Patriots' Day

Here in Massachusetts, today is Patriots' Day, which is observed as a state holiday in commemoration of the Battle of Lexington and Concord that started the Revolutionary War. It's also the day when the Boston Marathon is run, and it coincides with school vacation week in most cities and towns.

But here at the office, it's one of the only holidays that we don't have off, and with everything going on in the city today, getting to and from work was a bit more tricky than usual. Not terrible, because I stayed away from the Copley Square area. Usually I get off the Orange line at Back Bay and take the 39 bus down Huntington Avenue, but that route (along with many others) gets altered on Marathon Day, so I just stayed on the train to Ruggles, where I got on one of the many buses that runs through the hospital area.

Last year I took the day off, but we are going away again later this week, back to Santa Cruz for more family stuff related to the Mrs.' father's passing a few months ago. I'll be out of the office for four days, so it didn't seem necessary (or a good use of my vacation days) to take today off. And anyway, I would rather have off the day after Thanksgiving, or Christmas Eve, or the week between Christmas and New Year's, which are all paid holidays for us.