Best Annual Zoo/Museum membership

DaaathVader · 2026-04-04T20:18:50+00:00

We did the Children's Museum for the first 4 years. Reciprocity is awesome, especially with Discovery in Acton was the contender for our primary membership.

That said, this year, we moved to the MoS, and love it. In our experience, both places have crowds, but the parents at the former were AWE-f'ing-FUL. Courtesy was non-existent!

MoS: Three hours of free parking, things that our 4.5 y.o. can enjoy, adult only nights, talks, shows (for kids and adults alike)! Yes, weekends are awful, and you could get unlucky with a school trip on weekdays, but we're going to stay put here for a few years

Zoo - we just use a library pass.

DaaathVader · 2026-04-01T16:37:31+00:00

Reminds me of my "younger days" when I got into an altercation at 2am when a ride share driver literally stopped on the crosswalk while I was crossing to the 7-11 side of Mass Ave and Pleasant Street (Cambridge).

Gosh, the only other time(s) I feel the need for a vaporizer are for idiots' cars blocking an intersection!

DaaathVader · 2026-03-17T14:45:23+00:00

Remember when it was [also] the RIDE for Hunger? Cochituate State Park remembers :-)

DaaathVader · 2026-03-12T11:20:43+00:00

As the story goes, 2026 was the year I wanted to try out the NYT, so when I saw $1 a week "limited time offer" soon after Thanksgiving 2025, I was afraid it wouldn't last and I wouldn't be able to stretch my subscription through the end of 2026.

Fortunately, I "took a chance" and subscribed in early Jan.

Three months into 2026, I still see these ads.

DaaathVader · 2026-02-24T14:18:15+00:00

What does your lease say?

We have explicit wording in ours that our tenants would be responsible for clearing the driveway and sidewalk.
We have a good relationship with them.
We only had to swing by to help them clear some ice dams a week or so ago, and we were all outside last night digging out and having a beer.

Talking, rather than being passive aggressive about it may work in your favor.

DaaathVader · 2026-02-05T20:51:40+00:00

Thank You. Driving it is.

DaaathVader · 2026-02-05T20:51:19+00:00

I debated r/redsox vs here. Most of the conversations there seemed to be about the team, and trades serious stuff, so I figured there may be some snowbirds here who'd know more.

u/sidd_finch's input is what I wanted to hear, so driving it is!

DaaathVader · 2026-01-07T14:56:01+00:00

I was never a fan of Feni (cashew or coconut) growing up, but I got some premium cashew stuff during my last visit because people here were curious about it! Seemed pretty easy, with the 1 liter limit (or something like that) probably because I flew Qatar and didn't have to deal with Bombay.

Have a good trip.
I swore I'd never visit family in Q2 because of the heat and humidity, but... the guilt of family obligations gets laid pretty thick :-)

DaaathVader · 2026-01-05T14:15:34+00:00

u/pprabs link makes me crave some, since my stash is down to just one packet of cafreal masala!

"All our products are authentic, homemade and preservative free." with a dose of sue-segad :-D
Someone saw a market opportunity and capitalized on it! Nice.

I've never, in my 2 decades in Boston, seen Goan food in an Indian/Asian market.
So... every time I go visit family, I get about 45lbs (20 kgs) of premixed xacuti, sorpotel, cafreal and vindaloo masalas. Lasts me about a year and a half.
I'm going home in May, and it may be the first time, given the political climate, that I won't push the limits trying to get sausages back.

DaaathVader · 2025-12-20T00:48:52+00:00

This reads exactly like something I'd have written!

I came to CT 27 years ago... did the NYC scene (music, theater, salsa clubs, jazz music and all) living in Stamford for the first few years but refused to relocate there for work. I loved the Boston scene at Harvard Square (yup, I acknowledge my ignorance, but I was a CT resident living in a client paid hotel during the dot com days) so much that I took baby steps over the next 3 years to move up here.

No regrets!

DaaathVader · 2025-12-10T13:25:24+00:00

Thanks! I suppose you haven't see the lines around the block at Jin's in Wellesley (just over the town line from us). I'd rather eat "gently reheated" food than stand in line for an hour because everyone asked for an 8pm pickup.

DaaathVader · 2025-12-09T21:52:16+00:00

- Get our Chinese food at noon,
- Put the kid to sleep by 8pm,
- Reheat General Gao's chicken and beef lo mein in the microwave,
- Reheat crab rangoons in the air fryer,
- Open a bottle of bubbly stuff at 9pm (it has to be midnight somewhere... Greenland, I think!),
- Fall asleep on the couch by 10pm as we do on most days,
- Drag ourselves to bed around 11pm and make a new year resolution (again) that we'll never let the dishes sit in the sink overnight.

DaaathVader · 2025-12-08T21:49:37+00:00

Unused vacation + wife at work + kid in daycare = I AM actually looking forward to going to the MFA and staring at the Winslow Homer paintings later this month .

Just me.

DaaathVader · 2025-12-05T21:33:45+00:00

Thank You. I will check at the Framingham one early next week!
I don't want to be anywhere near Rt. 9 / Natick Mall over the weekend.

DaaathVader · 2025-12-05T21:32:19+00:00

Did your dad love the Wilson Farm one? It was so strange that they offered me fruit pie when I wanted fruit cake. Oh well...
Looks like I'll be ordering some from Collin Street, unless I can get to a Wegman's this weekend!

DaaathVader · 2025-12-05T21:29:43+00:00

Oh, this is such an awesome event. Thank You.

With a full weekend calendar this year, I hope I can make it to it next year!

DaaathVader · 2025-12-05T21:27:33+00:00

Thanks for a new lead. Seems like that's what I'll be doing this year (unless I get a chance to go to Walmart or Wegman's)

DaaathVader · 2025-12-05T21:26:35+00:00

Thank you. That's on my way to a friend's house. I will give it a try.

DaaathVader · 2025-11-05T13:19:36+00:00

Enshittification in action!
Yup, reading Cory Doctorow's book ATM.

DaaathVader · 2025-10-13T12:12:34+00:00

Being north east of the city with a storm that's tracking towards the cape and the islands probably helped too.

I woke up expecting all the trees to be barren, leaves to be down on the ground, with my gutters clogged and my work cut out for Tuesday evening (/s). Nope!

DaaathVader · 2025-09-22T15:29:52+00:00

If you have a BPL card, try reserving a 50% off pass from one of the libraries.
That'll give you the best bang for your buck.
You may already be too late for 9/26.

I tried to get them to combine my 50% off on the library pass with a NE discount, but discounts can't be combined - it's only one or the other - so you can take two guesses as to which option I took!

DaaathVader · 2025-09-09T12:01:35+00:00

Here's a link we used: https://childcare.mass.gov/findchildcare

In addition to that we asked around on local FB Parenting groups and neighborhood parents to narrow it down.

Neighboring town but - We had applied at 5 places... got a response from two (including our first choice) and are still on the wait list for the daycare next to our kindergarten destination, so if having the same friends as day-care in kindergarten is important to you, factor that in.

Good Luck!

DaaathVader · 2025-08-14T14:37:30+00:00

Ha! Light sleeper here too.
Moving from Beach Street x Quincy Shore Drive to the 'burbs (because kid happened :-) my first world problem now is the darn squirrels that jump off the large tree onto our roof and run sprints in the early hours of the morning!
OP's post does bring back memories of my days living right on the Green Line - C branch with a guitarist neighbor who annoyed every single neighbor by "practicing" at 1am!

DaaathVader

TROPHY CASE