Jenn Martinelli Blogging in Boston

So I have this habit of cutting my own hair. I actually really like getting my hair cut and styled by an actual professional, but at this point in our lives I just feel like it's not in the budget to do it often enough to make it useful. I got a haircut in August and another in October but after that I couldn't justify paying for it again (though really, we're talking a $40 haircut, I'm not spending big bucks - at least not big bucks for Boston), so I Just whined about it and kept threatening to do it myself.

To his credit, robreed keeps discouraging this behavior, but I've never had a major disaster (with one exception, when I was in high school and had very short hair - this type of cut really needs professional maintenance, take it from me) so I usually hack it off late at night at home.

Yesterday I wore it straight and was grossed out by the split ends and really, by how long it was. I'm not a big fan of long hair. It's just dead cells after all. There's no reason to have it hanging all over the place.

Anyway, so last night I had had enough and did a little hacking in the bathroom. Actually, kind of a lot. I think it came out pretty well. I cut it all one length at first, then used Rob's buzzer - with a long length guard on it - to add some layers.

Hooray for short cute hair instead of long gross dead hair!

For some reason I don't know we are watching stupid local news. Here's what's not a news story - some guys are shoplifting. Yes, that's the big story. Wait, here are the exciting details - they stole from a couple of Macy's stores and they drove a gray Nissan! And, some "helpful customer" got the license number of the car. So police "think they know who they're looking for."

Oh yeah? They think they know who they're looking for? What's their best clue - the license plate number of the car belonging to the people doing the shoplifting?

Genius.

Meanwhile, something that's actually newsworthy, the Boston Police Department advocating for the right to search people's homes without a warrant but "only to look for guns", gets about 8 seconds of attention. Then it's right onto whining about how expensive gas is, etc.

Thanks for the absolutely fantastic news coverage.

Hi, BR. You are one of my favorite stores. I love a lot of your things, even though I often find them to be overpriced. I guess I am just getting used to that, after all, I do live in Boston.

But the thing is, you sent me an email today, featuring these perfectly hideous shoes. You were all about the shoes. They are "the" shoes for the season, etc. But you missed the fact that what was actually nice in your email was the dress the model was wearing.

So, for future reference, let me review.

These, this, and these = ugly.

This , this and this = pretty.

Thank you for your time.

That's all.

Just in case you were wondering, a giant chunk of ice collapsed in Antarctica, and if you're still confused, that's bad.

Did anyone know about the South Bay Tower?

What about the South Station Tower? A giant tower being built on top of South Station? It looks really stupid in the rendering.

And of course they're building a residential tower right near downtown crossing at 45 Province, redeveloping the Filene's site including a big tower, and hey, what about Columbus Center, right?

I think maybe the city needs to calm down a little. Can it really support all these new buildings?

Hey, I'm not anti-modernism or opposed to change in general; it can be exciting. I'm just a little concerned that this is too much too quickly. I hope not.

Apparently there are plans to build yet another luxury condo building in Copley. Hey, I don't know, maybe the building will be cool. But I really am just astounded that there's a market for so many luxury residential buildings in this city. I assume developers think so anyway, if they keep building them. But I personally would say about 1% of the people I know could afford these. So where are the rest of us schmucks supposed to live?

Here is a graphic if you're interested.

Also on that note, I don't know what Transnational Place is. Does anybody? (Note: Nevermind, I looked it up. Wikipedia, I heart you. Now I remember what it is. I think I'm kind of upset about this. Isn't it going to ruin sweet little Winthrop Square?)

I just think maybe it makes more sense and is better for the majority of Bostonians if some smart developer builds some more affordable places. Hey, they can be really cool and designed really well, they just don't have to be luxury high-rise towers with 24-hour concierge service, etc., etc.

Isn't there anyone who wants to build a condo I can afford someday? Because I'm never going to be buying one of these.

Sigh.

Well we're still not pleased overall with the way it happened (i.e. us getting rules after signing the lease) but our new landlord/manager amended our lease to state that Billy was a dalmation weighing over 50 lbs, so at least we're not in violation anymore.

The bottom line, we are moving into this place, no need to fight over getting our deposit back or find a new apartment. Phew.

However since all this past weekend we didn't do any moving because of this potential problem, we're now probably not moving until this upcoming weekend or later. At least we'll start doing a lot of packing etc. and we have an appointment tomorrow (OK, later today) for our internet installation at the new place, then another appointment the next day for cable.

