Random Mobile Update (6.23.12)

Duxbury is awesome. Pat, Matt and I caught an early train down to Kingston and Diane picked us up around 10:00 AM. We got a quick driving tour of the town, and then we went to their house. Their house has a primetime overlook of the Atlantic and some beautiful green marshes. After helping Sherm and his son load a 76-year-old boat on to a trailer, Pat and Matt and I made sandwiches and listened to some music while overlooking the marshes. It was so relaxing! After lunch we took the old Ford to the beach. Duxbury has the largest wooden bridge in the USA. We drove onto the beach and slept for a few hours, read, went in the water, and then headed back around 4:00 PM to wash up before dinner. We showered and then played croquet I their backyard, while Sherm's son cooked steaks. We watched an enormous storm front approach. We shot a potato gun at the marshes. It started raining just in time to move into the screened-in porch to eat corn, steak, and other assorted food. We all talked a lot. Diane and Sherm are going to Italy so I told them some stories about our adventures in Belforte a few years ago. Pat and Matt also had a great time today. Tomorrow should be fun too! Photos.

The Hoyts' backyard overlooking the marshes.

Season of Life, a really good book. And marshes. 

Storm brewing.

It bright out. 

M*A*S*H

Duxbury beach.

Random Update (6.17.12)

So what I'm doing this summer throws me at the public, one person at a time. I talk to people. Lots of people. The people I talk are not (all) dumb. They are full of stories and opinions. I am going to write about them. Not all of them. If I wrote a sentence for each time someone said 'no', I could be a widely published author. These people, however, were more memorable than those who merely shut door on me.

The Canada Hopeful

This old guy listened to my little memorized speech, and then told me what he thought. He believes that solar energy will only work from the top down. The federal government should do it, and no one else. Since New England and Canada are more progressive than the rest of the United States, the only logical outcome is for the two to combine. Yes, he firmly believes that New England will leave the Union for Canada within the next forty (40) years. I believe that change at the federal level happens if there are existing, positive examples of support in multiple states. That's what I'm a part of, expanding a solar energy program in Massachusetts. Maybe a similar program can be part of something bigger, but getting it to work here first is important.

The Electrician

He works with energy and power. Solar panels don't make sense. They require so many special materials to manufacture and leave a huge carbon footprint. They need replacement parts after a few years.
Mac and Cheese House
A really awesome couple. They were very calmly yet excitedly interested in what I had to say. I told them all about the issue, and they were all for it and gave a really generous lump of money! I talked to them around 4:30, and the wife drove by me again around 8:00. She invited me to get some Mac and Cheese because she was amazed that I was still out there. So I stopped and had some Mac and Cheese!
Wednesday Night Magic Director
I was looking around a house while a guy was filling out a contribution form, and I see a hefty stack of magic cards. His wife plays every wednesday and organizes the Boston card group or something like that. We bonded.
Old Coots
I probably spent twenty (20) minutes talking to these two old conservatives about politics, life, and the why the world is the way it is. They were not fond of government/politicians tampering with utility companies and their ways of doing things. The first thing they asked me was "Are you a liberal?". We talked about how important voting is. They remember when a certain huge electric company was split up by government on the grounds of monopoly (I think). This company worked so efficiently and well, it made little sense to them why it was broken up. It's easy to see why people do have different opinions. As someone once said, there is nothing more dangerous than a man convinced beyond all doubt that he is right. Talking to other people and playing devils advocate in my mind is very educational. The husband was (is) a marine and looked like Uncle Doug. The wife was pretty standard looking, I don't remember her much. They were lovely people and it was nice to disagree nicely.
Babe Ruth (Mrs.)
Went to this one house, and the nice lady told me that I was standing in the former... um... gentlemen's retreat of Babe Ruth.
The Tracker
Talked to this guy, and he said he was moving in a month to california, and that he was really busy doing something. He tracked me down later in his car and wrote a check! He felt bad.

