Jenn Martinelli Blogging in Boston

Eileen, you're so right.

Hey guess what? Boston was chosen to host the Democratic National Convention this year! I guess you guys haven't heard.

For the love of Pete.

UPDATE 2006/03/16: Oops, I spoke too soon. It's not the city throwing away its money, it's just an ad agency. I guess that's OK. No, wait... still stupid.

What business exactly does a group from Florida have going to court in Massachusetts? Don't worry kids, I'm sure good old Jeb will continue to make gays second-class citizens in your lovely state.

Kim and Patty kick ass in the first round of their "triathlon" - ping pong!

This probably won't be very popular. My favorite though, and really the reason I'm posting this at all, is this quote:

"Cats and dogs are like mom and apple pie,... Don't mess with the pets. Most people prefer them to other people."

How right you are.

I don't know that the swooning is necessary, but the reason people are still enthralled with Clinton is because he was a good president, with the bonus of not being an idiot.

Goddamn it, MBTA.

FYI, everyone:

Riders will get a taste of the new security procedures beginning next week, when four teams of four officers will fan out to different subway and commuter rail stations every day and randomly stop passengers to inspect their bags, using either an explosives detection device, a bomb-sniffing dog, or by hand.

I guess that's what I'm going to do for the duration of the DNC in July. And for any other period of time when the T deems it necessary to randomly search bags. Oh, and thanks for nothing, US Supreme Court.

Than an idiot, Michael of Jamaica Plain.

Here you go:

Article IV

The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.

Also, please note that if this was out of concern for the safety of the general public, then it would happen every day, not only during a convention week.

UPDATE 2006/03/16: And yes, the "Jennifer, Boston" is me on that page.

We actually found an apartment, and an owner who's nice and helpful and friendly and who in fact remembers all our pets' names and said, "Oh, good - Billy and Emily and Oliver will have a nice new home!"

It's on Beacon Hill, in the middle of everything. Awesome.

I think this is a stupid idea, and that, as opponents say, it's only going to punish the people who follow the rules already by leashing their dogs and by not training them to be killers and abusing them.

It's another case of making an extra law when all that actually needs to happen is existing laws need to be enforced. If you know where people are keeping tons of pit bulls and training them to be vicious (which also isn't the dog's fault) and abusing them, etc., then the city should have a crack down and take all those dogs away from the owners. People should be fined, jailed, whatever it takes. Even people who have nice dogs should have them on a leash! We have a sometimes temperamental Dalmation and he's always leashed and under control, but if someone has a loose dog who decides to run over to us, it doesn't make it very easy for me to keep ours from freaking out, barking, etc. Everyone just needs to follow the rules.

Remember these jerks? Too bad they struck again. I can't even bear to get into the whole long story now, I'll save that for when I have more energy. But suffice it to say, I highly recommend avoiding Greater Metropolitan Real Estate. Unless you like being treated like crap. In which case, they're your guys.

What's the lesson? Let's ask some friends.

Rob: "Everybody is an asshole. Everybody."

Amy: "People are fuckers. They're all fuckers."

Today, Rebecca said this:

"At least I am open minded to different walks of life. Well, not stupid walks of life. That's just dumb."

We were talking about how awful it is to be around stupid people - meaning stupid, ignorant, close-minded people.

These are from the first week of June.

These are from the end of the week and the weekend.

Here are photos from Memorial Day weekend this year. We went up to Syracuse and took Billy the dog.

This guy snuck a bunch of photos of the convention center recently before someone figured out he didn't belong there. Check them out!

No, Mr. President, it's not suspicious at all that you would try to do this just before the DNC.

Listen everyone, if you think this amendment is OK, you're just wrong. Wrong. That's it. Conservatives claim that they didn't want to have to address this issue, that it's the courts' faults for bringing it up now. That's also wrong. The court didn't make or introduce a new law or amendment, that's what you're doing. They interpreted the constitution of Massachusetts as stating that all discrimination is illegal including discrimination based on sexual preference and that includes making it illegal for people who are gay to get married.

God, will someone save me from these people?

