NYC Gives us the Usual Re-Charge

Sitting in my office, high above Broadway, in a large suite at the Broadway Plaza Hotel. New York City traffic honks and sirens its way by, far below our fourth floor window. Outside the Empire State Building has been bathed in green and red light, to the right, far down, are the neon signs and passing pedestrians of Broadway. New York City always charges us up and puts us in a giddy mood.

We had a fun day here, beginning with a 6 am departure in the darkness. Then driving through New Paltz with Kent, we get the blue lights, and then talk our way out of the huge fine....'my wife is a teacher at New Paltz High," Kent says softly from the shotgun seat. It worked, the babyface cop came back with a meager fine and a kind word.

We hit the city and had a terrific meal at a Jamaican place. It was Negril Chelsea, and we were the only people there. Outside a man chatted for a long time on a phone, and the friendly Jamaican waitress brought us curried fish, Negril shrimp, and a Red Stripe. Then we walked down 23rd street to meet Shantini. She's the VP at Spring O'Brien, an agency that handles the New Zealand tourism group, and discussed the details of my journey there in February.

"This place has almost no American tourists," Shantini told me, pointing to a place on the west coast of New Zealand's North Island. "It's the classic surf town, and here is where they have this huge arts festival in late February. It's all New Zealanders, and it's pretty unknown in the US.
We'll also take some sailing lessons in Auckland, and go out to an island near the surf town to birdwatch. I asked her to set up visits with 'interesting locals.' This usually guarantees fun meetings, and I like to ask people what they love about living there...that makes great travel story copy.

Photo from tonight's class of Nora's Cat

 

A Tough Time For a Pink Slip

I sent last night's post about how newspapers can beat Craig's List to my friends in the ad dept of the local newspaper in Northampton. Think they would consider something like this? And let people place their own ads? NO way! But it's fun trying to get their attention.

I was sad to hear that a fellow blogger from Greenfield came in and told us he had been let go from his job at a local paper. I remember well when that happened to me, back in 1981, around this time of year too. I got the axe from the Evening Express, in Portland Maine. My world was crushed---I was no longer a reporter for a great metropolitan newspaper, I was an unemployed 21-year-old with a little baby named Kate and living up in Maine. I promptly moved back down to the Valley, and now, 25 years later, I am again an editor.

But I felt bad for my fellow blogger, a serious guy, who wrote about politics for the paper. I told him to keep his chin up, and advised that if you can contact someone in person, it's better than all the emails, voicemails and letters you can send. Jobsearches, I counseled, are best done on foot. I hope he finds another gig soon, he just bought a new house so things may get tight.

How Newspapers Can Beat Craig's List

Robert X. Cringely writes on the PBS website about Craig's list, and a commenter on his blog makes an asute recommendation to newspapers.

"Newspapers take notice. There is a MUCH better way to manage advertising in your newspaper. Start with a web-enabled application that will allow your clients to place their own ads. For classified ads you will need a form entry tool.

For business ads the application can take print ready material in PDF form. Your clients can start by getting a user id and signing onto your ad placement system. They request the ad and pay for it by credit card. (The credit card is part of the client identification process to insure you are you.)

If someone is not Internet savvy, they can call your newspaper and someone can manually key it into the same application for them. Call-in ads should cost more than client placed ads (to cover your labor costs). All clients and advertisements are managed by a simple database application. When the client sells something (like a house or car) they can return to the web application and remove the listing. Each day the newspaper will run a database job that will list all the current and valid advertisements and typeset them automatically.

That takes care of the print half, now the internet part. ALL advertisements (both business and classified) should be indexed by a good search engine. It should be easy to find a car, or whatever. (I want a used Honda or Toyota that costs less than $7000 sorted by mileage.) You get the idea... If you keep the ads cheap and make the web application mind numbingly simple to use, it will attract lots of new business.

Web Applications like this are easy to implement. This is a very well understood application design. It won't cost a lot to implement. Heck, I'd bet there are a dozen readers who'd be willing start an open source project tomorrow to create such an application. This is a low cost, low risk suggestion to enhance a newspapers ability to raise income. The only reason a paper wouldn't implement a suggestion like this is their own stubborness. Do you blame Craigslist, eBay, or the Internet for this?

Let's Take an Academic View--of Fat

Today's NY Times weighs in on a new kind of academic study: "Nearly 120 people, including many academics, belong to a fat studies list serve on Yahoo!, which was started in 2004 by activist Marilyn Wann, the author of “Fat!So?”

And the first “Fat Studies Reader,” an anthology of scholarly research on fat, is being shopped to university presses. It covers a range of topics, from the intersection of fat, gender, race, age, disability and class to fat heroines in chick lit, the role of fat burlesque dancers and the use of fat suits in film. Chapter titles include “Access to the Sky: Airplane Seat and Fat Bodies as Contested Spaces”: “Jiggle in My Walk: The Iconic Power of the Big Butt in American Pop Culture,” and “The Roseanne Benedict Arnolds: How Fat Women are Betrayed by their Celebrity Icons.”

