June 24, 2007
Evidence I’m still here ::
personal — tagged bikes, flickr, freeride, me, montpelier, photos and vermont
11:06 am
Langdon Street Geek Week – Freeride Bike Clean!, originally uploaded by SirStan.
So, its been four whole months since I posted here. In that time I devoted myself to my job at the state house, involved got involved in a serious relationship with a girl from Worcester (Massachusetts, not Vermont), drafted more legislation and attended more judiciary committee meetings than I care to think about, found myself unemployed once again, and got involved with a recently-conceived Montpelier bike cooperative. Above you’ll see a picture of me at one of Freeride’s functions, washing my orange Bottecchia fixed gear.
Speaking of my Bottecchia, the bike has served me well over the past few months (after some serious upgrades—it’s quite a different bike from the one it was before). Fixed gear, it turns out, is definitely a new and interesting biking experience, and seems to be an interesting next step after recovering from my broken hip.
I also turned 31 with a small but important amount of fanfare (which came from my new girlfriend) traveled to Central Massachusetts on several weekends, and started the process of finding more work. I’m not sure what the next phase of my life is going to look like, and in the meantime I’ve really enjoyed once again being between things.
February 20, 2007
Ski lift, Vermont ::
vermont — tagged 1970s, flickr, photos, summer, vacation and vermont
4:30 pm
Ski Lift
Originally uploaded by rbglasson.
Someone posted a bunch of pictures from what looks like a summer vacation to Vermont back in the 1970’s. So great for so many different reasons. Unfortunately, there’s no tags or photo sets, so you have to dig through the set on your own.
January 8, 2007
How I’m feeling ::
personal — tagged broken leg, cycling, vermont and work
8:56 pm
Recently I’ve had a lot of people asking how I’ve been doing, mostly with regard to the broken leg, but also in a more general sense. I realized this evening that it has also been quite some time since I last updated this site, so I figured that I would write down the answer to both of those questions, mostly for the sake of being able to remember what it was like at this point in the healing process.
As far as the broken hip is concerned, it’s been healing nicely. Every day it seems I regain some bit of strength and/or mobility in my leg, and each new development reminds me what it’s like not to have to lived with constant pain and weakness in my leg. I’m also able to move around without crutches for short distances. Granted, it’s definitely a hobbling motion, and probably looks a bit ridiculous, but realizing that I’m able to move around without the aid of crutches or—my gosh—a walker does wonders for my morale. I also purchased a trainer just before the New Year, and it arrived at the house today. I spent about 30 minutes on it while I did laundry this evening, and was able to push hard enough to raise my respiration and break a sweat. Granted, it wasn’t nearly the workout I became accustomed to before my accident, but it is something. And like my hobbling, it reminds me of what it’s like to not be broken, and makes me look forward to the day when I’ll be able to take on a 25-mile jaunt to East Calais.
More generally, I’ve been so busy with work that the days have just flown by. The Legislature went back into session the week after New Years, and since then we’ve seen an explosion of activity. Every day I go into work and am reminded of how much I love the work that I do. It’s exhausting, sure, and it takes quite some time to get used to working full time after taking that extended leave of absence after taking the bar exam, but I’ll get used to it again. And I know that it will all be over in a flash and then who knows what will happen next. But hopefully it will entail some time off so I can catch up with family and friends and maybe squeeze in some late Spring traveling.
So I’m still feeling frustrated at times, but overall things are looking up. Being able to see good things in life is definitely a sign I’m on the mend.
December 24, 2006
Holiday Mixer ::
photos — tagged flickr, holidays, photos and vermont
12:16 pm
Holiday Mixer (2)
Originally uploaded by found_drama.
It’s nice to see the Christmas cement truck is making the rounds back in Montpelier. I’ll get back home on December 28th—hopefully the holiday lights won’t be retired before my return.
November 20, 2006
Winter cycle ::
personal — tagged cycling and vermont
10:40 pm
In many ways, November is the best month for cycling. There’s something about getting up early in the morning and heading out for a 30 minute uphill ride that shakes away the lingering exhaustion from the night before. I’ve found that even on those days after a fitful night’s sleep, I can go on a ride and come back, red-faced, fingers numbed, eyes wet from the freezing wind, feeling like I’d gotten a full night’s rest. There’s no way I could take the same ride on a morning in July and feel as invigorated.
I was reminded of this feeling when I went out for a ride this morning. At 7:30 AM the temperature hovered 30 degrees. I headed out this morning with two layers of thermals, jeans rolled up (of course) over long underwear, and a sweater. Starting out, the ride was painful, my fingers numb and my ears and cheeks stinging, but once I got into the ride and had to focus on ascending the first hill, I forgot about the cold entirely, pushing upward.
