Give a Hoot

This morning when I was walking through Downtown Crossing on my way to work, I saw a woman toss her trash on the ground. This was a professionally dressed middle-aged lady who littered in broad daylight. I always see kids in Southie tossing their candy & fast food wrappers as if Broadway was one giant trash receptacle. Obviously, littering is not a new problem; however, I am continually surprised and disgusted that people have no shame when it comes to making our city's streets dirtier and more cluttered than they already are...

Woodsy needs to take his message to the streets of Boston

Free Daily Smackdown! We have a winner!

A few days ago, I posted about the rival free daily situation at the Broadway T. Well, this morning I noticed that just the Metro lady was there. I didn't think too much about it until I saw this blurb in the Boston Herald. Read all about it! BostonNOW is over.

Need an alternative to the Chinatown buses from Boston to NYC?

It's kind of scary to think that this time next week I should be a bit more than halfway through the marathon. I went for a 4 mile run yesterday around Castle Island, and plan to have a few light workouts this week to keep me limber.
On Saturday, I woke up bright and early to take a trip to NYC for my friend Kim's bridal shower. Since the shower was in Astoria, I decided to take the LimoLiner bus that drops you off at the Hilton on the Avenue of the Americas, instead of the buses that bring you to Port Authority. The LimoLiner is about the same price as taking the train, but it's a lot more comfortable than taking the Greyhound, Peter Pan, or god forbid, the Fung Wah.

Taking a short cut?

The LimoLiner was $160 same day R/T (it's a bit more for traveling on different days) and offers roomy seats, clean bathrooms and free wifi. There's also an on-board attendant, who repeatedly offered us drinks and snacks during the trip. The buses were very clean, prompt and comfortable. My only complaint is that the movie entertainment was a little baffling. On the way down, we watched "Bicentennial Man." The only other time I had seen this movie was several years ago on a Greyhound... On the way home we were shown "License to Wed" which led me to speculate that the LimoLiner cut corners on their movie budget by taking advantage of a 2 for1 crappy Robin Williams movie deal at Target.

Tonight I am going to the gym for a bike ride and a stretch.

Durian Durian

A couple years ago, one of my co-workers asked me if I had ever heard of a durian. When I said that I hadn't, she launched into a horrific description of the fruit's smell- going so far as to compare it to "rotting flesh" and how it would be unwise to eat one indoors because the durian's mighty stink would hang around for hours. After listening to her, I was equally repulsed and curious to try a durian, but they're not readily available at your local Shaw's. On Sunday, Nick and I were at the South Bay Center, which has a Super 88. Normally I don't have any reason to go in the Super 88; however, something made me think of the durian and I told Nick I wanted to go and buy one. After several failed attempts to find someone who could direct us to the durians, we found a cardboard box full of the spiked fruit sandwiched between crates of dead fish on ice in the seafood section. I picked one up and smelled it, and I could detect a mild inoffensive cantaloupe odor. Since I had no idea how to choose one, I grabbed one on top and asked Nick to carry it to the counter, because it was surprisingly heavy.

Nick was extremely wary of the durian

On Tuesday, I lugged the increasingly ripe (read: squishy) durian into work, and Wednesday afternoon we found an empty office and dove into the durian. At this point, it was so ripe that we were able to cut into the flesh with a plastic knife. Having prepared myself for the worst smell ever, I was mildly disappointed when at first it really didn't smell that strong or bad. I put my nose up close and inhaled, which in retrospect might not have been the smartest idea given the durian's reputation. It smelled like gas. Not the kind you put into your car, but the kind you pass. The texture was like tapioca pudding and the durian tasted like it smelled. Needless to say, I don't think the next drink craze will be the duritini.

Looks like a pineapple, tastes like a foot

After everyone had sampled the durian, the next problem was where to toss it since, due to the smell, I couldn't leave it in the office's kitchen garbage. I gathered up the leaky, lumpy mess, wrapped it in the plastic bag and walked it down five flights of stairs (I didn't want to risk stinking up the elevator with it) and threw it out in a garbage can in Faneuil Hall. Hopefully it cleared some of the tourists out of there.

Let's get the rhythm of the hot dog

Well, at least we had great seats last night. Seriously, I think Staci was able to get us the best bleacher seats in the park. We were just 7 rows back from Detroit's bullpen. I've never been to a game this early in the season before, and the bleachers were sparkling clean. The floor wasn't grimy and the seats were recently replaced, I think.
Everyone is going green these days and Fenway Park is no exception. Around the 5th or 6th inning, I think, a man came through aisles collecting the plastic beer cups to recycle, which is a great idea, and I'm assuming a volunteer position- so props to the brave souls who willingly go through the rowdiest section after people have had several hours to drink and collect recyclables.

Born Free

Last night I decided that it was finally warm enough to run outside after work. I changed at the gym and then ran a 6 mile loop, down Beacon Street to the Holiday Inn across from Jae's and back. I ran through Kenmore Square just as the game was letting out, which was kind of exciting since we won the home opener! I ran in my new Race Ready shorts to see if they'd be OK for the marathon, and they're great. What a relief to find running shorts with so many pockets!
American Idol was really good last night and I was so pleased to see that David Archuleta sang a Robbie Williams song! I've been waiting in vain for Robbie to become popular enough here in the U.S. so I can finally see him in concert...
Tonight I am going to the Red Sox game! Jon Lester's pitching, and hopefully I'll get to see a win!

Opening Day at the Office

If you can't be either at the game or at home or a bar watching Opening Day, the next best scenario is to have a big flat screen TV hanging in the glass walled conference room outside your office. (You can't tell from the blurry shot, but it's a clear view of the game from about a 43" flat screen.) Sweet.