Happy New Year

The new year starts in about 7.5 hours (as of this writing) and I hope that everyone who reads this blog has a good 2009. We are very lucky to have family and friends like you all.

Happy New Year everyone!

M&N (and Simba)

We are truly grateful

This has been one of those years. A mixture of good things and not so good things. But we are ending the year on a good note. This past week, we were constantly reminded of how lucky we are.

The other night, we were watching the local news station and all of the commercials were for charities. Then there was the house that blew up on the South Shore the week before Christmas. And the exact same thing happened a few doors down from one of my sisters on Christmas Eve. Then there was the man down in Southern California who shot up a Christmas party, killed a bunch of people, set the house on fire, and then killed himself.

All of this puts into perspective the little, and no so little, annoyances around our new home. We did realize a few days ago that we need a new roof. But we knew we needed that. We had hoped that it could wait until the spring. But it couldn't and that's o.k. Because we have a home, and a loving home, and a good life. And a local place that makes tamales.

And for that we are truly grateful.

Totally unrelated to the house

After three days of last minute shopping, wrapping, and boxing, we finally got the Christmas presents out on Saturday afternoon. For those of you who like hard-up stories, we waited for an hour at the post office to send your gifts. That's it. That's all I got on that one. Like I said before, if you were good this year, a miracle just might occur and you'll get your present before Christmas. If not, well, think of it as an extended Christmas.

Because we aren't made of money (and the ceiling in the parlor is still in need of repair), we've had to economize and group some gifts. So, I shipped a couple of gift's directly to one of my sisters but her son's gift is in the box that is going to my mom's house. All of the gifts for my sister-in-law and her family are in one big box. Same goes for the circle of friends in L.A.

For the same reason I sent both my mom's and one of my other sister's present in a single shipment to my mom's house. I left via email and text message explicit instructions on when and how to open the box. We take Christmas seriously in this house. No opening presents early. However, the package included a label on the box stating that there was alcohol inside. Well, so much for that surprise. Thanks a lot wine.com. I'm sure there is some legal reason for doing this. But still. Annoying nonetheless.

In other news, grading is done for me. I'm now dissertating full time.

The first day of snow

A couple of days ago our family in Barstow, CA and Las Vegas, NV experienced a freak snow event. Both places got about 7 inches. The Las Vegas airport was completely shut down mainly because they didn't have the equipment to plow the snow or de-ice the planes. My sister, who works at Fort Irwin, was lucky enough not to get stuck on the base like some of her colleagues. I saw some videos from a Barstow news outlet and it was cute to see these people in their shorts and sneakers playing in the snow. You can tell that this place doesn't get much snow because there was some really bad snow shoveling technique demonstrated in this video. But, as of last night, there were no fatal accidents in Barstow.

My mom or my other sister may have to correct me, but I have a vague recollection of a freak snowstorm when we lived in Stockton. Or maybe that was a false memory created by my subconcious telling me that I really belong in New England.

Today, we had our first real snow of the season. The kind that accumulates and that you have to shovel. It's always exciting when we get the first snow. Everything is white and it makes this time of year feel more festive. There were neighborhood kids making snow angels and having snowball fights. The first (good) snow is always the best snow of the season.

We went out to do last minute chores and shopping before the storm hit. We actually got caught out in it for a little while. Although there is a lovely aftermath, this was not gently falling snow. The wind made it rather unpleasant to walk in. But, like other New Englanders, we soldiered on and finished almost all of the shopping.

When we came home, we found this scene across from our house:

(Full disclosure: this picture was taken several hours after we returned home)

This is the gas company digging into the street. After hearing about other people around the state without heat (or electricity) since the ice storm last weekend, we got a little nervous. Our gas service is still on - so far. We'll keep you posted on that score. I'm pretty sure that we won't have our service disrupted. But, I guess you never know. Considering that they are still out there as I write this, I am still a bit nervous.

In addition to someone possibly not having heat, there is also the problem that the utility company trucks and equipment are taking up very valuable parking spaces. This street has a real problem with the parking, a subject I will eventually write about. For now, it suffices to say that Marcos sometimes has to drive around for 20 minutes looking for a spot. Of course, on balance, I guess I would rather have regular utility service than easy parking. And in fairness to them, two days ago a house blew up a couple of days ago in a town south of Boston from a gas leak. Someone died. So, we can't complain.

