Here’s Susan in front of the new Northampton Coop on its opening day last week. She’s volunteered tons of her time over the last 8 years to bring this to fruition. We’ve already been in shopping twice already since then, and so far, so great.
Category: General
Turn On, Tune In, Drop Out, Live Longer
A tip of the virtual cap to Albert Hoffman, accidental discoverer of LSD and unwitting accomplice in the social unrest in the US in the 1960’s, who passed away yesterday at the ripe old age of 102. Who knew that a little lysergic acid diethylamide and a healthy lifestyle would contribute to such longevity?
Kidding aside, Hoffman’s discovery and passing are a minor but worthy footnote to the whole counterculture movement in this country that was so formative for my parents and by extension me. Here’s hoping for happy trails for him off in the neverafter.
The Hamiltons in the 80’s
Been doing some work on some photos because there’s been an explosion of facebook requests from my old college friends who’ve recently discovered our fraternity group on Facebook, and I happened across this gem from the distant past:
How to spend the perfect weekend
We had perfect weather this weekend, with temperatures in the low high 60’s and clear blue skies. Susan and I took advantage of this and went hiking in the green mountains in vermont about 40 minutes north of Bennington:
It was pretty much perfect – the hike made its way up a steep grade but at an angle such that it was never too strenuous of a climb. We saw a beautiful ice covered lake, followed a roaring brook for over a mile that the dogs had a blast frolicking in, struggled to follow a poorly marked appalachian/long trail section that was covered in sometimes deep and slightly treacherous snow, climbed an excellent quartz rock seam, and looked out over a Vermont valley with stunning views. There are more pictures if you’re interested, including a couple of movies and (after tonight) a panoramic shot of the view from the summit.
Quick shot of Susan and I from this weekend
Susan and I went to a theme party this weekend in Portland Maine. Just got back a couple of hours ago and posted a quick picture. We had a blast.
What’s going on here?
WordPress, the software I use to run this site, has released a major upgrade to version 2.5. I’m in the midst of installing it. If you visit and things look wonky or links don’t work or whatever, that’s why. I’ll get things straightened out this weekend…hopefully 😉
Friday fun – free elfquest for all
I loved Elfquest when I was young. I first came across it back in the early 80’s, when I was mostly reading ‘men in tights’ comics like the X-men, and Elfquest was this excellent variant from the comic norms of the day. It’s the tale of a displaced tribe of elves and their quest to find a new home, or at least that’s how the first series starts. Anyway, they’ve started giving it away for free, releasing a couple of issues a week online at their website. It still holds up to this day, with great line art and a cool, epic saga. Check it out over on the Elfquest site.
Great picture of my brother and me
I finally got around to digitizing this years after it was taken. Check out this great shot of my brother and me at my sister’s wedding in summer 05 or 06, I forget which.
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The end of an era
My first real professional successes came while I worked at Guy Gannett Communications back in the mid 90’s. It was the dawn of the internet and I spent 5-6 years trying to convince an old dinosaur media company to start pushing its content out onto the web. Ultimately I left that job in a bit of a huff, frustrated at how slowly they moved and how dumb the decisions they were making were. A fine example from that period would be them recognizing the threat ebay posed to their person to person classified ads and deciding to drop 10’s of thousands a year on a halfassed ebay clone one of the big national syndication companies was pitching as the solution.
Shortly before I left the family that owned the company decided to sell it. The crown jewel of Guy Gannett was The Portland Press Herald, and the Seattle Times Company ended up owning it, along with me. I got a nice cash bonus from this sale and an incentive to stay with the company for a year, but their decision to put the Press Herald editorial staff in charge of the online stuff was the proverbial straw on the camel’s back and almost as soon as my contractually obligated year was up, I quit.
I guess the point I’m getting to is that this has stuck in my craw ever since. There’s no real point in rehashing it all, and the truth is it all happened long enough ago that I’ve forgotten much of the detail, but I will confess that the announcement that the Seattle Times company is selling the Press Herald for what amounts to a fire sale price gives me a certain satisfaction of the ‘I could have told you so, fools,’ school. That’s tempered by the the knowledge that friends and acquaintances of mine are going to lose their jobs over this and leaves me a bit conflicted, but man, there sure is some poetic justice in all this from where I’m sitting.
Anyway, I hope for the best for my friends who are still there. It’s been years since I’ve been in close touch with most of them, but I sat through an earlier round of layoffs and uncertainty there and I know how badly that sucks. Here’s hoping a Maine-based white knight shows up to save them from being gobbled up by one of the national syndicates. Meanwhile, I’ll indulge myself in just a little bit of smarmy ‘told ya so’ satisfaction that the karmic balance has been restored when it comes to how that place conducted itself and treated me.
How to spend a long weekend
One great way is to snowshoe up to the top of black mountain near Jackson, NH and spend a couple of days and nights hanging in and around a cabin:
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More pictures of the trip can be found here. We had a great time. The hike was a bit on the short side at around 1.3 miles, but given that we had way too much weight in our packs this was a good thing. The weather was perfect, getting into the high teens at night and hovering in the 30s during the day. Each night it snowed, giving us a beautiful new winter wonderland each morning when we woke up. I got to meet a bunch of Susan’s friends along with her sister, drank too much wine, and had a ball with the dogs frolicking in the snow. It’s a tradition with Susan’s family so chances are I’ll be back again next year, this time equipped with a sled to haul the 22 pounds of wine up the mountain.
Dave's Place/Metamusing 