I’m off to NYC to catch a show and to hopefully see the Red Sox put an end to their losing streak. I have not been to the city for fun since I spent new years eve in the big apple two years ago. Work has brought me there with some frequency, but it is quite different when going solely for fun. No more blogging or entries until after I return.
Tagged BosGuy, Boston Guy, Travel
Are you overburdened with personal commitments and saddled with needy friends who require more time than you have to offer?
Now you can outsource these friendships to India. Fortunately Prakash is more than willing to fulfill the role as BFF. Feel free to dial 401-285-0701 and forward this to your needy and much neglected friends.
The Boston Globe has an article in today’s paper, Volunteering your way to a job. Although there is a lot of work to be done when you are first unemployed (i.e. getting your resume in order, applying for unemployment, etc…), if you are organized and efficient, you can conduct an effective job search in just a few hours each week.
When I was laid off in 2001, making myself available and keeping busy was essential. After being unemployed for a couple of months, I realized I needed to shake-up my routine so I turned to the AIDS Action Committee of MA (AAC) to volunteer Tuesday – Friday from 10:00am – 4:00pm in the development office.
I initially approached AAC for selfish reasons as a tech lay-off but my time at this wonderful health and human services non-profit paved the road and redirected me to a career in healthcare. Without realizing it, I was making excellent connections and more importantly, I was re-training myself. Too often people assume learning and career training needs to take place within a classroom, but that is simply not true.
Earlier this week I had to pay a visit to the bathroom while I was having dinner at the Beehive and although this is not the first time I’ve read this particular haiku, I did think it was funny to see it scrawled at eye-level in front of the urinal. I am more accustomed to seeing various graffiti, the random phone number or epithet.
Haikus are easy
but sometimes they don’t make sense
Refrigerator
What is an haiku? An haiku is a form of Japanese poetry, consisting of 17 syllables in three metrical phrases of 5, 7, and 5 syllables respectively.
Tagged BosGuy, Boston Guy, Poetry
In an article published today by the Boston Business Journal, the non-profit researcher, World at Work, ranked Boston employers third-highest in a study on expected pay raises within major metro areas. Washington, D.C. took top honors in local business pay raises (no surprise since the government never is short on cash). Boston and Tampa tied in the survey where the average raise is expected to be 2.3%.
On the downside, the 2009 increase is the smallest in the survey’s history and 1.7 percentage points below the 3.9% that had been projected in the previous year’s report. And then there is the depressing fact that the MA unemployment rate is hovering around the 9% mark.
You can read the full article here.
As a self-proclaimed travel nut, my journeys have taken me to Europe many times, but I’ve always travelled by plane or train. However, the Millau Viaduct, which is located in southern France and is part of the new E11 expressway that connects Paris and Barcelona might just tempt me into renting a car to enjoy driving over the tallest vehicular bridge in the world.
Interestingly, the Millau Viaduct is built with a slight curve because a straight road could induce a floating sensation as you drive across it. The curve adds a sense of elegance in the picture and really does look as if it is floating in the sky. Would you drive across this 8,000′ long bridge? I would not want to be stuck on the bridge if there were high winds or inclement weather but on a beautiful day it must be absolutely spectacular.
This was the opening weekend for Shakespeare on the Commons, an annual tradition put on by The Commonwealth Shakespeare Company. This year’s play is The Comedy of Errors, a tale of mistaken identity among two sets of twins.
Each year these free performances introduce a new generation to a classic play from William Shakespeare and offer families and friends a fun and affordable evening out in the city. I wish the weather in New England offered more opportunities like this.
Show your support for Boston’s local theater scene and bring a friend or two with you to enjoy this performance. The Commonwealth Shakespeare Co. deserves their accolades, but it is the crowds that come each year, which makes all their toil worthwhile. Performances run through August 16th; Tuesday thru Saturday at 8pm and Sunday’s at 7pm.
Gratuitous eye candy that sums up exactly how I feel today.
Enjoy the weekend.
Tagged BosGuy, Boston Guy, Gay
According to an article in The Boston Globe, Jimmy’s Harborside, one of Boston’s most endurng restaurants, will not be rebuilt and will be replaced by a 3-story, 20,000 square foot Legal Sea Foods restaurant. You can read the Globe’s article here.
The Boston Globe has a cool pictoral history of the restaurant which concludes with an artist rendering of the new building – see photo below (courtesy of The Boston Globe). The dramatic change and investment made by the city and private developers over the past 10 years has turned this desolate parcel of land into a significant opportunity for the city to reclaim and rebuild.
I’m off to the Red Sox game tonight. Hopefully the rain will stay away and some of the humidity will subside. Regardless (or irregardless as I’m likely to hear someone say at Fenway tonight), it should be fun. These are sweet tickets just 5 rows from the visiting team’s batting circle and practically next to Jack Welch’s personal seats.
About one month ago, I enjoyed watching the Red Sox beat the Atlanta Braves from these choice seats. I included a couple pictures in my blog entry, An evening at Fenway. Perhaps I should have entitled this “An evening at Fenway II”.
Let’s hope that the Sox rally and can win tonight.
Tagged BosGuy, Boston Guy, Sports
I’ve been laughing about this video since it was first shared with me earlier this year. I’m not sure why I did not post it previously (I thought I had). It is very cute and worth the watch.
I love the English accents and the lack of remorse Charlie shows after he bites his older brother.
