Ruth Does It Again

The Eastern States 20 Mile road race was cold, wet, and windy this year. Thankfully, the 15-20 MPH winds were blowing us towards the finish for the most part.

Ruth triumphed over the elements, making it from Kittery, Maine to Salisbury, Massachusetts to finish her first 20 mile race in a little over 3:16.

Ray also ran, finishing in just under 2:30, which was 5 minutes faster than his last Eastern States, though about 8 minutes off of his 20 Mile PR.

The Mountain Goats – Somerville Theater

Yesterday, The Mountain Goats played the Somerville Theater. The show was part of the “Gone Primitive” tour with John Vanderslice. Vanderslice has produced many of the recent non-lo-fi Mountain Goats records and there’s a Darnielle/Vanderslice album due out before the tour ends, supposedly about organ harvesting on the moon (!?).

For this tour, Darnielle goes back to his roots and plays without his backing band. I’ve also “Gone Primitive”, as I forgot my Canon ELPH so these photos were taken with my cellphone camera.

The show started with a Vanderslice solo set.

“Hi, we’re The Mountain Goats.”

John told us that this show he’d be playing the songs that he wanted to play, which might mean that they’d be more obscure than usual.  The crowd approved of the idea.

Then he took requests, by picking out individuals from the audience and asking them what they wanted to hear.  He said that this was a new method for him, but he figured that this way, he’d get something other than “Going to Georgia” or “The Best Ever Death Metal Band in Denton.” 

It worked.

Vanderslice backed him for a few songs, including some from the upcoming album.

And during the encore, Darnielle brought the house lights up and had us all stand.

As always, it was a good time, led by the endearingly nerdy Darnielle.

Early spring in JP and Roxbury

I’m still figuring out how long it takes me to get to 826 Boston.  Yesterday I got there with some time to spare, so I took my camera and wandered from Roxbury across the tracks to Jamaica Plain.

Click on any of the pictures to view the web album

Hardship licenses in Massachusetts

Back in February 2007, I got my second OUI conviction.  In Massachusetts, if your driver’s license has been suspended for an OUI, you can apply for a “hardship license.”   If approved, a hardship license will allow you to drive before your suspension is up, subject to specific restrictions.  You are only allowed to drive during certain times of the day, usually just so you can get to work and back.

In order to apply for a hardship license, you need to appear in front of a RMV hearing officer.  You need to do a number of things before your hearing.  It can be difficult to find out exactly what you need to do, so recently I went into the Boston RMV office to ask. 

The person at the info booth in the lobby sent me to the Court Records department on the fourth floor.  When I arrived on the fourth floor, I was told to fill out a form and wait.  That’s only necessary if you want a hearing, but no one tells you that.  If you just want information, ask for it and if you’re lucky the person at the desk will give it to you.  I wasted a half hour waiting before I returned to the desk.  Once I did, the clerk confirmed that I would be eligible to apply for reinstatement on February 17, 2010 (2 years after my court date), and I was given a checklist which shows what I supposedly need to have before I can apply for a hardship license. 

I say “supposedly” because the first thing on the sheet is a statement saying that the requirements are subject to change at the RMV’s discretion.  So you won’t ever know if you really have what you need until you go to your hearing.  The list I was given is dated 1/1/06. 

• There can be no evidence showing that you’ve driven since your license was suspended.
• Enough time has to have passed since your conviction.  The form says one year for a second offense, but the clerk said only a 6 month wait is required.  It’s already been more than a year for me.
• If your license has been suspended for any other reasons, those suspensions must be resolved.  Hardship license are only for OUI offenders.
• You must have documentation to show that you have completed the appropriate treatment program (in my case, the 2 week DUIL program for second offenders). 
• You must be in compliance with all court-ordered aftercare, and have a discharge summary or a progress review from the aftercare provider.
• You must have documented proof of your compliance with your probation.
• You must have documentation showing that a hardship for employment or education exists.
• You need to document that there is no public transportation you can use to get to your destination. 
• The official Board of Probation record gets checked and the driving record must be up to date (I guess the hearing officer does this).
• The Ignition Interlock packet must be completed (whatever that is) and there has to be verification that an Ignition Interlock has been installed.

You need to have an ignition interlock installed before you apply for a hardship license.  These are not cheap, especially if you need to buy a car to put it in.  If your hardship application is denied, you’ve wasted a lot of money.

A lot of the documentation requirements aren’t very specific.  For example, you are somehow supposed to have documentation to prove that there is no public transportation.  How can you prove a negative like that?  The judgment of the hearing officer is clearly a critical factor in any application.

