Granola bars, Canada, Officer Mike with a Mommy, and more!

So yea, I've been kinda slacking at this for the past few days. I've been traveling a lot from DC to Detroit to Boston and my laptop screen died :-( which is kinda putting a hold on my blog. However, I've got a moment here at the hotel, so I'll give the DL on Boston so far...

I must say that first of all, we are all still alive, which I find impressive. I was sure that between Armen, Nikki, and I that one of us would've gone nuts within the first day or so.

Back to the title of this blog, after the first two days we have amassed our own Boston vocab to describe different people, places, and things. It just helps all of us remember. Each one has a story of it's own:

"Granola Bar": Armen's short term that we use for some apartments in Malden because it sounds similar. It's got a beautiful view of the Boston skyline, but it looks like the area surrounding it might be a little more sketch. The place has a TON of stuff too (even handball courts) as well as social events and plenty of people our age. It might be worth it, and it's about as close as Canada...

"Canada": I coined this for one of the apartments in Waltham since they're called the Windsor Apartments, and Windsor is right across the border from Detroit in Canada (Of course the two Cali kids didn't get it, but it works lol). Canada is farther too, but also quieter (hah). Couldn't really tell how many young people lived there, but it was also very nice and overlooked a pond. It's still in the running with Granola Bar...

"Pville Pond": Another place in Waltham that wasn't open when we got there, but it looked really nice. It was on a pond that apparently looks like one in Pville to Nikki, so she coined the term.

"Kitty Castlewood": The last place in Waltham, also closed for today. Nikki named it based on the stripper name she made up with. According to what Nikki has heard, your stripper name is (name of childhood pet + street you grew up on). Very clever. Anyways, Nikki thought the area kinda looked like the street she grew up on.

"Crack House by the Sea": This is actually a clash of terms that describes one place that was really beautiful. It was right on a bay with a beach nearby and a harbor walk. It had several nice apartments that were reasonable with great grounds (it actually was built on the edge of a park).

However, based on some research and the word from the cops (see below), Dorchester is NOT the place to be ("You'll be shot in a month", said one officer) and this place was smack dab in the middle.

Although it doesn't say anything about crack houses, another place we saw had a review that said they literally found a crack house in the bottom floor of the apartment, so we skipped that one. Then the crack house term stuck with this one on the bay, maybe because of what the cop hinted at with low income housing in the complex. Scratch another one off the list.

"Officer Mike with a mommy": By far my favorite part of today. We were at an Au Bon Pain in Cambridge grabbing a sandwich for lunch. Armen was talking to Nikki about how we need to call some police offices to find out what crime and safety is like in the different neighborhoods. Armen then sees the Cambridge Police sitting in the same restaurant and says, "Why don't we just ask them?" Before Nikki and I can say anything, Armen starts chatting it up with the cops. There were three guys, and they all had great advice (as well as funny accents).

Turns out that Dorchester and Roxbury are to be avoided:

"Roxbury?...(laughter)"
"I wouldn't drive through there without my gun" and then another said "Hell I wouldn't drive through there WITH my gun"
"Your car will be broken into within a month...no a week"
"That damn Section 8...you'll be paying $1400 and they guy next door's paying $68 you know?"
"They have crack parties then they come over and break into your car"

They also had some great advice about good places to live. They told us most of the areas to the north were better to look into. Now we're going to focus in on that to try and find some more places. They even tried to sell us on Belmont, mainly because Officer Mike's mom has been trying to rent a room in the house with her father there for 6 months. "You'd be crazy not to take this!" I mean the area was nice and the price was good, but it might just be a backup. We might be seeing it tomorrow.

That's enough of the dictionary, what else? Oh yea, the car. After Nikki and Armen upgraded it, the thing DIED in the middle of the road (while driving) in Boston. That was fun! Luckily we pulled over and found a Hertz place to switch out the car. It's a lower grade and in worse shape, plus we could've been killed! Armen's going to give them a piece of his mind tomorrow. Hopefully we can get a discount.

Alright, enough of that. See Nikki's post on her blog for more info. I'm sure she'll cover all the funny accents, the crazy drivers, and how annoying Armen and I are. Stay tuned...

-StM