halloween, sox, pats, all at once

Yesterday, my office was invaded in quick succession by goblins, witches, and a five-year-old Harry Potter - the day before Halloween, lots of people bring their kids in to do some office-to-office trick o' treating. I must say, it sure beats having to walk from house to house! On the home front, only three groups of kids stopped by, so I'm left eating the rest of the 5lbs bag of candy all by myself. Sweet.



Coincidentally, schools were closed all over Massachusetts yesterday, as the Red Sox Nation hosted a parade. The most surprising reaction came from my mom, who is as far away from a sports fan as you can get. But, after watching the parade on TV, she said she was deeply touched to see people come together and celebrate.



Take that, Yankees ;p



Now, this Sunday, you best be tuning in to see the Pats take on the Colts - that will be a good, good game, with only one possible outcome.

fire!!!

Yesss:

Totally worth the hundreds of dollars it took to get the fireplace in a decent enough shape to serve its purpose.

oh bama

Last nite, I headed to an Obama rally on the Boston Common. Quite expectedly, the turnout was huge - I was somewhere in the middle of the crowd, and let's just say that I should've brought my binoculars:

The opening speaker was Deval Patrick, first Democrat to be elected governor of Massachusetts in something like 16 years. His message was simple: we're in deep, deep sh#t in this country, and even though everybody and their grandma is expecting a Democrat to become the next President, we still need to show up at the polls.

Barack then came on, and stole the show - clearly, he's a natural-born orator. He outlined his platform by using examples from the lives of working-class folks, and promised to enact universal healthcare by the end of his first term. What I thought was most interesting is his discussion of his differences with Hillary - instead of throwing punches, he explained that their approach is not the same. He portrayed Hillary as an insider who's always looking forward to the next battle to prove her strength, whereas he was one to bring people together... the whole "don't work the system, the system should be working for you".

goooo sox

It's a great-great-great time to be in Boston! First, we're having the awesomest Indian summer. The leaves are already gold-orange-red, but it's still warm and sunny. Second, Boston teams are kicking ass. The Red Sox advanced to the World Series, with much drama as usual. The Patriots are kicing ass and taking names (actually, they might not even be taking names any more, 'cause they're so good).

Plus, Obama is coming to town. I may not get to see him, but it's the thought that counts. Of course, he'll be preaching to the converted... I would even rather seem him have a little chat with the dimwits in Ohio and Florida.

While we're on the subject: is it just me, or is the election process in this country terribly broken? I mean, c'mon, primaries? Electoral college? Do the words "simple majority" bring anything to mind?

biohazzard

Good news continue: iPhone is toxic - not just due to violations of UX principles and being a status symbol for total tools, but literally - it's made with toxic chemicals.

go brown & blue (yupp, those are the school colors...)

Sweet! Tufts is purchasing a Catholic church on Winthrop St. and converting it into some sort of a college building. That is great for two reasons: a) Tufts is always looking for ways to stick it to the townies, and b) well, hey, you can't love boys and big tax-free buildings at the same time. Oh yeah, they're also redoing the gym, which is a very good step forward.

Now, if somebody paid attention to Halligan, that would be great.

are we home yet?

This week, I put more miles on my car than I do in an average month. It all started on Wednesday, when I drove to DC with my cousin and her husband. There, I tried to play the role of a tour guide - even if my knowledge of American history is spotty at best. One thing for sure, DC has its share of museums/places to see. There was no way we could see everything, but we certainly made sure to make all the prerequisite stops, even dropping by the Pentagon. Three Russians, pulling into the parking lot of the main military facility in the country and taking pictures, not suspicious at all... But, that was just the beginning. On the way back to JFK, we made about a million stops - including one in Philadelphia, where we found the steps that Rocky ran on, and even a monument dedicated to him. Then, we were off to New York, where the city greeted us with the usual congestion and something that I've heard about but haven't seen up until now: rats. Naaasty. More on that later, but it was def. nice to see oh so many of my friends that chose to relocate to that craphole...

some progress

I can finally report that some progress has been made on the home improvement front. Many of the exterior holes have been patched, some walls have been painted - and I even got around to installing programmable thermostats instead of the mercury-filled atrocities that have graced our walls before. Here's a picture of the fireplace room, the same room that Susan was painting a few posts back...

light at the end of the tunnel, or the headlight of the oncoming train?

Sometimes, the news that I read actually cause me to have a momentary burst of optimisim - before I start thinking about the big picture. Rumsfeld, Rove, and Gonzales have left their posts - albeit, avoiding going to the gallows, but hey, you can only ask for so much. Now, the Blackwater group that I wrote about previously is being investigated. We're moving in the right direction, no?

I only have one fear - that, similar to the aftermath of the fall of Reich or Stalin's death, the departed leaders would be blamed, while the rest of society will go on unchanged. Nobody but us is responsible for the 2000 and the 2004 elections, for giving Bush a blank check, and for failing to learn any lessons from Vietnam/Iran/Afganistan/Somalia. Sure enough, Romney & Co. will "distance" themselves from Bush, and carry the banner of "new conservatism" or whatever they'll choose to call it.

And if my worst fears are realized, jobs in Europe/Canada/anywhere else will all of the sudden look much more appealing in 2008.

welcome to america!

My cousin and her husband are visiting from Russia - a huge event for all of us, since this is their first trip to the US. In fact, my dad hasn't seen my cousin since he came here, and it's been 16 years for him already.

So, what's the first thing we show them when they come to Boston? Provincetown, a well-known hub of the gay population on the Cape:

I don't know if my parents are consciously trying to put our guests into a state of cultural shock, but here we are. Honestly, though, I feel that even the most close-minded person would be changed ever so slightly after visiting Provincetown. It's clean, artsy, and fun - certainly not morally degraded and full of sinners as the hysterical Christians would suggest. Coincidentally, South Boston has undergone a similar transformation when the queer folk moved in. A slummy neighborhood all of the sudden became safe and full of life.

I might just hoist up a rainbow flag on my house to raise the property values in my neighborhood.