Magic 106.7

Boston's Magic 106.7 (WMJK) is a popular music station that is broadcast out Dorchester, Massachusetts. It has an adult contemporary format.

Things change right after Thanksgiving as they change format and only play Christmas music. Chances are if your driving to the Burlington Mall on a Saturday, many of the cars waiting for a parking spot has Magic 106.7 on. Every year at 6pm on Christmas Eve, they start playing commercial free Christmas Music until the 26th.

The Christmas Music tradition started back in the mid 1990s (I wasn't able to find the exact year.) It has generated a good fan base. Check out Robert Gillis website where he attempted to track all the songs they were playing on Christmas Eve in 2010. He put together a pretty cool spreadsheet of the music that they played.

A few years ago they put together a CD collection of their all time favorite Christmas music. It was quite a list and for many years my Christmas Playlist. I really liked it when every once in a while they would add, "This is Magic 106.7." It's really cool when your listening and your not in the Boston area.

They don't put out a CD anymore, and perhaps you can find a copy at a used music store. This is the CD music list from when I imported it into iTunes back in 2007. (I don't know why the name of the artists don't show up in all of the listings.)

Durgin Park

Boston is a fun shopping town and there's nothing like browsing around various stores at Faneuil Hall Marketplace at Christmas time. You can find all sorts of unique gifts for people that are hard to shop for.

Faneuil Hall is also well known for it wide selection of foods from various counter restaurants in the Main hall to various sit down restaurants in the area. If you want to try something new this is the place to go.

If your looking for a good Celiac friendly restaurant, your best bet the same place your grand parents might have eaten at - Durgin Park. This is local favorite with a unique atmosphere and a menu that hasn't changed much since George Washington stopped by.

Historic Durgin Park, one of the oldest Boston restaurants, has served traditional New England home cooking near Faneuil Market for almost 200 years. Durgin Park "established before you were born." Features New England specialties such as prime rib, delicious steak and chops and a variety of fresh seafood. Other favorites include Indian pudding, corn bread, Yankee pot roast and strawberry shortcake.

Recently I stopped in with my brother and had a great dinner. It's been a long time since we both stopped in. We enjoyed our traditional New England cuisine and the service was excellent.

As we were leaving, I inquired if the restaurant had any Gluten-free options for my daughter. I was very surprised to find out that they had a large Gluten-free menu that offered a lot of the same specials as their regular menu.

I did notice that they didn't have anything special for kids. The manager on duty did tell me that they would work with us to put together a dish that my daughter would love. They did have a Frankinster dish on the Gluten-free menu - which is basically a couple of Hot dogs grilled, baked beans and French fries. This is certainly a dish any kid would enjoy. Incidentally the baked beans were very yummy, I highly recommend this as a side dish to any meal.

The manager told me that the kitchen would make sure the meal was prepared in a separate part of the kitchen - this is to prevent cross contamination. He seemed very knowledgeable about concerns that people have about eating Gluten-free.

If you need to eat Gluten-free, you don't have to miss out on going to one of oldest restaurants in the country. Next time your in Boston try Durgin Park. I highly recommend it.

MBTA T-Alerts

While sitting in a nice air condition office, the MBTA kindly let's me know how hot is is outside. On hot days, I get a text notifications about the delays on the Worcester/Framingham commuter rail train due to heat restrictions.

The longer the train delays means that it's pretty hot outside. It seems that most of the delays impact the early afternoon trains. Usually by 5pm the delays aren't as bad.

Heat restrictions are a problem only with the Worcester/Framingham line. This is because CSX used welded steel rail which can expand during high heat. To avoid any derailment, trains have to go slow.

You can join in on the MBTA weather fun by signing up to the MBTA T-Alerts on their website. It's a handy notification to have when you need to know ab

Logan Airport Cell Phone Parking lot Overflow

My frustration with finding the overflow cellphone parking lot at Boston's Logan International airport is the reason for today's post.