Esther Rothblum, a professor of women’s studies at San Diego State University, said she received more than 80 letters from people, mostly those with Ph.D.s, interested in contributing to the book, though she and Ms. Solovay, her co-editor, had room for only 45. “We were bowled over with the response,” she said.

But not everybody in academia thinks that fat studies merit their own departments.

“In one field after another, passion and venting have come to define the nature of what academics do,” said Stephen H. Balch, president of the National Association of Scholars, a group of university professors and academics who have a more traditional view of higher education. “Ethnic studies, women’s studies, queer studies — they’re all about vindicating the grievances of some particular group. That’s not what the academy should be about.

Or as Big Arm Woman, a blogger, wrote: “I don’t care if people are fat or thin. I do, however, care that universities are spending money on scholarship about the ‘politics of fatness’ when half of the freshman class can’t read or write at the college level.”

But proponents of fat studies challenge the science behind those conclusions and firmly believe that obesity research is shaped by society’s bias against fat people and that the consequences of excessive weight are not as bad as scientists portray.

“It’s scientifically proven that if you’re overweight you have an increased risk of coming down with numerous medical conditions,” said Dr. Howard Shapiro, a New York weight loss specialist and author of the “Picture Perfect Weight loss” books. “It’s a no brainer, and anyone who says that it’s discriminatory is just trying to protect themselves.”

Garfield Predicts Boldly About the Future of TV

Bob Garfield has a piece in the new issue of Wired about YouTube. He predicts the end of television advertising, as it is eventually blown apart by the 'Net. Too many performers too many screens that demand personalization, too much skipping through commercials, too many losses to the 'Net and other new media. He thinks the whole paradigm will shift away from free tv supported by ads. Content from viewers is taking over, leaving less and less interest in the professional creators.

Tonight a television ad for Ford trucks depicted a sequence, a story, a poignant little tale told in 30 seconds...It began with an old truck being salvaged and towed away, then cut to a touching scene with a gleaming refurbished old truck being towed down the road. They approach the same farm, same barn where the old beat-up truck came from. Dad we presume. A close-up shows hands passing along car keys. "It's your new truck, dad," says the ernest young man. They embrace. [audience weeping]

This commercial did choke me up, funny how effective an ad can be, except they're selling Ford Trucks and I am not inclined to buy one now, feelings or not.

The Hummer, not Humvee, is Found

The 8,000 pound Hummer has been located about a mile downstream in the Deerfield River. The Recorder kept calling it a "Humvee" which is not at all what it is...that's the more heavy duty deluxe $35,000 military version...this was the one that rich guys buy to look macho driving down paved roads.

Today's kind of a hazy day, I am feeling a little delicate after a long night of losing at poker. Glad to see all of my chums but a bummer when the cards are all falling against you. A day to go to the dump, do errands and relax as the year's longest weekend continues.

We did some experimenting with the GoNOMAD front page, first we added a huge fare search box, and then realized it was betraying our roots, since we're a content site, not a fare site. So we compromised with a text link on the front that leads people to our fare search box. We are also developing two new domains to sell tickets....soon you'll see links to flygonomad.com and gonomadairfares.com....we've learned that fare searchers want sites without distracting content...and content makes people read, not search....so we will roll out these new domains soon and hope to reap rewards down the road.

The Case of the Missing Hummer in Deerfield

Today the cafe is very slow but I am still in a great mood. The crisp air makes me feel lively, and happy, and last night we had a fun Thanksgiving feast with many relatives and friends.

Picked up today's Greenfield Recorder and found an item on the front page about a missing Hummer. John Doleva, 25, of Greenfield, plunged down the embankment off I-91 Thursday night and his 1999 Hummer sank into the river. But the river isn't that deep, and today's newspaper has a baffling follow-up.

It's missing.

Doleva said a car swerved into his lane (yeah right!) and he drove it down the bank. Today a dive team is looking for this huge car. It is apparently submerged in the murky depths of our nearby river.

James Hunter Swings the Iron Horse Tonight

"EEEEEEYOOOWWWWWWW" screams James Hunter, in a softer version of the James Brown primal scream. We saw this gifted Englishman play tonight at the Iron Horse in Northmpton. Each song was bookended and sharpened by two crack saxmen. A guy with slicked back hair on a huge baritone, and a bald dude cranking on the alto. These guys just popped the end of each tune...neat little numbers written in the fifties by obscure black bands, and brought to life here by white guy Hunter.

He's cool...the band is cool, they strode onstage and gave it their all for 90 minutes. Each song was complete, and I got to thinking what it is that separates these guys from so many others. Unique sound? More than that, it's their own really truly defining type, and way they hit every note, saxes never wobble, they just hit it right on the head.

Beautiful stuff, joyful music and the Horse seemed like the right place to be tonight. I'm still tapping and thinking about those grooves!

Joining Brad Shepard and Bo on WHYN-AM

Today I chatted with Brad Shepard on WHYN-AM 560. I've become a regular on their show, they always are fun and enjoy our dialogue about travel and Gonomad. When I told Brad that I visited Greenland's capital, Nuuk, he came back with "is that right next to cranny?"

