Driving to the Deli

Today we had lunch at Rubin's Deli in Brookline. It's an overcast day so the deli atmosphere and the food were perfect - warm and cozy. We had chicken noodle soup with matzo balls, potato pancakes (latkes), and potato knishes. We didn't get very far with the potato items because we filled up on the soup and matzo balls first.

I found something very useful on the MBTA (Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority) website. They have a trip planner feature which allows you to put in your start and end points and it tells you what trains, subs, buses, or ferries to take. I've plotted out my route to work and I'm hoping it will actually work like it says it's going to. Given the fun we've had with the directions from mapquest and google maps I'll consider myself lucky to make it to work by noon!

700 HURON AVE, CAMBRIDGE to 65 LANDSDOWNE ST, CAMBRIDGE

Subway Express Bus Ferry/Commuter Boat Bus Commuter Rail Silver Line Itinerary #1 Walk NW from 700 HURON AVE to Depart 700 HURON AVE At 07:55 AM Route 75 HARVARD STA 700 HURON AVE At 07:55 AM Map and Schedule PDF Schedule Arrive HARVARD LOWER BUSWAY & RED LINE At 08:10 AM Walk SE (walking directions) Depart MASSACHUSETTS AVE & HOLYOKE ST - HOLYOKE At 08:29 AM Route 1 DUDLEY STA MASS AVE At 08:29 AM Map and Schedule PDF Schedule Arrive MASSACHUSETTS AVE & SIDNEY ST At 08:39 AM Walk 0.26 mile S to 65 LANDSDOWNE ST (walking directions) Regular Fare Senior/Disabled Fare Monthly Pass Total Trip Time $ 0.90 $ 0.25 Bus - $ 31.00 44 mins. To Purchase an MBTA Pass online, see Buying Passes Online. Bus to Bus transfers are issued free upon request when boarding. See Transfer Details.

Things I miss

Hope and Healing

This morning we went to an exhibit at the Worcester Art Museum - Hope and Healing - Painting in Italy in a Time of Plague http://www.worcesterart.org/Hope/

In addition to those paintings we saw a painting of St. Bartholomew by Rembrandt, Monet's Waterloo Bridge, a few paintings by Matisse, and a painting of Veronica Franco, a Venetian courtesan from the 16th century. Alex is writing an entry about her for the encyclopedia of the Inquisition. A professor from Pisa is working with several other professors from Pisa to put the encyclopedia together and he asked Alex to write the entry.













The other two pictures posted are two that I liked: Mary Magdalene with six saints and the other is entitled Allegory of Folly.

After we finished there we went to Higgins Armory Museum http://www.higgins.org/ which sounded good in theory. It was not exactly worth the eight bucks we paid to get in...the word Cheesetastic kept coming to mind. The highlight, for me, was the chastity belt. I learned, thanks to Alex, what the two hearts in the belt were for. Which yes now that I think about it, makes sense..

Ipswich

So today we went to Crane Beach in Ipswich. It was really nice and not too crowded, plus parking is 10 dollars cheaper during the week. We found our way to 93 with no problem today...yesterday we tried to follow directions from mapquest/google maps and it's like we pulled up an address on the moon. Nothing makes sense here when you use mapquest or similar. Soooo today Alex took out the map and plotted our route. It made sense and we made it no problem.

I think I got a bit too much sun today...my ears are even a little pink..thanks to the new haircut there isn't hair covering them anymore. The beach was nice and they had a bath house where you could change and a snack bar with homemade wraps made with lettuce and tomatoes from a local farm. The weather was nice...not more than 80 degrees...but the water was cold! Felt good though because it did get warm in the sun.

One thing I've found here, and it has been confirmed by other transplants, they don't make very good ice tea here. Apparently they don't brew it or something and the result is something that resembles the muddy Mississippi.

By the Seaside

Today we ventured out to Gloucester and Rockport, MA. We had lunch at a small place in Rockport that was right on the ocean. We got to sit outside and watch the waves. Alex had a fat lobster with corn on the cob and potatoes and the best clam chowder I've ever tasted. It was a neat little town. Then we drove back to Gloucester (we drove through part of it and down to Wingearsheek Beach just to take a peek before lunch).

Gloucester is home to oldest seaport in the U.S. and is the town where the crew of the Andrea Gail, the fishing boat in the Perfect Storm, hailed from. We saw the Fisherman's Memorial and sat and watched the boats for awhile. Then we went back to Wingearsheek Beach and this time we hung out on the beach for about an hour. I got to put my toes in the water...and we just relaxed for a bit before heading home.

We'd like to go to Ipswich tomorrow to Crane Beach:
http://www.thetrustees.org/pages/294_crane_beach.cfm

More Pics from Today

Baby who had a little too much Rockport

The WEJACK going through the drawbridge in Gloucester

Old Stone Fort in Rockport

Crab and Lobster tank in Rockport

Fisherman's Memorial Gloucester

Pictures from Today

Our view at lunch

Wingearsheek Beach

Rockport

The black spot on the left on the post of the steeple is from a cannon ball shot in 1812 (or so says a local)

We have to climb how many flights of stairs?

So Alex and I went out last night for a short drive about 10:30. I wanted to show him the newly found post office I spotted that afternoon. We weren't gone very long and when we came back we saw two fire trucks in front of our building. Earlier today there was a power surge in the building....this appeared to be the real deal. The power was out. We couldn't get our car in the garage and had to park on the street. Not a big deal other than the fact that on the street parking overnight requires a permit we don't have. The bigger issue was getting back to the apartment. The only way up to our apartment was to walk up the stairs to the 20th floor. So we set out to conquer the stairs. Fortunately the flights were short and while I can't say I sprinted up them, it wasn't as bad as I had imagined it would be. The power finally came back on about 3 am and Alex went downstairs, via the elevator, and put our car back in the garage. No ticket either; bonus! I'm posting some of the shots Alex took of Boston and Cambridge while our power was out.

