Back from the Big Easy

Made it home to NH yesterday afternoon -- after a day or so of traveling! But...at least I got a free round-trip ticket out of it! *smile* Now, I just have to figure out where to go in the next year or so.

From New Orleans!

Oops...I forgot to mention that I'm in the Big Easy this week on a service trip with my church. Challenging and rewarding -- that's the short description so far...but I didn't expect anything less!

Stories to come...

Lunchtime reading -- complex mobile phones in Japan

From Wired:

In Japan, Cellphones Have Become Too Complex to Use

Plus 2 other iPhone-related items:

Speculation on value of old iPhones, including how many will pay for the mandatory 3G package, but will be unable to use it b/c of where they live

and

Refurbished iPhones are an excellent source of previous users' data

I'm still happy with mine and I use it for so many things! Gone are the days of being in a conversation and not being able to answer a question. For example, "What's with the big metal grasshopper on top of Faneuil Hall?" (in Boston)

Housing prices... *sigh*

So I'm realizing that my condo purchase may have been a mistake for various reasons. Until recently, I'd seen that prices in my building were holding steady but then this morning I came across a listing for a unit that's very similar to mine, but for $25,000 less than what I paid. *frown* I also have high condo fees, so if I had looked more carefully at things in the beginning I would have seen how bad that was. If I had waited last summer, rented for a bit, and then done my shopping/buying now I could have gotten a really good house in a better location for a nicer price.

I'm a bit sad about this now. I like my place and the redeeming quality is that there are few places in the country where I could get a cool-looking place for the price that I did... Here's hoping that we can improve things and increase values over the next few years!

Even if nobody is reading this, at least I got to vent...

We Can Solve It!

Have you heard of the We Can Solve It campaign? If not, then you have now! ("It" = the Climate Crisis)

Well, I'm writing about it b/c their newest ad features Tonya Kay, a funky actress who grew up in a small town in Michigan near the tiny town where I grew up. *grin* (we have never met, but we email periodically and had mutual acquaintances during school) In the ad, she holds up the "Tofu" sign at the beginning -- in her personal life, she promotes eating raw foods, drives a car that runs on veggie oil, etc.

Here's the direct link to a page with the ad that she's in (at least as I post this, it could change):
http://www.wecansolveit.org/page/s/millions

Dreary Morning

I went to Boston yesterday for the first time. What took me so long? *sigh* Why didn't anyone tell me how cool it is? I loved it! How many days over the past few months have I wasted "relaxing" when I could have been in Boston? Sad!

Of course...

David mentioned that I mentioned Blogging again and then I didn't write at all over the weekend! *laugh*

I blame the heat. *sigh* This morning on TV they said we're in a "Heat Wave" and gave a definition of what that means. Their definition had to do with

There are various definitions from all sorts of different groups. My summary of the Wikipedia entry on "Heat Wave" is that temperatures during a heat wave are so extreme that little guys in orange robes may burst into flames.

T-Mobile and CouchSurfing

I'm pretty sure that we can say that CouchSurfing has gone mainstream!

Why do I say this?

Well, because T-Mobile recently started airing an ad which features a CouchSurfer who relies on his phone to stay connected as he is traveling around. (this is only part of the ad and quality is poor but I haven't been able to find anything better)

Kozmo.com?

I never lived in any of the cities where Kozmo.com did business, but I remember having the opportunity to buy one of their messenger bags when the Bubble popped. I wish I had b/c now they go for at least $80.

I'm not quite sure how I got to this subject, but it seems that just a few days ago the Industry Standard did a "Where are they now" piece on Kozmo.

If you need a quotation

I came across the ThinkExist.com site today while looking for a quotation having to do with "possibilities". Good stuff!

The quotation:

“The possibilities are numerous once we decide to act and not react."
- George Bernard Shaw

Things I missed...

I forget sometimes that there is a big gap in my life. During my time in Egypt from 2003-2006, I absorbed popular culture of the Middle East and largely disregarded what was happening in the West. For the most part, this doesn't matter but then every once in awhile I come across something and can't believe that I missed it!

Johnny Cash's version of "Hurt" is one such example.

Wow.

What other significant music/TV/movie moments do you remember from 2003-2006? Please share them with me and I'll comment about them.

YouTube on my mind

How much of a geek am I?

Well, it depends on who you ask and what type of geek you're talking about... *laugh*

I'm hooked on the amazing voice of a new, unsigned singer/songwriter named Shanna Gilfix. Her song It Took Loosin You was featured on YouTube's main page for a few days recently and was viewed 500,000 times!

I can never take things at face value, so I needed to know more? Who was this young woman who came out of nowhere?

Well, I did a bit of Googling and put together what I found at ShannaGilfix.net -- enjoy!

