Merry Christmas from the Red Sox

Spring can't come fast enough!

Jerry Christmas!

Snow in Boston - Aftermath Edition

Snow Part 1.

SNOW PART II! On Thursday while it was snowstorming, me and Barron and Mike got drunk and went sledding. It was really fun! And a good workout. Those hills can be hard to climb in the snow! We brought a flask sized bottle of vodka with us after drinking in the house and being the idiots that we are it was almost gone by the time we even got there. Oh well!

Mike was insistant on the three of us trying to go down together but we are too heavy for one half inflated snow tube. Then Mike wanted to jump on Barron and his tube and they went down together and now Barron's rib is cracked. See here:
Just kidding that is not really his x-ray. But seriously his chest hurts and Dr. Van Damme (that is seriously his real name and Barron's doctor) said that he probably just cracked a rib. Van Damme also added that he too cracked a rib last week but I highly doubt it was a similar situation.

Basically it just hurts a lot I guess and watching America's Funniest Home Videos was entertaining because Barron was all like "HAHAHAH Owwww HAHAHA OWWWW!" And he can't sleep on that side which is impeding spooning time. And also he can't lift anything heavy. Also he couldn't shovel out his car. Guess who did that.... Hmph.

So I called in sick to work on Fri (woops) but luckily there was a nice ice storm on Sunday so that it was still nice and slippery for me to go to work on Monday! When I stay at Barron's house, I get on the train here:

Which looks like this from the actual station:

Now it may not look trecherous, but in order to get to this platform, I have to go down a large hill. Picture this: I have to walk starting from the right of that overhead bridge and come down the hill on the left. It is hard to see the sidewalk, mostly because IT IS COVERED IN SNOW AND ICE! WTF Brookline, throw some salt down or something. I saw some guy fall down the whole hill. And some other lady with a broken foot boot take 30 mins to get down it. I just watched - no need to help.

It is supposed to sleet and rain again tonight. Since when does this happen in December? I am hoping for an early spring. Until now, enjoy this message of joy from the MBTA:

"It Snowed in Boston" and other tales

Hello everyone! This post has been almost one whole week in the making. I hope you all survived this past snowstorm. It is the most it has ever snowed in Boston on December 13th EVER. Yes EVER! OMG Global warming is not alive and well in this city. I know Jenn was probably particularly affected by this because all of my other readers live in New York and I think it sleeted/rained there.

Well down to business. Before it even started to snow, of course the T was already having problems. After taking the B-line from my house inbound with the intention of making it to my place of employment on time, my trip was abruptly halted. I sat in the tunnel between Blanford Street and Kenmore (seriously we had just gotten underground) for like 20 mins before we even budged.

For once, to the credit of the t-driver, they actually honestly announced to us what the hold-up was. A train rear-ended another train at Boylston street. AND IT DERAILED! And now we all have to take buses from Kenmore. ARGH!

Now I have had to get off at Kenmore before and take the bus, which is a pain in the ass, but the last time it happened, it was not even comperable to the chaos that ensued this time. They sent buses from all over the city to come transport you while you fight with 1000 people standing in the middle of Comm ave trying to get on.

My bus driver doesn't live downtown apparently, because he didn't even know how to get to Hynes let alone the rest of the stops. He somehow let us out in Downtown Crossing, because a passenger was giving him directions and she wanted to go to Government Center. Whattamess.

Anyway, here is what the accident looked like. Take particular note of the happy Charlie guy holding the T sign. Nice work photographer!

So I got to work at 10:30, went to a meeting, and was excused by the Govna at 1 pm. Here is a nice picture of my work during this storm:

Here is what the rest of the city looked like:

It took Barron 3.5 hours to get home because no one's car could make it up the hills on Route 9 in Newton. Thankfully I take the train and it was back working when I was travelling home from work. But people were abandoning their cars from running out of gas and such. Barron's parents were stuck downtown after work in the gridlock. This is what South Station looked like when everyone panicked after the weather forecasters were unusually accurate in their prediction for the storm and everyone tried to leave at the same time:

Whoops! Well I got home safe and sound, FYI and basically huddled up for a night in. More on that in the next post! oxox Shannon

Santa Pictures

Boston.com often has special sections where they ask people to send in their pictures around a certain topic. This week/month's theme is Pictures with Santa. It is really strange that parents put their kids in the lap of a complete stranger and expect the picture to be nice. All you are getting out of this is a bad picture and now your child is crying and you have to deal with that. Do mall Santas make a lot of money to do this? The whole industry is very creepy and weird.

