Yearly Archives: 2009

Happy Halloween

Posted on October 31, 2009 | 1 comment
Tomorrow I am off to Ogunquit, ME to celebrate halloween with friends.  It will be a fun evening for sure and probably our last visit there for awhile. Normally I spend the evening with Sergio, walking around the neighborhood watching the hoardes of children in an assortment of costumes and photographing some of the more creative Jack O’Lanterns. You can see some of the best pumpkin carvings from last year by linking here.
The weather forecast is for the highs in the low 70s in Boston but I’m sure it will get cooler at night and Ogunquit is certain to be a tad chillier than Boston. 

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Hotel rooms for Sydney booked

Posted on October 29, 2009 | Leave a comment

Tonight we booked our hotel room when we arrive in Sydney, Australia next month.  We first arrive in Sydney on Friday, November 20th and spend a quick two nights at the Marriott-Sydney before we dash off to the Great Barrier Reef (Cairns) on Sunday, November 22nd.  After nearly a week and a half of travelling through eastern Australia, we return to Sydney for our last 7 days. After reviewing what my Amex Rewards points could get us, we decided to book a room at the Swissotel-Sydney.

This large hotel in the center of town provides us with a central location and appears (in pictures anyway) to be very comfortable.  Travelling some place you’ve never been before can be quite a gamble and for that reason I did not want to book a boutique hotel or stand alone property that we have no way to judge until we arrive. 

Fortunately, TripAdvisor rates both hotels quite favorably so we are keeping our fingers crossed and finally starting to get excited about heading to Australia as the trip becomes more of a reality….next step is booking our hotels for the Great Barrier Reef and Melbourne.

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Weekend in Austin

Posted on October 28, 2009 | Leave a comment

I got back from Austin late on Sunday night and had a great time visiting friends that moved there from San Francisco a couple of years ago. Fortunately, the weather was beautiful so we were able to spend nearly all our time outside; relaxing on our friend’s beautiful back deck; walking through the city; and dining alfresco. 

Boston has many excellent restaurants but very few of those make what I would consider even okay Mexican cuisine so we really made the most of our time in Austin eating Mexican almost exclusively.  One exception to that was our dinner on Friday night at Vespaio Ristorante on S. Congress (SoCo). This was a cute Italian restaurant in what appeared to be a section of town in transition.  There were several other intersting restaurants along S. Congress and I look forward to returning to this neighborhood on future visits.

However, in my opinion my best meal was on Saturday night in North Austin at Fonda San Miguel. The restaurant claims to provide “distinctive Mexican cuisine” and I have to agree.  I can still taste the delicious relleno de picadillo which was stuffed with shredded pork, almonds and raisins. The jitomate sauce was a delicious compliment and if you happen to find yourself at this restaurant – it would be the plate I would recommend.

I’ve also included photos from our recent trip since images always do a better job telling a story.

Click to play this Smilebox slideshow: Austin Texas - Oct 2009
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Funny photo of the day

Posted on October 27, 2009 | 3 comments

A good example of The Law of Unintended Consequences.

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Tweet tweet

Posted on October 22, 2009 | Leave a comment
Do you tweet or rather are you on twitter? You can read my most recent tweets in the right margin of this blog. However, I also have two twitter accounts you can follow.

twitter.com/BosGuy – Provides individual updates about my life and things that have caught my attention. 

twitter.com/BosMktgGuy – I’m a marketing professional by day and this account points to interesting B2B marketing trends I find online with a heavy emphasis on healthcare and technology.

If you tweet too – feel free to share your twitter acount in the commnets section and let me know what you like to tweet about.

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Boston Book Festival this Saturday

Posted on October 22, 2009 | Leave a comment
Looking for something to do but low on cash?  Check out the Boston Book Festival this Saturday in Copley Square.  The festival is drawing together an ecclectic group ranging from Alicia Silverstone to Ken Burns to Curious George.  In addition to the more than 90 authors and presenters who are participating, there will be more than 40 outdoor exhibitors, children’s activities, and book signings.  I’m excited to head to Austin this weekend, but I would have loved to attend the Boston Book Festival -so check it out if you are in town.

The Boston Book Festival will take place from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m., at the Boston Public Library, Old South Church, Trinity Church, and outdoors in Copley Square. Unless otherwise noted, all events are free and open to the public.  You can find out more by visiting the festival’s website, http://www.bostonbookfest.org/.

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Posted in Free Stuff, What'cha Reading

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Interactive: Gay marriage chronology

Posted on October 21, 2009 | Leave a comment

I stumbled across this while reading WGB. Originally posted in the LA Times it is part of a larger article that outlines what formal protections and bans regarding same-sex marriage are in place in each state.  No surprise with this graphic with the exception of the tiny oasis of green in the middle of the country.  How IA became one of the first 5 states in the country to legalize gay marriage still has me scratching my head. The deep green hues in the northeast are hardly surprising nor is the deep red that dominates the south and much of the midwest.  The only real surprise is that the west coast is not more green.  It seems the west coast is following rather than setting this progressive trend.  I’m sure that over time, these red states will turn a softer shade of green and states like CA, OR, and WA will become a deep green that resembles what you see in virtually all of New England.  If you would like to check out the full article link to the Los Angeles Times.

