Boston Globe endorses Alan Khazei for U.S. Senate

This is a Very Big Deal, if the Globe endorses someone, that means that many undecided voters may well go with that candidate.  Read the Globe’s endorsement here.

I am very excited about this, because we here at Six Great States also endorse Alan Khazei.  I admit, after Senator Kennedy passed away, and the special election to fill his seat was shaping up, I was not sure which way I was going to vote.  For reasons I won’t go into here, right now, I do not like Martha Coakley.  Steve Pagliuca seems okay, but I was sort of leaning towards Mike Capuano.  Alan Khazei, we’d heard little about, except that he was the guy who founded City Year.  Definitely the underdog, running against a pair of professional politician, and some rich dude, whose big claim to fame is being part owner of the Boston Celtics.

But Alan and his campaign staff have been really good at using social media to get attention.  They actually followed me on Twitter.  Before I followed back, I took the time to check out Khazei’s website, and compared his stand on the issues with the other three candidates.  I liked what I saw!  But how much of it would I have seen, if not for his good use of social media like Twitter and Facebook?  The beauty of social media is that it is free, and has the ability to reach many thousands of people!  Very important with a grassroots campaign, where there isn’t much money.

Thanks in huge part to social media, Khazei is gaining momentum.  But let’s not pass around the Davidoff cigars just yet…the election is just over a week away, and there is still a lot to be done.

Finally, here is Alan Khazei’s latest TV ad.  It is clever and funny, and oh, so true!  Enjoy, and if you are in Massachusetts, don’t forget to vote on December 8.  As I always say, if you don’t vote then you forfeit your bitching rights, if you don’t like who wins!

Palace Theatre – Manchester, NH

I mentioned in my last post that I’d booked a package at the Hilton Garden Inn, in downtown Manchester, NH. It included two tickets to “The Nutcracker” at the Palace Theatre.

Although we’ve been coming up to ManchVegas for years now, mostly for Fisher Cats games, we didn’t know this theatre even esisted until two weeks ago. We were up for the New Hampshire Brewers Festival, and since it was raining, took the shuttle from the HGI to the event.

On the ride back to the hotel, the driver had to swing around and pick people up at the Palace Theatre. This was the first we’d ever seen or heard of the place.

So anyway, we’re at the HGI ManchVegas now, having seen the show on Friday. It was a nice performance, thjat the theatre is beautiful, having been restored to its former glory of about a hundred years ago. The seats were comfy, albeit a bit on the small side. Not too small for us, but anyone much bigger might have a problem fitting into them. You may have to take some Fastin, or something. Whatever.

The ticket prices are reasonable, a lot cheaper than in Boston.  In general, prices range from $15-$45, different prices may apply, depending on the show you choose.

There is a parking garage near by, but I don’t know how much it costs because we didn’t use it.  Forget about parking on busy Hanover Street.  If we didn’t have the hotel shuttle (which is free for all HGI hotel guests), we’d probably just end up calling a cab.

This is a lovely little theatre, and we will definitely be back to see another show!

A wonderful off-season bargain!

So I went out to take out the garbage yesterday, and nailed to the tree was the annual orange sign, telling us that our street would be blocked off to cars from 8AM to 1PM.  This is due to the ultra crappy holiday parade, to be held this coming Saturday, November 28.  So, if we wanted to avoid having to hear the crap as it goes by, we have to get the hell out of Dodge before 8AM, or be trapped.  And getting up early on a Saturday morning is a royal PITA.

This parade is beyond awful.  The local high school band is involved, and it sounds like someone is torturing elephants to death.  The Aleppo Shriners marching band is not much better.  Also, we have to put up with losers sitting on our porch steps, using them as their own personal bleachers, and there’s nothing we can do about it…if the landladies are around, they actually let these people sit there, make even more noise, and generally annoy the hell out of us.

We thought about going away on Friday, staying at a hotel somewhere, and coming back on Saturday after all the nonsense was over.  But we already had plans to go to Old Sturbridge Village the following weekend, as well as some model train show out that way that Mike wants to go to.  The train show is only that weekend, and the holiday stuff at OSV starts that weekend.  Not sure if we could justify spending money on a hotel two weekends in a row again.

Still, it’s the off-season, so surely some good hotel deals could be had.  But where to go, and what to do?  My first thought was to go up to ManchVegas, New Hampshire, and stay at the Hilton Garden Inn, the place that is next to the Fisher Cats ballpark (pictured here).  Obviously, there is no game going on, but we like the hotel, and we always get a room facing the ballpark, just because I like to look at it.  The rooms on the other side are a few bucks cheaper, but they just face the parking lot, and the auto accessories/body shop place across the street. BOR-ING!

They had a room facing the ballpark, at the  rate of $99 a night.  But, as I looked further on their website, I saw that for just $20 more, we could get a “Palace Theatre Package”.  This includes a room with ballpark view, two tickets to whatever show is playing at the Palace Theatre in downtown ManchVegas, transportation in the hotel shuttle to and from said show, plus full breakfast for two the next day.  Not a bad deal at all!

So I went to the Palace Theatre website, to see what would be playing on Friday night.  It’s  “The Nutcracker”.  Cool, we’ve never seen it on stage before, only on TV.  So I went ahead and booked it!

I’m sure the tickets are not for the best seats in the house, but still, it’s a great deal for the money.  So not only are we going to get away from that horrible parade, but we’ll get to see a good show, too!

FOX-25 Morning News – no longer on my screen!

I used to like the FOX-25 morning show.  But now, it makes me sick to watch it, because I’ve decided I can’t stand to hear another word out of that idiot VB’s trap!

Why?  Because he is an ass, who hates cats, and agreed that the town of Dudley’s ban on having more than three cats is a good idea.  Not only that, but he acted as if anyone who even had ONE cat was some sort of a psycho, and needed to be disposed of, somehow.  VB is an effin’ JERK, I can’t ever stand to even look at him again, and, as such, the FOX-25 Morning News has lost a couple of long time viewers (me and Mike).

Promotional flash drive with a picture of VB and the FOX-25 logo on it, to get me to come back? I don’t think so, as much as I can always use a flash drive, I’d flush this one down the toilet before I have one in my presence!

To VB…who probably thinks he is too good to read other people’s blogs anyway…if there is such a thing as reincarnation, may you come back as a mouse, and may a CAT chow down on your ass! I hate you.

It’s crazy to do it again…

But we’re gonna!  After an awesome time at the Maine Brewers Festival, we are gearing up for the New Hampshire Brewers Festival, to be held this coming Saturday, November 14!

This event is run by those who brought you the Maine Brewfest, so expect a wicked good time!  The James Montgomery Blues Band will be headlining, and the list of brewers bringing their best beers there will be top-notch.

Tickets are still available, as are lodging packages at the Manchester Radisson, where the event will be held.  Get yours by visiting LearnYourBeer.com.

And don’t forget to bring your digital cameras…as taking pictures is not only allowed, but welcome! Especially if you post them online, for all to see!

Cheers!