#38 Boston - Berms and Mole Hills - February 24, 2006

Howdy! Greetings from snowy Wyoming!!

Yours truly ended up here in search of snow, and let me tell you my friends, there is plenty of it around. My destination this week is Jacksonhole, WY (http://www.jacksonhole.com/) - cowboy country, rugged, snowy, with fantastic mountains that just take your breath away! My friend Lisa and her wonderfully generous family (Roger, Susan - you rock!) have welcomed me into their stunningly comfortable mountain home. 2 !/2 feet of snow pile up around the house, and right outside the windows the Tetons mountain range provides a magnificent view. We have snuggled into a quite comfortable morning, sleeping in, having breakfast, everyone sitting around the large wooden dining room table and chatting away. Early this afternoon Lisa, Sophie and I will head out for a ranger-led snow shoeing trip of the area, and I think for tonight a visit to one of the local bars, such as the Mangy Moose or the Million Dollar Cowboy Bar are on the agenda - more on that later.

I arrived a tired little puppy last night, from Boston via Salt Lake City - it was a long trip across the country, quite comfortable I have to say, and the airline provided a pretty respectable entertainment program. Note to Delta Airlines though: It might be a bad idea to show people a "Food Network" program while at the same time you only provide them with crackers and peanuts! Some people might get a bit delirious on account of the lack of food and them being hypoglycemic and such, so careful there, eh? I myself of course had heard about the lack of food service before and came with a whole pile of food, including a bag of Swedish Fish, which I wolfed down before I even got on the plane (Note to self: NOT A GOOD IDEA, really...).

Alrighty, let's see what happened last week, shall we? Well, there was the purchase of the condo, which is now in its paperwork stage; I actually signed the purchase and sale agreement two hours before leaving for the airport. Done! I am very excited about the move, have started packing up my little studio and am in the process of looking for a replacement tenant. I have now officially some space for guests, and you are all invited.

On the social and entertrainment front, let's start with Friday where I attended the "Kill Cupid" party at my friend Renee's house in Somerville - what a lovely event it was, with some really fun folks, in particular Ben and Darryl, who were teaching me the "White Man's Dance" (still working on my overbite) and a big shout out to Jeff, who is spectacular at "Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon" (who else could draw the connection between Gamera, the giant turtle who is Godzilla's friend and KB??). You deserved the door prize, man!

Saturday morning I went for a quick and snappy 8.5 Mile run with my friend Stephanie, before heading over to the home inspection at my new place. The outside could use a new coat of paint, but aside from that we were all clear, no termites, no Ebola, that kind of stuff. Coolness. Sunday, I hooked up with a new friend from the MIT Euroclub for a quick hike, which turned out to be a fairly disorganized affair, mostly due to the fact that Peter had no clue as to where the place was that he had suggested. The destination of choice had been the "Weston Preserves", which nobody seems to have any clue as to where it might be (even a cop we asked who had lived in the area for about 20 years said he had never heard of it...). After driving around the neighborhood for a wee bit, we ended up hoofing around the Weston Reservoir, which was actually a nice little hike, with some trails leading off here and there.

I don't know what was in the air out there, but upon my return home, I was completely knocked down by some sort of cold, and retired quite quickly to the couch demanding entertainment by my ever-growing video library. As the next morning provided no improvement and my sore throat which has been bothering me off and on since after Christmas started to hurt really badly, I ended up heading to the hospital for some help. What followed then can only be described as the "Tale of the Two ERs", as I was shuttled twice through the ER process, first at MGH and then at Mass Eye and Ear for an indiscriminate amount of probing, blood letting and other such nonsense. Six hours later, I finally got diagnosed by a charming young doc as having gastric reflux, which had started to affect my throat and larynx, hence all the problems. I am happy to report that I am taking drugs and on the road to recovery!!

I needed some serious fresh air after that, so headed out to the Chestnut Hill area of Boston to join my friend Joanne and her Chesapeake Bay retriever Hailey for a couple of spins around the reservoir, which felt quite good at that point.