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Euro Breaks $1.50

Posted on October 21, 2009 | Leave a comment
The U.S. dollar continues to weaken.  According to an article in today’s NY Times, the dollar has lost 15% of its value over the past 7 months.  The devaluing of the dollar hurts – esp. since I enjoy travelling internationally.  I suppose for the U.S. economy this is a good thing because it will make our products more competitive on the world market but in less than a month I’m planning a trip to Australia and the weaker currency is a major bummer for me.

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Heading to Austin, TX

Posted on October 21, 2009 | 1 comment
On Friday, I’m leaving to visit a very good friend who I’ve known since grade school.  A couple years back he had a beautiful wedding out in Healdsburg, CA and shortly after he and his wife moved to Austin, TX.  I’ve never heard anything unkind said about this big town.  I have no expectations and do not know what they have planned for our first trip to their home.  We arrive on Friday (late morning) and leave for home on Sunday evening so it will be a quick trip but I think we’ll probably be heading down again as they seem to have settled into Austin and since Jet Blue now flies non-stop from Boston it is fairly easy to get there.

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Hollywood back in the n’hood

Posted on October 21, 2009 | Leave a comment

Tom Cruise flick, “Wichita”, continues to film in the neighborhood and the parking lot across the street from my condo is filled with trailers again (although Tom’s super-deluxe black trailer bus is noticably absent).  Should I happen to see the movie star or Cameron Diaz – the leading lady – I’ll be sure to comment or post a tweet on my twitter account, twitter.com/BosGuy.

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Anyone else feeling like this?

Posted on October 20, 2009 | 1 comment

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Do you deserve your high school diploma?

Posted on October 20, 2009 | 1 comment

It has been about a month since I posted my last quiz so I figured I would share my results from this quiz which asks the question, “Do you deserve your high school diploma?” I scored an embarassingly low 68%, although the auto response which tabulated my final grade indicated that I did “pretty good”.  Maybe this will be graded on a curve.  Give the 2-minute online quiz a shot if you like and let me know how you did.

You paid attention during 68% of high school!

 
68-84% Pretty good, you know that there are libraries and newspapers, and you remember what you’ve read. You were a child that wasn’t left behind!

Do you deserve your high school diploma?
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Weekend on Cape Cod

Posted on October 17, 2009 | Leave a comment


My cousin Ben is marrying his long-time girlfriend (Megan) this weekend at Ocean’s Edge in Brewster, MA on Cape Cod.  The location is spectacular and I’m looking forward to the reception later tonight. 

The grounds are really beautiful – so it is a shame the weather is not cooperating because I would have loved to walk alongside the ocean.   The back (or front of the resort as you drive in) is dominated by the main house (see below).

I really love coming to the Cape off season. Spending the weekend with my mother’s side of the family is sure to provide hours of laughs and good conversations.  That was definitely the case last night when I crawled into bed around midnight.  My throat was sore and my sides cramped from laughing so hard.

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Street art

Posted on October 15, 2009 | Leave a comment
Today’s Boston Globe has an article entitled, “Painting outside the box”. The article is about a city program that commissions street art. According to the article, two dozen local artists have been brought in by the Boston Arts Commission as part of its PaintBox program, which is being modeled after similar efforts in Cambridge and Somerville. The program started slowly last year with only 13 boxes painted, but it has quickly expanded to more than 40.  I’m a huge fan of public art and hope it continues. 

A utility box has been decorated in my neighborhood on the corner of Dartmouth and Tremont Street. Click on the picture to make it larger and find out more about the artist by visiting their website.

The South End – a long-time enclave for many local artists – has recently seen more public art and sometimes residents get up in arms about such public displays.  With very few exceptions, I am generally very excited and like to see such creative expressions.  Earlier this year when the Shepard Fairey exhibit opened at the I.C.A., there was a lot of anger directed at Fairey because of some of his public works which the city labelled as ‘vandalism’.  I believe that he actually had to appear in court and was formally charged for some of his work, which I think was a shame because I love seeing his murals.  There remain at least 3 or 4 murals in my neighborhood and I would love to see more.  The image below is in the South End on Shawmut Street.

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Bill Brake

Posted on October 13, 2009 | 1 comment
My immediate and extended family are probably closer than most.  I have close relationships with several of my 2nd, 3rd and 4th cousins.  On Friday (October 9th), my cousin Bill – whom I fondly referred to as “Uncle” mostly because of the age difference lost his battle with cancer.  Bill was an imposing figure who I loved to visit in Silversprings, MD when I was a kid.  He and his wife (my mother’s cousin), had 5-children and when they were younger they lived in such far away places as England and Brazil. My heart aches for his children and I wanted to share a photograph to remember Bill by on my blog.  His oldest son, Greg sent this photo along just prior to Bill’s passing.  He was greatly loved so he will be greatly missed.

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