Last night I got on a very crowded subway car. It was peak of rush hour and I was in a rush to get home to grab the car to head over to Watertown to pick up my latest craigslist find (forgot to take a picture and it’s no longer posted). It’s a great mid-century hassock that is the perfect size for my “new to me” arm chair (not really as I grew up with it and it’s been at my dad’s). And a steal at $25. It’s seen better days but an easy enough reupholstering job will fix that – good bones. But I’m getting ahead of myself.
I get on the subway car and maneuver my way through the crowds to find the last remaining seat. It was next to a blind woman with her seeing eye dog. I sit down and soon after she asks me which door she should use if she wants to go to Lechmere. Now I use the metro daily but I have my route and am pretty bad about the details of the other parts. I carry on a conversation with her trying to figure it out and hoping someone else on the train will pipe in. We get to the next stop and I offer to hop out and read the signs to see if I can find the answer. No luck, so I offer to walk with her and help find it. She’s very appreciative and I know I’m getting more out of it than she is, after hearing about the recent study that shows good deeds make you healthier (here’s an article). I always put it down to adding to my good karma, but turns out there’s more to it!
Well, I’m just about to head off when this other young lady getting off after us says she’s heading to Lechmere and can take the blind woman. The young lady is Hispanic and very quiet with a heavy accent. It was very sweet of her and much appreciated as it would have put me way behind schedule. So there’s the first good deed on the subway from a stranger. All this went down in a matter of a few minutes and I’m able to hop back onto the same subway. I assumed I had long lost my seat as the car had gotten even more crowded. But nope, the gentleman on my other side had put his Wall Street Journal down and save me my seat. So when I pop back on and look around, he sees me and picks up his paper. How sweet was that? And little did he know how much a die-hard sitter I am! So warm fuzzies all around.
On a somewhat different note, I’m still amazed how many blind people I see on my commutes. I think I’ve seen more blind people in a month here than I have in the rest of my life combined. I just googled to see if I could find a reason but not for my town. The Boston area has been a center due to the creation of the celebrated Perkins School for the Blind a few centuries back. I did however accidentally find this local restaurant review, on which note I close this post:
"And that was my first bite at XXX. After reading all the positive reviews on Yelp, we decided to hike it out to XXX to try a new restaurant. This was of course a mistake in itself because (my town) is like the Jan Brady of Boston -- insecure (I saw 4 cop cars in two blocks!) and about as fun as a blind man trying to watch a porno."
Friday, September 10, 2010
Thursday, September 09, 2010
August Update
I realize my last posting had “crap” in the title so figured I should update with a new post. I had a nice visit down in Richmond to see my little nephew who is about 8 months old. Of course I left right when the weather was breaking and would be gorgeous and in the 70s/80s and I was flying to a place that was hot and humid. I had been down in March and it’s amazing how fast the little guy has grown. Tons of personality and he’s a zoomer. He can only sit still for so long and then he’s biting at the bit to get down and go off exploring. He’s on a mission while crawling – checking every room and nook and cranny out. Surprisingly, I did rotation with my dad and Barbro and took turns between the air mattress and the guest bed. I’ve come to the conclusion that air mattresses are not my friends. They weren’t ever, but I was younger and the body would forgive more.
The weekend before last I had all to myself. I did end up visiting Cece and the family on Saturday. We had fun at the beach at a local pond and I got a bit of sun. But tons of smile time with Cam and Mags. Cam is starting to talk tons. Not all the words are English, but I can relate to that. Super cute as always. I was going to visit this weekend but forgot they were out of town. So am gearing up to block the lace shawl all on my own. As cece says, just take a deep breath. I’m almost done. Just one more round and then casting off. I’m really worried it’s going to be much smaller than it should. Based on the yardage needed, I should be using three balls of yarn plus a bit more. Instead, I’m using two balls of yarn plus a bit more. That doesn’t sound promising. I’ve been reading up today on how to properly pin it out and one site said alpaca is more delicate so don’t pull too hard. I think the yarn I’m using is alpaca. So stretching the thing into submission may not be the way to go.
Let’s see, what else. I feel like tons have been going on that I mean to blog about. I got two batches of jam from the peaches I bought. Burnt the first batch, but don’t think you can tell too much. Second batch was perfect. How bad is it if I only give away jars from the first batch?
This coming weekend I have a friend’s birthday soiree and a friend’s all day bachelorette party. I did find a dress for the wedding the following weekend (where the shawl will be on display). I’m starting to second guess it as it was a cute little strapless number. Seemed perfect when I was buying it on a hot and humid day, but now, even with a sweater, may be a little cold.
And on that note, so this isn’t yet another photoless post, I provide you with pics from my trip in July. I was bustling along early Saturday morning to check in at the Glasgow airport on my way to Paris for vacation. In the persistent drizzle that defines Glasgow weather, I happen to look up and see this advertisement. Just your normal approach to travel advertisement. Only the start and end points spectacularly match up with my itinerary. That happens once in a million, at least for me. How cool, I thought, so got out of the flurry of travelers and tiptoed my way onto the wet grass and took these pics.
The weekend before last I had all to myself. I did end up visiting Cece and the family on Saturday. We had fun at the beach at a local pond and I got a bit of sun. But tons of smile time with Cam and Mags. Cam is starting to talk tons. Not all the words are English, but I can relate to that. Super cute as always. I was going to visit this weekend but forgot they were out of town. So am gearing up to block the lace shawl all on my own. As cece says, just take a deep breath. I’m almost done. Just one more round and then casting off. I’m really worried it’s going to be much smaller than it should. Based on the yardage needed, I should be using three balls of yarn plus a bit more. Instead, I’m using two balls of yarn plus a bit more. That doesn’t sound promising. I’ve been reading up today on how to properly pin it out and one site said alpaca is more delicate so don’t pull too hard. I think the yarn I’m using is alpaca. So stretching the thing into submission may not be the way to go.
Let’s see, what else. I feel like tons have been going on that I mean to blog about. I got two batches of jam from the peaches I bought. Burnt the first batch, but don’t think you can tell too much. Second batch was perfect. How bad is it if I only give away jars from the first batch?
This coming weekend I have a friend’s birthday soiree and a friend’s all day bachelorette party. I did find a dress for the wedding the following weekend (where the shawl will be on display). I’m starting to second guess it as it was a cute little strapless number. Seemed perfect when I was buying it on a hot and humid day, but now, even with a sweater, may be a little cold.
And on that note, so this isn’t yet another photoless post, I provide you with pics from my trip in July. I was bustling along early Saturday morning to check in at the Glasgow airport on my way to Paris for vacation. In the persistent drizzle that defines Glasgow weather, I happen to look up and see this advertisement. Just your normal approach to travel advertisement. Only the start and end points spectacularly match up with my itinerary. That happens once in a million, at least for me. How cool, I thought, so got out of the flurry of travelers and tiptoed my way onto the wet grass and took these pics.
Wednesday, September 01, 2010
Thursday, August 26, 2010
Crap Day, so far
I didn’t think it was a crap day when I had to head off to work at 6 am today. I chose to enjoy the early sun’s rays as I rubbed the sleep out of my eyes. Even later, on my way into the new office, when I saw in graphic form a seagull picking at the innards of a freshly killed swallow, I didn’t realize this was shaping out to be a crap day. Over two hours on the phone with IT trying to fix our internet connections that have been plaguing us all week, and still it hadn’t dawned on me. And even when I snagged my brand new black pants that I hadn’t worn for more than a few hours on my new desk, I didn’t see the pattern.
It got crappy when I checked my credit card account online and it seemed high. Turns out the flights I cancelled with Orbitz didn’t go through (even though it clearly said it did). Over an hour later they said they don’t have a record of the cancellation – back at the starting point. I’m most frustrated because I just lost $400, unless anyone wants two round trip tickets from Boston to Richmond for Labor day. I’m going to contest it on my credit card, but am not hopeful. And this is on top of losing $200 to match.com. They have a very sneaky auto renewal set up. I didn’t catch it the first time (holidays), but caught it the second time and they refuse to address the issue. I think this is partly why I’m dragging my feet on using the site. At least partly so.
