Mood:  irritated

The Red Sox did win last night. And, I did stay up and watch the whole game, despite the 12-run lead. As it was raining over night, I knew it'd be a wet morning, with no real point in going outside early.

Rain seemed appropriate for all of the niggling li'l things that went wrong this past week. Not meaning to bitch or complain, but there were just enough irritating issues to throw me off a bit. 

To wit. 

WARNING: Lots of whining to follow. Feel free to skip :)

As mentioned earlier, my debit card had been canceled last week, due to a security breach at some unnamed merchant where I may have used my card. Visa wasn't releasing information on which merchant. That was an irritating start to the situation, which became worse once I got my new card. While attempting to update all of the services being billed to my debit card - everything from iTunes purchases to the auto-renewing domains names that I own - the new card got flagged for possible abuse, due to a large number of validation attempts in a short period of time. This caused my card to be locked as a credit card, but not as a debit card, leading to all sorts of problems trying to pay for things. Very frustrating, requiring numerous calls to my bank, vendors, and finally a visit to the bank before the issue was resolved. Turns out that when the bank reset the "attempts" field to zero, the authorized purchase field was also reset to zero (dollars) - thus preventing any charge from going through. A bit embarrassing while in line at Starbucks or out on a date to get hit with that; although, I think that most people are so used to this happening now, that it's not a big deal. Anyhoo. Now resolved, allowing me to spend like a drunken sailor. Hmmmm, maybe that's not a good thing.

As for the unnamed merchant, it's now been named: Not Your Average Joe's. Ironically, the location where I ate and used my debit card is directly across the street from my bank. I shan't be dining there anytime soon. At least not until they offer me a free dinner and drink as an apology.

Another issue, which seemed simple enough at the start, was that the battery in my Polar S720i heart rate monitor was showing as being low. No prob - it's been more than two years, time for a new battery. Checking on-line, the Polar web site gave no indication what battery model was needed as a replacement, nor did the user manual. (I wanted to get it before I opened up the unit - and didn't want to send it in to Polar, as the  site recommended. No interest in paying $75 to change a battery, and no interest in being without the unit for more than a week.) I called REI, where I'd purchased the unit, and they didn't know. So, after tracking down a screwdriver small enough for the job, I got the back off the unit and discovered that the S720i takes a CR2354 battery. (I couldn't find that info anywhere on line.) No prob, I thought, I'll hit the drug store on the way home. Turns out, this model is much tougher to find than one might think. Four CVS stores didn't have it. Neither did Staples, nor Walgreen's, nor Shaw's, nor Osco, nor Best Buy. Finally, I tracked down a Battery Plus store in Woburn that did carry that model (and nearly every other battery known to man). So, that was finally resolved. I'm just posting it here in case anyone out there Googles Polar Heart Rate Monitor S720i battery replacement, they'll know that they need a CR2354 for the job. And, a riehle small screwdriver.

As for the other issue this week, the Boston Symphony, of all places, seems to have gotten me caught up in a case of mistaken identity. It's not so much identity theft, as it is patron ID number confusion. While trying to swap two pair of tickets for different dates, the ticket office told me that I'd already swapped one of the pair, along with several others, at the box office on September 8. Um, no I didn't, I told them. I wasn't even in Massachusetts on September 8. It seems to me that simply going by patron ID number, and not having to enter a member name when doing an exchange at the box office can lead to problems. The six-digit number was probably entered incorrectly, leading to the confusion. This is especially confusing, given that one of the ticket pairs that had been exchanged was for this past Saturday, a concert I did attend. This still isn't resolved. Symphony Charge is talking to the box office to sort out what happened. They need to resolve this quickly, as I need the tix for the concert in two weeks - never mind finding a date.

Whining ended. Safe to continue. Please proceed downward. 

On the non-complaining front, the Globe ran an article lately on the renewed interest in oysters as a culinary treat. I love a good oyster, as I've so amply demonstrated in pictures, and here, and here, and numerous others. Speaking of which, it's been a good six days sans bivalves. Who wants to go for oysters and champagne?

Dear pal, and oyster-devouring partner in crime, Miss O, is winging her way to AZ today. She's making her first TV appearance as the spokesperson for a national chain of men's clothing stores. I won't steal her thunder in blogging about it herself, but I did want to send out bon voyage and bon chance wishes to the universe.

