On The Line: Five Tips to Avoid the Swine Flue

Kid and Swine

I am a bit of a germophobe. It stems from my years as a chef when I constantly handled raw meats and other slimy and slippery food articles. I always had a bucket of bleach water by my side (health code regulations) and washed my hands excessively.

So, yesterday I could not feel a little cornered when I was on a crowded red line train on my way to the TD Banknorth Garden to cover the Bruins/Hurricanes second round playoff series.

The Swine Flu has come to Boston, with nine confirmed cases of students at the Harvard Dental School (Harvard is, of course, a stop on the red line). I could not help myself looking around on the train wondering "who has it?" It becomes a little bit of a germ induced paranoid mania. You scan the faces near you; "does that person look a little peek-ish? Did I just hear a cough? Who just sneezed?" It is like being trapped in a long, metal petri dish.

So, here at Travel Red Line Boston we have come up with five things you can do to avoid getting (or giving) the Swine Flu while on the train.

1. Don't Touch Things
This is good advice even without a global flu pandemic. The world is a dirty place. Really. Especially public transit. The best thing to do is try not to touch too many surfaces or, you know, random people. This can be tough on a crowded train if you have to stand and hold the rail. If you find yourself in a situation where you feel that the metal rail you are holding onto is an incubus for the plague (really, so many people hold onto those rails) just try to make sure that you do not spread the bacteria you picked up to the rest of you. Do not touch your mouth or your eyes or anywhere on your face. Do not eat and try not to drink anything until you have washed you hands. This is sanitation 101, but it is worth acknowledging that simple things that can save your health.

2. Carry Hand Sanitizer
This fits in with Don't Touch Things. Face it, you are going to touch surfaces that, if you thought better of it, you probably would not touch. The smart thing to do is grab a little bottle of hand sanitizer and use it early and often. I do not mind Purell, but there are other brands out there that work just as well.

3. The Six Foot Rule
I always likened this to the five-second rule that people say about food that has fallen on the floor (which is complete garbage by the way, if food falls on the floor, depending on the floor, either wash it off or throw it out). The Six Foot Rule says that if you see a sick person, try to stay six feet away from them at all times. See that guy with the red eyes and the chills getting on the train car with you? Veer away, go to the other end of the train. Chance are he may just be really hung over, but why take that chance?

4. Dracula Was On To Something

When you are coughing in a crowded place, it is best to cover your mouth. The problem with this is that most people, quite naturally, use their hands to do so. The problem with this is that your hands are the most likely part of your body to spread bacteria (see above). The Dracula Cough is where you cough into your elbow, thus keeping your hands germ free. Remember the old Dracula movies where he held his cape up to his face so all you could see were his sinister, menacing, beady eyes? Well, you can pretend that you are an evil vampire while doing the people around you a great service.

5. Drop the Mask
Really brah, the dew-rag over your mouth is not going to save you. In fact, it will probably only attract germs to it leaving you with a germ infested hankie over your mouth. The only people who should be wearing the mask are people who are already infected. The mask helps stop the flu from getting out though it not a cure-all, 100 % effective item. The Los Angeles Times has a story on that explains the advantages (or not) of the masks.

Are you a paranoid android? Need the mask just to feel better about your surrounding? If you do you might as well do it with some style. The normal surgical and respiratory masks are so dull, try sprucing them up. Like Hello Kitty? Make a mask. Nothing screams "I am infected with the Swine Flu, please stay six feet from me and don't lick my face" like Hello Kitty. Check out some of the fashion statements here.

As always, if you like our stuff at Travel Red Line Boston, click on one of our adds to help support our efforts.

Waiting, waiting. . .

As Dan is a incapacitated with a torn LCL in his knee, we will bring you some old stories of our adventures on The Red Line.

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Waiting For The Girl That Never Comes

I have been sitting here far too long. Where is that girl?