The week since has gone by quickly and I can't believe that I am in Wyoming!! It is good to have a little break from all the real estate craziness and enjoy the winter!! To explain the headline, a berm is actually a "mound or bank of earth, used especially as a barrier or to provide insulation" - I learned that here last night because there is one next to the house, and the mole hills... well, when we got home from the airport last night, I looked out the car window, and saw what I considered sizeable mountains... but I was immediately informed that these were just mole hills, that I had seen nothing yet....

If you like to learn a little more about Wyoming, you'll have to look it up yourself this time (http://wyoming.gov/state/wyoming_news/general/history.asp) - I myself need to go and see myself some mountains, not mole hills!! Rest assured that you will hear all the sordid details next week.

On that note, Yi -Haaaa!

Pet:)

#37 Boston - Tattoos for Chicken - February 17, 2006

Well, most of you have heard the big news this week - I bought a condo in East Cambridge!! WOOOOHOOOOOOOO!! Contrary to popular belief it is not an igloo, it seems to have all the components of a decent place, and unless the inspection this Saturday reveals termites, deadly mold or the Ebola virus, I think we're good to go. To give a little more detail - it is a family house, built originally in 1870, and only two owners split the place. My cozy little adobe has about 790 square feet (74 square meters), lots of sunlight, two bedrooms, a brandspankin' newly tiled bathroom and the most marvelous of kitchens with lots of room to entertain (cocktail party coming up!).

The neighborhood is residential with lots of good old Cambridge-style restaurants and mom-and-pop shops, the supermarket is nearby and -this might have convinced any of you to pick this place - a tattoo parlor around the corner. Not to be missed is the Mayflower Poultry Company's store with its "Live Chicken, Fresh Killed" sign that pretty much towers over everything on Cambridge Street. Apparently it is a great place to buy chicken, but if you are a bit squeamish, this might not be the place for you.... The Boston Phoenix described it as "Fresh chicken for the stouthearted carnivore". I am all set, you see - no matter if I choose to get a tattoo, a chicken or get a chicken tattooed. Life is good.

The neighborhood is known to have quite a sizeable Portuguese population, and I am expecting to participate in some nice fiestas and parades in the spring. The place is still walking distance to work, should take me about 15-20 minutes, depending my state of mind and body on a given day, and all in all, I am very excited about my find! My spare minutes are now filled with discussions with financial planners, mortgage brokers, lawyers and other people who want my money or a good portion thereof. Stay tuned.

Sooo, meanwhile back at the ranch - my life was plodding along as usual and that includes hiking as you know. Saturday was the day to do it as we were expecting a blizzard the following day, so Rick, Barbara and I joined fellow AMCers on a nature hike (with Boot Boutwell, our botanist extraordinaire) in the Garden in the Woods in Framingham, Mass. (http://www.newfs.org/garden.htm). It is the headquarters and botanical garden for the New England Wildflower Society, America's oldest plant conservation group, and it is a very groovy place! More than 1600 different plants inhabit the 45 acres of land and their nursery boasts to be the largest native plant nursery in New England. There were things to learn that day, but Rick and I did recall quite a bit of our previously acquired know-how, including the rediscovery of some old favorites like the dogwood, the sweet pepperbush, the spotted pipsissewa (http://www.ct-botanical-society.org/galleries/chimaphilamacu.html) - and of course no hike is a "Boot Hike" without its requisite quoting of poetry, this time good old Willie Shakespeare, from "Love's Labor's Lost":

"When icicles hang by the wall, And Dick the shepherd blows his nail, And Tom bears logs into the hall, And milk comes frozen home in pail, When blood is nipp'd, and ways be foul, Then nightly sings the staring owl: Tu-who; Tu-whit, tu-who--a merry note, While greasy Joan doth keel the pot.
When all aloud the wind doth blow, And coughing drowns the parson's saw, And birds sit brooding in the snow, And Marian's nose looks red and raw, When roasted crabs hiss in the bowl, Then nightly sings the staring owl: Tu-who; Tu-whit, to-who--a merry note, While greasy Joan doth keel the pot."

