Miss you, Grandpa.
Berliner Mauer
November 9, 2009 at 9:46 pm (2009, photography, photos, taken by me)
Tags: Berlin Wall
20 years ago a wall stood here.
Now it survives only in pieces like this:
USS Constitution
November 7, 2009 at 8:53 am (2009, Boston National Historical Park, Charlestown Navy Yard, Massachusetts, National Park Service, New England, Random Work Stories, annoying, boston, history, local, photography, photos, politics, taken by me, work)
Tags: boston, Open Letters to People or Entities Who are Unlikely to Respond, charlestown, Charlestown Navy Yard, National Park Service, history, NPS, USS Constitution, Navy, cannons, USS Cassin Young, annoying
I had a great post here about the neighbors who want the USS Constitution to change the way she fires her cannons because they feel lit is too loud. They want the cannons to be quiet until 9 AM on the weekends and the National Anthem to not be played so loudly and the charges to be smaller.
To which I say: shut up.
This tradition has been going on since before 1800 and the charges have been made smaller over the years already. They barely use any black powder to set the cannons off already and oh yeah, we are at war. These cannons are shot off twice a day in honor of the men and women who are serving and who have served. Many of these sailors will be going off to active duty combat after their 3 years at the Constitution is up and many of the National Park Rangers have also served in some capacity. This ship is the mascot of the entire Navy and it is only appropriate for her to fire her cannons off as a sign of respect…and its pretty cool to watch them do it, as well.
I was lucky enough to get to take a trip on the Constitution a few years ago with my Dad. It was Armed Forces Day and so there was a 19 gun salute (why are they always odd numbers?) to the men and women of the Armed Forces. While I couldn’t really see over the sides of the ship, I knew enough to get down to the gun deck in time to see them load and fire the charges. Afterwards, I got one of the shells as a souvenier of my trip…it stunk to high heaven for a few weeks, but it is awesome. See:
So, be quiet people living at Flagship Wharf…Nomar would have never been a jerk like you are. Oh, and I hope you enjoy it next summer when they are turning the Yard back into a working one and putting the USS Cassin Young into drydock! That should be exciting…lots of banging and crashing and melting and tearing. Its going to be awesome to see what kind of letter you send to the NPS unit.
Radio Boston/WBUR at Faneuil Hall
November 6, 2009 at 9:13 pm (2009, Boston National Historical Park, Massachusetts, National Park Service, New England, boston, history, local, photography, photos, politics, taken by me, work)
Tags: David Boeri, Faneuil Hall, Jane Clayson, Public Radio, Radio Boston, WBUR
Snagged from their website:
WHAT: Radio Boston taped before a live audience.
WHERE: Boston’s historic Faneuil Hall.
WHEN: Tuesday, Nov. 17 @ 8pm
WHO: Jane Clayson, David Boeri, and YOU!
We’ll be talking about gang violence in Boston, and an innovative new program designed to stop it in the streets.
For FREE tickets, email us at radioboston@wbur.org with your name, phone number, and the number of people in your party (limit four tickets per request). We’ll get back to you.
Hope to see you there!
Happy 40th Anniversary!
November 5, 2009 at 4:51 pm (friends, history, life, local, love, photography, photos, taken by me)
Tags: photo, photography, taken by me, muppets, Sesame Street, childhood, children
To Sesame Street!!
One of my all time favorite shows, even today as a 30 year old, I learned so much from SS. I learned how to use music as a way to remember things, how to speak with my hands through sign language, how to be silly, and to always question things.
One of my favorite songs from the show is when Lefty the Letter Salesman tries to get Ernie to buy an O…I have a soft spot in my heart for Bert and Ernie. They remind me of my sisters a lot, especially the fish clip.
I got to meet a Muppeter a few years ago when Carroll Spinney was going around promoting his new book. Because we got there so early (I was wicked excited) I was first in line to get my book signed. It was awesome…while he didn’t bring Big Bird, Oscar was there in a duffel bag and quite angry about it.
I regret not being able to ever meet Jim Henson, but like a lot of people my age, I kinda feel like I did. You could see his character through the Muppets he controlled and all different types of his personality, especially when he was paired with Frank Oz. A great show and a wonderful thing for kids to continue to be able to watch. Who can get through the clip of Big Bird learning the Mr. Hooper died without getting teary eyed?
