malden's #1

Anyone who knows me knows that I am very proud of where I come from. I love the Boston area and am sad when I'm not near it. For example, when I went to school in Missouri, I missed the city of Boston more than I missed any person. I have always taken pride in Malden. It's where I was born. It's where I was raised. It's where my parents still live. I can tell you some fun facts about Malden:

1. Adoniram Judson was born there. Mr. Judson was the first missionary sent from the United States.
2. Malden is the birthplace of Grandpa Joe from the original "Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory" movie.
3. Malden officially became a town in 1649. I was there for the 350th birthday parade celebration. In fact, I was in it!
4. It has been said that Malden was the first town to petition the colonial government to withdraw from Great Britain.

I can spew much more useless knowledge about my city. But I can also tell you some not so nice things I remember:

1. I once saw a kid get beat to death with a baseball bat while driving to church.
2. A guy on the street over from me when I lived on Essex Street was found beheaded in his jeep. His head was later found in a cemetery.
3. A guy on my brother's paper route (the street next to ours when we lived on Echo St) went missing while jogging and was never found.
4. The body of a young man was found in the cemetery down the street from my house on Echo St.
5. One of the most famous armored car robbery cases in history involved Malden.
6. A few years back, there was a big standoff in Malden involving a separate armored car robbery case.
7. When I lived on Russell St., neighborhood kids used to come into my backyard (it was a duplex so it was shared) to drink and do drugs with my neighbor.

There are so many more bad things I can think of. One which only my brother, a few select people, and me know, which I'd rather not air publicly.

I loved Malden growing up. I love Malden still. I just don't think that I would call it the best place to raise a child. Which begs the question, "How did Malden win the honors of being named the best city in Massachusetts to raise children?"

The honors came from Business Week and the article can read by clicking here So why did Malden win? I think that it has a lot to do with the fact that Malden has all beautiful, new, well-equipped K-8 schools. Only the High School is old. I think the reason Malden was the beneficiary of brand new schools a few years back was because Malden is the home for the State Board of Education. It's kind of like the old saying about the smoothest road in a city being the one the mayor lives on. The best schools in the state are where the State Board of Education resides. I'm happy for Malden that it won this honor. I just feel the need to disagree. And that's coming from a child who was raised there.

bloggers have no life

This is something I have heard recently as I've ventured into the blogging world. And I've heard it from a couple of different people. I have asked, "What do you mean?" They respond by saying something about how they don't have time to read or write blogs. They're too busy. Their lives are just far too important for such menial things. The irony is that if you're reading this blog right now, you're obviously not one of those people, so they'll never see what I say. None-the-less, I would like to clear up this misconception. It's not that people don't have time to write or read blogs. It's simply that they choose to use their time on different things. I mean, what are they so busy doing that constitutes having a life when they have free time? Watching TV? Catching a movie? Reading a book? I mean, seriously, they have the same 24 hours in a day that I do. It's not my fault if they don't do well with time management. I usually write my blogs when I'm doing something else (e.g. watching football, not my own team of course). I also write a bunch of blogs all at once and only post one a day. I do most of my writing on down time during the weekend. I love to write. When I get going, I can write for hours. But each blog doesn't take all that long for me to write. I like to write. You like to read. (If you didn't you probably wouldn't be reading this.) It seems that I have no reason to stop. Silly people.

no fun league

Whatever happened to the NFL being physical? Football has lost some of its luster in my opinion. They've become the No Fun League with pansy rules. If a defender so much as looks at the quarterback the wrong way, a personal foul, 15-yard flag is thrown. Are quarterbacks not players too? Why can't they just let them play? There are also a number of other situations that call for bogus "too physical" flags. It's ridiculous. The other thing that makes the league no fun is how they flag and fine players for celebrating. I don't understand why it's such a big deal. I think it's funny when a player creatively celebrates a touchdown. It used to be that I couldn't wait to watch the celebration highlights on ESPN on Sunday nights. Let them celebrate! I understand the need for rules and structure, but they've made the game a whole lot less fun. All that said, I still love my Patriots, and won't stop watching football no matter what.

road rage

As I've previously posted about, people can be absolutely crazy drivers. Though I hate it when people act out in road rage, it's kind of funny to see how immature people can become. Let me list some examples.

