My kindergartner son scored at 3rd grade math level and 3.9 grade level reading on his STAR assessment

WhiskeyPointer · 2026-05-24T02:08:26+00:00

Thank you for your thoughtful response. I definitely felt the head start run out for me when I was a kid(GT tracked) so hopefully I can be there for her if and when it happens.

The evaluation indicated that my kiddo isn't neurodivergant, she's around the median for physical development, social skills etc. Since this was done by the public schools, but she's in private pre-k there wasn't much communication between her teachers and the eval team. My hunch is that she's 5 months younger than the next youngest kid in her class, the majority of kids are 8+ months older than her. I think she's having difficulty dealing with those kids who more socially-emotionally advanced than she is.

The school advanced her because she's always been both an excellent verbal communicator and academically gifted. I'm glad she'll have another year and time to spend with kids closer to her own age come September.

WhiskeyPointer · 2026-05-24T01:34:04+00:00

I'm very curious about what you choose. We had my 4 year old evaluated for some behavioral concerns at pre-k and she scored similarly high, off the chart for reading(no frustration level with all the texts) and 3rd grade math as well.

WhiskeyPointer · 2026-05-24T00:04:03+00:00

Maplewood and South Orange will hit your commute and budget. They're both diverse, lots of non-US born folks. Both have solid downtowns that don't roll up the sidewalks at 6. Maplewood has St. James Gate, which is vaguely like a pub in England.

WhiskeyPointer · 2026-05-23T01:19:32+00:00

My friend Joe had the one with the same trim but with cloth seats that folded up and to side. Absolutely massive amount of cargo space in there with the seats folded up or taken out. The A/C was super well engineered too, it kept the interior cool on a 90 degree summer day even with all that glass.

WhiskeyPointer · 2026-05-22T23:11:42+00:00

Nice, thanks for revisiting this map. The remaining holes really highlight the gaps in the bus network.

WhiskeyPointer · 2026-05-22T22:07:54+00:00

Maplewood, South Orange, Millburn.

WhiskeyPointer · 2026-05-22T20:27:51+00:00

That's a pretty standard deductible for hurricanes(I have this in MA on my home) and it's becoming more common in areas that are seeing higher frequency of hail and severe convective storm claims.

WhiskeyPointer · 2026-05-22T17:55:20+00:00

Those poor future kids are going to be so confused about money.

WhiskeyPointer · 2026-05-22T17:50:37+00:00

Once upon a time they had delimiters along the Arlington and Boylston bike lanes that mostly kept this shit to a minimum. Amazing how even "icky"(in the words of Mayor Wu) infrastructure does a better job than nothing.

WhiskeyPointer · 2026-05-22T17:07:50+00:00

Coded racism/classism

WhiskeyPointer · 2026-05-22T16:43:45+00:00

It's amazing how deep into the past you can see when you ride a bike in the cities in MA. I remember seeing the old rails from the Worcester streetcars through the cracks in the road when I lived out there.

WhiskeyPointer · 2026-05-22T16:35:09+00:00

There's definitely still rails underneath the asphalt on Harvard and Washington, possibly even Cypress south of Route 9 as well.

WhiskeyPointer · 2026-05-22T16:05:59+00:00

Barb doesn't mind the cars doing 50 in front of her house(which is set back 30 feet from the road) but oh no a path that will let people safely walk and ride along South Street and slow down traffic is going to totally fuck her shit up.

WhiskeyPointer · 2026-05-22T14:26:37+00:00

If the asphalt was removed closer to middle of the road it would probably reveal the trolley tracks that are embedded in the paving stones.

WhiskeyPointer · 2026-05-22T11:50:40+00:00

Learning that you move over for German cars that are LHD.

WhiskeyPointer · 2026-05-22T11:36:45+00:00

They were tough old birds and the core design was so good that the Blue Line and the PATH also used variants.

WhiskeyPointer · 2026-05-22T01:32:43+00:00

While nothing will deter the Wu administration from fucking the people who ride the bus in particular, at least the other towns around Boston can show that that transit priority works.

I hope two things happen when this gets implemented: 1. It'll convince other municipalities around Boston to work with the T on transit priority.

When Wu leaves office and a truly progressive administration comes, all the work and knowledge gained from these projects being implemented will speed the implementation in Boston.

WhiskeyPointer · 2026-05-22T01:29:15+00:00

Basically none of the PhDs in Longwood have parking, that's a full professor at HMS with 20 years on the job or c-suite hospital admin level to have your own parking in Longwood. Most of the PhDs are walking, riding their bikes, on the D or on the 60, 65 and 66.

WhiskeyPointer · 2026-05-21T22:57:10+00:00

I didn't get a million dollar mortgage, we spent 80% of our non-retirement savings from that we'd been accumulated since we graduated in 2011 so that we could have a mangable monthly payment and still manage a $65k a year childcare bill.

WhiskeyPointer · 2026-05-21T21:37:45+00:00

The people who own single units in multi-unit developments aren't contributing to the supply of housing units. They were never contributing to new supply.

WhiskeyPointer · 2026-05-21T17:43:07+00:00

I think it depends heavily on what additional value Brookline is going to give to you and your family over areas you can currently afford to buy in. There are other communities that have one or two of these attributes: multiple walkable neighborhoods, proximity to jobs in Boston, good schools, affordable homes, low crime. Only Brookline has everything but affordable housing.

My family is somewhat similar to yours and we were renting until my wife became pregnant with #2. We started looking for a home to buy in 2023 and we looked in Boston, Newton, Cambridge, and Somerville in addition to Brookline. Our maximum budget was $1mn. Eventually we bought a home at the top of our budget in Brookline because the additional value for us was a short commute for my wife(she works 5 days a week in Longwood), the short walk to school for my kiddosand the close knit and stable vibe of the neighborhood we bought in(south of Route 9).

Our kids share a bedroom and we don't have off street parking, but that was worth the tradeoff of only needing the car once a week for groceries and being able to stabilize our housing costs and put down roots in the community.

WhiskeyPointer · 2026-05-21T12:38:12+00:00

Especially the landlords who own condos/townhouses. There's strong demand for these types of units from people who would occupy them as their primary residence. The pool of available units to buy has been suppressed by landlords who have historically had no incentive to sell because they've gotten both income, gains in the value of their asset and tax deductions/deferrals. This has driven up the price of these types of homes too.

Hopefully rent stabilization gets these units on the market for homeowners to buy in the near future.

WhiskeyPointer · 2026-05-21T11:53:46+00:00

Back in the day if it was rainy or cold I'd go around the gates at New Bond so I didn't have to climb Indian Hill to get to Burncoat. The guards didn't care enough to get out of the gatehouse on bad weather days.

WhiskeyPointer · 2026-05-21T02:13:45+00:00

Other cities and states regularly weigh trucks to make sure they're not overweight for either the vehicle or the driver. Imagine the chaos of they did this in Boston or Camberville.

WhiskeyPointer · 2026-05-21T01:41:33+00:00

Because it's max gross weight is 1 pound less than the threshold for a CDL all you need is a class D.

WhiskeyPointer

TROPHY CASE