I tried to explain why someone would want to visit a place like this: it's exotic, unexplored, it's different, and with today's all-weather clothing the cold temperature isn't that much of a problem. I told him how fun it is to come back from a place that nobody you've ever met has been.

I really enjoy doing these radio segments, and Brad and Bo are always full of good cheer. I have looked into doing our own GoNOMAD radio show, but so far all I can come up with is a sponsored half hour on a local station. With the quality of our content and the many intriguing segments we can put on the air, I'm holding out for a paid gig...but stay tuned!

The World's Tallest...It's Different Up There

Tonight we made a fire in the Franklin stove. How warm and cozy it was! Perfect time to watch TLC's "The World's Tallest People" and learn about the super tall.

Less than one percent of men are over 6'3". So like movie stars, these super tall are rare people.

Dave Rassmussen, of Milwaukee, is 7'3" He has an extra XXY chromosone, that's what makes him so huge. When he was 12, he was six feet tall. He's never had a bed that was long enough. He put a chair on the end to hold them up. His super size makes his chest so thin, he has only 60% of normal lung capacity, so he sometimes gets shortness of breath.

We learned the story of Tom Pitrowski, a seven footer from New Jersey. He was chased by hoop recruiters, and married a girl who was 5' 10." His dad, a barber named Stan, was 6'8" He played center for LaSalle, after dozens of recuiters begged him to join their teams and take their scholarships.

"Tallness is not a problem with us anymore, " said dad. Son too, though people approach him every time he goes outside, is happy with his size, he knows he's unique. But that's ok with him One time during a Halloween get together, when people were all walking around in costumes, Tom strode about without one. A man came up and began kicking his shins. "Ouch! he said. "Oh, uh, sorry, said the man, "I thought you were on stilts."

Sexy Sealskins in Greenland

Going to NYC to Meet Europe's Tourism Boards

Today the chill of the fall is finally upon us. The  crisp morning air that wakes you up and gives your breath a cloudy signature is the sign we're well into fall, finally.  It's Monday morning and a short week lies ahead.

Next week I'm going down to NYC for some meetings and to meet Kent to attend the Visit Europe Media Exchange. This is a fantastic opportunity to meet more than 40 European tourism officials all in one big room at the Waldorf Astoria hotel. They are there to meet people like us, to tell us why we should travel to their countries to write stories.   We are there to meet them and see how things fit, if they like us, often they'll offer us a trip on the spot to their country.

Over the years GoNOMAD has come through for these folks, time and again, we publish the articles, include links to their sites, and always get the stories up quickly after we return.  Because they know how  important it is to be featured on quality websites like ours, these boards are eager to meet us.  Can't wait to get back into the Big Apple, and see many of our favorite writers like Tim Leffel and Christine O'Toole.

The New Leaders Step Up to Run the Local Mob

Today's cool temps make it a great day to sit inside and read. The Springfield Republican included a story about the local mob, and some of the characters described sound like people you wouldn't want to meet. According to a police affidavit, there is a new crop of leaders running the loansharking and gambling rackets here.

Beauties Model Sealskins in all of their Glories

Photographer Paul Shoul always tries to get backstage, he goes behind the scenes to find the best shots. Here he found the gorgeous Greenlanders getting in and of their sealskins.

The fashion show was followed by a plea from an Inuit woman, asking Europe and the US to allow importation of marine mammal products, these are currently banned. Her point was that there are more than nine million seals thriving in the waters off Greenland, and the people there kill a tiny percentage. The point is that the seals are not endangered but not being able to sell or import carvings, clothing and other products is hurting Greenlanders.

Millers Falls Was Rocking with the Reprobates

Millers Falls was rocking last night, as the Reprobates filled the entire back from of a bar once known as Equis, practically the only action in this one-horse burg that time long ago forgot. Cafe regular David Lenson had emailed a note about the gig, and when Bill and I walked in, the place was jumping! Out front was a Mr Natural type, a big guy with a big white beard, belting out blues lyrics like "Mustang Sally," and other classics. Behind him was Dave in shades, holding his big sax, and a woman with crazy 1970s pants playing castanets.

Some times when you walk into a club, you just feel the pulse and vitality that ten sweaty musicians can create. It was a wonderful thing.

I woke up late, about 9 am, and it was a sunny Saturday in South Deerfield. While Kate was throwing out everything in the front living room closet, I heard sirens, and saw two police cars tearing down Mountain Road, followed by an ambulance. It seems that the old man who lives diagonally across from us has either died or had a heart attack.

Life is fleeting, you never know when the ambulance will come for you. So rock on, have fun, travel the world and blog about it to share your life with the world.

NBC's Blatant Product Placement--It's a Joke, But...

We've reached a new clever low in television. It's called the product placement within the product placement joke. Tonight I was watching the highest rated comedy on GE-owned NBC, and the show started with a bit where Alec Baldwin was on a video being shown to the writers of a Friday night live comedy sketch show touting the benefits of product placement. How the writers should try to integrate GE products like their offshore oil rig drills into the sketches. The writers all scoff, and then comment among eachother about how much they love Snapple. Baldwin too, gets into the Snapple praising. Then they continue with the show, all saying how they refuse to knuckle under to product placement AS THEY ARE PITCHING SNAPPLE!

Cut to a commercial...for...SNAPPLE! It seems that network TV is so desperate with the onslaught of YouTube, web ads and other media that they just go for it, unabashedly. I give them credit, the snapple stuff was funny, but sheesh, how blatant can they get?

The show before featured more of this...a 'bonus' segment of The Office where we see a guy making a salad out of a paper shredder. "Where did you get that," he is asked. "Staples," he replies. And we had just watched an ad touting the same product used to shred junk mail.

It all feels so desperate, so schlocky, so oh, never mind.

Greenland Story In this Week's Advocate

Life as a cafe and website owner is exciting. You never know who's gonna call or who is going to pop into the cafe. We have been sweating it out with our transition to a new improved web hosting service that has caused us some downtime and hairpulling, but we think it's finally back to normal.

This week's Valley Advocate published my article about Greenland, and wonderful photos by Paul Shoul, who accompanied me to the Arctic circle for the trip. I think he shot some of his best travel photos ever on this trip, maybe it was the harsh climate and wonderful light (or maybe that fancy camera and his trained eye!) that made the difference.

Slackers Can Hide, from the Waist Down

Darren Garnick writes in today's Boston Herald about how slackers can look like big shots...at least from the waist up....if they need to sit in front of a videocamera at a teleconference. Enter the Businessbib.

"Think paper dolls without the pants. The “Bib” is a Velcro-enclosed half-suit meant to be worn while you are video teleconferencing at the computer.

Easy on. Easy off.

Inventor Brad Denboer, who helps produce sexual harassment training programs for blue-chip companies at his day job, developed the idea while videoconferencing from his Tucson, Ariz., home.

“Why should the person on the other end of the video meeting know that I’m not really dressed?” he asks. “Why polish my shoes or even put on pants? Why should I get primped for the prom, if all I’m gonna do is make out in the limo?”

On first impression, the Business Bib looks like an androgynous halter top that Madonna might wear in a music video. I also predict brisk demand from the Chippendale dancers. Indeed, a brochure neatly tucked inside the suit pocket warns wearers to be constantly mindful of posture. Slouching could easily put your beer belly in the Web camera’s field of vision.

I originally planned to type this column wearing the Business Bib, but tightness in the arms and shoulders was cutting off my blood circulation. However, the workmanship is fantastic. The fake suit looks and feels like it is fresh from the tailor’s shop in Milan.

Luggage Lost: It's a Slippery Slope

It only gets worse for travelers, according to today's NY Times. Luggage is being lost and it is hard for the airlines to catch up.

"Since Aug. 10, when a ban on most carry-on liquids sent the amount of checked luggage soaring, airlines have been misplacing many more bags, and the fumbling could well escalate during the busy holiday travel season.

The Transportation Department reported that 107,731 more fliers had their bags go missing in August than they did a year earlier, a 33 percent increase. It got worse in September, with 183,234 more passengers suffering mishandled bags than a year earlier, up 92 percent.

Globally, about 30 million bags are mishandled each year, according to SITA, a company that sells software to airlines and airports for baggage and other systems. Airlines spend about $2.5 billion to find those bags and deliver them to waiting, often angry, passengers.

All but about 200,000 bags are eventually reunited with their owners each year — a number that sounds pretty high on its own, but that represents less than 1 percent of the billions of bags that are checked annually.

Because of the relatively primitive technology used by airlines to track baggage, passengers typically only learn that their luggage missed their flight after a futile wait at the carousel. Then, travelers must hunt down baggage agents, fill out forms, and wait for hours or even days for someone, often unannounced, to deliver their bags."

Bradley Was a Symbol of Sunday Nights

"I'm Ed Bradley.  I'm Morley Safer.  I'm Lesley Stahl with another edition of Sixty Minutes. "

If anything in my life symbolizes Sunday nights, those words surely do.  We heard this week about the passing of Ed Bradley, the lone black man among the legendary 60 Minutes crew, the guy with the earring, who was slightly  more radical than his colleagues.

Cindy found some quotes about Bradley, spoken a few years ago by producer Don Hewitt, who was on Larry King.  

"As for the earring in Ed Bradley's left earlobe -- an uncommon personal statement for such a high-profile broadcast journalist -- Hewitt says it was just part of Bradley's personality.  "That was the rugged individualist side of him," he says. "I think it was sort of a trademark."

In a speech Hewitt gave to a racially mixed crowd, introducing Ed Bradley for a journalism award, the producer toyed with the crowd's sensitivities about Bradley's race.

"I said to the crowd: 'I hired Ed Bradley because he's a member of a minority,'" Hewitt says. And after a pause, hearing some in the crowd gasp in surprise, Hewitt went on: "He's a great gentleman and a great reporter. And if that ain't a minority, I don't know one."

Slipping and Sliding down Sisimiut's Roads

People in Greenland don't let the cold stop them from living their active, busy lives. Children in daycare trundle out of the classroom into the playground, sliding down hills and enjoying time in the snow.