Gotta get all the important stuff ready.

Anyway, just an update for all of you.

Well, our chests, me and robreed.

If you know me and you haven't heard the source of that line, let me know some time and I'll fill you in.

Anyway, at the moment I don't even want to write all that much about it because I don't know how much of a problem it's going to turn out to be and if I'll get in legal trouble talking about it but...

We were supposed to be doing a lot of moving in to our new place this weekend, even though we have till the end of the month to be out of our place on Beacon Hill. Just nice to try to do it quickly etc. and at least have enough stuff there to start living out of there and just come back here to get the last few things.

Anyway, Friday afternoon I picked up our keys and welcome packet. Friday after work Rob and I walked over, it was the first time he had seen it in person. The walk went pretty quick and he got to see all over the building, we rode the old school elevator, checked out everything in the apartment itself, went down to the basement to see the laundry room, etc.

So we were feeling kind of OK about it and talking about what to put where etc. Then late late that night Rob was reading through our welcome packet and found a page folded up and stuffed way down in the back behind other papers in the folder and it was a set of Pet Rules for the property.

First rule? Dogs can't weigh over 50 lbs.

Oops. First of all, we never saw these rules before, they weren't included in our lease or along with our lease when we signed it in February. Secondly, Billy weighs about 75 pounds. And I specifically cleared that with the realtor.

So all weekend we've been going crazy trying to figure out how to handle it, what to say, etc., on Monday when the management office opens back up. Obviously we can't just go ahead and move in as things are now, as we'd apparently be in violation of building rules. But I don't know what will end up happening so this is the part where I have to say I'll tell you the rest later.

Suffice it to say, I will be down at that management office as soon as it opens tomorrow and something will be happening.

He's this guy, in case you forgot.

OK, my snarky comment is this: how about teenage girls just stop being such skanks?

Secondly, seriously, what is wrong with this country? Is it that people really don't know about STDs which is obviously both an educational and societal issue (i.e. your parents should tell you this, if they don't, it's a problem there - if they fail to, the schools certainly should - if they don't, it's a problem with education)?

Or, even worse, is it that everybody knows and they just have unprotected sex anyway, which just further confirms my suspicion that the general public in this country is monumentally stupid?

Depressing, that's for sure. Come on girls, try keeping your legs together every now and then. Seriously.

Of course, this all reminds me of the girl with the stolen cell phone.

Do you know what phrase I am so sick of hearing and reading everywhere?

B-A-B-Y B-U-M-P.

I'm sure some fucking genius of a gossip columnist or whatever is congratulating themselves on this fucking awesome turn of phrase but it makes me want to strangle somebody.

I can't even bear to go on anymore because even talking about how much I hate it makes me upset because I have to think about it.

It's just a stupid stupid phrase that I wish would go away and never come back.

I mean, I knew that I guess, but this video is just creepy. This is a Scientology video. So this is him making a video to be shown to other Scientologists. He's wacked out of his skull.

Sorry Tom, but there's this thing called the Interweb, and it knows you're crazy.

Hot chicks with douchebags. Do I even have to say anything else?

There are some seriously creep-tastic guys on here.

First of all, I grabbed a ton of photos and threw them up here. You can browse through. Also there are a couple of tiny movies that are funny, of Billy dragging me around and eating grass I think, in Brighton back around 2002 I think.

And here are a few more gems I thought everyone would enjoy!

Now that it's the official day, Happy Birthday pup!

Here he is conquering the Rocky Mountains in Colorado a few years ago.

I promise to give you extra treats tonight!

Here it is on Craigslist, folks. Get it while you can!

Seriously, if you have pets this is the landlord for you, she's great. Not only does she allow them, she remembers all their names and asks after them any time I talk to her.

Note: she upped the rent, we weren't paying quite this much!

I think she's a day early but check out the old school pictures of Billy the dog in Heather's happy birthday post for him.

I'll try to find a few gems of my own. Happy Birthday Billy! You're awesome, I'm glad you're my puppy!

Poor Hester got very sick this year on Valentine's Day and actually had to go to the hospital!

But she's fine now and we won't talk about the scary hospital trip because that's not the point. The point is this super cute picture of her once she was feeling better!

She kills me.