Settled in at the Javits with Wi-Fi and Ready to Rock

Well, here we are....we've set up the booth at the Javits, we've even got our Wi-Fi working in the booth, and everything's set for the big show. Last night we walked the frigid and windy streets, it's always so great to be back in Manhattan, I thought, and we did our post dinner amble along side streets until we stopped into the Pig and Whistle for a pint.

But it wasn't going to be a long visit, just enough to sip the brew and soon we were off toward the Marriot Marquis, home for the next three nights. The room is up on the 29th floor with Times Square's garish lights blinking below. I can't remember a better night's sleep than last night.

We discovered a bit of a problem when we unfurled our gigantic banner. It was measured too high, so there is about two feet of vinyl bunched up on the floor. Oops! I will have to figure out how I could have measured it that wrong...but the only little problem is a surplus of banner that bunches at the bottom. Oh well.

Now it's time to park the GoNOMAD Cafe truck and then visit some of the day's seminars. At 2 pm it will be showtime and place will be full of travel industry types, all stopping by and asking us, 'so what is GoNOMAD anyway? Our little flyers tell a better answer and we will be giving out thousands.

Tossing, Turning, Shivering--But Ready to Rock

Last night I alternated between tossing, turning, shivering and wondering what I should not forget when leave the next morning for New York. It was a difficult night, unsettling, and it reminded me of back when I first opened the cafe and had so many things on my mind. I kept being afraid that I would leave some very important document or something else at home and be at the Javits Center scrambling to make it work.

But as the clear cold light of day dawned, I was tired but excited about today's trip into lower Manhattan, where I'll meet Kent and erect the booth and get ready for Friday at 2 when the trade-0nly crowd streams into the cavernous Javits Center.

Now it's all systems go, and as usual the cafe is in solid steady hands, and the booth will be staffed with enthusiastic members of the GoNOMAD choir. Paul Shoul, Joe O'Rourke, Sony Stark, Liz Bagley, Cindy and of course Kent and Lisa will make up our posse.

We just introduced a fabulous new vacation rentals directory on our site and now we even offer passports for sale. With our new tours directory and many other tweaks, we've never been more ready to show our stuff on the biggest stage in American travel.

Advice to My Friend Jim: It Wants To Be Free

Yesterday in the Daily Hampshire Gazette, I read a column by editor Jim Foudy about the newly revamped Gazettenet, the paper's website. Since the beginning of time Steve and I have told the folks over there that they are crazy to keep charging people to view the site, since they lose so many visitors when that big gate slams down right after a Gazette story pops up in a Google search.


I remember once being told they had something like 500 paying subscribers for the online-only version though all 21,000 or so paid print subscribers can access the site. But that leaves so many thousands, no, millions of others who can't see the content.


I just finished reading Chris Anderson's cover story in March's issue of Wired, which is called "Free! Why $0.00 is the future of business," and as usual this guy makes solid points starting with the anecdote of King Gillette, a frustrated inventor. He went on to make millions by giving away razors but charging for the blades. Again and again, Anderson makes the point that things like free webmail, free DVRs and free content from online media can make lots of money over time. Just look at Google, which has no products that cost consumers anything yet is the hottest stock on the market in 2008.


He cites Google's GOOG-411 service, that gives free directory assistance, while AT&T makes $7 billion a year from the same service. But he points out that each time a caller phones in they give up valuable data 'representing unique variations in accent, phrasing and business names that Google uses to enhance its service" The value of that data: $14 million. And the value of being a top player in mobile search? Many billions.


So just like the guys who run the site at the Gazette, I'm eager for my friends down there to embrace the light, and let all of that info out of the cage to be free, and make them some real money.

Goodbye Gino, We Will Miss You!

Gino Piccin has passed away. I got an email yesterday from his daughter Nancy, she had seen my 2005 blog post about him. When I wrote it, I thought it was the final end of a long battle.
Though he was very sick back then, he rallied, and came back and soldiered on until last month when the cancer got the best of him.

How sweet it was to have Nancy find that post on Google and reach out, and nicer that she shared her beautiful eulogy for Gino with me. Below are some passages, remembering the man who really taught me how to be a salesman and many other important things about life.

There’s a funny story that I just heard yesterday. Gino built a bench for his sister Gloria’s grandson, Mateo, several years ago. But he spelled Mateo M_A_T_T_E_O. When Mateo noticed, Gino said, “Oh, that’s the Italian way.” That one story says a lot about him – quick on his feet, quick with a joke.