Hopefully we can get out tomorrow to take pictures.

Christmas on the second and third floors only

Since the first floor of the house is still "in progress", we have confined Christmas to the second and third floors of the house. The Christmas tree is in the office, as are most of the decorations. The kitchen has most of the kitchen related decorations as well. We haven't yet put up the window lights because we had to go shopping and then eat dinner and now we are just tired.

We put up some new pictures in the gallery. The first of the "new" ones shows the move in progress. The best pictures are the ones that show them hoisting the box spring to the third floor.

From 143 Saratoga Street

(click on the picture to go to the gallery and see the rest)

There are a number of pictures of Simba exploring the new place.

From 143 Saratoga Street

(click on the picture to go to the gallery and see the rest)

The view from our kitchen is really neat.

From 143 Saratoga Street

(click on the picture to go to the gallery and see the rest)

We have a few pics of our first floor too.

From 143 Saratoga Street

(click on the picture to go to the gallery and see the rest)

And finally, there are the pictures of us decorating the office. Simba is a bit perplexed at this new thing in the office. She sits under it but can't quite figure out why it is here.

From 143 Saratoga Street

(click on the picture to go to the gallery and see the rest)

We'll put up the rest of the lights tomorrow or Tuesday. It's the final week of classes, so we're heading into the homestretch of grading. Have a good week everyone.

We found Mexican tamales in East Boston

Since we are not going home for the holidays this year, all of our traditions have become more important to us. So this weekend we'll be putting up the Christmas tree and doing the decorating. The tree will go in the office since our parlor is still a construction zone. Hopefully our outdoor lights still work. They haven't been used since we lived in Delaware. We'll be doing cards and boxing up gifts to mail as well. We were a little worried about Christmas day but some very good friends invited us to join them for dinner in Chinatown.

But since we weren't going home, one tradition was kind buggin' us: we have no tamales. There must be tamales at Christmas. It's the only proper way to do things. But neither of us know how to make them, and honestly, I don't have the inclination. But, via our friends at the local Mexican panaderia (yes mom, we now can get Mexican pan dulce), we found out that one of the local places makes and sells Mexican tamales. Not Salvadoran or Colombian tamales, but Mexican ones. In the corn husks. Not that there is anything wrong with these other tamales, they just aren't the ones we grew up eating. The good Dr. is out right now to get a couple dozen for his office party tonight and a few more for lunch.

We'll put up pics of our decorating on Sunday. Till then - happy birthday Mia and happy Friday to everyone else.

The devil was in the drop ceiling

I used to know an environmental scientist who worked for a company that specialized in cleaning up contaminated places. She used to say that sometimes you think you know everything about a place. And then you put your shovel into the ground and you end up finding the devil.

Well, we started to take down the drop ceiling in the parlor this morning and sure enough, a little devil jumped out at us. Apparently, when the first floor bathroom was installed, they decided that it was too much work to get the exhaust duct into the chimney via the space between the floors - in other words, between the ceiling and the second floor subfloor. Instead, they cut a hole in the ceiling.



Then they ran a duct across the room to the chimney and punched a hole into the chimney vent.


So, if (when) we take down the drop ceiling, we will have a hanging duct in the middle of our parlor/library. Oh, and the duct isn't even placed into the chimney vent. It's just sort of pointed in the direction of the hole that was punched into the chimney. I can't say we're surprised. Apparently when they put the bathroom in, they never bothered to get proper permits, so why should we should expect the work should be properly done. For all my anti-government friends out there - this is why we require permits. You can't trust people to build things right, apparently.

After cussing and wishing lots of harm on the previous owner who would allow such shoddy work, we were forced to rethink our plans. So, the new priority is getting the ceiling fixed. Since the bathroom is in the middle of the house and requires (by law and common sense) some form of mechanical exhaust, we've decided to have a recessed ceiling built that can hide the duct. Something like this:


and perhaps eventually we'll build a coffered ceiling. That would look something like this:

http://www.showing247.com/parksidewalk/living_ceiling.jpg

In happier news, we had our first snow of the season today. It was wonderful, light and fluffy snow. All the more wonderful because it would melt upon contact, thus no shoveling needed.

In other happier news, Marcos found two things of value that the previous owners did not take with them:

The glass is called alabaster glass. There were two left behind and they fit perfectly in the light fixtures in the rooms where the lights didn't work until the wonderful people from Daly Electric came by to give us light. If you remember, they took the doorknob to the master bathroom. But they left these beautiful fixtures, so we can partially forgive them.

The next couple of weeks are the final weeks of the semester. Besides a few important meetings, it's all grading all the time. We hope you have a happy week.

Still moving in

We are slowly but surely moving on in. Marcos' desk finally arrived and after 3 hours, it was put together. He can now work in our office. It came just in time because his laptop of 6 years finally kicked the bucket. People wonder why we have so much computer equipment. Well, this is why.

We also found a wonderful electrician who did 4 projects for us for a reasonable price. We now can safely plug our computers in the office, we have a doorbell, a programmable thermostat (we want to be energy efficient), and most importantly, lights in the TV/guest room. We have a number of holes to patch up, but that's all part of the master plan anyway.

In other news, we are going through the thinking process of how to design the parlor/library. This is our public space and where we can sit and read quietly. No TV. We might put in speakers to plug the MP3 player into, but that will be it. Our goal is to get the walls painted, uncover the wood that we know exists under the window and door jams, and install new floors. We found the flooring we want, which will cost an arm and leg - only because we don't have a first born to offer. But the point is to do it well and do it right. So it's hard wood floors all the way.

Since this is the season of giving, I would like to share a resource I found while doing some research. There is a website called DSIRE, which stands for Database of State Incentives for Renewables and Efficiency. This site provides "information on state, local, utility, and federal incentives that promote renewable energy and energy efficiency." You can get information on tax incentives for installing a new furnace or what rebates your utility provides for installing a programmable thermostat.

http://www.dsireusa.org/

Other than that, Simba has decided that the first floor is not for her unless we are down there too. She doesn't come to greet us at the door and we never find her downstairs by herself. Hopefully that will change with time. If she doesn't, at least this will be the one space that some of my cat allergic friends can occupy.

Wonderful neighbors

Today was all about building and cleaning. We bought Marcos a cheap dresser at Ikea, which you have to build yourself. So, that was my task for the day. Marcos set about doing the weekly cleaning. It was a lot of work and I smacked my thumb hard putting together the last drawer. But at least his clothes are out of boxes and the bedroom is 99.9% complete. I still have to run to Target to get a set of double drapery brackets so that we can put up the curtains on the single uncurtained window. Most of the rooms were thoroughly swept and mopped.

So, suffice to say, it's been a long and exhausting day. Imagine my surprise when I thought I had heard someone come to the front door. We don't have a working doorbell yet (it will be installed when the electrician comes to fix all kinds of things on Wednesday). I go over and see wet footsteps and a bag. A Starbucks bag.

Our neighbor from 3 doors down left us this:


And this:


Yep, we have good neighbors.

Delivery madness

As some of you know, we bought new appliances that we scheduled to be delivered on the day after Thanksgiving. Marcos realized that he would not be able to install the stove himself because the previous owners painted over the gas shut off valve. Rather than risk an unnecessary explosion, we paid a lot of money to have Sears send someone over to install the stove.

The delivery people were scheduled for very early in the morning on Friday and were on time. The installer also arrived at the same time, turned off the gas, cut the pipe, and then left. The delivery people, however, refused to haul away the old stove because it had a whole other appendage on the back and they didn't think it would fit down the stairs. Why they couldn't take off that back piece is beyond me. They did take away the fridge. Of course, I had to meet the old landlord to turn over keys and everything, so Marcos was dealing with this by himself.

Apparently the delivery people were supposed to set up the fridge (like put the arms on) but they didn't. So Marcos did all of that. I called the supervisor to complain and told him to send those guys back to pick up the stove.

