12/12/2015
Innovation Lab - 125 Western Ave. at Batten Way (5:22 pm)
Packard's Corner - Comm. Ave. at Brighton Ave. (5:35 pm)
Almost everything I know about urban planning I learned playing SimCity2000. Though an excellent game on some levels, it turns out that many of the challenges found in the computer gaming classic- responding to an alien invasion, building a cricket stadium, legalizing gambling without consulting a soul in the city government- translate very poorly to real life (and thus, probably, being a mayor).
Perhaps the most notable difference of SimCity2000 and real life is the speed of infrastructural change. In SimCity2000, when you a buy a police station, it gets built right away and crime immediately disappears.
In BostonCambridge2015, the Longfellow Bridge has been under construction ('under construction') for approximately thirty-seven years. Let's not talk about the Green Line extension. Such is (my) life.
A policy is approved or a building is planned with the intent of improving life for someone, somehow. And over time, the effects are observed carefully through measured hindsight. The benefits are rightly celebrated. But the process is slow and thus the exact moment when an individual notes a leap forward in quality of life is hard to identify.
The Western Ave protected bike lane is one such project. Cambridge, noting the ongoing safety issue presented by
I ride through this bike lane today and note that, although the new space does make the trip less nerve-racking, last week's passing scenery of fallen tree branches, overturned recycling bins, and texting pedestrians are today's obstacles. A bike lane is always just a part of something else in the city; this project has merely exchanged the street for the sidewalk.
Still, better to hit a bin than a Honda. Or hit by, for that matter.
Despite my little complaints, innovation is the appropriate word to include in the same breath as Western Ave on this day. Of course, those visiting the town from cycling-havens will likely wonder what took so long; any tourist here to research an 'English-to-my-first-language' dictionary will define innovation as 'finally getting around to it'.
The Packard's corner location implies one destination- Ittoku. This restaurant in Brighton is innovative in its own way. Its menu serves mainly Japanese appetizers on small plates. The concept is relatively new in a city littered with overpriced sushi, half-empty hibachi restaurants, and 'gourmet' ramen havens asking for your dreams at the end of each bowl. Again, those coming in from outside the city limits are likely to wonder what took so long for such a sure thing to open here.
I rarely entertain such wide-ranging thoughts at Ittoku, though. I'm too busy eating okonomiyaki to think. And Sapporo in a pitcher never hurts.
Having first eaten here in late June, we never came here with my mother. This is, sort of, a regret. But it is also a blessing. There is nothing specific to Ittoku that brings up reminders.
12/19/2015
Ink Block (7:52 am)
??? (??? am/pm)
The removal of my next-door Hubway rack presents new challenges. Often, these are solved by walking five more minutes to one of the neighboring racks. I'm more annoyed by this than logic would dictate. Hubway, once a reducer of travel planning, is now forcing me to create itineraries.
Today is a new problem. There are no available bikes anywhere. I suppose it was inevitable. I end up walking twenty-five minutes to State Street to the rack that happens to be where I pick up the commuter bus on weekday mornings. Starting my weekend here brings about the somewhat unwelcome sensation that I am going to pedal to work on this frozen Saturday morning.
The new starting point takes me on an unexplored route into the South End. I briefly stop at the Ink Block and pedal on to Newmarket. But the end of the journey is never marked into my account, causing all kinds of problems with my next attempt to take out a bike. Not even Hubway is immune to the challenge of equipment maintenance in freezing weather.
The lack of communication in addressing the removal of the Charles Circle dock, the lack of any urgency by the city in addressing dangerous intersections, my inability on this day to find a bike, the failure of my trip to close correctly- it all seems connected. Things are slipping, slowly but clearly, and that's always a signal for needed change. I can't help feeling that the winter is going to be a long one.
12/21/2015
Mayor Martin J Walsh - 28 State St (6:55 pm)
Cambridge St. at Joy St. (7:02 pm)
I arrive early at the bar for trivia night and receive a surprise- an early Christmas gift! It's a set of reflector straps, or as I immediately refer to them, 'strap-ons'. The 'strap-ons' will make me, previously unsighted, now somewhat more visible at night to drivers, pedestrians, and other out-of-their-mind cyclists.
I still don't have a helmet. The reflectors, unlike a helmet, are in my recent spirit- they reveal me exactly as I am instead of forcing me to hide underneath a shell. It underlies a general ethos among city bikers- a preference for active safety to avoid 'crashes' rather than the passive safety advocated for by the car industry to protect during 'accidents'.
One problem with clever metaphors- they create excuses to not do things. I should probably get a helmet.
