Surface Grinding

After all the utility work that's been done on our street this year, the street itself is kind of rough. Fortunately the city is preparing to repave it. We got a notice in our mailbox that they would be starting this process by grinding off the top layer of pavement today.

I awoke this morning to the sounds of heavy equipment and backup beeping. Up and down the street they went throughout the day, making several passes to cover the entire width of the street. (Residents had also been instructed to park elsewhere today.)

I had never seen this process happening, and managed to snap a picture as they passed our house:

I hope we won't have to wait long for the repaving, but in the interim it may get some drivers to slow down. Those temporary asphalt sidewalk patches are supposed to be replaced, too.

Time's Running Out

In some of my idle moments, I pop over to Netflix and watch old episodes of Saturday Night Live. The first few seasons with the original Not Ready for Prime Time Players were a true watershed moment for comedy and for television. The show's comedic style and the way it was presented were genuinely new and edgy for the TV environment of the mid-1970s.

I watched most of those early episodes when they originally aired, but I had never seen them again since, so when I discovered that the entire catalog of SNL episodes was available to watch on Netflix I was quite pleased. I've been working through them at a leisurely pace, and I've also been looking forward to seeing the stuff from the early 1980s, considered a fallow period in the show's history and a time when I stopped watching the show regularly.

On Netflix the show's seasons are organized by decades, and a few days ago I noticed that the 1970s episodes that I have been watching are only available until November 15th, which is in three days. The 1980s episodes are only available to stream until December 12th. I'm almost done with the '70s anyway, but there's no way I'd be able to get through all of the '80s in a month, and I wish I'd noticed sooner.

I also don't know why these seasons are being dropped from streaming; I know Yahoo made a deal for SNL clips, but when it was announced I don't recall any mention of it affecting Netflix's existing content. And of course these shows will still be available on discs, but that's starting to seem terribly old-fashioned, and I'd rather keep my DVD queue flowing with more relevant content.

Car Stuff: Random Sighting #10

Commercial vehicles are everywhere, but they tend to blend into the background. Today's subject is a van I pass whenever I walk to the supermarket, but I never paid any attention to it until I started looking for old cars to photograph.

This GMC has become a billboard of sorts for inspections at an auto shop that backs up on the Stop & Shop. The "Rally Wagon" badge on the fender means that it was built for carrying people rather than cargo (the windows all around are also a tipoff) and as such it would have come with at least one bench seat behind the two front seats. It could have had as many as three benches, with a maximum passenger capacity of 12, but I never thought to look inside. This particular truck was probably a parts runner before being consigned to sign duty.

Oh look, from this view we can see two bench seats... By the way, this basic body style was manufactured for 26 model years, from 1971 to 1996, before finally being replaced with a new design (and in keeping with precedent, that basic design is still in production 18 model years later).

So just how old is this one? Well, trucks tend to get cosmetic changes even less frequently than cars, but we can at least narrow it down. One key clue is the round headlights: most cars and trucks had switched to rectangular headlights by the late 1970s. Sometimes base models retained round lights a few years longer (so your neighbors could tell how prosperous you were, or weren't). This combination of grille and round headlights puts this van from a '78 to an '80, and the numerous dents and the amount of body rust along the bottom edges support that.

From the absence of license plates, I don't think this van is roadworthy anymore (though all four tires appear to be fully inflated, or at least mostly). Let's put it this way: these photos were taken on three different days, and the van is always in the exact same spot.

This Week in Awesome (11/9/13)

It's late on the weekend, but I have some things I think you might enjoy, especially if you have Monday off and are looking for something to read...

Have you heard of Medium? It's a newish site started by one of the founders of Blogger and Twitter meant to encourage writing and reading.

This is from last week but it's definitely worth reading: an argument for abolishing Daylight Saving Time and most of the US's time zones. (Quartz via LinkedIn)

Adam Scott's third iteration of The Greatest Event in Television History (spoof-homage recreations of the opening credits of 1980s TV shows) premiered a couple of nights ago on Adult Swim. Scott says he plans to do only one more of these, so Vulture compiled a list of shows he should consider. Our favorite bad '80s show, TJ Hooker, is on the list.

And finally this week, an in-depth look at how The Soup gets made. (BuzzFeed)

Substitute Laugh

I was going to share a sketch from this week's episode of Key & Peele about a performance of Othello back in Shakespeare's time, but it's not available online. I'm disappointed because it was very funny and encapsulated the wit and thinking that goes into their work.

So instead I'm going to post this extremely well-done spoof of a trailer for a fake Wes Anderson movie (with Alec Baldwin contributing the voiceover) that ran during the Edward Norton episode of Saturday Night Live that aired October 26th:

Late-Night Crowd

Maybe you haven't noticed, but late-night TV is getting crowded. We've been watching The Daily Show and The Colbert Report for years; we record them to watch the next day. I'd like to record the Jimmys (Fallon and Kimmel) as well, but it would be overwhelming, plus any particularly good bits cycle around the internet the next day.

We'd also been watching Totally Biased with W. Kamau Bell, a weekly show on FX, but in September it became a Monday through Thursday show, also at 11 pm. Now Comedy Central has launched a show after Colbert. It's called @Midnight, and it's hosted by Chris Hardwick. Each night he has three comedians as guests who dissect the day's happenings on the web and social media, such as guessing which of three tweets on a certain topic is real, or writing imaginary Yelp reviews.

The show is quite funny and after a couple of weeks it's off to a very promising start. So we've now doubled our late-night show consumption, and given the topical nature of all of them, we can't really let them accrue on the DVR and wait until the weekend to catch up, so it makes sense to watch them before getting to any regular scripted shows. It's not as big a deal if we don't get to those right away, other than having to avoid potential spoilers online.

Phone Not Found

I'd love to replace my iPhone with one of the new models, but I'm trying not to spend money on anything that isn't a necessity. The high demand for the iPhone 5S has helped, in a weird way, because there aren't any available in Apple stores.

I was going to mention a website that I've been checking that compiles availability information from Apple, but the site's owner just posted today that he's received a cease-and-desist letter from Apple and has decided to comply, so never mind that. Meanwhile, my 4S is working fine and will keep me going until I'm employed again.

Car Stuff: Random Sighting #9

At this point I am more or less constantly on the lookout for old and/or interesting cars to feature. Sometimes I spot them while we're in the car, which makes getting decent shots more challenging. In this instance the universe cooperated, having this car roll up next to us at a traffic light.

It's a Chevrolet Caprice from the early 1980s. It could be anywhere from an '80 to an '85; like other carmakers, General Motors had determined by this point that annual styling changes just for the sake of change were not worth the expense, which makes cars like this harder to pin down to a specific year by appearance alone.

This car has been well used, and looks like it has spent time in plenty of New England winters. (In fact, are those snow tires? This was taken in September.) But it must have been cared for well enough to be running today. It's not going to be as safe or efficient as a newer car, but it's getting its owner where he needs to go. (Judging by this shot, though, he might want to stop looking at his phone if he wants to arrive in one piece.)