But stiff upper lip and I head out for a now, very late lunch. Figured I’ll revisit an old lunch haunt that was only a few blocks away. Arrive to find that they’ve closed down and moved further away. No longer a viable lunch option. So on my way back, as I curse the blisters starting on my feet, I wonder, what went wrong. The only thing I can think of as I sit and write this is that I’m suffering from lack of sleep. I’m tired. I’m frustrated. I’m done with all this crap.
So, enough venting. Even if things are tight these days, money is just money. I’ll finish out my day at work, enjoy the break in the weather, head home and enjoy a nice evening listening to old podcasts and making jam! For now I’m putting on some Lake Wobegon, nothing like Garrison’s comforting storytelling to put you in a better place!
It got crappy when I checked my credit card account online and it seemed high. Turns out the flights I cancelled with Orbitz didn’t go through (even though it clearly said it did). Over an hour later they said they don’t have a record of the cancellation – back at the starting point. I’m most frustrated because I just lost $400, unless anyone wants two round trip tickets from Boston to Richmond for Labor day. I’m going to contest it on my credit card, but am not hopeful. And this is on top of losing $200 to match.com. They have a very sneaky auto renewal set up. I didn’t catch it the first time (holidays), but caught it the second time and they refuse to address the issue. I think this is partly why I’m dragging my feet on using the site. At least partly so.
But stiff upper lip and I head out for a now, very late lunch. Figured I’ll revisit an old lunch haunt that was only a few blocks away. Arrive to find that they’ve closed down and moved further away. No longer a viable lunch option. So on my way back, as I curse the blisters starting on my feet, I wonder, what went wrong. The only thing I can think of as I sit and write this is that I’m suffering from lack of sleep. I’m tired. I’m frustrated. I’m done with all this crap.
So, enough venting. Even if things are tight these days, money is just money. I’ll finish out my day at work, enjoy the break in the weather, head home and enjoy a nice evening listening to old podcasts and making jam! For now I’m putting on some Lake Wobegon, nothing like Garrison’s comforting storytelling to put you in a better place!
Wednesday, August 25, 2010
Random Wednesday
Figured I go with the bullet list today:
- By close of Sunday I was two repeats ahead of schedule. Even after going up to NH to visit Reegan and family. By close of this morning, I lost that lead and am behind. I blame it on Mondays and Netflix. They sent me a French film yesterday. My French isn’t that good and I can’t knit lace and read subtitles at the same time. Good movie though – Coco before Chanel. Mondays are just Mondays.
- At lunch I went to return an expensive night time cream I bought at Marshals earlier. I blame it all on the elevator repair guy. I showed up at work a few weeks back only to find the elevator was dissembled in my lobby. I went to the only store that was open to kill time – Marshall’s. I bought some white jeans (love them) and some face cream for my aging wrinkles. I thought better about the crème purchase, returned it yesterday and proceeded to browse. Left after spending more than I was refunded. There goes trying to keep the budget tight. I should have just kept the crème.
- How bad is it that I bought a pair of black pants that look wonderful and fit great, but I have to do the dance to get them over the thighs? Once on though, you can’t tell there was squirming involved. And they look great!
- I’m hooked on home-made jam. I was brought up on it and now I can’t imagine why I ever had the hiatus I had. I was going to make peach jam tonight. Picked the peaches in NH Sunday, they’re ripe. Except I have a school building committee tonight, so I guess jam making will have to wait until tomorrow.
- I have a new homework assignment – to get back out in the dating world again. So I’m gearing up and am about to jump back in. I’ve had the assignment for two days, I’m almost ready. On the upside, the new office is located in an area with a lot of attractive guys who clean up nice.
- How bad is it that I have the knitting itch and almost started a new project last night? While in the middle of a super important deadline project! I blame it on the rain – cozy and snuggled in wool blankets make me want to knit. And I need a blue cardi.
- How bad is it that I want to start a cardi when I have, 4? 5?, more than I can remember almost finished cardi’s in the project basket.
- My plans for this weekend – nothing but knit. I had a weird thought that I might get it all done – the four remaining repeats and the whole edging. I’ve got a new set-up to watch streaming videos now. It’s wonderful, but not that wonderful. I may be deluding myself. But a girl can try.
