TD Garden

the TD Garden is next to North Station, where i now get off the orange line and then take a shuttle to the lab in charlestown. when its crowded at north station, you know something is going on at the TD garden. often there are basketball games, which you can see by the sportshirts everyone is wearing. yesterday there was a concert from justin bieber! thats some teenage boy with a golden throat, apparently (thats the dutch way of saying that someone can sing well; i guess its not an english expression). but i never heard him sing and only know him for his hairdo. you can now goto the hairdresser and ask for "the bieber-cut"; it makes guys having huge amounts of sleek hair that seems to be artificially spread over their head, which makes them having to "flip" it every few seconds, as to keep it out of their faces... (here a video about the famous hair-flip; but internet here is so crappy that i havent seen it myself) anyways, tim said there were huge amounts of young girls going to his concert. would have loved to see that and taking a picture of all those girls lining up in front of this huge sign.. but when i was there, there was practically nobody... 

i found some noteworthy facts about the TD garden; it opened in 1995, has a maximum of 19,580 seats, 13 escalators and 7 elevators. and most importantly; 17 women's restrooms, and as much men's. just so you know....

Older version

ooh, and then we went forward in time and saw the couple in the public garden. a bit older, though... :)

na, actually i saw them first...

i think the crowd in the back is gathered around the duck sculpture, but im suddenly not entirely sure.

Cheapos too!

when waiting at the cashier in the supermarket (which can take very long....), i always see these gossip magazines. i guess the above picture would fit in there, no? :) have no clue whether these 2 are in fact celebrities.. most likely not. at first i didnt even see them, but tim kept talking about those 2 that look like they are each other's accessory.

this was at boylston street in boston, yesterday. we went to the marshalls there, a store that sells stuff that regular shops no longer sell, and thus with (quite) some discount. ah yes, we like discount (now arent we dutch)! or free entrance... :) and isnt it ages ago that i went to a regular bookstore, now that i discovered the used bookstore?

we had a laugh when this fabulous couple entered the store as well... ah well, maybe they took marshall's slogan too literal: "dont pass up fabulous, just pay less for it"

Ducks again!

the day started out pleasant, although grey. so we had a long walk and i insisted on seeing the ducklings once again. sitting on a bench nearby for a while, i observed that every child did the same; starting from the last duckling, they touch and sit on each and every one of them (there are 8 small ones), until arriving at the mother duck (above). this all is accompanied by many pictures taken by the parents (and/or strangers). and you can see that every child feels they own the duck, at least as long as their interest lasts... :) all the duck's heads became shiny from all the touching... :) (the sculpture is there since 1987)

this time the little boy was enjoying the ducks and posing for his mom (left), but then this lady needed the big duck for photoshoot with dog. she put a christmasribbon around the duck's neck, and then the dog was put next to it and husband with big camera took pics of dog & duck. all the while directing Lily (dog) to remain next to duck and look at the camera..... buuughhh... why? are those pics their christmas cards? or.. ? is there a dog/duck connection im not aware of (with ribbon?)? i found it ridiculous.....

anyways, this sculpture is from nancy schon and i just found out she made quite some public sculptures. interestingly, the "make way for ducklings" has a duplicate in moscow; it was a gift from one president's wife (barbara bush) to another (raisa gorbachev). (so thats what bored first ladies do!) cool detail: also in moscow the ducklings are placed on old boston cobblestones.

Gold buyers

become old buyers depending on how you hold your camera... :)

it was only when looking through the lens that i realized i should leave out the G.. but then the lady just moved a little, and well... couldnt ask her to take a step back again, right?

today sinterklaas (photos here!!) arrived in the netherlands... i remember the first year i lived in Utrecht i went to the lab on saturday and when going back, i ended up in the arrival of sinterklaas, which i had completely forgotten about. wasnt easy to get out of the crowd with my bike. i know last year we especially went to the city to see him, but did we actually get to see him? 

now being in the usa since april, i start to realize i miss all this kind of stuff for the first time in my life. that is just sooo weird! then i saw some photos on facebook of friends that were with a boat on the utrecht canals and thus having the best possible view of sinterklaas' arrival (he comes by boat!)... and that all made me a little homesick.... surely, being in another country makes you realize whats particular to your own....

oh my, i will miss all that sinterklaas-candy as well! pepernoten, chocolate letters (you get a letter of chocolate; usually the first letter of your name), marsepein....  weird, really weird. as if i cared that much about that all when i still was in the netherlands! (well, apparently.. :) ) ah well, here the stores are already filled with christmas-stuff. and maybe i should photograph all the turkeys piled up in the supermarket..?

