We were in Boston all last week. My Mom has been living up there for a couple of years, and we finally made it up there to visit. When we told people we were going to Boston, we usually received one of two responses: 1. "Oh, Boston is great, you'll love it!" or 2. "Why would you want to go there?" Well, put me in category #1. We loved it.
First off, as far as cities go, I thought it was pretty. The combination of old and new architecture, lots of trees, and a very cool waterfront, made the city very aesthetically pleasing. Next, the history was incredible. I've been to DC, Williamsburg (and the surrounding areas in Virginia), and Philadelphia, but I have never felt surrounded by as much American history as I felt in Boston. Part of that is due to our fantastic guided tour of the Freedom Trail. Our tour guide was truly passionate about colonial American history, and his enthusiasm truly made the tour memorable. Also, what can I say about the food. I have never eaten so much seafood in one week, and it was all good. We even ate at the Union Oyster House, the oldest continually operating restaurant in America. That was a cool experience.
But there were two things that the wife and I were truly surprised by. The people and the amazingly great public transportation system. With only a couple of minor exceptions, every person we interacted with was very pleasant. Especially at the Superliga Final game at Gillette Stadium. We were lucky in that our beloved Houston Dynamo made it to the Superliga Final against the New England Revolution during the week we already planned to be in Boston. So far our only other away game experience was against Dallas, so we were a bit apprehensive about what to expect. Every Revs fan we met was very friendly, genuinely impressed that we were there, and even when we lost, were very gracious in their victory. Several people came up to us afterward and shook our hands and said "good game", and left it at that. It was the complete opposite of the our experience in Frisco. Now, as far as the public transportation goes... I long for the day when Houston has something that is even 1/10th as great as the T. We were able to take a trolley or subway trains everywhere we went, except Gillette Stadium. It was awesome. If we had a system like that here, I would hardly ever drive.
OK, so by now you are thinking to yourself "Will he ever shut up???!!!" Yeah, yeah, I'm almost done. Check out the slideshow below. These are some of our pictures from the trip. These have not been retouched at all, and some of them do need some work, but I hope you enjoy them.
By the way, if you click on the slideshow, it will take you to the online photo album where you can see bigger versions of the pictures.
I am trying something else new... PICTURES!!!
This is my first attempt at posting a slideshow. These are pictures that the wife and I (mostly the wife) have taken over the past few years at the Houston Zoo and Moody Gardens in Galveston.
If this works well, I will probably try to do this more often. We take a lot of pictures, and most of them never get seen by anyone but us.
So this is my first post in my "What I Have Been Listening To" series. I will be talking about the music I have been listening to and pointing you in the direction of music you may not have heard about that I think is worth your attention.
For my first entry I have chosen She and Him.
She and Him is a collaboration between actress Zooey Deschanel and musician M. Ward. I won't go into alot of background about them. There is plenty of information available at the links above. I will say this... it would be very easy to write this off as just another vanity project by an up-and-coming Hollywood actress, but that would be a mistake. Zooey Deschanel has a genuinely unique, but very pretty voice. There is no way you could confuse this with the latest American Idol winner or former Disney Channel superstar.
This is the kind of music you would hear in the background at a coffee bar. It might seem familiar to you (there are a few covers on this album), but you are not sure you have heard it before, so you ask what it is. Next thing you know, it is in the regular rotation on your iPod. (No, this is not how I heard it for the first time.)
Well, I think I'm going to make another pass at blogging. The last time I tried this, I posted a few times and then ignored it for a year and a half. After having read many blogs over the past couple of years I think I've learned a few things, and now I'm ready to try again. Basically this is going to be my way of sharing some aspects of my life with anyone who may be interested.
For those of you still awake, much of what I will talk about will probably fall into one of the following groups:
Music: This could be anything from the band I play in, musicians I am seeing/have seen live, or what's on my iPod.
Movies/television: This could be anything I've seen recently, or anything that is coming soon that I am excited about.
Sports: Okay, to be honest I should say Football (oh, I mean Soccer, as opposed to American Rules Rugby). Anybody who knows me knows that I am a huge Houston Dynamo fan, but I also follow international soccer, as well as EPL (Chelsea) and Bundesliga (Bayern). Occasionally you will hear me talk about other sports, but Soccer is my main sport.
Miscellaneous: Anything else that doesn't fit into the above categories. Yes, I guess that does mean that the categories are irrelevant, and that I could really post about anything, and you are right. But most posts will probably fall into one of the above categories, since most of what I do falls into one of the above categories.
Anyway, I am going to bed now. I will be back tomorrow with my first real post.
Goodnight.
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