• Windshield Washer War - This one has always humored me. It's when a driver pulls in front of a driver their mad at for whatever reason and intentionally spray them with their windshield washer fluid. I think some people angle their windshield wiper fluid specifically to use it in a road rage situation.
• Cut Back - It's funny to me when someone gets cut off and gets the "I'll show them" mentality. They whip around the car that cut them off and jerk in front of them. What happened to when we were kids and two wrongs didn't make a right?
• The Slow Down - One annoying thing in traffic is when someone starts tailgating you. Even more annoying is when they flash you with their high beams. This is when many people humor me with the slow down. They intentionally slow down so as to trap the flasher in traffic.
• The Old-Fashioned Flip - When someone lacks creativity and ability to get back, they often resort to the old-fashioned flip of the bird. This shows no class whatsoever. I laugh when it's done to me.

There are other comedic responses, but those are the most common ones I can think of. I encourage you to just laugh it off when these things happen to you instead of trying to get even.

lincoln logs, legos, and such

Kids these days don't know haw to have any fun. They just sit around playing video games and watching TV. They still might have toys, but not good ones. When I was a kid I used to play with real toys. We also used to play real games. I remember playing with lincoln logs and legos. What creativity they taught me. I remember playing cars for hours at a time. I had the little green army men and Transformers. I miss those. Especially the lincoln logs. Not only did we play with cooler toys, but we were much more active. My brother, friends, and I used to go down to the Forestdale school and play baseball every day of the summer. When I was young, all the neighborhood kids used to come out and play a big game of hide and go seek, tag, and such. Back when parents would say, "You come home, you stay home," so all the kids would stay outside playing until parents called us home for dinner. I guess I just feel bad for kids these days. They just sit in front of the idiot box all day long and are deprived of real fun. Meanwhile, I wish I could go back to those times of old again.

bad business

It's not uncommon to see a business established on quality become "big" and "popular." It makes sense. I mean, if a business is good, people will tell friends who will tell friends, and so on. It's the old adage: the best advertisement is word of mouth. Unfortunately, it seems that when many businesses become "big" and "popular," they tend to lose the sight of what got them there. It's like the owner/executives become so obsessed with popularity, ratings, sales, etc. that they become obsessed with it and focus more on that than the things which led to the quality that made their name for them in the first place. Restaurants are notoriously guilty for this. They start out with quality food, service, and value which causes their business to explode. Then, they feel like people will come regardless and the value slips. A perfect example of this is Hilltop Steakhouse in Saugus. The food there used to be amazing. You would wait in line forever to eat, but it was worth it. People still frequent Hilltop but only because it's name is already well known. Most leave unsatisfied. TV stations and shows are also often guilty of this. ESPN built itself as a quality outlet for all things sports. Now that they're big, they just have a bunch of talking heads who are usually wrong. They also have a lot of unfunny anchors who think they're comedians, which is a different topic for a different day I guess. This is certainly not always the case as places like Kelly's Roast Beef and Seafood have maintained excellent quality over the years. But this is more like the exception that proves the rule. Many more places tend to live on their name instead of product than not. I only hope that I don't lose quality on this blog. If I start posting garbage full of fluff and no thought, let me know.

every rose has it's thorn...

...just as every group of girls has a loud, annoying one. Is that not how the song goes? Oh well. It doesn't change my opinion on the matter. I first noticed this in high school and then again in college. It seems that every time I see a group of girls, there's one who feels the need to be loud and obnoxious. And I don't think it's a coincidence. Let me explain. The annoying girl is usually the one who speaks for the entire group using words like "we" and "us" instead of "I" and "me." For example, A guy walks by a table of attractive girls and makes some kind of joking comment to Pretty Girl 1. Pretty Girl 1 giggles and tosses her hair. Obnoxious Girl then makes some typical comment to the guy like, "You know you want us." Notice the first person plural pronoun "us." As I said, I don't think it's a mistake or coincidence. And notice that the girl isn't the one who was spoken to. I think that it is a result of the fact that Obnoxious Girl feels the need to be attached to the Pretty Girls. It's like attractive/popular by association or something. My theory is that this is generally the result of low self-esteem by Obnoxious Girl. And Obnoxious Girl doesn't realize that if she weren't loud and obnoxious, she'd fit in better with the Pretty Girls. Please do not confuse this to say that all loud, obnoxious girls are ugly or that no pretty girls are loud and obnoxious. I've already stated in "wedding day beauty" that attractiveness is often dependent on self-confidence. This is just something I've noticed a number of times within a group of girls.