The Southie Turkey in Photos

Finally.

Turkey Photos from my street.

I was with Karin yesterday, and on the way from her home inspection to meeting the rest of our group at The Barking Crab, I had to go home and take Rosie out for a walk.

My first attempt at parallel parking was thwarted by a turkey in the parking spot.

Of course, now I'm all excited to grab my camera and catch the turkey in photos. It's not often you see a bird walking around Southie that's taller than toddlers.

We go inside, grab Rosie and my camera, and go turkey hunting.

Walk up to E. 7th St, and I see a lady staring eastward at nothing in particular.

"Did you see the turkey?" I shouted?

"Yeah, it went down H St."

We scurry over to H and look north to find nothing.

When I turned around to look southward, I saw many people mulling around. Some had cameras. Some were just gawking. Moments later, all of the patrons from the pub on the corner flooded out the door and occupied the sidewalk.

There it was. The turkey.

I've never seen anything like this. Not just a large wild bird in an urban environment. But simply the amount of people and cars who stopped what they were doing simply to point, photograph, and gawk at this turkey.

When Rosie finally got an up-close look at the turkey, her immediate impulse was to pull violently toward it. I'm not sure if she was going to chase it, as she seems to do with most birds, or if she wanted to sniff its butt, as she seems to do with most dogs.

It Rained on My Laptop

Today has been an interesting one to say the least.


I started my out-of-home experience today on the bus, bumping into my neighbor who is quite fond of Rosie, so we have a common interest. Somehow, the conversation turned into her former downstairs neighbors, and if I ever "heard" them, to which I replied no, but I did tell her two highly inappropriate stories about them based on what I saw. Lovely Red Line morning conversation. I tried to be quiet about it, but in the rush-hour sardine can that is the morning Red Line, I'm sure a few nosy passengers heard earfuls.


During the entire chat with her, all I could think about was the MBTA's personal ecosystem of 100% humidity. I sweat in humidity. No exceptions. I even recall glancing around at others - guys in jackets and ties, women primped with hair in place, wondering why I was lucky enough to have received this sweat gene. Good thing it was indeed raining, I think that provided a sufficient excuse for me.

I showed up at work, greeted my co-workers, and walked into my office to find paper towels strewn across by desk. Upon a more careful inspection, I found water under my computer and mouse, and papers crinkled as if they had been wet and then air-dried.

Mother f&*ker, the ceiling leaked onto my laptop.

It's rare that I leave my laptop at work, but did so last night because I didn't feel like carting it back and forth on the T and bus in the rain. And above all, I'm usually commuting to work via car, which was in the shop overnight. Perfect timing.

When I leave my laptop at work, usually I just save my files, leave them in the toolbar, and shut the top, leaving it turned on. That was one of my fatal flaws.

Immediately, I tried backing up files, but my computer quickly displayed a blue screen of doom, and no longer recognized an operating system.

Lovely. 85% of what I do is with Excel, our database, Outlook, or a few web apps.

I scrambled to call our computer consultant, who said that she would come in later and try to salvage the hard drive. My data was backed up through April 4th, so it's not a total loss. But my Outlook email, calendar, and contacts were only backed up through last November. Our technical infrastructure isn't the best, and I'm lucky I backed up what I did, though probably should have been backing up much more regularly. Grrr.

Of course, you also don't expect your laptop to be rained upon when it's at your desk. But it was.

My Dell had grown increasingly more sluggish over the past few months, and when combined with our excruciatingly slow network, made for lots of angry and frustrated working hours. The silver lining here is that I was scheduled for a laptop upgrade in the coming months, and we were 99% sure I was switching to Apple.

Well, the coming months became today. We drove to the Apple store in Chestnut Hill, and my MacBook Pro is now at work (sitting on someone else's desk that's not underneath a leaky roof). The files I had backed up are being transferred this evening.

So, I'm thrilled to have joined the Apple cult with my MacBook Pro. I feel immediately cooler, and no reserve the right to look down upon PC users, wondering when they'll get with the program and make the move away from Windows.

I'm cautiously optimistic that my data is not gone for good.

And I'm happy to have my car back, albeit with $2,100 less in my bank account.

I celebrated my funky day with some ice cream at JP Licks while waiting for the car dealership's shuttle from Davis Square. That hit the spot.

My Windshield is Busted

"1-800-54-GIANT, who do you call when your windshield's busted...call Giant Glass!"


I have heard that on the radio for years.


Now, my windshield is busted.


We took a short roadtrip to our new Quincy offices that we will be moving into within the next few months. There was some loose debris on the road, and the car in front of me must have kicked a rock up. I heard something hit my windshield, and knew that it didn't simply bounce off. But at the time, there was no damage.