Men ride by on bicycles, and most of the people walk rather than drive. Since there are really no roads to go anywhere, more people here rely on boats than cars to visit neighbors.  Or they take helicopters for longer trips.

Sisimiut is a very hilly town, so on the snow packed roads you see many people slipping and sliding down and up. More than once I saw people take a tumble, as I did down near the docks. The men who were plucking what looked like black seagulls got a laugh, no doubt. They pluck these fat birds and then run their skins under a grinder to get rid of the lefover feathers.

These men were grizzled, and leather faced and looked like how you might expect an eskimo to look. I thought about the men I saw working at the Royal Greenland factory, methodically pulling the legs off big snow crabs and smashing their bodies against a blade, day in and day out.

I thought about what it must be like to get up everyday and drive into a job where you do that same thing for eight hours, again and again, as the seawater drips down your gloves.  It made me feel lucky that my lot in life is so different, I'd much rather observe and write than do the dirty work. But here this is the good job, the one with security, the one that most people do.  Or else they work as guides, soon there will be a need for many more of these as Americans discover this place.

Take Her, She's Yours for the Night

It feels great to be back home in my own office at the gonomad cafe. With my luxuriously large double monitors, my reliable fastinternet connection, and the fast paced energy of the cafe out front. Kent is off on another voyage, this time to Sydney and Tahiti, soon the old guy will be the bronzed warrior, having spent too much time in the Bondi Island sun. We look forward to his dispatches.

One of our interns Daryl stopped by, with a copy of the UMass Daily Collegian. Inside on page three was a fullpage article about the cafe, with our logo stretching across the page 14 inches long. Wow! Nice job, great coverage!

So tmorrow we'll hang that up on the cafe wall. While I was in Greenland, there was plenty of time to snuggle next to your fellow travelers and get to know them. That's what a cold climate does to people, brings them closer, to keep out the chill. I met a woman in Greenland who said that up there people had a different view of sex. That they would let a husband invite his friend to enjoy his wife for the night. 'Go ahead, she's yours," he would say.

The normal course up here is for the girls to get pregnant at 15 or so. They rarely marry, the custom is to have kids then and merge later. Another tradition is for the first born to be a gift for the granparents to raise. Since they no doubt, the idea goes, miss having children around, you pass along son #1 to grandpa to raise.

We learned all this in a bar in Illulissat, the furthest north and the coldest of the places we visited in Greenland. A warm bar where beers were $9 and the snow slants sideways out the window.

At Nuuk's Barista Web Cafe, a Chance to Catch Up

We are comfy in an internet cafe called Barista in downtown Nuuk. This little cafe with 36 computers has excellent lattes and upstairs the computers are all arranged four to a table with the flat screens facing out on all four sides. I am more than a bit flumuxed over the fact that gonomad.com does not seem to be up, but I remain hopeful that this is due to my location here in Greenland...and that the rest of the world can still read our stories and search for our fares.

In Nuuk, like in most of this country, it snows on and off all of the time. You look out the window and all of a sudden there is a terrific snowstorm, blowing sideways. Then a few minutes later all is clear again. We toured the cultural museum and got a chance to learn about the long history here, settled on and off for 4500 years. During World War II, when Denmark sided with the Germans, the country was run by the Allies, and 14 bases were built here. Today only one, far north in Thule, remains. But the impact of all of those soldiers forever changed this place...soon people began chewing Wrigleys juicy fruit gum, and listening to rock music...and ordering from the Sears and Roebuck catalog.

We saw a sealskin coverall that proteced the Inuits from the wind and snow, completely waterproof, and they used these out in their open boats. Spending just a few minutes out on the deck of the boat we took to tour Illulussat's ice fjord makes you appreciate how hardy these early residents were. And today most of the boats are still in the water, covered with snow, and the people use them to visit neighbors and go fishing even when it is below zero.

At the airport we met a pretty young woman who said she loved the hunt. She was wild about hunting seals, she loved the sport, the chase, the thrill of shooting and of course, like all Greenlanders, she loved to eat them. It is hard for us to fathom but that is the way of life and the custom that has never changed over the centuries.

A Plea for Sealskins in Greenland

We have reached the capital of Greenland, Nuuk, population 15,000. Wohoo! We were impressed with all of the large buildings as we drove from the airport to the city center. Then upon arrival we were wisked off to a reception where the featured entertainment was one of Greenland's top pop stars singing and he sounded just like Dave Matthews. Included in the program was a speech by a representative of the Inuit people, who asked for a relaxation of the rules that prohibit importing seal skins and seal bone artifacts in the US.

Her point was simple: there are more than nine million seals swimming around Greenland, and the local people need to be able to hunt them and eat their flesh. Greenlanders love seal, one older woman told us that she loved eating seal, loved making clothing from seal, and just loved them a lot. This is the most popular food here, forget chicken, here Seal is What's For Dinner. The smell that seal makes when you cook it is unforgettable, it is a stench you would not want in your kitchen. Still, not being able to bring any marine mammal artifacts into the US is a bummer for the locals who carve all sorts of lovely jewelry here and make fantastic coats.

