JDC

I'm a grad student, so my commute varies. Some days I take a bus or a combination of bus and rail to my internship in downtown Boston. Some days I walk, bike, or take the bus to campus. Other days I work at home.

Whoa. I've missed a lot on here. There are controls in place that are intended to protect the interests of both downtown Durham theatres. The city and staff of both venues have met extensively throughout the last year or so and have a pretty good understanding of how to operate with respect to one another. Lucky for both that they're not very close in size, so the DPAC will likely attract "bigger" acts that could fill 2000+ seats while the Carolina, at about 1000 seats, will continue to present musical and comedy acts like Steven Wright, Bela Fleck & The Flecktones, Lou Reed, Ladysmith Black Mambazo, Ani DiFranco, Joe Sample, Arlo Guthrie, DL Hughley, etc. AND fulfill its mission as a non-profit theatre by producing the lesser-known (children's shows, international artists, and so on...), AND continue to lease to local institutions (Durham Symphony, NC Youth Tap Ensemble, Cat's Cradle, etc.) Each theatre has a pretty good idea of what shows fit their venue, but as an artist's popularity (and fees) change, an up-and-comer that appeared at The Carolina Theatre in 2005 might be better suited to appear in the DPAC in 2009. Like John Legend. A little insider info: Summer is the slow season at the Carolina, hence the shutdown. Staff spends most of its time preparing for the NC Gay & Lesbian Film Festival and gearing up for the upcoming season of Carolina Theatre-produced live events, which typically goes from September through May or June. Anyway, I think the new theatre could be a good thing for Durham in long term. There will be some difficulty attracting some people to mean, scary downtown Durham as there always has been, and the two theatres may not be on the same track at all times. But Durham's reputation on the national scale will grow, and all venues in the area will benefit.

Quincy is definitely a good place to look. Revere and East Boston might be a bit of a culture shock for a midwesterner. I'd recommend Newton too, but for really car-free living Cleveland Circle, parts of Cambridge, some of the aforementioned areas in Dorchester... JP is probably headed out of a lot of people's price ranges, but worth checking out. One good rule to stick by: if you want to live without a car, go where the students are. Very few have cars, and if you're near a college campus (well, I guess there's a college on every corner in this town) then there's likely plenty of other amenities nearby.

Wow, the last post on here was from the day of the D branch accident? Yikes. Speaking of the D branch, I was a little put off yesterday when they decided to go from Newton Center station express to Riverside when I was already running late. I take it they do this because one train is running a little behind and the one behind them is ahead of schedule? They pull this stunt at Harvard Station sometimes, running express to Alewife. How much time can you actually save by not stopping at Porter and Davis if you have to go through the stations at about 5 MPH anyway?

NPR's The Diane Rehm Show on WAMU.

They ought to get a big, scary drill sergeant-type guy on there who, every 30 minutes or so, should shout "LET'S SEE THOSE TICKETS!" Those who don't produce a ticket should be forced to do 20 push-ups.

DC's Metro seems to always be perfectly lined up with the wait times. I don't recall seeing countdowns in Boston, but I've been out of the hub for a few years now. What's the story with transit-oriented development around LYNX stations? Is a lot of the land around the stations already under contract by developers? I know here in the Triangle investors laid claim to a lot of space surrounding proposed transit stops. Unfortunately the trains are still on hold.

Great to hear about NC's first light rail system! I'm looking forward to riding LYNX when I'm in Charlotte for the Thunder Road marathon next month.

I'm listening to my boss talk about how college basketball is superior to the NBA.

^ That song has been tarnished by the Sopranos finale. Anyone use Pandora Radio (www.pandora.com)? It's not bad for background noise. Just put in the name of an artist and it'll play stuff that sounds like that artist.

North Carolina Public Radio

It makes sense. The core is really hot, perhaps so hot maybe it's light in weight, like a gas? I'm not a geologist, so perhaps what I said is laughable.

I love how the city is becoming even more of a baseball mecca. They ought to consider moving the College World Series here, especially as there's talk of tearing down Omaha's Rosenblatt Stadium. In a story on ESPN a month or so ago, they listed Durham's DBAP, among other Triple-A parks, as one of the newer, nicer ballparks that the NCAA might consider...

Wilco's Sky Blue Sky