After we toured the new offices and had lunch, we returned to the car to drive back to Kenmore. Suddenly, we saw a large crack on the passenger's side - about 6" by 6".

Bummer. I hate unexpected expenses.

But....for some reason, it occurred to me that I might have glass coverage through my insurance company. I called them first, followed their menu of commands to report a glass claim, and sure enough, I have on-site glass coverage with zero deductible.

Excellent!

Good thing I didn't simply call 1-800-54-GIANT

They were going to come to my office today, but the rain would have forced them to cancel, so I just scheduled them for Saturday morning (note of caution - when asked to schedule contractors during one of two time frames...always take the earlier block of time, especially on weekends. As the day progresses, they tend to get backed up. If my 8a-12noon windows becomes a 1pm appointment, that's not the end of the world. If a 12noon-4pm appointment becomes 6:30pm, or is canceled altogether, that's just wrong).

I was told I'm entitled to three "glass events" in a calendar year before they start adjusting my premium for the following year. Let's hope I don't have any more...

Attack Bird

Attack Bird, originally uploaded by southiejason.

No, unlike in Dubuque Iowa last May, this bird did not attack me. But it looks like it is about to.

In Kirkland, Washington (just east of Seattle), I found my way to a small park near a marina. Lots of people were mulling about in what appeared to be a great community-gathering area.

I took a number of pictures of the many ducks, seagulls, and crows that were hanging out on the rocks by the water's edge.

I set my camera on monochrome and used a slower shutter speed. As luck would have it, I was aiming right as this bird as it decided to get up and fly toward me. The slower shutter speed helps convey the wings in mid-flap.

Behind the Seattle Public Market / Pike Place

I have been sitting on a free roundtrip ticket on JetBlue for almost a year. I know that because the ticket is about to expire next month.

At game night on Saturday, I happened to mention this, and that I just couldn't figure out where (or if) to go. I happened to mention Seattle as an option. Brian reminded me that I could link up with Mort & Alanna, our former Boston friends who moved there after we all traveled to Croatia together in 2005.

Good idea (although I have since found out that they will be skiing in Tahoe that weekend - bummer). I loved my last (and only) trip to the Pacific Northwest in 2004. Great photo ops, food, and day trips to fun outdoorsy places (i.e. Mount Rainier, Olympic National Forest, Bainbridge Island). I love this shot behind the sign to the Pike Place Market. Yes, I'm wearing a driver's cap.

Behind the Public Market, originally uploaded by southiejason.

JetBlue had a perfect flight schedule, leaving after work on Friday, and returning Sunday night/Monday morning on a redeye.

So, I'm headed to Seattle in a couple of weeks.

I love last minute trips!

Jamen mentioned that he could watch Rosie for the weekend, which I definitely appreciate. I will be sure to keep the fridge well-stocked with plenty of beer, just as I did for Ryan when I left for the Super Bowl.

Hand Gesture on Mass Ave

Rides home along Mass Ave. are usually uneventful, save a few unsynchronized lights, dodging of pedestrians, and swerving around double-parked cars.

Today, traffic was quite backed-up, likely because of the block between Columbus Ave. and the medical center being completely dark (it's safe to assume that there was a power outage).

When I was stopped at the crosswalk near the orange line stop, I witnessed a brief unexpected simple hand gesture that did not involve a single middle finger.

A woman crossed right in front of my car, to be followed by a late 20- or early 30-something dude who, in mere seconds, stared at me, pointed at her, um, backside, then gestured with his thumb, forefinger, and middle finger, touching his mouth with all three at once as if to tell me that his view was, well, quite delicious.

I'm not sure why he felt compelled to tell this to me, a random stopped motorist. But, I'm glad he felt that he had someone to share it with.

Peace, Love, and Understanding

There's a channel on XM Radio called Fred (Channel 44), which plays alternative music from the late 70's through about 1993 (which a particular exclusion of anything remotely grunge). It's one of those channels that even stumps me with some of the tunes they dig up.

Having worked in alternative rock radio in the early 90's, we played a lot of these songs, so listening to Fred usually elicits a few memories and "oh, wow" moments.

Last week, they were playing the "Fred Essentials," counting down over 2,000 alternative hits from the "Fred Era." If I do listen to my XM Radio, it's at my desk at work.

Listening to Fred inspired me to add a bunch of early 80's alternative to my regular itunes playlist - notably some great music by New Order, The Jam, Talking Heads, and an artist that caused me to have a "moment" at the gym this evening, Elvis Costello.