This Week in Awesome (11/2/13)

Things were iffy this week, but I've managed to round up some internet for your amusement...

This artist reimagines some otherwise forgettable artwork. (Laughing Squid)

Anchorman 2 comes out on December 20th, and clearly this guy can't wait. (BuzzFeed)

And finally this week, Huffington Post TV critic Maureen Ryan assembled three lists of Netflix recommendations: must-see classics; pretty good bets; and overlooked gems, plus a follow-up of contributions from readers. It never hurts to have suggestions.

Retro Video Unit (11/1/13)

Remember those Clash clips from a couple of weeks ago? This time it's the Pretenders, also from the late-night show Fridays. They appeared on September 18, 1981 (which happened to be the first episode of the show's third and final season) and performed three songs from their second album, Pretenders II: "The Adultress," "Message of Love," and "Louie, Louie." (I thought about stretching these out and posting one per week, but they're too enjoyable to hold back.)







The Pretenders were always one of my favorite bands from back in this period, and it's a terrible shame that both guitarist James Honeyman-Scott and bassist Pete Farndon died of drug-related causes in 1982 and 1983, respectively. I had the good fortune to see the band with all four original members in early '82 at the Orpheum Theater in downtown Boston.

Flushed

I think these folks misunderstood the basic idea of decorating for Halloween:

Decorated

The houses in our area tend to do a nice job of decorating for the holidays, Halloween included. While walking around recently I took a few pictures of some of the more interesting efforts.

This couple appears to be waiting for a bus, but they don't run on their street.

This fellow reclined on his chair, with a spider and a skeleton to keep him company.

And I'm not sure if this poor creature was intended as a Halloween decoration (which represents a rather twisted approach), or if he was punished for some other transgression.

Random Bits

I suppose these are the sorts of things I would post on twitter, if I was into that...

—I love how NBC's Sunday football-highlights show gives a whole 30 seconds of coverage to the weekend's English Premier League soccer matches.

—We had some trouble with the lock on our front door (the bolt was no longer retracting, so when leaving the house we had to lock the door from the outside with a key), so a locksmith came this morning and replaced that part of the lock mechanism. The charge for about five minutes of work was $180. Clearly this is the line of work I should be in...

—As of today, we still haven't bought any Halloween candy, so I guess we need to get on that. We got many more trick-or-treaters the first couple of years we lived here than more recently, but we still need a bag. Or two.

Car Stuff: Random Sighting #8

I was looking through the pictures on my phone and came across this one, which I took over a year ago but had forgotten about:

This is from September of last year, not long after I encountered the white Falcon convertible that I used to kick off this feature. I happened to look out the window one day and saw it idling there. It obliged me by staying long enough for me to grab my phone and get this shot. (Sorry for the pole and the moiré effect from taking the pic through the window screen.)

At the time I took the picture I didn't know exactly what the car was, but I had an idea (and figuring it out can be part of the fun). Based on its overall shape I knew it had to be from the early 1950s, but I'm familiar enough with cars from that time period to know that it was neither a General Motors nor a Ford Motor Company product. There were still a number of smaller, independent companies around at the time, but I also knew it wasn't a Nash or a Studebaker.

Eliminating all of those left me leaning toward Chrysler Corporation, and specifically Plymouth. As it turns out, it's a 1950 Plymouth (I was able to make this conclusion from the car's grille, which was specific to that year only). I have no idea where it comes from or what it was doing on my street that day, but it was still fun to see it.

The Heat Is (Back) On

Yes, we got this taken care of Saturday. I didn't mean to let the whole weekend pass without following up. Turned out it wasn't the furnace's pilot, but a burned-out thermal coupling. The "plumber" (HVAC professional?) said he'd give our landlord a lecture about the virtues of regular maintenance, which could have prevented this situation.

This Week in Awesome (10/26/13)

I admit I skipped this last week; due to a variety of circumstances, I just hadn't gathered enough material.

Fred Armisen introduced his aging punk rocker character Ian Rubbish just a short time before leaving Saturday Night Live, so it's nice to see him getting a second wind in this interview with former Clash members Paul Simonon and Mick Jones. (Funny or Die via Stereogum)

Athletes can seem larger than life to fans; here's a photo series that attempts to humanize them while capturing the essence of what makes them special. (Dappered Weekend Dossier)

Fascinating: a collection of sculptures made from coins. (Colossal)

It's that time of year: pumpkin spice products are everywhere. Here are some you may not be familiar with. (Funny or Die)

And finally this week, something all married folks can relate to. (Laughing Squid)

Unheated

So yeah, it got kind of cold around here this week. We haven't taken out our air conditioners yet—to be honest, we kind of forgot about them—so I was reluctant to turn on the heat until we could get them out of the windows this weekend. But this afternoon it was cold enough in the house that I decided to go ahead and crank up the heat anyway.

But the heat didn't come up. We went downstairs and took a look at the furnace, and it seems that the pilot has gone out. There are instructions for how to relight it, but that isn't something either of us is comfortable dealing with, so we have to wait until the landlord can get someone here to take care of it. Meanwhile, there will be extra blankets and comforters on the bed tonight.

Something's Missing

The development at the old Filene's site in Downtown Crossing is back underway after a delay of several years. I happened to be downtown today and the facade of the old building is being preserved as part of the new project:

This view is from Summer Street, with Macy's behind me; at the right edge of the frame is Hawley Street, which runs behind the old building (where the employee entrances used to be). Then I walked toward Washington Street (to the left in the above picture) for another shot:

This is looking straight through what used to be the main floor toward Franklin Street, with the old Woolworth building (now home to TJ Maxx, H&M, Martshalls, and a health club) in the background. It will be interesting to see how the remains are integrated into the eventual finished building.

Grooming Garage: Hair Stuff

Take a look at my cartoon avatar over there: not much hair, right? I'm 50, and the gene for baldness is part of my genetic makeup. That's how it goes. But what hair I do have is stubborn and wavy, and if I don't do anything to it, it just frizzes out in whatever direction it feels like. If I didn't make some sort of effort to try to tame it, I would end up looking like someone you'd want to avoid on the subway.

So for starters, it stays short, and between haircuts I have to tend to it with a trimmer around my ears. For styling product, I have tried dozens of creams and gels in my life. None of them has been perfect; most have either too much hold, or not enough. The "too much" products tend to be too heavy and sticky, and plaster my hair down, making it look even thinner on top of my head.

For a long time I have used a small amount of a leave-in conditioner as a sort of primer or base coat that adds a bit of thickness to my hair, or at least the illusion of it. In some cases it helps other product take to my hair better. The stuff I use comes in a comically oversized 32-ounce container that costs around $7 or $8 at drug stores and Target, and since I use just a small amount each day, the container lasts me a year or so, on average.

