week.of.b . bike week

week.of.b - bike week:
it's officially 'bay state bike week' in massachusetts, and people all across the state are surrendering their cars and trading from four wheels to two wheels for their daily commute. the goal is to reach 250,000 pledged bicycle miles in the state this week. it's widely known that boston is one of the least bike-friendly cities in the nation, and mayor menino is committed to changing that, including promotion of events like this one.

i personally have been a big biking and alternative transportation supporter, but honestly i have been afraid to tackle the confusing, crowded boston streets on a bike. i've instead biked recreationally on isolated bike paths and opted for public transit to get me to and from work and around the city. but this week i decided to step up in support of bike week, and ride my wheels to work. tegin, a good friend and dedicated bike commuter, offered to help me find a decent route and ride into downtown with me this morning. i was nervous, but definitely wanted to take the opportunity.

the result? i loved it. now that i've conquered much of the fear of boston traffic and a become a bit more bike-confident, i'm excited to start riding my bike to work more often. the least congested route i can take is about 7 miles each direction, which has proved to be an excellent way to start my day. the majority of the route is along the charles river, complete with birds, sailboats, and early morning rowers.i'm really happy i manned up and gave it a try. and if i can manage on a bike on boston roads with boston drivers, than anyone can do it. hooray for bike week!

week.of.b . baseball

week.of.b - baseball
i've appointed this week as the week.of.b; kicking things off is baseball.

i began to have an interest in baseball when i was 8, when my older brother got me started collecting baseball cards. my allowance wasn't enough to get the hologrammed upper deck cards, so i quickly became a donruss collector. i have almost the entire set of donruss '90. admittedly, today i don't follow baseball much on tv until the end of the season, but i will say that there's nothing like being at a ballpark with a hot dog and a beer on a sunny day watching a baseball game. i started thinking about the short list of stadiums i've been to for mlb games, and thought i'd start a formal blog list about them.

1.the metrodome - minneapolis, mn - minnesota twins
i've been to more games than i can count at this indoor stadium. i remember taking trips up to minneapolis with my family when i was young to see the twins play ball. we used to do some family bidding about what the final score of the game would be. i won two years in a row, spot on. my grandpa was convinced i was lucky. in college at the university of minnesota, wednesday nights were student nights, so admission with a college id was $3.00! incidentally, wednesdays were also dollar-dome dog nights, so you could get dinner and mlb entertainment for $5 or less. dome dogs became a form of currency for bets in one of my college apartments. (b.b.b. - i believe you still owe me 3 dome dogs.)

the metrodome is a fixture of the minneapolis skyline, built in 1982, but is sadly finishing up its service as the home of the twins for over 25 years. the new open-air 'target field' in minneapolis's downtown warehouse district, with an expected completion in 2010, will seat 40,000 fans and is estimated to cost more than $412 million. though i'll miss the metrodome, i'm sure the visiting teams won't--the ceiling made it tricky to catch fly balls. the metrodome and the twins will always be fundamental to my love of baseball.

2.rfk stadium - washington d.c. - washington nationals
the home of the new washington nationals team (formerly the montreal expos) for a few years (2005 - 2007) was rfk stadium. the first home opener for the nationals was in april of 2005. i went to dc to visit my brother a few months later, and got to see the new team play in an old stadium. (rfk was built in 1961.) the nationals played the new york mets; it was an excellent way to spend a sunny 4th of july afternoon before heading to an overlook point to watch our nation's capital's fireworks display.

the national's new home stadium, 'national park', opened in march 2008.

3.fenway park - boston, ma - boston red sox
the grandfather of all baseball stadiums...fenway. it's the oldest stadium in all of the major league. it was built in 1912, and is located in back bay between kenmore square and the fens. i've been to a handful of games here since i moved out east, and my luck hasn't been good--every game i've been to has been raining. i attempted to go to a game a few weeks ago (red sox vs. twins) but it was rained out and postponed. but i've definitely had a great time when i have been there. i've done the corporate box seats (sat just above matthew mcconaughey--see left), but frankly, i prefer the cheap seats. they have the more entertaining spectators. there are no other fans quite like boston red sox fans, believe me. bostonians are more than proud of their team. i've never seen such loyal fans in my life.

just before i moved out east, the red sox won their first world series in 86 years. it was an awesome moment. and almost as awesome was their 2007 world series win, just a few months after i moved to boston. the energy in the boston air during a sox world series is palpable. so here's to fenway, one of the greatest stadiums of all time. the fenway franks, the green monster, the heckling fans, the legends. you'll be hard-pressed to find a better place to watch a ball game.

