Treehugger just posted a quote about the relative efficiencies of various modes of transportation. Basically, biking is the most efficient way for you to get around. Walking comes in 2nd, then trains, then cars. This is hardly news for anyone who pays attention to such things, but I think it’s still worth pointing out.

Boston is America’s walking city, and it’s true that this city is very friendly to walking. Sure it may be a bit of a hike from the North End to Kenmore Square, but it’s certainly within the realm of possibility, and the more you do it the easier it will be. Really, unless you’re making a delivery there’s very little reason not to walk everywhere in Boston. Even when I was living in Central Square I’d often make the walk across the river into Boston to go to the Boston Public Library. But really, what we should be is America’s biking city (currently Sparta, Wisconsin is the Bicycle Capital of America; I say we should take that title). Not only is biking more efficient than walking, but it’s much faster as well. The walk from here in Somerville to Boston is a little more than I’d want to undertake on a regular basis (though I’ve done it once or twice). With a bike, however, Boston suddenly become mere minutes away. It takes me about 30 minutes to bike at a fairly leasurely pace from Porter Square to the Broadway Red Line stop in Southie. According to the MBTA it takes the Red Line 20 minutes to make the same trip, and that’s if the T’s being friendly that day. On average, I’d say biking that route is as fast or faster than taking the T. To drive that same route, according to Google maps, would also take 20 minutes, though that doesn’t account for traffic (and Google says it could take up to 30 minutes with traffic, though on some days it would certainly take even longer). It also doesn’t take into account the amount of time it takes to find parking. Some days it could take just as long to find parking as to drive there.

So not only is biking more efficient, it is easily just as fast and often faster than taking the T or even driving. When you’re talking about the shorter distances actually within Boston (say from the South End to the Financial District or Fenway to Copley Square) the advantages of biking will just be magnified. With those shorter distances the small amount of time it takes for you to walk to the T station and wait for the train, or to walk to your car and then deal with traffic, become even more significant. With a bike, you just get on and go and can, for the most part, ignore traffic.

Biking is cheaper too. I got my bike for $10 off of Craigslist. It was in good enough condition when I bought it, though not perfect. For $20 I probably could have gotten a bike that was in perfect condition. But even if I had gone and bought a brand new, top of the line bike, I could have gotten one for as little as $1500, and most people would be more than happy with a $300 or less bike. Once you make that initial investment for the bike, helmet, bike lock, and maybe saddle bags to carry your stuff and some lights for biking at night you’ve still spent very little money. And when biking you don’t have to worry about paying for parking or paying for T fare.

Even at longer distances, biking can make sense. When Jessi was working in Lexington she could still bike to work. The Minuteman Bikeway goes from right here in Somerville straight to Lexington and beyond. It’s about an 8 mile ride from here to Lexington, which takes 30-45 minutes depending on your speed. Public transportation requires you to take the T and then transfer to a bus which actually takes longer than biking. So she could leave later and still get to work on time all while getting some exercise. Really, if you ask me, biking is the ideal form of transportation for Boston, or most cities for that matter. Obviously it won’t work so well for everyone, but it does for a whole lot of people who probably never even considered it.

The only drawback to biking is the weather. Biking isn’t so much fun in the winter. But even if you take the T or drive in the winter and bike the rest of the year you’re still going to be saving a ton of money and getting a lot more exercise all at the same time.

For me, my bike is my favored form of transport. Weather permitting, I’ll use it over any other method. Of course I do have a bit of an advantage in that I do all my own work on it which means I can keep it in tip top condition for no cost other than the occasional replacement parts. But if you want to keep your bike in good condition without getting your hands dirty and without spending a fortune on over-priced maintenance, I highly recommend you take it to Quad Bikes. They’re a non-profit bike shop that services the Harvard Community and does all the work on the Harvard Police Departments bike fleet. I also happen to volunteer there in my free time, which is something else I’d recommend to people interested in bikes. Their volunteer program is great, basically they just teach how to work on bikes by having you work on bikes. After a few weeks there you’ll be competent and confident enough to do all the basic work on your own bike, and you’ll have a great resource in the people who work there to help you with the more complex stuff. Plus, they have all the tools so you don’t need to buy your own. And they rescue and refurbish old bikes so you can get a great deal on a perfectly serviceable bike. Or even, if you wanted, get a bike custom built for you. As an additional benefit, I find that getting my hands dirty and actually producing tangible results (unlike web development, which offers it’s own rewards to be sure) is extremely satisfying. It’s a great way to relax, unwind, and still get something productive done.