I have not commented much on my gym routine since early May. At that point I was feeling very confident and was writing to document my progress, but a few weeks later (over Memorial Day weekend) I came down with meningitis and it took me a few weeks before I was able to recover sufficiently to go back to the gym. Unfortunately, I could not pick up from where I left off and it took me awhile before my work out could return to the same level of intensity as before. A couple of weeks ago, I felt like I had finally returned to where I had been before getting ill.
My routines at the gym have progressed and now my trainer has me focusing approximately 1+ hour on one muscle group at a time. I have not been as faithful when it has come to going to the gym on my off-days (when I’m meant to work out on my own). However, I recently asked Stu to create a cardio workout for me to help build endurance (surprisingly, lifting weights can leave me out of breath gasping for air). I feel like if I can build my cardio I’ll be better able to manage the crazy work outs he creates for me.
I’m not sure when I’ll get the chance to add this to my gym routine since I don’t think it is likely I’ll be getting there (with the exception of my standing appointment with Stu on Wednesday) until the weekend, but I’ll try to comment and let you know if it was too easy or left me gasping for air.
Suggested Cardio Routine
Warm up at 4.5 for 5 minutes
Run at level 6 for 15 sec.
Jog at level 5 for 25 sec.
Run at level 8 for 15 sec.
Jog at level 6 for 25 sec.
Cool down for 3 minutes at 4.5
Run at level 9 for 15 sec.
Jog at level 7 for 20 sec.
Run at level 10 for 10 sec.
Jog at level 8 for 15 sec.
Cool down at level 5 for 3 min
Make sure the incline of the treadmill is at 4-6 and adjust accordingly.
Tagged BosGuy, Boston Guy, Fitness
For the past few months I have been writing an entry each Friday called, “Flashback Friday”. You can see / read past entries by linking here. Just to mix things up a bit, I thought I would showcase what the future of Boston might look like by sharing a proposal that has been put forth from the prominent Boston developer Don Chiofaro. His firm has purchased the Harbor Garage on Atlantic Avenue (next to the New England Aquarium) and is proposing a bold mixed-use development that will include parking, office space, residences, hotel and commercial space.
In Don’s own words, this would provide an archway from the harbor to downtown. The buildings are quite beautiful and looks as if it would significantly change the Boston skyline. The Boston Globe says, “The 40-story office building and a 59-story hotel and condominium tower would be built on land between the Rose Fitzgerald Kennedy Greenway and the New England Aquarium, and also feature a glass corridor at the bottom.”
Of course this would not be Boston if there was not some community activism deploring such a bold initiative and there have been cries from some who have said the project is too large, but given the alternative of two beautiful new buildings or keeping a decrepit concrete parking garage, I’ll vote for Mr. Chiofaro. Hopefully, Mayor Menino will appreciate both the legacy this development could create as well as the tax revenues it will bring to the city.
If you would like to read more about this project you can link to the article in The Boston Globe.
Pictures courtesy of The Boston Globe.
Massachusetts is again leading the nation in healthcare reform. This time the state is considering an overhaul of the way payments are made to hospitals and doctors. Last week a state commission voted unanimously to scrap the current system “fee-for-service”, in which insurers typically pay doctors and hospitals a negotiated fee for each individual procedure or visit.
The commission recommends that the state make the shift within five years. This would make Massachusetts the first state to end fee-for-service, and instead pay providers a yearly fee for each patient, thus eliminating financial incentives to overtreat. Could more states follow? There are plenty of critics of ending fee-for-service, but if you are going to reform healthcare you need to follow the money. Over time I would hope that pay-for-performance would also be introduced to encourage best-practices and to financially discourage inefficiencies (but that is a subject for another entry).
I’m not certain when the state legislature will vote on this recommendation, but I do believe that Gov. Patrick supports the commissions recommendations. It is likely that this too could serve as a model for President Obama and the U.S. Congress as they address the issue of healthcare reform. No doubt states like California which are nearly bankrupt in part due to sky-rocketing healthcare costs will also be watching closely to see what sort of impact this has on access to service and over all cost.
For more information here are some additional articles:
BusinessWeek – A MA model to fix health care
Breaking News 24/7 – MA considers move from fee-for-service
Tagged BosGuy, Boston Guy, Health, Politics
Earlier this month I included a quick quiz that evaluated “how gay are you?” I lost some points and only rated 35% gay.
Undeterred, I just finished another survey which asks “Who do you attract?” According to this survey, I attract Yuppies. Is that still a term that is widely used? I do agree that rednecks are least likely to approach or be attracted to me. I think it is fairly obvious that a guy created this survey because based on dating stories / nightmares from some of my girlfriends the categories of “Who you attract” would likely read more like the following: Ego maniac; Player; Emotionally Unavailable, etc…
| What type of person do you attract?
Your Result: You attract Yuppies!
You attract the very well-dressed, job oriented type of people. They usually have their finances together, are ‘middle of the road’ on most topics, generally happy with the ‘main-stream’ of things. If it is stability you are after, these are good people to attract, if you seek adventure, it may be time for an overhaul. |
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| You attract geeks! |
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| You attract models! |
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| You attract artsy people! |
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| You attract unstable people! |
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| You attract rednecks! |
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| What type of person do you attract? Quiz Created on GoToQuiz |
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Tagged BosGuy, Boston Guy, Pop Culture
BosGuy 