September 05

The City of Boston is making a concerted effort to encourage bicyclists -- or rather, to try and convince Boston drivers to share the streets with them.

Part of me wants to cheer when I see bicycle lanes appear on area streets. The other part of me feels rather dubious about the chances of the typical Boston driver actually heeding this advice is somewhat less than even.

I've pretty much blown any chance of actually commuting to work on bicycle this summer, but I hope to spend more time on a bicycle next summer, once I've purchased one. Perhaps then I'll get more use out of the new bicycle lanes.

248/365 -

August 12

Part of me finds it obnoxious that the driver of this stretch limousine parked at not one, but two, parking meters this afternoon. The other part of me marvels at the good parallel parking job he did. His most remarkable feat, however, was in finding two adjacent parking places to claim.

I had to make a few circuits of the block to find my own parking space, which is about a block further down the street from where I work. So naturally, I felt a brief surge of annoyance when I saw it. In fairness, as I walked by, I checked, and the driver had put money in both meters, so at least he wasn't being a complete jackass about it.

I suppose that stretch limo drivers don't have many options for where to park the 20-foot-long monsters in Boston. And whatever else I feel about it, I still admire his skill at parallel parking.

224/365 -

August 11

So in the off season, it seems Santa Claus summers in Boston and drives a Nissan Altima.

I spotted Saint Nick while driving to work this afternoon. I was running late -- sadly, not an unusual occurrence -- when I pulled up to a red light on Huntington Ave. and happened to glance over at the car next to me.

It's sights like this that inspire me to keep a camera with me most of the time. I used to do this anyway, but since starting this blog, it's become a habit for me. That's a good thing; I find myself looking around more, seeing more, and honestly, getting some of the funniest photos I've ever taken.

223/365 -

June 18

I've seen Jesus fish. I've seen Darwin fish. I've seen dead Darwin fish. I've even seen Sushi fish, Gefilte fish, and the rarer (if more correct) ΙΧΘΥΣ (Ichthys) fish. But until today, I'd never seen a PADDLE fish, and it really amused me.

Of course, I haven't a clue what it means. I know what a paddlefish is, but the PADDLE fish on a car seems to be designed to befuddle. It succeeds in that respect -- at least to me.

But it's still amusing, if only for causing the confusion, because it's exactly the kind of thing I would do.

169/365 -

May 28

The Global Positioning System, a constellation of satellites circling the planet, is often my saving grace on car trips. This is my second GPS unit, and it is a Godsend.

I don't get lost easily. That's not a tribute to any navigational skills you might imagine I have, but more of a result of the fact that I don't often leave known routes. Pre-GPS, when I drove any distance, I usually had a road atlas or Google Map directions. These were fine until you got turned around, missed a turn, or were in a town the atlas/directions didn't cover.

Fortunately, with portable GPS receivers programmed intelligently with directions, waypoints, and attractions, it's almost impossible for me to ever get truly lost. And that, my friends, is a good thing.

148/365 -

March 16

There are a couple of things wrong with this sign.

Massachusetts law states that pedestrians have the right-of-way in an uncontrolled crosswalk. Still, they put up signs to remind drivers of this -- which is fine with me, by the way. While I drive to and from work, I do walk around in the city from time to time and appreciate everything that can be done to keep me from being run down in my perambulations. That having been said, somebody needs to proofread their signs before letting workers put them up.

Note that nowhere on this sign does it say what you're supposed to do when encountering somebody in the crosswalk. Common sense -- and looking around at signs that were done correctly -- tells you that you're supposed to stop, but common sense, as the old adage goes, is an uncommon thing.

Also, just what is a "pedestrain?" (That's a rhetorical question.)

Driving in Boston can be an adventure, as I commented here and here. An overtaxed road system is to blame for many mishaps, but having better signage around the city would make things a little easier.

75/365 -

March 11

One of my stated goals for this blog was to become more aware of my surroundings. An artist friend of mine is constantly asking me if I've seen particular places or photogenic sights (a particular tree in fall, for instance); I'm hoping that if I pay more attention, I'll be more attuned to these things.

I've known for a while that there's an American Legion post across the street from Forest Hills Station for a while now, but today, as I was stuck in traffic while city workers filled in potholes ahead of me, I happened to glance out my window and saw this flag, made from colored slats inserted in the fence facing Washington Street. And as I gazed at it, I realized I've been going by this spot for the past eight years or so without looking in that direction.

It's not a very impressive sight, but I'm glad that I've learned to pay a little more attention.

70/365 -

March 02

It's amazing, really, how Boyfriend's Saab looks fast even when buried in the snow. I awoke this morning to the sight of both our cars slumbering under this foot of frozen precipitation, and proceeded to spend two physically-active hours shoveling them out from beneath the sodden mess. I'm beginning to think I'm going to get my first repetitive stress injury of my life from shoveling snow. It's dig-carry-dump, dig-carry-dump, over and over again.

This winter hasn't thrown any particularly-bad blizzards at New England, but it's been relentless in sending us snowstorm after snowstorm after snowstorm. The biggest of the drifts and mounds of snow had just melted -- finally -- before this storm arrived. There are only 18 more days until spring arrives, and I can only hope that it brings warmer weather and more sunshine -- mainly because I'm going to lose it if I have to deal with shoveling very much more snow!

61/365 -

February 12

This is the morning view toward work. In the center of the image is the Prudential Tower, while the shorter building with the round top is 111 Huntington; these buildings, five miles distant, are across the street from my workplace. And this is what it looks like at 8 am from near Forest Hills Station.

I usually work the afternoon shift, 3 - 11:30 pm, but had to go in this morning because a coworker had jury duty. I ended up splitting the shift with another coworker because nobody else could cover, which meant that I worked 12½ hours without getting much sleep. I'm back to my normal schedule tomorrow; let's hope it brings back an unusual level of creativity.

43/365 -

February 11

In Boston, at almost any employer, a commuter running late has a built-in excuse if he uses public transportation. The commuter rail lines share rails with freight railroads, and some lines (like the Worcester line) have monumental delays because of unscheduled track work. The subway lines usually run well enough, except when they don't, and their cleanliness is at best unexceptional, at worst abyssmal. We have many new buses, but their schedules are at the mercy of Boston's notoriously bad traffic.

New Yorkers have their comprehensive, wide-ranging, 24-hour-a-day subway system that, while not perfect, was built with capacity and expansion in mind. Residents of other large cities in the world have similarly-efficient, if not necessarily pretty, systems. Boston has the T.

When I saw this clock tower at Forest Hills Station on the Orange Line while driving to work, I realized that it's not all the MBTA's fault. How can they be expected to keep the trains on time when they don't even know what the correct time is?

42/365 -

February 09

I guess you could call this photo "getting a jump on the day." As I didn't take a lot of photos today, this is about as interesting as today's selection gets.

Frigid cold temperatures will often bring out weaknesses in marginal car batteries, and my car was no exception. Although the battery shouldn't have died, it did. I had it jumped a couple of weeks ago -- thank you AAA -- but the battery wouldn't hold a charge and was in need of replacement. With everything else on my plate, I just didn't have the time to go sit in a dealership waiting for maintenance, and since I had ready access to another car I didn't rush down to the parts store to buy a replacement (you have to dispose of the old battery at the same time, which is environmentally touchy).

However, with Boyfriend home from his trip, I had both the time to take care of this and the need, since he wanted his car back. These battery chargers (cost about $50) are pretty nifty, by the way. You can charge them overnight in your house, hook 'em right up to your battery and jumpstart yourself without help.

40/365 -

February 08

Boyfriend arrived home from his six-week overseas trip this afternoon -- earlier than expected.

Most of the time, I plan to be at the airport when the plane lands. Then I end up sitting -- well, standing, actually, staring at the doors the arriving passengers exit when departing customs -- waiting for about an hour while boyfriend collects his luggage and clears customs. So today, since I slept late and didn't feel good anyway, I decided not to rush to get to the airport. Of course, today is the day that the United States Customs Service was at its most efficient and the luggage belt was running perfectly.

Poor boyfriend was left waiting about 10 minutes for me to arrive. On the plus side, we weren't parked long enough to have to pay, so I saved $4 there.

And it's nice to have boyfriend home; life just got a lot more pleasant.

39/365 -

January 28

Up until last night, Boston has had 44.5 inches of snow this winter. This morning, more fell -- four more inches, by my measurement.

This storm, however, didn't just bring snow. First it was snow, then sleet and freezing rain, then plain rain. The snow fell heavily enough that the plows and sanders didn't actually finish their jobs before the sleet and rain arrived. Sand and salt added to snow being wet by rain makes for a cold, viscous, slushy mud that's really quite gross. Depending on the weather, being behind one of these trucks can be a blessing or a curse. Blessing in icy weather, because you get better traction, and curse in this kind of weather, where the mud on the roads gets just about everywhere.

It's not too cold right now, and the rain will end soon. The best word to describe the current weather is "gross." And statistically, February is Boston's snowiest month. I'm trying very hard not to dwell on that bit of awesome, cheery news.

28/365 -

January 22

Here's a scene from my commute today -- the corner of the Riverway and Brookline Avenue in Boston. Note the car in front of me, which has stopped halfway into the next lane of oncoming traffic. Note that I couldn't go forward, even though I had the signal, from cross traffic blocking the intersection. All of the confusion here was accompanied by the discordant blaring of car and truck horns from drivers on both streets, pedestrians crossing the street against the lights, and other assorted mayhem.

With scenes like this, it's no wonder that Massachusetts drivers have earned -- deservedly -- the nickname "Massholes."

22/365 -

January 14

Peace signs magically appeared in the snow blanketing my poor, snowbound automobile overnight last night. I immediately thought of the Eagles song "Peaceful Easy Feeling," when I saw it. It was pleasant and pretty and strikingly eye-catching, and I hummed a few bars of the song, off-key, as I photographed the pleasant discovery. I started off the cold winter day in a decent mood.

Well, I got over that pretty quickly.

I was more than an hour late to work today, after not accomplishing a whole lot to begin with, when I stopped for lunch at a local fast food place, placed my order, and realized I didn't have my wallet with me. I went home and couldn't find the stupid thing, so I had to turn my bedroom upside down and shake it, since that was the last place I positively remember having it. My bedroom, which is somewhat cluttered to begin with, now bears a striking resemblance to ... well, a room that's been turned upside down and shaken vigorously. When an hour's searching revealed nothing but the floor, the bed, and various dirty clothes, I despaired of finding it and simply grabbed the keys and prayed that I wouldn't be caught driving to work without my license.

The wallet was in the car the entire time.

It's days like this that it's not worth falling out of bed in the morning.

14/365 -

January 09

Strangers to Boston, and occasionally, Bostonians themselves, are confused, bewildered, and even baffled when trying to drive here. This photograph is a prime example of what's so confusing. The photo is taken at the corner of Ipswitch St. and Boylston St. Well, one of the corners (there are two) -- it's the corner nearer the 1200 block of Boylston. Last Sunday, this is what the sign looked like.

I probably drive by this sign once or twice a week, depending on the route I drive to work, and I'll continue to monitor its inexorable surrender to gravity -- especially since I can take this photo from the driver's seat without having to worry about walking.

(Image manipulated to desaturate background, punch up sign color.)

09/365 -