Blog date 2/20: takeoff
I am a weblog addict.
A couple of years ago, I began reading local weblogs, those online journals on every topic under the sun. The more I read, the more I realized there were some really good writers out there, posting interesting things about life in Boston.
I couldn't stop reading, and today I have a database of nearly 700 Boston-area blogs. From time to time in this space, I'll share some of the best.
Interview with a panhandler
For the past month or so, Jon Garfunkel of Brookline has noticed a panhandler by the Store 24 on Beacon Street. A few days ago, he gave him a buck and chatted:
''So I asked him where he lived (in a 'halfway house' down the street from me), where/if he worked (3 odd jobs today). . . . What did he need with the money? (Smokes.) Not the healthiest thing, but a cigarette isn't the same evil for anybody, it suppresses the appetite. He asked me if I smoked weed; I suppose if I had a nose for news I would have asked him where he usually got his. . . ."
Just doesn't get old
Tim McCarney watches a replay of Game 7 of last fall's ALCS and loves it just as much now:
''. . . After soaking it all in for the second time, I have to say that one of the most satisfying things has been the looks on the faces of the Yankees fans and players as it all just liquefies and slips through their fingers. Cashman with his hands in his pockets, staring blankly at the Red Sox pigpile. Billy Crystal slumped over in his private suite, being comforted by his wife in a manner not seen since the reviews for 'Mr. Saturday Night' came in."
Modern fatherhood
Eric Sagalyn of the South End is the proud father of a newborn -- a newborn who just wasn't going to sleep:
''The phone rang. It was a doctor or nurse or nurse practitioner or doctor nurse or something returning Jen's call. Jen explained the situation to the whoever. Hayes hadn't been sleeping, was inconsolable, wouldn't eat, etc. The nurse-whatever said Jen sounded tired and the best thing to do was to -- GET THIS -- involve her husband so Jen could get some rest. ARE YOU KIDDING ME? I guess she was going to have to get me off the couch with my Bud Light and nachos and tear me away from the Celtics to make me help her. Yup. Right. I can't possibly be the only man in the Boston area that this woman has heard of who is taking an active part in his child's life. . . ."
Local theatrics
Chris Cagle of Jamaica Plain sees the play ''Trumbo," on blacklisted playwright Dalton Trumbo, at the Huntington Theatre. He has words for the audience:
''[T]he audience suffered from what I previously called Cambridge Film Audience Syndrome, a tendency to vocalize sighs, laughs, and other noise that signal the audience's political and historical superiority to the subject matter. Highly annoying."
Driven to distractionClayton Cramer lives in Boise, Idaho, but he grew up driving the freeways of Los Angeles, so he figured navigating our fair Hub on a recent trip wouldn't be too bad. He now knows better:
''I was attempting to get from Storrow Drive to Boylston [Street], and I was in the right lane. This was not a right-turn only lane, but the taxi driver behind me kept honking, trying to force me to make a right turn a couple of blocks earlier than I needed. I'm a pretty accommodating person, and I became tired of the honking. Also I have a natural sympathy for some guy who, if he is lucky, is making about $6 per hour in exchange for risking holdup or murder, so I made a right turn that I didn't want to make. I figured that I would go make a grand circuit, and return to Storrow Drive. Nope. By the time I was able to finally get headed the right direction again, I was . . . in Charlestown."
Adam Gaffin, of Roslindale, lists links to this week's entries at www.universalhub.com/globe/0220.
