Politico

M&Ms

Who can avoid following politics when the characters are so weird?

Recently Republican VP nominee Palin was interviewed by Katie Couric. Here are clips from the real interview.



As you can probably figure out, it sounds like Palin dances around Couric's questions and offers many generalizations. Sure, many of us may do that in our own interviews or in day to day situations, but most of us are not running for the high-profile position of the VP of the United States are we? Plus, I think she wants to appear to be down to earth with her colloquial style, but it doesn't really inspire confidence in her. Hilary on the other hand would've been able to answer these questions in a forceful manner. That's just her style. Maybe Palin will win some pity points from people who feel sorry for her.

Here's the SNL spoof of the real interview.



You'll only understand the references and the inside jokes when you see both side by side.

Happy Tuesday!

Glad

Reeds

You know what? I'm kind of glad that I stayed in the photography class instead of dropping. I am enjoying the prints we get to make. This past Saturday I enlarged a picture from an itsy-bitsy negative. That's pretty cool. I like dipping the paper into the paper developer chemicals and seeing a picture magically appear.

California Academy of Sciences Grand Opening

Unveiling

The California Academy of Sciences in San Francisco's Golden Gate Park opened its door yesterday. It had been closed for years in order to retrofit the building and make it sustainable. I haven't been inside yet, but the architecture looks cool. There is also a "living roof" on top of the building, which makes it unique.

This natural history museum is a "must visit" for all kids who have gone through the San Francisco school system. I remember going there on field trips and looking at their dioramas and waiting excitedly to get on the museum's sole "ride", which was a little platform that shook to emulate the strength of the April 18, 1906 earthquake. Ah, memories!

Goody good gumdrops!

Big Aztec-y Head

This big Aztec-y head I found close to the art building at City College.
By the way, I am so proud of myself. I didn't get yelled at in class today.
It's time to schlafen, to dormire, to sleep.

Viva La Forensic Accountant

Going home is such a nice feeling, especially when you've been working tres hard and miss your vegetables. I haven't been able to find too many places that serve veggies close to where the client is located. The closest thing to it has been the veggie delite subway sandwiches I had for lunch.

Funny thing happened on the way to the elevator this morning. I was walking there, greeted the other person who was already waiting there with a "Good morning". Then he answers back "Ni hao ma", which is Mandarin for hello. I was slightly offended. How dare he assume I am a foreigner! Not everyone who looks Chinese is from China. That should be especially clear to him here in California. I don't even speak Mandarin!
Maybe I should just chill out, but it ruffles my feathers that people think I'm not "American" enough. I think it's a common problem amongst Asians though.

You may be wondering about the title of today's post. It refers to this article I read about forensic accounting. Read it here. Above you'll also find some pics from the San Diego airport as I was waiting for my flight back to SF. In the picture at the right, my feet are happy to be breathing fresh air. In the picture at the left, I actually remember that Asian guy from three years ago when I commuted to San Diego weekly. Feels like deja vu.

I know I'm rambling in this blog post, but please indulge me. I'm tired from thinking logically during the work day. ;-P

Residence Inn

Kitchenette

Today was less crazy than yesterday. First days in a new location are always very rough because of waking up early for flights and then figuring out how to maneuver around a new area.

I'm staying at the Residence Inn at Scripps Poway. This is a hotel for people who travel a lot. I think that's why they have built in kitchenettes, many commons areas for people to gather around a TV, free breakfast, complimentary light meals from 5-7 PM and free parking.

This is the anti-thesis of your downtown hotels where parking your car costs a fortune.

The hotel even offers a free grocery shopping service. You give the hotel staff a shopping list and they go shopping. It's charged to your room. This is if you want to cook your own meals. Interesting concept. That's a great service. There are fast food chains close to the hotel like Chilis and Wendy's. I checked out Chili's but the food was not for me. Too burgery. I wanted something warm but not sandwich-like. I get enough sandwiches at lunch. There is a Subway's about 2 blocks away. When in Rome, do as the Romans do, right? So in typical Southern Californian fashion, I drove to grab my lunch.

The reason for this is that there are no sidewalks here and I did not want to get run over by cars. Despite this oddity, people seem to be nicer than up in NorCal. Maybe it's true that people down in southern regions where it's warmer just have sunnier dispositions and are cheerier and more easy going.

Tomorrow afternoon I get to go back to my cold and windy SF. Yay! (No sarcasm dripping here!)

SoCal

Welcome to Southern California where people drive a block to pick up food because the streets are not designed for pedestrians and where people are laid back.

More on SoCal culture and my random observations tomorrow. In the meantime, here's a picture of the place I'm staying. Not too shabby. It's functional.

I'm off to see the wizard

Blur

I'm not actually off to see the wonderful Wizard of Oz as you might have imagined, but I am going to the greater San Diego region for a work. I've got to wake up bright and early tomorrow morning for a 1.5 hour flight and then will have to pick up a rental car to drive to the client site. If only America would develop better public transportation systems, then we wouldn't have to pollute the air with our personal cars! Just a thought.

By the way, the picture above is of a blur. The pink happy face person is waving a crimson scarf. The way to capture a blur is to have your shutter speed pretty slow like 1/20 of a second in order to capture the blur. For stop action, your shutter speed needs to be fast at perhaps 1/500 of a second.

Movement - panning

Picture A_________________Picture B__________________ Picture C

Today I ventured out of my office building to try panning. See the results above. I had to test out this technique many times before I got anything close to the effect I was envisioning. The picture in the center is likely going to be the one I turn in for my assignment, which is due October 4. One reason I like it is that it the cable car is sharp, but the background is streaked and blurry indicating movement. However, the blurry black car that is trying to race the cable car is also good for comparison. It shows old technology (cable car) against the new (perhaps a BMW or a Mercedes). Which one do you like? Please vote in my survey. Every vote counts! :-)

Jump!

I believe I can fly

My next photo assignment is to capture movement in the picture. Digital photography students like myself are expected to turn in 3 prints. One picture should capture stop action like this jump pictured above. The second picture should be of a blur due to movement and finally, the last shot should show the panning technique. Panning will be the most difficult for me because I've never done it before. You recognize panning when a moving subject is sharp and in focus, but the background is blurred. Although it's new for me and I'm not entirely comfortable panning, I'm up for trying it out. You know you're learning when something pushes you out of your comfort zone.

Anyway, to shift gears, I've noticed that Oktoberfest has just opened this Saturday, September 20. Why does Oktoberfest start in September you may ask yourself? Well, according to the official Oktoberfest website, it has to do with the weather being better in September, which encourages people to linger longer in the beer gardens. The first Oktoberfest started in 1810 to celebrate the marriage of Bavarian prince Ludwig to a princess named Therese.

If you go to the Oktoberfest, you're encouraged to wear Tracht, the traditional Bavarian costume. Keep in mind that this costume is characteristic only of the Southern German areas like Bavaria. Germans in Northern Germany don't really wear this stuff, although many people probably think it's a pan-German thing.

An analogy is with the cowboy look in Texas. Imagine if the foreigners had this stereotype that all Americans dress like cowboys. (Oh, the horror of the thought!) It's a similar thing. Bavaria is so large and rich with traditions that people think it represents the whole country.

Bump on a log

Playhouse

Here's a picture of a very colorful house close to City College. It's such an eye catcher with its bright colors and mural of the Virgin of Guadalupe. I think the mural is done really well because when I drove past it, I thought a cloth with the picture of the Virgin was hanging on the front of the house wall. Actually if you look closely at the picture, you'll notice it's just a painting.

Today I went to photography class and was a bump on log. That's the only way to avoid being scolded by the instructor. :-) I'm curious about my classmates and what they do for their day jobs. Some of them are students, but others have full time jobs. I found out that this one girl works for Petco and a woman works as a high school teacher.

This photography class has introduced me to the traditional darkroom and all the processes associated with it. For example, I have helped process film and today I made a contact sheet. Seeing how many steps are involved in processing film, I have a new appreciation for how easy digital photography is. Gone are the hours spent processing film or developing a print. To process film, you have to go through a 4 step process that can be broken down into the following general steps:

1. Develop
2. Stop bath
3. Fix
4. Wash

There are many chemicals and rules involved. Last Saturday I was in a darkroom trying to measure the temperature of my water, mix chemistry, and pay attention to the time in a very cramped space with a lab partner. Plus, when you first place the film in a reel, you have to do it in the dark because film is light sensitive. It was just crazy in there! The only good thing is that now I have a story to tell people if they ask. :-)

Neighborhood - Blue Collar

Lock and Key

Here is the last picture in my neighborhood series, I promise. :-)
This is a photo of the old Schlage lock factory that used to be headquartered in this neighborhood. It has been closed for many years now and there are always occasional meetings held about how to use this land. It would be great if it could be turned into a nice area for shopping and relaxing like the Ferry Building. Perhaps that is expecting too much.