Tonight there was a fashion show that showed us all sorts of cool clothing, boots, backpacks, jackets and hats made from sealskins. In the airport there were even chairs with sealskins on them. Their point is, there are plenty of seals, so stop trying to regulate us and let us share our seals with the rest of the world.

A War Hero's Stories in the Hotel Sisimiut Bar

Outside the window of the Somandshjemmet, or seaman's home, horses are standing in the snow. They don't move much, unlike the dogs who yap and tug at their chains. These three brown horses with their thick fur coats stand motionless. It makes me think of what the temperature must be--about 10 degrees.

Last night we dined at the Hotel Sisimiut and there were the requisite toasts and cheer. The group has bonded together and friendships have been made. At the hotel bar, where others were getting silly and too drunk, we chatted up Ted Heck, who's an 84-year-old skiier and writer who admitted that 'he had had too much to drink.' Still we made him tell us about his experiences during World War II.  He served in France and earned four medals. He said he once went to a war cemetary and told the two Austrian soldiers down there in the ground,  'look what you guys missed!'

 Ted still skis a lot...he said he spends at least $25,000 of his own money to go to Austria and other  European resorts to indulge his love of sliding downhill. He told us about his wife, from whom he is amicably divorced, and his ladyfriend, 75, who is learning how to ski.  He said he felt lucky to still be alive, and that every day he thanks his parent's longevity genes.

Ted's sheepish demeanor and matter-of-fact retelling of his war stories was charming, and what you'd expect from a man with a long, long history and lots of great stories. No bravado, just a guy at a bar who I loved listening to. He talked about his brother, a Texas oil baron, who grew up with HW Bush and thinks GWB is doing a great job.  Ted can't stand it, and tells his brother so.

This war veteran thinks we should get out of Iraq and the country is going the wrong way under his brother's pal's son.  Like all of the journalists I travel with, in unison, we all agree!

The Last Fisherman Hangs on in Assaqutaq

What a day we had in Glorious Greenland! I am very excited about the nascent tourist business that will soon turn into something very significant when Air Greenland begins its twice-weekly flight from Baltimore to Greenland in late May '07. You can feel that the country is ready to welcome tourists--the Hotel Arctic is renovating and adding 65 rooms, expecting that many of the nearly 8000 tourists who will fly here between May and September will want to stay there. Today, only 30,000 tourists stay over and visit all year, so adding that small number will be a giant increase!

This afternoon we joined Bo Lings, a movie-star handsome, strong and rugged boat captain who took 12 of us out in his new 35-foot cabin cruiser called the Sirius. We cruised up the coast 6 km to an abandoned village called Assaqutaq. The last villagers finally left in 1967, and today, just one soul lives there: an old fisherman who comes to town once a week to sell his fish. The buildings are abandoned, the fish factory long silenced, in the whipping winds we slogged through the snow to peer inside old houses filled with dilapidated bunk beds and the remnants of life. After the fishing plant closed, there was nothing here for anyone, and the one store and tiny church just closed up. Bo said that when he was young this harbor used to freeze, but for the past fifteen years, it hasn't. Another sign of the ominous warming.

Bo is going to be bringing tourists on diving trips, there is a pristine never before looted Portuguese sailing ship almost perfectly preserved in 26 meters of water near here. The masts are up and you can still see the china in the cabinets down in the water. He also has plans to take fishermen down the coast in his boat to a river where the trout fishing is fantastic. There are many people here like Bo who will captilize on these new visitors. And after you've been here, the idea of coming, believe me, is not that crazy.

We also had a coffee mix in a local woman's home. The tradition of mix is a social imperative--you eat cakes, drink coffee, catch up on news and gossip, and this is the way people get together. Mix is an important Greenlandic word--for example, I am Max i mix. Joe is Joe i mix. You add this to the end of someone's name.

Greenland Lets its Laundry Hang Out

In Greenland everyone hangs out their laundry, even during snowstorms...we are in Sisimiut, on the coast and here there is a year round harbor. The big employer is Royal Greenland they process shrimp and halibut but the cod is scarce. Today we heard about a trade school where people can learn construction. There were 59 students, 10 graduates and 17 drop outs. Apparently making the students travel to Copenhagen for part of their studies turns many of the locals off.

This is bustling little town of 5000, people walking every where, and there are huge hills slick with snowfall. We learned that there is a plan to build gasp, a road all the way to the airport. This would be a major feat, as today there are no roads at all between towns.

The Yip, Yap, Howl of Greenland's Sledge Dogs

We took a short crash course tonight in Greenlandic: in this language there are only 20 letters and three vowels...and a sound that is common for two L's is sort of like the sound someone with a lisp makes. Greenland is fantastic: The food has been first rate, fresh fish, reindeer steaks, lots of yogurt and the people are warm and inviting. The scenery amazes, it is that crystal clear sky and the dramatic icebergs..and not a tree to be found anywhere. Kids slide on sleds and people walk everywhere, there are no roads to take with the rugged fjords creating barriers.

