Lost in Boston: Everett Edition

My commute is pretty boring. Drive across Roxbury for 10 minutes. Hop on Rt. 93 for about 100m. Go through a tunnel. Switch to Rt. 90. Go through a tunnel. Drive by the airport. Go up Rt. 1A for 20 minutes with two circles. Make a couple turns onto crappy roads in Lynn.

On the way home, it's basically the same, except for the $3.50 airport tunnel toll and the death merge onto Rt. 93. I come up on the left side and have just about a mile to get across five lanes of rush hour traffic to the right hand exit only lane to Roxbury. Luckily, traffic is usually crawling and people are surprisingly friendly about letting me get all the way over. *Usually.

Anyways, with a few weeks of co-op under my belt, I've tried out a few different routes for the return trip. The most obvious is to take Rt. 1 and the Tobin Bridge instead of the airport tunnel. Tobin is more scenic than the tunnel, and with the E-Z Pass discount it's $2.50. Unfortunately that brings me around the Levitt Circle Connector of Death. Which. Does. Not. Move. after 5:30pm.

Tobin Bridge - old and beautiful

If I survive the Connector, I have two options: (1) right exit ramp onto Storrow Drive, which drops me by Fenway/old apartment/school or (2) continuing straight onto Zakim Bridge and the parking lot that is Rt. 93 passing directly under downtown Boston.

Neither are great options. Storrow moves once you're on it, but I've spent more than 15 minutes sitting on the 3/4 mi long, one lane exit ramp. With option 2, you have four lanes and you think you're moving at first, and as soon as you're past the world's largest suspension bridge, you stop. Being stuck underground is actually worse than being stuck on an exit ramp. After 3 excruciating miles in the tunnel, you emerge to see the black sky (because it's winter, the only time I see daylight is my morning commute) and realize you're in the death merge. You might think there is an advantage since I can start in the right hand lane and will only have to merge once to get to the exit only lane, but it's actually easier to get across five lanes then to come out of the tunnel and make forward progress.

Zakim Bridge - sleek and modern

Soooo...I tried an alternate route. I decided to hop off Rt. 1 before the Tobin Bridge to avoid the fine, and make my way across one of the smaller, free bridges that cross the Charles. I failed. I'm posting belatedly, and I can't even remember how I got so utterly lost, so I drew a picture of what it felt like. Enjoy.

Holiday Giving Guide

Justin and I just finished decorating our first tree together! (pic coming soon) This is a non-official guide of charities I like. Feel free to support any and all of them!

Special Olympics Maryland - After plunging 2003-2010, I will be missing the January Chesapeake Bay plunge again this year :( SOMD is a great org and my cousins have participated in their sports programs.

Girls on the Run DC - I coached the Oyster Bilingual 3rd grade team in 2009 and 2010.

National Zoo - I've been a member for years and have enjoyed discounts to ZooLights and Brew at the Zoo. Always a great place to visit and wander around!

Friendship Place - In the three years I worked here, Friendship Place grew quickly and now provides housing and supportive services to 192 formerly homeless people!

Children's Law Center - where I’m currently working on co-op. We provide direct legal services to children dealing with abuse and neglect, delinquency charges, foster care, and immigration issues. Plus, we have a brand new online donation option that I set up this week.

Hunger Site - I love this site. You perform a few quick clicks and a sponsor will donate every day. I also have a bunch of goats from here.

DC Furies, GWWRFC, Beantown - my rugby teams. The Furies are 501(c)(3). The GW girls are gearing up for a run at Nationals after last year’s trip to the sweet 16. Beantown is a perennial top team and working on getting 501(c)(3) certification.

My New Job!

I'm on co-op at the Children's Law Center of Massachusetts, and loving it. Here's the negatives - it's located in Lynn and the supposed 35 minute commute takes more like 55+ minutes plus a toll bridge/tunnel to get home. And the intern office doesn't have any windows and because it's winter that means 0 daylight. That's it.

Otherwise, co-op is awesome. A few attorneys have been there for 10+ years and have a ton of institutional knowledge, something I've learned to value since other places I've worked have lacked it. There are two young attorneys, one from NUSL 2010, that show me exactly the type of work I could be doing in 2 years. I've been able to sit in on client meetings and attend special ed IEP team meetings. I'm learning a ton about Dept. of Youth Services and Dept. of Children and Families and what happens to kids when they're expelled (37H and 37H 1/2). I'll have more updates on what I'm doing on co-op as the quarter continues.