The mission today was supposed to go to Cambridge to capture video for a project we have been working on. The ultimate destination is the Cambridge Community Center (off Central) where a group called Barakat is holding the Boston Bazaar as a fundraiser for women’s literacy in Southern Asia. The Bazaar started at 1:00 p.m. and we had planned on meeting at Park Street around 1:15.

It is now 2:30.

It is cold and raining outside, otherwise I would go sit and wait in the common. The weather has been like this for much of the month. No promises of spring warmth but the utter cold of winter has been shed. The temperature has been sitting between 30 to 50 degrees for a couple weeks and I have become miserable. I can handle cold, I can handle hot. It is the in-between that kills me.

I did go top-side for lunch at the Burger King across from the station, but that only killed 20 minutes or so. Now I am back on the platform, playing Word Mole and watching the people come and go off the various trains on the hub. You can learn a lot from the type of crowd that comes and goes in Boston on a Sunday afternoon. For the most part they are families or groups, doing whatever they do for fun on Sundays. During the rest of the week Park Street is more of a transients rerouting point to either the green line or the red line that can take them to any other color line that one might desire.

Texting my colleague. No answer. Calling. Still no answer.

Where is that girl?

She is normally the responsible one except that I know for a fact she was at the bar across from my apartment last night. I figure she will be up for church and the whatnot, but you never know when people decide to go off the deep end on a Saturday night.

So I wait on the platform.

The phone rings.

“Hello? Kim? You’re what? Really? Okay, fine, I will see you there.”

She is taking a cab to Cambridge.

Might as well get back on the red line.

Qik Video of Waiting on the Green Line Platform at Park Street

A Little Help on the Train

Hello to all on the Red Line.

Our primary reporter and editor for Travel Red Line Boston, Dan Rowinski, is currently mildly incapacitated due to a partially torn Lateral Collateral Ligament in his knee. (Sound painful? It is. Buy him a beer if you see him on his crutches.)

Hence, getting out and about in the city has become a little difficult for us here on the Red Line, so we are asking you for help. Have a spot on the line that you had dinner recently? Or maybe you have a video you would like to share? Feel free to send submissions to travelredline@yahoo.com. We would love to have them.

We are also taking this post to test out our new "blogware" Blogo from BrainJuice. As aspiring technocrats we are always on the lookout for the coolest and the best toys to play with to make our jobs easier.

Happy Traveling!

The Red Line Team

MIT Put the Red Line on the Dome

Quick post link here. From Boston.com: The MIT "hackers" have put a replica of the the Red Line the MIT Great Dome. We'll see if we can get over there and check it out for you, otherwise check the story at Boston.com and WBZ for pictures.

Photo courtesy WBZtv.com

Davis Square: Spy Cam on a Monk

So, I wandered into Seven Hills park in Somerville behind the Davis Square T station and found this monk working out with his bow staff. Perfect time to whip out the Blackberry Bold and do a little spy cam Qik streaming. Check it out:

Davis Square: Slide Show

A quick slide show of the surroundings at Davis Square taken with my Blackberry Bold. Had lunch at Mike's Food and Spirits, a history lesson at Johnny D's and spied a monk playing with a bow staff in Seven Hills Park (located directly behind the T station).

Davis Square: A Little Grub and a Lot of History

A couple weeks ago I was on the Red Line doing what many people do when they have to be on the T for an extended period of time: playing games on my phone. My destination was Davis Square where I was scheduled to meet somebody who was going to give me a ride to Wilmington. I had the iPod rocking and was deep in a game of Word Mole when I realized I had made a blunder:

I had gone too far.

I did not realize it until I got above ground and looked around and wandered where in the samhell my ride was. I was at the end of the line, Alewife, one stop too far.

It was embarrassing. I mean, it happens to a lot of people do it, they miss their stop because they were not paying attention. My problem was that I was running behind and would have to explain why I was twenty minutes later than I said I was going to be.

Anyway, I got back and we went to do our business in Wilmington.

My ride dropped me back off at Davis Square after we got from Wilmington and I figured it was a good time to take a look around.

The first round of business was food. I am more prone to wake up and smoke half a dozen cigarettes than I am to eat, so it was time for breakfast. As per usual in my eating schedule, I was just in time for lunch.

The obvious choice for lunch in Davis Square is Mike’s Food and Spirits, located on the far side of the square from the T station. There is also a Mr. Crepe, which looks a little classier than Mike’s, but I was not in the mood for a crepe.

Mike’s is your classic corner deli/cafeteria style eatery. Except it also has a bar. You walk in, order and pay at the counter then take a seat and wait for them to call your name. They do pizza, fried food and sandwiches, including, much to my delight, pastrami.

I am always on the lookout for a great pastrami sandwich. I mean, isn’t everybody?

I took a seat and pulled out my computer to do a little work (always working here at the Red Line) and discovered that Mike’s has serviceable WiFi. That is always a plus in my book. I did some correspondence and waited till my name was called, which did not take all that long. Another plus.

The sandwich itself was mediocre at best (hot pastrami on white with cheddar, dijon, mayonnaise, raw onion and lettuce). To tell you the truth, I was not really expecting much anyway. It came with a small, nondescript bag of chips that I set aside for later.

I left, mildly satisfied and went to check out what else Davis Square has to offer. There are a couple sets of what I like to call “common folk” statues strewn about the square (see slide show above), including a set of an old man and woman in a little park across from the station. A lady walking by noticed me taking a picture of them and volunteered a comment.

“Sometimes people come up and ask them for directions,” she said. “That is, until they realize they aren’t real.”

“They aren’t?” I said.

“No, they are statues. They are not real,” she said.

“Well, I can see them. They look pretty real to me,” I said.

The lady did not seem to want to play semantics with me so she continued on her way.

Down the street I found Johnny D’s Uptown Restaurant and Music Club. As I have never found a “music club” that I did not like (well, for the most part). I had to go in and see what it was all about.

It was the middle of the day which means that Johnny D’s was totally empty save for bartender/manager Jeremy Newcomer. I asked him a couple questions while he sat down and ate a large mixed green salad for lunch.

According to Newcomer, Johnny D’s is currently in its 40th year of bringing music to Davis Square. It started as a folk/country joint but through the years gained notoriety as for Jazz and Blues, including a W.D. Handy award. The walls are lined with pictures of music heroes from yesteryear while the books are filled with interesting bands of this era. When asked who was the next hot band to come to Johnny D’s was Newcomer volunteered the Funky White Honkies who rocked the place on April 18th as well as a Beatles cover band named Beatle Juice who will be coming on May 16th.

The rest of Johnny D’s calendar, including jazz brunch and world music, can be found here.

The most inspiring thing about Johnny D’s though is its longevity. Newcomer said he is consistently amazed when people come into the bar after five or ten years and say with reverence “man, I have not been here in years.”

A return trip to Johnny D’s is definitely in order. Next time I will have to go at night so as to catch the aura of this music club in its official capacity.

I mean, who doesn’t like a good Beatles cover band?

On the Line - Kendall-MIT Slideshow

Here is the slideshow of our walk around Kendall/MIT:

Walking around Kendall/MIT

On Friday I had business at MIT and figured it was a good opportunity to traverse the lay of the land around the Kendall T stop.

In comparison with some of the sexier stops on the Red Line, Kendall/MIT is tame. This makes sense, given the fact that the folks at MIT pride themselves on being geekier than the rest of us. They do not require glamour or aestehtics, utility is their middle name. The stop lacks the charm of Quincy Center, the hustle and history of Harvard and pulse of Park Street. There are a couple trees, yes, a little park right as you get above ground and some athletic fields close by but overall there does not to be much of consequence.

There are a couple stops like this along the Red Line, stops where you need to really get away from the T to find the value of the area. I had time to kill, so I wandered and found a pleasant surprise.

The Charles River.