I got pretty good results for a while with a gel from Redken's men's line called Grip Tight; they make a stronger-hold version, but I never tried it because I didn't think I needed extra hold. But I prefer creams to gels in general, because they tend to provide a comparable amount of hold while being lighter and less sticky. There was an inexpensive cream product from Garnier that worked pretty well, but as has happened to me before, it was discontinued.

About six months ago I came across something, either in a magazine or online, about a styling cream from a company called Malin + Goetz that makes apothecary products using natural ingredients. I had heard of the company, and had maybe even browsed their website once, and even knew they made hair care products, but somehow hadn't taken the leap to trying it. The easiest way for me to do that was with one of my drugstore.com orders (it's carried on their sibling site, beauty.com, and the two sites share a shopping bag and checkout).

The M+G cream has definitely been one of the best hair styling products I have used. It's light, not sticky, handles easily, and even smells nice (sage). It has given me satisfactory to above average results for my problem hair, so whatever is in it seems to work for me. It's not cheap; none of the M+G stuff is. The 4-ounce tube is $20 and lasted me almost five months, and now that I'm more familiar with how it works, I might be able to stretch that a bit.

In the past I've endeavored to find the least expensive products that worked for me, but after a lot of trial and error I have learned that when you find something that does work, it's worth it to stick with it.

Car Stuff: A Correction

No one likes to be wrong, but I believe it's important to admit one's mistakes. Back in the summer I posted pictures from a car show I attended. Among them was this one:

At the time I identified this as a 1964 Studebaker Avanti, though I questioned the originality of the wheels. While it is an Avanti, it's not a '64, and if I had been paying just a bit more attention, I would have realized that. The telltale sign that I overlooked is the side marker lights, which I have mentioned before were mandated by the federal government on new cars as of the 1968 model year.

The original Avanti was built for only two model years, 1963 and '64, and Studebaker was gone altogether by 1966. After the company ceased production of the Avanti, a trio of dealers in South Bend, IN (the location of the factory) purchased the rights to the Avanti name, parts, and use of factory space. The car was called the Avanti II and was built in small numbers, essentially by hand, until the early 1980s. (In fact, the car's history continues well beyond that point under different ownership, and with questionable styling changes like rectangular headlights.)

So this is definitely an Avanti II, and the presence of the side marker lights along with the absence of federally-mandated 5 mph bumpers dates this car to a 1968-72 time frame. As to the source of those wheels, which I noted look very much like ones used on Buicks: at this point the builders of the car were using Chevrolet engines, so it's entirely reasonable to extrapolate that they were also purchasing wheels from another GM division.

I realized my mistake in identifying this car after reading this article about the original Avanti on Curbside Classic, which goes deeper into Studebaker's problems and is well worth your time if you are interested.

Retro Video Unit (10/18/13)

As I was looking for video clips to add to my article about music on TV in the years before MTV (part 1 and part 2), I found a bunch of interesting stuff. Saturday Night Live does not allow clips to be posted to YouTube, but back in the spring of 1980 ABC launched its own late-night sketch comedy show with musical guests. It was called Fridays and it ran for only a couple of years, but some of the music performances are available online.

The Clash made their American television debut on Fridays on April 25, 1980. They performed four songs, all from their double album London Calling, which was released in the US in January of '80. The first two songs were "London Calling" and "Train in Vain."



Later in the show the band returned for two more songs, "The Guns of Brixton" and Clampdown."



I think it's really cool to be able to see these performances from this stage of the band's career, as London Calling is regarded by many (myself included) as their masterpiece.

(Look for more clips from Fridays in the weeks ahead...)

Instincts

As someone who owns a lot of clothing and likes to shop, I have on occasion purchased something without being sure exactly when or how I would wear it. People who give advice on this sort of thing generally say that this is not a good approach. I know this, but there are times when you have to ignore what others might say and go with your gut.

This is a cashmere tie. I never went looking for one, nor did I ever think I needed one. I found it at the original downtown Filene's Basement. I can't remember exactly when I got it, but given that the downtown store closed in 2007, it had to be at least a couple of years before that, so let's say it was 2004 or '05. It caught my eye because I liked the dark charcoal color. I've always liked wool ties, and I had a couple of them in high school, where we had a dress code. Then I felt it, and knew it was special.

At the time I had never seen a cashmere tie. I was also not in the habit of buying high-end designer clothing items, but not knowing what you might come across was one of the joys of shopping at the old Basement. If you went looking for something like this today at, say, Neiman Marcus or Saks, what you'd find would be in the range of $200. When I found this, I think it had a suggested retail of $150, while the Basement price was $25, so of course I bought it.

This shot gives a closer look at the weave and the salt-and-pepper effect. I found it before the recent vogue for narrower ties, but because it's from a fashion designer's line it was slightly narrower than average. At 3.25" it's about as narrow a tie as I like to wear, but I feel its width is just right for the fabric and styling—it makes sense that this would be a bit narrower than a dressier silk tie.

I probably wouldn't wear this with a suit, but it would be perfect with a tweed jacket and a chambray shirt.

Perspective

On the same day I took the pay-phone picture a couple of weeks ago, I also took this shot on the platform at Wellington:

I waited for the precise moment when the train had stopped, but the doors had not yet opened. And it turned out pretty well, I think.

Public Works

Back in the spring the a contractor for the city spent several weeks digging up our street and some of the surrounding ones for sewer work. Now a new contractor is working on lining the water main that runs under the street. In order to do this, temporary water lines were set up about a month ago; they run above ground across driveways and sidewalks, going just under the surface where they cross side streets.

Yesterday I got up around 7 to take the dog out. I came back and returned to bed, and as I was drifting back to sleep a racket started up, coming through the closed bedroom windows. I soon figured out that an asphalt saw and a jackhammer were being applied to the pavement in front of our house. It was probably close to an hour before things settled down enough that I could fall asleep again.

What I can't figure out is why this work was being done on a holiday. There doesn't seem to be any urgency around the project in general; once the temporary water lines were set up and the houses were connected to them, nothing happened for a couple of weeks, then I started noticing workmen around the neighborhood, but whatever they were doing, it seemed like they were doing it in a rather leisurely way.

I expected the noise to return today, but I didn't hear anything and didn't get awakened; when I got up the workmen were digging, but they were set up several houses away. so, on it goes.

Car Stuff: Missed Opportunities

Now that I'm on the lookout for cars to take pictures of, it's particularly frustrating when I see one but can't get a decent picture of it because it's too far away or moves away too quickly. There are also cars that I saw around my area before I started taking pictures and haven't encountered again in a while. Being unable to get good pictures from more than one angle is frustrating too.

One afternoon a couple of months ago, I was coming back from a walk with the dog and waiting to cross out street when a really nice red late-1960s Cadillac convertible came gliding by. I didn't have my phone on me, but even if I did I wouldn't have been able to get it out and take a picture in time. Likewise, someone around my area has a late-1980s Cadillac sedan in an unusual triple-pale yellow combination. I saw it a year or so ago at the gas station with one of its doors open so I could see the interior, and then I saw it once again after that, in traffic, but going in the opposite direction.