The single best part of riding like this is the smell I bring back from the outdoors. It’s the smell of the country, of dirt and cold. It’s one of the most vibrant smells I can imagine, and when I come inside I sit for a moment and enjoy it before the chill starts to set in. I feel alive.
One week, one day ::
personal — tagged politics, vermont and work
7:25 pm
I started my new job last week. I won’t be talking about my work at all here, except for in the most general terms. That said, here’s some general background: as a law clerk for Vermont Legislative Council, it’s my job to perform legal research and help draft statutes for members of the Vermont Legislature. Although it may sound like I spend my days locked in a windowless office in front of a computer searching WestLaw, the position actually entails much more than that. Namely, I’ll be working directly with the members, discussing legal matters with them, and advising them as they make different policy decisions. And of course, that work is complemented by plenty of time spent in front of a computer in a windowless office searching Westlaw. So it’s a nice contrast, and should keep the work interesting.
But that’s that. You should know that, at least in the professional realm, I’m quite happy indeed.
November 7, 2006
Where I’ve been ::
personal — tagged bethel, montpelier, personal, recap and vermont
3:23 pm
The contractors are outside the house, dismantling the rotten porch. What started as a small project involving some joists and a couple hours under the porch on some Saturday has developed into a pretty substantial home renovation. But it’s been fun listening in on the contractor’s conversations, which for the most part don’t get much beyond their parroting lines from South Park back and forth to each other. (If you can imagine two middle aged guys with Vermont accents doing that, you might crack a smile.)
I’m in here, posting to this site for the first time in, what, three weeks? It’s been quite some time. But as has become the standard, you can assume that if I’m not writing, there’s a reason. Actually, there are multiple reasons. They are:
A trip to Washington DC to visit Robin. It was really a great, though pretty whirlwind, trip. I saw a couple of friends from Vermont Law, one of whom I hadn’t seen since before he graduated back in 2005. I also (finally) saw the Wrens play, at the Black Cat no less. It was an amazing show. Unfortunately, I have no photos to share, though here’s a picture of the two hand stamps I got—one to get me in and the other, of course, to get me to the bar.
A new job! That’s right, I am employed, and will be until May. I’ll be working at the state house, where I’ll be clerking for Legislative Council, dealing with judiciary matters. As near as I can tell, the job entails dealing with criminal, constitutional, and judicial matters, and I’ll be working closely with legislators throughout the legislative process. It’s pretty much a dream job, and I still don’t quite believe I got it.
This weekend consisted of two parties, one trip to Bethel and one to East Bethel. It involved some substantial driving and some really great interactions with friends, including people I hadn’t seen in quite some time.
I also stopped by the old Bethel house to get the last of my stuff, which has been sitting up in the attic for the past four months or so. That was a lot harder than I expected it to be, but it’s over now, and I feel like I’ve made my final break from that house. While there, I helped my landlady with a computer problem and took Shamus for one last walk, which gave me an opportunity to say goodbye and remember that, as hard as the past few months have been, I’m in a better place now.
So, as I survey everything that’s happened since I last posted here, I realize that I should feel pretty great about my life. I’ve passed the bar, set myself up in Montpelier at a place where I can afford the rent and I really like my roommates, I have a new job that will involve interesting, important work and hopefully lead to something more permanent; I continue to meet great people and do a pretty good job of staying in touch with old friends; but for whatever reason, I continue to feel a little sad. Maybe I’m still in the process of separating myself from my old life, or maybe, despite all my social interaction, I still feel alone. In any event, I don’t feel terrible, and I know it will be just a temporary thing—if nothing else, work starts next Monday and after that I just won’t have the time to worry about such things. But in the meantime, some insight into all of this would be helpful. If you have any, send it my way?
October 22, 2006
Hitting the big time, Vermont style ::
vermont — tagged farming, friends, old shaw farm and vermont
5:29 pm
It’s nice to see my friends Peter and Mary Ellen get some well-deserved attention from the local media. They do great work and are truly excellent people.
October 8, 2006
Cornell Law to help with Donald Fell appeal ::
legal — tagged capital punishment, crime, donald fell, legal and vermont
9:05 am
Back in the summer of 2005, I was posting pretty regularly on the Donald Fell capital trial. It was, for those who remember it, a big deal around here because capital punishment is rarely used in any of the Northeastern states, and because although Vermont doesn’t have a death penalty statute, the federal statute is still available for federal crimes. With that said, I found this AP piece about the law students at Cornell helping with Fell’s appeal.
September 24, 2006
Vermonters secede! ::
vermont — tagged history, politics, secession, vermont and weird
8:36 pm
The LA Times has an article about the Vermont secession movement (NB: I, like 92 percent of those polled in the state, do not support it). Overall the article is ok, though its general tone is a little glib. And the two main problems I found? The article refers to the Ethan Allen Institute as a “non-partisan” think tank. However, for anyone who pays any attention at all to politics in the state, the EAI is famous (or infamous) as a group of conservative free-market zealots. So sure, they may be non-partisan, but who do you think they support come election time? Certainly not the party that advocates for single-payer healthcare.
