Nealmeister

In re: Tory Row

This week, Illinois BarBri gave us a chance to be tortured on Monday (practice Multi-State Bar Exam) followed by two days worth of (sometimes painful) 9 hour review lectures.  I'm not complete stressed out about the mock MBE. I felt like I scored right where I needed to be and in a good position to nip this thing right in the bum. Just a little more work, and life will be good come July 29th at about 5:15 Central Time. So no need to worry, kids.

And as for the lectures? Well, I started to bust out the index cards to make a new set of my ever-famous "knowledge cards."

The whole purpose of this post, though, is to gloat about a new bar find for Neal here: Tory Row. It's right in Harvard Square where that old breakfast place use to be, kind of kiddie-corner from Out-of-Town News. To be truthful, I found the place completely by accident; had the logo not been reminscent of the London Underground been smacked right on the front facade (which, by the way, has tidy clean lines and is a bit reminscent of a darker mock version London Underground 1992 Stock--not sure if intentional, but works for me), I probably would have passed by not given a notice.

As for point of truth number 2: I really just wanted a couple of beers and a burger during our BarBri lunch break, and Tory Row had all of the cliche things that I really had been looking for: an underwhelming, sweep bar that had enough room for me; a bit of eclectic taste of music booming [coincidentally, MGMT had been playing when I walked on in]; and -- as a nice bonus -- Fisherman's Brew on Tap. I was immediately sold, facebooked about it, text messaged a bunch of random folks, and stuck around to talk with the bartender. I had their loaded cheeseburger and can honestly say that it was a bundle of tasty goodness and totally reminded me of the awesome hamburgers that my dad would hand-press and grill for us when we were little kids living on Lexington Street.

Now, is Tory Row the the most amazing place in the world?  Not so sure about that one. If I have friend from out-of-town coming to Cambridge, or if Janine is on a recruiting trip, I can be sure that we'd be headed to Grendel's Den.  But Tory Row is pretty solid and good to keep in my back pocket. Great lunch spot. Good for people watching. Easy of the eyes. An inevitable tourist trap. A place to be making my Harvard Square mini-bar crawl list, along with Shay's, Red Line, and the like.

Now here's the weird thing. I remember being in Tory Row and thinking to myself "wow, this is like a light version of Middlesex or Miracle of Science, I like this place a lot!" (the latter of which is my secret date spot, well, not so secret anymore). What's the word? I think Tory Row is owned by the same guys...

Finally, afternoon BarBri was amazing on Tuesday and Wednesday. Thank you, Tory Row.

On Track: B
Tory Row, 3 Brattle Street, Harvard Square, Cambridge MA US www.toryrow.us

 

Tour de Francing it... to the Illinois Bar Exam (and the Men's Health Urbanathlon)

By now most folks here in Boston know that I'm heading west to Chicago come September. For all the cynics (including myself) who thought I'd never pack up and leave Boston -- let alone Charlestown -- it's actually happening. For all of the optimists and the Domers west of I-495: yes, indeed it's happening.

So, this means I'm taking the Illinois Bar Exam. What not a better time to pick up little athletic goals like spinning every week or training for a major race than now, I say. The former goal happened kind of by accident; I never really did spin class much, but the roommate got me into it and now I'm hooked. The latter goal (the Men's Health Urbanathlon) was something that I've wanted to do for two or three years. When this Chicago move started to turn into a reality, I figured that I might as well make this race happen too.  Now you'll get to track these two things for the rest of the summer.

I hadn't considered how much training for a race can start to consume your whole life. I've always been a big fan of short 8k sprints because it's just like jogging the Charles with a little bit of a push. Once you get to running 10.5 miles and doing stadium steps at Soldiers' Field, well, that's something that I know I just can't do after a night of putting down a couple of Harpoons. It all means that you end up putting a lot of work into preparing for the thing, a lot like the bar exam works. That's how spinning fits in; I realized that I needed to step up the cardio, because God only knows that a run sandwiched with obstacle courses up and down Lake Michigan in Chicago is going to be more than a run in the park.  Right now, I'm finding myself spinning four times a week, doing bootcamp two times a week, going on two runs (with multiple trips up and down the "40 Flights" on Bunker Hill in Charlestown) and then fitting in two really good lifting sessions. Basically, I'm dedicating myself to two-a-days while studying for a bar exam. And it's been fun; I don't think I've felt this good since... well, 2006.

You're probably trying to figure out how the Tour de France fits in to this? Here's the thing: Meg -- the head fitness instructor at BSC @ Downtown Crossing -- has a whole Tour de France spin series going. I've never really thought about the Tour de France and following recaps on a daily basis. But now that I'm spinning, this has become cool... and competitive. I'm finding myself listening to recaps instead of falling fast asleep because I'm starting to get interested in how different stages of the Tour translate into what we're doing in spin class. There are all these terms I have to learn (like what is a Domestique?).  And let me tell you, for the recreational fitness "bro" (I hate that term, I know), the class is intense! No cheating here; just full out turns on the bike.

Of course, with a themed class comes fun stuff like trivia!

Q: When's the last time Lance Armstrong rode the Tour de France?
A: 2005 (site: Wikipedia)

Q: Before the Yellow Jersey, what did the Leader wear?
A: A Green Arm Band (thanks the Meg Hughes)

This is My Song

It's not too often that, when prepping for my cantoring gig at St. Mary's, I have a flashback to an Indigo Girls concert in Indiana, circa 2000 or 2001. But alas, that nostalgia switch has been tripped, this time to Finlandia. I'm not talking about Finlandia University, but rather, the symphonic poem by the Finnish composer Jean Sibelius. Most of the poem is rousing and turbulent (and when you get a chance to hear the London Symphony do it, trust me, it's rousing), but towards the end of the symphony, the orchestra calms and Sibelius wrote this beautiful, melodic hymn that evokes a great sense of serenity and peace -- The Finlandia Hymn. 

Now, if you've ever been to an Indigo Girls concert, you'd know that perform the Finlandia Hymn a cappella towards the end of their concert. Needless to say, when I was a little bit of a sheltered kid from Boston coming out of his shell at an Indigo Girls concert at Butler University, I couldn't help but flashback to those (beautifully remembered tree-lined) streets of Charlestown. I remember turning to one of my friends at the end of the Finlandia Hymn and, with a hint of tears in my eyes, proclaimed that the Indigo Girls "performed that church song" so beautifully! She told me I'd make a great lesbian. Touche...

Well, we're singing this hymn tonight as our preparation hymn. I really think that the hymn will offer the congregation a powerful reminder on this Fourth of July Weekend, that as wonderful as we believe our nation to be, as much as we may believe that we are blessed, we got to remember that as much as we may believe our skies to be blue, but so do the folks in every other nation.

This is my home, the country where my heart is;
Here are my hopes, my dreams, my holy shrine;
But other hearts in other lands are beating
with hope and dreams as true and high as mine.

101.5 Degrees: The 2009 MGH Surgey Intern Music Video

Procrastination is great; here's a WICKED hilarious MGH Surgery Intern Digital Short that just crossed my path. More amazing--the roomie knows these interns at MGH. Nealmeister approves (a sophomoric, wrong and cliche as the video may be)!

101.5 Degrees: The 2009 MGH Surgey Intern Music Video

Source: bit.ly

The 2009 MGH Surgery Change Show Intern Music Video that rocked a nation. Shot live on the helipad, in the ether dome, in the burn unit, and in the real-life operating rooms of Massachusetts General Hospital.