- By close of Sunday I was two repeats ahead of schedule. Even after going up to NH to visit Reegan and family. By close of this morning, I lost that lead and am behind. I blame it on Mondays and Netflix. They sent me a French film yesterday. My French isn’t that good and I can’t knit lace and read subtitles at the same time. Good movie though – Coco before Chanel. Mondays are just Mondays.
- At lunch I went to return an expensive night time cream I bought at Marshals earlier. I blame it all on the elevator repair guy. I showed up at work a few weeks back only to find the elevator was dissembled in my lobby. I went to the only store that was open to kill time – Marshall’s. I bought some white jeans (love them) and some face cream for my aging wrinkles. I thought better about the crème purchase, returned it yesterday and proceeded to browse. Left after spending more than I was refunded. There goes trying to keep the budget tight. I should have just kept the crème.
- How bad is it that I bought a pair of black pants that look wonderful and fit great, but I have to do the dance to get them over the thighs? Once on though, you can’t tell there was squirming involved. And they look great!
- I’m hooked on home-made jam. I was brought up on it and now I can’t imagine why I ever had the hiatus I had. I was going to make peach jam tonight. Picked the peaches in NH Sunday, they’re ripe. Except I have a school building committee tonight, so I guess jam making will have to wait until tomorrow.
- I have a new homework assignment – to get back out in the dating world again. So I’m gearing up and am about to jump back in. I’ve had the assignment for two days, I’m almost ready. On the upside, the new office is located in an area with a lot of attractive guys who clean up nice.
- How bad is it that I have the knitting itch and almost started a new project last night? While in the middle of a super important deadline project! I blame it on the rain – cozy and snuggled in wool blankets make me want to knit. And I need a blue cardi.
- How bad is it that I want to start a cardi when I have, 4? 5?, more than I can remember almost finished cardi’s in the project basket.
- My plans for this weekend – nothing but knit. I had a weird thought that I might get it all done – the four remaining repeats and the whole edging. I’ve got a new set-up to watch streaming videos now. It’s wonderful, but not that wonderful. I may be deluding myself. But a girl can try.
Monday, August 23, 2010
Thursday, August 19, 2010
Blogs
I just sat down for lunch – a break from work. The office is quiet so I turn to my list of blogs I follow. It’s a bit slow these summer months. Still I thought I’d share what I read on a regular basis.
The first group is interestingly the group that reads my blog the most along with my family. Family being mom, and my two aunts in Texas and Arizona. Dad stopped ages ago – the posts were too long. And Nick, my brother, keeps forgetting I have a blog. So if either complain they don’t know what’s going on, I just point out they could check out my blog. The three friends I check-in on regularly are:
- Cece
- Emily
- Jill
They all post regularly (relatively) and interestingly we all lived in the same house senior year. It’s nice to be able to keep up on what’s going on in their lives as they’re spread out. From the outer reaches of the greater Boston area, to DC area to the northwest corner of the country.
I should note that I occasionally pop by other friends’ blogs, but they seemed to have gone on an indefinite posting hiatus. Hint, hint, nudge, nudge. I think it has to do with having names at the beginning of the alphabet:
- Amanda
- Andrea
Then I move on to my fashion blogs. I have three main ones that post regularly and offer a diverse range of interest:
- The Sartorialist. Great European style. Wonderful pictures. And for both the ladies and the lads.
- Kingdom of Style. Based in Glasgow, where I visit occasionally for work. Great independent style – more punk and rock.
- Daddy Likey. Funny writing and based up in Portland I think. Always good to see what the latest Chocha moments are.
Then I have the blogs that appeal to my other eclectic interests:
- Yarn Harlot. Most popular knitting blog. Out of Canada.
- Words Between the Spaces. A copy editor’s blog. The entry at the moment is nauseous vs. nauseated. A little reminiscent how I feel after eating five pounds of salad.
- Post Secret. I’m sure you’ve seen the books. An art project where people mail secrets on postcards. It’s been going on for years. Some are funny, some are sad.
- Toothpaste for Dinner. Gotta love your offbeat humor. New cartoon each and every day.
So that’s the blogs. I think there’s a way to get a feed of the latest postings, but I haven’t figured that out yet. So I just go and check out each one when I get a chance, be it morning, lunch or evening.
