StallNine: Spirit of the blog

Five years

The amount of time I have been an aunt. Happy Birthday, Spencer! I'm glad the day you have been waiting for since you were three is finally here!

Arrr, happy birthday

Ellen! Don't forget to talk like a pirate today! Or at least make your students talk like pirates in observance of International Talk Like a Pirate Day. For more info on the holiday, check out Dave Barry's column which helped solidify the holiday John Baur and Mark Summers created. (Course, you can also check out wikipedia.) And if you feel the need to meet up with other pirates, you can find the nearest Pirate Meetup here. No, I'm not kidding. The local pirate chapter here has 8 members but for some reason they aren't meeting today. I guess Pirate Meetup members talk like pirates whenever they get together so September 19 is no different from any other day... Anyway, enough about pirates, happy day, happy year!!

No more rising star

Apparently there is question as to whether Hartford's star is actually rising.

For a time, it made sense.

"Hartford: New England's Rising Star" was a slogan intended to sell the city to itself and to others - a brand that placed the lesser-known city in the better-known region, one that hinted at change.

But five years into the slogan's life, some city boosters are sensing it's time for a different message. Hartford, some say, has already risen. Others, perhaps less convinced, wonder how long a star can rise before it, and the slogan, get tuckered out.

Granted, I thought the slogan was lame but not nearly as lame as the logo:

I say get rid of the slogan and the logo. And bring back the Whalers!

No, I'm not a hockey fan, but come on, the Whalers! I love underdogs and from what I can remember growing up (and not paying attention to hockey), the Whalers were always fairly bad but every time they traded someone the someone became a star on another team. Shoot, when the team left town -- kindof like trading the whole team (or maybe it was trading the city?) -- they (the Carolina Hurricanes) won the Stanley Cup. How can you not cheer for a Whalers return?! And when the Whalers return (and they will), they should go back to the retro green uniforms, none of that slick navy and silver!

Sadly, I fear Englehart may have an accurate take on the odds of hockey returning to Hartford. At least in the near future:

This is what a movement feels like! (Or why CD1 rocks!)

What a difference a few months and a primary victory makes! I got back from the CD 1 meeting in West Hartford a short while ago. I have been to three Ned volunteer meetings and I've never been to a one where there were extra chairs.

My first meeting was in late April or early May where I learned how to collect petitions to get Ned on the ballot. I believe there were about 15 of us there, max. I sat on a table when the chairs ran out.

My second meeting was on June 1,  two weeks after Ned made it onto the primary ballot by receiving 33% of the vote at the State Democratic Convention. There were maybe 30 volunteers (I think, admittedly, I'm bad at estimating crowds) at the meeting. The crowd was large enough to be impressive but not so large that we couldn't go around the circle and introduce ourselves. At that meeting we also met the brand new interns, both of them.

But tonight...wow. The office was packed -- not a free chair in the room and tons of people standing in the office and in the hallway. There must have been at least 100 volunteers, probably closer to 120 were 132 volunteers plus the 12ish staff members. I kept looking around the room at the new and the familiar faces. I was amazed. I was stoked. I was pumped. I was bummed...I left my camera at home.

Click here to volunteer for Ned. And click here (campaign site) or here (YouTube) for Ned's latest commercial, Patriot. It gave me the chills, very powerful.

Calling all Nedsters in the First CD

Your Ned Lamont for Senate volunteer meeting is Thursday at 7pm at the West Hartford office! (Click on the link for more information.) Not sure if you live in the First District? The first district consists of:

Barkhamsted, Berlin, Bloomfield, Bristol, Colebrook, Cromwell, East Granby, East Windsor, Glastonbury (part), Granby, Hartford, Hartland, Manchester, Middletown (part), New Hartford, Newington, Portland, Rocky Hill, South Windsor, Southington, West Hartford, Wethersfield, Winchester, Windsor, and Windsor Locks

The Third District volunteer meeting is also on Thurday but at 6:30pm. The Third District meeting is in New Haven. The Third District consist of:

Ansonia, Beacon Falls, Bethany, Branford, Derby, Durham (part), East Haven, Guilford, Hamden, Middlefield, Middletown (part), Milford, Naugatuck, New Haven, North Branford, North Haven, Orange, Prospect, Seymour, Shelton (part), Stratford, Wallingford, Waterbury (part), West Haven, and Woodbridge

For a handy congressional district map, click here.

Why does Joe hate Mac users?

