On target

Sure, I'd like to see an organized, efficient operation and friendly staff whenever I walk into a business, but the one place where such an experience is most important, for me, is a hospital. While I am checking in or sitting in the waiting area, it's important to me that everything looks like it's running smoothly and that everyone knows what they're doing. If they can't find my appointment or if they lose a 24-hour urine sample (yup, this happened to me once), then I seriously start to worry about whether the facility can be trusted to evaluate and remedy my health situation.

There is a Boston.com story today on a "mystery shopper" program at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston. Employees of that hospital pose as patients over the phone or in waiting rooms to monitor the way the public is treated. Since the program began two years ago, the story says, service has improved, and other hospitals are using similar programs as well. I feel much better already.

Off Target

In an early Woody Allen film called Bananas, his character's attempt to discreetly purchase a porn magazine is foiled when the cashier holds up the item and yells to a co-worker, "How much is a copy of Orgasm?"

Yesterday I was at the Target in Revere, just over the East Boston line, and I witnessed a similar scene. Two male employees, both youngish, were with an older female customer and one yelled to yet another young male employee, who was about 50 feet away, "Where are the hair removal products?!" The third employee hollers back, "You mean, like, wax?!" The poor woman must have been mortified.

If you have any contact with retail stores these days, and if you are older than 30, you've witnessed a decline in the appearance and sensibilities of the cashiers, baggers, stockers, etc. who work at such places. Now I am not saying that I would want to do any of their jobs, and I am not saying that I expect to see a 1950s-style demeanor from them. However, I do think it is clear that employers settle for lower standards among their unskilled workers.

Of course, my approach would be to pay them better and then demand more from them. With wages equal to or less than the salary paid for equivalent jobs 35 years ago (once adjusted for inflation), employers get what they pay for, and we -- the customers -- are stuck dealing with employees that have a less-than-professional attitude.

Understanding tragedy

Tom Kaine, the governor of Virginia, is correct when he says that the panel he appointed to investigate the April 16 shootings on the campus of Virginia Tech should be made up of objective experts rather than anyone driven by emotion. Some of the family members of the 32 victims object, however, and have demanded a seat on the committee. The gubernatorial review board should listen to testimony from parents, should keep their process open and should make their findings available to parents and everyone else, but if the panel's goal is to study the tragedy from security, educational, psychological and legal points of view, then only those with specialized knowledge in those fields should sit on the panel.

The families may have more of an argument when they say that Virginia Tech hasn't consulted them with regards to the Hokie Spirit Memorial Fund, which has raised several million dollars to date. The parents charge that the university is using their children's names and pictures as a fundraising tool. The school seems to have a respectful memorial page listing the names of the victims with a link to another page that has biographies of the victims. There's also a page listing charities created or suggested by the families.

The committee itself appears frustrated because some of the medical and mental health information that they are trying to get about the gunman, Seung-Hui Cho, is protected by privacy laws that are in effect despite his crime and suicide. That seems to me to be a matter that needs to be addressed via judicial appeal or the state legislature and not by venting at the medical professionals who have been called to testify and are upholding the law.

Jurors wanted

The Boston Globe reports that courts in Suffolk County are heading toward a crisis because they are running out of prospective jurors. In Massachusetts, courts must wait three years before summoning citizens who have served, and three-quarters of those called never show up. I propose shortening that time to two years and following up on those who refuse to participate.

Unlike most people I've met, I enjoy jury duty. I've been on two cases and was dismissed from serving on a third because I knew the victim and defendant in that case. Being on a jury is an interesting and educational experience, and it was heartening to see how seriously my fellow jurors took their duty.

Best news ever

A recent study shows that beer is good for you, actually reducing cholesterol. I personally cannot think of a better use of scientific research. I will be conducting my own follow-up study shortly. Anyone care to join me?

What's the point?

Today's Boston Herald has a piece by crime reporter Michele McPhee in which she rips into a convicted murderer and the guy's sister because he has a MySpace page -- one that the sister apparently created to find a pen pal for her brother.

Francis X. Lang, 32, was sentenced last year to life in prison for the murder of Suffolk County deputy sheriff Ricky Dever outside a Charlestown bar. I know nothing about the case, and I have no reason to doubt McPhee's version of the facts, which I assume are the prosecution's description of what happened. It just seems, however, that she is scoring easy points by shooting at fish in a barrel.

No one is going to sympathize with Lang, but if the point is really to have someone for him to exchange letters with, then what is the problem? And how can anyone blame another person for caring about a close family member, no matter what inexcusable things they've done?

A new menu option

Though the store/deli at the intersection of Bennington and Marion streets in East Boston is still called Victor's, it no longer pumps out cold cut and chicken parm sandwiches. Instead it is owned by a couple from Peru, who were in the restaurant business in their native country before coming to Boston a few years ago.

Boston.com has a blurb about Victor's, mentioning a specific Peruvian dish called "papa rellena." An internet search turned up the photo above. I'll have to try the dish -- and the new Victor's -- some time soon.

End of the line

The demise of Savio Prep High School edges nearer, as students attended their last classes yesterday, and final exams follow today through Friday. Boston Globe reporter April Simpson has been covering the endgame and her story is in today's paper, along with a number of photos.

The Spartans softball team won their third consecutive state tournament game yesterday, advancing to the EMass North Division III semifinals Friday in Lowell, which means that the team will be the last outward vestige of Savio. The girls on the squad could possibly prolong the life of the school if they keep winning into next week.

Wise women from the East(ie)

Many Italian women believe that they know how to determine the gender of an unborn child, so when the Boston Herald wanted to know whether Bridget Moynahan, Patriot QB Tom Brady's ex-girlfriend, is going to have a boy or girl, the tabloid went to East Boston's Don Orione Rest Home.