There are others, but you get the idea. I'm still hoping that I will encounter some or all of them again at more opportune moments.

This Week in Awesome (10/12/13)

Busy busy busy... no really, we were busier than usual this weekend. And to be honest, I don't have the typical allotment, but what I do have is pretty good so I'm just going to go ahead and post it anyway...

Did you watch the annual "Treehouse of Horror" episode of The Simpsons last week? (They show it early because the show gets preempted for several weeks in October for the baseball playoffs.) The opening credit sequence was "reimagined" by movie director Guillermo del Toro, and incorporated all sorts of references to horror movies.

There's a lot to absorb in there, so a couple of subsequent articles break everything down: this one by annotating the video, and this one with stills and text, which may be easier than hitting the pause button over and over. (Entertainment Weekly; /film; Screen Crush)

And also in TV land, the people who make the FX animated comedy Archer did a little gag promo for the show's upcoming fifth season. If you watch the show you'll understand exactly why this is what it is. (FX via Vulture)

Retro Video Unit Bonus (10/11/13)

I was going to hold onto this until next week, but it's just too good. Yesterday I was sifting through videos on YouTube, looking for clips to accompany an article for The Longfellow Bridge, and found this. I used it in the article, and I'm posting it here as well.

When I look for videos for this feature, I tend to focus on the years around the beginning of MTV because I have an especially strong bond with the music of that period. But sometimes I tend to forget that I am in fact a child of the 1970s (yes, born in the '60s but in terms of cultural awareness) and remain connected to the cultural signifiers of that era, for better and worse.

Fleetwood Mac was one of the biggest bands of the '70s; they sold millions and millions of albums, and their music was all over the radio. Even without ever owning any of their music, I've absorbed much of it. This song, "Rhiannon," was one of several hit singles from their 1975 self-titled album.



I've always liked this song, but I've never seen or heard a version like this one. Like the best bands do when performing their material live, Fleetwood Mac takes this quiet, moody song and rips it open into something quite different.

(This performance is from a 1970s late-night TV show called The Midnight Special that featured bands performing live.)

Collared and Cuffed

We attended an event over the weekend for which we needed to dress up, and as I was planning what to wear I got to thinking about how my taste in dress shirts has changed. I used to choose dress shirts with a traditional point collar, as I am still a believer in the "rule" that one should not wear a button-down collar shirt with a suit (I'm totally okay with it when wearing a sportcoat and trousers).

I used to dislike spread-collar dress shirts, though at this point I can't remember why. I started noticing pictures of men dressed up—in catalogs, in magazines, at red-carpet events—and I realized that a spread collar shirt is an excellent way to elevate one's outfit just a bit more. It's classic and classy, and you don't have to worry about using a certain kind of tie knot; as long as your knot is well-formed, it will look just fine with a spread collar. (I don't really care for the cutaway collar, though; it's just a bit too dandyish for me, and it does require a Windsor or other chunky knot to look right.)

I also came to realize that a dress shirt doesn't need a pocket. I am someone who prefers my casual shirts to have a pocket, because I end up using it frequently, but if you're already wearing a suit then you have at least two or three inside jacket pockets available to you, so the dress shirt pocket is superfluous, and a dress shirt just looks cleaner and sharper without it.

Regarding one's cuffs, a lot of more style-conscious men now prefer their dress shirts with french cuffs, which is perfectly fine, but I find this is often just an excuse to wear whimsical cuff links. I am guilty of this (I own cuff links made from old typewriter keys), but I also have a pair that came with a shirt that are just pairs of buttons with about half an inch of thread between them (the thread is wound around itself a number of times to make it stiffer and easier to handle), and I have come to appreciate the quiet dignity (and low cost) of plain silk knots.

However, I've found that there are occasions when I feel that cuff links are a bit too dressy, and I prefer the look of a two-button cuff. I don't mean the kind that allows for a narrower or thicker wrist, but two buttons side by side with two buttonholes. It's more distinctive because it's less commonly seen, and even if no one else notices, I still know it's there.

It's possible to find all these attributes on one shirt, but it takes some sleuthing. The best source I have found for reasonably priced shirts with all these style options is Charles Tyrwhitt (and they are almost always running some sort of sale or promotion). But when I go bargain-hunting for dress shirts in Marshalls, I know that I'll probably have to compromise on at least one of these details.

Ralph Lauren shirts tend to be widely available at discounted prices, and I like them quite a bit, but I have yet to find one with a two-button cuff. A while back I found a USA-made shirt by Ike Behar for $20, but it had a pocket; I bought it anyway. A striped shirt by Tommy Hilfiger was exactly like one I was looking to replace, but it had a point collar. Again, for only $20 it didn't matter so much. Now I just need places to wear them...

Car Stuff: Random Sighting #7

Not all old cars are interesting, and not all interesting cars are old. I spotted this in Medford Square a couple of months ago:

It's a Dodge Stealth, a car produced by Chrysler affiliate Mitsubishi during the 1990s. I don't know a lot about these cars, but after some quick digging on Wikipedia and Google images, I'm pretty confident that this is from 1990-93.

The Stealth was also sold as the Mitsubishi 3000GT, but unlike the earlier Mitsubishi Starion, an identical version of which was also sold as a Chrysler, the Stealth and 3000GT were the same car underneath but wore different designs. The biggest difference was at the rear: the 3000GT's rear glass wrapped down to the sides (though it looked like a single piece, it wasn't) and the Stealth had an unusual rear spoiler that was set at the base of its rear window rather than at the rear edge of the car.

Though this car is between 20 and 25 years old, its styling looks very dated compared to today's cars. It's much busier overall, with lots of flares and scoops and doodads, but that was the general vein of Japanese car styling then, a holdover from the 1980s. It's also significantly heavier and less powerful than a current sporty coupe like the Subaru BRZ (hi, PB).

The main reason I noticed this car is because we happened to park right behind it. It's not a car I thought of as particularly attractive when it was new, but it's running and getting someone around.

Last Week in Awesome (10/5/13)

The weekend just kind of got away from me, as sometimes happens...

Sci-fi nerds will love this giant spaceship chart. (BuzzFeed)

A couple of months back I linked to an article about the top five TV shows ever. Now that Breaking Bad is finished, the author has reassessed his rankings. Spoilers, obviously. (The Hollywood Reporter)

Here's a pretty neat collection of infographics about internet usage. (BuzzFeed)

And finally last week, another New York time-lapse, but this one is arguably much more impressive when you read about the details of its creation. (PetaPixel via Laughing Squid)

Retro Video Unit (10/4/13)

Oh yeah, we're digging deep today. As I have expressed before, the late 1970s was an incredibly fertile period for music, but a lot of the performers and songs from the period have slipped into obscurity. Thanks to YouTube a lot of this music is still accessible and available.

Flash and the Pan (a deliberate play on "flash in the pan") was an Australian group active during this period who had a run of catchy, well-produced songs. This one, "Media Man," is likely the first song of theirs that I encountered while watching a syndicated late-night music video show called Rock World.