By the way, I went to Banana Republic today to see what type of clothes they were selling this fall season and I was not impressed. The clothes were all 70's inspired silky thingies that are supposed to pass for professional tops. If there's one thing I don't like, then it's silky tops! Since when did it become appropriate to wear shiny and shimmery clothes out? It reminds me more of underwear and intimate wear. In addition to the silky tops, I saw some of the sweaters with big plastic buttons on them that just looked incredibly cheap. The only thing I saw in the store that was decent was a pair of trousers, but I didn't buy anything today. Maybe I will have more luck at J. Crew.

Actually, I don't like shopping much. I only go shopping if I have specific purchases in mind. Acquiring material things don't make us any happier. Let's just face the facts. It may make us happier for a brief moment when we have new shiny baubles and toys to play with, but this type of happiness is fleeting. Accomplishing goals that you've worked hard towards, learning something new or having a good conversation with friends is much more rewarding in my humble opinion. But all of these things take time that we are all short on, so we substitute this with shopping. It's quick and provides instant, albeit brief gratification. It's all about instant gratification these days, unfortunately. Similar to the slow food movement, I propose that we all start and support the delayed gratification movement.

Neighborhood - Diversity

Caterwauling

This is a picture of a street fair in Leland Street, which serves as a sort of downtown for this neighborhood. You can visit the library here, buy some groceries from a Latino owned store, grab a cup of tea, buy some Chinese pastries or a Chinese language newspaper.

The people you see above are singing Cantonese opera. If any of you have heard Chinese opera, you'll know that the singing is horrid and usually very high pitched. Anyway, this is what they were performing.

Speaking of Chinese people, have you heard about the whole tainted milk story in China? Apparently some companies that process milk put some weird chemicals into the milk and some babies died. I think that is the only way to get the Chinese to pay attention to the quality of their products. Unfortunately they are too profit driven and often have no morals when it's about making more money. I don't trust Chinese food products. They probably put lead into it or something else quite nasty.

Neighborhood - Urban Renewal

Downtown

This is a picture of the "train" station that stops close by. For the uninitiated, San Francisco's public transportation system consists of buses and the subway/light rail run by MUNI. The subway trains tend to run faster than the buses. The city decided to build this Third Street light rail to connect the economically depressed southeast corner of the city to downtown. We don't even have a Starbucks on any corner in the 'hood. ;-) You know your neighborhood's been yuppified once the coffee chains start moving in. That's what we're all waiting for - yuppification so that the real estate values will increase. Slowly, we're seeing signs of it though.

This connection is supposed to revive the area and help the businesses in the area as well. While I'm not sure if the businesses have felt a positive impact since this subway line has been introduced, it does offer the residents in this neighborhood some more public transportation options. This is a good thing as Martha Stewart used to say.

Aside from the light rail, you also have the buses. This neighborhood is served by the number 9 bus, which is usually packed to the rafters with Chinese people trying to get to Chinatown to do their grocery shopping. There has been a shift in the demographics of the number 9 bus riders. Many moons ago, there were more African Americans on the bus. Now their numbers have dwindled. Either they are using the subway more, or many have left the neighborhood.

Although this area is very ethnically diverse, tensions between the groups is ever present. This is unavoidable, regardless of where you go in the City. It's just a given when so many people from different backgrounds co-habitate and share space with each other.

The 9

Neighborhood - Bird's Eye View

From Above

This is a picture of my neighborhood from up above.

What do I have to report today? Nothing earth-shattering. The weather has started to cool down so that we have a brisk little breeze every morning. It's the mark of the coming autumn.

Okay, enough philosophizing. I've gotta work some overtime.

Welcome to my 'hood

Street sign

For my photography class, I need to shoot pictures of a neighborhood. It doesn't necessarily need to be my own, so I could've chosen neighborhoods that are easy to photograph like Chinatown, Nob Hill or the Haight. However, I chose to challenge myself by taking pictures of my own little neighborhood.

Over the next few days you will see a number of photos that feature scenes around the neighborhood. It will be accompanied by my witty commentary as always. ;-)

First let me start by saying that most people who have lived in San Francisco for a long time have never heard of my neighborhood. It's largely residential and the people who live here come from very diverse backgrounds. You have Asians, African Americans, Latinos, Filipinos, etc. all coexisting here. Caucasians are minorities in this part of town. This is one of the reasons that this part of the city has a rough reputation. Of the few people who have heard of this neighborhood, they think it's very dangerous with gangbangers on every corner. Actually I've lived here almost all of my life and it's not THAT bad.