The overflow cellphone parking lot is located right next to the car rental return location. Simply follow the signs for car rental returns and just before you get to the return area you'll see a white sidewalk sign for the Cell Phone overflow waiting lot. The "official" street address is Tomahawk Dr, Boston, MA 02128, while waited I pinned my location on Google Map.

In fact, if your coming in from the Massachusetts Turnpike, it's much easier to get to this lot than to the regular lot. Not only that, it's much quicker to get to the terminals than from the regular cellphone parking lot. This means you don't have to deal with much airport traffic to get to the terminals .

If the person you are waiting for doesn't have any checked baggage, it takes roughly 30 minutes from when the plane touches down to when they walk through the departure doors. This depends on how busy the plane is. I would estimate about another 20 minutes if they have any checked luggage.

The passenger car arrival area at Terminal C, is very crowded and the car area waiting for passengers is very small. Boston Police strictly enforce the no standing policy and keep pushing cars to move on. Your best bet is to wait until your passengers have gotten off the plane before getting to the gate. If you arrive too early, you may have to move out of waiting area, and getting back isn't fun.

If you do arrive at the terminal early, be friendly with the Boston Police. I am sure they appreciate some humor in their crazy day. Just watch them for a few minutes and be happy that they aren't in your weekly FitBit challenge.

I hope my simple Logan Airport tips help you have a great uneventful pickup experience.

Boston Science Museum

This past weekend we visited the Boston Science Museum to see the Pixar exhibit and a Planetarium show. This was my first visit to the museum for my 4.5 year old daughter. We also visited during the 4th of July activities around the esplanade.

The museum had shorter hours on the fourth of July and that's due to all the activities that the museum does to watch the fireworks. The celebration is a pretty big deal, and getting tickets to the show is very hard to do. The museum didn't seem that busy as there was only about 20 people at the 10:30 planetarium show.

We saw the "Big Bird's Adventure: One World, One Sky" show at the Planetarium. My daughter love the show and interacted with the show all the way through. We felt the show focus too much on speaking Chinese than learning about the planet's. It was a fun experience for daughter and she had a great time.

We next visited the traveling Pixar exhibit. It was a great exhibit to learn all the technology that goes into making a Pixar movie. My daughter loved the interactions with making shapes and models. It was fun for her to take pictures of some of the Pixar  characters. At the end of the exhibit, there was a store where you could buy Pixar merchandise, much like any Disney ride. Just like Disney, the merchandise was way over price. It was a great exhibit to learn about all the attention to detail that goes into making every movie.

We brought our own lunch, since we weren't sure that any of the food options would Celiac friendly and be something that my daughter would like. (Not many places have Gluten-free Mac & Cheese) It was very easy to run back to the car and get the lunch bag. However, I didn't need to since their are lockers just inside the main entrance.

The exhibit hall was a fun place for my daughter to run around and have fun. She ran from one exhibit to another eager to explore something different. She had a lot of fun at the lighting show and she covered her ears so they wouldn't hurt. She told me that the lighting was much louder that the fireworks she saw the night before.

It was a fun visit to the museum. We are now members so we'll be going back again and again to explore and learn a lot more about science.

Section 5 in Fenway Park

Tough Area to Watch the Red Sox Play

If your going to Fenway Park and have seats in Grandstand 5 (rows 5 to 12), don't worry about rushing to your seats. You could possibly be in one of the worst seating areas in Fenway park.

All the seats in the section are facing the bleachers. You have a direct view of the Giant Glass sign than home plate. In order to see home plate you have to look well left and hope the guy next isn't leaning forward otherwise you'll be having to look over their back to see the game.

In addition, some of the seats have obstructed views of the pitching mound so you can't see the delivery. These are not classified as obstructed view seats since you can still see home plate.

The Red Sox try to make up for the inconvenience s by installing flat-screen TVs overhead so that you can see what's going on. However, the video isn't in real-time. You get a 5-second delay of the action on the field. This makes it a weird experience when the crowd roars and on the TV the pitcher hasn't thrown the ball yet.