Internet cafes typically full of teenaged gamers are nearly empty

This would be a real pain if I was in the Mideast right now, but there are some amusing bits to the article... One of the most striking things about Egypt was how many kids/teens spent hour upon hour in the Internet cafes.

Third undersea Internet cable cut in Mideast

Extreme Makeover: Home Edition

Sunday night's episode was shot this fall in Manchester. I didn't know about the opportunity to volunteer until it was too late, but some people from my church helped out (along with 4,500 other people)

I watched last night during a celebration in the local arena to recognize the companies that donated products and to honor the volunteers. During the program that aired on ABC, there are many nice things said about the city of Manchester.

From this page, choose "Extreme Makeover: Home Edition" then "The Voisine Family" (1/28/08):
http://dynamic.abc.go.com/streaming/landing?lid=ABCCOMGlobalMenu&lpos=FEP

Global Warming My A$$ ?

I noticed an unusual sentiment on a sign for a cigar shop in Manchester over the weekend. I'll admit, I thought for a minute or 2 about going inside to have a short discussion.

Good thing I didn't. Apparently, it's already been in the news:
http://www.wmur.com/news/15115819/detail.html?taf=man
(short article and video clip)

The Simpsons -- Political Commentary

I haven't watched the Simpsons in years, but with the snow day today, I decided to watch a bit of TV online. Fox has Simpsons episodes available in a streaming format. This episode makes fun of Michigan, for trying to replace New Hampshire as having the nation's first primary (and comments about the entire campaign/election process, including Bill Clinton, Fred Thompson, and Dennis Kucinich). There's a short scene set in New Hampshire and someone did their homework -- the road sign shows Highway 28, which is an actual road!

Choose the episode called "E Pluribus Wiggum".

Snow Day!

Heavy Snow Warning. The university (along with 500 other things in the area) shut down today. So far, we're at 6 inches here in Manchester. The prediction is that we're going to be in the 10-12" range before the storm finishes up this evening.

Check Weather.com for all the details. I may venture out (on foot, of course) to deliver a movie to some friends. It might be snow that's good to pack, so it'd be fun to play in the snow, too! We shall see...

Humerous Primary Coverage

A video-blogger who was in New Hampshire for the primary...apparently to make fun of Mitt Romney, John McCain, Mike Huckabee, and Chuck Norris. (link from kottke.org)

Emily Rocheleau's 15 minutes of fame.

Emily's a friend of mine. She worked for a group called the Carbon Coalition. Emily's a great organizer. Emily saw all the candidates multiple times when they were in New Hampshire. She could probably give their stump speeches for them. *grin*

Last week, Emily was interviewed by the New York Times and they included a few of her comments in an article.

The Times took things way out of context and put her comments into an article about Undecided voters.

Emily told them all about how McCain was talking about Global Warming and how that was a great thing. Because of that, people should consider voting for him if they really want to keep that issue out there.

So, a Portland, OR blogger made this comment:
Emily Rocheleau*, 22, is the stupidest person in New Hampshire

Emily was sad.

But Emily has wonderful friends and one of them wrote to the Blogger to explain the situation. (no, it wasn't me. I would have defended her, but I didn't hear about all this until after the fact)

His response:
Update: Emily Rocheleau is NOT the stupidest person in New Hampshire

Ah, I love Happy Endings!

Jan. 8 -- Awesome Global Warming and Climate Change folks!

I needed to be in my office on Primary Day, so I wasn't out-and-about doing things. I was OK with that b/c most of the action was at polling locations with candidate campaign volunteers standing out with signs. Candidates stopped by different spots with no notice given, so it wasn't possible to plan to see them.

Even so, the wonderful people who I volunteer with in the Carbon Coalition (with funding from the League of Conversation Voters which put together HeatIsOn.org) were able to keep doing good stuff! I haven't talked with them yet to hear all that they were up to, but I saw signs during news broadcasts, so they were out there!

For me, it had been a late night on Monday. After all these months, I was finally able to make it to a Hillary event. Even better than that, Bill and Chelsea were also there! Most of the events are done with the "divide and conquer" technique so it was great to see them all together. Of course, this was the same day that we saw our first glimpse of a softer Hillary, so that made it even more exciting!

The event was badly planned in terms of parking and logistics, but inside things were done alright. They said 8pm, so we got there around 7.15 to avoid some of the trafic and to try to get a decent spot to stand. Usually at events, you just wait and wait and wait for the candidates to come and this was no exception, but...there was a warm-up band. Apparently, Hillary wasn't to be outdone by Huckabee's bass playing (frequently) and Jackson Browne and Bonnie Raitt playing some John Edwards events awhile back.

