“No, I am not opening a nightclub!” Jim Olsen told the crowd up on stage as he debuted Signature Sounds new offices in downtown Northampton. He was standing on a stage with chairs set in front of it, but it’s a listening room, a place to hear new music, not […]
There are a few things that make working at a home office a pleasure. But there are also moments when you get sick of talking to the cat and wish there were co-workers sitting next to you who you could talk with about last night’s game, or what’s for dinner. […]
Last night, a few dozen neighbors and I pored over blow up aerial photos of our town. We had gathered at the invitation of Bernie Kubiak, the town manager, who is using a HUD sustainability grant to develop a Complete Streets and Downtown Livability Plan for the South Deerfield village […]
Yesterday I phoned my friend Jack, with whom I’ve shared a Columbus Day tradition for many years. We always go on a hike some where, and I leave it to him to figure out our route. There was a time way, way back when I used to work on a […]
In Deerfield yesterday, it was Tag Sale Day. I decided my garage was full enough to make it sale time. The night before I blew off my plans for socializing to focus on the task–I had to get all of this stuff out of the garage and clean off the […]
My daughter Kate is unhappy with how she thinks people are viewing the current nurses strike at Baystate Franklin. Some of the issues are that Baystate does not want to pay overtime to nurses who often work 12 and 15 hours days during their shifts. It’s true that for many […]
Remember Datsun? It’s about to make a comeback, says the president of Nissan, Carlos Ghosn. Raised in Brazil and Lebanon, he remembers the societies he grew up in, where everybody didn’t have a car. Heck, he didn’t get his first car til turned 18. A story in the WSJ […]
Count Anton Wolfgang von Faber-Castell is the eighth member of his family to run the empire that makes pencils. That name–it’s gotta be familiar to anyone who has ever filled out an SAT test with a Number 2, or chewed on a yellow Mongol, invented by his brother, Eberhard. In […]
So many things swirl around my head on this early morning. Good things, swirling hither and yon, things that I’m worried about but not bad things–just challenges.I would much rather face steep learning curves than battle deficits of income…so I’ll get on a conference call with my fellow webmasters today […]
When we were growing up, a big part of our family lore was that our great uncle, Frederic H. Gibbs, designed the fastest ocean liner ever built. We used to visit FH and his wife, Bess, at their summer cottage at the Weekapaug Inn on Rhode Island’s coast. Fred had […]
My mom first clued me in. Being a grandparent is beyond satisfying, it’s like getting a do-over for the mistakes you made when you raised your own kids, until they had kids. I have a few friends who are now just experiencing multiple child rearing, and having completed my stint, […]
When you’re off on a trip, you mostly think about where you’ll be staying when you get there. You plan a rough itinerary, maybe leave some wiggle room for whatever might happen along the route, but for most part the plans involve the destination. But what about your car? Where […]