P.S. - For all you political junkies out there who missed Tina Fey's impersonation of Sarah Palin on Saturday Night Live, check it out here on Salon.com > Click here. It's quite funny and she is a deadringer.

Psychedelic

Magic Mushrooms & More

Well, I think I'm going to stick with the photography class for now. I reached this decision based on monetary considerations. In other words, the college would not refund me any monies if I were to drop now. :-)

Today I went to the De Young Museum in Golden Gate Park in order to catch the Chihuly exhibit there. It's wildly popular because his art is easy on the eyes and very visually interesting and colorful. Just check out some of the pictures I took here.

My only complaint is that there were too many people, which made it hard to get a good shot. I take a long time to compose my pictures, but unfortunately when there are large crowds, I just don't have the luxury of looking at these things from 10 different angles.

Also, I went around my 'hood to take pictures for my neighborhood photography assignment. For class, I need to take 24 digital pictures of my neighborhood. Some turned out okay. I think I still need some more good ones though. I now set my camera to manual mode, meaning I have to set both aperture and shutter speed. Yikes! That's why it takes me doubly long to take a picture nowadays.

Insane

Piles of stuff

I've got piles of stuff to sort through as pictured above. It's from spending a week in Orlando. After that I need to seriously consider if I want to continue my photography class on Saturdays. The elements of insane instructor and time commitment required are forcing me to make this decision.

I am learning a lot of good stuff, but I don't enjoy the classroom atmosphere that's governed by fear. Morale is in the dumps. People are afraid to even move in class for fear of making noise. There's too much drama around a little class like that. Here's an example for you to quantify the issue. On the first day, we had 30 people in class. Today, we ended up with 12. Talk about attrition!

Orlando - No water for you ...

US Airways

... unless you pay of course!
I am back in San Francisco now. Thank (insert your deity of choice here)!

My flight back was only ok since I had to take US Airways back. When I told people I was flying with this airline, they warned me that the airline's not that good. During my flight, I noticed that their planes were older and the leg room is less in comparison to United planes. Also, here's the kicker - you have to pay for your drinks! What a notion! I didn't buy their $2 water on the plane. Instead I bought it at an airport store. Okay, maybe price-wise it wasn't much of a saving, but I was just shocked that water would not be free. I learned my lesson this time.

Orlando - Universal Studios

This is the next to last day at AU, thank goodness! There IS such a thing as too much togetherness. Plus, I am very much looking forward to sleeping in my own room. I am not much of a fan of sharing rooms.

So today's entertainment after classes was Universal Studios, which they closed down just for us to go on the rides. I went on a Mummy ride, Twister and Shrek 4. The Mummy ride was the most wild of the three. I screamed my head off and closed my eyes. :-) Here are some pictures from Universal Studios.

Orlando - Let the games begin!

Wannabe Rockstar

Today's entertainment after a day of courses consisted of games such as pinball, other arcade type games and Wii games. I tried Wii for the first time in my life today. Tennis was my first game, which I was absolutely no good at. Then I discovered my secret strength - faux boxing. I KO'ed this guy and a colleague of mine from the NYC office. It was fun and tiring! Actually after that little work out, I got a leg cramp.

In addition to games, they had a karaoke stage where wannabe rockstars like the guy above could test out their entertaining skills. It's a very dark picture, I know.

Orlando - Settling in

Hotel Reception

So I survived my first full day of Advisory University (AU)! Basically it's kind of like college where you get to select your classes. I like this system much better than what they had in Tax. At AU you're supposed to increase your technical skills and expand your network (that means introduce yourself to others with drink in hand).

I went to the gym in the hotel this morning. Wow! The equipment was so new and there were so many of them. I used the elliptical for 30 minutes.

Also, I entitled this blog entry "Settling in" because it always takes me a while to feel comfortable in a new location, strange bed and new routine. Now I've acclimated a bit, know where to find things etc.

Here's a bonus pic since I missed yesterday. No image correction cuz I don't have Photoshop on my work laptop!