12/30/2015
Mass Ave at Newmarket Square (10:23 am)
Boston Public Library - 700 Boylston St. (10:42 am)
My last trip of 2015. It seems appropriate to start at Newmarket, perhaps less so to end at the library. The timing of this trip captures my reality at the end of the year. Though I intend to continue volunteering in 2016, the reality is that sometimes I am just not needed. And on those days, I leave early.
I could head into work, of course. Even though I took time off, I'm not really picky about my hours. I took a lot of personal time during the spring and summer that went unmarked in my paid time off account. Though I intend to contribute another strong year in 2016, the reality is that sometimes I am just not needed. And on those days, I come in late.
I take the Orange Line from Back Bay to Oak Grove and from there complete the journey via bus to Woburn. I'm still early so I stop into a used sporting goods store on the walk from the bus stop to the office. I start browsing around.
By the front register, I notice a bucket of cheap headbands. These are the thermal kind with a wide portion to cover the ears. My hair, uncut since August 2014, is too long for my winter hat. These will solve the problem of my cold ears.
As always, I seek out a simple, black accessory. But a pink headband catches my eye. Think pink? Who knows. It's not outwardly affiliated.
My mother was the only one who ever thought I should grow my hair out. I do not believe in signs, per say, but for five bucks it doesn't matter.
My mother was the only one who I ever talked seriously about running with. Maybe I should believe a little more in signs.
I buy two, a black one to wear during my daily activities and a pink one to wear for winter jogging.
01/09/2016
Harvard Law School at Mass Ave / Jarvis St (4:17 pm)
Harvard Law School at Mass Ave / Jarvis St (4:34 pm)
I ride Hubway eight times in January. This trip kind of sums it all up. The only stations open during winter are in Cambridge and all of my trips are circuitous, pointless, and cold.
02/02/2016
Porter Square Station (12:31 pm)
Cambridge Main Library at Broadway / Trowbridge St (12:47 pm)
I get laid off on January 29. The timing is not great- cousins from Japan are visiting, for the first time since our move here two decades ago. They spend the 31st, a Sunday, in town before returning to New York that same night.
It seems appropriate that my first bike ride after the visit involves Porter Square. Porter is the first place I remember going to in America. Back then, it was called something like 'Little Tokyo' or 'Japantown'. The specialty grocery store is no longer there but Sapporo Ramen, always the true destination, remains. My school vacation trips there with my mother and brother are among my fondest memories.
We took our cousins to my mother's favorite coffee shop in my hometown. On the bulletin board there, I noticed a flier seeking hospice volunteers. I'm starting to believe in signs.
02/29/2016
One Broadway / Kendall Sq at Main St / 3rd St (4:20 pm)
One Broadway / Kendall Sq at Main St / 3rd St (4:20 pm)
One Broadway / Kendall Sq at Main St / 3rd St (4:20 pm)
Cambridge Main Library at Broadway / Trowbridge St (4:43 pm)
Cambridge Main Library at Broadway / Trowbridge St (6:58 pm)
Lesley University (7:10 pm)
My first Hubway attempt of the day is an indecisive seventeen second journey from and back to the original bike rack. I suppose I must have found a problem with the initial selection.
I get it right the second time, as I eventually do with the name of the blog I start on the same day.
03/09/2016
Rindge Avenue - O'Neill Library (5:39 pm)
Danehy Park (5:44 pm)
Danehy Park (6:24 pm)
Inman Square at Vellucci Plaza / Hampshire St (6:39 pm)
My initial hospice volunteer attempt did not completely work out. A twenty minute phone call led me to realize that a car will be a requirement. I explore further options and find an organization serving patients in the Boston metro area.
My first training session is scheduled for the next week, March 16. I'm not entirely convinced of the wisdom of returning to a hospice residence and, quite frankly, this is a widely shared view. So this trip was a scouting mission, of sorts, where in addition to learning the length of the commute, I also gauge my response to the mere sight of a hospice residence.
On a street where the homes all look alike, the residence is subtly different- to my eye, it is obviously a hospice. The front door, the long driveways, the blinds covering the windows, every bit of the place oozes a feeling I did not even know about a year ago...
I learn later that many neighbors go years without realizing what the house is.
03/16/2016
Cambridge Main Library at Broadway / Trowbridge St (5:00 pm)
Danehy Park (5:21 pm)
Danehy Park (8:42 pm)
One Broadway / Kendall Sq at Main St / 3rd St (9:08 pm)
The trips to Danehy Park now mean one thing- a hospice shift. I do nothing else in this area. The appearance of these journeys on my Hubway account contrast with the disappearance of the once equally frequent Newmarket trips.
It has been over two weeks since my last appearance at the food bank. At this point, I do intend to return, perhaps planning to do so once my hospice duties stabilized, but in looking back over a year later, I admit that I have yet to do so.
Losing my job rattled me. In the days I went to volunteer after being laid off, I recognized that I no longer found the same sense of purpose I had when I volunteered in 2015. To show up at the food bank on a Wednesday because I had nothing to do bothered me in a way I did not fully understand. After about a month of unemployment, I stopped going.
The training at the hospice was promising. It remained unclear to me if I was ready for the role. Generally, hospice volunteers joining the team in the wake of their own loss are recommended to wait at least a full year since the death before returning to the same environment.
04/04/2016
Cambridge Main Library at Broadway / Trowbridge St (10:27 am)
Danehy Park (10:42 am)
Today was my 'training shift'- this involved shadowing a fellow volunteer as she made her rounds through the house. Not much to it.
After the shift ended, we talked a little longer. She eventually asked if I was sure it was a good idea to go back into a hospice so soon after my mom died. In particular, she wanted me to make sure that being reminded of my own experiences as a visitor would not make things difficult for me as I processed my own grief.
It was a thoughtful, compassionate question, the kind of question you are grateful someone makes the effort to ask. I took a few weeks away from the hospice to properly consider it. Was I ready to serve in an environment where I would constantly encounter reminders of my most difficult times over the past year?
Eventually, I concluded yes, I was ready, but not necessarily because I thought I could handle the hospice. Instead, what I realized was that the reminders were everywhere around me, hospice or not. Sometimes, they are fairly blunt reminders, like Mother's Day.
At other times, the reminders sneak up on me. I found out just yesterday that the Needham commuter rail line was discontinuing its Saturday service. I recalled that the last time I rode the Needham Line was to visit my mom, in hospice, on a Saturday.
04/05/2016
The Esplanade - Beacon St. at Arlington St. (6:47 pm)
Boston Convention & Exhibition Center (7:04 pm)
The city of Boston returns to near full Hubway operation as the calendar turns to April. This means the happy return of soothing bike rides into the waterfront area on the cool nights in early spring.
Trips like this one indicate an imminent basketball game. The team is, like everything, a mosaic of stories past. Teammates from high school, a former colleague, and my brother round out the optimistic but perennially failing squad. Notably missing is any link to my college basketball days save for my disintegrating sneakers, a holdover from my doomed senior season.
Never one to make plans or even unprompted phone calls, I recognize my almost total isolation over the past year. My ratio of incoming to outgoing texts is close to three to one. Without the tireless efforts of some very good friends and the consistent routine of standing plans, I wonder if I would have talked to anyone during this time. My total lack of contact with almost all of my college basketball teammates hints at the answer.
Like with bike riding, basketball got in my blood early. My parents both played and, in a roundabout, indirect sort of way, could even credit the sport with their first meeting. But my present feelings on the sport are mixed. I much prefer distance running to the shorter bursts of speed dictated by hoops. And the threat of injury in games with overeager, under-conditioned, and clumsy athletes grasping hopefully for lost glory days is significant. Getting to a volunteer shift or going to job interviews would be impossible on crutches.
But the biggest problem with basketball is that there is no running or biking on days with a game. This leaves me with maddeningly little to do on game days.
04/24/2016
University Park (3:19 am)
Charles Circle - Charles St. at Cambridge St. (3:32 am)
Hubway is a 24/7 kind of thing. For me, this means Hubway is the best way to get home after the 'T' closes. I suppose that is a trivial point, actually, since I consider it the best way to get home while the 'T' operates, as well.
My brother hosted a get together that ran predictably into the wee hours. I spoke to a mother of one of his friends at one point. She pointed out that, although my brother bore a physical resemblance to both parents, I was 'all mom'. The hair, I bet.
04/29/2016
Linear Park - Mass. Ave. at Cameron Ave. (12:12 am)
Inman Square at Vellucci Plaza / Hampshire St (12:26 am)
Inman Square at Vellucci Plaza / Hampshire St (12:27 am)
Charles Circle - Charles St. at Cambridge St. (12:45 am)
Charles Circle - Charles St. at Cambridge St. (12:47 am)
BIDMC - Brookline at Burlington St (1:00 am)
I make a trip to Linear Park, just shy of Arlington, to watch the Celtics lose in the playoffs with a couple of former colleagues. Afterward, I have a late drink near Fenway Park with a couple of other friends. Hubway accommodates my busy social calendar and I go flying down Beacon Streets in two different cities- Cambridge and Boston- to get to my life on time.
Linear Park is the northernmost point of my Hubway explorations, so far. As I recognized when I decided to move out of South Boston in 2014, most of my life was moving north. It seems that, though Beacon Hill occupies a prominent northern point in the geography of the city, my life still continues in the same direction. To go further north of Beacon Hill means Cambridge.
My new bike riding passion suggests a future move up the Red Line is in the cards. When the dealer is going to send those my way is an entirely different question. I suppose, barring new signals that life is turning south, all I can do for now is stay at the table.