So I finally figured out why I can't access Joe Lieberman's sparkly new website that debuted yesterday. It's because I'm one of those dreaded Mac users. I'm still getting the old Joe page with the following message:

Welcome to Joe2006.com! We'll be re-launching our full website soon to bring you the latest news and updates from the campaign...

But apparently I can view the comments (from at least one thread) through haloscan. (H/t Jon Kantrowitz at My Left Nutmeg.) A good read, indeed. Man, I love snark. And if you're not able to see the comments, let's just say the commenters aren't so happy with Joe.

I hope the journalists who are looking into the "hacking" of Joe's site on primary day are also looking into why the Lamont campaign is stopping Mac users from viewing Joe's site.

Update 10:45pm: Joe's new site is now Mac-accessible. I can't wait to vote for Ned!

Nine weeks until election day

Yesterday the State Democrats held a picnic and it became a lovefest for Ned Lamont. Lieberman (of the Connecticut for Lieberman party) was not invited because, as I mentioned, it was a picnic for Democrats. Anyway, the Courant covered it well. My favorite part:

U.S. Rep. John B. Larson, D-1st District, likened Lieberman to Johnny Damon, a Boston Red Sox player whose move to the rival New York Yankees horrified Boston team loyalists.

True fans remained loyal to the Red Sox despite grieving the loss of a favorite player, just as many Democrats remain loyal to the party despite Lieberman's absence, Larson said.

"It's an unusual circumstance and it's very difficult for people like me, and those of us who've known and worked with Joe Lieberman for so many years," Larson said, "but the fact is, he's not on our team."

Today I went with a friend down to Newtown for the Newtown Labor Day Parade. No, I'm not a big parade person but I wanted to show my support for Ned. And I was not alone. There was a huge contingent of supporters marching with Ned. We sat on the sidelines but made show Ned our love when he walked by. We were pretty noticeable in our Ned shirts so he came right over to us to compliment us on our shirts. Then we had about 30 seconds of downtime before Lieberman (of the Connecticut for Lieberman party) marched by with Hadassah and some kids wearing "I'm sticking with Joe" shirts. I'm not sure where the slogan "sticking with Joe" came from as it seems like supporters are saying they are afraid of trying anything new. Plus, is the direction of our country going so well that you want more of the same?! I know I don't! Anyway, my friend and I and two folks we met from Danbury were waiving our Ned signs and shouting "Ned! Ned! Ned!" as the CFL folks marched by. Lieberman was walking on our side of the road and as soon as he saw us he cut right to the other side. (Hmm, is that cuting and running?) He looked as smarmy as ever. Some camera people (not sure which network) did tape us yelling "Ned! Ned! Ned!..." so I am hoping the "dissatisfaction with Lieberman" story will make the news. It's time they wake up and realize that Lieberman had his 18 years and it's time to move on. It's time to elect a Senator who will speak for the people of Connecticut, who will stand up to President Bush, who will find a way to bring our troops home, who will fight for those who are most in need, the poor, children, those who don't have health insurance.

Oh, and if you hadn't heard, this is the second time in nine years that Lieberman has marched in the parade. The first time -- 2000 when he was running for Vice President AND Senator. This year the Democrats accidentally invited Lieberman but then disinvited him when they caught their mistake. So what did he do? March with the CFL party (himself). It's all about his ego. Did I mention how smarmy he seemed?

The other highlight of the parade was meeting Chris Murphy. He was even more excellent in person than over the internets.
 

Damn tubes!

Typepad has been on the fritz today. (From what I can tell, those of you on Internet Explorer can't reach my blog, those of you on Firefox can reach my blog, but the last version -- shades of brown/natural-- and those of you on Safari can see my blog in it's latest green glory. I know, I know, someday I'll settle on a layout...)

But I know that only affects a few people (hi family!). More tragically, now YouTube is fritzing! I guess I shouldn't complain, they were kind enough to give us their trade secrets (click for larger image):

What is going on with the tubes?!!

Update: Um, I guess you can ignore this little post because 30-seconds after posting I checked to see that the links worked okay and found that my blog is alive and well and in green on Firefox. And YouTube is back in action. So perhaps I should have posted about this earlier in the day?

Happy birthday!

LL!! I hope Coltrane let you sleep a bit last night so you got enough rest to fully enjoy your day! Spencer, if you're reading, please give your Mama lots of hugs and kisses for me today. It was great to see you guys last week. See you soon...