It took a couple of phone calls to get the installers to come back. They also refused to take the back piece off of the old stove. Again, it was screwed in so I wasn't sure what the big deal was. But the bigger problem was that they wanted to charge us $45 for the flexi-pipe to attach the stove to the gas pipe. This is on top of the $235 we'd already paid for the installation. I spent almost an hour on the phone with Sears arguing about this and finally they agreed to pay for the pipe themselves. The installers tried to leave and Marcos told him that if they did, he would tell Sears that they refused to do the job. He told the same thing to their boss. After all of this fighting, the stove was installed. I still had to buy an appliance extension cord since the power cord did not reach the outlet. While I was at the local hardware store, I learned that a flexi-pipe for a gas stove costs about $15.

Marcos unscrewed the appendage on the back of the stove and the delivery guys finally came back to pick it up. They put a small gash in the stairwell wall for good measure. Although we can't really fault them that much for it. The stove must have weighed a half ton at least. The whole thing was made out of heavy steel. And we want to re-do the walls anyway.

Without further delay, here are our new appliances:


For all that trouble, I will admit that it is very nice to have new appliances. I can actually see what is in the crispers and the wine bottles fit much better. And we both love the new stove. You can control the heat so well and we have a storage drawer at the bottom. Our inaugural dinner was our favorite dish: pasta puttanesca.

Moved in and unpacking

We have officially moved in. It's been almost a week. So far, we have the bedroom 99% complete. The movers could not get Marcos' armoir up the stairs without breaking something, so we need to get him a dresser. The office is also 99% complete. We are just waiting for Marcos' desk to arrive so that he can set up his corner.

The kitchen is 99.5% complete. There is still a box we haven't found that has cereal and whatever was on the dish rack. Our appliances will be delivered on Friday. We ended up having to pay for the installation because the previous owners painted over the gas switch. Yes, they were idiots.

The next project for me is to get to the parlor and the first floor backrooms. We have decided to wait until we get the floors done in the parlor before unpacking the books. We will also need to figure out what to do with our bar materials. We know how important that is for Ray.

It's been a very emotional time. In putting together our office, I decided that now is the time to get rid of old files that I really don't need anymore. There are probably 40 pounds worth of papers that I decided to chuck. It was emotional if only because it makes me think about how far we've come in such a short period of time. Fifteen years ago, I don't think I was even thinking about getting a PhD, much less buying a house - in Boston of all places. And who knows what we'll be doing 15 years from now.

We are spending Thanksgiving with our good friends Dawn and Jon. Thank goodness for good friends. I couldn't imagine spending another entire day unpacking and setting up. We really needed the day off. We will be picking up the rest of the stuff we left at the old apartment and giving it one more vacuum. Tomorrow morning we will be handing off the keys.

I have no pictures to share right now, but they will be coming soon. Have a good Thanksgiving.

Prequel - Part 2: - Addendum

If you read the previous post you know that the plan for this evening was to tidy things up to be ready for the movers. Since Marcos has class until late on Thursdays, I was going to do this myself since I didn't expect it would take very long. The best laid plans....

As you know, we've had many problems with our doors. Well, the previous owners decided to take the doorknob to the third floor bathroom. That also happens to be the only door with its original hardware. We're talking late 19th century hardware. While I can kind of understand why they would take it, it still seems really weird that they did. So, I really don't understand why they would take it. But I also don't understand why they would leave dirty dishes in the sink either.

Anyway, I arrive at the house at just before 6 pm. I then go upstairs to change. I enter the bathroom to use the toilet and to change and, without thinking, close the door. It is when I hear the latch click that I realize that, even though the knobs are gone, the door still had the tongue. If you haven't already figured it out, I am now locked in my own bathroom. There is no knob to turn the latch to open the door. I can't stick my fingers through because its old hardware and there is only a narrow hole that even my little fingers can't get into. I tried my hair claw, which also does not work. So, yes, I am locked in the bathroom with no way to escape.

As it happened, I had my cell phone. You might think that I always have my cell phone, but normally it would be in my jacket pocket downstairs in the parlor. It just happened to have been clipped to my belt. So I call Marcos. In another stroke of luck, he was still at his desk. His class starts at 6 pm. I called at 5 minutes to 6:00 and he just happened to be at his desk.

