Getting Off The Highway

Recently I visited Boston to watch our beloved Knicks lose a heartbreaker Game 1 to the Celtics at the TD Garden. It was an awesome trip despite the loss.

Here's the gang getting warmed up for the game:

Moon, Eric, Jay, Walt Clyde, and Beer-on-the-Girl.

But before I digress and complain about the Knicks' lost opportunities, poor coaching, and the like, I wanted to discuss the following issue that arose on the trip.

On our way up, friend-of-the-blog Jay generously offered to drive him and myself from North Jersey to Boston. On our trip, there were a handful of times we had to exit a highway. Each time the exit ramp was filled with a line of cars waiting to leave the highway, Jay would pull the following move: not wanting to wait in this line, he would drive up as far as possible, passing the growing line of cars on his right. Then, at the last possible instant, he would abruptly cut back into the line of cars, "cutting" the line of cars.

Incredulous (and also wanting to bust his balls), I brought it up around the guys in Boston, who all admitted that they do the same thing! Moon even justified it by bringing up the fact that no traffic laws were technically being broken. My stance remained constant: I can't think of many things that are as blatantly rude as this - and maybe I would have done the same as a younger man, but now I can't imagine doing this with such a cavalier attitude and with no guilt.

Is this an egregious act of road rage carried out to the nth degree? Or just something that people do on the rough roads of the Northeast?

Where Everybody Knows Your Name- Year 2

I have been living in Boston for over a year! Here are some scattered reflections about the differences between living in Boston versus the suburbs of New Jersey.

-I live taking the train as my primary mode of transportation. When I lived in NJ, I never really took public transportation anywhere. Occasionally, I would take the bus or train train to NYC, but in my travels throughout the State, I would drive everywhere. And when I say everywhere, I mean everywhere! Now, not only do I take the train to work, I take it everywhere I have to go. There are many reasons why I take the train in Boston and never took public transportation in Jersey. I guess it’s more convenient (parking, traffic) to take the train than drive in Boston, plus the train goes basically everywhere. I wonder if NJ had a better public transportation system (quicker, went to more places) would people take public transportation as opposed to driving their own privately owned vehicles? Is driving in NJ somehow ingrained in the culture? I ponder these questions because places I walk to now I would have never walked in NJ due to distance.

-Boston is cool, relative to Jersey because Boston always has a lot of stuff going on. Everyday there’s all types of shit going on in the city. Plays, movies, bars/restaurants, or just a walk to the park or esplanade. It’s nice to be able to walk outside and do something, without having a planned event to go to.

-The downside of living in Boston is that I miss certain people. I have a lot of aquitances in Boston, but no one I would consider a friend. Most of the people I work with are old (relative to me), and I spend my spare time with my girlfriend (which I enjoy, but I could spend time with her if we lived in NJ). There has been nobody I really clicked with up here. I wonder if that’s my nature, or if people don’t have “friends” like they do when they are younger.

- The bagels suck in Boston as does the pizza! Also, nobody has Taylor Ham (or Pork Roll if you’re from South Jersey). It simply doesn’t exist in Boston…very strange.

-This winter has sucked in Boston! I guess it has sucked everywhere, but it has snowed so much up here, and when you walk everywhere it’s really a pain in the ass. It’s like a fucking videogame to get down the street. On that note, I busted my ass walking to the train the other morning on a patch of ice.

-I wonder if I am going to stay living up here, somewhere else, or move back to the NY/NJ metro area one day…