Snow Cover Mountain Views

We went back roads to our farm the other morning and instead of jumping on Rt 11E in the Jonesborough area and instead took Old State Road 34, which is a windy, narrower road with oodles of farms and cattle and land all along.

Although, these pic doesn't do justice to seeing the snow covered mountains off in the distance, suffice to say it was beautiful - 

Beautiful East Tennessee!

Playing In Traffic!

I had a doctor's appointment this morning at 8:40AM.

The appointment was at the Brigham and Woman's hospital in Boston, some 50+ miles from home.

I left my house at 6:45AM

And walked into the doctors office at 8:50AM.

Two hours and five minutes, UGH!  Stop and go. Lights. Stop signs. School busses. Assholes galore.

I do NOT miss the morning commutes AT ALL!  Thinking back, I'm not really sure how I did it every day and for SO long?!  However, the commute these days seems more aggressive in general and there are clearly more cars on the road too, which adds to the chaos.

I wouldn't let the doctor take my blood pressure reading initially, told him I need a bit of time to decompress 😁 

The drive home was SO much easier.  It was after the morning rush and going in the opposite direction, so it was nice to be able to relax and take my time. I took a different route home, one I haven't driven in years, which was nice to reminisce and see how things have grown and changed.

I stopped at Volante Farms in Needham to grab a mid-morning snackie for the rest of the ride home and scored myself a delicious spinach and feta cheese croissant!  Truth be told, the croissant didn't last past the first stop sign outta the parking lot!

MMMM, SO good!

Nope, No "I Think I Can"...

Last Thursday, 2/1, I went into the Boston office for the day.  As I always do I took the MBTA commuter train from Franklin into South Station and from there it's a 2-minute walk to the office.

The ride in on the 6:02AM train was uneventful and arrived on time as scheduled.

The ride out departed on time at 3:20PM but the train started having power issues after the second stop.  At one point we were idle on the tracks between stops for some ~30-minutes. The train was able to eventually limp into the Hyde Park stop, again where we sat for another ~15-minutes or so before we ALL had to deboard.  From there we walked about a quarter mile up and over to the other side of the tracks, where we waited another ~40 for the next scheduled Franklin commuter rail train, another train was NOT sent to pickup the stranded passengers.  Fortunately, it wasn't raining or snowing and not too cold, so could have been worse. Frustrated and hungry I didn't get home till after 6PM and was met by a dancing crossed legged Trixie.  Kudos to her for not having an accident in the house.

Now I understand unforeseen mechanical issues arise, that is not my issue.  Frustrating yes but these things happen.  What IS frustrating was the utter lack of communication by the onboard commuter rail crew as to what was going on, what the delay was, etc.  Also, the typical to be expected canned reply I received from the MBTA when I reached out to them regarding this issue.  They basically told me TFB and deflected my questions and never addressed what their policy is for keeping the on-train commuters informed or why a train was not sent to pick up the stranded.

For those not local and not following along, the MBTA has been riddled with problems and issues the last several years, from ongoing delays, pieces and parts falling from old train station ceilings onto commuters, lengthy repair delays, slowed commute speeds in sections deemed in need or repairs, derailments and on and on, all the while increasing fares.

Yes, the MBTA is a great service for commuting in and out of Boston, so we're fortunate.  However, there is a lot of room for improvements, upgrades and general all around communications.  They suck very much like the USPS!

Entitlement!

Pulled into the MBTA Commuter Rail parking lot in Norfolk yesterday morning and saw this.  What an arrogant dipstick, REALLY?!

I can understand wanting to protect your vehicle from the other aholes who will inevitably open their door into the side of your car,  However, parking like this in the busiest section of the lot AND on a corner spot to boot, not to mention that the front of the vehicle sticking into the travel lane is douchbagish!

If you need to park like this have some common courtesy and respect for others and do so in a section of the parking lot that has minimal traffic and plenty of open spaces, NOT in the front row.