Excuse me...I'm lost

I had forgotten all about this until my mom reminded me today. She could barely get the story out she was laughing so hard. So anyway...this whole thing has been a bit stressful and it caught up with me recently. My mom and I were lost and I pulled up to a stoplight and there were two people waiting for the bus...they were blind, a fact I clearly understood because they were both holding canes but which didn't seem to register in my frantic need to find my way because I asked them for directions.... by gesturing. "Can I get to blah blah by going this way" (hand gesturing wildly back and forth). Of course they tried to help but since it didn't register with me that they couldn't see what my hands were doing I just kept gesturing until the light changed to green. We went on and eventually found our way.

I think what's even sadder is the fact that the stupidity of what I did didn't register with my mom or me until two days later.

The wait is over

On Monday I was offered a job with EH&E. I will be managing a safety program for a group of researchers. I'm happy and excited to start work next Monday. I think it will be a great opportunity and even though the company is small I believe it will be a good place to work. It's funny that I ended up with them...back in April when Alex and I came Boston for his orientation, I went to the T-Mobile sales office in Newton to see if there would be a spot for me if I was able to transfer. T-Mobile shares the space EH&E. I happened to notice the office as I was leaving TMO. I made a mental note and when we got back home I tried to find info on the company. It was hard because I couldn't remember if it was EH&H, EE&H or what...I finally found the website and on May 3rd I sent my resume to the black hole that is the HR department. I didn't hear a peep from them until the week before we were to leave for Boston...so I pretty much had given up on the idea of a job there. When I sent my resume to them in May there weren't any openings (I found this out during my interview) and the timing just happened to be right in July. So I'm happy it worked out.

Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum

We went to the Gardner Museum yesterday. It was recommended to us by a woman name Karen who lives on the 14th floor. We met her at the picnic last weekend. The courtyard in the museum was beautiful.

Here's some info:
http://www.gardnermuseum.org/

The museum was established in 1903 by Isabella Stewart Gardner (1840-1924), a wealthy patron of the arts. It is housed in a building designed to evoke a Venetian Renaissance palazzo, but it was built entirely from the ground up in Boston, out of new materials, but incorporating numerous architectural fragments from European Gothic and Renaissance structures.

Wondering/Wandering

Saturday:

I'm wondering why in the hell I decided to get a haircut in the midst of a major life change. It's one of the golden rules of the hair.I got my hair cut. It's sooo freaking short it's unreal.

Sunday:
We wandered around Newton, Brookline, Rosiland, West Roxbury and beyond and finally ended up back home. First we went to Filene's Basement in Newton and I found the cutest tweed suit - long jacket with a skirt for only $59...it was $240...I doubt I'll wear the skirt but the jacket will be all kinds of useful.

Alex was looking for a particular synagogue and we also wanted to see JFK's birth home in Brookline so we headed to Brookline next.It's a beautiful town with huge houses and a very scenic drive in parts.

We actually found both the synagogue and JFK's home off the same street. Alex knew the synagogue was on Harvard street so we sort of knew where we were going but we did just kind of happen on to them and it was cool they were so close to each other.

I've got to make an important phone call..

Today I'm sitting in Harvard Square waiting to meet Alex. I'm on the phone with my mom and this man comes up to me and urgently tells me he needs to make an important phone call. I brush him off but he persists. So I try and find him a quarter. I hand him .50cents and he says "it would be cheaper if you'd just let me use your phone". I told him he was crazy, get the hell away. I'm sure it would have been a scene to watch me try and chase him down the street after he ran off with my phone. So I've been here a week and I've decided to no longer give anything to any beggar...yes yes I'm sure you might have come to that decision earlier but they make me feel bad, and I want to help them. After today however, they will have to find someon else to scam.

The other interesting thing I saw today, and don't get me wrong I'm soaking up all of the different types of people here..but this particular incident struck me as funny, so anyway after the cell phone freak I see this girl walking down the sidewalk...she had this cool springy frizzy red hair and I was admiring it, when I saw her put her hands under her armpits and remove them and then sniff them both, ala Mary Catherine Gallagher...

"When I get nervous I stick my hands under my arms and I smell them. It's gross because they smell so bad. It's dirty and bad."

I believe my mouth dropped open when I saw it

We had a nice lunch (I did actually, Alex didn't eat) at a small vegetarian cafe in the basement of a building. They served everything as either a pizza or over rice, brown or cocunut rice. It was pretty good. We took a nice long nap when we got back and we both woke up craving chocolate cookies so we went to the small market up the street and walked out with four different packages of cookies. Awful!!

We've Pahked our Cah in Cambridge

So we made it to Cambridge. Alex and I have been here a week. What a week...the driver showed up 10 hours late, the movers he called left after an hour, so Alex had to help the driver unload all 5500 pounds of our crap. He worked until 2 am. It was ridiculous.

On a happier note, my parents and brother spent several days with us and helped us unpack almost everything. I've had three interviews, one offer, and two follow ups. Hopefully something will happen soon so I can start work as soon as possible.

It's not been too bad getting used to things here. The driving is a bit complicated but I seem to find my way home each time, with a little help of course. I probably have asked 20 strangers for directions in the last week

I have a follow up interview on Friday morning with a consulting company.The office is 4 miles from the apartment which is a huge plus.


Me and Jared before he flew back to Illinois