St. Parking's Day

The thing that sucks about living in Boston on St. Patrick's Day.... rather, the thing that sucks THE MOST about living in Boston on St. Patrick's Day is that for a whole weekend, outsiders clog the main thoroughfares with their inability to navigate and/or park.

Case in point...

Last night I found myself driving in circles around the block looking for a place to park near my girlfriend's apartment.  The minivan pictured above was clearly enduring the same struggle.  We were driving behind them briefly until they found a spot.  Fifteen minutes and two driver-changes later, they still weren't parked, had hit the car in front of them multiple times, and were on the curb.  And yes, the entire time, my girlfriend and I found ourselves sitting in our car watching the trainwreck.  When we were finally able to find a parking spot, I politely asked if the owners of the minivan would let me park it for them before they blew out a tire or hit another car.

And I did.  Whatever.

The moral of the story is this:  If you plan on driving into Boston to celebrate your 1/16th Irish "heritage", please understand that some people live and work here.  If you're trying to get to one particular bar, I don't recommend GPS-ing your way there, and then trying to find parking nearby.  If you don't know the streets, you'll be driving in circles until last call.  Drive to Alewife, or Riverside, or some MBTA station outside the city with affordable rates and plenty of parking spaces.  That way, no worrying about parallel parking, you'll save a ton on gas, and free up the roads for the people who NEED to use them.

/rant

Speaking of Fung Wah...

Two things...

1) Carnival Cruise lines has officially become "Fung Wah of the Sea"

and

2) This guy nailed it:

Matt DMC

Just came across this quality throwback-pic, circa 2006, with hip hop legend DMC...

Even though he liked my style, my lackluster rhymes cost me the audition.  He told me to "walk this way" out the door.  Did I mention he didn't like me "walk this way" jokes either?

Slowpoke

I had a realization yesterday... I've been so focused on radio programming and the news over the last few years, that I've lost touch with the music and podcasts I used to listen to.  It's not that I haven't been listening to music at all, it's more that I got stuck in a trap of old technology and old bands.

Here's what I mean...  Until now:

-I've been listening to my own collection using my Zune (sooo 2008)

-I've been streaming using Pandora (sooo 2005)

-I've only been buying music from touring bands on vinyl (sooo 1970)

It's time to play catch up.

My first adventure yesterday was with TuneIn Radio. 

Until yesterday, I didn't realize what made it different from similar apps (like iHeart radio, which combines Pandora-esque custom radio stations with terrestrial radio stations... a great way to listen to Hot 96.9).  TuneIn not only allows you to listen to your favorite local FMs & AMs, but also police scanners (which is a great feature to have on full-blast when you're walking alone at night through Dorchester) and podcasts.  Should you chose to listen to a station in real-time, TuneIn adds to the visual/interactive experience by displaying the Twitter-feed of the show.  I currently use TuneIn on my Roku box through my TV, as well as my Droid 4 so that I can listen on the go.

My other late-pass is for Spotify:

Since music consumption went digital, large corporations and small-startups alike have been trying to capitalize on a more personalized streaming service.  Copyright issues and a crowded market have made it difficult for most of them to take off.  Inevitably, anyone who signs up for one of these services will end up having to pay, unless they're okay with hearing an advertisement between every song, which can completely kill the momentum of an album, and makes the experience no better than going on YouTube to listen to music.  Spotify puts the choice in your hands.  You CAN access their massive library for free, but you're only allowed to listen to so many songs, and with ads.  You can pay just a little more to stream without ads, or just a little more than that to listen on your mobile device, ad-free, and without a song-cap.  What really separates Spotify from the pack, however, is how easy they make the experience.  Rather than sending you to a slow website, Spotify Premium is downloaded to your desktop, and operates as a media player very similar to ITunes.  So to explain it another way... it's like owning the world's largest music collection on your computer, without having to download a single song, all for less than the cost of an album every month.

And with that, I've finally made it to 2011.  Wait for me in 2013, I'll be there shortly.

The Three Months of Christmas

If you're not too busy to take down a Christmas tree in your 20's, you're doing it wrong.  This one came down on March 9th, 2013...

You may notice the massive amount of droop-age coming from the star up top, complimented by the endless supply of dry needles underneath.  I would venture to guess that there are more needles where presents belong than there are on the branches.  As pleasant as it was to celebrate Christmas for a full quarter of my year, it was most fascinating watching the Christmas spirit wither away in real-time.

Anyways, if you're not a fan of recreational vacuuming, I don't recommend marathon-decorating.

Who's Gonna Ticket the Ticket-Givers?

Yesterday I got a parking ticket.  Today I spotted a Boston Parking Enforcement Officer parked on the sidewalk....

That means I can just give him back my ticket, right?

Would you like some ZZZZZ's with that?

To whoever goes on a Ben & Jerry's run and buys either of these two flavors: Did something happen in your childhood that made you the most boring person alive?

Seriously, you just looked past Cherry Garcia, Chunky Monkey, Half Baked, Late Night Snack, Karamel Sutra, Milk & Cookies, Phish Food, S'mores, AmeriCone Dream, EVEN FRIGGIN PLAIN OLD CHOCOLATE CHIP COOKIE DOUGH.... and you bought Vanilla.

You'll probably LOVE Ben & Jerry's upcoming new flavor, "nothing".  It's great... it's like ice cream, but there's no ice cream in it.  It's just an empty pint.  You can buy it for the same great low price, but not have to worry about the disgusting "tastes" and "flavors" and "fun" that you get with others.