Sheraton Ferncroft is now the Crowne Plaza Boston – North Shore

Today, November 19th,  marks the first day of the new Crowne Plaza Boston- North Shore, formerly the Sheraton Ferncroft in Danvers.

“The change brings a new level of service and guest comfort to the already popular location,” states a press release from Sage Hospitality Group.

Sage bought the Sheraton Ferncroft in 2005 for $26.6 million. The hotel employs 250 people and is very close to the I-95.

The Crowne Plaza Boston – North Shore now boasts what made the Sheraton Ferncroft so attractive: the CoCo Water Resort. The Coco Water Resort is a 65,000 square foot indoor water park that includes an arcade, restaurant, party rooms and a bar.

“The changes associated with our new brand mean that our guests will be able to add to their valuable Priority Club Rewards with every stay at the property,” said General Manager Bill Croke.

While the original Sheraton Ferncroft website is still active, the reservations must be made through the Crowne Plaza website.

The move from the Sheraton brand to the Crowne Plaza brand meant that the new Crowne Plaza Boston underwent a multi-million dollar renovation not only on the building, but on the 366 guest rooms and suites.

“In addition, they will enjoy a number of upgrades, including new bedding, featuring the popular Crowne Plaza Sleep Advantage® standards,” confirmed Croke.

Sage Hospitality also managers the Courtyard Marriot in Fitchburg, MA. They are a property management company that manages over 50 hotels, including hotels of the Sheraton, Hilton and Starwood brand, across the country.

Just another day on the MBTA? Really?

Everyone loves to blame the T.

And they have a good reason.

I used to be one of the few people who ride the T and not complain too much about it. If it got me from point A to point B, it was a success. Yes, I was bummed when they took away the free fair for outbound travel above ground, and I gritted my teeth when they increased the fare.

But yesterday, I became a foe of the T.

I was heading to the JFK/UMASS red line stop, one of my classes was going to be at the Boston Globe. I was pleasantly surprised when a T rolled right up to BU East right as I left my classroom at 1:50pm. I had an hour to get to the Globe and an estimated 45 minute T ride ahead of me, so we were off to a good start.

Until we hit Arlington. I have no idea if something ran or dropped into the tracks, but at around 2:00pm the brakes slammed and everyone on that Green Line T was thrown from their seats. Then, the driver pulled up normally to Arlington as if nothing had happened. The people boarding the T didn’t see anything happen.

Who knows, maybe they had to stop for one of those huge rats that wander the T tunnels.

So the rest of the ride to Park Street was uneventful. I walked down to the sub-subterranean Red Line platform where I was (again) pleasantly surprised that a T was pulling in (it seemed like it was my lucky day).

Everything was fine.

Then, right before South Station, everyone started looking up from their books, newspapers and Ipods, and sniffed the air.

Our car was full of smoke.

It just seemed to appear.

“Is it smoky in here,” a 20-something year old woman said.

Oh yes, it was smoky in there. You couldn’t see the car behind us. We were sitting in the front car, right behind the driver.

A woman, who looked like she was in her mid-30s held up her Bible and started proclaiming that it was the Holy Ghost that was going to come and smite us T riders for being greedy people. Another guy stood up and told her to be quite, and that there was a fire somewhere.

I felt like I was in a movie. And all I really wanted to do was get to class on time.

The T driver I guess, either was unaware of the problem (not likely, we were the last Red Line to run for awhile), or truly thought that the way to get smoke out of a T car was to leave the doors open for 5 minutes at a time.

Let’s just say it didn’t really work.

The most frightening part wasn’t actually the smoke filling up the train (although that was terrifying). It was the ladies sitting next to me, sans headphones, with their heads buried in their Nora Roberts books. Ignoring the rest of us, who were trying to figure out why smoke was filling up the T car.

Is that what riding the T means now? That we now have to put up with smoke filling up our cars and drivers who break on a whim?

That’s what was truly frightening. Those ladies didn’t look up once. If they smelled the smoke, their faces didn’t show it. They should complete disregard for it, as if the smoke was an obnoxious BC student on their way to an Allston party.

If the MBTA really wants to raise fairs, they better start getting serious about these safety hazards. Those women must have either had smoke fill their cabin more than once in order for them not to flinch. That is just unacceptable.

I will not pay more than my $1.75 T fare, until those women start flinching at the sign of smoke on the T.

Another Setback for Arab-American’s

After 9/11/01, we were all called “terrorists.” We were searched when we wanted to fly, and people raised their eyebrows at us when we told them where we were from.

Now, the tragedy at Fort Hood, TX will create an interesting race relations issue within the U.S. military.

It is interesting that so many news outlets have been focusing on the fact that the gunman was of Arab descent. The fact that doesn’t quite make it out there, is that he is actually from Virginia and that he may or may not have been mentally unstable.

No. Because putting the Arab in bad lighting is what sells news these days. And quite frankly, I’m sick of it.

He was a psychiatrist, but did anyone do a psych evaluation of him before he started treating soldiers with PTSD? That’s a difficult job, for anyone with stable nerves to handle, and if something was already off, it could have pulled the trigger.

But no. It only takes one second to glance at the Boston Heralds article proclaiming that the gunman shouted “Allah Akhbar”. He said “God is Great,” not some terrorist code word. That’s not news. You don’t hear stories of Catholic gunmen who say the “Our Father” before going on a shooting spree now do you?

The comments on these articles are not even relevant, and shows how grossly misinformed some people are about the Arab world and Islam. For example “GodsArmy316” wrote the first comment and said, “Enough of this politically correct BS. They should not allow Muslims in the army.” A couple comments below GodsArmy316, “Ricardo87” wrote these harsh words:

“Just another Muslim displaying the lifestyle of the “religion of peace”. I will never trust a Muslim. No more giving Muslims the benefit of the doubt. I will stop going to stores that are run by them. No more for these people.”

The worst part? This comment for 15 “thumbs up” to only 2 “thumbs down”. There are people who do bad things everywhere, but why are the generalizations so gross about Arab Americans and Americans who practice Islam. There is a common denominator – we are all American.

The gunman served the army for many years, and helped many soldiers recover, which you can see in various articles that were published. He was ridiculed after 9/11 according to reports, like we all were, and like his mother said to the AP “ some people can deal with it, some people cannot.”

Obama In Boston- 10/23/2009

President Obama came to Boston on a whirlwind visit to talk at MIT about renewable energy technology and to show support for his long time friend, Deval Patrick, in his re-election campaign. However, not everyone was pleased with this visit and many took the to streets around the Westin (where Patrick’s re-election luncheon was being held) to voice their displeasure. Here are some pictures of the event: