Statehouse

I had a floating holiday I had to use or lose by the end of the month, so Heather and I took the opportunity to take a tour of the Massachusetts Statehouse today. It's only open during the week when I'm normally working, so I have wanted to see what it looks like inside for a long time. After walking past the building every day for years, it's about time!


I thought it was a great tour. We got all the history, stories, and traditions from a page who really had his facts straight. Cool stuff. The building is truly incredible, of course, and seeing all the reminders of Massachusetts' history everywhere you look was pretty cool. We also learned the origins of the terms "holy mackerel" and "red tape".


Red tape comes from the red ribbons used to bind the piles and piles of bills the Representatives have to review and vote on, a tradition carried over from the Brits. Mass still abides by it - we saw them as the House floor was all prepared for session.

It turns out the Mass House of Representatives had a "sacred cod" hanging in their chambers to represent the importance of the fishing industry to the Commonwealth. When one of the wings was added onto the Statehouse long ago and the House moved, the Senate inherited the old House chambers and expected that included the sacred cod. The Reps took the cod, which pissed off the Senate. To appease the Senators, the Reps made a gift of a new fish for the Senate to hang in their chambers..... A mackerel, of course.

So that's how I spent my vacation day. Well it wasn't all history and dorkiness - after the tour we went to Boston Beer Works for the Italy - Ukraine match.

South Station development

City approves 40-story South Station tower. I work in the Leather District which is rapidly becoming less scary due to many loft conversion projects bringing in more "normal" people, and this project will continue the transformation of this great neighborhood. If it is executed correctly, that is...

Peter Gammons

Massachusetts' own Peter Gammons is in the ICU tonight after surgery for a brain aneurysm. Check this link for his chills-inducing Hall of Fame induction speech. Peter Gammons is a good man, and I hope he gets well soon. In addition to his baseball knowledge and reporting talent, did you know he can play a mean blues guitar, and sing too?

Mayor Menino

The Mayor halted all work on City roadways because he's fed up with the condition of the patch jobs. Wow. My developer clients are not going to be overjoyed at this news.

My new baby!

My new Taylor! I can't stop playing my beautiful guitar.

normal.

The big move out - move in is now complete, CNU is over, no travel in the near future, well, until mid-July, and the weird thing lately is just how normal life has been. Normal feels very strange. Like I need a new hobby. The World Cup makes me want to start playing soccer again, I'm ready to buy an amp to work towards starting a band again, and I'm going to learn how to paint.....soon....

Cows?

Boston has cows.

I think this is a great public art project and it's very cool that the proceeds from the eventual cow art sale go to charity, but do we need to copy Chicago and the other cities that have had cows before us? Couldn't Boston choose a more appropriate subject? Perhaps lobsters? Sailboats? Larry Birds? Or cab drivers, complete with extended middle fingers?

CNU XIV

Although I'm biased, I have to say that in my opinion last week's CNU XIV: Developing the New Urbanism was an incredible conference. Every CNU I have attended has left me inspired, and this one somehow rose above by maintaining a good balance between implementation details and lofty theory & intellectualism. I was running around for the first couple days of the conference due to Chapter commitments, Fellowship events, and the civil engineering session I moderated on Friday (came together at the last minute, of course), but it was really nice to sit back a bit Saturday and Sunday and take it all in.


The highlight for me was Dan Solomon's masterful keynote address about architectural style, meant to put the traditional/modernist debate to bed. The address was so intellectual (and I admit I was burnt out and ready for a nap at the time of it's delivery) it's definitely going to need another listen. Other highlights included a somewhat disjointed but highly original talk from Christopher Alexander, a session about Prince Charles' New Urbanist community, Poundbury, with commentary from Leon Krier, and the Knight Fellowship reunion dinner where I had the chance to meet a bunch of past Fellows.

Definitely check this link to hear part of Andres Duany's talk about male space and the New Urbanism. Hilarious. Unfortunately the session I moderated was at the same time, but luckily CNU has made technological advances this year and posted a ton of info online at The Daily NUws.