I've always liked this song, but I think the video is particularly impressive given the technical constraints of the time period. Today a high-school student could probably throw together something as good as this in a couple of hours, but back then it would have taken some skill and creativity. And today's media men and women are no less plastic than their 1980 counterparts.

Still Thinking About Boots

Can you stand a few more words about shoes? Because I have them. Words. And shoes, duh.

I've been lamenting this week's return to summer-like weather because, well, mainly because I don't like warm weather, but also because it's prime boot-wearing time. It is October, after all. The window of opportunity for wearing boots that don't protect feet from cold and/or snow, and are worn primarily because they look good, has gotten narrower as we've become accustomed to our changing climate and weather patterns. It's possible I might end up being able to get back some of this time during December (and perhaps even later, like two winters ago), but there's no way to know that now.

A long time ago I wore Justin roper boots, and I've also tried classic harness boots with oil-impregnated, matte-finish leather, but I've found that the shaft height (around 10 inches, sometimes a little higher) of these styles to be uncomfortable; the tops of the boots end up rubbing against my calves. I tried higher socks, but they wouldn't stay up and they caused their own comfort issues.

So I've settled on 6" lace-up boots, and a zipper boot that's about 7" high. I have a couple of different kinds in different colors. Three years ago I bought a pair of Wolverine 1000 Mile boots in a color they call "rust." I chose it because it was more distinctive than the black or brown they were also offered in at the time. Some time later they added "tan," which in reality looks too orange and is not something I'd wear.

I've wished since then that they would offer some sort of a burgundy, especially since the leather for the boots comes from Horween, a Chicago tannery that's been around for over a century. Horween offers shell cordovan leather (from horses) in a deep burgundy they call "color 8," and I know this color is available in some of their other leathers. The competition (Red Wing) also offers their boots in "black cherry."

Sure enough, the 1000 Mile boot is now available in "cordovan no. 8," but these boots retail for $350 a pair. You can spend quite a bit less than that, and still get a quality boot that's made in the USA. Maybe seven or eight years back, L.L. Bean revived an engineer boot they had offered back in the 1930s for their Katahdin Iron Works collection. They are made for Bean by Chippewa, a company that doesn't get as much attention as Red Wing or Wolverine but has an equally legitimate bootmaking heritage. (Actually, J. Crew has been offering a few Chippewa styles for a couple of years now.)

This fall Bean added a plain-toe version of the Iron Works boot in a deep burgundy. They cost $210, which is a chunk more than the $150 they ran when Bean first reintroduced them, but still only about 60% of what you'd pay for either the Red Wing or Wolverine equivalent. And the Bean/Chippewa boot can claim to be more usable as a work boot as well. I tried on the original version some years back in a Bean store, and I found that they run small; I have another pair of Chippewas for winter wear and those run small as well.

By the way, for any of my family members who might be reading this: a Bean gift card would be a welcome Christmas or birthday gift, so I could put it toward a pair of these.

Farewell, Pay Phones

I've been trying to be more aware of potential photo opportunities as I go about my mundane business. It has led to some interesting shots, like the one last week of the panda thief.

Yesterday I was passing through Wellington station again when I noticed this tableau:

The shot didn't come out quite as well as I hoped (I should have taken it on an angle to avoid the outside glare), but I only had a few moments before the train arrived, and there are still some MBTA employees who have not gotten the memo that it's legal and okay to take photos on T property, so I didn't feel like risking the wrath of anyone seeing me trying to take a bunch of shots.

I don't remember ever seeing pay phones inside the station, but I could be wrong about that. It looked as though they were on their way to the pay-phone graveyard and had been set in this spot while awaiting pickup. The cones and caution tape just add to the overall effect.

Car Stuff: Random Sighting #6

Once I started taking pictures of older cars that I spotted around the area, I started noticing more of them. Sometimes they lurk in driveways, while others are parked on the street.

Today's subject is a car that we passed several times while driving; when it registered in my mind what it was, I asked the Mrs. to stop the next time we drove past it so I could take some pictures. I was very excited to see one still on the road, and not just being saved for car shows and cruise nights.

It's a 1968 Dodge Dart two-door hardtop. Its basic design was introduced for the '67 model year and remained in production for a decade, with minor changes to the front and rear ends every couple of years. The Dart and its corporate cousin the Plymouth Valiant were very popular cars when they were new, because they were well-built, dependable, and economical to own and operate. (There's a reason so many law enforcement organizations preferred Dodge and Plymouth police cars for decades.)

I know this car is driven regularly because I've seen it parked in various spots around this general area, including sometimes in a nearby driveway. This certainly would have been basic transportation when new; it's a Dart 270, the middle trim level of three available that year. I can recall that the parking lot of my elementary school always had several Darts and Valiants in it, cars that belonged to both teachers and staff.

By the way, you can identify the year of Darts like this fairly easily due to the small round side reflector lights. '68 was the first year they were required by the federal government, and the round ones were used on many Dodge and Plymouth models for that year only; for '69 they were replaced with larger rectangular lights.

This car also has a trailer hitch, which may seem a little unusual, but it could be used to pull a small boat or trailer of some kind, especially if it has the small V-8 that was such a workhorse engine in so many Chrysler products of the period (our green station wagon from a few weeks back had the same engine).

This car has obviously seen better days, but it's still on the road after 45 years. I've always liked these cars, especially the Dart GT convertible from this year, but any model from any of the 10 years of this design would be a fun car to have.

Seven

Well, I was half right in my Breaking Bad prediction; I'm fine with that.

Yesterday marked seven years since I started this blog. It's hard to believe that much time has passed. (We moved into this apartment and got our dog earlier that same year.) I still enjoy doing this, and I keep coming up with stuff to write about, though I will admit there are days when I feel pressure to say something clever, or anything at all.

As always, thanks to everyone who visits, reads, or comments.

(Car stuff will be back tomorrow.)

This Week in Awesome (9/28/13)

All right, here's my Breaking Bad prediction: Walt rescues Jesse, but Jesse kills Walt anyway.

Here's a K-Tel collection you probably won't see on sale anytime soon. (Nerdcore via Laughing Squid)

This video plays a clever visual trick on viewers. (Vimeo via Gizmodo)

The New York Times asked hundreds of teens to submit photos of where they live, and collected some of the best in an online gallery. (Lens blog via The Hairpin)

And finally this week, normally I wouldn't give a moment's thought or any attention to the subject of this because I find him insufferable, but as usual Jimmy Kimmel found a way to skewer his overinflated ego. Watch this first, then this. (TV Tattle)

The Fire This Time

I'm very happy that Tina Fey is hosting the season premiere of Saturday Night Live tomorrow tonight, but I'm even happier that the musical guest is Arcade Fire. Their new album Reflektor will be released in about a month, so I guess this is the first of their promotional appearances.

