Row, Row, Row your boat.....

This last weekend was the 44th Head of the Charles Regatta. People come from all over the world to compete in crew races in the Charles River (aka Dirty Water).


For my friends and family who are unfamiliar with crew, if you'll watch any movie about prep schools on the east coast (Dead Poets Society, Skulls, With Honors, School Ties, etc.), at some point you'll see in the background six guys on a boat rowing in unison. That's called crew. You can also row alone on a similar boat and it's called sculling.

Anyway back to Head of the Charles. I've lived here for a few years now, and I had never actually been to the race. It's pathetic, I know, so I made darn sure that I went this year, and I was ready for the excitement and energy that accompanies any race. I have to admit that I wasn't quite sure what to expect.

When we showed up on the banks of the Charles, boats were in the water, people were rowing, but there was a lack of yelling or cheering as well as side-by-side competition, so to quote my friend Brad "When do the races start?" As it turns out the races are timed trials as to discourage 6 boats going neck to neck down the river. I guess that makes it easier for the crews to focus on avoiding things like rocks, bridges, and geese, but it's not terribly exciting.

So why do so many people attend a race that isn't much of a race because you can't really see who's in the lead? According to my friends it was the free samples. All along the river there were tents set up. Some were selling pizza, other's t-shirt, but the one's that had the longest lines were the one's that were giving away free things like freshly baked cookies, juices, and kashi cereal.

My theory is that the Head of the Charles simply provides yet another excuse for New Englanders go outside and enjoy the autumn weather before we are all driven inside for the duration of the frigid winter. All in all, the day was beautiful, the people were wonderful, and I had a nice time, so I would have to say that it's an event worth experiencing.

Punked Out Saturday - and why I love Boston.

On my way home from apple picking yesterday, I decided to cut through Davis Square, (which parenthetically is not actually a square but a place where 5 roads intersect). The traffic was worse than normal due to crowds of pedestrians dressed for either a punk concert or a "What Not to Wear" convention.


That of itself is not terribly unusual. but the man on stilts directing traffic was.



But really it was the funky street band music and dancing that finally got me to park my car and check out the festivities.

So it turns out it was the third annual Honk! Festival, which according to the website is a time and place for mobile street bands to ".... arouse fellow travelers, to warn of danger, to celebrate milestones, and just plain have fun." In other words, have an excuse to get dressed up, get out of your house, dance, laugh, and just enjoy the autumn weather. Yet another reason I love Boston--random festivals.

I took a bunch of pictures of the crazy costumes and bands. If you'd like to check them out they are on my picasa page.

Stay tuned for next week's "Reason I love Boston" with my Head of the Charles coverage. It's going to be wicked awesome. ;)

Boston Driving "Customs" vs. "Laws"

Within 5 minutes of driving on Boston streets, you will realize that all those rules you learned in traffic school simply do not apply here. Let me give you a few examples

Problem: Driver in right hand turn lane realizes that he/she needs to turn left.
Solution: When the light changes, driver guns engine, cuts everyone off and turns left.

Problem: Driver needs to go the wrong way on a one-way street to get to desired destination.
Solution: Back up the road so that your car is at least facing the correct direction.

Problem: Driver wants to make a left hand turn, but there are no breaks in traffic.
Solution: Inch out slowly until traffic stops for you and your left turn.

And all this is done with such prevalence that you might forget that common driving practices are not the same as driving laws. In fact, you might suppose that the only tickets that are issued here are for parking, speeding, and failure to get your car registered. As it turns out that is not entirely true as I learned just yesterday.

I was parallel parked on one side of the street, but I needed to head in the opposite direction. I did a proper lookout. Since there was plenty of space, I simply pulled out across the street and headed the correct direction. I of course did not think anything of the cop across the way who was out of his cop car writing a ticket for someone, but my passenger noticed when the cop signalled for me to pull over. That caught me off guard and I tried to pull over but that's hard on a busy road. While I sat there double parked, waiting for the cop to do something the following conversation went through my head.

"This is crazy," I thought. "I didn't do anything wrong. That cop isn't even in his car. I didn't see him wave me over. Maybe my passenger misunderstand the cop's signal. If I continue to sit here I'm going to get hit by another car. The cop's not even coming. He's like a half a block away. Besides, since when do I stop for cops who are standing by the side of the road just writing out tickets? This isn't Europe you know. "

So I started to drive away because obviously my stopping had been a mistake. Unfortunately just enough time had passed for the cop to get into his car and he came up behind me. At least he waited until there was actually room for me to pull over before he turned on his lights.

As it turns out I did an illegal U-turn. Is there such a thing in Boston? He says there were signs everywhere, but I was parked and couldn't see a sign. Then there's the whole issue of my crossing a double yellow line, which I thought just meant don't pass. I didn't realize it means you should make left turns or U-turns.

Fortunately I made it through with just written warning, but now I'm left wondering if is it possible to drive in Boston by following the driving laws instead of the driving customs. Perhaps the world will never know.

Oh ye plaques of Boston

I have many reasons for loving Boston, but my favorite is the historical plaques. You can go pretty much anywhere and find a plaque commemorating anything from Paul Revere's famous ride to the Great Molasses Flood.

Until recently my favorite has been the "Here once stood a tree" plaque in Cambridge Commons:


I'm still trying to figure out if it's commemorating the elections or the tree.

Then recently I found this plaque in Brighton:




I love it. So they are saying, somewhere.......not here.........perhaps within the surrounding 20 miles, there were some cattleyards that were important to our national/local history.

Someday, I halfway expect to stumble across a sign that says something like:

Here, beside this fence post,
General George Washington's dog Sweetlips*
relieved himself daily.
1773-1775

While I await that absolutely perfect plaque displayed for all see, I will simply have to enjoy the plaque my friend gave me to proudly display in my own home:


* According to my extensive and in depth research (I google searched it) this is the actual name of Gen. Washington's dog during that time period. Talk about a lame name. Why couldn't he have gone with something like Pepperjack, Spitfire, Alvin, Simon, or Theodore?