Having completed our botany refresher, we felt the need for some more serious exercise, so Rick, Barbara, Phoebe and I headed to Sudbury to explore Memorial Forest, a desert natural area due its well-drained sandy soil and several old sand pits. This soil is perfect for pitch pines, one of our favorite trees - a gnarly kind of pine ("moderately stout") with three needles to the bundle (all pines have needles in bundles) and some of the needles even growing straight out of its trunk (http://www.nearctica.com/trees/conifer/pinus/Prigida.htm). The town of Sudbury nearby is the quintessential quaint and cute Massachusetts town, very charming, founded in 1639 and in its history quite heavily involved during the American Revolution (http://www.sudbury.ma.us/services/seniorcenter/custom/hal/sudbury.htm). During the "Sudbury Fight" on April 21, 1676 major Native American forces attacked the town and the losses were many on both sides. Another historical site on our way to this second hike was the famous Wayside Inn, originally known as Howe's Tavern since it opened in 1716 (http://www.wayside.org/history.html). It is now generally known as "Longfellow's Wayside Inn" referring to American poet Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (http://eclecticesoterica.com/longfellow.html). According to the inn's website, " Edward Rivers Lemon purchased the Inn as "a retreat for literary pilgrims," capitalizing on the interest generated by a widely read book of poems published in 1863 by Henry Longfellow called Tales of a Wayside Inn. Longfellow visited the Howe Tavern in 1862, and based his book on a group of fictitious characters that regularly gathered at the old Sudbury tavern. Lyman Howe was the character featured in "The Landlord's Tale," where Longfellow's penned the immortal phrase "listen my children and you shall hear, of the midnight ride of Paul Revere." Lemon renamed the old Howe Tavern Longfellow's Wayside Inn and operated it with his wife, Cora, until his death in 1919."

So on Sunday we had ourselves a little blizzard, a foot or two of snow, nothin' much. I was sooo excited! About 3 PM I joined the other crazies, grabbed my snow shoes and walked all over town. People were cross-country skiing, snowboarding, and used any kind of reasonable implement to zip down the hills in the Boston Common!! How fun! You know it is cool when your friends can come to dinner on their cross-country skis! Of course, I dragged my poor friends Ellen and Patrick out into the snow, and we met up with Amanda for a nice bite to eat at my favorite bookstore/cafe on Newbury Street, The Trident. Incidentally, the snow is now gone, since we had spring temperatures of 50 degrees all week. Tomorrow we are going back to glacial and expect 12 degrees or colder, who knows.


Well, you know mostly what happened during this week, condo purchase craziness, jogging with the Running Partners, and last night an outing with Ellen to the movies to see "Syriana" - a very intelligent and well-made movie, though tough to take at times. The evening was supplemented with delectable Mexican cuisine at Fajitas and Ritas, always a good deal - what can I say - the girls had a good time. Tonight I am heading to a post/anti-Valentine's Day event called "Kill Cupid" and besides completing a loan application and the home inspection, I intend to do some running, watching movies, and maybe throw in some cultural stuff as well (on the weekend, not tonight).

OK, OK, I'll stop!!! Have a President's Day Weekend, my friends - next week I will hail from Jacksonhole, Wyoming, where I intend to spend a few snow- and fun-filled days with my friend Lisa Miller and her family. To follow my friend Chris deRosa's advice: "Make sure you see the Grand Tetons, if you haven't been before. They are the most magnificent pair of breasts ever produced naturally in this country."

On that note - Cheerio!

