Left In Lowell

I hope everyone has a safe and fun New Years celebration tonight, whether with friends or family or just staying home. Drive safely!

I would like to ask everyone to cross their collective fingers, as I am attempting to import Left in Lowell’s considerable archive into the new version of the website (which is not developed yet, but this is the first huge step).

The archive, which is text-only, is, get this, almost 50MB. That’s a lot of bloviating!!!

(Update: It appears I have successfully imported. Phase 1 of the development can now really get completed. Phase one is to get the new software to the current functionality - ie, act like a regular blog. Then, the cool stuff will get developed.)

So Lynne is outrageous busy with getting ready for the holiday. So we’ve fallen behind on the care and feeding of the blog. Among other things, we’ve been dealing with relatives coming from over the ocean, baking evil cookies akimbo, editing video (and writing music for same) in hopes of having it ready in time for the holiday, lots of snow shoveling (that’s everyone I think), shopping for most of our presents last minute, wrapping same… and oh yeah… some where in there we had to go to work and in her case travel to very important client meetings in inclement weather.

On the bright side, we’ll have great fun seeing all our family and friends shortly.

So that’s us… how about you? Open thread for all… spread the joy!

I’m down with a cold, plus a lot of work right now. And getting ready for Thanksgiving (and trying to get my dining room painted before then).

So have at ye!

Update: I’ll just use this open thread for a couple of rants and points:

OMFG, are the Senate Democrats stupid dupes or what! They stripped Lieberman of a committee chair where he actually votes and acts well, and let him keep Homeland Security?? Are you f-ing kidding me?? The blogosphere is pissed, and if you think this is going away, it isn’t. I’m fired up, ready to go. And this is not a “liberal base” hissy fit. There are two facts that matter here: first, Lieberman f-ing campaigned against Democrats! Against more than just Obama! Consistently! He voted and supported Bush! The second fact, and the more important one, is that the asshole didn’t even do his damn job in oversight, the most important job of this committee! The Democrats just rewarded disloyalty, but they also just rewarded deliberate partisan incompetence! Lieberman let his BFF’s in the Bush White House wipe their asses with our US Constitution and Bill of Rights, and you think he’ll do a better job now that Obama, the guy he literally called unAmerican, is occupying the White House??? I’m with Kos, and John, on this. The Democratic leadership can kiss my ass. No really. When we say MORE AND BETTER Democrats, we’re talking about replacing your pathetic selves.

The Democrats still think that we’re angry children, typing away in our basements, who don’t know a lick about politics. And while some bloggers might have been newcomers to politics years back, they aren’t new any more. Jane Hamsher at FireDogLake has built a massive email list with massive fundraising capabilities that she’s already proven. Cross Jane at your own peril. Markos has a huge online machine at his disposal, and over the past 7 years has learned to wield his influence deftly. And I like to think that Joe and I, among others, know a thing or two about getting the media’s attention as well.

The Democratic party, the Democratic establishment, doesn’t like you. They want you to go away. That is, until the next time they need you.
….
We are envied, but we’re not feared. The DC establishment, the politicians, the non-profits, the corporations and the PR firms, all know that no matter how much they ignore us and refuse to support us, no matter how deeply they betray us after we bust our asses for them, we will always be there for them the next time they come knocking on behalf of the progressive cause.

I think that gravy train just stopped.

You - and I know I don’t swear a lot on this blog, but I’m really pissed - fucking cowards.

Update II - FYI, to Chair Howard Dean: Mandate for reconciliation? My ass. The mandate was for a change in direction, not knuckling under to the other side in some sort of Stockholm syndrome reaction. The people want Dems who can stand up for what they believe in. THAT is what they voted for. You dupe.

Well, I can’t post eight new items every day, now can I??

Here’s to start the discussion: speculate on the 2009 City Council race…which incumbents will seek reelection? Which will not? Do you see any new blood coming in? Will we still have a 5-4 GOBish majority?

Your friendly neighborhood open thread. Gimme a report from your polling place! How’s turnout in Lowell?

I’m in Lunenburg’s only polling place with Jen Benson visibility. There’s been 6-10 people here holding signs for Jen and Obama, as opposed to 0-3 people for Kurt Hayes, if that’s any indication.

More encouraging, though, is the turnout…locals say that the very (and still, now) steady stream of voters has been incredible even for this politically active town.

Update: here, as of a little while ago, fully 20% of Lunenburg voters had already shown up to vote.

Update II: Don’t forget, if you want to join me at the Brewery Exchange on Cabot St, I’ll be there after the polls close, by 8:30pm. If someone brings a laptop with cell modem access, even better, because there’s no wifi as far as I know. There’s some interactive maps on dkos that I’d love to keep track of while returns are coming in.