The only other T stop that comes anywhere near the river is the next stop over at Massachusetts General Hospital. When I go out of the station I took a quick walk around the block and snapped a couple pictures (see above), then came back around to Wadsworth Street, which connects to Memorial Drive. That is where I found the river. Check out the view with this Qik video:

Food in Common - Every Day Fresh at Park Street

What is better than going to the Common on a nice day, grabbing a sausage and a cold drink and people watching? The other day we stopped in the park and found Every Day Fresh, a new cart in the Common this year serving fresh and organic food. Check it out:

Here at Travel Red Line Boston we are aspiring technocrats. One of our favorite things to do is to use a Blackberry Bold to stream live video to the internet, then ultimately take the embed code and bring it here for all to see. Our program of choice is Qik. 

So, since the weather has been so nice recently, we have been wandering around the Boston Common, which lays above The Hub of the Red Line, Park Street Station.

A couple of weeks ago we decided to talk a Qik walk through the park:

Focus - Quincy Center - Blue 22 Bar & Grille

Last time I was at Blue 22 Bar & Grille in Quincy Center I noticed that they had homemade Asian potsticker style dumplings. I did not get them that night but promised that I would be back. 

So, last Thursday, we made the return trip to the funky little sports bar to have a closer look. We were not just looking for the dumplings or for their collection of rubber duckies on the wall, but to discover what the place was all about.

 Blue 22 is relatively small for a restaurant, seating about 80 patrons at full capacity though it could probably hold twice that during a crowded bar night, as we were led to believe happens from time to time. They have a square bar that dominates their floor and nine large Vizio flat screen televisions that circle the restaurant along with banners of the four major Boston sports teams each listing the championship years of each squad.

The highlight of the bar are the rubber ducks.

The ducks are not something that was planned. They are brought in by regulars  and just showed up  day (according to various sources) during Christmas time one year and took up permanent residence. They are often stolen only to be replaced with more. Au said the ducks stem from the name of the restaurant, 22, which in poker parlance is the equivalent of a pair of twos or "ducks."

"We definitely have a following," Au said of the contributions, which includes a signed box of Flutie Flakes that sits next to the ducks, "people like to interact with the owners."

 The crowd was a fair mix between younger students and older professionals, a variety that one of the owners, Peter Au, said is fairly common.

"We get a good range of people," Au said. "It is mostly a young professional crowd in their 20s and 30s. It ranges depending on the day."

The bar and the menu at Blue 22 do not try to dazzle, preferring to stay within in the realm of pub grub "with an Asian flair," Au said. The six beers on tap are what you might find at any sports bar in the city: Guinness, Bud Light, Harpoon IPA, Blue Moon, Sam Adams Lager and Sam Summer. Serviceable but not exactly inspiring.

I felt the same way about the dumplings, pan fried with a ginger ponzu dipping sauce. The scallion garnish was a looked a little old and wilted, a sign that they have spent too much time in a ninth pan in the kitchen. They were fried just about right but the insides were not set up quite as tight as I like in my dumplings, more mushy than chewy.

Admittedly, I need to spend more time with their menu to give a full evaluation, but my inkling is that the dumplings do not fall far from the tree.

A spectacular beer list and stunning menu are not necessary for Blue 22. They are sports bar and they are having fun. Through the week they have theme nights, from Trivia Wednesday, Karaoke Thursday, bands and DJs during the weekend and a rumored poker night (though currently on hold, according to Au) on Sunday. They try to mix it up as "we don't want to get locked into anything," Au said. Board games such as Scattergories and Boggle line the walls in case any patrons want to unleash their competitive juices. 

"It's a fun place to be," Au said. "It's a hang out spot for us and our friends."

Mama Duck, with her cute little hat, is a testament to that. Next time I come back to Quincy Center I will make sure that I bring her a companion.

Check out Blue 22 online.

