Today is the day… Party time!

June 25, 2009 By Ted McEnroe Leave a Comment

Alright, enough of your stalling. It is going to be the first nice evening in approximately three and a half years. Are you really going to spend it inside, when you could be having fun, eating some of the best in local BBQ, trying new tasty beers and perhaps, going home with some great auction prizes?

Oh, and doing your part to beat cancer at the same time?

Of course not. That’s why you’re ready to come into Boston and join us for the Team NECN Fundraiser party at the Harpoon Brewery, 306 Northern Ave., Boston at 7pm tonight. (Click on the big banner on the right hand side of the page for ticket and other information).

NECN’s Doreen Vigue joined Jim Braude last night for ‘Broadside: The News with Jim Braude” and showed off a couple of our favorite auction items, including a signed Red Sox shirt from 2008 American League MVP Dustin Pedroia.

Oh man, I want that shirt. First of all, it’s Dustin Pedroia – an MVP. Second, it’s Dustin Pedroia – who plays the game with passion, abandon and skill. And third, it’s Dustin Pedroia, who like me is not, shall we say, blessed with an exceptional level of vertical physical attributes. (He’s short like me.)

So come outbid me for it. And have fun. And in the end, you can go into work tomorrow and when someone says, “What did you do last night?” you be able to answer:

“I helped find a cure for cancer. You?”

Filed Under: Front Page, PMC Events, Team NECN Tagged With: Dustin Pedroia, Harpoon Brewing, Team NECN

Spare tire: Don't leave home without it.

June 23, 2009 By Danielle Niles Leave a Comment

tireLet me start by saying that I haven’t ridden my bike in 2 weeks. I’ve been busy, I haven’t been home on the weekends, and the weather has been less than ideal for biking. Alright, now you’ve heard all my lame excuses. Honestly, I have been busy, but that is not a good enough excuse to skip training rides. In my defense, I have been to the gym a number of times, so hopefully that counts for something.

My plan today was to ride 30 miles (even though the “FitCorp” training program states that I should be doing a 70 mile ride this week – eek!). I got home from work and immediately turned on the tunes to get pumped up for my ride. I mapped out a route and was totally motivated and ready to go!

The first few miles felt great – I was riding at a good pace and enjoying every minute of it. About 30 minutes into my ride, I started to ascend a large and steep hill. It was a narrow road and cars were flying by, but I was pushing through it. At this point, “Pump It” by the Black Eyes Peas was playing on my iPod (don’t worry the volume was low so I could hear oncoming cars) and I was literally 20 yards from the top of the hill. All of a sudden, I began to lose speed for no reason and something just didn’t feel right. I decided that I should stop to see if my bike was okay, so I pulled into a Dentist office parking lot right next to me and noticed that I had a FLAT TIRE!

Normally, this wouldn’t be a big deal at all. Avid bikers know that you should always carry a spare tire with you – and the PMC informed us of this at the orientation back in May. Apparently I didn’t think that this rule applied to me. I did listen to some of the other PMC tips though – because I brought my cell phone. If I hadn’t, I would have had to walk 6 miles back to my house with a bike on my back! It was either that or sleep on the side of the road for the night.

Thankfully, one of my best friends and roommate, Emma, works 10 minutes from where I was stranded and came to my rescue. Phew!! Needless to say, I have learned my lesson. I am dissapointed in myself because I didn’t prepare for a situation that I knew could happen. I will be paying a visit to Wheel Works tomorrow to fix the tire and purchase spares (yes, numerous ones!).

On a side note – there’s only 2 days left until the Team NECN fundraising party at the Harpoon Brewery in Boston. There’s going to be delicious Blue Ribbon BBQ, yummy drinks, and fabulous auction items! Not to mention, the weather will finally feel more like summer – so I’m sure we’ll be putting the outdoor patio to good use. Tickets will be available at the door, but we prefer that you purchase them online ahead of time (click the information on the right hand side of the screen).

Hope you see you there!! :)
-Danielle

Countdown to PMC: 39 days!

Filed Under: Front Page, Team NECN Tagged With: Emma Meehan, PMC training, Team NECN

This sign points to great food, as well as beer

June 23, 2009 By Ted McEnroe Leave a Comment
The Harpoon Brewery
Image by jharrier via Flickr

Thursday night is just around the corner – and we’re packing up the goodies for the Team NECN Fundraising Party at the Harpoon Brewery in Boston.

Now, sure – the riders are supposed to be in shape to make the trek from Sturbridge to Provincetown. And we will be. But that’s in August, and this is just June! What we need is your help raising money for the PMC – and we have many ways to make it worth your while.

The prize list keeps growing for the silent and live auctions – and we’ll give you a complete list.

But for now, let’s talk food. Blue Ribbon BBQ will make sure you leave the event as full as you want. Look at the menu they just sent over:

Memphis Dry-Rubbed Ribs
BBQ Chicken
North Carolina Pulled Pork
Kansas City Burnt Ends
Baked Beans
Potato Salad
Cole Slaw
Mixed Bean Salad
Corn-On-The-Cob
Sweet BBQ Sauce
Hot BBQ Sauce
Gold BBQ Sauce
Homemade Pickles

And of course, we’ll have beer from Harpoon. Your first beer and all the barbecue you can eat is all yours for your $40 donation to the PMC. As for Team NECN – we’ll be doing some dining on Thursday as well. We’ll have all weekend to ride it off.

Filed Under: Front Page, PMC Events, Team NECN Tagged With: Blue Ribbon BBQ, fundraising, Team NECN

101 reasons to come to the Team NECN Fundraiser

June 11, 2009 By Ted McEnroe Leave a Comment

1. Proceeds go to Team NECN – and our efforts to raise money for cancer research

2. Cool location – the Harpoon Brewery, 306 Northern Ave. in Boston – 7-10pm on THURSDAY, JUNE 25TH!

3. Fantastic auction prizes – details on those coming soon

4. Your chance to meet and chat with Team NECN, Jenny Johnson and Billy Costa of TV Diner, and other members of the NECN gang

5-101. Look at the food from Blue Ribbon BBQ and beer from Harpoon on display in this clip from TV Diner! The show airs Saturday, but we had to give you a peek at this now

Thanks to Dan Kenary from Harpoon and Geoff Janowski from Blue Ribbon BBQ for coming in to set the stage. We understand Geoff is starting the brisket for the Team NECN party now – after all, June 25th isn’t all that far away!

Food… fun and a great cause. You come eat – and the Team NECN riders will take care of the rest.

To buy tickets right now – click right here, RIGHT NOW!

Filed Under: Front Page, PMC Events, Team NECN Tagged With: Blue Ribbon BBQ, fundraising party, Harpoon, Team NECN

Get your checkbook ready, Patrick!

June 1, 2009 By Ted McEnroe Leave a Comment

The economy doesn’t seem to be slowing down the thousands of children who are raising thousands upon thousands of dollars for the PMC at PMC Kids Rides all over New England. This weekend the Wellesley-Weston ride attracted 700 kids, who raised more than $130,000 for the PMC.

And those big numbers could be made even bigger soon – if the PMC kids can raise $1 million in the kids rides (stop and think about this – the *kids* are working together to raise $1 million! How cool is that?), then Overstock.com CEO Patrick Byrne is going to write a little check of his own, for $500,000.

John Moroney covered the ride on Sunday.

Mr. Byrne, would you like to borrow my pen?

Filed Under: Front Page, Kids Rides Tagged With: overstock.com, Patrick Byrne, Wellesley, Weston