The houses here in Sisimiut are all built on stilts, many on the tops of rocks. This town of about 5,000 is located 300 km south of where we were the past two nights, Ilulussat, so this harbor never freezes. Still, supplies are all brought in by container ship, and the biggest employer is Royal Greenland shrimp processing.

Halibut in staggering quantities is harvested by men in open boats using very long lines. We watched in subzero weather two fisherman wind up their lines and pull fish after fish off big hooks. In one boat there was a rifle, in case a seal pops up they would blast it and bring it home. That's the favorite food here, along with reindeer.

Greenland's dogs are ubiquitous--yipping, yapping, white creatures chained up on hillsides. Every hillside or open field has dogs with no doghouses...we were told that they would not go in them, they prefer the open cold. They also never are allowed loose, they try to fight one another. Only puppies roam free. There are 1700 dogs in this town and they are used to pull sledges, and instead of dogs in a line, they fan out to create a very wide side by side stride. We went out into a field and took turns being pulled on the sledges. The driver gets up a head of steam and then runs furiously ahead and jumps on the front of the sledge.

People here speak Greenlandic, and Danish, and most of them speak English too. I ran into a couple who used to live in Montague, just about six months ago they moved here. Funny thing to see somebody up here who knows just exactly where I live in South Deerfield!

A First Mate's Story

We took a boatline called Disko Line out into the channel, and passed huge icebergs and small chunks of ice as we made our way out of a long fjord. Greenland's size and immensity makes you feel small and insignificant.

The first mate we met in up in the helm told us about a boat he was on with this same captain that came across another vessel in distress. The glacier had pushed the boat so that it was marooned on rocks. They went to their assistance, but the currents left them out of the water, up on rocks too. The pressure from the glacier pushes boats everywhere, and the falling chunks cause great tidal waves, so they were stuck.

They stayed there for three days, they sent the passengers out but they stayed with the stranded craft. They couldn't get the boat off the rocks, so they had to abandon it. A month later the glacier came and moved the $8 million boat, and it was crushed, and sank.

Navigating the Fjords to the Edge of the Polar Ice

We boarded a red boat in Ilulissat harbor, it was snowing quite hard. The boats deck was slippery with snow, and the captain and his crew were topside, inside their quarters you could see a flat screen with the map of the glaciers and in front his two radar screens, that showed where each huge chunk was located. We headed out towards the prime halibut fishing grouds, bundled up, an Army of Michelin men, then we headed down steep steps downstairs. Here there was heat and some food and hot coffee, and we watched the icebergs float by for a while.

The volume of water is unfathomable, the billions of gallons that melt into the sea would make Saudi Arabia cry. A whole citys supply in just one day. The captain ventured further up the channel that he ever has, we nosed our way up to the polar ice and cracked it as we streamed ahead. The glaciers had aquamarine just below the surface, where more than 8/10ths of its bulk lay hidden.

The comraderie of a press trip is legend, here is where I always meet up with people who know people I have traveled with, or are familiar with GoNOMAD because of our writers or another trip. Mixing it up with Jesse from the Boston Herald, (a vegetarian who often goes hungry since meat and fish are in every meal) and John, who shoots a 4x5 camera using film and is publishing a new magazine called Swallow. Itøs about food, the first issue is about Scandinavian foods and travel.

A distinction about this trip--Greenland has so captivated me that I havenøt thought much at all about the cafe and the rest of my life at home. I love that.

Ilulissat's Famous Icefjord Awaits

A dinner of Greenlandic food was consumed at 10 pm tonight. Fin whale, smoked salmon and halibut, raindeer slices (tender like beef), turnips, fried potatoes, white wine, (there has been lots of wine here) We flew in during a snowstorm to Ilulissat, a town of 4500 with 3000 sled dogs. Our guide owns 14 of these beasts, and in the road we saw two pups running about loose. "At six months they shoot them if they run like that," she said. There is a lovely harbor here, and now in November boats still bob, docked up in the harbor. Our guide said winters were not the same as they used to be, for about the last five years. "It just gets really warm, and the winter doesn't start as early any more."

The Hotel Arctic is reported to be the best in the whole island. Not impressive, almost barracks like from the outside, inside is sleek and modern and very nice.

Greenland, a home-ruled province of Denmark, is huge--I saw a map of Europe with Greenland superimposed on top, it covered from Scandinavia down to Africa. The Hotel Arctic has modern conveniences and a view of the cold sea and massive icefjord. WiFi too. Tomorrow we will go boating and see the giant edge of the glacier sticking out of the ocean up close.

We flew just 45 minutes over ice, and the pilot asked a woman to raise her hand. No one at first raised theirs, then Berne did. He then called her up to join him in the cockpit. "Are you single?" he joked. She said that being up there was fun, they were joking in Danish and English and told a tale about a local who had what looked like three people sitting on a bench for just two, in a helicopter. He went to tell them they couldn't let that third person sit there and then he noticed--it was a dead seal, all strapped in, ready to fly. He let them pass.