Petra

#36 Boston - But I Don't Have 3 Dollars - February 10, 2006

Well, it was a bit of a struggle to make it back tonight-- my boss Bruce and I paid a lovely visit to a biotech company in Waltham, just outside of Boston, (historically known best as the home of the Waltham Watch Factory, a pioneer company of the Industrial Revolution) and it was a bit of a challenge for me to get home (or the office actually where I am typing this). (http://www.waltham-community.org/history.html)

I got on the "T" in Newton Center, and very proudly gave the conductor what I considered an adequate fare of $1.25. I had almost reached my seat when I was called back to the front and asked to pay an additional $1.75 (!!!) for the actual fare of three dollars. "But I don't have $3.00", I said, and I think only because I must have looked so genuinely surprised and also because it is currently minus 200 degrees outside, she let me stay, but not without an additional lecture as to what the prices were for such a luxurious ride. Many many stops later, fighting a serious bout with nausea (this is why I walk everywhere), part two of the journey began - nothing spectacular on a normal day - just the few blocks from the T stop to my office, but considering the biting cold, it was no small undertaking. I eventually ducked into Whole Foods and bought something mainly because I could no longer feel my toes, and I thought my nose had fallen off somewhere on Cambridge Street. For a short moment there I was seriously exploring trying to figure out if Whole Foods would sell warm socks and shoes - but I regained consciousness and thought that a hot soup would do the trick as well. It is bloody freezing out there, the wind-chill has dropped current temps down to a lovely 17 degrees Fahrenheit (= Minus 8 Celsius) - there are snow flurries expected tonight, and tomorrow evening a large snow storm is coming to town. If I am lucky, I can use my snow shoes right here in Boston on Sunday!!

The weekend prior was such a sharp contrast - warm, windy and rainy weather dominated and plans had to be rearranged according to Mother Natures' ever-changing whimsies. We rang in the weekend by joining one of the Appalachian Mountain Club's "local walks" (http://www.outdoors.org/). The AMC is a great organization - they offer short local hikes, you can join them for some serious peak bagging in the White Mountains up in New Hampshire, and they do all sorts of outdoorsy things - biking, canoeing, cycling, skiing, snowshoeing - you name it. If you do attend the local walks a lot, you will get to know the usual array of suspects, and some of these core people are a lot of fun to be with. Then there are the other ones..... hmmh, let's see - how to describe them? A little on the odd side or maybe crazy, generally leaning toward the socially inept, and really not "people persons". Thank God for Phil, a retired physics teacher, who is one of the regulars, he always has something funny to say and is an absolute gem, and for Renee who accompanied me on this outing. The destination of our dysfunctional little group was Great Brook Farm State Park in the lovely town of Carlisle, Massachusetts (http://www.mass.gov/dcr/parks/northeast/gbfm.htm). A fully functioning dairy farm run by Mark Duffy, it offers more than 20 miles of enjoyment for hikers, bicyclists and horseback riders. Of interest to us where some Native American sites with grinding stones (http://www.concordma.com/magazine/oct98/sacred2.html) and "seventeenth century cellar holes comprise "the city" where early English settlers worked one of numerous mill sites on the 1,000 acre park. " All in all though it was lovely to be out and about, in particular since the rain we were promised held off until we returned back to Boston, and aside from the occasional mud hole and some sheets of ice, it was a very agreeable hike and not too demanding on us weekend warriors.

The day ended on a very nice note with Amanda and myself trying to find some decent beer and pub grub, so we ended up at MJ O'Connor's Pub on Columbus right next to the swanky Park Plaza Hotel. Apparently the pub is an authentic Irish pub which was dismantled, shipped to the US and re-assembled right here in Boston. The food was great, the beer good, but we knew it was time to leave when a large gaggle of Irish boys started arm-wrestling near the bar. Dessert was enjoyed at "Finale" - http://www.finaledesserts.com/menus/menus.html - which was spectacular as always.