Hello bombshell

generally i do not like the advertisements for victoria's secret. this one is no exception....

am i old-fashioned? :)

the girl is waiting for the store to open. the pink bag she is carrying is from victoria's secret. is she going to buy more? or is she returning something? as she realized she actually does not want to be a bombshell..? i have to admit i like the pink bags... and remember that once, in the very beginning, i  went there just to get such a bag... (bought something discounted, soap or something).

I should...

.. goto the gym. but.. this week there was no time, so far... :( then decided to go in the mornings.. but i knew already how that would go. waking up... aah.. so tired.. why should i goto the gym right now if i can also sleep a little more... ? buuugghh!
this is around jamaica pond, in jamaica plain. i particularly liked the dog. looks a little scary to me!

Bizarre animals

this is in the Harvard museum of natural history, which you can enter for free if you are a mass resident, or when you have a harvard ID, or on the first weekend of each month when having a bank of america card. all 3 apply to me, yet i went there only once.. :) i liked the museum. it is in an old building, and there is maybe a little too much to see... it is so crammed that the gigantic skeletons of different whales are hanging 3 species thick above each other in a small space with very high ceiling.

this text in particular made me laugh and since then i sometimes think about it, while replacing south for north... ;)  (am i bad?)

i cannot get the american obsession with food, for example. just read that in NYC fast food chains are required (!!) to put calorie counts on their menus. in fact, i see that a lot... and up till recently calories never meant much to me. but then i started going to the gym; the stupid bike counts how many calories you burn. so.. now i often check how many calories are in whatever i am eating, and when comparing that to how much effort it costs me to burn 500 calories at the gym... i actually have the feeling going to the gym is not worth it at all!! in no time the 500 are back again! hahahahaha!

an interesting detail this morning in the newspaper: the cheesecake factory shrimp pasta contains 2727 calories, which is the equivalent of 6 mc donalds quarter pounders (6!!). needless to say, i like to go to both places every now and then.... :)

Just pretty

due to a lack of time.. just a pretty picture... :)

this is in nahant. dont know if i wrote this before, but the road towards nahant is really cool, its basically just the road, and on both sides there is water. from one side you have a nice view on boston and the airport (planes flying in and out constantly), on the other side (above) just ocean. first time we went there it was already dark, and we hoped to see shooting stars.. it was meteor evening, but it was soooo cloudy we didnt see any. but when going there, i saw all those planes so close, and i saw this road that just looked like a runway... and for a few seconds i thought we somehow ended up on the runway of the airport.... luckily not so...

i like the light in this pic.. and i think a house there gives you a magnificent view...

Mountain dew

in one of the episodes of the big bang theory, sheldon is doing some experiment at home. he has all this glassware and solutions set out before him. then leonard asks him what the bright fluorescent yellow solution is, and he says something like "ah, that is a refreshing beverage of mountain dew" while taking a big gulp of it. it is even more fluorescent yellow in real than in this picture, i would say! and i like it!! but i heard its the worst soft drink there is, with the highest amount of sugar.... 

just read this article that a nutrition professor lost weight by eating twinkies (some kind of chocolate bar). what he did was limiting himself to a 1800 calorie diet a day (a normal intake for him being around 2600), proving thereby that it does not matter WHAT you eat, but how much of it.... but he himself had no explanation for not being unhealthier after this diet. rather, they found he was healthier (by for example having a lower cholesterol level). here a link to the entire article!

ah well... what should i say? guess its time for the gym...!

Already, really?

this morning we went to a mall close to our house. we actually both were not in the mood of buying or looking or fitting... but we went to the used bookstore, my favorite shop in the entire mall. you can get secondhand books for only 2 or 3 dollars; so thats how we fill our (free) bookcase! 

wintertime started this night here in the US, a week later than in the netherlands, so we were too early in the mall! apparently it opens at 12, but we were there at 11... :) had some time to wander around and saw my first santa claus and enormous christmas tree! oh my, already?!! he is arranging himself in the best position in front of the camera; because here you can sit on santa's lap and have your picture taken! for only (ugh) 24 dollars you get 2 photos, or something. the lady taking the pictures looked up at us a little disturbed, when we were taking some pictures, and later i saw there is an explicit notice that you should refrain from photographing santa with your own camera. bbbuuuggghhh! santa was actively waving at all little kids coming by, but i didnt see anyone that wanted their picture taken (you could also get a keychain, or ready-made christmas cards....)

as you all know, of course, santa claus is phonetically related to the dutch "sinterklaas", which arrives somewhere in the first half of november, and leaves, while throwing around candy and presents, at the 5th (or was it the 6th?) of december... we also have santa claus, but we call him "kerstman" (christmas-man).