I was on the elliptical machine, toward the end of my 30 minutes, and on shuffled "(What's So Funny 'Bout) Peace, Love, and Understanding," one of his most well-known songs, a song I played on the radio many times, and a song I have heard often since - basically one I'm quite familiar with.

I'm not sure what clicked for me when it rocked into my ears, but it was one of those moments where the perfect song came on at the perfect time. Friday night, ready for the weekend, and one of the most inspiring 3 minutes and 31 seconds I have had in days.

I don't know why this song at that moment. It just kind of happened.


I listened to it twice in a row, and would have sung out loud if I wasn't amidst sweaty onlookers.

Godiva Chocolate Tower of Boxes

Last Wednesday, one of our vendors sent us a Godiva chocolate tower. As it was addressed to me, it remained in my office.

While my mother LOVES Godiva, and I will admit to a fleeting idea of regifting for Christmas, I quickly dismissed my thoughts of frugality. I spread the word amidst our small corporate clan that everyone was welcome to the goods.





I'm not much of the candy-bowl-on-my-desk type, but it's nice to have visitors drop by for a chat throughout the workday (while we are a small corporate team, our actual office space is quite odd, and we're spread out on multiple floors throughout the building.

Pizza always gets people to meetings. Godiva chocolates cause people to visit and linger.

I am happy to report that after four workdays, my co-workers managed to polish off the entire tower, truffles and all.

I work with people who have very sweet teeth. I will not divulge the final stats of how many chocolates were consumed by each person, but I, of course, only ate two of them.

Lunch in the Seaport

We had a 90 minute break for lunch, so I strolled over to Seaport Blvd. to find some semblance of human life outside of the BCEC. There appears to be some type of Halloween expo at the World Trade Center Boston, unless children who wander the South Boston Waterfront usually do so in Batman costumes and witch costumes.

I had a lobster roll here. It was quite good.

On the walk back to the BCEC, I stumbled upon the rarest or wire sculpture demons - The Southie Ness Monster. I ran up the staircase quickly to evade capture.

My opinions count

Out of the blue yesterday, I had a voicemail on my cell phone from a market research recruiting company about an upcoming focus group here in Boston. She mentioned the date, time, length, and amount it paid ($150 for 2 hours - not bad!), and to call her back if I was interested.

I Googled the company who called, and it looks like they aren't based here, and are likely doing some recruiting for a few different markets (since when I called back, I had to reference the Boston study and give the study code).

Now, I conducted focus groups for many years in my old job, so I understand the process way too well. There's a few pre-qualification questions during the recruiting to ensure that respondents don't work in particular industries (potentially, thereby, skewing the data), and that they fit the profile of who should be included in the project (i.e. I'm probably the wrong audience for Depends, feminine hygiene products, and Bentley owners).

But, I'm an honest guy, and was genuinely curious as to the type of study for which I was contacted. I assumed it was a project for a company who had my cell phone number and that they were recruiting off of a customer list supplied by the end customer.

I answered the first question, asking if I worked for a market research, credit card, or advertising agency (while I used to work for a market research company, technically I don't now). Including "credit card" in that question gave me a hint about the focus group's topic.

The next question, however, made me very happy. "Are you a member of Continental Airlines' OnePass Frequent Flyer program?" Well, why yes I am! I neglected to mention the name of this blog (aka my former status with OnePass for years).

The remaining pre-recruit questions were about the amount of trips I took, types of credit cards I possessed, and how important earning miles, upgrades, First Class seats, and the sort were to me. I answered everything truthfully, and I qualified.

I know, this sounds rather dorky, but I am very much looking forward to being on the other side of the moderator during a Focus Group, especially one for Continental Airlines (IF that's who is conducting this - it could be for one of their major competitors in a fact-finding mission, I suppose)! I have flown with Continental consistently for almost a decade, and it's going to be nice to express my thoughts to their marketing team.

I even promised myself that I will not dominate the conversation, contrary to what most who know me personally might think.

Lonely bicycle

Lonely bicycle, originally uploaded by southiejason.

I remember the exact time in Italy that I discovered the power of monochrome photos with my Canon DSLR camera. I missed the Tuscan bike tour after a late night of debauchery, and went to lunch in Siena with Ryan (who also missed the tour).

The beauty of that moment is the world of interesting photo ops it created for me, as Italian cities in particular scream out at the prospect of being captured in black and white or sepia tone.

Here's a simple picture of a bicycle I snapped in Florence during a walking tour. Sometimes the best pics are not of monuments, people, or famous places. It's the unplanned moment, the quick composition, or the lucky shot that make for the great photos.