Here I sit on a Thursday night - night of Game 2 for the Sox and Rockies in the World Series. I suffered a pretty bad back injury last weekend that still has me cringing in pain and woozy with meds. But the weekend's approaching and the Sox are winning, so that's about the extent of the complaining I'll do.
We had our friend Brad up last weekend for lots of fishing with the birthday boy, Gary. Not so much catching, but they did go fishing. Brad and his family live in Virginia, so we'll be seeing him again soon on our early-December drive down to the area to visit several new homes and babies for a week. Us and Bromley, hoppin' in the Subaru for a road trip! Look out...
This coming weekend we'll be driving down to Fairfield for the Baptism of our nephew (and my godson!) Jake :-) Can't wait to spend time with the fam, but it will be brief because Gary's running part of the Cape Cod Marathon the next morning with his colleagues.
So today - between urges to just hurry up and buy the Canon 30D camera - I spent the better part of the afternoon researching corporate social and environmental responsibility. Now that's a day when I love my job. We have a client who took us up on our offer to evaluate best practices among its peers, as well as any sustainability/responsibility reporting that corporations are conducting in the absence of any legal requirement to do so. I can't exactly tell you who the client is, but I can tell you that some great companies out there are Nike, 3M, HP, Honda, SC Johnson, Xerox, Philips and DuPont (not to shun the others, but my client isn't very consumer facing). Nike? Now that's a story of a company that majorly screwed up in the social responsibility realm and now they're making their way to the top. And check out this page from Philips.
Now back to the camera thing... My mom just told me that she wasn't the one who got me into photography. Um, okay, but then who did all the old Canon cameras come from that, since probably age 10, just mysteriously showed up in my possession every time she got a newer one? Interesting quandry. Maybe it was dad turning the ping pong table into a darkroom in the basement? Some years later - age 21 maybe - I got my first credit card [how timely for me to be working on another client's report where the issue of giving college kids rewards-based credit cards, like for airline miles, isn't a good idea... too late]. My first purchase on said credit card was the Nikon N70 camera. It came with me to New Zealand for seven months, to the mountains of Colorado, to the gray skies in Scotland, to the riverwalk in San Antonio, Texas... but I feel bad for this camera because, all the while, pocket-sized digi-cams were launching a takeover. And, well, I'll be honest. I just shot three rolls of film in the last month that was too old (which I knew) and came out terrible. I *heart* all things digital. I've got a very expensive wish list on Amazon right now... trust me, you don't wanna see it. For this, I thank my Mom :-)
So any suggestions on DC, Virginia, Baltimore or cameras, shoot me a line!
I stayed over with a good friend in Watertown last night - thanks Carina! I have an incredible network of friends around Boston who have continued to open their doors to me for weekday overnights over the past three years, since my regular commute is two hours in each direction. Some friends I've known since middle school - even nursery school! - college, work, and more who I've only gotten to know over these past few years. Actually, Emily has quickly become one of my bestest friends ever-in-the-whole-wide-world because of such sleepovers!
Thank you, guys! Those nights are more than just a place to lay my head - they keep our ties strong and add something to our friendships that maybe wouldn't otherwise happen if I lived here. It turns that "we should get together soon" into an "I'm coming over".
Enter: bus driver
I get on the bus in Watertown Square this morning, express on the Mass Pike to Copley Square in Boston. My card doesn't have enough money for the trip and I'm ready for that. But the bus driver is ecstatic to be alive today, smiling and chatting, asking everyone how their coffee is, etc. He gestures with a nod that my $1.20 will do just fine today. Smile spreads smile spreads smile... this guy is way more than a bus driver. He's molding the day. Is anyone on this bus gonna have a bad day now? [disclaimer: this is a hypothetical question that does not take into account any blunders or mis-hirings of the Boston Red Sox]
We're off, there's traffic, I'm reading... 25 minutes or so go by and we stop in downtown Boston. The bus driver announces our arrival:
"Jarvis Street. Wednesday Morning."
Love it. Any good commuter disappears into a zone and not only needs a reminder about where they are but also when they are. I've arrived. It's Wednesday morning. Got it... thanks.
1) If everyone would hurry up and embrace Facebook. I signed on for work at first (seriously, did you know that you can download a "foodfight" application where you might then throw a Tyson chicken drumstick at your friend? Corporate branding galore). If you're not involved in social networking at this point - MySpace, Facebook, Twitter, Flickr, etc. - you're missing out on some life-changing stuff. Yeah, I said it - life changing. It's not just about fun and games (ok, maybe when it comes to Scrabulous)... it's about how we interact, how we get our information - even about what causes or political candidates we believe in. All ages are in, and chances are your company is even in (check networks on Facebook).
2) If someone would write a research report on the percentage of people who work for SC Johnson's Skintimate shaving cream company who are actually using Gillette's Satin Care at home.
3) If smoking OUTDOORS would be banned. If you could watch the walking part of my commute with TBS playoff graphics (GO SOX!), you'd say I walk like a drunk - swaying back and forth to avoid second-hand smoke in my face.
4) If all grocery stores would stock the no-salt version of Friendship cottage cheese - and if the Stop & Shop here in Cotuit would figure out that, if they put the carriage holder thing closer to their building, more people would put their carriages away.
5) If, when I open up the pages for online shopping this holiday season, not one of them will bother mentioning shipping costs to me. Yawn. If I could buy all my gifts this year from Zappos and Amazon - oh wait! I CAN buy all my gifts at Amazon!
6) If Petfinder.com overtook Google.
