I have to admit I had a knot in my stomach today when I was going to the marathon.  I don’t know why.  This is the sixth marathon I have attended.  Hopefully, soon it will be six that I have run, but that is a ways off.

I came to the same spot I stood at where I heard about the explosions and immediately thought back to last year and how the marathon ended.  Somehow though the marathon put me in a good mood.  First the wheel chair athletes came out, then the elites.

I have long wanted to see the elites, just to see how they run and how elegant many of them look.  I was surprised to see how tiny they all are and of course how great they all are at running.  Ahead of their arrival, there was truck measuring their speed.

I was also overjoyed at the winner, Meb Keflezighi.  I remember seeing him on the course and thinking that he looked familiar, like I had seen him in the Olympics.  I honestly didn’t expect him to win.  Not that I am such an expert on the Olympics, but it was a while ago when I last saw in the Olympics.

And he’s American.  That’s the most wonderful part.  An immigrant to boot and a wonderful runner.  The win was just what this city and the marathon needed.

Congratulations Meb Keflezighi!!!!!!!:

And of course a warm welcome to my blog.

The ladies also provided a wonderful winner in the form of Rita Jeptoo, who I also saw run today.  Here she is:

A race well run my friends.  A race well run.

Rarely do I step into a situation where I don’t understand what is going on.  The pictures that I am going to post here, however, show such a situation.

Let’s have the photos first:

Well, it is the Massachusetts state house.  That is obvious.  But it isn’t in session.  I had a hard time figuring out what exactly was going on.  Turned out it was a swearing in ceremony for new legislators.  They were telling a lot of super local Boston politics jokes, some of which elicited a chuckle for me, but most of which I didn’t understand.  Oh well.

In a couple of days, the Boston Marathon is going to happen.  This is traditionally a really wonderful day, but this year tinged with sadness, as it is the one year anniversary of the unimaginable bombing that claimed the lives of three people and changed the lives of every single person in this city.

Today I was down at Boylston street to see an exhibit about the memorial that sprung up a couple of days after the marathon.  People were crying.  It was really emotional.  I got emotional as well.

Boston has really become home for me, in a way that no other place has in my adult life and the marathon is a big part of that.  When I went to my first marathon, I realized that this place is a community, not like New York with its phony blasé about everything.  That made me love this place.  A coworker told me that I am a Bostonian in my soul and I think that is true.

Hence why seeing this memorial today was particularly sad:

But then I saw this amazing sight.  The Old South Church on Boylston street was handing out handmade scarves to the runners.  The guy that was doing this told me that they were expecting to get 200 scarves, tops and the got 7,000 from all 50 states and from around the world.  Community and love for Boston.

Here they are giving out the scarves:

Yesterday, I had the unique honor of visiting the offices of the Boston Globe, the hometown paper here in Boston.  With my young charges, I got to tour the printing facility, the newsroom and the paper warehouse.  The tour guide was very clear that we are not to irritate the reporters.  Reporters are sensitive creatures that can be spooked by the slightest noise.  Their feeding and care is very specific.

But anyway, we’re not here to talk about them.  We’re here to talk about robots.  Yes.  Robots.

This robot in particular:

So you thought they were going to have faces and things like that, right?  Like the anthropomorphized robots like the ones on TV.  Those things above are remote activated robots that carry large rolls of paper that are used to print the Boston Globe.

Well, one our visit, one of these remote controlled monstrosities starting moving suddenly when my young charges were in their way.  I nearly got pinned against a wall.  The robot missed me by about half an inch.  I don’t mind saying that it was slightly scary.  But a good story.  Rather than a trip to the hospital.

The rest of the tour was really interesting.  I didn’t get to yell “stop the presses” but seeing the inner workings of a place that not a lot of people get to go to is always a huge thrill.

And now for some David Fincher-esque photos of the warehouse and printing press:

Dear Mother Nature,

Sorry I didn’t get in touch sooner.  But I’ve been busy lately.  Actually it is your fault.  I’ve been busy with you.  Well, actually with what you have decided to do to me and my ski season.  In short, you have decided to ruin it and I’m here to complain.

You made it rain during my first ski trip of the season.  And then you got me stuck in a colossal snow storm that scared the bejesus out of me.  Then you gave us so much snow that I couldn’t go skiing.  AND THEN you made it rain again.  DURING A SKI TRIP I paid a lot of money for and was looking forward to.  The next day you made the slopes hard as rocks and icy.

You left your path of destruction for one or two ski trips after that, but then you made it rain AGAIN on another ski trip.  AGAIN.  I mean weren’t the previous times enough for you?  Well, apparently not.

Now you didn’t wrong me when I went to Killington and had one of the most magnificent days of skiing I have ever had.  Then you decided that ruining my ski trip wasn’t worth it.  Or you understood how angry I was at you.

THEN the final injustice.  This is when I decided to write my letter.  You made it rain AGAIN on Sunday and you made the snow feel like sand.  Not soft silky smooth sand, but that kind of sand that you sink it and it takes you forever to pick your feet up.

So Mother Nature, here’s a command.  Don’t destroy my next ski season.  Usually I don’t get in touch very often but if you ruin my next ski season, I will be forced to get in touch again and this time, I won’t be so nice.  Next time, well, you’ll just have to see what I have in store for next time.

Sincerely,

The Executive Editor of WrongsideoftheCamera

P.S.  The one thing you do right is you make beautiful mountains:

Celtic legend Bill Russell won eleven championships with his team.  Check out his new statue, just unveiled in front of our Soviet city hall:

And now check out his competition.  Believe me.  It is fierce:

Not to worry.  I will just photography you as you enjoy the first inklings of spring:

A trip to Mike’s Pastry in the North End frequently involves long lines, slightly annoyed people and cash only.  Don’t you dare try to pay with a card.  But then you get this:

Costume time.  As I have said here many times, Bostonians love costumes more than any other people I have ever encountered.

Boston Fashion File has never lacked for pictures of people in costumes, let me tell you:

I shall inherit the snowy peaks: