why it’s taken three months to do this. They told me I had to call Verizon Wireless One Bill. Verizon Wireless One Bill told me that Verizon Wireless Customer Support didn’t know what they were talking about, and I had to call Verizon Residential One Bill, but they were closed. Now, why can’t Verizon Wireless Customer Support just call Verizon Wireless One Bill or Verizon Wireless Residential One Bill for me and take care of it? In fact, I bet they even have interoffice email, so perhaps they could do it that way. ...

We go live now to East Boston, where Marilora is already on the scene:

I arrived home from work this evening to find a car burning in front of my house. The whole street was out taking part in Eastie's official pastime--disaster watching. Witnesses told your intrepid blogger that the gentleman in the car noticed his car smoking and pulled over to the curb as the car burst into flames. Just before I arrived one of the tires exploded from the heat. ...

Mark Cuban writes:

Whether it’s been newspapers, magazines, TV or radio, the opportunities to reach an audience has been limited to a finite number of local and national gatekeepers. Just outside those gates, knocking on the door, trying to be heard for the past 100 or more years have been wanna be Woodward and Bernsteins. People with information, ideas and concepts that they know the populace would respond to have been turned away, again and again.

Its payback time . The bloggers are here, and they are ready to knock down the gates and get their pound of flesh. The traditional media has no idea what is about to hit them.

Jason loves his Dodge pickup, but concludes it's time to trade it in for a vehicle that gets better mileage, like, oh, a car.

Beth concludes the Ford F150 is the vehicle of evil, after some jerk in one nearly kills her in the equally evil Lowell Connector this morning.

Chris, meanwhile, is forced to write a breakup letter to his overly clingy Saturn dealership - and beg it to stop stalking him:

... I think it is time that I start seeing other dealers. To be honest, taking my picture while getting into my car for the first time was a bit weird and I felt as if you were coming on too strong. To make matters worse, when I was in getting my oil changed one day, I noticed a picture of me in this big binder with other new car owners. How long have you been selling other cars to people behind my back? ...