UPDATE: After SNL, NBC will broadcast a 30-minute Arcade Fire concert special. Adjust your DVRs accordingly.

There's a video for the single, also called "Reflektor."



The giant paper-mache heads are weird, but I found that opening it in a separate tab and listening to it without looking at the video helped me get into the song more. If you preorder the album directly through them, you get early access to concert ticket sales.

Also of note re: their SNL appearance: David Bowie sings background vocals on this song, and I'm totally speculating here, but he does live in New York so it's not out of the question that he'd show up for the live performance.

Panda Rustler?

Apparently there's a panda-smuggling ring operating in the area; I spotted this culprit making off with one today at Wellington:

Someone should inform PETA, I guess.

Finding the Right Monk Straps

I've never cared for the menswear-blogger favorite, the double monk strap shoe, but the appeal of the more traditional single-monk style has grown on me in recent years. It's a dressy shoe but with more flair than a standard lace-up. I started thinking about getting a pair of monk straps about two years ago, and as I started looking at the offerings from various brands, I noticed a few things that helped me find the right shoes for me.

First, a lot of shoes have straps that look too dainty for a man's shoe. Part of this depends on the width of the strap, and part of it depends on the buckle. A narrower strap and a buckle that's too rounded at the corners give the shoe a softer look overall, that I'd probably describe as more "continental." That's fine, but it's not for me.

I also noticed that some shoes had a leather loop or keeper for the strap to pass through after it gets buckled (like on a belt), and others had the strap passing through the other side of the buckle. So now I knew I wanted shoes with a wider strap, a squared-off buckle, and a keeper loop. And the buckles had to be silver-colored, since I don't care for brass belt buckles or any other yellow metal.

Toe shape is always an issue for me; a shoe that's too tapered causes cramps and other issues for me, so I looked for shoes with a more rounded shape. Then I noticed differences in how the parts of the shoe were cut. I was seeing quarters cut on an arc, like a traditional blucher or derby shoe. This pair from Cole Haan is a good example:

It's a detail I might not have noticed had I not seen a shoe that did it differently. The first such shoe I saw was one from Allen Edmonds called the Norwich, and the front edge of its quarter pieces doesn't have that arc, but angles back just slightly down to the sole, like this:

I think this blends in much better with the overall aesthetic of the shoe, giving it a more distinctive look. Like almost all AE shoes, the Norwich is made in USA and normally retails for $345. I saw these details replicated a short time later on a shoe that Ralph Lauren was offering last year. It was also made in USA and retailed for nearly $500.

Without regular income, buying a shoe like this would be an unnecessary luxury. But I got some money for my most recent birthday, and I had some extra set aside before that, so I decided I was going to buy myself the AE shoes as a birthday present. Knowing the annual Allen Edmonds sale would be starting soon, I went to one of their stores to try on shoes and figure out which size would fit me best.

I thought I was a 10.5 E, but it turned out that the 11 E was a better fit. Earlier that day I'd happened to find a pair of the same style on eBay in 11 E for $100, while buying them new would be almost $300 even with the sale discount, so I decided to save some of the money for something else and bought the shoes that were on eBay (that's them above).

I probably wouldn't choose these for daytime business dress if I was in a situation where I had to wear suits regularly, unless I was an art director or something like that. But we are attending an event next weekend for which I'll be dressing up, and it will be a good opportunity to wear these.

Freedom

A quick reminder: this is Banned Books Week. Celebrate the freedom to read.

Car Stuff: Random Sighting #5

(In case you're wondering, there was no TWiA this weekend due to a lack of suitable material.)

The parking lot of our local Ocean State Job Lot has turned out to be a pretty good source for car-spotting. (Several years ago I saw two old Dodges parked next to each other, but the pictures I took have been lost over years of switching phones and memory cards.)

I took this picture three or four months ago, before I realized that I should be getting shots from multiple angles when possible, so this side view will have to do.

This is an Oldsmobile Cutlass Supreme sedan from the mid-1980s. The Cutlass nameplate originated as the sportier top trim level on Olds's "premium compact" F-85, which arrived for the 1961 model year. For 1964 the F-85 and Cutlass evolved into a midsize car that shared General Motors corporate DNA with the Chevrolet Chevelle, Pontiac Tempest, and Buick Special. This "platform," known as the GM A-body, was produced until the late 1980s, so this car represents the final years of that line. But for much of the later 1970s and early '80s, the Cutlass Supreme coupe was the most popular car sold in the US.

This basic design arrived for 1978 as part of GM's downsizing program, but with a rather homely slanted-back roofline (called "aeroback" by GM) that went completely against the grain of the general design themes common at the time, which had been so successful for Olds. Also questionable: the windows in the rear doors did not roll down. It also came as a two-door model, and there were Buick versions of these as well.

Disliked by the public, sales of the aeroback models slipped significantly and GM rethought the decision; for 1980 they introduced a revised design with the upright roofline you see here. The windows in the rear doors were still fixed, but the narrow flip-out window was added for a meager amount of ventilation.

The tail lights and other minor trim details identify this car as being anywhere from an '84 to an '87. For 1982 GM had shifted the A designation to a new range of midsize cars with front-wheel-drive, but kept the older models, now called G-bodies, in production for several more years. This is a common practice among automakers, because after a few years in production, the main costs of developing a vehicle have been recovered and continued sales yield mostly profits.

These days it's surprising to come across a car that's still in somewhat regular use in this area after nearly three decades, but this Cutlass Supreme is soldiering on.

Retro Video Unit (9/20/13)

Today I'm going back to my college years for a song for which I never even realized there was a video. Yaz, known as Yazoo at home in England (there was a band in the US already using the name Yazoo at the time), was a synth-pop duo started by Vince Clarke, an original member of Depeche Mode who left early on to do his own thing.

He teamed up with vocalist Alison Moyet for a brief but influential period in the early 1980s; they only released two albums, Upstairs at Eric's and You and Me Both, before deciding to go their separate ways. Moyet pursued a solo career while Clarke formed the long-running duo Erasure with Andy Bell, a singer who sounded uncannily like Moyet.

This song, "Situation," is from the first album and is almost certainly the first song by them I heard. It's bouncy and upbeat, and would probably be good on a workout playlist.

It's Time You Knew

Maybe you heard earlier this week that AMC is splitting the final season of Mad Men and holding back the second half for a year, like they've done with Breaking Bad. That means viewers won't get to see the end of Mad Men until the spring of 2015.

You might also have expected me to have something to say about it here, as I have with many bits of Mad Men and other TV-related news. You also may have noticed that that sort of material hasn't been appearing in this space for a while. (Or you may not have noticed these things; that's okay too.)

Fact is, I've had a different outlet for my TV writing for about six months now. It's a Boston-based site called The Longfellow Bridge that started up in April, and I've been contributing there since the beginning. Those of you who know me personally know that I've been doing this, but if you only know me through what I write here, you wouldn't necessarily have any reason to make the connection.

