I'm a huge fan of Peephuptmei as well. Some people don't like that the family and kids hang out there but the place is very big and honestly I like that vibe.

They have a dish called Ah-Mok which is soooo delicious. There are greens underneath so you don't actually have to order a lot of veggies on the side if you're debating getting another dish to go with it. Unless you want more than just greens. BTW you can actually park in the mini parking lot across from the liquor store across the street. Pretty sure at least. We never get towed and I think that parking lot was meant to be for all of three or four businesses that are in that little intersection. But there's also parking along the side that people don't realize, but it's tricky to back out of.

Peephuptmei is my favorite right now.

They make a fish dish called "Ah-mok". It's soooo good.

For the longest time people were giving them only 3 stars but I think it's because people didn't like that the family and kids hang out there. I have no problem with this. The fact is that they make some of the best food in this town.

Is it really frozen? They make a pretty big deal about getting their fish fresh every day. I've had the baked Haddock and it's amazing.

Yep i just wished I lived closer to it, I'm nowhere near it in the mornings.

I saw Andromeda once with my naked eye and the emotion it stirred in me is something I will never forget.

My parents lived in Wiepenkathen, a small village outside of Stade, Lower Saxony in Germany. Its's about 60km from the North Sea.

I had returned from a day in Hamburg (which is southeast of Stade) and took the bus from Stade and I think I took the wrong bus because for some reason I decided to get out in the middle of nowhere. I could see the village's lights across a very wide frozen farm field, so I thought "no big deal, I'll just cross through the field". As I'm crossing through the field I realize I've never seen so many stars. Our neighboring arm of the Milky Way was so incredibly bright, at some point I just stood there, freezing, and looking up into the sky. I even got the distinct sensation of depth and started feeling vertigo, as if I could fall into the sky and plunge deep into the starfield, so I had to look down towards the horizon again...

My heading was north or northwest, but when I scanned downward I noticed that in an otherwise completely clear and black sky, I could see this faint purple cloud in the northeast, not too close to the horizon, but not too high either. I thought that's weird, and wondered if maybe it was just steam or smoke that had come out of a power plant and maybe the lights of a village or city far away were lighting it up from below. This would explain this super small cloud... but this cloud must have been far away too because it wasn't really moving. I walked a bit more and the cloud was still there. So I stopped and really studied. It never moved at all. And it had a weird whirling spinning shape, with a bright center area. And that's when I realized what I was looking at. Andromeda. M31.

I immediately felt complete and utter awe. I realized that on this night I'm seeing thousands of stars, and most of those stars are relatively close to us. And then beyond those stars I can see clearly our neighboring arm of the Milky Way... which is even more stars further away all bunched together (comparatively). And then... even further than that... is an entirely separate galaxy with a trillion stars itself, and I'm seeing it right there with my own two eyes.

The sense of insignificance was incredible... and yet at the same time, paradoxically, the fact that I was there to witness it, to see it, made it so profound and important to me. It's hard to explain. It was not a religious experience, but it was definitely a humbling feeling. And I wish everybody could experience that.

I have seen it with my naked eye while cutting through a frozen farm field on a very clear, cold and dark night in northern Germany. It was actually a bit of an emotional experience.

I feel so stupid having lived in Lowell for 10 years and hung out here for 16 and have yet to set foot in Arthur's. I'm just literally never anywhere near there in the morning.

Granted, I'm also a very big guy, and that place looks so small at times I feel claustrophic thinking about it. :D

Lots to love in Lowell!

Owl is awesome! but don't forget to try out the following for great breakfasts:

• Elliots (yes, the hot dog place... they have breakfasts for like $7 including coffee)
• Pawtucketville Diner (can be a long wait but the food is great)
• Wham's Cafe (Kenyan!)
• Club Diner near Shell downtown
• Connector Café by Lowe's (lots of healthy options)

I'm sure I'm forgetting some...

Tracks. I didn't even know you could cross 128 there. Was that recently opened? I mean, that's the trail we were clearing but I don't recall the bridge was crossable. I used to always park my car at that big office complex and then walk my bridge across the train tracks. I tried walking the RR bridge once but it was way too scary.

From your video it looks like it still ends in Wayland. I would try continuing through the overgrown upraised RR but I would get a thorn in my tire every single time, no joke. I gave up after the 3rd time.

If you can stand riding on 20, you'll eventually hit more bike able areas... a little on the left and then a lot on the right which go north through Great Meadows areas.

I used to bike a lot of this all the way up to Billerica where I worked.

I used to think one of them will die and then it will be over. But nope. I think one of those kids (and honestly I think some of them are more like young adults) got hit last year. I think I saw less of the motorcycles, but I'm hearing them again. I saw a group of those guys kinda congregated in Back Central in a driveway near the old Whipple Cafe. I think most of the time these guys are just enjoying the freedom. But like usually what happens is one guy feels like showing off and the other guys do the same. That's when things get dangerous as they try to one-up each other. I've seen some close calls. I hope they grow out of it before someone else gets hurt. I saw them drive around someone crossing the street in a stroller (of course, it's Lowell so the stroller may have contained a six pack and a tent for all we know haha) once. Could have been a Mentos commercial.

Oh cool, so you can walk / ride across that bridge now. NICE!

Also, that first area in the video... I think that's the area I helped clear many years ago. :)

Wow, I had no idea they'd already paved a ton of that abandoned rail between Wayland and Waltham. I used to ride my bike out there all the time and loved the terrain. Kinda sad... but at the same time nice that one will be able to ride down to Waltham, catch a bite and a brew, and ride back. So cool. Only thing is crossing that bridge (unless it's paved yet) is a hazard. I would always have to cross the live tracks. And those are some series tracks with difficult rocks to traverse. The trains come through fast there.

PS: I just remembered that I used to help out clearing the rail intown in Waltham. I think it was through some trust. Lots of students and professors were involved. It was fun and actually quicker work than I thought it would be. I suppose that stuff will link up at some point.

Here's a link to a Lowell Sun article which shows a different picture of Michael. It's good to see more photos of someone to get a clearer picture. I see a lot of folks on the street between where I live and work. So I am keeping my eye open.

Also he's 5'10" so not a short person.

That's so sad. I hope for the best.

I asked someone people with drones if they're interested. I know not all drones are heavy duty and the winds above the river can be strong. Also not sure who is around.

Have you contacted Lowell police? I was told they have search drones.

So we're not people? I own a picture framing business. I would give discounts to my fellow art community knowing how hard it is to sell art, and then word of mouth goes around about how great a deal my place is, and people would come in clearly looking for a great deal they heard about. When I look at the amount of discounts I've given away in the past 8 years, it's something like $150,000 or more... meanwhile I'm struggling and in debt, and I paid my employees more than I ever made. I rent, owe taxes, but I do this because I love it and am good at it. I've had to drop more of the discounts while at the same time costs have gone up (lumber is through the roof), so more and more people are upset that something that cost $200 in 2018 is now $270. Anyway, sorry if this sounds like I'm griping, but when you say "power to the people" it's very exclusionary, as if we're not people. In reality, I have given thousands of people extra cash in their pocket they can use elsewhere in the economy, and I've paid my employees much higher than minimum wage. I'm not some enemy.

Although that was four years ago I'm guessing by actively marketing to students it's not going to necessarily be a peaceful place. ;)

I have a lot of experience with Lowell's old mill buildings, being an artist studio renter and a loft tenant for over 15 years. Here's my take on them, the good the bad and the ugly (without naming names)

There are some places that are advertised as lofts but they're not lofts. At all. They are very cramped dimly lit 2-story dens that are very expensive (well, now... not when they opened) for what you get. But their location is great, you can walk to everything.

There are some lofts that are moderately to very new and are actual lofts with nice amenities (or at least were nice about 8-15 years ago when they were new), and some even advertise themselves as "luxury lofts", but the complexes are so enormous and have so many units that nobody has any sense of responsibility or community to one another and people are noisy, violent at times, litter everywhere, make messes in stairwells and so on. Some of these places are headed towards being horrible places to live within the next 10 years. Be on the lookout for how the grounds are kept. Are the sidewalks clear of ice? Is there dog poop anywhere? Do people loiter outside and disregard "no smoking signs" because there is no consequence? I would consider these red flags... while not indicative of an actual ongoing problem, they signal a slew of potential problems if not rectified or solved.

There are some lofts that have no Section 8 housing agreements (lower income) and so you could consider these places somewhat more discriminatory in that in order to move in you pretty much need to have a job that makes the kind of money where you can afford it. In some way, this does help with some of the problems you see in the types of places I mentioned in the paragraph before. However you still have other problems. These units tend to be very large "giant boxes" so-to-speak, and so, sure, they are more "pricy". They also have cracked concrete floors and ceilings in some cases. These are very low-frills places to live. However, you will not find a better deal per square foot in Lowell or even the greater Merrimack River Valley area as far as I can tell. Think about it like this: if 700-1200 sq ft. apartments in Lowell are renting for $1200-1600 a month, you can get 1600 sq ft. for a couple hundred bucks more at this place. That's a hell of a lot of space which you can do whatever you want with. You will not find that much square footage in a relatively safe place near amazing amenities as far as I can tell. The only requirement is that because one of these places I'm talking about is owned by a major Boston-based arts non-profit, you have to be in the arts/creative (including music, architecture, dance, performance, theater, etc.) industry of some kind. But there are some which have extra rooms, better amenities, nice wooden beams, awesome parking, but they cost a lot more per square foot.

That said, almost all of these kinds of places I've talked about have significant to serious noise issues. Developers will go on record and tell you that "they were all built at least to Massachusetts at minimum sound-reduction requirements". However, those minimum requirements, i suspect, were determined based on structures that were intended to be housing. And not former mills where the 1st floor's ceiling is, literally, the 2nd floor's floor. That means if you live below someone, you will hear their high heels, chopping vegetables, and I kid you not... sweeping. Because sound travels better through solid objects. The mills weren't built with sound isolation between floors so you no matter how much dampening you put in the drywall between units, you will still get a ton of contact noise traveling from 2nd to 1st floor.... and sometimes even across units because of metal beams that go through dozens of units.

My favorite Chinese in the "area" is Sichuan Gourmet in Billerica. I like them because their sauces aren't just sweet goopy overuse of corn starch like so many places. Plenty of sauces are supposed to use corn starch but it seems most places go way too heavy and add too much sweetening to appeal to American tastes.

Locally, I'm actually a fan of China Star (the one in the Acre) but I only ever order two or three dishes. I haven't been in years though so can't vouch for consistency or if they're even around.

If you want to expand beyond Chinese, check out Cambodian food at Peephuptmei just west of Cambodia Town (they make a fish dish called Ah-Mok which is insanely delicious), and Zabb Elee (Tum Kao Pun is a sweet-spicy cold noodle salad that is incredibly addictive) a few blocks away for Laotian. Fantastic places.

I pretty much don't delete any emails or voicemails or messages from people I know. It's amazing the amount of stuff I can find from 10 or 15 years ago. It really doesn't take up that much space. I honestly don't know why people get so obsessed about deleting messages and stuff. One of the interesting things about listening to really old messages is that I notice I may get something different out of it now than I did 15 years ago. It's hard to explain, but whatever the person says might tell me something I didn't think of back then, but I think of now. It's super interesting.