There are some positive things about the location. The seats are under an overhanging so you won't get wet on rainy days. It's also near the busy grandstand food concourse, which has a lot of food options some of which aren't available elsewhere in Fenway Park. You are also sitting near the kid's play area.

My advice is to sit in the seats for a couple of innings and then move to a standing area someplace closer to home plate to actually enjoy the game. You'll do your neck a big favor and you'll enjoy watching the game.

Duck Pond on Botolph Street

Check out the duckies on Botolph Street

Some of the Boston brownstone homeowners in the Back Bay have a great sense of humor. You can see it at various times of the year with unique Christmas lights, awesome winter parking space savers, and creative yard design. I think they do some of this to amuse some of the commuters that walk through their neighborhood.

On St. Botolph Street, one of the homeowners has a little pond in the front of the house. For most of the year, they have the water running and place rubber ducks and frogs around the pond. It's very cute. In the Wintertime they stick candy canes in the ground around the small pond.

You can find the pond at 65??St. Botolph Street, about a 1/2 block from the Inn at St Botolph. It's not one of the "must-see" tourist??attractions, but just something unique to discover how Bostonians make their neighborhood special. While you're in the neighborhood you should check out the ??SW??Corridor??Path.

The??SW??Corridor??Path is a public walkway that is above the Orange Line. There are lots of seasonal flowers, a dog park, and a playground for the kids. Besides, you'll get some really good photo opportunities of the Prudential and John Hancock buildings.

National Weatherperson's Day

National Weatherperson's Day, also known as National Weatherman's Day, is observed on February 5 primarily in the United States. It recognizes individuals in the fields of meteorology, weather forecasting and broadcast meteorology, as well as volunteer storm spotters and observers. It is observed on the birthday of John Jeffries, one of the United States' first weather observers who took daily measurements starting in 1774.

In the Boston Market the chief Meteorologists are Harvey Leonard - WCVB-TV, - Eric Fisher - WBZ, Pete Bouchard - WHDH and Pete Bouchard - WFXT

This year's National Weatherperson's Day is on February 5th, 2015.

Boston Graffiti

The largest graffiti art in Boston is in the Back Bay, and it's so well done that not everyone can see it. On top of some apartment buildings on Clearway Street is the words, 'NOZE'. Each white letter is painted on each individual building.

The graffiti is only visible to some tenants in the Christian Science Center Building, and guest staying in the Sheraton Boston Hotel, Hilton Boston Back Bay.

The NoZe Brotherhood is a collegiate secret society at Baylor University. Founded in Brooks Hall in 1924, the society was originally formed as a joke regarding Leonard Shoaf, a freshman with a large nose. Shoaf's nose was of "such great length and breadth of nostril"that his friends proclaimed they could "form a club around it". [Wikipedia]

Bucket List of things to do in Boston before you die

Today the San Francisco Gate posted a blog about the Things you must do in the Bay Area before you die. I put together a suggested list for the Boston Area:

• Watch planes land from the Logan Airport Tower
• Saint Patrick's Day Parade
• Watch the The Saint Anthony's Feast parade in the North End
• Watch the Boston Marathon on Boylston Street
• Boston Marathon (Run or Volunteer)
• Run a Swan Boat tour
• Run a Duck Boar tour
• Hot Dog and a Beer at Fenway Park
• Watch the 4th of July concert on the Esplanade
• Salem, Mass on Halloween night
• Sail a boat in the Charles River
• Dinner at the Top of the Hub
• Shake hands with the Governor
• Boston Ghost Tour
• Skate on Duck Pond
• Watch First Night fireworks from a room on the Battery Wharf
• Beanpot Game
• Walk the stairs to the top of the Prudential Tower
• Boat trip to Provincetown
• Go to a Fenway Park opening day game

Am I missing something? Let me know! Send me Feedback and I'll add it to the list.