So, Marcos cut his class short and came to rescue me from the bathroom. In total, I spent almost 1.5 hours in the toilet. It was not an entirely wasted though. I managed to put up the shower curtain and test to see that the drain plug in the tub worked (it did). I had a conversation with the gas company about changing the gas meter and spoke with a good friend of mine who is going to help us put the needed floor in the parlor. If I had had any cleaning supplies, I would have done some more cleaning, but I didn't. So, while I felt like I spent a lot of time looking at all the work that needs to be done in that bathroom, it wasn't a total loss.

If you are wondering, we did manage to get things tidied up after grabbing a burger and relaxing for just a bit.

Tomorrow the internet goes off and will not be back until Saturday. We'll try to post an update on Sunday.

Prequel - Part 2: Two days and counting

The moving company finished packing us up. This is what our home looks like in boxes:



Marcos took Simba to the new house to get her out of the way of the movers and to get her acclimated to the new place. She did well. She followed Marcos everywhere for a while but eventually did forays into the other rooms on her own. By the time I got there in the evening, she was wandering about by herself. Never really too far from either one of us, but clearly getting comfortable with the new digs.

When we brought her back to the apartment, she was a little miffed. Not only did she come home to a moving box forest but there were no stairs for her to lumber up and down on.

Here, she is expressing her unhappiness. Oh well. At least they didn't pack her medicine.

We did find one new problem that will require an electrician to fix. In the meantime, the guest room will be illuminated by corner lamps. And the television. If it isn't one thing....

Tomorrow, it is just tidying up and getting each room ready to receive it's goods. The move begins on Friday. You may not hear back from us until sometime next week.

Moving in - the prequel

Today the movers are here packing up our apartment. We've never hired other people to pack us but we just don't have the time right now. The movers are here right now and they are doing a fabulous job so far. Boston area folks - I highly recommend Pony Express Moving Services. We've used them for all of our moves to and from Boston. Except one where we used an East Boston based company who did not do a good job, sad to say. Pony Express is the best.

Marcos is at the house with Simba getting her acclimated to the new house. We hired some junk remover people to get rid of the construction trash in the basement and a huge area rug that the previous folks left behind. It wasn't too expensive, thank goodness.

As of last night, we have pretty much cleaned everything except the first floor bathroom and the parlor. Marcos will be installing the curtain rods so we should be able to get some privacy by the end of the day. It's all coming along. We have no new pictures to post as yet. But we'll be taking some pictures tonight.

So this is what owning a house is like

One of the things that it is recommended that you do before you close on a house is do a walk-thru just to make sure that the house is in good condition. We scheduled the walk-through to happen the morning of the closing. Then we get a phone call from their broker saying that the owner isn't there and she doesn't know where he is. The owner and his girlfriend live 2 hours away. We were supposed to close at 12:30 and they didn't leave their house until after 10 am. The bank attorney could not change the closing time. So we had to close on the house without having seen it since the inspection in early October. And perhaps that's a good thing.

They hadn't cleaned out the house. It was still filled with their stuff. So, we gave them until noon on Sunday to clean everything out. We did this because we are nice and reasonable people. And because we'd rather them get their stuff out rather than having to be responsible for removing it ourselves. It took them until noon on Sunday and they still left a mess.

Here's the parlor.
Notice the trash left behind.

Here's the kitchen:

Notice something missing? And yes, those are unwashed dishes.

I haven't even taken any pictures of the basement. We're going to have to hire someone for that cleanup.

OK. No big deal. We can clean stuff up and throw things away. So, Marcos gets busy on changing the locks.


And that's when we notice that all of the doors have been damaged by multiple changing of locks and the installation of dead bolts on inside doors. The previous owner had been renting out rooms. Basically, this place was a flop house. No big deal. We can replace door knobs. And then we find that, sometime this morning as they were getting the last of their stuff out, the door to the master bedroom became locked. And we don't have a key. We went out and bought a pipe saw and Marcos cut the knob off. Because dammit it is our house and we can do that if we want to! And it was cheaper than hiring a locksmith.

We've replaced almost all of the door knobs with non-locking knobs. Eventually we will have to replace most of the inside doors, at least if we can't repair them. It's amazing how badly this house was cared for.

Yep. A helluva move-in. And we haven't even moved in yet.

We still have a bit of cleaning to do before next Friday when the movers come. But the good news is that we will have new kitchen appliances by the end of the month.

You can see the rest of the pictures of the house by clicking on the gallery link above.

We have done our part to relieve the mortgage crisis.

We have finally closed on the house. We'll send pictures and everything later but here's what our new home looks like:



Here's where our new home is located:


View Larger Map


It took us 4.25 months but we finally did it. Whew! Now we have to go buy new locks.

Be sure to check here on Friday night

Tomorrow is the day. Be sure to check back here Friday night to hear the word.

Happy Veteran's Day

Today is Veteran's Day. We want to take this opportunity to honor our family members who served their country. The Elder Luna (may he rest in peace) served in the Pacific theater during WWII. He was in the Army Air Corps, which later separated from the Army and became the U.S. Air Force.


It's also the 233rd birthday for the US Marine Corp. The Elder Estrella (may he rest in peace) was a marine who served in Korea. As the story goes, he first served in the Army but after his discharge he decided he wanted a greater challenge. So he enlisted in the Marines.



As we remember those who have come before us, let us also remember those who are doing their duty today. Whether we agree with the current wars, we have an obligation to our soldiers and their families. You can help by calling your Congressional representatives and senators and ask that they support greater funding for veteran's health care, especially mental health care. You can get more information and sign the online letter at http://standup4vets.org/.

Fall is here

Signs of Fall in New England:

1. The girls are starting to cover their bellies.
2. The guys and anyone over the age of 30 are starting to wear sweaters and jackets.
3. There are fewer people hanging out in the plaza in front of the church.
4. When it is 70 degrees, everyone is outside remarking on the warm fall weather.
5. My students have real doctor's notes for missing class.
6. The stores have their Christmas stuff out.
7. When it is 50 degrees and its raining, everyone is inside complaining about the early winter.
8. The cat spends more time under the covers on the bed.
9. Elections.
10. Hmm. What else? Oh, yeah - the leaves start to turn. :)

The New and Improved Website

Family and Friends,

Marcos and I decided to make managing and updating our website easier and more efficient. So, we've embedded my blog and his Picasa album into our website. Our goal is to provide updates and stories as often as we can.

So, for our first update, we are still waiting to hear about the house. We'll let you know when we have something else to say.

The cool thing is that you can click on the comments button below and leave comments about anything you want. Go ahead. Try it.

Other than that, we are still working, Simba is still a cat, winter is coming. That's pretty much it for tonight.

N&M

Stupid things heard on the 11 o'clock news

The weather guy last night actually said:

These strong storms will arrive in Boston in about thirty minutes, no longer than a half hour.

Really? Can I set my watch to that?

News on the homefront

Well, it's been a bit busy in this household, as many of you know. We didn't have much of a Spring. It was really just an extended winter. It was cold here until last week and then we were slammed with hot and humid weather. We had a little heat wave (3 days of 90+ degrees). I spent most of it in my hiding hole in the library. I'm not quite sure who stole our Spring but we will prosecute to the fullest extent possible when we find you.

The good Dr. is on his way to Lincoln, NE. Right now, he's stuck in Des Moines. There's really bad weather right in the flight path. It will be on-again, off-again storms in Lincoln for the week the good Dr. will be there. He'll miss some really nice weather here in the Hub. We'll miss him but we'll have to soldier on and make sure that we get some sun while the humidity is low enough to enjoy it.

In other news, the kitty was diagnosed with hyperthyroidism last week. I'm convinced that she inherited this from my mom, along with her cheekbones. We are opting for medication first and then we might do the radioiodide treatment. The most recent veterinary research finds that this has the best survival times, especially for older cats. She has to take 0.5 mL of the medicine twice a day. Thank goodness they make this in a liquid. Of course she will not take it via the syringe they gave me. I have to squirt it into a spoon.