And on a completely side note. I was scrolling through the bookmarks to make sure I didn’t forget one, when I checked out a famous friends blog (John Llyod Young). We went to highschool together, he won a Tony, he was my senior prom date. It’s fun to see what he’s been up to periodically. I clicked on his latest project and it kicked me over to another site. While I was watching the video, up pops a chat box from another old highschool friend, Charles, that I don’t think I’ve seen since highschool. Turns out I was on facebook and, well, being at work, even on my lunch break, there’s a limit on my time I can spend on that site. Still, I was able to “chat” with him for a little bit. Turns out he’s in Germany, with the Army. He’s been to Iraq 3 times in the last 4 years. We got talking a bit about life over there. He still jumps when he hears a car backfire. I sometimes send care packages over there. But it’s been awhile. He says he has made some good friends with the folks that sent him packages. It’s been awhile since I last sent one, so am adding that to the list to do this week. It’s been so long since the last one, I’m afraid to admit, but think I used the site AnySoldier. Just reading it now, they say even letters are welcome. So that’s what I’ll do. Work on a few letters and a care package. I can’t even begin to fathom what it’s like to serve over there.
The first group is interestingly the group that reads my blog the most along with my family. Family being mom, and my two aunts in Texas and Arizona. Dad stopped ages ago – the posts were too long. And Nick, my brother, keeps forgetting I have a blog. So if either complain they don’t know what’s going on, I just point out they could check out my blog. The three friends I check-in on regularly are:
- Cece
- Emily
- Jill
They all post regularly (relatively) and interestingly we all lived in the same house senior year. It’s nice to be able to keep up on what’s going on in their lives as they’re spread out. From the outer reaches of the greater Boston area, to DC area to the northwest corner of the country.
I should note that I occasionally pop by other friends’ blogs, but they seemed to have gone on an indefinite posting hiatus. Hint, hint, nudge, nudge. I think it has to do with having names at the beginning of the alphabet:
- Amanda
- Andrea
Then I move on to my fashion blogs. I have three main ones that post regularly and offer a diverse range of interest:
- The Sartorialist. Great European style. Wonderful pictures. And for both the ladies and the lads.
- Kingdom of Style. Based in Glasgow, where I visit occasionally for work. Great independent style – more punk and rock.
- Daddy Likey. Funny writing and based up in Portland I think. Always good to see what the latest Chocha moments are.
Then I have the blogs that appeal to my other eclectic interests:
- Yarn Harlot. Most popular knitting blog. Out of Canada.
- Words Between the Spaces. A copy editor’s blog. The entry at the moment is nauseous vs. nauseated. A little reminiscent how I feel after eating five pounds of salad.
- Post Secret. I’m sure you’ve seen the books. An art project where people mail secrets on postcards. It’s been going on for years. Some are funny, some are sad.
- Toothpaste for Dinner. Gotta love your offbeat humor. New cartoon each and every day.
So that’s the blogs. I think there’s a way to get a feed of the latest postings, but I haven’t figured that out yet. So I just go and check out each one when I get a chance, be it morning, lunch or evening.
And on a completely side note. I was scrolling through the bookmarks to make sure I didn’t forget one, when I checked out a famous friends blog (John Llyod Young). We went to highschool together, he won a Tony, he was my senior prom date. It’s fun to see what he’s been up to periodically. I clicked on his latest project and it kicked me over to another site. While I was watching the video, up pops a chat box from another old highschool friend, Charles, that I don’t think I’ve seen since highschool. Turns out I was on facebook and, well, being at work, even on my lunch break, there’s a limit on my time I can spend on that site. Still, I was able to “chat” with him for a little bit. Turns out he’s in Germany, with the Army. He’s been to Iraq 3 times in the last 4 years. We got talking a bit about life over there. He still jumps when he hears a car backfire. I sometimes send care packages over there. But it’s been awhile. He says he has made some good friends with the folks that sent him packages. It’s been awhile since I last sent one, so am adding that to the list to do this week. It’s been so long since the last one, I’m afraid to admit, but think I used the site AnySoldier. Just reading it now, they say even letters are welcome. So that’s what I’ll do. Work on a few letters and a care package. I can’t even begin to fathom what it’s like to serve over there.
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