The consensus that emerged is that the couple will be having a boy, though the women pointed out that to be sure one has to "take a needle or a ring and put it on a string and hold it over the mother’s open palm. If it goes back and forth, it’s a boy. If it goes round and round, it’s a girl.” I have seen women in Eastie actually do this.

In Woody Allen's hilarious film Broadway Danny Rose, Mia Farrow's character repeatedly goes to see an old Italian woman named Angelina, who is able to see the future, and in another scene a mother whose son has been wronged invokes "the malocchio" or Evil Eye. Growing up I repeatedly heard stories about the Evil Eye, and I knew many people who wore a small piece of jewelry called "the horn" for protection from that curse. And once, I even witnessed the ritual that was supposed to undo the Evil Eye.

Green Mountain Nation?

It seems that several groups in Vermont are pushing for that state to secede from the Union because the United States, they say, is an empire on the brink of collapse.

"...the U.S. has become ... essentially ungovernable -- it's too big, it's too corrupt and it no longer serves the needs of its citizens," said one supporter in a story at Boston.com.

Web sites for groups such as The Second Vermont Republic, Free Vermont and the Middlebury Institute offer manifestos and arguments on why the Green Mountain State should go it alone. (The proposed flag is pictured above.)

I understand their position, but I believe that I have a better idea. A few years ago I myself wrote "A Resolution for Secession," where I advocated the separation of New England from the US (except, of course, the Yankee-loving southwestern part of Connecticut). I think this idea has legs.

Gluttony celebrated

"The Tsunami" has been displaced by "Jaws."

Joey Chestnut, a 23-year-old from California, downed 59 1/2 hot dogs (with buns) in 12 minutes yesterday at the Southwest Regional Hot Dog Eating Championship in Arizona, setting a new world record.

Chestnut, whose nickname is "Jaws," crushed the previous mark of 53 3/4, held by Japan's Takeru "The Tsunami" Kobayashi, who holds a host of eating records and has won the annual 4th of July world hot dog eating championship, held at the Coney Island Nathan's, six years in a row. Chestnut holds several world records himself, including devouring 182 chicken wings at the 2007 Wing Bowl in Philadelphia.

Such contests may be entertaining, and the physiology of these guys is interesting, but I've got to believe that it won't be long before someone dies while in the midst of eating a massive amount of some food.

It was 40 years ago today...

On June 2, 1967, popular music -- and popular culture -- were forever changed with the US release (one day after the UK release) of the Beatles album Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band.

These days critical consensus has shifted from the widely-held belief that Sgt. Pepper was the Beatles' greatest work (and, hence, the greatest of all rock albums) to the feeling that Revolver, released just 10 months earlier, occupies that spot. In truth, Revolver does possess a stronger collection of songs and so I agree with the evolution of thought on the matter.

There is, however, no doubting the fact that Sgt. Pepper still remains a cultural milestone on so many levels. The sound of the music, the logistics of the songs, the topics and lyrics, the concept, the packaging -- all tied together and then blown apart by the groundbreaking conclusion of "A Day in the Life." Pop music would never be the same.

I'll drink to that

A former college president is leading a movement to lower the drinking age from 21 to 18, and I agree with his position. John M. McCardell, the former head of Vermont's Middlebury College, started a non-profit group called Choose Responsibility, which espouses the view that when we force drinking by otherwise legal adults underground the circumstances become more dangerous.

Most other nations allow 18 to 20-year-olds to drink legally, while in a significant number of countries the legal age is 16. There are even a handful of places that require no minimum age to imbibe. A glance at a few locations in Europe puts this in perspective: France and Germany have a minimum of 16 for beer and wine, with all alcohol OK at 18; the UK has similar laws, but children at home with parents can drink starting at age 5 (yes, five); in Italy the drinking age is 14. In many of these places children grow up having a bit of wine or beer at the dinner table, which serves to demystify the stuff, and that is a good thing.

The consumption of alcoholic beverages has been part of almost every human culture for about 12,000 years. There are, of course, people of all ages who have problems with alcohol, and certainly I am not advocating that we abandon legal age limits, but I think that a number of other countries handle public policy in this area a little better, and we would be wise to examine their approach.

The slush place is open!

Santarpio's is one of the two most unique things about East Boston, but the venerable pizza joint is open virtually every day of the year. The slush that is sold out of a doorway on Bennington Street is the other, and its presence is fleeting. Today the door was open, and I purchased a cup of the sweet goodness. My report? Same as it ever was.

The actual name of the place is apparently "It's Slush Time Again," but if you grew up in Eastie you probably refer to it as "East Boston Slush," which may or may not have been its name back 20 to 30 years ago when we lined up several people deep waiting for the next batch to be ready. Sometimes now we just call it "the slush place."

The doorway I write of is located next to the Golden Fin at 55 Bennington Street, and it serves up a fine, cold, lemony, sugary snack -- the likes of which I've only tasted at one other place: from a vendor on the main set of steps in the Italian town of Positano, on the Mediterranean coast. In southern Italy it is a popular treat called "granita."

Back here in Eastie one can only get a cupful of the sweet stuff from the slush place, which is open irregular hours during June, July and August. Don't be fooled into buying from Richie's Slush or Slush King. Their concoctions fall way short. Do yourself a favor and get the real thing.

Waterfront slowdown

Today's Globe reports that the $275 million retail and residential project on the East Boston waterfront has stalled for the time being, though Massport (which owns the land) and the developer offer different reasons for the delay. The project is called Portside at Pier One and promises 368 condos and 177 apartments, as well as shops and parks. Some sketches of the project can be found here.