Do you think the vet will let me mix the medicine with ice cream? I know she'll eat ice cream.

Nature in the city

There is this small parcel of vacant space next to the pocket park down the street from where I live. It's owned by the city of Boston and people use it to exercise their dogs and sometimes to dump things they don't want to properly dispose of. Sometimes the kids get in there and play soccer (good for them!).

The other night I was walking home from the local pizza place with dinner talking with a friend on the phone. I saw something moving out of the corner of my eye and what did I see? A skunk. When they are sufficiently far away, skunks are kind of cute. They lumber as they walk. I wouldn't want to get close to one, not out of fear of getting sprayed, but because they have claws and could theoretically take my face off. Especially if it was a female and she had her young nearby. I didn't see any young'uns, but I wasn't about to get any closer than I already was.

Still, it is neat to see nature in the city like this. As you can see from the map below, this is a pretty urban area. Who knows where this creature lives, but I hope it manages to do well here in Eastie.

Spring is here

Signs of spring in East Boston:

1. People are out wearing less than 10 lbs worth of clothing.
2. You realize that there are a lot of people with large dogs in the neighborhood (where do they keep them all winter?)
3. Children are playing in the plaza in front of the Church.
4. There is allergy medication in every other cart at the supermarket.
5. People are more talkative during the morning commute.
6. The street sweeper, accompanied by the meter maid, are out in force.
7. Cars are getting washed more often because the birds are back.
8. People are sitting on the park benches just people-watching.
9. The teenagers are just slightly more obnoxious at the T station.
10. Even the free newspaper hawkers are in a sunnier mood.

How do you know spring is coming?

1. My sister's birthday (happens to be near the vernal equinox)
   
2. We can strip down to two layers instead of four.
3. More bird poop on the car.
4. Less snow, more trash (unless you live in Beacon Hill or the Back Bay, which we don't)
5. 45 degrees is really good weather to take a walk
6. Some flowers are actually starting to bloom

It snowed again

It's cold. I'm sick. That's all there is to say.

If you don't like the weather here, just wait a few minutes

Mark Twain gave a speech here about weather in New England in 1876 in which he states:

"The weather is always doing something there; always attending strictly to business; always getting up new designs and trying them on the people to see how they will go."

He asserted that he counted 136 different kinds of weather in a 24 hour period. I believe we experienced about a little more than a dozen of them yesterday.

In order from about 9:30 am (when I woke up)

1. Cloudy and obviously cold.
   
2. Sunny and cold.
   
3. Drizzly.
   
4. Sunny again but the wind was clearly picking up.
   
5. Dark and breezy.
   
6. About 10 minutes of snow (I missed that but the good Dr. knows snow when he sees it).
   
7. Sunny. Then we had lunch.
8. After lunch it got cloudy.
   
9. About 20 minutes of sideways sleet and 20-30 mph winds.
   
10. Cloudy and windy.
    
11. Sunny and windy.
12. Rainy and windy.
13. Sunny and really windy.
14. Then it was time to go to bed (11:30 pm for me; the good Dr. was already in bed). At this time it was just shy of hurricane force winds and 20 degrees. You have to let the kitchen pipes drip so that they don't freeze when we have this kind of weather.
    

The wind kept up all night and into today. I was half expecting something to be blown into our second story window at some point. If a cow had blown into the window I'm not sure I would have been surprised. Today I was almost blown to the ground here at the university twice so far.

Mark Twain did say it best about the weather here:

"... one of the brightest gems in the New England weather is the dazzling uncertainty of it. There is only one thing certain about it: you are certain there is going to be plenty of it ..."

My love-hate relationship with college students

I am a college lecturer, so my income is derived from college students. In general, I enjoy working with them. Teaching also provides me with the excuse to stay on top of the reading that I need to do for my profession and it also forces me to read outside my general area of expertise. For the most part, they are interesting, endlessly entertaining (some more than others) and they do provide hope.

But I absolutely hate getting on the T when the college students are there. I would rather work late than get on the E-line any time between 5 - 7 pm on a Friday. Or a Thursday. or a Tuesday. Or any day of the week.