You really need to pick your battles, folks. I used to work in the Fort Point Channel area and regularly saw many large commercial planes flying at low altitudes since the airport is nearby. I admit that once in a while it made me a little nervous after September 11. But I hardly think five tiny acrobatic planes flying around is cause for alarm. I guess I can understand people overreacting a little, but the fact that now their reaction is to demand to know who they can contact to call fifty times a day and demand an explanation is a little ridiculous. There are really more important things to worry about.

This is a pretty funny little article. Hey, Healy, where've you been?

Actually, they're basically all photos of Amelie.

OK, I won't ruin this movie for anyone who wants to see it, so I'll hide the details below.
But first I have to say that it's not possible to ruin this movie more than the movie ruins itself, and that everyone who has been giving it good reviews makes me feel like Homer in that episode of The Simpsons when he stands up in a movie and cries, "Is there no place in the world for the man with the hundred and ten IQ?"

Read the rest

Bill and Hillary Clinton's official portraits were unveiled today at the White House and our current president actually managed some kind words about Clinton's presidency. I'll have to give him a little credit for that.

In the UK, even seven-year-olds are blogging!

Poor Jimmy Kimmel. I didn't think the point was really to make fun of Detroit, since, as we all know, sports fans in every city are equally stupid and apparently every major victory results in riots and overturned cars, but just that Detroit is kind of the underdog, so it should be extra exciting if they win. Whatever, it's just dumb that every little thing is getting censored anymore. Settle down, people.

Ha ha.

... you can do is to sit down in the aisle seat on the train or bus, leaving the window seat empty, presumably so you can have more space. What is this a middle school bus? Don't be stupid. Fill in like they taught you in elementary school. Nobody wants to climb over you or ask you to shove over, because just based on the fact that you're sitting where you are, they know that you're a jerk and they don't want to deal with you. The person right in front of me on the silver line was doing this rude sitting this morning and I just wanted to smack the back of her head. Maybe next time I'll have to.

How many people have been lucky enough to ride the orange line while the singing driver is announcing the stations? She sing-songs every stop. "Next stop State Street, doors open on the right si-ide." It's so silly. Sometimes it annoys me, sometimes it entertains me, but it's always weird. I can't believe that she does it every time she drives the train, actually. Does she know she's doing it? Does anyone ever say something to her about it? It's the strangest thing.

Way to go. Good administration there, Ronnie.

By the way, before someone says something witty like, "everyone joked about AIDS then." Or that Democrats had the same prejudices as Republicans or whatever else they may use to justify it, let me just say none of that matters. It's unacceptable no matter who does it. When you're joking about people dying, there's something wrong with you.

Lots of people are mad at me and leaving me nasty comments so since they are just about my polar opposite(s) I have decided that I'm not going to respond to their comments anymore because there's no point to it. After all, this is my site, where I'm right and no one can argue with me.

Fortunately, going to high school in Doylestown, Ohio prepared me for being surrounded by people who are just utterly wrong.

Goodnight, kids.

No, not an engagement ring, I'm not being a wise-ass. But I am kind of obsessed with this ring at Tiffany. Because it's silver it's relatively inexpensive and I think it's really pretty. Plus, it would be nice to get one of those little blue boxes. Ha ha.

Click here for some recent photos. (June 5-8, 2004)

Yeah, you're all right. Reagan was a great guy.

He was great at negotiating with terrorists and selling weapons to terrorist nations. He was great at allowing the spread of AIDS. He was fantastic at foreign policy in the Middle East (selling weapons to Iran, then backing Iraq in its war against Iran... good move).

He armed Muslim fanatic fundamentalists, secretly backed Saddam Hussein, forged an alliance between the GOP and American fundamentalist Christians, supported military dictatorships, handed out ambassadorships to cronies, and made a lot of people embarrassed of their president.

My point isn't to attack him because he died, you idiots, I'm just pointing out that he's no more valuable than anyone else who died on any particular day, and that just because he died it doesn't mean we should ignore all the mistakes he made and act like he was our savior. I'm not uneducated, and I'm not too young to remember - that's my point. As a child I remember thinking things he was doing were wrong. I remember being scared that Libya was going to attack us among other things.

Thanks for nothing, that's all I have to say to him.

FAN-FUCKING-TAS-TIC. Just what I need. to either feel bullied into letting some jerk on the train check my bag just because I'm on the train, or to give him trouble and cause a scene and get harassed.

UPDATE 2006/03/16: In response to the "because it's such a hassle on planes" comment - yes, it is. I hate that about traveling by plane. And like Dan said, at least I don't have to fly on a plane 4-5 times a day like I do on the T.

Hey, I know someone else who has the same problem as this guy. (No, it's not me.)

Hey, whack-jobs: lots of "traditional" things have changed over the years. That's the way of the world. If you don't like it, do us all a favor and go jump in front of a train. Seriously.

I mean, it used to be "traditional" for women to not hold jobs. So I hope no women in your group work outside the home. Because if so, you'd be hypocrites. Also, it used to be "traditional" that only white men who owned land could vote. So I hope all of you lobbying for political things are white men who own land. If I find out you're renting an apartment, I'll have to call you a hypocrite too.

Don't be such idiots.

Wait, you mean actually trust your child? That can't be possible. All kids are evil, right? (Well, I've said that at times. But that's just because I live in Charlestown.) Joyce Needham from Peoria, IL, is a genius. She should be president. (I'm being facetious but I really do agree with her.)

Sorry, Mr. Reagan, you don't get a special happy post on my site just because you finally died. You were a crappy president who did this country no favors even though, for some reason, lots of people loved you. I guess you seemed friendly or something. All I know is, everybody dies eventually so you don't get any credit for doing that. How come I knew you were a terrible president when I was 8 years old but this country still elected you to a second term? Everyone must have been insane.

It's pouring out, no joke. In a way I kind of prefer rain on the weekend because I don't have to stomp around i n the rain in my work clothes and potentially have to sit at my desk at work with wet pants for half the morning.

Anyway, yesterday was really really nice, so I won't complain. It's just coming down in those huge drops. Crazy!

Goodnight, goodnight, sweet baby

let the moonlight take the lid off your dreams

Does the world have more for me than it seems? I hope so.

Well, life just keeps getting better. Too bad Verizon thinks it's OK to offer DSL service to me at my home, but doesn't allow any other carriers to do the same. That sounds a lot like a MONOPOLY to me, Verizon.

I'm not joking around, I'm contacting the FCC on this. Of course, conveniently, Verizon's DSL service also sucks. I wanted to actually get DSL from a decent provider, but I can't.

This is about how everything sucks. If you don't want to read about how everything sucks, then you shouldn't read the rest of this. I'll save you from being forced to read it by hiding it - you'll have to click the link below.

Suffice it to say that if you are someone who knows me (or even someone who doesn't know me, but is just feeling philanthropic like all those people who gave Karyn money) who has a lot of money that they'd like to loan or give to me, now is the time.

Read the rest

Are these. I saw people carrying them and wondered if they were Vera Bradley bags or not. They are. I really like the pattern and the colors. Nice!

Check out Laura Bee Designs - I happened across this after doing a search for hand-made bags in Google, looking for something different actually, but I love these! I'm so jealous. I want to make really awesome stuff like this! Rock on, Laura!

I'm so sick of seeing commercials for how the cable company can help censor TV for kids, how AOL can "protect" your kids online, etc., that I can hardly stand it. Just raise decent kids and then let them go about their lives! Seeing something on TV isn't going to kill them or turn them into serial killers. Now, if your kid enjoys watching bloody gore-fests 24-7 then you might want to look into that. It sounds like they have a bigger problem. Also, nobody needs your awful "tools", AOL. Just talk to your kids and educate them about the internet and leave them alone for God's sake. Does it ever occur to anyone that all the meddling and horrible overbearing parenting is what screws up your kids? Yeah, you might want to look into that one.

Charlestown is so stupid. Get me out of here.

Gentrification isn't something that the rest of the city hasn't faced. Maybe long-time Charlestown residents should have a chat with long-time South End and Southie residents. Let's not throw bricks, people. I don't think that's going to help your cause. And also, let's not send stupid emails around calling people names, dumb yuppies.

Too bad I didn't see this live (not that I had a reason to... I didn't know anyone graduating) but it's a really good speech.

He starts speaking about 51-52 minutes in.

Lucky Cornell. My graduation speaker was Elizabeth Dole.