Sunday morning the plan had been to go running again with the L Street Running Group, but after looking out the window around 7 AM, it was a quick and easy decision to crawl back into bed. It was raining buckets, cats, dogs, wheelbarrows, shoemaker's apprentices, cobbler's knives, chair legs, frogs, fire and brimstone and I for one did not want to have to dodge any of these items. I eventually was able to get up, decided to join the rest of the world, and go outside as soon as the rains cleared. There is nothing like a 10-mile run on a Sunday along the Charles River (http://www.gmap-pedometer.com/?r=13656) , and despite the fact that I had to fight majorly against wind and weather, it was a worthwhile effort. Needless to say I was wiped afterward, and sat in my friend Claire's most commodious Le Corbusier chair lounge (http://www.futoncreations.com/le-corbusier-chaise.html), unable to move or lift a finger, watching the Super Bowl and barking orders at anyone who was in the vicinity of the fridge to bring me a beer. Gratifying and acceptable levels of alcohol were consumed, and Monday's level of motivation and activity was only slightly encumbered.

Since the weekend it has been a whirlwind week, with lots of activities, mostly Running Partners-related (including a kick-ass interval training session on Tuesday), and a lovely Thursday night "Port and Dessert" late night get-together with Claire and Karen. Work has been busy as well - I have some traveling coming up and my Europe trip in March, which originally included only Amsterdam and Germany, has now tacked on Barcelona as well. The condo shopping team has regrouped, my real estate agent has regained the ability to breathe and we have zeroed in on another lovely apartment in East Cambridge, this one much more in my size and price range. Stay tuned.

Oscar is on his way to recovery - turns out the little yellow guy has "hepatic lipidosis", also known as fatty liver! He's probably been getting into the chips when I am out, that little weasel! I should also monitor my whiskey supplies, who knows. Turns out he had five times the LDL (bad cholesterol) of the norm. He is now on antibiotics and a nutritional supplement that I have to purchase at Whole Foods (milk thistle). Do I sound like a crazy bird owner person already?

Mes amis - It is time to go home now - wishing you all a happy weekend, but not without a funny bit about the dangers of alcohol - enjoy!

pet:)
__________________________________________________________________________________________

Liquor manufacturers have accepted the Government's suggestion that the following warning labels be placed immediately on all varieties of alcohol containers:

WARNING:
The consumption of alcohol may make you think you are whispering when you are not.
The consumption of alcohol is a major factor in dancing like a retard.
The consumption of alcohol may cause you to tell your friends over and over again that you love them.
The consumption of alcohol may cause you to think you can sing.

The consumption of alcohol may leave you wondering what the hell happened to your bra.

The consumption of alcohol may lead you to believe that ex-lovers are really dying for you to telephone them at four in the morning.
The consumption of alcohol may make you think you can logically converse with members of the opposite sex without spitting.
The consumption of alcohol may create the illusion that you are tougher, smarter, faster and better looking than most
people.

The consumption of alcohol may lead you to think people are laughing WITH you.
The consumption of alcohol may cause pregnancy.
The consumption of alcohol may lead you to believe you are invisible.
The consumption of alcohol may cause a disturbance in the time-space continuum, leaving you unable to account for large
chunks of time.

The consumption of alcohol may make you think you have mystical Kung Fu powers, resulting in you getting your ass
kicked.
The consumption of alcohol may cause you to roll over in the morning and see something really scary.
The crumsumpten of alcohol may Mack you tink you kan tpye reel goode.

#35 Boston - Real Estate Circus - February 3, 2006

The circus came to town! And not the fun kind of circus - even though the ridiculousness of the whole process reached elephantine proportions and the realtors involved performed acrobatics like you would not believe. Bottom line and end of story was that I ended up not buying the apartment in East Cambridge despite its praised advantages in size and price.

So what did I learn from this crazy experience? For starters, that PMS and Real Estate don't mix too well. But my being completely off the rocker this past Saturday made me think really hard about a big decision, look before you leap you know - and that ended up being the best thing I could have done. Just because something is a good deal, it does not mean that it is the right deal for you. I also learned that natural gas prices are so out of control that my moving into a 1200-square foot place would have landed me in the poor house, really quickly. I don't like peanut butter and jelly sandwiches that much, honest.


So it is back to maybe not square one, but somewhere in the vicinity thereof, looking for that cute little apartment that is just waiting for me to move in. I am actually totally in love with a charming 1-bedroom in the Back Bay, however the owners are still a bit outside my price range. We'll see what we can do, right?