Halloween
October 31, 2009 at 4:58 pm (2009, beer brewing, brewing, costume, fall, friends, group pictures, halloween, halloween costume, history, life, photography, photos, seasons, taken by me)
Tags: costume contest, costume party, costumes, friends, halloween, Halloween 2009, Halloween Party, party, photography, photos, taken by me, winners
We had our Halloween party last night since the bar we go to has their party on the Friday before the holiday. There were a lot of interesting costumes, but we were able to take 2nd and 3rd place in the costume contest with these:
Michael was some local, but American Gothic took second place (50 bucks!) and Macho Man Randy Savage took third (20 bucks). Overall a good night.
We also had other people hopping into the picture frame through the night:
While I did not place, I liked my costume a lot. I was Amelia Earhart and my boyfriend was Ernest Hemingway:
I could totally see Amelia wearing striped socks.
Tonight, we have already bottled beer and I am going to go have dinner soon. After that, pumpkin carving!! I love Halloween
Running
October 29, 2009 at 11:42 pm (costume, fall, halloween, halloween costume, holiday, house, life, plans, school, seasons, work)
Tags: busy, halloween costume, life, school, work
And not in the good way. I have been flat out running for the last few weeks. Not only did we have a housewarming party, we participated in a snow covered charity walk that didn’t go as well as we wanted it to. Because of the weather, half the members of our team were not able to walk…which really annoyed my Dad as it was in his honor that we were walking. However, if he had gotten sicker at the event, I would never forgive myself.
I have also had a presentation, 8 page paper (which turned out to be 7), 3-5 page paper (which is at 4 right now), 1 page response paper, lit review, children’s program, registering for my last semester of school and a few other things hanging over my head. People at work have been getting hurt (falling off of a stage, fake appendicitis, staph infection) and others have had family members die.
And I haven’t been able to spend any time on my costume 
I ran into Salvation Army today to pick up a “bomber jacket”, really just a red faux-leather jacket (for 6.99) and a Halloween store for a pilots hat and goggles and gun. I have my brown shoes, zip pants, and I might try to make a scarf out of an old t-shirt tomorrow quickly…not sure. I’m slightly annoyed that I’ve tossed out certain things and can’t find other things but whatever.
Paper is done, computer will be plugged in for school tomorrow, costume is mostly together. I didn’t get to make my Guinness cupcakes, but that is fine. I’ll make them on Saturday to eat with our pot roast.
Snowman
October 16, 2009 at 3:49 pm (boston, home renovations, house, life, photography, photos)
Last week, just in time for the cold weather of this week, we were able to get our asbestos covered hot oil heater from possibly the 1920s removed and replaced with an energy star gas heat system. This took many many many phone calls and discussion amongst different groups of people.
One of the biggest drawbacks that we could come up with of doing this type of conversion is the cost. However, it was a lot less than what we thought it was to get the asbestos out, as well as the oil tank and oil in the tank.
We used two different companies to take care of this job over two days. The asbestos removal took from 7 AM to about 2 PM and made the heater go from white to black as shown in the 2nd picture. Thankfully the weather held up and stayed in the 60s since we had no heat.
The next day at 7AM the gas guys came in very pleased with the condition of the heater. Loud banging, drilling, and thumping commenced for hours later and when I left for my parent’s house at 5, the electrician was still working. He did not leave until about 6 or 6:30. The result of that was the third picture: an energy efficient gas heater that takes up about 80% less space and will not leave oil puddles or cause us to need to contact Jim Sokolove.
The heat has been working fairly well…we still need to find our programmable thermostat so we can be more accurate in our heating levels. Only a few more major projects to do on the house for now…painting two rooms and possibly the hallway, putting up new molding in the kitchen, and then figuring out what to do in the deck area.
One year ago…
October 14, 2009 at 8:00 am (Cancer, family, health, life, love, plans)
Tags: Cancer, dad, health, leukemia, light the night, one year ago
One year ago today, I got some of the worst news in my life. My father had thought he was suffering from shingles and was instead diagnosed with leukemia and our lives have never been the same since.
I have seen and heard lots of things I wish I could take away from my head…Dad without hair, Dad shaking from the medicine, my mother sobbing on the phone to me, hearing that my father’s heart had stopped, that my 7 year old nephew asked “Why did you have to get cancer?”
I have to start looking at the positive side, though. My dad is still alive and cancer free…we are well on our way to Dad’s first birthday year, we have raised over $3000 for leukemia research, and I have discovered that I am much tougher than I thought I was.
Today is when I start changing my attitude…I need to stop being so depressed and actually get things done. Life could be much worse…last year this time was horrible, but today is better than yesterday so far and that is a start.
Please consider donating to my Light the Night team mate and help to further cancer research!
