reflections on Boston

From 1998 to 2003 my wife and I lived in Boston, MA.  Specifically, we lived in Cambridge.  In many respects, it was some of the best times of my life and I’m going to tell you why it was so.  When we moved to Boston, we were just engaged and after that first year I married my wife.  The whole time we lived in Cambridge it was just us and no kids and we ended up leaving once my wife became pregnant with our first child.  I miss it sometimes and hope to visit more with my family.  I love Austin and hope to never leave but I’m very fortunate to have lived in such a special place.

Here are some of the reasons that make me think fondly of Boston:

• The Red Sox – I have never been a crazy sports fan until I got sucked up into Red Sox nation.  It crazy that whe you are on the subway that everyone wants to talk about the Sox.  Watching playoff baseball behind the Green Monster is truely one of the greatest sporting moments of my life.
• The T – at the time it was just a dollar to get anywhere in the city. Yes it was cold, it you had to wait, but I read a ton and enjoyed not having to grind it out in daily traffic.
• Four distinct seasons – Texas has summer and not summer.  Boston had four real seasons and that meant that there was something unique about each the celebrate about each.  Fall meant the Head of the Charles and the Harvard/Yale game, Winter meant skating on Frog Pond and the Bruins, Spring means the end of Winter, and summer means Red Sox.
• Food and drink – Railto, Abe and Louie’s, the Parrish Cafe, Legal Seafood, The Clam Box, Buzzy’s Roast Beef, , Sam Adams, Harpoon, The Federalist, The Paramount, Mamma Maria’s, the North End the South End, Inman Sq - the city is not Chicago and not NYC but it is really a great place to get a great meal and hoist a few pints.  Even the little mom and pop joints are good for quick and inexpensive chow down.   
• Harvard – I know there are tons of great schools in the coutry but I enjoyed working and going to school at Harvard.  I met some great people there and the access to lectures was an amazing experience.
• New England – what a beautiful place!  The Cape to Maine is a cool place with lots of great people and obviously the history is key to understanding what makes New Englanders tick.  When I first moved to Boston, I could not understand the accent at all, but when I left, I couldn’t even hear it.  Rather, I learned that New Englanders are practical and sometime a bit gruff but not in a NYC sort of way.  Once you get the opportunity to peal back the onion a bit on New Englanders, then you have some really solid, stand up people.
• Dunkin Donuts – their coffee is like crack.  It’s not premium coffee by any means but on a cold day it really hits the spot.
• Boston Common – during the summer it is truly stunning and the swan boats are in order.  During the winter, skating on Frog Pond is hard to beat.  It’s right smack dab in the middle of the city.  A ture oasis.
• The History – in my walk to work I went past the Boston Massacre site, the First Public School, Granary Burial Ground, and Faneuil Hall.  Pretty cool. 

Things that bug me about Boston:

• Realtors and crazy cost of living – our apartment was about 800 sq ft and was $1650 per month and that was in the late 1990s and we had to pay our realtor two months of rent as a fee just for the previlidge of living there.  Granted we could walk to Harvard Sq, but really it was just a place to sleep.
• Winter – it’s way too long.  Snow starts out white and slowly turns to this greay mush that gets on just about everthing you own.  Bone chilling cold that hurts to walk in and never seems to let up.  When it’s April you may still get snow.  No sun to speak of means that Jason get a little pissy and pale. 
• A complex with NYC – why do you hate New Yorkers so much?  Go to the Cape sometime to understand why.  New Yorkers have the Hamptons and now they’ve come to use the Cape to use it for all it’s worth.  Actually I like NYC and Upstate but it is so unlike Boston and New England.  Fortunately, the Sox and the Patriots have done alot to give New Englanders the pride and respect they deserve.
• Logan Airport – it is an embarassment that a city like Boston has such a dump for an airport and it is hard to access since you have to go through a tunnel to get to it.