Karl compares Boston's chaotic street layout to Chicago's orderly grid and concludes:

... I like narrow curving roads that provide surprises at every corner. I like "streets" that are so narrow they can't accomodate automobiles. It all just feels so much more organic to me...more intimate.

Peter notes a squib in a Minnesota paper about Danny Ainge possibly moving there after the current season to coach the Timberwolves:

... Two games after the Walker trade, people are starting to actually follow the Celtics for the first time in three seasons. Why would he walk out now?

File this one under pipe dreams. Or maybe crack pipe dreams.

Chris vows not to buy the new CD by the Irish Tenor Dr. Ronan Tynan, you know, the guy with the ears who sings "God Bless America" during the seventh-inning stretch at Yankee Stadium:

.. Where does he get off having such a long title anyway? Is "The Irish Tenor" not good enough for him? He feels he needs a "Dr." too? Why doesn't he go ahead and add "Esquire" to the end of his name. Better yet. how about "The Irish Tenor Dr. Ronan 'Two Tons of Fun' Tynan, Esquire." ...

Roslindale street scene this morning.

Halley: My cross-country skiis have gotten quite a workout this year.

Trevor: It's bound to stop snowing soon or later, right? He posts mid-storm photos.

Nat posts mid-storm photos as well. Ana too. Mats posts photos of a Kenmore Square car accident. The Urban Pantheist takes shots along the Muddy River.

Andy's flight from Paris to India is delayed because the plane got stuck in our storm.

Angela: Mother Nature, I'm begging you - please make this the last one.

For the love of God! I can't take this snow anymore! Mercy!

Heather refuses to mention how tired she is of the snow.

All snow, all the time - Latest snow comments from you Hubby bloggers.

Outside JP Licks, Centre Street, Jamaica Plain, on Sunday.

Chris doesn't understand all the lefties getting excited about former Coca-Cola exec Deval Patrick's impending run for governor in the 2006 elections:

... On one side, you have a candidate who's charismatic, experienced and almost tailor made to take on Romney on the reform platform. On the other you have an unknown, out-of-state candidate whose only raison d'etre is that progressives find Reilly too moderate in both style and substance. Look, I find Reilly too moderate, too, and am especially leary of a governor that opposed gay marriage vociferously. I even find his opposition to the wind farm craven NIMBYism. However, there is a time it's useful for progressives to be demanding more from their candidates, and the election after four Republican governors in a row is not that time. ...

Sketch's band played in the Emergenza competition at the Middle East:

...We were the only band composed of 30 year olds (actually make that 33 year olds, and you're a bit closer to the average age of the band). I'm pretty sure we were the only band with a bald dude and a gray haired Arlo Guthrie looking dude rocking the socks off the joint. We were the only band without a screamer or someone spitting water on the audience. But, we rocked the socks off the place, let me assure you. We were the only band that played anything even remotely resembling a "trippy space jam" one minute, and thrashing out industrial-esque noise the next (rocking, as they say, the socks off the joint). ...

Photos

Wish me luck kids. I'm on my way home from work and I need to stop at the grocery store. While Big Dump Truck finds the forecast for Leominster is like an inch of snow, I'm anticipating a few more inches, and need to go buy all the milk and bread I can get my hands on.

Because, you know, they'll never make any more, ever again.

Actually -- we ran out of trashbags yesterday, and there is nothing more ghetto than using grocery store bags. So I'm doomed. I'll have to go deal with the chaos, the traffic, the panic that Harvey and Todd and Kevin instill in all area old ladies. Pray for me.

I was taking the trash out this weekend behind my Cleveland Circle condo building, when I noticed some shelves, a mattress, a bunch of framed prints, a couple of stacks of clothing, all leaning against our trash barrels. In my building, a combination of units that haven't changed much since 1924 and overpriced renovated units housing Longwood transients for a few months at a time, this isn't an infrequent occurrence at the end of the month. At the end of every month since I've lived in Brighton, I've found myself trying to understand the mindset of people who leave a houseful of almost new items for the trash collector when they move. I mean, I'm finally at a point in my life where if I moved, getting $20 for my couch is hardly worth the hassle. But the idea of leaving a perfectly usable item for the landfill is just unfathomable to me when so many nonprofits will come and pick things up with a phonecall or e-mail.