Now then, to wrap up this whole post, back to the Red Sox. How do I know that the Red Sox would win the World Series this year? (I predicted it months ago, by the way.) Here's the clue: For the Red Sox to win, one of their serious fans needs to be out of the country, and another needs to be recovering from cancer surgery. That's how it happened in '04, that's how it'll happen this year. O will be in France, and I'm on the mend from this summer's excision of offending tumor. I'm not saying that I want O out of the country every October, and I certainly don't want to go under the knife every year, but if having already done so gets another crown for the Sox this year, so be it. Just making my contribution to the Red Sox Nation. 

Mood:  irritated

From today's Globe comes this somewhat ironic story of a U-Mass Amherst student who's suing over a "C" he received in a class. He's concerned that it will hurt his chances to get into law school.

Um, dude, don't you think that the publicity you're receiving from suing over a grade is going to do more to discourage a law school from accepting, than the slight dip in your GPA caused by a "C" vs. an "A-"?!?!?!?

On the other hand, perhaps some law schools will look at this and think, "Great! He loves to sue. Give him a scholarship. He'll do fantastically here."

My suggestion would be to suck it up, work hard, and raise the GPA by acing the rest of the courses. That presents a much better story to a prospective school or employer. But, that's just me - and how I got through Engineering school... 

Mood:  incredulous

There was a carjacking yesterday at the Turnpike tollbooth that's a couple miles from my home. I know that it's not exactly in my 'hood, but still.

How do two guys with guns make it onto the exit ramp and tollbooth area without being stopped? It's possible to walk up to that area, but there are almost always state troopers parked there, not to mention all of the toll collectors. Are these people, who are on the clock, simply not paying attention? I've, sadly, come to expect carjackings and worse in Dorchester, Roxbury, and other parts of town, but this happen here is more than a li'l surprising.

Hopefully, it's an isolated incident, and the perpetrators will be caught soon. This is a serious crime, and clearly not a misunderstood MIT Hack.

Oh, and speaking of Hacks, here's the latest. Much funnier than a carjacking.

Mood:  chatty

News in the Globe today details the rapid decline, possibly implosion, of the real estate market in East Boston, or "Eastie." 

Several years ago, Eastie was supposed to be the hot, up and coming real estate area in Boston. As recently as last January, the area was being touted as the place to move to before prices went up. 

However, since the collapse of the real estate market in Boston, times are tougher all around when trying to move or develop over-priced condos - especially in what's not the best of neighborhoods. No offense to the fine folks of East Boston, but if you're not from there, you're probably not going to want to move there. It's very much an insider's neighborhood, with many locals' locales. Very ethnic, which is fine, but if you're not of that ethnicity, it can be a rough assimilation. Both articles talk about gentrification, but that can only go so far without some serious neighborhood impact - and it's not like most of the inhabitants of Eastie were looking to get moved out. That's a pretty settled in group of people. 

Additionally, if you're not from there, there's not a lot to do in Eastie. You have to go back into Boston or elsewhere for your culture, nightlife (at least a street-safe version), and job, not to mention your venti no-foam lattes...there's no Starbucks in Eastie. That said, there are some fantastic places to get much more authentic Italian Roast Espresso, that will not only put hair on your chest, but will then melt it right off. 

I recently toured through Eastie between 12:30 and 1:30 AM on a Sunday - on a bus from the airport as the T was out of service. Not an area where I'd feel comfortable walking home from the T stop at that time of night, or possibly any other, to be sure. Maybe if I were a local, but still...not the safest looking of areas. And, speaking of the airport, the noise factor from the planes arriving and departing from Logan is not to be underestimated. A good chunk of Eastie is in one or more flight patterns. That's a lot of noise. 

So, while other real estate markets in Boston have dropped, Eastie's plummeted.  No surprise; however, I don't think the locals are too upset over it...unless they sunk their life savings into buying and renovating with the hopes of flipping.

Mood:  a-ok

Great article about young cartoonist Alexa Kitchen in today's Boston Globe. Having known Alexa since she was born, and having seen her drawing and story-telling abilities grow year over year, I can pretty much attest to everything the article says about her. I'd venture to compare her to Mozart, if we're talking child prodigies. If not Mozart, then damned close. To the best of everyone's knowledge, there's never been a cartoonist prodigy like Alexa. R. Crumb's daughter, Sophie, is quite good, but not necessarily in the same vein, from what I understand. Crumb, himself, has even been quoted as saying that Alexa is much better than he was at that age.

I've even got a small pile of Alexa orignals - plus lots of tiny gift certificates from her in tiny, tiny handwriting good for hugs, drawings, and smiles.