Subway office

this is at downtown crossing. i like this station a lot, and i think every time i am there, i take at least one picture. usually they turn out crappy, but i keep trying as there really is something to this station. i have been wanting to picture a subway office for a while now, but never dared. now i finally had my chance, as this office was empty, but i could take only one shot as the train was just arriving.

i think there is so much to see! someone scratched the glass, and what about the note "please keep area clean"? also the car calendar i find funny... shouldnt it be one with subwaytrains? all these offices are so sad.. and all have the same ugly, old-fashioned, PINKish telephone, here not so well visible, but in fact the main reason i wanted a picture of such an office... :)

when we just got here, i once wrote to the subway office; tim had bought a monthly pass in the last week of the month.. for 59 dollars, only to find out it was valid only for that week. a stupid mistake, maybe. but... a weekly pass you can buy at any day of the week, and logic told us a monthly pass would work the same way. and if not, surely the machine would warn you? unfortunately the office wrote me back that they were glad i like the MBTA (i thought i would increase my chances of getting a refund by telling them how great they are), but that a monthly pass is for a calendar-month, and explained me extensively what a calendar month is.... buuuhhhh!

Subway romance

this picture is crooked. nevertheless.... i liked it. this is an advertisement from a bank, and currently many subways have such big green shouts on the ground. i like this one most (or rather, the other ones are just boring texts, this one you can still take in a funny way; and yup, i did wait a little for this MBTA worker to look down. although on his phone... :)

apparently they did a craigslist study, and found that Park Street, where the red and green line get together (and to which you can walk from the orange line, undergrounds), is the most romantic T stop in Boston. hahahahahaha! how did they determine that? they studied the "missed connections" posts on craigslist, and park street came up most... how scientific! no really, they even have an abbreviation for it; the TRIST index (Train Romance Index Score Total), and they did some real calculations, taking into account the number of average daily users of the particular stop divided (or multiplied, i forgot.. :D) by the number of missed connections on craigslist... 

so, to sum it all up: in Boston, Park Street is the most likely place to find a mate. (above is at harvard square; is he checking the missed connections-section? this stop is on third place by means of TRIST score)

ah, but actually i do not agree with that! its the most likely place to find someone of interest that you then let go, and then have to find back again by means of craigslist... pfew... how complicated...!

(oh, btw... i read today also that transit officers are more often checking whether you paid your fare, so... when seeing your "mate", dont just jump after her/him into the train; pay first!!)

My shoes

oooh, no time right now but still want to post. so a lazy one..

remember i wrote about american-lady-shoes?

here are mine!! the equivalent of the big white ugly ones... :)) but only for walking/hiking... they are a little too big on my feet for normal-day-use.... (i think)
but i did get to like them.... tim found them at marshalls for only 10 dollars, but was soooo disappointed to find them not fitting him, but surprise... they did fit me! and thus he made me buy them (or bought them for me; i guess thats most likely). only recently i really got to wear them. i like the effect they have on kids; they keep staring at them, sometimes then they stare at me.. most likely wondering why such an old person is wearing shoes they should wear! (but maybe thats just my imagination)
oohh, i forgot to add this link of another (dutch) photoblogger showing a cool shoe-work-of-art!!! i guess this unconsiously made me post something about shoes...