Random Mobile Update (6.7.12)

Best week of work, by far. I've taken a crew of folks out to Harvard, MA each day this week, and it's been a good time. It is not the Harvard you're thinking of. It's the county an hour northwest of Boston. And it has an awesome cheap pizza place we stop at for "lunch" called Pizza Bella (although I bring my lunch). I say "lunch" because we eat around 3:00 PM. Then we 'canvass' for 4.5 hours, and head back to the office. Canvassing is going door to door, saying a memorized speech, and basically selling our idea to people. We want lots of money-giving members to fund advocacy, research, and public outreach. And I have to plan where people go, get people where they need to be on time, and make sure they are awesome at raising political support and money for this cool solar energy campaign. Harvard has been great. I took my crew to this awesome lookout I found before heading back today. It made us 15 minutes late, but I'm sure you can see why that didn't bother anyone.

Random Mobile Update (6.3.12)

Pat, Pat's friend Pat, Alex, and I drove down to Mansfield, MA in the silver car loaded with Dr. Pepper, donuts, Devil Dogs, and roast beef sandwiches from Amato's on Tuesday afternoon. We met Nick, Emma, and some of their friends in a big parking lot outside the big Comcast Center where the concert was being held. We got seats on the lawn and chilled while the opening band opened (Photo 1). Radiohead played well. It was a privilege to see my favorite song of all-time played live (called Reckoner). They ended the show with it. 

Emma drove Nick, Alex, and me back to our summer-rented apartment. Alex and I decided to just stay up all night because we had to get up at 5:30 to catch a 7:00 bus to Washington DC via New York City. We made the first bus in ample time. While trying to enter Manhattan, a big boat wanted to go up a river on the Bronx side, so the Madison Ave bridge was closed for 30 minutes. This almost ruined our day, because instead of arriving at 11:00 AM for our 12:00 PM bus to DC, we arrived at 12:13 PM. I say almost because we were the very last two folks to walk on the bus (Photo 2) So, after traveling for 10.5 hours, we arrived in DC and ate food around 4:45 at a nice Chicago pizza place. Alex was not impressed by the shortness of DC. I tried to explain that no building could be higher than the Washington monument (up for debate) but he simply did not like the mediocrity of shortness. After food, we walked to the Metro and took it out to FedEx field. Our cheap seats were not very good. So we snuck up and got an amazing view for the entire game (Photo 3). Security was not too heavy, thankfully. We had to leave around the 75th minute to catch our bus back. Unfortunately the game was over by then anyways, Brasil 3 USA 1 (They scored 1 more to make it 4). We got off the Metro around 10:30 PM and ran just over a mile to catch our 10:45 PM bus. We made it. The bus was overbooked, we got the last seats, barely. So then we got to New York around 4:45 AM and proceeded to be exhausted, smelly, hungry, and smelly until our 7:00 AM bus to Boston. We were late to Boston. We got a taxi back to my house, Alex showered, and then I said bye. He had a 3:15 PM flight to Sao Paulo through Miami to catch.

I worked Friday. I went swimming and watched MIB 3 on Saturday. I played basketball and bought groceries for the week today. These updates take a while to type on an iPhone.

Random Update (5.29.12)

It's a bittersweet long weekend. Let's start with the bitter and get sweet. The house I'm staying at this summer was robbed on Sunday night. I was not there, but I'm told that my laptop is gone forever and ever. That made me sad, we had been together for two years and I had hoped to be for many more. All my files and music and videos and photos are safe because my backup drive was not stolen (I think) and also I use this nifty internet syncronization site called Dropbox.  So thanks to the internet, the most concerning of the robbery was, well, the fact that our house was robbed. It was Memorial Day weekend, and the rapscallions chose their target wisely. There were four (4) or five (5) folks in the house when it happened; my roommate Nick and I were both gone. So, any shiny piece of electronics was taken from our room and the living room. I'll be filling out a police report this Thursday, everyone else already has.

