MBTA Hate

Last night Matt and I went to the Woodland T station, only to find out that for this weekend buses were replacing the trolleys from Riverside to Resevoir due to construction.

We waited for over 20 minutes for the bus to come, and the bus ride from Woodland to Resevoir was a half hour. (We normally would have been to our destination - the Boylston stop - within a half hour!) It then took another fifteen minutes to get to Boylston. The trolley was rickety and shaky as usual, and I don’t deal with that so well. In fact, as soon as we arrived at the Boylston stop, I ran out of the station and vomited in Boston Common because the ride made me so sick!!!! If anyone who saw me completely sick reading this, that was indeed me you saw. I was not drunk, just a product of a shaky, antiquated MBTA trolley!

Getting home was even worse. It took over an hour for us to get back and the bus was completely PACKED. I could hardly move.

I wonder what kind of construction they’re doing. I’d like them to just get rid of all the green line trolleys and just start from scratch. I don’t think there’s anything that the MBTA can do to make the ride more pleasurable short of updating their entire system.

Doin’ the Springtime Rag! Achoo!

In 4th grade, I was a soprano in my school chorus. For our spring concert, we did a song called “Springtime Rag”…I think the lyrics went something like this: “We can’t smell the roses, it stuffs our noses up, dandelions cause us to cry. We’re allergic to the springtime, doin’ the springtime rag! Doin’ the springtime rag!” Then we all had hankercheifs and we did a fake sneeze in unison: “ACHOO!”

Well, according to a recent report, it looks like Yankees are getting hit the hardest.

According to the Allergy and Asthma Foundation of America, which estimates that 50 million Americans are affected by allergies, these are the ten worst cities in terms of airborne allergens:

–Hartford, Conn.
–Greenville, S.C.
–Boston
–Detroit
–Orlando, Fla.
–Knoxville, Tenn.
–Omaha, Neb.
–Sacramento, Calif.
–Washington, D.C.
–Baltimore

No wonder I’m sneezing endlessly. Achooooooooooooo!

Some leftover treats from the Cadbury Bunny

Cadbury Mini Eggs are 25 cents a bag at Brooks Pharmacy right now. Matt bought about 30 bags. The cashier seemed a little annoyed by us because he had to scan them all individually. I’m not a religious person, so my favorite part of Easter is when the candies are on sale!

I’m from Joisey! Are you from Joisey?

Yes, I’m from Jersey! The land of full-service pumps. It’s illegal to pump your own gas in Jersey (and Oregon as well), and that’s absolutely OK with me. I don’t like pumping gas. The intricate workings of a gas pump are obviously far too complex for someone of my mental calibur.

What can I say? I’m from Jersey!! I pull up to the pump, roll down the window, and declare: “Fill it up with ‘regular’, please!”

When I lived in Watertown, I used to stop at a full-service Citgo for my gas on the way to work, but when I moved to Newton I couldn’t find a full-service gas station on my way to work.

Yesterday I had to meet Matt in Watertown after work, so I stopped at that full-service Citgo station. Let me tell you, it was great. I got to sit there leisurely as someone else pumped my gas…and it’s a good safety precaution too. Should I happen to faint when I find out it cost over thirty bucks to fill my tank, I’m already sitting down which will decrease my chance of concussion.

I’m all lost in the supermarket…

Lately I’ve been doing most of my shopping at Russo’s and Trader Joe’s, but today I wound up stopping at Hannaford on the way home.

This Hannaford has vastly improved since it was the disgusting Victory Market, but I’ve noticed certain things about traditional supermarkets versus Trader’s and Russo’s.

I usually bring my own canvas bags, but today I didn’t happen to have them with me. The days of “paper or plastic, ma’am?” are all over, my friend! Before I even realize it, the bagger had begun bagging my groceries in plastic bags. I swear, do they teach the baggers to use as MANY plastic bags as humanly possible? I had four items, and three bags!! Did my copy of Self Magazine need its own bag? How about the small box of fabric softener, did that need its own bag?

I feel bad for the employees at that Hannaford. They’re a little scary. They barely greet you and communicate in angry one word responses. They don’t make eye contact, either. Maybe it’s part of their training: “Waste as much plastic as possible, never look at your customers, and respond in monosyllabic grunts.”

I don’t really enjoy grocery shopping, aside from Russo’s and the occassional trip to Costco. Trader Joe’s is great, but generally requires a trip elsewhere to stock up on produce. I’m not even going to tell you how much I spent on FOUR APPLES last time I was there. It’s heartbreaking.

In about 2000, our family used Webvan to deliver our groceries. Maybe eventually I’ll have to explore the world of Peapod for home delivery.

That just made me think. In the year 2000, when we used Webvan, I was a teenage blogger. I blogged about hating the town we lived in, about my mom driving me crazy, and “what am I gonna do with my life?” type topics. Could I have ever fathomed that one day I would blog about supermarkets and grocery shopping? I would have been disappointed to hear that my life had grown to be so banal by the time I was 24.

Oh well, I like it this way. So what if Russo’s excites me to inexplicable degrees and a vast accumulation of plastic bags from Hannaford perturbs me? Better than complaining about my mom…right, PM?

Where’s my darn package?!?!!

Yesterday morning, I was vegging out in front of the television. Our TV is in the living room, right by the front door.

While I was sitting there, I heard the mail come in through the mail slot in the doorway. I got up to go retrieve the mail, and in the midst of all the bills and junk mail, I received one of those: “WE RE-DELIVER FOR YOU! Sorry we missed you! We tried to deliver a package, but you weren’t home. Please come pick it up at the West Newton Post Office by 4/28 before we return it to the sender.”

Uhh, what?! I was sitting, literally, 10 feet from the front door. The mailperson didn’t even knock! I bet they didn’t even bring the package.

This makes me so mad. What is going on with the United States Postal Service? Totally untrustworthy these days. When I lived in Berkeley, CA, we would get mail delivered normally, but the mailperson would NEVER pick up our mail. Sometimes I had bills and time-sensitive items, but he/she would somehow manage to deliver all of our mail and simply place it on top of outgoing mail. I called the Berkeley post office to file a complaint, and the woman I spoke to was one of the meanest people I ever encountered and promptly hung up on me. I wrote a long letter to them, and I got a nice little apology message from a man named George Banks (reminds me of Mary Poppins). Unfortunately, I had moved to Alameda by then.

So, tomorrow morning before I go to work, I have the lovely task of visiting my local post office. I think it might be prudent for me to mention the fact that I was home when they made the failed “attempt” to deliver this package!

My First Fenway Park Experience

On Wednesday, I got to go to my first Red Sox game at Fenway Park!

Even though I don’t really follow baseball, I love live sporting events. I like the people-watching, the energy, and particularly at Red Sox games there’s an amount of passion and enthusiasm that I’ve never seen at a live sporting event before. It was quite an experience and lots of fun!

We had box seats so we were really close!

I think the Jimmy Fund logo is really cute!

At one point, the bottom part of this said: “EAT HEALTHY.” I thought it was really ironic, considering it was in between a McDonalds and Dunkin Donuts ad…plus, are Fenway Franks and Cracker Jack really conducive to a healthy lifestyle?

I had beer ($7) and a sausage ($4.25)…I think I got totally gypped with the sausage. It tasted and looked exactly like a hot dog, just slightly darker. When I got back to my seat, I noticed people with much better-looking sausages. And also with better beer!! (Our tickets were free though so I can’t really complain!)

We sang “Sweet Caroline”…it recently prompted me to find out why “Sweet Caroline” is the theme song. I did some research, but it seems like there’s no real reason.

Then some dude ran out on to the field during the ninth inning. Here’s security essentially tackling him.

And here he is, getting escorted out!

Overall, it was a great night! Getting back on the T was a bit of a nightmare — we waited in line for about a half hour!! But it was all worth it. And I get to go again in a few weeks with my “Little Sister”. :-)

To the guy who almost crashed into me yesterday:

Congrats on the brand new shiny, silver Mercedes. We’re all very proud of you. But your fancy car won’t do you ANY good if you cease to obey basic traffic laws! It does not give you a star of invincibility and if you run a red light, you CAN hit another car.

For those of you who don’t understand, the Mister Rogers website offers a simple game and a clickable traffic light in order to teach what red, yellow, and green lights mean. Enjoy.

Canoeing on the Charles

Yesterday Matt and I spent the lovely weather canoeing in the Charles River.

We took off from Norumbega Park, which is conveniently only a five minute drive from our house. We canoed down the river, down by Brandeis and Purgatory Cove…

Matt looking at a map

Me canoeing…man, my arms got tired quickly!

Quack quack quack!

Matt canoeing

Then we decided to go through the culvert to get to Purgatory Cove…but I had a rather difficult time directing us back out to the river…

Yikes! I almost bumped my head a few times!

Cemetery on the river

This goose looked like he had somewhere to be!

More geese

We had a very nice time. We canoed for about an hour and a half. It was more interesting than canoeing in a lake or a pond because the scenery changes a lot more with a river. The water is a little murky in some parts near the banks because the water is shallow and there are a lot of lily pads, but it’s actually pretty clean. No litter or anything.

It will be even prettier in a few weeks once the trees and flowers are completely in bloom! We’ll go back again soon, for sure.

The flowers appear on the earth; the time of the singing of birds is come, and the voice of the turtle is heard in our land…

I came home to a pleasant surprise. Tulips have bloomed in front of our house! We didn’t move into this house until August, so I didn’t know that the previous owner had planted bulbs. I noticed them sprouting about two weeks ago, but I had originally thought they were daffodills.

People always talk about how beautiful autumn is in New England, which I certainly agree with, but spring in New England is very lovely. Things have just begun to bloom. Everything is pretty and flowery. It all makes me sneeze but it’s nothing a little Claritin can’t cure!

Aren’t they pretty?