Most of the freshman will enter the Spring semester still not understanding the rules of the system. They will block the doors. They will refuse to move into the car where there is plenty of room. They will keep wearing their backpacks instead of taking them off and putting them on the floor so that people can actually pass by them to get to the open space in the middle of the train that they refuse to occupy.

When you work with college students, you understand the whole issue of prolonged adolescence. You know that there are 20 year olds that are still trying to figure out who they are. They are still very ego-centric. That's fine. But it sucks to share space with a group of 19 and 20 year olds who are trying out a variety of obnoxious personalities in an effort to one-up each other.

So, while I'm teaching, I put my best effort in developing their capacity to think for themselves, to understand the role of history and context in the way things are today, in providing some of them with opportunities for advancement, and in fostering a sense of collective responsibility. But I am beginning to understand why many professors, even the ones who rail on about environmental sustainability, drive home.

Happiness is....

Shoveling a half an inch of fluffy snow to Celia Cruz and Christina Aguilera and then coming in for a long hot shower.

Link between theory and reality via public disrobing

In my Cities and Suburbs class today, we were discussing the process of urbanization. There are several processes involved in this process, one of which is a social process. As part of this social process, city residents develop a value system and world view that is distinctly urban. This includes things like greater tolerance for noise, crowds, and different patterns of living.

It also includes a greater tolerance for difference. We like to think this means tolerance for people who are different than us, like racial tolerance. Unfortunately, our ideals often fall short of the mark on that score. Nonetheless, city residents are remarkably tolerant of what might otherwise be considered strange behavior.

This was no better illustrated than at an annual event in Boston this past weekend: No Pants Day on the Subway. A New York City group called Improve Everywhere, whose mission is to bring excitement to otherwise unexciting locales, organized a not-so secret mass disrobing on the subway this past Saturday. The rules were that people had to be wearing underpants and they had to, ahem, keep their packages wrapped. The MBTA police were notified so no one was going to be hauled off for indecent exposure this time.

In reading the press reports post event, it appears that the organizers met their goal of spreading joy through chaos. While some folks inevitably were offended, it appears that the whole event was viewed as funny or, consistent with theory, was ignored altogether. My favorite picture of the event comes from Boston.com.


The young woman in the pink hoodie is doing her best to keep her eyes away from the prize, but if you look at the other two people, they are oblivious to the half dozen folks who are riding around the subway in their boxers in 40 degree weather.

As with all theories, there are contingencies that have to be accommodated. For specific strange behaviors (like public disrobing) intolerance may be the norm, but tolerance may be generated depending on the circumstance. This is aptly demonstrated by the story on this event reported in my university student newspaper. A young woman said that an gentleman sitting next to her was initially offended by the pantless young men in his subway car. His tone changed, however, when two young women in their undies walked by. He reportedly made a point of stating his approval of the whole event.

I just love it when current events coincide with my theory lectures.

Snow Day

We are having our first real winter in about two years. This is the second or maybe third big snow storm of the season. My classes were canceled and I am sitting here in my PJs reading the newspaper and watching the snow fall. This is what I love about winter in New England - it causes us to pause.

I feel blessed that I have a job and life situation that allows me to enjoy these pauses. Wouldn't it be wonderful if most commercial and business activity ceased for the day? Wouldn't it be nice if Blockbuster and McDonald's closed up shop and gave their workers a day with pay to spend with their children or just hanging about the house. Some places should probably stay open, at least for a few hours. Supermarkets. Drug stores. But is there any reason for the Verizon Wireless store to be open? Who in their right mind is going to go out in this weather to start a new cell phone plan? Or perhaps the better question is, should anyone be inside a cell phone store or a mall on a day like today? If they are going to be outside, shouldn't they be having snow ball fights and making snowmen with the kids (their own or their neighbors), shoveling their walk or their neighbor's walk, and generally enjoying the day off.

I would even be open to the argument that even the T should stop running. It's not like anyone is flying out of Logan today. There are probably really good reasons for the T to continue running, but if not, why not let the drivers stay home like the rest of us privileged folks.

If there is a purpose to winter, beyond what physical science has told us, it is to make us stop. You can't think nor can you enjoy if you don't stop every once in a while.