Greenland: A First Glimpse of Life Above the Circle

We landed in Greenland's biggest airport, in Kangerlussuaq, above the Arctic circle, and stepped onto the tarmac. Inside the small airport, four youths stood in a row, as if waiting for us, they had features of eskimoes, the high cheekbones and Asian eyes.

We had a late dinner of reindeer, smoked halibut and salmon, and in the middle of the plate, a little bowl of 1/4" long white squares with black at the ends. This was whale blubber, chewy, indistinct taste, but the flavor stays with you the next day. We were shown to spartan rooms, this is a former military base, common bathrooms and I fell deep asleep after some reading.

The next morning I got a glimpse of Greenland. It was stark, barren, and the only snow I saw was a dusting on a mountain faraway. The houses are all low slung, non descript, some with garish paint jobs. Our first excursion was into a huge wheeled tundra buggy that took us 38 km out onto the inland ice cap, that covers 85% of this home-ruled Danish territory.

It was breathtaking--aquamarine stripes in white, crevices and huge frozen streams where tons of water spews forth to a giant river during the summer. The glaciers here empty more water in a day than NYC uses over 2 years! The sheer mass of the ice that went on beyond my eyesight was hard to fathom...in places there was clear ice, and walking on the pack, you looked for snow to step on so you wouldn't slip. There were crevices and places where you easily could perish in a fall. I wore my silk longjohns, lined flannel pants, down vest, thick down parka, gloves, scarf and hat, and felt totally warm, despite the blowing winds on the pack.

Greenlanders are hardy and reticent, they mostly look like eskimoes and have bright red cheeks like they've been outside in the wind a lot. There is almost nowhere to drive, so few roads, that nearly all travel is done by snowmobile or mostly, by plane. Air Greenland runs a fleet of helicopters and small fixed wing aircraft to get the folks to and from the towns, the biggest of which is Nuuk, with 15,000 souls.

We are in the small terminal building waiting to fly to Ilulissat, a town about halfway up the coast, where tomorrow we will board a boat for a five-hour tour. You know we will be bundling up for this trip!

Welch Brings Something More to the Corner Office

Waiting in the terminal for our Air Greenland flight, a charter today but next May will be a twice-weekly regular service from Baltimore. I had time to read the NY Time's profile of Jack Welch and his wife Suzy. Busy busy, they say, doing speeches for $150,000 a pop. But this business legend is more than just big bucks, as described in the story by Landon Thomas Jr.

"He gave up the pay and the perks and pays full cost for use of the GE plane that he is constantly on. If anything, these trials seemed to have softened Mr Welch, lending to him a sense of being in touch with his feelings, a quality not normally seen in male chief executives.

Earlier this fall, at a memorial service for John L. Weinberg, former senior partner at Goldman Sachs and Mr. Welch's longtime banker, Mr Welch's performance--part roast, part heartfelt rememberance---stood out among the formulaic, scripted eulogies.

"I love you, John," he said, his voice cracking into a half sob as he raised his eyes up to the sky. "Thanks for being my friend."

It was a scene-stealer and spoke to an earlier time, no doubt missed by many of today's hunkered down chief executives, when business and friendship were easily fused. Today it's hard to imagine a chief breaking down in public tears at his investment banker's memorial service."

Greenland Bound--What Do I Pack?

I hit the road in about 90 minutes. Last minute packing, don't forget the Ipod, recharge the batteries on the camera, bring more socks. Then go downstairs and put in more laundry in case I didn't bring enough...but how do you pack for a trip to GREENLAND? This is one destination that really confounds me...I heard that it was 4 below the other day. But won't we mostly be inside?

I have layers and layers, I bought new silk long underwear from LL Bean, I have sweaters and sweatshirts and gloves and mufflers and giant boots. I am even bringing my huge Vermont parka, retreived from my son Sam's closet.

This will be an adventure--no doubt--and this will get me on many radio shows when I get back. We've been talking to Peter Greenberg's producer, they want to hear about Greenland. Also we've got the interest of Arthur Von Wiesberger, who does Around the World radio, a show based in Santa Barbara. So lots to talk about and I am very pleased that I did in fact finish my first article on Graz Austria last night....so I can focus on this trip, not the last one.

Read this blog if you want to know what Greenland is like!

What? Another TV News Appearance for the Cafe

What a life! I am so excited at the pace of what happens to me and the people around me! I went on the radio yesterday and a photographer called me, she has photos of Oaxaca and wants to show them in the cafe. Then today, as I await my new queen sized bed (after 20 years it's time for a downgrade to a smaller bed) Channel 22 news calls. They heard the radio show, and they want to come up and interview me.

So I ran out and rustled up some neighboring businesses, starting with the liquor store folks who are building the new store, and the owner of a pet grooming shop, and the manager of the lumber yard. I told them "The TV news guys are gonna be here, come over to the cafe and get yourself on camera!"

Then I called Atkins the potential tenant who will bring their fine market up to our neck of the woods. Jen, a spokesperson, said she couldn't confirm it because they haven't signed their papers yet--but she too shared my enthusiasm for this new store up in our underserved little burgh.

So once again the GoNOMAD CAFE media juggernaut plows aread. Watch us on tonight's channel 22 news at 6!