This month it really crossed the line though. As I was glancing at the pile of housewares to see if anything interesting jumped out at me, I saw...

...an iMac.

Yes. There was an actual living breathing iMac sitting out there amongst the boxes and trashbags and furnishings. I actually waited a day before grabbing it, just to see what would happen. I wanted to make sure it had really been placed by the trash, and I also wanted to prove what I suspected, which is that dozens of people would walk by and just leave it there. Which they did. So I grabbed it. I know of several repair places that will give me $200 for the thing on the spot.

What's next, people leaving their old worn-out cash behind the building?

CM reports:

... The brutal visual of commuters riding the subway and reading the Boston Herald does not phase me today.

To my surprise, my neighbor pulls out The Souls of Black Folk from his backpack (Dover edition). His bookmark rests on the chapter, "Of the Training of Black Men."

He looks like an urban hipster whose literary sensibilities would be more in tune with the likes of McSweeney's and The Believer. I can't resist.

"Are you reading Du Bois for a class?" I ask.

"No," he says. "I'm reading it on my own." ...

WUML, the formerly all-student radio station at the University of Lowell, looks to become the public-broadcasting powerhouse of the Merrimack Valley, or something: It's signed former WBUR talking head Chris Lydon to do a one-hour show. You may recall how he left 'BUR in a tiff with then station head Jane Christo over money and control issues. Christo has since left (over, um, money and control issues). Hmm, could 'BUR license Lydon's new show?

... for the day, anyway. From the front page of FleetCenter.com :

Meet the Farkers

Delaware North Companies, owner and operator of Boston's FleetCenter, announced today that they have reached agreement with Drew Curtis on a naming rights deal to re-name the world-class sports and entertainment arena the 'Boston Garden'. After several less than appropriate name choices from Drew, the approved name selection was one we could all agree on. Drew, who lives in Kentucky, is the founder of a popular website which offers up offbeat news stories and posts to its community members -- TotalFarkers. The deal will both go into effect and expire on Monday, February 28, 2005.

Also check out the "Boston Garden" logo at the top of that page.

Too bad there's no event scheduled there today.

If this article proves to be accurate, Federated Department Stores (owner of Macy's, formerly Jordan Marsh) is about to swallow up May Department Stores (owner of Filene's).

Federated has spent the past few years building up a national Macy's brand name at the expense of former local store names such as Jordan Marsh, Goldsmith's, Lazarus, and Rich's. That doesn't augur well for the future of Filene's. We could soon have a huge, empty, historic department store in the center of town, not to mention what happens to lots of suburban shopping malls.

Frankly, I can't see any upside to this. Can it be stopped?

Boston bloggers discuss the Oscars

Apollonia is, I'm delighted to say, right round the corner from us in Roslindale. We were there for lunch today. We had souvlaki sandwiches, our usual lunchtime pick, which make a generous lunch at a great price, and chicken-lemon soup, which we all, including our one-year-old daughter, really enjoyed.

The people there are very friendly. It's well worth a visit for lunch or dinner. They are open every day except Tuesday. You can see the dinner and lunch menus, and other information, at the web site:
http://www.cafeapollonia.com/

Andrew

Fontaine's, a West Roxbury and Rte. 1 landmark for more than 50 years, closed last year. The new owners promptly tore the place down so they could put up some sort of yuppie joint. But even with the frame of the new place nearing completion, they haven't taken down the waving chicken, although it no longer waves at night (relive the chicken's glory days).

FCC rules require non-profit radio stations to have local staffs. CSN International, an evangelical-Christian radio network, is seeking a waiver for a station it's buying in Scituate - basically, it wants to run the station remotely.

Nice, what are rules among friends? The proposed frequency is 90.5, which means the station could interfere with reception in some areas of Boston College's WZBC. The Boston Independent Media Coalition has started a last-minute effort to block the waiver (protest messages have to be delivered to the FCC by Friday).

Via Steve.

Bryant says he'll probably liveblog the Academy Awards. Anyone else?

Christopher reacts to Mitt Romney's Massachusetts-Sucks speech with some facts, basically that Massachusetts has lower murder, divorce and child-abuse rates:

... But if there's one thing that really pisses me off, it's a conservative who has always lived in more liberal, cosmopolitan places but who claims he feels more at home among the conservatives. Prove it, Mitt. You want to run as a right-winger? Go ahead: Move to Utah.