I haven’t had to go to the doctor for a few years, so my primary care physician was based in Cambridge, while I am now living in deepest suburbia. Changing the PCP has been on the list for a while, but I never got around to doing it until I needed to see a doctor, uh, today.

I was prepared for a nightmare, but it was ridiculously easy. I called Harvard Pilgrim, and the entire change took only about two minutes. Good for them.

Dear Internet,

We have a ton of baby stuff that it’s in really good shape. I don’t know what to do with it now that Lucy is outgrowing it.

Anyone have any suggestions for good ways to redistribute all the baby toys, clothes, monitors, swings, etc.?

Thanks!
Jason

I was reading the Fort Point article this morning when I read this nugget:

Archon/Goldman, the former owners of 316 and 322 Summer St., had initially envisioned converting the two properties into luxury condominiums, launching [Fort Point's] transformation into a community where people live, work, and play – a local version of the Soho and South Beach neighborhoods in New York and Florida[.]

I’ve been coming into my Fort Point offices for the past two and a half years, and I can guarantee you this: Fort Point Channel is NOTHING like South Beach. Trust me.

I don’t want to sound like a Boston.com shill, but this is neat. Our team put together a special section called Pop-Ed, in which local musician Jake Brennan reads the news each morning, then writes a song about it and performs it that day. It plays on Boston.com and WBOS that night.

I had absolutely nothing to do with this, but it is pretty frickin’ fun. Check out the first one, about our friend Roger signing with the Yankees. Lyrics.

If he can’t carry his bags how’s he gonna carry their season?

The next Boston BarCamp is coming up in a couple of weeks (3/18-19). I learned a lot at last year’s BarCamp, and I hope another Saturday invested will be worthwhile.

I love listening to hardcore web folks enthuse about their work, especially those working on projects on their own. Maybe I’ll talk a little bit about the joys of local search. Regardless, I’m glad we were able to kick in a few bucks to sponsor.

p.s., if you are one of those hardcore web folks, we’re always hiring — drop me a line

One thing I haven’t heard in all the buzz from Wednesday is the backlash against large multi-nationals who feel they can spew their trash all over our city in the first place.

“Guerrilla marketing?” No, “environmental spam.”

I don’t often agree with the Herald’s editorials, but I think they’re right this time: Turner must pay for nitwit stunt.

OK, so when will the people of Boston see Ted Turner and his nitwit marketing gurus marched into federal court in handcuffs and leg irons?

Because that’s exactly what should happen. Oh sure, he’ll offer to write the check – and he damned well ought to be made to write a whopping big one for the resources wasted yesterday over his little guerrilla marketing campaign. But frankly that’s not nearly enough to make amends for the chaos caused here.

I understand that it’s “viral marketing,” but someone involved should have realized that blinking lights and loose wires attached to bridges will get noticed.

I often say how proud I am to work for the Boston Globe, especially when they pull off investigative reporting like the current series on debt-collection abuses in Massachusetts.

You should go and read the series. The blatant abuse of our courts and our less-fortunate citizens is appalling.

[tags]Massachusetts, Debt, Courts[/tags]

This morning’s Globe picks up on the nightmare that has been the commuter rail for the past few weeks.

Customer complaints have risen as on-time service has declined, with 533 complaints in May, 654 in June, and 900 so far in July.

“Overall, it’s the inconsistency that’s really frustrating,” said Joe Fischer, 44, a commuter from Sharon who rides the Worcester-Framingham line to work. “Sometimes the service is spot on and the conductors are doing their jobs, and other times it’s not.”

Family responsibilities require me to drive in each day — the daycare doesn’t buy “the train was late” as an excuse for picking up the baby after closing time — but A. takes the commuter rail from Ashland. It has not been fun.

The Worcester line’s performance has drivin us mad the past couple of weeks. Sometimes it’s on-time. Sometimes an hour late. Always, the riders are kept in an information black hole, pining for updates about when they will actually get home, forced to wait and conjecture, only able to unleash their boiling rage through colorful text messages to loved ones. Sometimes several messages over the course of a few minutes.

I hope the Commuter Rail powers-that-be get their act together soon. I want to be the type of person who takes public transportation to work, but that’s not an option right now. And, God help us when we hit $5/gallon gas.

Stanley Pollack, executive director of the Center for Teen Empowerment, writes an important editorial in today’s Boston Globe about the recent drastic increase in teen violence in the city of Boston.

To save lives, it is critical that the actions taken be based on a rigorous analysis of what worked in the 1990s to turn back a youth culture of guns, gangs, and violence. Only through this careful process can we develop an effective strategy that can reinstate stable community life in Boston neighborhoods.

I’ve done some work for Stanley in the past, and I’m proud that the Globe Foundation funds them. Their mission is worthy. Please consider contributing to the cause.

Boy, it sucks to work on Congress Street and drive in from the west these days.

They’ve closed another section of the Big Dig this morning, and all the traffic on from the Mass Pike is flowing onto the surface streets all around us. I’m not looking forward to trying to find a way onto the Pike this afternoon when I have to go home.

You know what, I can handle the graft, the guanxi, the payoffs and bribes, but if you’re going to be corrupt, at least try to be competent.

This year has brought horrible violence in Boston. (Check out Adam’s Boston Crime Map). But some are trying to do something about the situation.

The Globe’s Joan Vennochi writes about a conversation about youth violence hosted by Stanley Pollack, leader of the Center for Teen Empowerment.

It’s pretty basic, specialists say. The decline in violence during the so-called “Boston Miracle” years can be traced to a combination of jobs and outreach programs, targeted financial resources, and broad-based community commitment to stand together against violence. Take away the programs, the money, and the outrage, and the violence increases.

Some of the most impressive voices at the Center for Teen Empowerment belonged to teenagers who want to be part of the solution. Some of them talked about their desire to trust police and interact more with them.

I’ve done some work with Stanley before, and I’ve seen how his organization is doing great work trying to help quell the violence in the streets.

Adam Gaffin (of Universal Hub fame) is doing an interesting mash-up of the daily crime log and Google Maps called Boston Crime. Check it out.

Kinda makes me glad I’m out in Suburbia now…

[tags]Boston, Mashups[/tags]