Jay On The Go

A few months back during a trip to New York City, while my EZ Pass worked just fine on MassPike but while crossing the tolls on Henry Hudson Parkway heading into Manhattan, the camera flashed.  Strangely enough, everything worked smoothly on the return trip two days later.  I did not think much about it until I got a letter in the mail from Enterprise Rental Car that I was not only being charged the toll but also a $25 administrative fee.  Calling EZpass MA was a waste of my time because they said that they couldn't do a thing and the problem likely happened because I failed to register my rental car license plates prior to using EZPass.  That is not always an option because you need to remember the account number and password then either do that online or call a number.  If you are on your way directly from the rental car location, it can be a hassle. Last week, however, for a trip to Canada, I rented the car from Hertz for a week even though the trip was...

Last weekend we were invited to a walk by some friends at the Cochituate State Park in Natick, MA, and to our horror when we arrived there around noon, the park was so overcrowded that the police would not even admit walk-ins.  We had to return home.  Yesterday, we went for a hike in the Hopkinton State Park that it would not be so crowded.  Oh how wrong we were.  It was packed with people and it seemed that everyone there was busy eating rather than hiking or engaging in any physical activity at all.  We have basically decided to not visit the parks during the weekends. So what is driving the overcrowding?   Well, since we have been in this area for more than a decade, we have seen more construction and development every where.  The other thing we noticed that almost no one in the parks speaks English and everyone seemed like an immigrant.  It seems that not only do we need to stop legalization of illegal immigrants we might need to limit lega...

The spring and summer this year were warmer than usual (and we had to turn on the central air-conditioning a lot more frequently than ever before in Massachusetts since 2001) but then August (typically a hot, if not the hottest, month) has been fairly cool (I have had days when I have worn long sleeves and we are back to sleeping with a comforter) and in many ways autumn weather seems to have arrived early.  There is some good news, though, about the months ahead.  According to forecasters , fall weather will be warmer than usual.  We might see some wet, heavy snow in November but nothing to worry about.  It is also expected that we may not get much snow in December either.  Hopefully, we will have some to look at for Christmas, though.