The reason I haven't been around Boston is because I'm in Maine, the self-proclaimed Vacationland of the US of A (according to ME license plates). What is there in Maine, you might ask. There are two of my best friends, nice beaches, and a nice city called Portland, I might answer. Alex is a soccer-playing Brazilian from Sao Paolo, and Pat is my direct roommate for sophomore year. I bused up from Boston after work on Friday (and after getting my first paycheck!), arriving in the Concord Bus terminal around 1:30 AM. Pat and Alex showed up a few minutes later in a Camry and we went back to Pat's house. Pat has a big family, both individually and collectively. His older brothers and dad are between 6'3" and 6'5". There is Benjamin (24?), David (22?), Michael (20?), Patrick (19), Timothy (16), Elizabeth (12?), and Mary (10), along with mom and dad. It's a full house. Mary reminds me of Jane; I think they would be friends. Plus they have the same glasses. I met everyone the following morning. 

The afternoon I tried to remember all the names on the way to the beach. It was is tough. We stopped and got some sandwiches from Amato's for later, and then drove in the big suburban to Higgins beach. I kicked around a soccer ball with the senyors, jumped into the freezing Atlantic, and then slept in the sun. We packed up and went to watch Tim throw javalins at his track meet. Then we returned to the beach. After the beach, we went back to the house, cleaned up, and went out to Buffalo Wild Wings for egregious amounts of boneless wings before watching Game 7 of the Celtics-76ers series later that night. Saturday night I read a lot of The Sparrow by Mary Doria Russell. Sunday morning I think Pat got up early for church, then came back and slept until lunch time. Pat and I went running through the trails along the Once Alex got up (he sleeps absurdly late. I was told he scared Mrs. Jerome once when he woke up at 6:00 PM) we left for Pat's grandparents cozy house on the lake. Alex, Pat and I went kayaking for about an hour, and then came back and dried off before heading over to Pat's other grandparents' house for some yummy food, like chicken, salad, mac and cheese, a little bit of steak, ice cream, cake, watermelon, and sugar-topped raspberries. After dinner we played half-court basketball against Pat's brothers Michael (called himself Dirk), Dave (Dirk called him Blake), and Tim (just Tim). The hoop was low. It was a dunk-fest. That night Pat and Alex and I watched The Prestige. That's one worth watching, folks.

Finally, Memorial Day was a relaxing end to a relaxing weekend. We got up, ate some hot dogs, and listened to the end of Frank FM's top 1000 classic rock countdown. Stairway to Heaven won. Dream On was a close second. Then, beach! Except we went to Scarborough beach instead. I mostly just slept this time. After, we went to Five Guys downtown. That evening we watched the Celtics in Game 1 against the Heat, and played Tripoli. 

Today and tomorrow, we are going to see Radiohead in Mansfield, Massachusetts, and the USA play Brazil in Washington, DC, respectively. Pat has work, so he couldn't make the long bus rides to and from DC. But Alex (did I mention he is from Brazil?!) and I are very excited. 

Random Update (5.22.12)

Last weekend was very necessary. I thought about going up to Maine to hang out with Pat and Alex, but I really needed to clean my room, well actually house, and relax for a bit. Charae invited about ten (10) folks over for our friend Rachel's birthday, so Saturday night was a good time. I was just very happy to have organized my room. It was a mess, and I don't have a picture of it because I was angry at it inwardly. So basically after a cleanful and funful Saturday, I had a do-nothing Sunday. I mean, I did go running and go to the Plex because it was gorgeous, but basically I did nothing. I got ice-cream with Zach and Najee, two senyors living in Radnor at the moment. Funny story: Najee has seen M*A*S*H, is Lebanese, is from Toledo, and has had dinner with Jamie Farr. He wants to be a surgeon. Zach is a good bit shorter than I am, and he can dunk. That made me very motivated to increase my pathetic white-chico vertical leap. 