Apple has surprised me again and really come through. Apparently it’s no longer the case that all laptop repairs are sent in; they now do about 95% (according to the woman at the Genius Bar that I talked to) right in the stores. They had the right size hard drive in stock, so I was in and out in less than an hour with a fully functional MacBook. Also, for the first time since the Genius Bar concept really took off (it took about a year, really) I didn’t even have to wait in a long line for service and even got in before my scheduled appointment. So apparently they’ve done something to vastly improve the appointment system.

On top of all that, since they had to replace the hard drive I got a fresh OS install. And the version they installed is 10.4.8. Ordinarily I’d be a little annoyed about the forced downgrade, but in this case I’m rather happy about it. I’ve been one of the unfortunate few who’s been experiencing AirPort problems in 10.4.10 (although I was only having intermittent dropped connections and not kernel panics like some people), so I’m leaving it at that version for now. Hopefully the 10.4.11 update that should be available in the next day or two will fix those problems, otherwise I’ll just wait for Leopard to update.

In other news, the Indian place in the food court at the CambridgeSide Galleria is extremely disappointing. At first I thought their prices were ridiculous. Then I saw how huge their portions were and though the prices might actually be fair. Then I tasted the food… Needless to say I won’t be going back (not that I often eat at mall food courts anyway).

Most of you probably know about Boston’s Restaurant Week. For those that don’t, it’s a week (or more) that happens twice a year during which participating Boston area restaurants offer meals from a prix fixe menu at very low prices. For example, Excelsior will be offering a three-course meal for $33.07 (I might just have to give that a try).

What you probably didn’t know is that there’s a fantastic website at restaurantweekboston.com (offered by bostonchefs.com) that will show you all the participating restaurants, the details of their participation, the prix fixe menus that they are offering, and a Google maps mashup to help you locate and get to those restaurants.

I helped create it, so you should go use it to help justify my services.

Apparently it’s not just the MBTA and RMV that are extremely horrible at expediting transportation in Massachusetts. I’m starting to think that poorly implemented transportation is simply endemic to the Commonwealth.

I was at Logan airport earlier, at the E terminal, waiting to pick up some friends who have since flown in. The signage there is less clear than it could be. I wanted to just stay in the terminal E loop, but the only options I could see were Airport Exit and parking to one direction, and indeterminate other things in the other direction. So I went the other direction. It didn’t seem quite right, but it was an airport, and they’re never laid out logically, so I kept going. Besides, there was no obvious way to turn around and go the other way. Eventually, I found myself in Maverick Square; clearly I had made a wrong turn somewhere.

Having never been in East Boston or Chelsea before I didn’t really know where to go. The plus side was that I had, by that time, learned that my friends had missed their flight and wouldn’t be coming in until later, so I could go home rather than trying to find my way back to the airport. I had no idea where I was, but I could see the water, and, as I still know very little of the local geography, figured it must be the river and that following it must eventually lead me to Cambridge. So I drove toward the water …and discovered many large ocean-going ships. Last I checked there are no large ocean-going vessels in the Charles river. This was when I realized that East Boston is on the other side of the harbor.

Still, I figured, following the water would probably be the best bet. Eventually it led me to the Sumner Tunnel where the signs indicated that the normal car toll is $3. I very rarely carry cash, and had been expecting to only have to pay the $1 I’m used to getting on and off the pike, so that was all the cash I had on me. So I decided to keep going and see if I can find a cheaper way to get home. A little while later I saw signs pointing towards the Tobin Bridge. Again, my lack of familiarity with the local geography, cause largely by the fact that I pretty much never drive here, got me in trouble. For some reason I had it in my head that the Tobin Bridge was actually the Bunker Hill Bridge. This idea was reinforced by the fact that the Bunker Hill Bridge is clearly visible from East Boston. So I followed the signs knowing that from the base of the Bunk Hill Bridge I could easily get myself home. The signs, of course, didn’t take me where I expected and I ended up on the on-ramp for the Tobin Bridge, hoping that there was no toll to cross.

Of course there is, and as I was in a Zipcar which has commercial plates, that toll was $4.50. Being $3.50 short I had to tell the guy that I had no cash. I figured he’d give me some sort of ticket so I could mail the toll in later, maybe with a small fine. Well, he did give me a ticket, but closer examination leads me to believe that I’m going to have to pay a $50 fine. Plus whatever fee Zipcar charges me for having to deal with receiving the notice of violation and informing MassPike that it has to go to me instead which I think is about $20.

So, just because I don’t usually carry cash and am not really familiar with driving in the area I may be out $70. That’s just a load of crap. At least they offer an option to appeal the violation. An option of which I am definitely going to avail myself. One advantage to being self-employed is that I actually have the flexibility to deal with bureaucratic nonsense without fear of being fired.

In Barack Obama’s book, The Audacity of Hope, he uses the DMV (or whatever local variant he said) as an example of why people generally feel that the government isn’t really working for them. Today has left me inclined to agree with him.

Today Jessi and I headed over to the Massachusetts RMV to (finally) get around to changing our license over to Massachusetts ones. A process that I’m sure you know was loads of fun.

The first obstacle to converting our California and Illinois licenses to Massachusetts ones was one of location. There is no RMV office in Somerville. The closest one is in Cambridge, annoyingly enough at the Cambridgeside Galleria which is on the Green Line, not the Red Line. Of course, that doesn’t really matter, because that location doesn’t let you convert an out of state license. So we had to go into the Boston location, which is on the Orange Line at the Chinatown stop.

Once we got there, which took 30-45 minutes, we headed inside and found ourselves at the ‘Greeter Desk’. This isn’t something that I’ve encountered during my previous experiences with the California DMV, but I think it’s actually a pretty good idea. Rather than forcing us to figure out which part of the building we need to go to and which line we need to stand in and which form we need to fill out, we simply told the greeter what we were there for, she handed us the appropriate forms, gave us each a number for the appropriate line, and directed us to the third floor.

It was at this point that we realized we had forgotten to bring any of the documentation needed: a passport or social security card, proof of date of birth, proof of signature, and proof of Massachusetts registry. We didn’t have anywhere to be just then, so we got back on the T, came home, got the documents, went back to the RMV, got new numbers, and got back in line.

At this point it was about 2:30. Jessi had a 3:30 appointment, which fortunately was nearby. So we waited in line. And waited. And waited. And then Jessi had to go to her appointment before her number got called. So I stayed, and 15 minutes later my number was called.

I went up and gave the woman behind the desk my form. Had my picture taken. Then gave her my supporting documentation. Only to discover that I didn’t have all the supporting documentation needed. I had my passport, I had my old license, and I had a bank statement. By any reasonable standard, this should be enough. The passport proves that I am who I say I am. It proves my birth date. It proves my signature. My old license also proves my birth date and my signature. And my bank statement proves my Massachusetts residency. But no, that’s not good enough. Apparently each document can only be used for a single purpose. You need separate documents for each of: passport (why?), date of birth, signature, and residency. This is just completely ridiculous. Why is my passport, a federally issued document intended to prove my US citizenship, identity, date of birth, and signature, not count as proving my date of birth and signature to the Commonwealth of Massachusetts? And why can a single document not prove more than one thing, especially when it’s specifically designed by the federal government—and recognized by state governments in other capacities I might add—to prove those very things?

I was rather surprised today to get an email inviting me to a meeting with the co-President and co-Founder of Wainwright Bank, Robert Glassman. Apparently Wainwright, as a socially progressive bank, is reaching out to the local progressive blogging community and I was one of the small group of people they sent the initial invitation to. I’d like to think that this is indicative of my status as a high profile blogger, but I imagine it has more to do with the fact that I’ve written about Wainwright on several occasions.

I suppose, when you think about it, I may not actually be that bad of a choice. I may not have the most popular blog around, but it definitely has a readership, and that readership is continually growing. I’ve also got some first hand experience on the value of blogs as marketing tools, and I have more direct experience with internet marketing through my position at Triworks which, while not a marketing company per se, certainly requires me to think about internet marketing and the issues related to it.

At any rate, they also asked me to spread the love and forward the invitation on to other progressive bloggers in the Boston/Cambridge/Somerville area. I’ll be sending it along to those bloggers whom I already know of course, but there are certainly others out there that have slipped my mind. So if you fit into that category, feel free to contact me and I’ll forward the invitation to you (I’m not about to publish the cell phone number I was given to RSVP to…). It’s just too bad that Bruce isn’t around any more…

and I’m still continually finding things that make me like it here even more.

Moving to Boston from San Francisco, I was a little worried that I’d be giving up the amazing variety and quality of food that was available to me. I was particularly concerned about Mexican food. Fortunately, it didn’t take long for Jessi to introduce me to Anna’s Taqueria, a burrito joint that makes burritos almost identical to those at Gordo Taqueria, my favorite burrito place in San Francisco (and it’s been said that the owners are related, certainly their menus are). I won’t say that it was a condition of choosing this condo, but the fact that there’s an Anna’s right down the street from us certainly made this location a little more amenable to me. Then, after we moved here, we discovered Tacos Lupita, a Salvadorean restaurant that’s also within easy walking distance of our condo and which serves absolutely amazing food (though not quite Mexican).

I’ve since put together a rather extensive list of good-sounding restaurants around us to try. One of the places on that list was The Half-Shell which is actually right down the street from us. I’m a huge fan of gyros, and they have a sign advertising their gyros right out front, so I’d been meaning to give them a try for a while. This afternoon I went to get a haircut (Charlie’s Barber Shop is a really good barber shop that’s also right down the street from us) and decided to stop in at Half-Shell and finally give their gyro a try. It was really good, but that’s not the best part. The best part, is that they serve gyro pizza.

I first had gyro pizza while I was a student at Carleton College in Minnesota. I was immediately a fan. Sadly, I’d never, until now, found a place that serves it outside of Minnesota. One of the reasons I was looking for a place around here that has good gyro is so I could try and get them to make me a gyro pizza for me. But now, my search is over. If you’ve never had a gyro pizza before, I highly recommend you head over to Half-Shell and give it a shot. Now that I know there’s one, there’s probably other places around that serve it too, I’ll have to try and put together a list, because I’m definitely going to be insisting that all my friends in the Boston area give it a try.

…and already I’ve got something to write about the MBTA.

This time it’s about the buses. I know first hand that, to people who don’t live in and around Boston, the (often very) negative feelings people have about the MBTA don’t always seem justified. But I think I’ve got a pretty good example to help explain the way we feel.

Today I met with a (hopefully soon-to-be) new client at a cafe on Newbury St. I took the bus to get there (83 from Porter to Central, CT1 from Central to Newbury & Mass Ave.). The driver of the CT1, as he was driving down Mass Ave (a major artery, for those who don’t live around here), was making out a check (to whom, I don’t know). And when I say as he was driving, I mean literally as he was driving. He’d have one hand on the wheel while he was looking down at his lap writing on the check with the other (though, in the picture to the right we were stopped at the light where Main splits off from Mass Ave.). As we were crossing the Mass Ave bridge he actually took both hands off the wheel so that he could put the check in the envelope and lick and seal it. As anyone who’s driven, walked, or biked across any bridge over the Charles knows, it gets very windy, certainly windy enough to push a car, let alone a bus, over into the next lane if the driver isn’t paying attention. Fortunately we got lucky and neither forced anyone into oncoming traffic on the left, nor crushed any of the bikers on the right under the wheel of the bus. Then, as we got to the end of the bridge he (with both hands on the wheel, thankfully) started swerving from lane to lane as if he were actually going to maneuver the bus through the compact car sized holes in traffic. If anyone reading this has ever ridden a bus in China (if you haven’t, like roller coasters, and aren’t afraid to die, I highly recommend you try it some time), it was almost that bad.