(un)Happy children

this is in the boston common, a while back already. the balloon man is on the phone, while creating balloon art, his son (i presume) is sitting next to him, being bored and doing nothing.

just read on the dutch online news site that from december onwards the classic happy meal is prohibited by law in san francisco (here a link to the english version). or rather, that is the title of the piece. to be precise; it is not allowed anymore to hand out toys with an unhealthy meal. only when the meal fulfills the following requirements, toys can accompany it; no more than 600 calories, and there must be some fruit & vegetables. also the beverage must be healthy.

buuuuuhhhhh!! now isnt that just ridiculous! the fun of mc donald's is that there you can eat something delicious but unhealthy that you normally dont get at home (or so it should be), and on top of that, you get a toy! isnt that the entire idea behind the happy meal? well, at least the happy meal is still allowed, i would suggest mc donalds that they make the happy meal a tiny bit cheaper and that you then buy the toy separately. when asked; all in one bag? you answer yes... :)

Everything different

i changed labs. everything new, everything different, everything scary and everything exciting. the first few days/weeks in a new lab are always extremely tiring (at least to me). new faces, new customs, new techniques, new subject, new rules, finding out where everything is located. trying to do the first small experiments, trying to remember everything in the first go, feeling stupid when having to ask again where something is stored.... then there is also the paperwork part... my employee number stayed the same as i remain at the same university, but since its at another hospital, everything else has to be done again, checked again, filled out again. but mostly im excited and cant wait to be well into a project of myself, and where i am set up to work there as if i never did anything else before...!

above a picture of Don; he delivers all the labstuff at my old building. always friendly, always in a good mood, and when there were packages for "my" lab, he always let me sign for them.. :) his cart always piled up with boxes far too high; me often asking whether they wont fall off. but hey, sure not, as he said himself; "im good at what i do :D !!"

My duck!!

seeing this picture on a boston-blog, i was so glad to finally find this sculpture in the public garden yesterday. the boy was hopping from one duck to the other while at the same time posing for his father with big camera, until arriving at the mother-duck. then the little girl upset the boy by posing with her mother... obstructing the boy's posing session... his face after that...!! oohh, he looked sooo unhappy, while the girl was totally unaware what happened and tried to engage the boy in playing with the ducks, but he could only look very dissatisfied. quite a crowd gathered to watch this unhappy boy, and several pictures were taken...

Trick / treat

ah, halloween! unknown to us dutchies but such a big event here in the us. a month ago target already filled its stores with many hilarious costumes and home decorations... and at the lantern parade we already saw many children in halloween costumes. this thursday we witnessed the first adults dressed up while in the subway (sooo many of them! im wondering what percentage of the us did not participate in this event. this link provides a list with the most popular costumes; chilean miners, paul the octopus?!!) interesting.... but the pics i took were not sharp :( 

ah yes, are we boring! but i never enjoyed dressing up, and thus we did not go from bar to bar yesterday in weirdo costumes (instead, we were at the cemetery!). today we had a long walk around cold, windy boston, and saw some more people in costumes, mostly dead tired, hungover and hungry in the mc donalds... but also the pic i took there was boring. above... some children that are getting candy from firemen, in cambridge. yet the only child dressed up as a cute flower was of course hidden when i took this picture... but i like the boy sticking his head in the bag to see what he got....

just looked up what "trick-or-treating" is, as i didnt even know that. i knew it was going from door to door to get candy, but what is the trick part?  my friend wikipedia enlightens me: "Children in costumes, either in large groups or accompanied by an adult, travel from house to house in order to ask for treats such as candy with the question "Trick or treat?". The "trick" is a (usually idle) threat to perform mischief on the homeowners or their property if no treat is given."

i do hope the boy was satisfied with his treat from the firemen...... :)

Overload, maybe

clearly too much here... and on top of all those traffic signs, there is the us-flag, as you should never forget in which country you are... :)

generally i enjoy choosing a photo and writing something about nothing or nothing about something, im not in the mood today, nor yesterday...

ah well.... we went to the cemetery again as it was a beautiful, sunny day. ah, and the colorful trees from yesterday all lost their leaves entirely... this time we went by bike!! cant even remember when was the last time i was on a bike... :( (a real bike, the bike in the gym is just a stupid machine) oh my, i miss biking a lot... i used to bike to work every day for the past 4 years. and now? never, not even in the weekends.... also, i miss a proper washing machine. just tried to wash a comforter. well... after the wash, the upper part didnt even get wet, so then i turned it around and "washed" it again.  i guess we must be lucky we at least have our own washer. but why, why does the clean laundry often come out dirtier than it was before? seriously....
but that was enough whining... good night!

Fall colors

on the cemetery, last weekend. isnt that pretty? but more and more trees are entirely without leaves now. as opposed to yesterday, when it was like summer, its quite a bit colder again today and a strong wind...  so, soon no more fall foliage....

me? off to sleep....