 Bed, rug, Dempsey, soccer ball. The bascis.

TV, Marilyn, and oodles of other stuff. The not basics. Well, you could make an argument for Marilyn.

Last Monday has nothing on today. It was my third time going out as field manager, and I was ready. We call it "F.M.-ing". Isn't that cute? I organized five (5) sets of streets in Newton Upper Falls for my team to canvass. This involves drawing maps of streets, finding 'renewal' cards for each person's set of streets, transporting everyone to the canvassing location, and then sending everyone off well-prepared with a goal. We started, of course, only after eating lunch at Bob's Subs. Bob makes good subs. Although I assume the Asian woman who made my sub was not, in fact, named Bob. So yeah, then after five (5) hours of walking around and talking to folks, we meet back up and I check-in with everyone. They tell me some basic numbers ($ raised, # of conversations, # of postcards signed, # of yeses) so I can quickly tell the folks in the office how our night went once we get back. I also was training a girl named Tyler the entire night, who also turned out to be a rising sophomore at Boston College. Anywho, the night went smoothly and well. My goal was to get an average of $175 per canvasser. We raised $875, so that was spot on. No annoying decimal places or anything. Oh, and I get paid on Friday! That's exciting and new

Random Update (5.16.12)

After the second day of work I'm a little surprised that I'm typing this update. I'm exhausted, but I think that I don't want to forget everything that happens. Here is the scoop on what I do.

=scoop=

I take the subway (the "T") around 40 minutes before work starts, which has been 12:30 and 11:30 on Monday and Tuesday, respectively.

I get off at Park St. station near Boston Common. 

I was to the Environment Massachusetts office, on the 4th floor right by the stop.

I say hi, check in with the office director(s), and I get my clipboard ready.

=info=

I am a 'canvasser'. We go in groups of five or six to different parts of Boston. We walk around specific neighborhoods and streets on our own. Our street assignment is our own 'turf'. We knock on doors and say our 'rap', a memorized speech that presents the problem, our solution, and is designed to get contributions very carefully. Basically we are working on getting support for a bill that expands a solar energy program called 'net-metering' so that is becomes bigger and more effective and so that MA becomes even more energy efficient. We have a quota of $120 per night. Nights over $200 are 'hot nights'.

=scoop=

We have announcements at 1:45, where people with 'hot nights' are announced with a single-clap per name. 

I am assigned a field manager.

I practice my 'rap'. 

I leave for Enterprise to rent a car for the day with the group, and we drive to our location.

We have late lunch, and plan out our routes.

The field manager gives everyone assignments, like target money goals, and other other related goals (like how many people to talk to, how many postcards to fill out, etc.)

=personal info=

I raised $255 dollars the first night by myself. It was fun. It was rainy. I talked to a bunch of interesting people. Most people were all business or wanted to mind their own business. Some were friendly and sympathetic to young folks out in the rain. One thing is certain, however. And that is that my good com'pat'triot named Bamber was correct in describing my job as professional begging. Yes, it is paid (well!). And yes, it is begging. But I am outside every day, I'm meeting new people, and I'm seeing what makes democracy work.

=scoop=

After five hours being out on 'turf', the team meets up back at the car around 8:45.

I organize my money and contribution forms ('con' forms).

I debrief with the field manager, letting him/her know about my day and how it went, whether my goals were met, etc.

We drive back to the downtown office to 'cash out', which means documenting everyone's money. This takes about an hour. 

We go get food to relax and have a good time.

=end scoop=

There's a lot going through my mind. 'Canvassing' is a learning experience. I learn a lot about an issue. I learn how to get people's money. I learn how to smile at annoying people. I learn the streets of Boston and its surrounding area. I learn that rain is no fun. I learn that UBurger is a delicious establishment. I learn a way to make democracy work. I learn from the people I talk to. And I see a lot of houses. A lot. Tons. Loads. Oodles. Many. So many. Very many. 95 per night (ish).