Author: John Bollwitt

I have a heavy walker living above me. I can’t be too sure, but I think this person just moved in recently. I just did not catch it or was around to see this happen. For all I know, there is a whole herd of people living up there. And I’ve been in that apartment before. In fact, it’s identical to mine, and I know that it’s not very small. However, it’s not exactly big enough to run laps in like this person apparently does.

This person obvious likes to tromp around on the heel of their feet. It gives you that nice resonance to boom through the entirety of my place. To me, doing this always seemed worse on your feet. Wouldn’t you be better off wearing something to protect your heels from the pounding upon the floor?

I know some people who do this at work. You can hear them coming down the hallway, and that says a lot because these are cement floors we’re talking about. If it’s a comfort issues, that’s one thing. If you are doing this because it’s better for your feet, I’m going to have to disagree with you on this one.

I’ve been able to land some freelance gigs again lately. It’s nice to have some extra income, but the little recordings themselves have some interesting content to them. It’s like going to lecture in college, but this time you’re actually interested versus fighting off the urge to sleep. Historical facts and data that come from people who are the experts in the area they are talking about. They’ve wrote the book and proven it to be valid. Next thing you know, they’re on some sort of documentary about the subject. I can say, “Hey, I recorded that person’s voice once and got paid by the hour to do it.”

Life has been busy. It’s like I have a job or something.

These are the lazy days. It’s too hot to want to do a whole lot when you have the spare time to enjoy some spare time. And when you get that spare time, it’s nice to just do nothing because the rest of the time you find yourself to be busy. It is better than not having anything to do, but even I like to put the world on hold and relax. I don’t mean getting rest to catch up on everything you’ve been doing on your time off. I mean whole hearted, relaxing down time.

This year’s campout? Not so much down time as much as just going all out to have a good time. Granted it was pretty lazy in its own right, but combine the heat with ultimate frisbee, swimming in the pond, running around, eating lots of brats, and consuming some choice beverages… I almost need a weekend to just sleep so I can catch up on the sleep I didn’t get while I was there. Still, it was a great time. Pictures to follow.

There is no better way to celebrate a busy week than to have a busy weekend. For instance, I saw Batman Begins. I have to say that I was really happy with the movie. It’s been a while since I’ve really found myself so into a movie that I really hoped that the good guy was going to save the day. Of course, this is Hollywood, and he usually does. However I could give examples where that’s not the truth but if I told you the names of those movies and you haven’t seen them yet, then I’d just spoil it for you, wouldn’t I? Batman kept me pretty entertained though. I like it when I can forget that I’m watching a movie and get lost in a story like that for a couple of hours and then have to pee really bad when the credits start to roll.

The campout returns this weekend to Burlington. I’ve been planning on this for months. I’m pretty freaking excited. I don’t think I do enough camping these days, so it’s nice when I get the chance, even if it’s just for a night. It should be good, but those who can’t make it will be sorely missed.

Storms around here are vicious. This time of year, nothing can be certain. Take today for example. A slight chance of storms turned into horrible winds and rain in some areas. Taking a drive to Fairfield to scope out some things for a road show on Friday, telephone polls were snapped like a twig not much taller than myself. Power was out to much of the town when we rolled in to scope things out. Made it a little difficult to test things when there is nothing to make things go.

It’s strange how life can be when something you never tend to think about is suddenly gone.

For a while there, so many people were wondering where the so called summer was. It was cold. Not just chilly for this time of year but cold. And now… it’s freaking hot. There wasn’t any in between or gradual warm up to the heat we’re enduring these days. It’s here. We all must suffer now, but I love it.

We’ve been going full force into the install of the HD transmitter for the FM. Combine the heat from the weather with that of two TV transmitters and one FM radio transmitter and you get a hot, sweaty, tired me by the end of the day. This isn’t the type of work that you would commonly associate a broadcast engineer to do. I never imagined that drilling holes through ten inches of concrete would be apart of my career, but sure enough we’ve done some of that.

The fun part is coming with the power to be hooked up to the cabinets in the next few days. Knock on wood by I still have my hands intact and no cuts or scrapes to speak of… yet. Bruises are usually a given.

Don’t get me wrong, but it’s June, right? Ok… Just checking. I could have completely swore that it was January just the other day. Now I’m not saying that based on the weather. This morning I actually turned on the A/C for the sake of the humidity in my apartment alone. It’s just that time has flown by this year. It’s hard enough to believe that as of tomorrow I will have been working at the station for two years to the day.

It’s been rough getting back into the swing of things since getting back. I think I’m still living everyday like I’m still on vacation. I came back to everyone still in step with how I left the place. This is good and bad at the same time. Good in that I’m brought quickly up to date on what’s going on. At the same time, it’s very easy to suddenly understand how much I needed to get away. The same can also be said about some of the people I’m working with.

It’s amazing that as a culture, I’m surrounded by people who take time off so they can do more work elsewhere in their life. I like my version; getting away and doing little else than enjoying good company with great people.

Game over. On the plane home right now and my short lived time in two cities is over, but a really good one. Getting away from the station is what I wanted to do and that’s exactly what I accomplished. At over thirty thousand feet right now, I can feel more of a sadness over the time I have left behind. It’s not as much about the things you can see in do while in either Boston or New York, but the time you spend with people who make the situation and experience just that much more memorable. Things that I can think about in my seat right now and struggle to not laugh about to myself among the strangers in the cabin with me.

I did get a chance to go to the MoMA yesterday with Brian. It was there where I understand my appreciation for photography now. I also have a better sense about how amateur my subtle attempts at such things are, but it’s just something I like to do for fun and find enjoyable. So many other great things to see there and looks great post remodeling. Found Winnie in the bookstore afterwards and ended the day with some awesome dinner sitting outside in Hell’s Kitchen.

For now, I think I’ve had my fix, but I say that with the constant thought about what the future has to come. I have some things to take care of, but once the details get themselves sorted out, forward progression will happen. In the meantime, I don’t think I could have asked for a better time this weekend.

What can I say? Add it to the list of cities that I could see myself existing in. Boston is great. Of course there is lot to do, but there’s much more to it than that. People out doing things and just living life. Enjoying what the day brings them when they can and where they can. Being a port city has its charms as well, and there is hardly any shortage of having things to do. You can find that in any big city I guess.

Truly, I had a wonderful tour guide without having to actually be a tourist. It’s nice to be with someone who knows the area and enjoys the same things you do. You get to see and do things that make for better memories rather than experiences that little tourist packages say you just “have to see!”

The city is changing a lot based on what I’ve been told. So much development to the downtown area, but not to add more structure as much as to add more peace to the city. It’s pretty neat. So is having lunch at Whiskey’s with great company during a Red Sox/Yankees game.

I’m on a train to Boston as I write this and will eventually post it later. There is something to be said about those who are good travelers and those who are not. Some people look at the journey as the boring part of getting to one’s destination. I find that hard to accept. I constantly find myself looking at the country side to see what’s new or different. Just to watch the world pass by. Even when I’m flying, watching the wisps of clouds fly by the side of the plane. There’s always so much to see. How can you get bored?

Napping or sleeping even becomes difficult. I have to tell myself that there is nothing to see. Give up. Close your eyes and pass out for a little while. It pains me to a certain extent that I might miss something. Even as I write this, I’m constantly looking away just to catch a glimpse of the New England coastline as we stroll along. Quite simply, this is some amazing country side. Crap loads of people with too much money, but good none the less.

It’s almost reminiscent of being in Japan. However the people on this train speak english, but often in a funny way. They’re not as friendly either. And there is no easy way to understand where we have been and where we are going to be next. So essentially, this is nothing like Japan other than the fact that I’m on a train. Instead of going to Tokyo or Yokohama, I’m going to Boston.