The Court Records department is where you go for your hearing.  Like anything else at the RMV, you show up, fill out a form, and wait for your turn for a hearing, however long that might be.  Bring a book. 

I don’t know if I’ll be applying for a hardship license.  It’s not clear if you’re unemployed like I am whether you can get a hardship license in order to look for work.  The only way to find out appears to be to apply for one and have a hearing.  If I don’t get the hardship license, I’ve spent a lot of money on a car and the blow-and-go.  Even if I do get the hardship license, there’s no guarantee that in this economy I’ll get a job that would make the extra expense worthwhile before 11 months pass and I’m eligible to get my license back.

If you do apply for a hardship license, good luck!  Come back and post a comment to let us know how it went.

Ciera comes to town

Ciera and her mom and dad came to visit yesterday. She was on her way to Children’s Hospital for a followup visit.

Felix and Ciera faced off.  Phoebe hid, which is what Phoebe does.

Ciera took her first subway ride, into Quincy Market.

She ate at Durgin Park.

And helped Aunt Ruth when she got back to Arlington.

Click here for more photos of Ciera’s busy day

It’s that time again!

Spring arrives in New England!

In their head – Your choice

“I don’t know why adults are so unhappy all the time.  It’s up to me whether I’m going to be happy or not.  Take my red ball for example.  The reality is that it’s a red plastic ball.  It’s been constructed so it has a certain weight, color, and elasticity.  It feels a specific way when I run my hands over its surface.  Whether I see that particular group of physical characteristics as beautiful or ugly, useful or useless, that’s all just perception.  My perception.  Since that’s all in my head, I have control over that.  I can choose to see everything as beautiful.  Why does anyone choose otherwise?

“Now, let’s play!”

LOLcat afternoon

My lifz gole iz to get one uf dez on teh LOLcat front pagz. I haz dul lif. Plez  click on aney uf teh picturzs and vot!

In their head – Even in his dreams

The cars cover the sky in a riot of color and rust. I buzz around them with my jetpack as they relentlessly float by.  Vans and SUVs drift sedately, hewing a steady course in spite of the wind.  Econo boxes flutter about like butterflies, tossed by each random change in breeze direction.  Trucks and buses plow along inches above the ground.

The vehicles all have glowing auras surrounding them.  The colors vary to indicate how well each one is running.  Most auras are some shade of blue, showing that the vehicle is running well.  I keep a close eye on the auras, watching for problems as they drift through my sector. 

Regularly, something wears out or breaks down, and a car or truck edges into the violet.  As the vehicle begins to drift earthward, I jet towards the violet glow, zooming around the other cars so I reach the problem in time to give the car the help it needs to keep going.  When I’ve fixed the issue, the healthy blue aura returns, and the car resumes its course.

I get busier.  More cars start to fail, and I start to fall behind.  Auras start to drift into the red before I can get to them.  As more problems occur, and more vehicles slow and sink, it gets harder for me to get to each one in time.  Cars get lower, slower, and redder and I start to panic, bumping into vehicles as I rush from one to another, which slows me more, making things worse.

A truck’s aura flares bright red, then the truck crashes into the ground.  The aura goes black as the truck tumbles along, tossing parts in the air that collide with other vehicles.  Each collision creates more red in the sky and I can no longer keep up.  Soon vehicles are plummeting out of the sky all around.  Black auras and grinding metal are everywhere.  I can’t dodge the debris and an engine block hits my jetpack, knocking it out.  I fall from the sky, tumbling towards the enormous black aura cast by a ruined oil tanker…

In their head – Counting on it

“I can’t figure out a way to show Miguel how to do fractions that helps him. It’s been so long since I had to think about how I did arithmetic, instead of just doing it.  “Can’t you just see the answer is 8″ doesn’t work at all.  I’m going to have to learn them from scratch again myself, so I can figure out how they do it these days.

“When I watch Miguel do math, his thought process is so different from mine that I don’t know where to start.  I’m not sure how much of that is because he’s still learning and how much is because they teach differently.  The last thing I want to do is make math even more confusing for him by telling him new things that don’t fit with what his teacher tells him.  He loses interest too quickly as it is.

“But I have to wonder.  Miguel does simple multiplication by adding numbers.  He does “9 times 9″ by adding 9 together nine times.    Don’t they even have kids memorize multiplication tables anymore?  If you don’t “just know” the basic stuff, how can you build on it?”