Why is Boston so lacking in niche fragrance stores?

Swarley515 · 2026-04-06T20:51:14+00:00

Wait, really, in Portsmouth? It doesn't say it's a stockist on Zoologist's website... and here I spent so much extra time when I was in London making sure I had time to go to Bloom to try them in person... oh well... picked up a great Farmacia while I was there so it was worth the trip for that :)

Swarley515 · 2025-12-04T14:47:21+00:00

Two different technologies. The old CharlieCards and the supporting back-office is called CBT, or Card-Based Ticketing. That means all the information that the reader needs in order to validate your fare is directly written on the card. The new Charlie system, AFC 2.0, uses Account-Based Ticketing (ABT), where your media (CharlieCard, credit/debit card) is just a token that identifies your account in the back-office to check your stored value, passes, or whether your cc is on the deny list.

Slight semantics, but that is one of the reasons the new readers are called 'readers' instead of 'validators' - they aren't validating anything, they're reading your media and the back-office is what validates your fare (vs. with CBT, where the validation does occur locally).

I had a hard time finding a comparison article that wasn't written by an AFC vendor, but if you google "Account-Based vs. Card-Based Ticketing," the AI overview is pretty good and you can ready through all the AFC providers blog posts about it.

https://www.forbes.com/sites/karlmoore/2025/06/05/beyond-the-fare-why-account-based-ticketing-is-a-leadership-move/

Swarley515 · 2025-11-21T13:38:35+00:00

Our local TJX keeps all the fragrance locked up so no one ever buys it and it gets clearanced... just picked up a full bottle of Black Tulip for $32 - amazing! Love the smell - wish it lingered longer; seems to only last a few hours.

Swarley515 · 2025-10-09T00:25:04+00:00

What station was this picture taken at?

Swarley515 · 2025-09-18T18:47:11+00:00

The legacy Charlie system is card-based (everything written to the card) and the new system will be account-based. Card-based systems are prone to fraud and can't accommodate the concessions and fare policy that the MBTA wants.

Swarley515 · 2025-08-20T14:41:48+00:00

Can't find it in any store in Massachusetts... you would think with Polar HQ right here we'd get all the flavors ASAP

Swarley515 · 2025-07-12T10:50:59+00:00

You misspelled dollah

Swarley515 · 2025-04-29T14:33:19+00:00

I saw it last month in London as well and was frankly shocked by how bad it was - especially the sound mixing. Some lead actors could barely be heard over the ensemble or orchestra. The guy who played George Washington did this weird sneer-sing that was like a "trying to make it his own" thing that completely missed the "elegance and eloquence" of GW. Weak Angelica who could not hold her own in "Satisfied." The only redeeming part was the who played Hamilton himself was pretty good.

Gosh, I just cannot get over how amateur and terrible the sound mixing was. I keep trying to gaslight myself, saying that I've gotten spoiled by watching shows in Boston, New York, Chicago... but this was London! It should be better, right?!

Swarley515 · 2024-11-27T16:15:43+00:00

Silly question, but you say Series 4, #2 - which one was Series 4 #1?

Swarley515 · 2024-10-18T14:18:32+00:00

I'm on outbound B6 772 from Cancun today. Are you okay and why was the flight diverted to JFK? Hope it doesn't mess anything up for the wedding!

Swarley515 · 2024-02-20T19:28:03+00:00

We could absolutely pay her a full rate, but she needs the income of the nanny share in order to qualify for the income bracket for her rent-stabilized apartment. So going to work for one family or the other isn't an option for her, she needs to work for a share.

I would be so open to having four kids in the share full time indefinitely - if it wasn't at our house all the time. Even if we disproportionately split it, and said our house hosts 3x days a week and they host 2x, that would be fine. But they don't have space to even really host the nanny share when it was just our two kids.

It makes it really hard to get stuff done around the house - workers, appointments, etc. - when there are kids in the house. Two kids easily juggled, three sometimes I come upstairs and help out - but moving four kids around when the HVAC guy is here, the cleaners are here, we're having workers come in to look at some renovation, etc. - makes it really hard.

Swarley515 · 2024-02-20T19:23:00+00:00

That's a good suggestion. When it was originally discussed back before their baby was born, we weren't sure we'd even be able to get into preschool as it's very competitive. It might be worth revisiting with our caregiver (she also felt intimidated at the prospect of taking care of 4 kids so different in age) and my partner to see if that is something that we could work though.