:-)

Sorry no pic today. I had to wake up at 3 AM this morning to catch a flight to Orlando, FL and am pooped. Need some shut-eye now. So far no hurricane fears, and none are expected. I will try to take some pics tomorrow when I get a chance and post them. Hotel looks nice so far. I have to share a room, but so far have not seen my roomie. Hopefully we'll be on opposite schedules. Haha!In case you're wondering, weather is terribly muggy, humid and nasty, exactly how I don't like it.

Boston - Fare Thee Well

Happy Dance

On the penultimate day of our stay in Boston, I visited the Museum of Fine Arts. It was somewhat difficult to find things to do that day since it was Labor Day and some museums were closed. Luckily this one was open. I spent hours upon hours wandering through the beautifully decorated rooms, admiring the art gracing the walls. This museum pays attention to details and it definitely shows. Each area that features art from different parts of the world are decorated differently. For example, in the Asian art area, the interior had an Asian-y feel to it that's hard to articulate. In the Islamic art hall, the windows had intricate designs in it. This was quite impressive.

The museum has an extensive collection of art ranging from European Impressionists to American colonial artists, African art and Asian art. In addition, there was a little area devoted to contemporary art. I'm glad the museum allows pictures, just no flash. The picture above for instance is of Renoir's "Dance at Bougival" (1883). This is one of the museum's most famous paintings. You almost see the movement in the woman's dress and the sweeping movement of their dance.

After spending 3 hours in the museum, we took the "T", Boston's subway, to the North End, where we wanted to get dessert for the day. My friend who has lived in Boston for 3 years told us about Mike's Pastry. Apparently that is where everyone HAS to go in order to get a cannoli. We wanted to be in with the "in-crowd", so off we went to Hanover Street to find Mike's Pastry and get us one of those desserts. Here's a picture of the two I ordered.


The filling was a too rich for me. I think I enjoyed the one on the right side more. The skin is similar to the skin used when making fried wontons in Chinese cuisine. So that, my friends, was the sweet closing to my little adventure in the city of Boston. Tomorrow I am off to Orlando Florida for one week of training.

The End

Miscellaneous weird tidbits:

1. On the plane trip to Boston, the flight attendants announced that the in-flight movie would be "Made of Honor", but actually they showed us "Kung-fu Panda" instead. This switcheroo was in my favor because I had seen "Made of Honor" already. "Kung-fu Panda" was pretty funny and actually had an all-star cast of voice over actors like Angelina Jolie, Jack Black, Jackie Chan and many others.

2. On the plane trip back to SF, there was a guy who was doing many stretching exercises in the front of the plane. He could have been an aerobics instructor given all the stretching exercises he knew.

Boston - Tall, dark & handsome

If Boston were a guy placing a personals ad, it might describe itself as tall, dark, handsome, educated and liberal with a sporty build. I think San Francisco would be ad stating "quirky, alternative, indie idealist seeking like minded". :-P

If you consider that Boston has a very high concentration of universities within its little city limits, the educated part is easy to understand. Some of the more famous educational institutions in Boston are Harvard and MIT. I was impressed, overwhelmed and intimidated at the same time being surrounded by so many smart people in one city. Since Boston's a city of learning, most of the Bostonians are also more on the liberal side of the political spectrum.

Many people say that Boston and San Francisco are very similar. I tend to agree. One thing that I found similar was the pace at which people walk. It felt normal and I could keep up. On the other hand, New York was just the total opposite. Those New Yorkers will mow you down if you slow down a bit and likely not feel an ounce of remorse for doing so.

On day three of our stay in Boston, you could say we passed the "getting-to-know-you" phase and were now exploring the individual neighborhoods to get a better feel for the city. Also we used this day to see locales we missed the first full day. For example, we had to see the little ducklings in the Public Garden and also take another picture of the iconic swan boats in the Boston Common. See pictures above. Some neighborhoods we saw were Beacon Hill and Back Bay. See images below.

Back Bay, especially Newbury street was really trendy and was full of young things just starting college. So naturally it was also a hot neighborhood for people watching, if all you want to see is good looking people in fashionable clothes that is. I personally find SF people watching more colorful. Newbury Street is like the Marina District in San Francisco. All the beautiful people and the yuppies live in the Marina. Need I say more? Beacon Hill, however, I found to be more understatedly elegant. It had a wealthy, well-to-do air to it, but it wasn't as "in-your-face" as the crowd in Newbury Street.

Stay tuned for the grand finale!

Boston - Up Close & Personal

North End Feast Days

The Freedom Trail also took us into the North End, a lively part of town where many Italians live. Since my sister is a total Italophile*, she dragged me to the North End to see the festival of the saints that goes on every summer, every year. On the day we visited, people were celebrating the Feast of Saint Anthony, pictured above.