So anyway, people sent in a bunch of pictures, but I was surprised to see how many bad ones were submitted! Some of them are actually pretty funny. Lets get started:
This picture isn't too bad, and I have to give the Santa credit for successfully keeping this child in his lap. Two year olds can be pretty slippery when they want to be, and you can tell this kid is attempting a slither maneuver. I will note though the cheapness of the background they have in place at this facility. And although this guy's beard appears to be real, there is something unsettling about its curls. Also his hat looks too small for his head.

This Santa looks pretty happy despite the screaming terror on his leg. She doesn't even want to touch him she is so scared. This Santa has a fake beard, which works for him in this case. I don't agree with the mother's choice of dupey pink bow in the hair though. Try again mom.

Hahah this picture is pretty funny. Fake snow abounds and I particularly enjoy the candy cane themed under shirt he is wearing. It is a jolly variation on the standard Santa attire. I feel like the trick to this is throwing the kid and taking the picture before they start crying. I think I saw a funny home videos episode the other day where the parents did that very thing. I don't know how well it worked, but it was the Santa's suggestion so he must recommend it often.

This Santa is a trooper. Every picture of him with kids, they are screaming in fright. This isn't Halloween kiddies, get your holidays straight. I like this simple Santa outfit he has on, but I can tell that there are others who do not. Perhaps this child was frightened by this giant Santa throne the mall has provided for this occasion? The fabric is not particularly Christmas-y.

Hahahah nothing can describe the look on this girls face besides "sheer terror." This girl looks like she is about to be mauled by a bear or just saw that part in "The Ring" when the girl climbs out of the television. Please note this is the same Santa as the one above, inciting a near riot when he comes in contact with any child. Also he is wearing a different shirt I noticed, which adds a little flair to his outfit. Does anyone get along with this holly jolly man?

Oh look! It's the same guy but now someone brought in their dog. A pretty big f'n dog for that matter. That dog is bigger than the Santa although I guess this explains the reason for the gigantic chair featured here. This raises some questions in my mind about dog allergies. What if a kid comes in and is allergic to dogs and now there is dog hair on Santa? That mom will have a screaming crying kid with allergies acting up which are not very fun. This picture is cute though so I guess I will let it pass for humor's sake.

Last but not least:

This picture is probably the funniest santa picture I have ever seen! Thanks to whomever sent this in to the website. There are so many things going on here that I can't explain. I get the standard crying child thing. But why is there so much fake hair in Santa's face? He looks like a drunk if you ask me and he probably is. But the icing on the cake here is the boy PICKING HIS NOSE IN A BRIGHT YELLOW PROPELLER HAT! I bet you this kid dressed himself this morning. But where do you even get a hat like that? No matter what this picture beats them all.

Peas and propeller hats, Shannon

Birds

Barron thinks the saying is, "It's easier to feed two birds with one scone."

Discuss.

Barron is in a new band!

As many of you know, Barron is in a new band. They had their first show on Sunday night at Bill's Bar in Boston. Check out the new stickers:



The band is called Rude Boy Riot or RBR if you prefer (I prefer.) The other guys were in a band called Sundown (www.myspace.com/sundowncrew) but there was some kind of guy drama and they lost their bassist and now they have Barron.

They were supposed to go on at 9pm, but they didn't start until 11! I am too nice and still went even though I knew I would be tired the next day. Here is the flyer that was made by the band SOJA for the show. See if you can find Barron -

Hint he is right here: -----------------------------------------^

Hahaha. Here is the big version of that picture hiding in the corner:

Happy group right? JK they are really a lot more fun and funner looking in real life.

Anyway the show was pretty fun, they played for about 45 minutes and it was a fun time. The show was taped so if you want to check out some of the songs, please visit www.myspace.com/rbriot to listen. If you visit the Sundown site, RBR will be playing some of their songs too.

Anyway, congrats to the band!