But first a story.  Today I had the thoroughly enjoyable experience of visiting the Dhammakaya Meditation Center in Quincy Center.  A friend made a lovely Thai feast for us and the came meditation class.

Now meditation, I never thought that would work on me, but it really did.  I highly recommend it.

So the place was full of lovely Buddhas:

And a real life Buddhist monk.  Who I lunged at with a camera.  Of course his serene nature prevented him from punching me in the face:

First I saw Larry Bird’s giant shoes.  Then I turned TD Garden into an elongated rectangle:

Big headed monsters:

With claws:

Today I visited TD North Garden.  I went there to watch WWE last year, but today I went to visit their sports museum.  It is really just a few hallways filled with the most insane collection of sport memorabilia.  The highlight was selling Larry Bird’s sneakers, which were the size of a normal sized person’s arm.  The Indiana giant was close to seven feet tall, so he needed some solid feet to stay upright.  Now I could not get a photo that quite captured how giant those shoes were.

After visiting the museum, I took my young charges over to the Garden.  We were talking about the banners and the retired numbers when a group of miniature hockey players came out.  Really there were just some youth league playing a game in the Garden, but the scene was awfully cute.

So to commemorate the fact that the hockey players were shrunken, I took their photo with the tilt shift effect on my camera:

As I entered the State House today, I thought I would just take photos of the students and that would be it.  I did have a tiny little inclining that I might photograph someone in there that was interesting.  

I’ve been to the State House more than ten times.  I give the tour of the State House now, instead of having one of the tour guides do it.  Last time one of the tour guides made it up here.  Today two of the security officers grace this illustrious blog.

First up, the storyteller of the cod:

This is a man of cod.  See what I did there?  Well, actually he is more of a storyteller of the cod.  Inside the House chamber of the State House, there is a large wooden cod that has been there for nearly one hundred years.  The State legislature does not convene without the cod.  

Every other time I have taken a tour of the State House, I have heard the story about how the cod was stolen and then returned by some rascally Harvard students.  However, the man of cod (or the storyteller of cod) told us today that it might not have been stolen after all.  It might all just be a myth.  But still.  How many House chambers have a fish without which they will not convene?  Not many.

And then this guy:

We went into the room next to the senate chamber and I told the story about the tur-eagle and Billy Bulger.  Billy Bulger, if you read this blog and I know that you do, I said nothing but positive things about you.  Just ask the nice man above.

Anyway, this lovely man in the uniform came in to listen to my tour guiding and added a few points of his own and generously posed for a photo with our assembled crew.  

Last, but not least, the Men of Constant Sorrow have changed their outfits from their last feature on this blog, so here they are again:

I work in a school.  I attend school.  I work in a school on Saturday.  Sometimes on Sunday, I go skiing with students. I am never, ever, ever going to leave school.

I just started attending school again, after a six week break.  I am still in a bit of denial about the starting school again.  I’m in the school daze.

Doesn’t mean I can’t take photos of it:

Well, Harvard isn’t directly in my backyard, but sometimes it feels like that:

No, they weren’t singing that song, but they look like those type of men.  They need some cheering up: