tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-26348133.post-41319904055064423102008-05-31T10:36:00.006-04:002008-06-02T10:07:23.453-04:002008-06-02T10:07:23.453-04:00<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://i89.photobucket.com/albums/k211/dgrygo/MBTA/CitgoTriangle.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px;" src="http://i89.photobucket.com/albums/k211/dgrygo/MBTA/CitgoTriangle.jpg" alt="Boston Citgo red sox sign bead embroidery pop art beaded gas station roadside art beading Kenmore Square dirty Water" border="0" /></a><br /><center><object width="300" height="80"><param name="movie" value="http://media.imeem.com/m/XaZ4ezvFj8/aus=false/"></param><param name="wmode" value="transparent"></param><embed src="http://media.imeem.com/m/XaZ4ezvFj8/aus=false/" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" width="300" height="110" wmode="transparent"></embed></object></center><br /><div style="text-align: center;">Every time I see the <a style="color: rgb(153, 51, 0);" href="http://www.citgo.com/AboutCITGO/BostonSign.jsp">Citgo sign in Kenmore Square</a>, it makes me think of how long I've lived in <a style="color: rgb(153, 51, 0);" href="http://www.cityofboston.gov/">Boston, Massachusetts</a> - almost half my life! I think how many things have changed, yet some things still remain the same. Like how the entire city is a construction zone, but that pothole down the street never seems to get repaired. Like how they spent decades and billions of dollars working on the <a style="color: rgb(153, 51, 0);" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Big_Dig_%28Boston%2C_Massachusetts%29">Big Dig</a>, but the traffic <span style="font-style: italic;">still</span> sucks. And, even though they built new <a style="color: rgb(153, 51, 0);" href="http://www.boston.com/news/local/breaking_news/2008/05/mbta_train_cras.html">MBTA</a> stations and updated many of the subway cars, it still takes forever for the damn train to come. I also think about how they spent a fortune <a style="color: rgb(153, 51, 0);" href="http://www.ledsmagazine.com/features/2/3/6">restoring the 60' x 60' Citgo sign</a> with super-bright LEDs, yet they continue to turn it off at midnight. And, when you leave the pub at 2am, you still have to hail a taxi in the darkness because the last train has already come and gone.<br /></div><br /><div style="text-align: center;">Kinda makes me question all of this development. We have the technology to make things run faster, longer, and more efficiently, but that will only work if we first advance our ways of thinking. For a city full of colleges and universities, Boston has never seemed to graduate from the '<a style="color: rgb(153, 51, 0);" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Old_school">old school</a>'. Maybe someday Boston will be the world class city it strives to be, but it definitely won't be tomorrow...<br /></div><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="font-style: italic;">(Semi-bead embroidered Citgo sign. 10.5" x 10.5")</span></span><br /></div><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://i89.photobucket.com/albums/k211/dgrygo/MBTA/DSC02458.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px;" src="http://i89.photobucket.com/albums/k211/dgrygo/MBTA/DSC02458.jpg" alt="Boston Citgo red sox sign bead embroidery pop art beaded gas station standells roadside art seed beads beading" border="0" /></a><div class="blogger-post-footer"><script expr:src='"http://feeds.feedburner.com/~s/TheLoneBeader?i=" + data:post.url' type="text/javascript" charset="utf-8"></script></div>The Lone Beaderhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17670946654211536130noreply@blogger.com15