John Edwards and Halloween

John Edwards is in the office next to mine giving an interview to the news people right now here at the Keene Sentinel. For Halloween he decided to dress up as a Presidential candidate; similarly, I decided to dress up as an office lackey. Presumably, we're both in good company.

I was hoping he would offer me universal healthcare in exchange for a free subscription. He hasn't yet, but if he does I will consider it.

In other Halloween news, Bea and I are going to buy some trick-or-treat candy under the guise of giving it out to children. The reality of it is that we will probably have it all to ourselves because who would take their children trick-or-treating at the house between the soup kitchen and the Department of Corrections Parole Office?

Where are our damn internets?

So, I could have been typing this entry from home, but if that were the case then I probably wouldn’t be typing it at all. I signed us up for Time-Warner cable internet last week and scheduled the installation for today between 12-5 in the afternoon. They called me back three times to confirm that I had a scheduled appointment, 4 days prior, 1 day prior, and the MORNING OF the scheduled installation. They said they would have the technician call us 30 minutes before they were going to arrive, but by 4:30 no call ever came in. Bea called and was put through to the local office where she was told “We don’t have any work order for you.”

What?

After some run-around with that, something like the following happened:

Bea: When is the next time someone can setup our internet?
Phone lady: Oh, probably sometime next week.
Bea: Could you be more specific?
Phone lady: Well, I don’t have that in front of me.
Bea: Could you look?
Phone lady: Oh, you want to reschedule an installation now?

At this point, Bea drove down to the local office and gave the lady a Turkish wedgie while she was still on the phone with her. It didn’t resolve the problem, but it was satisfying none the less.

We do not have a installation time yet, and I am in the wireless arena at the local library once again.

Keene Pumpkin Festival 2007

The progression for my pumpkin this year is illustrated above.
It received a lot of recognition from local passers-by. I was pleased.
So, the Keene Pumpkin Festival definitely puts to shame the Milford Pumpkin Festival. All this time I thought the Milford one was so great, but no. Well, that's not true. They each have their strong points.

Milford Pumpkin Festival:
- Giant Pumpkin Contest: hundreds to thousands of pounds
- BBQ dudes
- 2.5 days of festival
- home field advantage

Keene Pumpkin Festival:
- 25,000 glowing jack-o-lanterns
- 100% natural maple cotton candy
- fireworks
- more food vendors than you can shake a stick at
- pig farmers?

Okay, let me tell you about MAPLE SYRUP COTTON CANDY! Yes, it's the real deal, made from 100% natural New Hampshire maple syrup. That's right, not maple-flavored-syrup (Mrs. Butterworths, Vermont Maid, etc.) the lady assured me that they used their own 100% maple syrup reduced to a crystallized form replacing the nasty chemical blue/pink/whatever colored/flavored business that is generally seen at these events. Simply brilliant and delicious. I consider it gourmet cotton candy, for connoisseurs only.

Next up, 25,000 jack-o-lanterns! That's an extreme amount! All glowing in the night! Fantastic! Lined up and down main street and three giant tiered towers full of them! Our gang of peoples contributed 12 or so pumpkins to the tally, but the city was still about 6,000 short of taking back the title that Boston had claimed last year, but that's nothing compared to Bennington, VT's pitiful attempt which left them something like 29,000 pumpkins short of the tittle - all in good fun though.

Pig farmers? So, this had potential, but in the end was a letdown. The ladies at work told me that all the pumpkins after the final count end up going to a local pig farm where they are devoured and eventually turned into delicious loin, chops, and bacon. Much to my dismay, I found out that this year the pumpkins were just trucked off to the local landfill. After I heard that I thought I should have taken my pumpkin home with me since it wasn't going to help fatten up some Christmas ham, but then I realized I would have just ended up throwing it away anyways. Whatever.

I will be posting pictures eventually, once I get them all in order and such.

The Great Hand of Buddha

We didn't buy this, but that was our mistake.

Welcome to Cider City

Welcome to Cider City.
10 gallons unpasteurized New England cider
5 quarts 100% cranberry juice
1 quart 100% pear juice
4.5 gallons MacIntosh apple juice
6 pounds brown sugar
7.5 pounds clover honey

3 different batches of booze.
- Cran-Apple Hard Cider with a touch of pear (6 gallons)
- Hard Cider (5 gallons)
- Hard Cran-Apfelwein (5 gallons, for Marc)

Possibly ready for Christmas, or not.

Honeymooners

Gay Head / Aquinnah Cliffs
Honeymoon-style