The fun part of the week you may ask? Well, there was a little of this and a little of that. Saturday for starters, our hiking exploits took us out west to Westborough, Mass in Worcester County. You drive up to the headquarters of the Massachusetts Division of Fisheries and Wildlife (http://www.mass.gov/dfwele/dfw/nhesp/nhesp.htm) and off into the woods you go. Linda, Roger, Rick, Josephine, Phoebe and I had a most charming 7-mile hike there only to be interrupted on a regular basis by calls from my realtor screaming unacceptable offer numbers in my ear. It was a very pleasing area to hike around in - snow was on the ground, so we did need our YakTraks (for my European friends, these are rubber-wire contraptions you can snap over your shoes - they enable you to walk on ice and snow - best $19 dollars I ever spent!)http://www.scoutgear.com/shopbybrand-yaktrax.html). Unfortunately they allow hunting there all year around, and we had to keep Phoebe close to us - quite a few hunters around and not all of them looked friendly. Ice fishing was going on on the adjacent lake (http://www.ckwalleye.com/icegallery.htm) and thanks to the encyclopedic knowledge of both Roger and Rick, we learned about snow fleas, duck houses and how to not get pinned in a tent by elephants for a few hours.

Snow fleas are tiny little insects, the size of a head of a pin (1/16 of an inch - less than 2 mm - long). If you think there is dirt on the snow, think again! Apparently they are vegetarians feeding on algae and conifer pollen, and they move in a crazy sort-of hopping pattern - hence the name fleas. They are really insects called springtails - two tails on their back end are tucked up underneath their belly, held in place by tiny hooks. When the little critter wants to move, it just releases the spring-loaded tails which hit the snow and send them flying God knows where. Apparently they cannot control their flight or direction that much, so they often land in the same spot or only a few inches away. Recently they have become quite famous too - researchers in Canada this past October discovered that our little friends here host anti-freeze proteins capable of inhibiting ice growth by about six Celsius degrees. Medical science is now exploring this discovery which might allow organ transplants to be stored at lower temperatures, expanding the time allowed between removal and transplant. Ha! The things you learn when hiking.

Sunday, the day was begun with a 7.5 mile run with the marathon training group of the L Street Running Club in South Boston, and it was a lovely morning out; even the sun joined us for the duration of our morning exercise. The rest of the day was taken up by Episode 2 of the Real Estate Circus, with a particular stellar performance by my real estate agent, who started hyperventilating the minute I told him that I was not going to earn him a big fat commission that day. He'll get over it.

Other news and tidbits that you may want to know:

On Friday, Steph and I saw "Match Point" - the new Woody Allen movie; MUST-SEE, MUST-SEE, MUST-SEE, MUST-SEE, MUST-SEE - you would never in a million years guess that it is a Woody Allen movie. Fantastic. Dark. Thriller. Surprising. The movie theater was packed to the gills, every seat was filled. Have I said it? MUST-SEE!

Weather still sucks - sorry excuse for a winter. Every day a different weather pattern, mostly rainy and warm - ski season is going down the tubes. Yukk!!

Superbowl this Sunday - Whoever wins - the Patriots could have beat them, right? I will be attending my neighbor Claire's Superbowl Shindig. Big screen TV - Claire wins. If I drink too much - only have to crawl down the hallway.

I am now officially as poor as a mouse - immediately after booking my flight to Jacksonhole, Wyoming, I had to bring the car in for service, and then also pay the vet extortionate amounts of money. My little feathery friend Oscar has not been doing that well, and hopefully by early next week I will have some answers as to what is the reason behind his illness. This has been very upsetting as you might imagine - for both of us. He also let me know in no uncertain terms that he did not appreciate the vet too much and my giving him medication twice a day has not helped his somewhat dispirited mood either. Currently though he is visiting my place of work, and all my co-workers have been doting on him which he seems to enjoy.

Time to go - Friday night - Sofa Time! Have a great weekend everyone! Pray for snow!

pet:)