It was your traditional street fair. There were games, food, crowds and weird stuffed animals you can win if you're good at carnival type games. Of course the statue of the saint is a big attraction as well. People flock to pin a dollar to the statue. I didn't do that, but my sister wanted to and she did.

[I interrupt this blog for a special announcement: An earthquake just happened! The kitchen table shook. You heard it here first.]

Keep in mind that St. Anthony is the patron saint of lost things. That evening back at the hotel, my sister found 30 EUROs stuffed into a jacket pocket. It was from her last trip to Europe . Is that a coincidence or what?

More Bostonian adventures to follow ...

Stay tuned!

*I was kind of surprised, but the term Germanophile exists. I think I would describe myself as one, in addition to being a Anglophile. :-)

Boston - Pounding the Pavement

Massachusetts State House

This gold domed building is the Massachusetts State House, one of the attractions on the Freedom Trail.

I shall digress a bit as my brain is tired and does not want to think logically anymore, let alone think. The weather in Boston was quite warm and balmy while we were there. It's not really the ideal conditions to undertake a walk across a city. Luckily Boston is relatively compact and walkable, so it wasn't too strenuous. The thing that bothered me the most was having to walk towards the sun. As I don't own a pair of sunglasses, it was torture on the eyes.

To be continued ...

Boston - Getting to Know You

T-shirts

On Saturday morning, my sister and I ventured out into the real Boston. No more sheltered and air-conditioned malls for us! Our ambitious goal of the day was to finish the Freedom Trail, which is a red bricked line, sometimes it's painted, that leads visitors past the most famous buildings and sights in Boston.

It always takes me forever to finish walking down a block on the first day in a new city because I want to take pictures of everything that catches my eye. As you can see from the picture above, my eye wandered over to a heavily laden T-shirt stand. T-shirts of every size, shape and color were for sale. I noticed that many people in Boston sport shirts with either Harvard or the Boston Red Sox on it.

By the way, guess what we had for dinner that first night? You'll never guess. It was food from California Pizza Kitchen, which was conveniently located in the Prudential Shopping Center. Specifically we ordered a BBQ chicken salad and a Wild Mushroom Pizza that was so tasty. Since I'm no foodie, it doesn't bother me when I don't eat at fancy schmanzy restaurants that are expensive. Live frugally whenever possible, but don't scrimp on the important things is my motto.

The Freedom Trail starts close to the Boston Common, a beautifully maintained public park in the heart of the city. There were benches where people could sit back and take it all in or people watch. Since the weather was warm, people were out in full force. Actually, from the direction of the Sheraton we were staying at, we came upon the Public Garden first. This garden has a statue of George Washington on horseback and some bronze duckling statues. Here is a picture of Georgie in the park.

To be continued...

Boston - At First Glance

The Mall

I just came back to SF after spending 4 nights and 3.5 days in Boston, aka Athens of the US. It was a great trip because I had the chance to experience a new city, take pictures and relax a bit. I say "a bit" because I was able to finish up some CFE reading materials I had brought along with me.

I stayed at the Sheraton Hotel in the Backbay neighborhood of Boston.
Pros of the hotel were as follows:
1. Quiet/soundproof rooms (on the 26th floor at least)
2. Prudential Center was close by, so there were plenty of shopping opportunities
3. Try to get a room in the North Tower so that you have great views of Backbay
4. Shaw's supermarket is 10 minutes away by foot and is open 24 hours a day!
5. Breakfast at Au Bon Pain is convenient when you want tasty and affordable pastries and coffee
6. Hotel is located close to Newbury Street, a hip and trendy place for people watching
7. Hotel is on the "T" Blue line stop called "Prudential", so getting around town with public transport is a cinch

Cons
1. No minibar
2. No safe in the room

(I need to post this hotel review on Trip Advisor so that I can contribute back to the online community.)

My highlight of the first day was the Prudential Shopping Center, which is connected to the hotel via the second floor. The sheer scale of the mall and the variety of shops really impressed me. I actually ended up buying a bag even. Imagine that! I saw a Lacoste store there, so I went into take a look at the prices. The clothes were too expensive for my tastes. For example, a long sleeved polo shirt with a little crocodile logo on it costs $82. Needless to say, I did not end up buying anything from that place.

Stay tuned for tomorrow's episode: Boston - Getting to Know You