Secondly I noted something about the leader of the Second Vermont Republic, Thomas Naylor. According to the LA Times piece, Naylor grew quite wealthy after running an software company early in the PC era. (His bio substantiates that he did work in tech, but didn’t mention that he might have gotten rich off it.) But now Naylor spends much of his intellectual efforts (when he’s not defending holocaust-questioning anti-semites) railing against the economic systems and cultural phenomena that made him rich and allowed him to pursue his ongoing political ends. Note particularly his complaints in the Technofascist Manifesto (whatever that may be), e.g., Article 1, entitled “Affluenza,” in which he asks some unnamed vaguely defined body of robot citizens to “[t]each me how to be a moneymaking, money spending machine.” Then in Article 2, “Technomania, he longs to “[m]ake high-tech mountains out of low-tech molehills.” And then my two favorites, Articles 3 and 4, in which he complains of the Internet: “our information, communication trade, and entertainment medium of choice – is a wellspring from which money, meaning, power, and instant gratification flow.” (Please note, I found all this on the Vermont Republic’s website.) And finally, of course, the general complaint in Article 4 that we Americans are under the minstaken belief that “[b]igger and faster make better.” So there is clearly some dissonance between Naylor’s professed beliefs and the reality of his life.
For me, I’m really not even interested in debating the merits of the argument that Vermont should secede. In fact, I have to work hard not to dismiss the argument out of hand, because I just can’t get past the stark hypocracy of the movement’s leader.
Weekend round-up ::
personal — tagged canada, funny, montreal, music, travel and vermont
12:13 pm
Well, quite a bit has happened since the last time I posted about passing the Vermont Bar Exam. (Yes, by the way, I mention it again because I’m still so psyched about passing.) Mostly my life has involved not having enough time during the day and not getting enough sleep at night. But I’ve been reading a lot, keeping up with things online, hanging out with friends, and travelling. So all in all, the fact that I’m exhausted really isn’t that big of a deal—I’ll be sure to get some sleep sometime soon.
So on Friday evening one of my roommates comes home with a friend of his from high school. They were planning on going out to eat, I asked to join them. We decided on this local Indian place, which is attached to the lobby of this hotel just south of town on Route 12. So it’s kind of an innately surreal place to begin with. We get there and I find that it’s one of those places run by an Indian family—it’s clear from watching the four or five people standing at the front counter that they all know each other and are chatting about whatever.
So we come up to the front counter, and the guy there says to us in heavily accented English, “hello, 27!”
We tell him we want to place an order, and his response is the same: “27.” But this time he hands us menus. One of us said we loved Chicken Tikka, I told him that I would like the Chicken Vindaloo, extra spicy. Then one of the other guys of the restaurant group says that it will be the best Indian food I’ve ever had. Anywhere. Something about his use of superlatives made me trust him less. But before my roommate could place his order, everyone in the restaurant group cleared out and filed into some back room, leaving us there alone.
It was unclear what was happening. I asked myself if I’d even placed an order. Then we started looking around and noticed that only a few of the tables were actually set, and others had pots and pans strewn all over them. The room smelled like paint, and the kitchen wasn’t in working order—there was equipment pulled from the walls and more pots and pans strewn over countertops that should have had dishes in various stages of preparation. Then when I noticed the table with the half-empty bottle of Black Velvet on it I realized what was going on—the restaurant wasn’t open, it was in the midst of renovation. And—could it be?—the proprieters of the restaurant were getting drunk.
Oh and 27? The restaurant is scheduled to reopen on September 27th. I’ll be sure to be there, ready to order my Chicken Vindaloo.
So then yesterday Brian and I headed up to Montreal to see Lambchop. The show was really great—Lambchop is a particularly interesting band for their ability to fuse soul and country western music and come up with a gentle, folky, but impassioned sound that is very unique. Also, I was really impressed with the crowd at the show—whereas in many venues in the US crowds would only give half their attention to a band like Lambchop, whose music lacks the immediacy of other louder and faster bands on the indie rock scene, I really got the sense that the crowd was paying attention to the music and getting into it, even though it took a certain amount of work to do that. And they cheered like crazy at the end of every song. So how great is that?
September 21, 2006
VDB on those Vermont Senate ads ::
politics, vermont — tagged bernie, cynicism, funny, politics, senate, tarrant, vermont and vitriol
3:13 pm
So, Vermonters aren’t that accustomed to negative campaigning. Well, at least we try not to be accustomed to such things, wishing instead to exude a stoic, detatched understanding of politics, all the while shaking our heads in exasperation at the depths to which political candidates in other states can stoop just to get elected. Well, things are changing this election with the new television ads from Republican Rich Tarrant. And by far, Vermont Daily Briefing has the funniest review of them:
And the ugly, sour, unforgiving hits just kept on coming: every spokesperson in every Tarrant ad looked like your high school gym coach after a three-day bender; more uglythe old woman who lives in the deserted house at the end of the block who chases kids away with a tarnished Civil War saber; or the evil old fart who monitors your apartment from his dank porch in the shade of a diseased elm down the block.
