Jenn Martinelli Blogging in Boston

It was my first time ever. There's a woman at work who periodically organizes blood drives where a mobile donating van/bus comes to our office and people make appointments to go out and donate. With some friends' encouragement at work, I went today and was very brave and did great, if I do say so myself. I got a little shaky when they first put the needle in to take the blood. Not because I physically felt bad, just mental. But when I was done I just sat down for a little bit having juice and cookies and waiting for Rebecca and Michelle to finish, and I was fine. Never felt faint or nauseous or anything. This was probably helped by the fact that the van was super over air conditioned. I'm sure that's intentional.

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OK, I think you've officially gone too far now, Barbara.

I mean seriously, people are always in competition for babies for adoption - that's my understanding. I don't need to see the competition on TV. And how about kids that are harder to adopt because they're older, etc., instead of the perfect situation where you get the perfect healthy baby right from birth la-dee-da.

People are such idiots. I guess I should give these people credit at least for adopting rather than having kids but of course I can't even do that because most of them already have other kids, some adopted but some that they actually gave birth to themselves. Settle down, people! Why don't you let people who actually can't have kids get first dibs on the babies?

I guess some people would think that a post about PETA goes under the "politics" category, but I put them in "pet peeves" because they don't even count as being political since they are just so stupid.

Anyway, all I know is that KSU Vet School didn't ask PETA to comment on their funding and maybe they should get all their facts straight before they send crazy demanding letters to school administrators.

PETA reminds me of a high school kid who gets mad because their cafeteria doesn't recycle cans and stages a protest over it which turns out to be nothing but annoying and stupid and silly because it's poorly done and badly researched.

Heather, sorry that some people are nosey bitches who think that they have some right to instruct other adults about how to behave in graduate school. Based on other stories you've told us about people at that school, you'd think she would have a lot of other things to complain about before she complained about how often someone got up during class.

Ha ha, Comcast.

Oliver the cat thinks he just gets to poop wherever he wants now. If it's roughly within 30 feet of the litter box, it's safe to go there. He poops wherever he pleases in the bathroom, he poops in the corner in the kitchen...and in the other corner and the other corner. At least this is all on vinyl floors and not carpet. But please, Oliver, just stop it!

Nobody needs to be cleaning up cat poo 6 times a day.

So the last time I got a professional haircut was December 8, 2002. Yes, that is a long time ago. While we've been living on slimmer funding I've cut back on this luxury which I had only recently in my lifetime allowed myself anyway. However, my hair was long and gross (long hair generally grosses me out) and the ends were all split, etc., so finally last week I made an appointment here for Friday.

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Why does anyone belong to this religion exactly? Apparently the pope is calling the shots in politics now. This is a perfect example of what I was talking about in my poll here, by the way.

Apparently Cirque du Soleil hasn't. Nice.

This rocks! I don't know if it will do any good, but if it does, that's awesome. It's total bullshit that they are practically shutting down a portion of the city for the DNC. I've been hearing that Boston will lose more money than the DNC will bring in because of the shutting down of the highway and trains. It's so stupid! Isn't there anyone with the mayor's ear who has the slightest idea about city planning or event planning or ANY planning? Closing down all this transportation is just ludicrous.

What the hell is wrong with people? I mean really, are we all just evil at heart and some people suppress it better than others? Why on earth is this asshole prosecuting this woman for something that the parents don't even want to press charges for? What an evil bastard.

French Paper Company rocks. Their paper is really really reasonably priced, and it's very good quality, plus they have a good variety. If you need nice paper, I highly recommend them.

I read a silly article, or I guess it was an "editorial" in The Boston Metro this morning by some woman emphasizing how important the role is of administrative people in the workplace. But she picked a stupid way to do it, instead harping on the use of the word "secretary" and how she wished people weren't so keen on getting rid of the word and how it was a great word or something. I think she missed the point of everything. Anyway, it was kind of a dumb pointless article. She also made some comment about how being a secretary served her well and she has owned and run her own business, and now is a freelance writer. Then she makes some comment like she wishes she could make as much money as she did as a secretary.

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Oops, sucks to be you. Welcome to life in Brighton... like the rest of the residents in Brighton have been living it the whole time... surrounded by a bazillion students crammed into every slum. Take a stroll down Commonwealth in Allston for a view of your future. Too bad so many priests decided to molest children and in the long run end up screwing up your neighborhood when they have to cash in to pay off their victims.

