Tuesday, June 09, 2009

Oops, it's sorta been a while, huh? And Extended Rapid Transit Service in Boston!

Well, all I can say for myself is that I was thrilled not to be near a computer again for a while after my first semester ended. Seriously. That and the fact that I am basically a Facebook whore. I do all my updates there nowadays. There must be some way to link Facebook updates to blog updates. I'll have to look into that.

Also, I have REALLY been enjoying the weather. I love warm weather! Well, I've been enjoying the warm, sunny weather. I have not been enjoying the raininess, but that's OK. We need it. The spring took its sweet time, and it looks like the summer is, too. Dan and I haven't had to put the AC into the window yet, which is definitely a record for us. In the past, we almost always have it up in May. Now we're nearly halfway through June and haven't needed it yet. It's been quite mild.

Well, the update that I'm sure everyone knows but I haven't written about it here yet is that Dan and I are engaged :) That was a such a surprise. And I have a lovely ring! TOTALLY unexpected.

You may know that I have a penchant for reading about urban planning and redevelopment. The city of Boston has long been trying to connect the two branches of the Silver Line between New England Medical Center and South Station, and also expand it further south to serve a broader population and get into that vast zone between the Orange Line in Roxbury/JP and the Red Line in Dorchester. However, due to budgetary concerns, those plans had been put on hold. Excitingly, the State of Massachusetts was approved for a stimulus money to improve the public transit in this way. The idea is that we can't put in an underground line there, as many completely developed cities cannot. However, on Blue Hill Ave. we happen to be able to remove medians and expand the road to include a dedicated bus lane. In this way, the city of Boston as well as the US Government Executive Office of Transportation hopes that this project can serve as a model to other US cities for increasing the availability and reliability of public transportation. See the project plan here: http://www.eot.state.ma.us/downloads/direct_connect/BRT-Brochure.pdf