Slide Show - Quincy Center

Here is a quick little slide show of our trip through Quincy Center:

On the Line - Quincy Center

It has been a great week to travel around Boston. Spring has finally come in full force with pleasant days and (more importantly) warm evenings. We decided to get out of the city and go South to Quincy Center to see what we could find.

So, we got on the T during the evening rush (standing room only cars) and arrived in Quincy Center around 7:00 p.m. Much to our surprise, everybody else on the T was getting off at that stop as well, crowding the platform and the escalator on their way out to their cars in the adjacent parking lot and to the streets of one the hippest little district in the metro area.

A quick right out of the station brings you to Quincy Town Hall with a tree-lined park. There is a statue of one of my favorite founding fathers, John Adams, to welcome all to the town that bears his son's name.

As a history nut, one of my favorite things to find are old Revolutionary Era cemeteries and was delighted to find, not two minutes from the station, Hancock Cemetery. The arch above the entrance gate proclaims "The Mortal Shall Put on Mortality." The cemetery is the final resting place for the men of Quincy in the American Revolution as well as John Quincy Adams. A little morbid but otherwise fascinating.

After a quick stroll through the cemetery (my companion was a little creeped out) we wandered into the cluttered bar/restaurant district. The Granite Trust building dominates the square ("An Old Bank With A Young Spirit" printed on the ground at the entrance) and the road splits. We took a left, mostly because we saw a hopping little restaurant called The Fat Cat.

Apparently, this is the place to eat in Quincy. The place was bursting at the seams, we could not even make it in the door. A return visit will be in order to see what all the fuss is about.

So, we turned back down the street, passed Sully's bar and turned the corner where we found a local, a middle-aged man named Fred. He gave us a quick rundown of the area.

"Bunch of great places around here. Good food at Fat Cat. Sully's is for the old guys, Tully's is a little shady," Fred said. He was headed to the bar next to Tully's called The Granite Rail. "Stay out of Tully's or you will get kicked out of the Rail. They can tell if you've been there."

Seemed like some good advice.

We continued our trek around the main drag and were astonished to find that there is a bar or restaurant every ten steps in Quincy Center. A fair amount of Irish Pubs (Finnian's, Clash of the Ash) and ethic (Fuji 1546, Terra Brasili's) eateries mixed with an inordinate amount of hair and nail salons and a couple boutiques.

The further went from the T station though, the more we noticed that the falling economy has hit Quincy just as hard as everybody else. It is a town that reached the saturation point of bars and fine restaurants which means that interspersed with the hopping establishments are the closed, empty shells of former brethren. Among the victims we found were Elegante Boutique, Trattoria Alba, Tusos Pizza Euro Cafe and The Holy Ground.

We looked for a place for a pint and an appetizer and eventually found our way to a funky little bar called Blue 22 Bar and Grille, which we will focus on in another post.

Welcome to the Red Line

Welcome to Travel Red Line Boston, your destination for everything and anything that can be found in the Boston metro area when traveling on the T.

 Our project started pretty simply. We wanted to create a pub-crawl via the Red Line where we would try to find a pub on every stop on the line from Braintree to Alewife.

 It has turned into so much more.

 Foremost, not every stop along the way has a pub, or at least not one within immediate walking distance. We also discovered in our travels that each stop has something special and unique to offer, from the social charm of Quincy Center to the hustle and bustle of academia’s best at Harvard and MIT.

 The Red Line has a diverse demographic along its route, from the quaint New England small town of Braintree to the tough streets of South Boston, through the heart of the city at Park Street into the brainiac world of Cambridge with its venerable institutions of higher learning, then finally into Somerville, where some of the Boston’s best kept secrets reside.

We are a community project here at Travel Red Line Boston, so feel free to contact us with stories, tips, photos or video about a place you have found while traveling on the subway. Have an event or a band playing at a hip little dive bar? Let us know. The Red Line is yours.

 So, join us as we hop on the T and explore the sights, sounds and charm of what the Boston area has to offer.

 Follow our updates on Twitter @Dan_Rowinski or email us at travelredline@yahoo.com.