I just heard someone say, "I used to run a mile and a half, smoke a cigarette and run back. It was my reward!" Then someone else said, "There's nothing wrong with that!"

Honestly, people, you think there's nothing wrong with that? Is there anyone left on the planet today who doesn't know what smoking does to you? I don't think so. Don't be an idiot. You're all signing your own death certificates.

This is ridiculous already. Hey settle down, pal, why don't you actually try following the law? Or are you going to go off and start whining to the courts every time you don't like a decision they make? There are separate branches in the government for a reason. It's to prevent people like you from running rough-shod over the government.

Try reading up on the US and Massachusetts Constitutions and doing a little history lesson too. Or, you could just go back to Utah.

People of Massachusetts, stop electing these stupid Republicans as governor. Please.

Sign me up, I'll take one.

Let me guess, they don't take pets. I'm very sick of this rule. People do more damage to apartments than any pets that I've ever seen.

So here's the thing about the Boston Marathon... it's a good time to get the hell out of town if you aren't running the marathon yourself. Nobody needs the 50 billion extra people around the city, all of them clueless, lots of them rude and/or stupid, too many of them mispronouncing words like "Copley" as "COPE-ly", etc.

The trains are packed, you can't get a seat in Starbucks, you have to wait in line to use the stupid 25-cent pay toilet, people painfully misread maps and wrongly direct other tourists to things. It's just upsetting.

So after enduring Saturday and Sunday with this mess, today we went out to Davis Square in Somerville, which is near Tufts, where Rob is going to school.

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Well, after attending high school in Ohio, I have to say, I am ever so shocked to hear that some assaholic kid punched another kid 27 times on the school bus. (Yes, that's sarcasm.)

Actually, I shouldn't blame Ohio. High school kids kind of suck. Though I'm sure living in Ohio didn't help him to be a more well-rounded and intelligent person who might enjoy things other than beating other kids.

My friend Sheilagh, home-birth midwife extraordinaire for Amish folks in rural Pennsylvania, sent me this link. She doesn't know the people personally - the midwife is a friend of a friend. No graphic pictures, it's a really nicely done presentation of photos and music.

Rob is trying to work out some kinks on my site and improve some things. He needs to test stuff so if you see crazy posts about testing or where someone seems to be talking to himself, that's Rob.

It's a post

why yes it is.

thanks for noticing.

Hey Lex, remember how you just had a conversation with poor Ethan a few days ago about how you were just playing the game and you had to vote him out even though you were friends outside the game and how he shouldn't take it hard and should be as graceful a loser as he was a winner? Well, let's review - he was.

Now, look at what happens when the tables are turned - when Rob Mariano screws you over, you take it personally and cry and moan like a baby, and act like a total ass. Then you are horrified that Kathy doesn't get herself kicked out on your behalf since you are just the greatest f-ing thing since sliced bread, and now you spend your time on the jury glaring and acting like you've been wronged in some way.

Get your head out of your ass you stupid whiny bitch.

(Yes, I actually am this upset about a TV show. The reason is because this guy is a real person and not a character. This is how he goes through life.)

Whatever that means. I guess it's like the windchill factor in the winter. Anyway, Rob and I both thought it was going to be kind of warm like yesterday so I wore a really light jacket but then I froze my ass off.

However, on Monday, in time for the Boston Marathon it is supposed to be 78 degrees! That's crazy!

Also, I'm not going to complain because I think it jinxes me and sends bad weather to me, but 78 is a little warm for my taste.

Poor marathoners, they'll be wishing it was 55 and rainy like this week.

This man is our president? Really? Could this actually just be a horrible nightmare from which we will all awaken soon?

Today there was a debate going on in my office between some calorie-counting ladies and some who don't believe in calorie-counting. (For the record, I'm sure it works but I have no interest in it myself. I would prefer to just exercise my ass off so I can eat whatever I want whenever I want. Which I pretty much do currently but minus the exercise, hence I am not exactly in tip-top shape.)

The calorie-counters were being informed that they were all full of crap as they were skinny and had always been skinny and didn't even need to lose weight. At which point one woman said, "I used to be a chunky monkey." To which someone else said, "Listen, chunky - " and proceeded to tell her why she shouldn't count calories. It was just so funny and deadpan that it's still cracking me up now.