I decided it's time to make my efforts known, and encourage you to visit The LFB, not just for my writing but for the efforts of everyone else who contributes there, in part because I feel a responsibility to promote the site in an effort to build its audience.

I do a weekly roundup of suggestions of things to watch that is posted every Monday, plus feature articles that include reviews, opinion and criticism, and stuff about the TV and media business as well. It's been a very satisfying experience and a new challenge for me, and I hope it will continue for some time.

And since I started out by bringing up this Mad Men development, here's what I had to say about it.

Thinking About Fall: Shoes

Tuesday really felt like fall, didn't it? Had to close all the windows Monday night, had to wear long pants. Of course it's getting warm again at the end of this week, but Tuesday was fall sending the message: I'll be there soon.

When fall arrives, I always start thinking about clothes and shoes. I don't need anything, but I think about it anyway. I think it's a leftover instinct from childhood back-to-school shopping. For now I'm just browsing, but I have seen a few things that are appealing.

The L.L. Bean "blucher moc" is a great basic casual shoe; I wear mine almost year-round, except for when it's really cold and wet because they offer no protection from the elements, and the soles are thin so as soon as the ground gets cold, you feel it. Recently there have been variations on this style in suede, which makes perfect sense. Last year I picked up a pair of Eastlands from Urban Outfitters in a sort of honey color, and while I like them a lot, I've found that the color makes them a little trickier to work into the shoe rotation.

Bean had a suede version of its blucher moc in tan last year in its Signature line, and also in navy and loden green. This year they have it in "amber," which is darker than either the tan or the honey, and a really nice deep olive. That's the one that really appeals to me. People might think, "Green shoes? Really?" The loden ones were kind of an odd hue, but these are dark enough to not stand out in a bad way, and the color will blend nicely with other fall colors and fabrics.

LLBS also offers a leather version of the shoe in a brown that's darker than the "saddle" version in the regular line, but with a tan sole instead of the original's black. Some people might prefer the shoe in this colorway, so it's nice to know it's there. And for even more variety, there are ankle-boot versions of both the suede and leather styles, called "ranger mocs."

Car Stuff: Weird Wheels

This car belongs to a neighbor, so I see it pretty much every day, and every time I see it, I think about what a strange choice the owner made with these wheels:

If you are going to spend the money and make the effort to put aftermarket wheels on your car, these seem like a very unlikely choice. Corollas are inherently boring, but this color manages to make the car look just a tiny bit more interesting. A wheel with such thin spokes reads as nearly black from a distance, and takes away whatever tiny measure of pizzazz the color gives it. A set of polished wheels, or at least matte-finish chrome, with slightly wider spokes would brighten the lower part of the car and make it stand out in a more positive way.

Also, the design is symmetrical, which reminds me unfavorably of a wagon wheel in the old West. There's a reason why the "mag" wheels that became popular in the 1960s had five spokes or slots: an odd number of openings in the surface of a wheel reads as much more visually interesting than one with an even number. And while I'm no fan of the oversized wheels and rubber-band tires that so many car owners seem to favor, these seem too small for this car by at least an inch, maybe two. (I suspect the owner wanted to use the stock tires to keep the expense down.)

This Week in Awesome (9/14/13)

For some reason I thought I had done this yesterday...

Style "don'ts" from tech geeks, to which I would add: a man does not need a black suit, and in fact should not have one. Just step away... (BuzzFeed)

Great works of art, simplified. (BuzzFeed)

This week's time-lapse video is one I've been waiting for: the construction of One World Trade Center. (Village Voice)

And finally this week, Friday was the 20th anniversary of the debut of Late Night With Conan O'Brien, so Vulture asked him about some of the show's early recurring bits.

Orientation

I have a video for you today, but it's something a bit different.

The Mrs. started a new job this week with several days of mandatory orientation sessions. These included information about benefits, training specific to her field, and the obligatory information about sexual harassment.

On the very first day of orientation her group was shown this video, which aims to dramatize potential harassment situations using stuffed animals.



She found this quite funny, not because of the content (as someone who is making a career out of helping others, she would never make light of such a situation) but because of the way it's presented.

Spelling It Out

I am reasonably comfortable and conversant with technology, but part of that comes from making efforts to keep things as simple as possible. I've been using Apple computers for over 20 years, while my limited knowledge of how to do certain things in Windows has faded away. I've had TiVo DVRs for about eight years now, and part of the reason I stick with them is because they are so simple to use. (One time when I was visiting my mother she asked me a question about how to do something on her DVR; 45 minutes later I hadn't been able to figure it out, and never did.)

In the final half-season of Breaking Bad currently airing, there has been a lot of whispering. We had to turn up the volume really loud in several scenes, and then of course when the music comes up it blasts us out of our seats (plus our living room is directly under our upstairs neighbor's bedroom, and we try to be considerate about such things). At one point we were forced to turn off the air conditioner in order to hear the whispered dialogue.

So the Mrs. asked me if I knew how to turn on the closed-captioning. I thought I did, but couldn't find anything obvious on the remote. A couple of days later she started working her way through all the TiVo's on-screen menus; I was busy in the next room, but some time later she let out a yell of delight. She had figured out how to activate the CC function. It seems to have been there in the on-screen program info display all along, and we just hadn't ever noticed it.

I was under the impression that we could use it only while watching shows live, but it turned out that the CC data is embedded in the program recordings and can be viewed during later playback. The quality of the transcriptions seems to vary from show to show and even from episode to episode of the same show, but it's there.

As a bonus, being able to access the closed captioning makes it easier for us to enjoy British crime dramas like Luther and Broadchurch, which have a variety of accents with varying degrees of aural decipherability.

Car Stuff: Family History #2

(This post was delayed due to technical issues: our printer has become extremely temperamental about scanning things, so I was forced to take pictures of this picture with my phone.)

This was my family's 1970 Plymouth Sport Suburban, which my parents acquired early in 1972, when this picture was taken. It was our "family truckster" for a number of years at a time when full-size station wagons were at roughly the height of their popularity.

Prior to getting this car, we'd had two Chevrolet wagons, a 1965 Bel Air in "Artesian turquoise" (which was closer to aqua) and a 1966 Caprice in white with wood siding (very much like this, but with a blue interior). The Plymouth also had the distinction of being the newest car my parents had owned up to that point.

Although this was Plymouth's top of the line wagon for 1970, it was not equipped with lots of the stuff we take for granted as standard on our cars today. It didn't have air conditioning, the radio was AM only, the windows were manual (except for the one in the tailgate); such luxuries were still optional on most cars at that time. Since it was a used car, my parents did not have the choice of whether or not to get the third seat; this car didn't have one. It was not strictly necessary, as we were perfectly content to ride in the "way back" sitting on the hard floor, but I'm sure if it had had the third seat, we would have made use of it.

I remember being pretty excited about it when we got it; about the only thing that I thought was cooler at the time was the new 1972 version, which I'd seen an example of either in the showroom at the dealership or on the lot, plus in the brochures I enthusiastically took home; even though I knew our budget would not allow for the purchase of a new car, I guess my young brain wanted to imagine the possibility of a quick trade of this car for an even newer one.