Update III: Holy smokin’ voters! By 11am, Acton had seen 30% of its voters turnout, and get this!!! Lunenburg, by noon, was just under 50% turnout!!!!! I am at a loss for words!

Update IV: Word on the street says that people in the SecState office is reporting they expect a 76-77% turnout statewide. Whoa.

We might even have a real democracy around here! GoBAMA!

Have at ye. I’ll be busy most of the weekend, so you’re on your own.

Be nice.

It’s a gorgeous night for tricks and treating, ain’t it? Hope those with kids don’t fail to take them out for the sugar rush. Halloween is a sacred kid holiday. Trick or Treating is from 6pm to 8pm, so for heaven’s sake people, make sure you have lots of candy and leave your porch light on. Make the kiddies happy. (As for me, I am donning a costume in order to give out da goods…why should the kids have all the fun??)

OK, speaking of sugar rush, someone at City Hall has had way too much Halloween candy…this is on the city’s website:

Hehe. Cute.

So I’m strolling (being pulled?) through memory lane this afternoon, as I go through our posts from the beginning to delete old spam comments from back before comment moderation. This is in preparation for eventually moving content, comments, and posts to LiL 2.0.

Can I just say, you people jabber a lot?

One test of exportation of posts/comments that I did today indicates there may be a slim to good chance that import/export from Wordpress will be easier than previously thought. I’d been waiting patiently for the ExpressionEngine 2.0 release before committing to code, but it’s taking them too long (and they claim that we should be fine upgrading after the fact) so I’m moving forward. I know it’s been a while since LiL2.0 has even been mentioned, but it’s still very much on my mind. I have lots of cool ideas to make it a better blog.

Did you watch the Obama prime time half hour commercial? What are your thoughts?

I thought it was well-done, polished, but that was hardly unexpected. I liked that they went to Obama live in Florida - logistically, what a nightmare!

I liked that they spent time on other people’s stories. I’m guessing detractors will whine that he was filmed in an office with a window in the back that vaguely appears Oval-Office-like. (If you really looked at it, it was a pretty vague reference, though it seemed blatant. Not sure why.)

I think in the end, it caps a sense of presidential quality that some Americans still needed to see to make a choice. After all, I’m not the end target audience for this, undecided voters are.

I like this ad better:

I was meandering downtown this morning as I am now wont to do for various errands, and wound up on Middle Street on my way back to my studio. As it happened the doors of that new bar and grill, still in the process of being redecorated, were open and I poked my nosy head inside, curious. It looks like it’s coming along and then we will have yet another restaurant of yet another type (the variety of food we have now is amazing) in downtown Lowell.

It got me to thinking, all right, it looks like we’ve really reached the saturation point of restaurants downtown. Any more, and it’s likely that the competition for diners will start to slow down the revenue streams for everyone (especially with that pesky not-open-on-Sunday problem - ug). Enough restaurants already! Not that I don’t gastronomically appreciate all the great choice downtown (though my wallet and I have had several disagreements) but too much of a good thing is, well, obesity. In more ways than one.

This afternoon, Mr. Lynne and I ended up in Frankie’s new clothing store Humanity (gads, I wish I hadn’t had those disputes with my wallet! because the wallet won) and chatting with her for a bit. It’s a classy sort of store with great clothing in several price ranges. Me likey. Even if Wallet said no for right now. Wallet is the boss, what Wallet says goes. But I digress…

Anyway, the purpose of this post, and really, your contribution to this post, is to brainstorm WWYSD. No, not Where Would Yoda Seek Dagobah. But… Where Would You Shop Downtown?

With the upcoming JAM and Hamilton districts being planned and downtown destined to expand into a wider, woollier world, it occurs to me that in order to be successful, downtown has got to be more than restaurants and coffee shops. Again, not that I don’t love our epicurious selection, but a thriving downtown needs to keep customers there long after the Saturday lunch break to shop at its probably unique and diverse businesses.

We have some clothing stores…a couple of classy ones (like Humanity) and plenty of bling-sort of teen stores. We have one great formal dress shop. There are a couple of nice gift stores, and plenty of medical offices. A travel office and probably too many wireless stores. So what are we missing? Where would you, loyal readers, want to spend your cash once you fight it out with your boss Wallet?

As in, stolen car troubles, over the weekend. Luckily, it was our “throwaway” car, but after it was recovered with damage, we decided to get rid of it rather than get it fixed. So instead of being out several hundred dollars, I’m out a more than half a day’s work.

Therefore, today is not a good day to blog. I would probably say something I shouldn’t. (Like how Darwin should really take care of the idiot male teenagers that think it’s a good idea to jump out in front of your moving vehicle suddenly.) Ergo, utilize this as your friendly open thread for today.