Heather tells her own tale of marathon related peeing. I read something on Boston.com yesterday about people in Hopkinton, MA being pissed (excuse the pun) about people pissing on their lawns, etc. on race day. Hopkinton is where the Boston Marathon starts. Anyway, so the big solution was to add 20 more toilets to the 400-something they usually have available (port-a-potties) and to go around with hoses washing off people hedges and garages as people pee on them. Nice. First of all, it sounds like you might want to double the amount of potties not add like 3% more, and secondly, I understand, I guess, that these people have to pee really bad and you can't hold it when you're running 26 miles so you have to go - but please - what are you doing going ON PEOPLE'S GARAGES and right in their flower beds and stuff? You can't find a secluded spot? You can't go in the woods? People are just assholes, that's the lesson.

At least Heather refused to pee behind a dumpster.

If anyone else, like me, is not exactly an expert on the history of the Boston marathon, and wondered what that ad that's up around town was about that features Kathrine Switzer running with a marathon number on and some crazy guy in a suit trying to grab her, I found the answer.

Seriously, GWB, you can't think of a more impressive thing to attack John Kerry over than the fact that he supported raising the tax on gasoline? This is your big political move? Of course, everyone should instead be interested in voting for you because of your highly effective tax policies, right?

Yeah, you've got me convinced.

Oops. I guess someone should have given a little more thought to the whole thing before whoring out the city for a big political organization when it makes no sense for the actual city itself.

Also, check out J. Crew for this and other pretty dresses. Sigh...

I really like shoes. If I could, I would have hundreds of pairs of shoes. If you'd like to buy me a gift, I really wouldn't mind if you bought me shoes, shoes, shoes, or even shoes. In fact, the perfect gift might actually be shoes or shoes.

Size 9 please. Thanks.

Check out this site! Pretty awesome. I read about this in Budget Living, a kind of cool little magazine I picked up on Sunday. This is pretty fun! I always loved finding crazy sodas in the old school glass bottles at random little shops in the south. When Rob and I went on our trip through the Appalachians in 2001 we collected some cool bottles that we still have.

By the way I have a lot more to say about this. This is the United States of America. It is not a police state. It is not Nazi Germany. It is not China. It is not a dictatorship. But some people seem to think it is.

We have something called freedom of speech. Please note that it says, very clearly, "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech...". This also means that other organizations who are not Congress (ie: not elected officials) cannot just decide to ignore the Bill or Rights and trample all over the Constitution.

Wake up people! This is not a joke, your rights are being taken away. Everyone in this country is supposed to have the right to say whatever they want whether it be unpopular, offensive, mean, different from what you believe, etc. If you don't like it then you have the right to tell them what YOU think! See how that works? It's amazing. If you don't like something that someone on the radio says, you can listen to another station. If you don't like a program on TV, then don't watch it. If your biggest concern is that your kid might see someone's boob or a woman in lingerie, then you need to look at the bigger picture. There are much worse things your kid could and probably does see every day of their lives.

Please, in the name of all that is right and good in this world, do not re-elect this idiot. And for all of you foolish people who think George W. Bush is a good president, do you realize that if you let your rights be taken away by someone you agree with, like him, that it means in the future someone you don't agree with will be calling the shots, and you won't have any say?

Sorry folks. I'm sure there are some people that think Charlestown is great. I would have to disagree with you. Let me tell you about a lovely Charlestown experience last night. I went to the grocery store. The only grocery store in town, of course, is the lovely Johnnie's Foodmaster. I used to live near a Johnnie's in Somerville (right outside Inman Square, actually) and I actually remember thinking it was pretty good, but this one sucks.

Anyway, there are always tons of teenagers hanging out around the little plaza where the grocery store is. Apparently there is nothing better to do. Now I realize there probably isn't anything better to do in Charlestown, but hello, you live in a city. Get more than a block from your house, you idiots. Anyway, they are always being awful, loud, stupid, obnoxious, etc. They cement my plans to never have children. Last night they were particularly out of control - there were probably at least 50 of them (usually there's more like 10-15) and they were shoving each other, punching each other, throwing soda at each other, etc. And you always have to walk through them to get to the store.