In hindsight the '70 was much better looking than the '72 (see for yourself). With the passage of so many years, it's become my favorite car of all the ones we had while I was growing up. That's partly because I like how it looks and partly because we went so many places in it: Disney World, Cape Cod, Lake Winnipesaukee. There's one other picture I was able to scan, from our Florida vacation:

That's my grandmother, who accompanied us on our voyage. This was taken at a rest stop/welcome center just over the border when coming into the state from Georgia on route 95. Taking family trips by car is one of those things that it seems people don't do as much anymore, but when I was growing up it was much more common than traveling by air, at least for average families like mine. (I did not travel on an airplane until I was nearly 21.)

This Week in Awesome (9/7/13)

It's not very often that the Red Sox and Patriots play games at the exact same time, so get your channel-flipping thumbs limbered up...

Another TV mashup brings together two of my favorite shows. (Uproxx via Basket of Kisses)

This week's time-lapse: building the new span of the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge. (Laughing Squid)

This one's a bit long, but definitely worth it for movie fans. I've never seen the movie in question, but it's now conveniently available on Netflix streaming, so I'm going to remedy that soon. (BuzzFeed via The Hairpin)

Is it worth 20 minutes of your time to watch bloopers from season 5 of Parks and Recreation? If you're a fan of the show, definitely. (Uproxx via Videogum)

And finally this week, a bit of a deep dive into local infrastructure, specifically a highway that did not get built. Ever wondered about the mural on the back of Micro Center in Cambridge? This will explain it. It is interesting (though not necessarily in a positive way) to think about what our area would be like if these projects had been completed. (Cambridge Historical Society via Universal Hub; if you really want to get lost for a couple of hours, the original UH post that led me to the CHS site is here)

Retro Video Unit (9/6/13)

In the portion of the internet's attic where old music videos are stored, there are songs that I've always liked for which there are videos that I have never seen. That's the case with today's nugget, "Fade to Grey" by Visage.



I'll admit to knowing very little about the group itself, but I've been familiar with the song for more than 30 years. The video certainly has its share of oddness, but I think it makes quite an interesting cultural artifact from the early 1980s.

Rooftop with a View

Last Friday we were in the city with our house guest. She was taking the ferry to Hingham to see some other friends, so we walked around the waterfront for a while. After she went to board the boat we headed back across the channel via the Seaport Boulevard bridge, heading toward South Station.

As we turned onto Atlantic Avenue I remembered reading that the office building on that corner has an observatory that is open to the public, so I mentioned this and we went inside. We had to show IDs and the guard took down our names, then we were directed to take the elevator to the 14th floor.

Once there we turned a corner and saw a door leading outside. The "observatory" is just an open area of the roof, which was fine that day (though it was warm and quite humid) but would be something to keep in mind if you're thinking about visiting.

It's not nearly the tallest building in the area, but how often do you get to go on the roof of any downtown building? I did take a few photos with my phone camera.

This is the view looking roughly north over the Rose Kennedy Greenway, with the off- and on-ramps for route 93 in the foreground. The Harbor Towers buildings are in the middle, with the New England Aquarium behind them (out of view from this direction) and the Marriott Long Wharf hotel just barely visible in the background.

The view to the south is somewhat more open (for now at least):

 

This area certainly looks quite different than when I worked over here in the 1990s. The open spaces have been gradually filled in by development. I would imagine that the parking lots between Northern Avenue and Seaport Boulevard will eventually be replaced by buildings as well.

If you are interested in visiting this site yourself, it's open during business hours Monday to Friday. The building is at 470 Atlantic Avenue, adjacent to the Intercontinental Hotel.

Milestone

I turned 50 last week. There's a lot of significance attached to that, whether we like it or not. When you turn 40 you figure that, roughly speaking, you've reached the approximate halfway point of your life. Add another decade to that and, on average, most people will be past their halfway point.

Of course there are exceptions. My paternal grandmother lived to 90 and her mother lived to her mid-90s, so genetically I have some longevity in my favor. But the odds are also much higher that one's quality of life in the "second half" will be worse than the first. It's hard not to start taking stock of one's health, and all the things that could go wrong.

I don't smoke and I drink responsibly and in moderation. My blood pressure is reasonably low, my cholesterol numbers are decent (but could be better), and I don't have arthritis or any bad joints (yet). On the other hand, I am lazy and don't exercise. I am slightly overweight, though my weight has been stable for nearly a decade. My father developed diabetes in adulthood, as did his mother, so I have to watch out for that possibility, but I don't have the greatest diet and I snack a lot.

I'm at much higher risk for skin cancer than the average person, so I have to be vigilant and see a dermatologist twice a year. (I hate heat and humidity, so not going outside isn't a problem for me.) Both my grandfathers died of lung cancer; as a child both my parents smoked and I was exposed to a lot of secondhand smoke, before anyone realized how harmful that is.

I could arrange these things on a board in pro and con fashion, to see the bigger picture. My lack of physical activity will probably end up affecting my quality of life in twenty years or so in terms of mobility, and may also put me at higher risk for heart disease. This is serious, and I know I should do something about it.

But today, right now, I feel good. I have minor issues, but overall my health is good. I know people who have had hip replacements before reaching 50, and thankfully I haven't had to deal with anything like that. It's somewhat true that age is not a number but a state of mind; there are things we can't control, and things we can.

Part of me wants to see what would happen if I just kept going the way I am, without making the effort to exercise, but it's not like I'd get a do-over. I guess it's time for me to think about taking better care of myself.

Car Stuff: Random Sighting #4

I've been away from the blog for a few days, as we had a house guest and a bunch of activities going on through the long weekend. Those of you who may have found your way here via Universal Hub and decided to have another look are about to find out what else I ramble about...

This is another neighborhood find, a mid-1960s Ford pickup that I pass by while walking to the grocery store. It's registered and has plates, and I know it is driven because I've seen it parked facing toward the street as well as like this.

I would venture that the paint is not an original color. It seems more like a 1950s color (I remember seeing 1950s Chevy pickups painted this shade), but you never know. The wheels could have come from the factory painted red, or these might be from a completely different vehicle.

(Edit: a google search says turquoise was available, but it's a somewhat deeper shade; this is definitely more of what I'd call aqua.)

This basic design was around for model years 1961-66, but the first three years had side sheet metal that was integrated into the cab; the gap between cab and bed identified this one as at least a '64-'66, and the side trim pegs it as specifically a '64. There was an all-new design for '67, and my father had one of those for a while, the kind with the bulging rear fenders and flat interior bed sides.

Some time after I took this picture, I passed by it again on my way to the store, and I was going to get another shot of the front, but the whole front half of the truck was covered by a tarp, so either it's being worked on or there are water leakage issues in the cab. Those old rubber window seals can dry up and turn to dust after half a century, after all. I should go investigate again and see where things are.