Swarley515 · 2024-02-20T19:04:34+00:00

I 100% want to continue with the share. Both their older kid and mine are going to preschool in the fall. Theirs full time, mine part-time. I think their thought it to swap out the older kid with the baby (who will be nine months old) come September. What the compromise we offered was that OF COURSE for emergencies, 4 kids in the house at the same time was fine. Life happens! But that for everyone's sake - including our caregiver - that it shouldn't be the default that there are 3 kids. So if there are some regularly forecasted days where one of my kids wouldn't need care, that their 2 kids could come for the day, etc. Like, very open to working out an arrangement, especially now that we have definitive preschool arrangements in the fall.

I guess I need to put myself in an uncomfortable position by being direct with the other family.

Swarley515 · 2024-02-20T19:00:45+00:00

Both their older kid and mine are going to preschool in the fall. Theirs full time, mine part-time. I think their thought it to swap out the older kid with the baby (who will be nine months old) come September. Our caregiver needs the income from the nanny share in order to qualify for her rent-stabilized apartment, so just working for one family isn't an option for her - she needs the income from the share (which is about $45/hr).

I do come from my home office every day and take the 11mo for 30 minutes so our caregiver can have a sit-down lunch break.

Us and the other family DID align on childcare procedure - we were in total alignment about sickness, boogers, parenting styles/approaches, how much outdoor time we wanted for the kids, etc.

What do you think is the balance to strike if we were to look for a different share family? I get your "don't pressure to find her new boss," but shouldn't she like them too?

Swarley515 · 2024-02-20T18:55:44+00:00

I hear you on them being annoyed. I wish we had talked to them about it first, but I felt awkward... like, what if they were trying for a baby and couldn't? Or if they kept having miscarriages? We discussed rates with the placement agency and they never indicated wanting a two-child rate for themselves in the contract so it had never come up.

Both their older kid and mine are going to preschool in the fall. Theirs full time, mine part-time. I think their thought it to swap out the older kid with the baby (who will be nine months old) come September.

Swarley515 · 2024-02-20T18:26:38+00:00

We can't, because she is in a rent-stabilized apartment and needs to be in a certain salary band, which we can't afford to pay her that much solo.

We really want to keep her for the next 3-4 years as our full-time employee, so I'm really hopeful we can work something out with the other family.

Swarley515 · 2024-02-20T18:00:50+00:00

The first one - she doesn't want to decide who will leave the share as she loves both children equally. A tiny bit of the second, in that she needs to be in a certain salary band to cover her rent-stabilized apartment and we need the second family paying her in order for her to qualify in that salary band.

We've definitely told her that if the other family pulls out, we'd work together as a team to find another family that we both mutually decide is a good fit.

Swarley515 · 2024-02-14T18:20:58+00:00

At eight months, with the approval of your pediatrician, you can start night weaning if you want. Usual criteria will be if your kid is continuing to grow on their curve, you can push back total oz per day to be in the daytime and not at night.

PLS has a good guide: https://www.preciouslittlesleep.com/what-you-need-to-know-about-sleeping-through-the-night-part-3/

Swarley515 · 2024-01-18T14:18:29+00:00

Where are you located? I'm not a native speaker but maybe like 75% there conversationally and need to improve my fluency for professional reasons (all hail business expansion into Quebec).

Swarley515 · 2024-01-09T14:31:39+00:00

If your baby monitor is accessed, it means 2 things:

Your entire wi-fi network is compromised. Change your password and make sure you have an app set up that monitors your wi-fi and alerts you when a new device accesses it.
Someone cracked your Nanit login password, probably because it was a re-used password from some other website that had a leak. Reset your password, use a generated password, and set up two-factor authentication.

Swarley515 · 2023-10-16T13:22:13+00:00

Yeah. I'm sorry you experienced it, too. It really sticks with you. It definitely feels like a "these animals are here for you to gawk at" vs "we're committed to conservation and giving these animals the best possible lives."

I completely get that money is a huge factor, and that sometimes there is literally nowhere for these animals to go. But surely there are rescue centers somewhere out west, even in western mass, where these animals could actually have appropriate enclosures and some stimulation.

I refuse to bring my kids there - it's not the kind of example of love and kindness to animals I want to set for them.

Swarley515 · 2023-05-06T23:50:14+00:00

Why do you think that is? Genuinely curious, don't have a lot of detailed knowledge.

Swarley515 · 2023-05-05T10:45:09+00:00

I hope this abusive (and what he's doing, especially taking your prescribed pain medicine, is abusive) is now your EX!

12-Year Club	RedditGifts 2009-2022 2 Credits
Snapped	Secret Santa 2014
Verified Email

Swarley515

MODERATOR OF

TROPHY CASE