In general I’ve actually had positive experiences with the MBTA bus system. It’s probably because I don’t commute to work and rarely ride them during rush hour, but I’ve almost always had friendly, sometimes even courteous, and competent drivers, and they’re even usually on time. I really do have to draw some sort of line at multitasking while guiding a several ton bus full of people down a busy street. As the Fung Wah has aptly demonstrated, it’s hard enough to drive a bus as it is. Though I got where I was going on time, today the MBTA was not putting it’s best foot forward (if it has one).

If you’ve been reading my blog for a while, you may remember that shortly after I moved into the apartment in Central Square that we were living in previously there was a shooting right across the street. One of the reasons Jessi and I were so eager to move out of that apartment and into our new place in Porter Square was because the apartment was in a fairly high crime area. While Porter Square is certainly safer and has less crime than Central Square, we’re not completely free of crime here, sadly.

Our condo is the top floor of a triple-decker. The other night, someone broke into the first floor unit in our building. Apparently they broke a lock on one of the windows to get in, took whatever they took, and then just waltzed out the back door (actually, I imagine they probably snuck more than they waltzed, but waltzing is just so much more poetic). I’m not sure, but it may have been the same incident reported on The Bachelor in Porter Square: Crime in Porter Square. Sadly our first floor neighbor had taken his dog to work with him that day, or this probably wouldn’t have happened. What makes it a little scary, however, is that at the time of the break-in the woman who lives on the second floor was in the shower (she heard the thieves talking in the back stairwell when she got out). I was also home, on the third floor, but was busy working and didn’t hear a thing sadly.

There are, of course, a lot of easy things we can do to prevent this from happening again. First, we can replace the locks on the first floor windows and doors with better ones. Second (and this is something we want to do anyway) we can put better lights at the front and back doors, and put them on motion sensors. Despite this one incident, I don’t really think an alarm is necessary, but it’s also always an option. We could also get some NRA stickers to put on the windows (and I, for one, wouldn’t mind backing those stickers up with fact).

As you may remember if you’ve been reading my blog for a while, I’m currently using Bank of America for my banking, but, as they’ve really pissed me off, I want to switch. I’ve basically narrowed the choices of alternative banks to Wainwright Bank and Leader Bank, both of which have a lot going for them. However there are still some issues that leave me questioning whether or not I really want to go with either of these banks:

• Neither Leader nor Wainwright have a branch in Porter Sq. They both have branches in Central, and Wainwright also has a branch in Davis, so it’s not a huge hassle, but it’s still an inconvenience if I need to go in for something.
• Another issue is the lack of ATMs. Obviously neither Wainwright nor Leader are huge banks that can afford to have an ATM on every corner like Bank of America, Sovereign, and Citizen’s are (around here anyway). They are, however, both on the SUM ATM network, which means I’d be able to use any SUM ATM without worrying about fees. There is, fortunately, a SUM ATM in Porter Sq. (Cambridge Savings Bank has a branch here and they’re also on the SUM network), and I know of a few others, but I’m concerned about whether or not there are enough of them to actually make it worthwhile. I don’t want to be having to pay fees all the time because I can’t find any SUM ATMs.
• The last issue is with online banking. Bank of America really does have fantastic online banking, and I’ve grown very used to having the features that they offer. I’m sure most other banks will have most of the same features (Wells Fargo did), but there’s one feature in particular that I really like and am not too fond of the idea of giving up. That feature is e-Bills. The e-Bills program, if you don’t know, let’s you arrange to have your bills come directly to your Bank of America online banking page. You get an email alert letting you know a bill has arrived, and when you log in it shows you the bills that have come in, your balance, the minimum payment, and the due date. You can then schedule you’re payment directly from the page. It’s an incredibly convenient system, and I quite like having it. Losing it wouldn’t be a deal breaker, of course, but losing it on top of less convenient ATMs and locations makes things a little more questionable.

Now that the whole mortgage thing is taken care of I’ll be doing more research into the matter. Hopefully it will turn out that my fears are unfounded and there are plenty of SUM ATMs around Boston to keep me happy. And, if I’m really lucky, one or both of Wainwright and Leader will have the e-Bill system or something similar to it.