FacebookTwitter

Visiting Beantown

By on Apr 28, 2008 in Life

As possibly the biggest nerds ever, Adam and I went to Boston this weekend to see Greg Graffin of Bad Religion receive the Lifetime Achievement Award in Cultural Humanism from the Harvard Humanist Chaplaincy (Watch it here; Listen here.). I kid you not. Up until now I pretty much had a love-hate-but-mostly-hate relationship with Boston mostly informed by my early college years in Western Mass. People were rude, the punk scene was violent, and we could never find any place we were trying to go. Perhaps it’s maturity or the fact that I currently live in the densest city in the US or an outgrowing of views I co-opted from friends but Boston was pretty darn good this weekend. Planning this trip was unnecessarily stressful considering it’s 2 day/1 night duration due to the outrageous (and currently beyond budget) price of hotels, the need for a dog-sitter, fear of dying on the...

Manhattan is NOT an island!

By on Sep 18, 2007 in Life

actually there is Manhattan Island. HOWEVER, the New York City borough of Manhattan which is defined by the boundaries of New York County (side note – is New York City the only place where there are multiple counties within the city limits? I think it might be), contains a section that is attached to the mainland, better known as the Bronx. Marble Hill was once part of Manhattan Island. Then in the late 1800s they decided to redirect the Harlem River and annexed Marble Hill. Later they filled in the real Harlem River and wa-la … mainland! Apparently there was much dispute over whether is should still be part of Manhattan or should become part of the Bronx. Eventually, it was ruled that it should remain part of the borough of Manhattan although it gets services from the Bronx. I mean, who wants their firefighters coming over suspension bridges? Not the residents of Marble...