Author Archives: dunster

Two

Sunday night I was excited and tense.  If I’m destined to have a stroke, it will happen during a Red Sox game.  When it was done, I was elated, delighted, ecstatic, and lots of other words.  I screamed at the street, high-fived my friends, and played Dropkick Murphy’s at a volume of 11.  I called and texted and emailed a few dozen people.

As I watched the postgame celebrations and interviews, I thought Sox Chairman Tom Werner nailed it: “2004 was for our parents and grandparents and everyone that suffered through eight decades.  This is for us and our children.”  And we can do it again.

Two.

Sox Fans Don’t Wave Socks

I’m back from game 6, and it was great. The fans were electric from pitch one. They jumped on Carmona’s troubles right away. I’ve never chanted “Faust-oooo” before, but it felt good. I’ll do it again. I didn’t pick J. D. Drew as the hero, but I’ll take it.

Game 7 tomorrow. I like the momentum, and I think we’ll get it done.

Memo for the two people I saw waving socks during the game: we’re smarter than that, thanks. Socks don’t make noise. Clap your hands. Leave the “terrible towels” to people who are dumb enough to think towels make noise.

More on the Charley Murphy Mailing

Sunday night I posted about a couple of the sketchy aspects of the Charley Murphy mailing. It turns out I only knew half of it.

If you look at the first photo, the first person is George Laite. The second is Murphy. The fourth person is Joanna Gonsalves, Woburn Alderman and Democratic challenger to Senator Havern in ’06. She hasn’t endorsed Murphy either!

I posted about this on Blue Mass Group, and Murphy responded. He took responsibility for the poor photo choice, but said the photo was chosen by someone who didn’t recognize Laite. It has to be someone who didn’t recognize Laite or Gonsalves. I ask myself how many pictures Murphy has available, and how many of them include Laite and Gonsalves, and how this one was chosen.

There are two interpretations. The first is that it’s an honest mistake – and then I wonder how such brutal errors get through in such an expensive campaign mailing. It doesn’t speak well to Murphy’s powers of organization. The second interpretation is that it was intentional. That, of course, would rule him out on ethical grounds. Either way, he’s dug himself a pretty deep hole. In such a short election with such thin coverage, he’s not going to get himself out.

Oh, and for final humor value, read the fourth bullet point. I’m sure that a number of his constituents agree that open pubic spaces are a top priority. I’m just not sure that’s a campaign point.

Jumper Cables for the Space Station

I came across this interesting article about the problems in the space station a few months ago.  Key points:

  • You can’t count on a cable to heat itself if you put it by the dehumidifier.
  • It’s worse if the dehumidifier is balky.
  • It’s a bad idea to have your three-way redundant power system depend on a single wire.
  • It’s a good thing you have jumper cables to bypass the whole crappy deal.

I’m doing my space station reading because it’s about to become the temporary home of my fraternity brother Dan Tani.  He goes up on October 23rd and will stay through December.

Charley Murphy’s Mailer – What Was He Thinking?

My state senator, Robert Havern, resigned this summer. When people ask me why he resigned, I answer “because he can make more money as a lobbyist.” Harsh, but accurate.

Because he’s resigning midterm, current officeholders see it as a risk-free crack at a promotion. They can run for the job while keeping their current job. If they lose, no harm done, they have their current position as a fallback. It is a crowded field. I don’t have a horse in this race. I may pick someone as we go along, but at this point, I don’t have a preference.

I got a mailing this week from Charley Murphy, a Democratic state rep from Burlington. It raises eyebrows, and not in a good way.

The first face on the mailing is George Laite. George is Havern’s chief-of-staff. Havern hasn’t picked a successor that I know of. Absent Havern, George is the next best endorsement, so it makes sense that you’d want George on your side. But there’s the problem: I’m told that Laite is actually endorsing Ken Donnelly, not Murphy. Murphy’s photo reminds me of James Rappaport printing “Romney/Rappaport” bumperstickers even though Romney had chosen Healey as a running mate in the ’02 governor election. It’s pretending there is an endorsement when, in fact, the endorsement went to someone else.

The mailing has a “Working for Arlington” section. It includes bulletpoints about 40B, school building, the Mugar property, state aid, and “ensuring the Jefferson Russell House remains a historic treasure for Arlington.” I presume that he’s referring to the Jason Russell house, and I wasn’t aware that it needed protection.

The whole section leaves you feeling like Murphy’s on a multi-city rock tour and his manager told him to shout “HELLO, ARLINGTON” when he took the stage. Maybe it was even written on masking tape on the back of his guitar, sort of like Spinal Tap when it went to Springfield. I’m OK with someone saying “I’m not an expert on Arlington issues, but I’ll convince you that I can become an expert.” I’m not OK with someone pretending to be an expert when they are not.

Having run for a state office before, I can tell you with authority that mailings are the most expensive part of the campaign. I can only assume that the mailing was carefully vetted by Murphy and his campaign manager. How do you explain this mailing? Is this a lousy proof-reader, who can’t tell the difference between Jason Russell and Jefferson Russell? Or is this a carefully-crafted, smarmy and conniving attempt to link Murphy to Havern by using a picture of Laite?

Or should I not bother trying to figure this out, and find another candidate?

What’s Going On

My posts have been few and far between lately. It isn’t that I stopped having opinions, but that I haven’t had the time or organization to put them together. How about a life update instead?

  • As you know, Grandpa died in August. The world goes on, of course, but differently than before. There’s stress and uncertainty about Grandma living alone, about the house, etc. that causes stress for his children, and then his grandchildren. This isn’t a new story; I’m sure you all know what I’m talking about. That doesn’t make it any easier. I continue to think about the care he received, and the questions aren’t going away. The hospital promised to look into it. I’m waiting to hear what they say. And I miss him.
  • I really really really really want to see Mike Doughty in November, but the tickets sold out in less than 2 minutes. If you have tickets you’re selling, drop me an email. I’m paying a lot – $50? $100? Name it.
  • Work. During conversation, it’s normal for friends to ask “And how is work going?” For weeks I had been saying “It’s very interesting and challenging. I’m enjoying it.” That answer surprised me as much as them. We’d all expected me to be searching for a new startup by now. More recently I’ve hit a rocky stretch. The entire management chain that purchased Tabblo left the company over the summer. HP created a new software division and put Tabblo in it. The uncertainty in mission created by that change has been unpleasant. I’m not going anywhere at this point, but I’m not saying “interesting and challenging.” At least not this week.
  • Vacation. I just got back from a three-day weekend in Las Vegas. It was great. I ate great meals, gambled, and caught up with friends. It was particularly good to see Craig and Dina Lozofsky and Trey Ideker. They are friends from the west coast that I see too rarely, and yet it’s great that we can have fun and catch up together. I treasure the friends that last this way. (The dinner with Doug and Karl in August qualifies in the same way.)
  • Sox. I was at the game on Friday, and saw Manny hit his mammoth homer. I’ll be there again on Friday to watch Beckett show the Indians who is boss.
  • Vacation II. In the winter, many New Englanders think of Florida or the Caribbean with longing. I am not one of them. I’m going to the top of Mount Washington on an EduTrip in January. January’s means are 5.2 Farenheit and 50 inches of snow. I can only hope for more.
  • Last but not least: I bought a new motorcycle. I drove it to work for a few days, then rain put me back in my car. A Ford Mustang has never felt so slow.

One Down, Ten to Go

I had a ton of fun watching the Red Sox win 4-0 over the Angel’s tonight. I watched at Flat Top Johnny’s in Cambridge, where I watched much of 2004.

I could write pages about Beckett – he was just great, going after batters, first-pitch strikes, etc. I wouldn’t have brought him out in the 9th, I think he was tiring, but all’s well that ends well.

The only complaint I have is about TBS. They ran their ads long and missed the first third of the top of third. I was pissed. Then they missed the first third of the bottom of the inning! As a minimum, you have to show the plays of the game, and TBS failed at that. Sitting in the bar, I couldn’t hear the announcers, and I’m sure that’s a good thing. They missed more pitches in the eigth, and appeared to be totally unaware of Ramirez being lifted for Ellsbury in left. Can’t we have Remy and Orsillo, please?

I’ll be watching Friday from inside Fenway. Sunday will be from a book in Las Vegas. Here’s hoping that’s the end of it.