Tuesday, March 25, 2008

Boston

i went to boston over my spring break and instead of telling you every moment of every day, i figured it would be better served with a blog de la photo. there is so much history in boston, that my attempt to address it all here would be endless anyway.

at left is boston common, the first and oldest current public park in america


at left is the "old state house" built in1713. the declaration of independence was read here right after it was signed, and continues to be read here once a year on july 4






at left is the "new state house" built in 1798 on land first owned by john hancock. the dome is made of 23k gold








everyone knows this place. cheers. we didnt eat at this particular one. we ate at the imitation one. this is the "original" that literally has about 10 tables. we ate at the one in faneuil hall. it was pretty good. it was no kincaid's mind you. but good.







not everyone can appreciate this one. this is berklee college of music. i've wanted to attend forever. it's expensive, but one of the best music educations in the country. when we walked in i felt like i was in a ghetto high school. some EXTREMELY talented people go/have gone here. melissa ethridge, natalie maines, quincy jones, john mayer for example.



this is faneuil hall market place. it's a really cool place. built in 1742 as the central market place to all of boston, samuel adams rallied citizens of boston to seek independence from great britan, it's also housed speakers from oliver wendall holmes to susan b. anthony. still a marketplace, housing several shops and restaurants today in and around the hall.


at left is the "T", or Massachusetts Bay Transit Authority. boston boasts the birthplace of american mass transportation, first appearing in boston in 1631 with horse and carriage. the first stagecoach operated between boston and cambridge in 1793 and the first "electric street car" in 1889.



this is the charles playhouse which houses blue man group, one of the most interesting shows i've ever seen. charles playhouse was originally built in 1839 as a church.



at left is the omni parker house. no we didnt stay here. this is america's longest continually operating luxury hotel, opened in 1855. this hotel is the birthplace of the boston cream pie (see below) and the parker house roll. malcom x was a busboy here in the 1940's, emeril lagasse also spent time here. john f. kennedy proposed to jackie bouvier here as well. this hotel was also the home to the Saturday Club, also referred to as the Saturday Night Club, which consisted of literary dignitaries such as Henry David Thoreau, Charles Dickens and Ralph Waldo Emerson.


this is the famed boston cream pie. it was good. but it was $7. but it was worth it.






of course, no trip to boston would be complete without visiting fenway. the tour guide's terminology was intriguing. he kept mentioning "if you ever GET to come to a game" and that was so true because the ticket office had the whole game schedule in their office, 90% of games were sold out already. the remaining 10% were standing room only or single seats only. thats incredible to me.



great scene from home alone 1. terminal at chicago's o'hare








all pics are from flickr.com except the last. the few i took will come eventually. most of these look better than mine anyway

also check out finagle A bagel

all in all, great city, great food, great scenery, had a blast hangin out with my mom and dad. it was a good time that gave us all much needed time away. thanks mom and dad for makin the trip possible

cheers

Friday, March 21, 2008

Sunday, March 02, 2008

water gate and the lost art of reverence

nehemiah 8-message
"by the time the seventh month arrived, the people of israel were settled in their towns. then all the people gathered as one person in the town square in front of the water gate and asked the scholar ezra to bring the book of The Revelation of Moses that God had commanded for israel. so ezra the priest brought The Revelation to the congregation, which was made up of both men and women--everyone capable of understanding it...he read it facing the town square at the water gate from early dawn until noon in the hearing of the men and women, all who could understand it. and all the people listened--they were all ears--to the book of Revelation. the scholar ezra stood on a wooden platform constructed for the occasion...ezra opened the book. every eye was on him, as he opened the book everyone stood. then ezra praised God, and all the people responded, "oh yes! yes!" with hands raised high. then they fell to their knees in worship of God, their faces to the ground."

now. as i first read this this morning, i was caught by their reverence. they stood when The Book was opened. they stood to hear The Word from early in the morning until noon. we can't even ask people to bring their bible one day a week for an hour, or even stay awake during the reading of it, much less give it half as much reverence as in nehemiah's day. i find a problem with this. a huge problem. where have we gone wrong? is it the screens? i'm a media guy myself obviously, and i think we should bring our Word and display it on the screen. so i dont think thats it. i think it's just a fact that we've lost our reverence. and if we've lost our reverence for God's word, where he gives us ALL instruction, what else have we lost reverence for? everything in it? scary thought.

cheers