September 12, 2006
Live music! ::
music — tagged indie rock, music and vermont
10:46 am
Update: Brian has a review of the show up on his site.
So, in an effort to take my mind off of—or possible revel in—the fact that I’m unemployed and my ability to practice law is still in a state of limbo, I headed out to a triple bill show last night with Josh and Brian at Higher Ground. The lineup consisted of California Folk-Rockers Foreign Born, erstwhile Broken Social Scene member Jason Collett, and headliners Rogue Wave. The show was really interesting, mostly because of the fact that many of the high points came at totally unexpected points in the show.
Rogue Wave’s performance was extraordinary because of how consistent it was with what I imagined it would be. They’re music is always tight and polished, and is a strange crossection between rock, folk and electronic atmospherics produced by keyboards played by both the lead guitarist and drummer. It’s funny, but I always think of their songs as well-engineered software applications. And while their tunes were catchy, definitely, and the band loved what they were playing, there was something, I don’t know, missing from the show. And it was the same thing missing from their music on the record. So while I could always think to myself, yeah, this music is definitely good, I couldn’t let myself just fall in love with it.
Contrast that With Jason Collet’s set. At one point Jason Collett noted how much he liked Vermont, and someone mentioned that he should stay an extra day to take a walk down to Lake Champlain (one of his favorite things to do in Burlington, apparently). When Collett said that he was sorry but he had to head down to Massachusetts, someone in the crowd yelled “Hey, New Hampshire Liquor Store is on the way, yeah!” And without missing a beat, Collett said, “thanks for the tip!” The band then launched into the upbeat acoustic number “I’ll Bring the Sun.” And that was just one interaction with the audience. The set was punctuated by a number of these incidents, which I found to be so disarming and infectous, and made the music that much more enjoyable. Comparing Rogue Wave with Jason Collett, it made me realize how the deciding factor of what makes a good show—at least for me—often has almost nothing to do with the music and everything to do with the performers.
Foreign Born started out the night, and they were a lot of fun—like I mentioned, a definite California folk-rock group, complete with the frontman playing a plugged-in acoustic guitar that, except for the pick-ups looked like it could have come from Woody Guthrie’s collection. The band played well and got into their music. At one point they played a song that they asserted that had written just the other day in Canada. Since I’m not familiar with their ouvre, there was no way for me to verify this, so I had to take them at their word. But overall it was a fun set, a nice surprise, and a great way to start of the evening.
September 10, 2006
Enjoying the view ::
personal, vermont — tagged cycling and vermont
12:38 pm
So, this weekend has proven to be quite an adventurous one. Yesterday Josh and I headed out to the Millstone Pathways festival, which consisted largely of our participation in a biking parade that went from the Barre Granite Museum to the start of a newly-opened bike trail in Barre Town. We had lunch, and I learned about the current status of the trails. And most importantly, I got some maps and some great ideas on for bike rides that I’ll be able to take before winter sets in and makes biking pretty much impossible.
Then today I got up kind of early and headed out to explore the trails, using the maps I’d collected from yesterday’s festival. I got all the way to the Grand Lookout at the top of Millstone Quarry, which has some truly stellar views (see above, as well as here, here, and here). Really, it was one of the best bike rides I’ve been on in recent memory, and as summer ends and autumn makes its presence known, I’ve started to remember how much I love the season, with its chilled northwestern winds, gorgeous foliage, and thoughts turning toward winter.
Oh, and get this: there was a raffle at the Pathways Festival, and with my registration I won second prize, which was a two-day stay at the Millstone Hill Lodge. Not too bad. I can’t be sure, but I think this is the first raffle I’ve won. So not too bad at all.
September 4, 2006
Broccoli Walnut Pizza ::
personal — tagged dinner, food, pizza, recipe and vermont
12:31 pm
Broccoli Walnut Pizza
Originally uploaded by gjs.
So, Peter and Maryellen have been posting recipe ideas to the Old Shaw Farm blog for quite some time now, but it wasn’t until yesterday that I actually got it together to give one of them a try. So, my first attempt in what I hope will be a long-standing practice, Broccoli and Walnut pizza.
Overall it wasn’t too bad. I based the pizza crust on a recipe in the old edition of the King Arthur cookbook, which acutally created a lot of crust. I mean, a lot of crust. Next time I will halve the recipe, or cut the dough in two before baking. But overall, I consider it a success.