4.safeco field - seattle, wa - seattle mariners
and rounding out my mlb stadium list, i just visited safeco field in seattle for a mariners vs. oakland a's game while on my seattle/portland trip. keeping with my baseball game weather luck, it was raining, but fortunately safeco field's cool retractable roof kept things dry. the safeco field stadium was opened in 1999, and is a great venue to watch a game at. it's the only sporting event i've been to that had specialty food stands (thai, burritos, sushi, bbq, espresso...) beyond the standard hot dog/pizza fare, which is why it's no surprise that safeco won the food network's 'best ballpark eats in america' title. and speaking of titles, the beer garden adjacent to center field at safeco was recently named the number one place to meet singles in seattle. having been there, i can see why.safeco field is located just south of downtown seattle, and will be a stop on the new light rail transit line opening this summer in seattle.

concert.review . flight.of.the.conchords

concert.review:
flight of the conchords - boston, ma - agganis arena - 4.17.09
opening acts - eugene mirman (the landlord), kristen schaal (mel)

thousands of students and 20-somethings filed into boston university's hockey arena for the flight of the conchords concert last month to see the new zealand comedy folk duo perform. tickets were expensive and hard to get. (i paid $130 for mediocre floor seats.) the band played a lot of new songs from season 2 of flight of the conchords, but also a few old favorites from the first season (but unfortunately not my favorites--hiphopopotamus vs. rhymenoceros & the humans are dead).

the good:
* eugene - the man who plays bret & jemaine's landlord was the first opening act, and was hilarious. definitely one of the high points of the night for me. his jokes included comparing god to a 12-year old kid with asperger syndrome, and reading a letter he wrote to delta airlines about why delta is like al-qaeda. hilarious.
* whales on cell phones - my favorite part of the night was what seemed to be one of the few improvised parts. bret and jemaine did an impromptu demonstration of a whale trying to use a cell phone to call 911. i laughed hard for about 5 minutes straight.
* musicianship - bret & jemaine's songs are popular because they're funny, but this should not overshadow the fact that they are both excellent musicians. they played guitar, bass, drums, etc. (where 'etc.' includes random instruments like the vibraphone) flawlessly.the bad:
* mel - the fotc character mel makes me so uncomfortable on the show. probably even more so onstage. her jokes were overly intense. but i believe all this is her intent... so she's definitely good at what she does.
* lack of improvisation/variation - the songs that fotc played sounded exactly like the songs on the show. the lyrics were almost word for word, and if you've watched the episodes a few times, you already know the punch lines. some variation and/or new material would have been funnier. but, to their credit, if you hadn't seen much of the show before, it would have been completely hilarious.
* requests - this is not a criticism of fotc, but why oh why do people think that it's appropriate to yell out requests at huge concerts? this definitely jams.me.up. no doubt the band has a set list. and when there's 7,000 plus people at a show, what makes you think that they're going to play the song you're screaming out? there's hundreds of other people who also don't get it doing the same thing. save it for a small concert.

my rating (out of 10): 7. i'm a huge fan of the show, so this set a high bar for the concert. all in all, their performance was more than decent.

song.of.the.day:
to continue the fotc theme, the weekend-edition song of the day is my favorite live song done by the flight of the conchords. jemaine's robot voice is commendable.

song.of.the.day - flight of the conchords - the humans are dead

aloha.boston

song.of.the.day:
after spending two weeks on the west coast, it's more than a little difficult to wake up at 7am eastern time on my second day back on the east coast. to help ease the pain, i needed the help of a few external aids to make the day better. i stopped by dunkin' donuts on my way in to work to get an iced coffee and a croissant, and as soon as i sat down at my desk, i turned on a song that puts me in a good mood without fail. it's a fitting and much-needed song.of.the.day.

the significance of songs often has more to do with the time and place that they take me to than it does the actual song itself. today's song.of.the.day takes me to maui, hawaii, where i spent a week in january for a friend's wedding. it was an amazing and relaxing week. i spent a lot of time driving around the island, seeing the sights--volcanoes, waterfalls, beaches, mountains...while listening to hawaiian radio--mainly reggae and old hawaiian folk music. and this song in particular was in heavy rotation that week. listening to it now puts me back behind the wheel with the windows down on the curvy beach-flanked roads...

song.of.the.day - jason mraz - i'm yours

back.on.line

latin.for.the.day:
melita, domi adsum - honey, i'm home

i've been away for the last few weeks in portland and seattle, but i'm finally back in boston, and eager to play catch-up on the fresh.prolix blog.

upcoming blogs:
* t.r.a.v.e.l.i.n.g - seattle
* t.r.a.v.e.l.i.n.g - portland
* transit.of.the.week - san francisco
* book.reviews (several)
* song.of.the.day - coming tomorrow

here's a quick preview of my latest trip out west:
more to come...

insanity.of.runners

r.u.n.n.i.n.g:
yesterday was the boston marathon! the city was full of energy. runners and spectators were everywhere--on the streets, on the t, on the news--the boston marathon draws a huge crowd. i watched the runners come by around the 25-mile marker. there was a lot of fatigue and cramping and injuries and blood, but far exceeding any of that, there was so much excitement and passion and drive and emotion. it was incredible to be a part of.

oh--and here's a great idea if you're running a race. put your name on your shirt. it's genius. people (like me) love cheering for you by name. i can imagine that when you're tired and trying hard to push on, hearing someone cheer for you by name has got to be uplifting. there were tons of people that labeled themselves yesterday, and it was actually really fun to cheer for them. i'm so doing it for my next long race...i'm just over one month away from the half.marathon, and i've got a pretty solid mileage base built up thus far... i did a 9.5 mile run last weekend (38 laps around a track can get pretty boring), and i'm slated to do a 10 mile run this weekend while i'm in seattle. i'm doing 2-3 shorter runs each week between my long runs. in order to get my speed up, i'm starting to incorporate interval training into one of my mid-week runs. this means that i do a number of shorter, faster runs (1-2 miles), with 10-minute sections between runs where do short, fast cycling and lightweight lifting. i've already noticed a difference in my pace on longer runs. interval training definitely seems to do the trick.

here's my latest mileage chart:
and finally, a poem (of sorts). my dad taught me this when i was little, and i still remember it word for word.

poem.for.the.day:
ed cunningham - why do i run?

why do i run? 'tain't no mystery,
want to have a good medical history.
doctor told me running is great;
helps them blood cells circulate.
great for the lungs, great for the ticker;
can't nothing get you in better shape quicker.
feels so healthy, feels so sweet--
pumping my arms and flapping my feet.
molding my muscles, firming my form,
panting like a pack-mule, sweating up a storm.
keeps me youthful, keeps me loose,
tightens my tummy and shrinks my caboose.
beats being sluggish, beats being lazy.
why do i run? maybe i'm crazy.

catching.up

word.of.the.day:
propinquity - nearness in place, proximity; nearness in time; nearness of relation, kinship.

so this has been a stressful week. it even involved spending a night at the office. bummer. but i can finally feel the propinquity of light at the end of the tunnel. i've been really excited to write the next transit.of.the.week blog, but i've been too busy working on transit projects to have any time to actually write about transit. the load should be lightening soon...

song.of.the.day:
this song came on my pandora station just as i started thinking about what the song.of.the.day should be. it's meant to be. i love feist, and love her (them?) even more live. the song this week was done live, and includes two of my favorite feist songs, and this particular video was shot on a public bus. so awesome all-around.

song.of.the.day - feist - i feel it all (+ the park)