Pawtucket, RI

I said in my posts that I really do not like cities. But I love the city for one thing, all the programs for kids. In the city,because the density of the population, it is possible to run many programs as per the rule of economy of scale.

Below is a picture of my daughter's gymnastic program. It is sponsored by the city of Pawtucket. The city runs four sessions a year. This session runs from Sept to Nov. My daughter just loves it.

The picture was taken right after the week of Halloween.

New comers to Pawtucket, RI, please asks me for all the activities in the city.

Today, I am dropping off a package at the post office. It is quite an experience.

Well, generally, I know people hate cities. While it offers all the convenience but people usually hate the traffic and high crime rate. Today, I was treated almost like a criminal at the post office.

I have been "cleaning" out my extra online for many years. I use paypal to generate a shipping label with postage, then drop them at my post office in the rural area. Not a problem. Quite an experience.

Today, when I dropped my package in the post office, the guy pointed to me and let me put on the scale. yes, quite right. Right to the accuracy of the oz. Then he began to measure the package.

"Any problem", I said.

"You do not pay enough postage, it is over 84 inches." The guy said, very seriously, as if I am a criminal. By the way, I was wearing my suit today as I am meeting with a client.

"Really, why? I did follow all the rules in paypal before generating the shipping label".

"No, this is a large package. you have to pay surcharge."

I was kind of late and did not want to argue. I said, fine. Can you give me a receipt of the extra postage? If I show you I did everything right, can you refund me?"

He then dissappeared. (I late found out he was talking to somebody in another office about if he is right).

He then came back and told me that I should pay for the surcharge of $5.48. I insist I got a receipt for future refund. It is not about the money. It is to clarify that I am NOT a criminal.

He said he cannot do that. He told me to go home and get some evidence. Well, I went home and got the original receipt. He checked out the receipt for over 5 minutes. Then he said, "I will keep it and try to do the same thing at home to see if it is right".

I didnot say a word. Just left and met my client.

I now really hate cities. I do not feel being treated like a criminal.

By the way, the post office is located at

40 Montgomery St, Pawtucket, RI.

P.S.: Another post office at 576 dexter st, Central Falls, RI is even worse. The postoffice was boxed up like a police station. People can only talk to the employee there through a mic.

I moved to Pawtucket/Providence last month. Never had a chance to take night shots of the neighborhood. Tonight, I took a few night shots. Here they are.

The place below is called Blackstone Place. It is a small plaza right at the border between Pawtucket/East side of Providence that houses a few restaurants, coffee shop and RiteAid. The following shot was taken with my Canon 20D with the Sigma 700-300mm.

The follow shot was taken with my Canon 17-85mm IS USM. I manually under exposed the shot so that to get more details. Check the two shots, anybody can see the difference?

Now, the good thing: my favorite gas station has dropped its price to:

Pawtucket is a mill town in Rhode Island. The city is considered by many as a low income city. The city has been trying to revive the whole city to turn this city center into an art center. I would love to see this to happen.

Oak Hill community is a small community in the southern part of Pawtucket. If you look at the map, this is actually located at East Side of Providence, RI, where it is considered the best part of Providence.

While it has all the convenience of East Side, this neighborhood enjoys the benefit of low price, low taxt of housing and a feeling of the contry.

Transportation is very convenient. There are many buses along the road of Hope (Providence)/East Ave(Pawtucket).

By the way, there are many roads in the East side/Oak Hill area that have two names. One name for the East Side part and another name for the Oak Hill part.

I am writing this post from a resident's view rather than from a Realtor's view. If there is anything against the professionalism of a realtor, please let me know. Thanks.

By now, everybody knows what the government is trying to do.

I want to tell everybody that this is wrong. Deadly wrong.

This is like: I told everybody that I will build a city in the Mars and ask everybody to lend money to me. Everybody trust me and lends me all they have. Now I spent the money in Bahamas and everybody is angry. The government then tells me: how about I lend you all the money you have squandered and you return them to their original owners, so that to avoid a turmoil.

This is exactly what the government is trying to do.

The government wants me, a thief to squander the money again.

People. This is wrong. Deadly wrong. Nobody should lend to those Wall Street thieves. They should be punished and sent to jail.

[Picture courtesy of Boston Globe]

Please send your opinion to your senator to say no.