I’m sure you had a point but I don’t think it’s in that post.
— MadMaxMercer via reddit
And Other Bad Words
I’m sure you had a point but I don’t think it’s in that post.
— MadMaxMercer via reddit
A thought for anyone who asks “Can I stop paying taxes because of this thing I don’t like/can’t use?”
There are lots of things that you pay for but will not, choose not, or hope not to use. Your tax dollars go towards welfare, unemployment, drug treatment programs, prisons, nuclear bombs, and foreign countries. Do you expect to take advantage of any of those programs in the near future?
Taxes pay for things that benefit the public at large, but don’t necessarily benefit you. That’s a price we pay for civilization.
It doesn’t get much funnier than an appalled 10-year-old accusing her parents of being in the shower together.
One of my favorite TV series is Sherlock, the modern update to Arthur Conan Doyle’s famous character. There are three 90+ minute episodes per season, and the seasons are spaced two years apart.
The latest season has been much anticipated by fans, so much so that the first episode, titled The Abominable Bride, warranted a limited cinematic co-release with the premier on television.
Meghan, bless her heart, found out about this release and that one of the lucky cinemas to have some showings is near us. My Christmas present was a pair of tickets. Naturally, one was actually for her. (Though she had the good taste to not point that out.)
Date Night!
Meghan’s mom came up to babysit the girls. Since we were going to be out late, she planned to stay overnight. (That plan changed at the last minute: she developed conjunctivitis the same day, and still came up, but elected to drive herself home when we got home — at 10 pm.)
Meghan and I drove into the city a bit early to have a nice dinner. Not knowing the city all that well, we parked the car around the corner from the cinema and followed our noses.
We stumbled upon a hole in the wall called Papagayo. Unlike the nearby restaurants with flashy signs and prices to match, our meal was very tasty and surprisingly inexpensive.
After dinner we had time to kill so we took in some local flavor. Within a couple of city blocks we had encountered two universities, a handful of theaters, Macy’s, Chinatown, and a strip club.
Alas, it was time for the movie so we shuffled back to the cinema and headed up. You can already find the episode on television so I’ll not bore with details; I will say that it was good. My favorite scene was when Sherlock came to (the first time).
Beta and I seem to be the more adventuresome side of the family. Today we went hiking in the Middlesex Fells Reservation because we’d never been.
For our first look-around, I chose to start near the off-leash area at the Sheepfold, thinking we might be able to let Butter off her leash for a bit. Sadly, the area is not fenced in at all, and she won’t come on command when there are any distractions. (Butter will come when called at home, she’s not totally devoid of training, but the possibilities of squirrels and other dogs and dead things to roll around in are just too much for her to resist.)
From the Sheepfold parking area, there’s a straight shot up to the Bear Hill observation tower (about a mile) so we headed up. The view from the top is impressive.
Beta brought along a book to identify animal tracks, and we found some animal tracks that were neither human nor dog — we think they were bobcat.
Unbeknownst to me Beta did NOT bring socks, however, and her waterproof boots quickly gave her a blister. We discovered this at the tower, so we turned around and headed home a bit earlier than I had planned. She promised me that she would bring socks next time, and she was so miserable by the end of the hike that I kind of believe her this time. I think she enjoyed the hike otherwise, though.
Another year, another amazing fireworks show on Boston Common!
The weather has been abnormally warm this year. Christmas day was in the 60’s, and NYE was in the upper 40’s during the day. The fireworks, held at 7 pm, were not uncomfortably cool.
Being a tradition, we like to make an evening of it. We took the train in, arriving at North Station and walking around the city. Even though we have a train station in town, the parking sucks and the fares are higher so we head down the road to Anderson RTC in Woburn. The MBTA makes outbound trips free on NYE after 8 pm, so it’s even cheaper to take the train (and just as convenient).
On the greenway in front of Quincy Market there is a carousel. December 31 is the last day of the season, so the kids like to get in one last ride. This year we arrived after dark so all the lights were on.
After the carousel, we headed across the street to Quincy Market. The Christmas tree was still lit and the holiday show, Blink!, was still running. It’s just a small light show and music that plays a few times an hour, but it’s a nice touch.
We got dinner at the kiosks in Quincy Market. It was nothing to write home about except this year there was a teenage guy playing rock hits on his guitar in the central seating area that Alpha was quite taken with. Meghan gave her some money to throw in his guitar case. It was all very cute.
We got some dessert and hot chocolate on our way out, and ate it on the way. The kids got cannoli, which weren’t quite as good as what’s available in the North End but seemed to be pretty good regardless. Meghan and I shared a slice of German Chocolate cake.
With the weather being so nice a lot of people turned out this year, and the hill overlooking the baseball diamond was downright crowded.
A funny thing about these fireworks: they always seem to have more than one climax. We always have to wait for a few moments to make sure they’re really done this time, before heading out. We caught a train from North Station before 8:30, had the girls in bed before 10. No, we didn’t stay up until midnight either.