So while I was in the store getting ready to leave I saw a girl who works at the Papa Gino's right outside the grocery store come in and ask for the store manager, then ask him where the security guard was that usually patrols the area out there. I don't know what the resolution was but when I left (after the customer service desk wouldn't give me a roll of quarters when they typically always do - their explanation being "we can't give out change right now" - thanks for the information) all the kids were gone from that area but they were just around the corner behind the store. Still all there yelling, shoving, smoking (I think I forgot to mention that before), and generally being awful people.

Now if a cop could come by and just beat the crap out of one of them, wouldn't that solve the problem for a long time? But of course that's not allowed. And of course lots of cops are assholes too. But I'm just saying, what is wrong with these kids? What's wrong with their parents? What's wrong with Charlestown? A whole lot. I know there are actually some decent teenagers in this country because I've known some in my life (and been one) but none of them seem to live here. Charlestown seems to have the worst collection of kids ever of anyplace I've ever lived.

I don't really know what my point is, except just to point out another way that Charlestown totally blows.

So we decided we were going to have a "fun day off" today. Maybe some people would think that's dumb because it's a Saturday so isn't it already a day off? No, because we usually do a lot of work on the weekends.... from schoolwork (Rob) to laundry to cleaning to organizing our books.... who knows. We'll probably do a little of that tonight but we basically gave ourselves permission to just have a fun day without feeling guilty.

So this morning (after I woke Rob up for 2.5 hours) we went downtown and got the very last McDonald's breakfast served at the McD's near Haymarket station. Then we tried to go to Starbucks but there are very few downtown that have any seating. Basically, in fact, there is one - on School Street. That one was packed so we went to the Border's across the street instead, where there were plenty of tables in their cafe. We had coffee (Rob) and tea (me) and I organized the last of our unorganized pictures strewn on our hard drive. This is a project we've been working on for a while, so it's good that we're just about done. Also, Apple's most recent version of iPhoto is a big improvement over the last, so that's good. We're going to use it to organize our photos and publish them to the web.

Then... we decided after some debate to see a movie. We thought about watching one at home but decided that wouldn't turn out to be as fun because we'd either be cleaning up while watching it, or feeling guilty for not cleaning up because we'd be surrounded by a mess. So we went to see The Girl Next Door which was so-so. It was kind of cute and funny in parts but got a little choppy and hard to follow toward the end. Oh, well. At least we got the matinee price for a movie for once.

After the movie we walked around Boston Common for a bit, then tried going over to another Starbucks on Beacon Street, but it was packed. Then we walked down Charles Street on Beacon Hill and decided we want to live there (we want to live lots of places other than our current apartment... ha ha). It's like what Charlestown wishes it was but can never be because it's too loser. Sorry, Charlestown. Anyway, then we went crazy and had crepes at Paris Creperie on Cambridge Street downtown and now we're at a Starbucks where we finally got a seat. We took lots of pictures too.

Now I have to give the computer back to Rob because I stole it from him and he was in the middle of something. Sorry, Rob Reed.

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Here is Rebecca's little girl Amelie at daycare earlier this week. They send Rebecca pictures while she's at work, which is really cool.

Hi, I have spring fever and I want some new clothes. I am sure I have such a huge fan base that I will have a new wardrobe in no time. Here are some things everyone could buy for me - I even found cheap things!

Pretty much any of these jeans from Old Navy in size 12 please. I have some right now that I really like, but only one pair and they are the wrong size (too big).

I love these pants so much I can't even begin to explain it. They are so comfortable but look nice and I wear them to work all the time. I have several pairs but they are starting to die and I could use some new ones. Plus they have different colors now. Size 10 please.

I love linen. These look cute. But not in white please. Size 10.

And then there is a pretty linen dress for me. Size 10 please. I would say red but it shows none available in that size so I guess my second choice is blue.

The weather today is awesome! My only wish is that I hadn't stupidly lost my prescription sunglasses back in the fall because it's very bright out. But the temperature is just right - you need a jacket but it's not cold. Now where can I live that has this weather year-round? No place, right? Too bad.

Not cool. Seriously, yesterday I was so soaked and miserable on my way home from work. What I hate the most probably is when my feet are soaked. Thank goodness I should be getting my new (cheap!) rain boots today. Rob really likes the rain. I say I like it fine as long as I don't have to go out into it at all. Oh, and as long as it doesn't come through my rotten windows and flood my basement. Oh, but wait, it does. Nice apartment.

It's true, Rob Reed, that wasn't the funniest episode of South Park, but there were some great quotes and moments in it. The getting our money back quote being the best.