March 2022 Happenings

March is always a weird month for me - I keep thinking that it's going to be nice and warm all month but then sometimes, we still get snow!

But first... Snow PATROL!  No snow for us on this night, except this awesome band (we did get a little rain though!)

I didn't even realize Iain Archer, who worked with Gary Lightbody previously in the band Tired Pony, was going to be opening up for Snow Patrol! He even performed I Am A Landslide off of their 2010 album The Place We Ran From. 

But then... Snow Patrol!  Iain Archer filled in for Johnny McDaid on piano!

The only song I absolutely wanted to hear was Crack the Shutters, which is (in my opinion) one of the most romantic songs EVER - just a song about two people who love each other on a simple morning before they get out of bed.  I just love that Gary wrote an entire song about something simple that happened in real time in about 3 minutes.  That sort of style reminds me a bit of Suzanne Vega's "Tom's Diner" --  Here's what I'm doing, and it's not very exciting, but it's real, everyday life!  Of course, Snow Patrol played that and all of their other best songs!

Oh another thing I did in March is go back to the office.  Thankfully it's only one day a week ... but look!  I finally have a window!  It sure beats those days of working in a windowless room in a basement at The Weather Channel!  Of course... I just face a brick wall, but STILL!

It's definitely an adjustment going back into the office - particularly being back on the train after almost 7 years.  Thankfully my office is close to South Station (for now, until we move to Cambridge next year) so at least I don't have to take the orange line like my days at the State!  There is a new food court across the street from my office and I saw a champagne vending machine in there!  Well this is certainly dangerous!

This isn't MY exact cube but if I walk down a bit, they have a nice view of South Station and the Greenway.

Although I didn't get any pictures of it, Chris and I went to have lunch with our former boss Rich one lovely day in the North End at our old favorite, Ernestos.  I snapped this one of Marshall Street in the city on my way back from lunch.

Oh right, it's still March.  THERE'S the snow.  Thankfully we didn't get a whole lot in the month of March.

Also in March, Natalie and I got to go see BTS - Permission to Dance live in Seoul at the movie theater!  It was so awesome to be able to see it with other Armys.  It wasn't *quite* live - it was delayed by a few hours because of the time difference AND the sound quality at Patriot Place was horrible - the sound kept dropping out (so we could only hear ourselves singing badly) but it was still a fun experience.

Sometimes I do not even KNOW about these boys.  Tae is peacocking here???  Jin is wearing RJ on his head! They were so funny!

After the concert, me and my girl went to Tavolino in a blizzard for some dinner. When we left and walked to the car, I'm not even kidding- the snow was pelting us so bad, even my warm blooded Natalie said, "This is the coldest I have ever been!"

Although they only did one concert in the actual theater, they also had an online viewing of the other two concerts they did in Seoul.  Thankfully we got to watch those from the comfort of our living room with our Army bombs and coffee - it was SUPER early in the morning as these were actually live!  Todd thinks we are crazy!!!

I SEE YOU SPRING.

Natalie also finally started figure skating!  Todd took her to get some skates so she didn't have to rent them every Sunday when she goes with her friend Kaavya for lessons.  

One morning, when I was walking Grant to the bus stop, I heard an airplane that sounded really low.  We are sometimes in the Logan flight path, but generally the airplanes are up to maybe 15,000-20,000 feet by the time they are over us - and this airplane was super low. It was so low that Grant said, "That's a Delta plane!"

So I followed it because obviously that isn't normal, and he never got above 5,000 feet according to the app. I still don't know what happened but it basically came out, turned around right over us and landed safely at Logan about 40 minutes later.  I watched my plane app and it finally took off again around 2 pm.  That's a long day for those folks!

Ski season also came to an end, and there was a ski banquet at TJ's here in Ashland.  Natalie got the superlative for friendliest skier!

Of course she did.  I wouldn't expect anything less!

With any glimpse of warm weather, it always gets us thinking about traveling.  Natalie and I have been missing Germany a lot, and I wanted to see what the prices were for tickets out of Nuremberg (like, what would we be doing for spring break this year?)  You know... just $12 round trip from Nuremburg to Sarajevo and $12 round trip to Rome.  You can be a big spender and spend $13 round trip to go to London!  People always wondered how we traveled so much in Germany - THIS is how!

Lastly, Warren and Carole got to spend a few weeks at Helen and Gordie's place in St. Petersburg in March.  They met up with my mom at Guppy's for some lunch! Aren't they the cutest? We have cute moms!!!

And we're on to April!