So, some local band played for awhile as we waited. Not great by any stretch -- but they were a decent distraction and it was a refreshing change from recorded music or no music at all!

About 9pm the Clintons arrived! Very cool to see them all together. Hillary gave a strong speech with Bill and Chelsea looking on behind her. At times, it looked like Chelsea was going to cry, but she kept her composure and cracked a smile every now and then.

An audience?

Wow...there might be people reading this now (beyond those of you who I emailed). Thanks to David for talkin' me up!

Tired! (updated with news footage of me)

I'm running on not nearly enough sleep! I think that each night since my return on Jan. 3rd, I've gotten less sleep than I'm used to getting. But it's been worth it!

Last night the Hillary campaign had their Primary Night event at Southern New Hampshire University (the place good enough to issue my paychecks). It wasn't my first choice on an event to attend but logistics made it a good choice and it was a historic night!

I worked all day at SNHU and then had the opportunity to take part in some televised interviews about the Primary. ABC News Now wanted 6 students (that includes me, since I take classes) to talk about their opinions on various parts of the Primary process. We basically did a videoconference with the on-air personalities. Sam Donaldson was firing off questions and it didn't matter who got in his way! *laugh* He did say that our group had "a good grip on things". Nice to hear that!

First interview session (I respond to a question)
Second session (2 staunch Democrats who crossed over to vote for McCain talk, I sit)

In the end, we didn't have much time on-air and I only got to speak during the first segment, but it was quite an experience. They promised to send us links, DVDs, and goodies later so stay tuned!

When that wrapped up, I walked over to the Hillary primary party that was happening in our fieldhouse. It was the Hillary party. With the returns coming in slowly and media outlets refusing to call the outcome, you could feel the energy in the room building. I was in the overflow room, not even the main venue -- but people where I was at were really getting excited. With Hillary off to the early lead in the returns, I kept wondering if the numbers were going to start to turn -- but it just never happened.

When the Associated Press gave their prediction, the crowd erupted! Then just a few minutes later CNN chimed in and again the crowd came through with loud cheers and lots of smiles.

I had to watch Hillary's victory speech on a video screen, and people in the crowd really responded to it, but that was nothing compared to when she came out to see us. Granted, we had to wait until nearly an hour after she finished her speech.

First, Bill Clinton came through to work the crowd and keep us occupied while we waited for Hillary to finish up with the media. He looked drained -- it had been an emotional night and he probably hadn't been sleeping much! I was able to get close enough to say "congratulations" and he took the time to sign an autograph for me, along with items for probably 50 others near me. The room had maybe 200 people, but unless you were in the first 2 rows of people standing near the ropes, you weren't able to get close...

After father, came daugher -- Chelsea. Immediately, people started talking about what year she could run for President. She was full of smiles and very warm and energetic but she didn't look healthy. Her hands were overly-thin and she looked like a celeb in one of those "why is she so thin?" features.

To complete the hat trick, Hillary entered to a huge ovation (from the 200 or so in the room). Interestingly enough, the combined number of supporters was around 700 supporters in attendance as compared to about twice that number when Howard Dean had his event at SNHU 4 years ago.

So, Hillary took some time with the crowd and seemed very appreciative of people's support. A young woman beside me had made telephone calls for the campaign with Chelsea's roommate and another young man must have been very active in things too -- both got some special words on a few extra moments to talk.

I'm not moving over to the Hillary camp, but she's better now than she was a couple of days ago. I think a "kindler, gentler Hillary" is going to win over a number of people. Hopefully, she continues talking about environmental issues and in the few seconds that I had to say something to Bill, Chelsea, and Hillary, I asked them to keep that issue as a major one in the election.

A great photo essay from the night (with various candidates) by CBS news. This is the best compilation I've come across this morning.

The New Hampshire primary is over -- now I can Blog

Such is my luck -- I finally had a ton of exciting things going on in my life (all related to the New Hampshire primary), but I didn't have the time or energy to write about it. Well, there were plenty of other people doing that anyway. *grin*

What a crazy time, especially the 4 days following the Iowa Caucus. Darn you, Michigan! I could have had 4 weeks of fun like this, but you forced New Hampshire to move up its primary! *laugh* It's probably for the best that it was only 4 days of events all the time and not sleeping much -- I don't think I could have survived much more of it!

So, in an effort to share with people and to not forget fun things I've experienced, I'm going to take time over the next few days to Blog. Stay tuned!

The first thing is "New Hampshire Rocks the Vote" which is a YouTube clip made by Rock the Vote. The young people featured in the video are the crew who I've been volunteering with over the past few months to help raise awareness of Global Warming and Climate Change. They're standing in front of the "Action Center" in the middle of downtown Manchester. I'm going to miss that place and all the great people when they close their doors on Thursday night! *sniff*