During his illness, I corresponded with many people who were concerned and wanted to be kept informed about his progress. I received an incredibly perceptive comment from one person, and I didn’t tell him I was going to use it so I wont ‘quote him by name. But he said:

“No one could have made more of his life, and no one could have been more of a friend to so many. And so as I say goodbye to my dad, it is with the hope that someday my daughter can say the same of me.

When I read Nancy's email, I cried as I typed my reply to her. Gino was a remarkable man who so many people knew, and the statement above says so much. I will miss running into him in my travels and hearing that laugh and feeling that solid handshake.

Eric Suher: The Arts are Fragile, Support Them!

Today we went up to Northampton for the Really Big Show, a 17-year tradition that involves dozens of acts, from circus aerialists to jugglers and a Don Ho impersonation.

After the intermission, the Northampton Center for the arts gave an award for community activism and dynamic leadership to my old boss Eric Suher. At the podium, the shy entrepreneur and music magnate was lauded for his successive rescues of the Iron Horse, Pearl St. and the glorious restoration of the Calvin.

He was gracious when he took the stage to accept the award, with his trademark ballcap pulled down low, but as usual, his remarks right on target and his voice confident and clear.

"The arts here are fragile," he said, citing the near closure of the Academy of Music and the Pleasant St. Theater. He encouraged everyone to support the arts, and thanked his staff and the musicians, and mostly the people who fill the seats.

"I'd rather be down there in the pit with you guys," he joked, looking down at the Really Big Show orchestra, where my cousin Paul Hartshorne and Joe O'Rourke were sitting.

I admire Eric so much for what he's done and for the speech, reminding us of something that's important, such as saving arts and music programs in school budgets.

This Valley is indeed a better place and Eric is one of the people we should thank for it.

No Longer Bowling Alone, But Golf is Sinking Fast

I never knew this until I read it in today's New York Times, but golf is losing popularity. The story said there has been a serious decline since 2000, and that people who used to play frequently are playing less and less.

Golf courses are trying new schemes to battle the time factor...four hours for 18 holes seems like too big a commitment, not to mention that also means no cellphone chats on the fairways. They are contemplating six-hole rounds and trying to use the courses and grounds for weddings and other events.

During a meeting in Long Island of four golf course owners, many ideas were batted around. One problem stems from the huge number of courses built between 1990 and 2003: 3000 new ones that brings the total to about 16,000 in the US.

But it comes back to that weekend duffer who has to bring the kids to soccer practice. There just isn't time like there used to be.

This contrasts with bowling, which I thought was also dying...but in fact, few people are bowling alone any more. Last weekend when my daughter and her husband tried to go out bowling there was a 2-hour wait. And lanes have added loud rock and roll, cocktails and a party atmosphere so that now bowling is the hippest thing you can do on a Saturday night.

The Johnson Who Keeps Talking About the Money

Today's a quiet day at the cafe, and I got some time to read the WSJ, and find out about a heir who has made nearly everyone he knows very mad. That would be Jamie Johnson, great grandson of the founder of J&J, who as we like to say in Princeton, where many Johnsons reside, is a part of the 'bandaid fortune.' Robert Frank profiled Johnson, calling him 'the rich man's Michael Moore.' His first film was called 'Born Rich,' and now he's got a new one out called 'The One Percent.' .

Jamie is a filmmaker, and his favorite topic is wealth in America. That doesn't sit well with the wealthy, who just plain run when he tries to get them to talk about their money, and what he feels are the inequities in our society. He sent out 100 letters to wealthy people asking them to appear in the film and 'most said no or failed to reply.' One subject who did agree to talk was Nicole Buffett, who is the adopted daughter of Peter Buffett, Warren's son. And she probably regrets this decision.

As soon as the film came out, the Warren dashed off a letter saying that while he was proud of her achievements, 'I have not legally or emotionally adopted you as a grandchild, nor have the rest of my family adopted you as a niece or cousin.' Ouch! This after she spent every Christmas with Warren in Omaha from age 4-11.

In the film, Johnson pursues his dad, trying to ask him about his money, and while he does get a few comments, at the end, dad gives up, head in hands, saying 'I can't take this any more, it's too much for me.'

There are some things that people are reluctant to talk about, but nothing comes close to spilling the beans on a family's money.

Speaking in Boston with No Worries or Fear

I'm still up on the podium, after all of the people left the room. I breathed a sigh of relief this morning at about 11:30 am, after my successful presentation at the Boston Globe Travel Show. I was nervous, yet prepared.

It all went well and it was a thrill to share this information that I spend so much time thinking about this stuff, and even last night it was fun to compare notes with David Caputo, John Reed and Peter Pelland, all designers who know a lot about search and about the web.

The event for Hidden Tech at the cafe was a great success too, many people came and everybody had a lot of fun. People were sharing their ideas on the web and talking about their stuff.

I will stop and visit with Sam and then get back on the Pike to go to Hudson and pick up a huge banner that hopefully will fit in my truck. Then home on the snowy road.

Random Musings that Amaze Me

Sometimes I am amazed at how much cool stuff I learn one day's newspaper. Below are random musings from a night flipping my eyes between Simon Cowell and Idol and the Wall St. Journal.

In NYC's Cooper Union college a new nine-story building is being built--with elevators that only stop at the fifth and the eighth floors. That's because they want to make the students walk. It seems a bit draconian, and the freight elevators will stop at each one, but that is the stated reason from developer Jonathan Rose.

The other story I kept thinking about was on 'civil recovery.' This is a complex legal strategum being employed by Wal-Mart, Home Depot and other large retailers who face billions of dollars in losses to 'shrinkage,' or theft. The solution is to send out letters demanding large penalties under threat of a lawsuit. Even if somebody is not charged with shoplifting, they can still be dunned for a huge fine, of thousands of dollars. The little secret is that the companies rarely follow through with the threat of suing, but they reap millions from the sinister letters, and a law firm in Florida called Palmer Reifler & Associates gets to keep 13-30% of what comes in.

Lastly, I keep thinking about this merger between BHP Billiton and Rio Tinto. If you think the Yahoo/Microsoft deal is big, get a load of these numbers. The mining company, BHP, based in Australia, is raising prices on iron ore, and is worth about $140 billion. If they are successful in taking over Brazil's largest ore producer, the combined company would be worth $350 billion. Wow! Now that's a conglomerate!

Finally, Something Useful to Do with Heat Seeking Missiles

America's military brass are surely on cloud nine tonight, as they gear up to use a $69 million toy to do something useful: blow up a spy satellite the size of a city bus. CBS news had a story on their website.

The eye in the sky is named US 193, and when it lost power late in 2006, it became uncontrollable almost immediately, beginning its long spiral down to Earth.

Imagine the admirals in a serious meeting, planning on using their heat-seeking missile for a job nobody can really argue with, defending the earth. Instead of having to defend themselves, they can crow that they are saving all of us from near disaster. While the Russians and others are not happy with government plans to deploy anti missile missiles in Poland, they can't complain about this new use of weapons. And no doubt it will help tuning up the next generation of anti-missile missiles on the drawing board.

China has shot down one of its own weather satellites when it went off course last year, so this isn't a first.

There are some wrinkles which may not guarantee success. The satellite is very cold, being that it's in space, and they are using heat-seeking missiles after all. Plus they have to hit the gas tank, not just the side of the bus.

It's Either Í Know Nothing' or 'Let Me Tell Y ou How It Is'

I'm nervous. I'm nervous because on Friday I am going to stand up in front of dozens of people in the travel business and make a speech. It won't be a real speech, not like a politician speech, it will be a presentation. It will be about search engines and how people can make their websites do better. It's at the Boston Globe Travel Show at the Seaport on the harbor downtown. My travel agent audience will even get two continuing ed credits for being there.

There isn't a good reason for me to be nervous. It's just that...well, what I'm afraid of is something that is endemic to the computer and web world. What happens is that there is always a smart alec in the back of the room who pops up and questions what you're saying. I remember teaching a class at the cafe about photography....for novices. And of course, I get a guy in the class who knows much more than me...I kept thinking, 'why did you take this class, anyway, if you're so smart?!' I do much better when I am in front of novices.

But another funny thing about the web and computers, I've found that people will go out of their way to demonstrate their ignorance and complete lack of understanding. They wear it proudly, like a badge. Í am absolutely clueless,' they will tell me. "I don't know the first thing about my computer." These kinds of people can be big stars in other fields, yet they wilt in front of a monitor, banging their hands down in frustration and impatience over easy tasks.

So maybe this crowd of travel professionals will be like the latter, and let me tell them all I know. I do know a lot about this topic, and I've presented on the same subject in DC a few years ago. Just hope that there isn't a wiseguy know-it-all in the crowd who will try to make me look bad.

The Secret of Roman Punch

Eric Felton writes about drinking, cocktails and ritual in the WSJ on the weekends. Today he taught me about Roman Punch. The tale is long, and goes way back to Dolly Hayes, the famous teet0talling first lady, who would serve no booze in the White House. "The water flowed like Champagne." wrote William Maxwell Evarts, famous lawyer to many presidents after a state dinner. He defended Andrew Johnson when he was impeached, and was secretary of state under Rutherford Hayes after helping him get into office.

Edith Wharton also apparently was mad for Roman Punch. The drink faded from popularity after WW1, and is now thoroughly forgotten. But that photo of those oranges filled with boozy slush...yum, boozy slush...

The drink is made with rum, and brandy, and champagne, and curacao, frozen and served like a sorbet in carved out orange rinds. With a spoon. It was once used to serve clandestine booze without a temperate hostess knowing you are having it.

For a Fleeting Moment, Dead Birds Hold the Kids' Interest

I read a story in today's Gazette about a massacre of cedar waxwings. It was a sad day at a local school when a flock of dozens of the songbirds crashed into large windows after being pursued by a hawk.

Bill Danielson, who writes a column called "Speaking of Nature" explained how the students were agitated over the scores of dead birds and persistently kept telling him he had to go see them. They went out with a bucket to find many of the little birds dead, but others banged up and appearing to have survived. In the carnage they managed to find six survivors, and "for the first time in many years I was dealing with genuine interest from these kids, so I abandoned all of the plans I had for the day and focused on the birds."

As Danielson began to explain that the waxwings were feeding on ornamental crab apple trees in the courtyard, and tried to interest students in a discussion on ecology, he lost them again. "Two minutes had gone by and about half the class had already lost interest." Sigh.

After the bell rang, and he 'had to return to his regular job of trying to distract them and prevent them from either breaking somthing or injuring one another," he went back out to survey the dead. There were 37 dead and one more straggling survivor, who he added to his glass waxwing hospital.

At the story's end, there was a glimmer of hope. Danielson brought the aquarium full of healed waxwings back to the classroom, and saw that there was a flock of them gathering outside. So he opened the tank and the little patients happily joined the flock and the kids cheered.

He Makes His Living Secretly Tailing Cigarette Thiefs

People continue to fascinate me, as I meet them on my travels and while going about our town spreading the word about the new Deerfield Attractions website. I met a man the other day over a beer who told me was in the security business.

"What kind of security," I asked, sipping a Steel Rail? "Tobacco and alcohol," he said seriously. He had a shaved head and muscular arms. He told me about a whole world I'd never thought of before. "You know when you see those delivery trucks, bringing cigarettes to stores? Some times the driver will say he's missing bundles, these are packs of a few hundred cartons. They're worth $1500 apiece. If they go missing, we follow the driver over the next few weeks and surveil him. If a storeowner says our load is light, or that we're missing some of the order, we follow it up.

"You would not believe how many times we find someone stealing. If you think about it, those trucks are like Brink's trucks...between $250 and 300,000 bucks worth of smokes aboard.

He sets up stings to catch dishonest drivers and conniving clerks who try to report ciggies as missing when they're not. I thought about what it would be like to spend all of your days secretly tailing cigarette thiefs, and lying clerks. Must make it hard to trust your best friend or your wife after a while.

Lickable Ads: Now That's Just Gross

A few days ago, I read a story about a new rage in advertising: lickable ads. Like the famous scratch and sniff ads that are a staple of women's magazines, getting consumers to use a different sense can make cents, it's just well, licking a magazine to get a taste of a new jelly?

The Journal story by Suzanne Vranica said advertisers are excited, even salivating, over the prospects of getting people to try their jelly on the page. There is a seal so that only one tongue is supposed to touch the taste panel that is not resealable, so you can't be reading the magazine in a doctor's office, lick it, then put it back.

The ad for Welch's grape jelly wasn't cheap. It's a few hundred grand more to create than a regular ad because of the flavored sticker and the handling in People magazine. Lisa Haverty, a cognitive scientist gave the idea kudos: ït's hard to forget whose brand you are licking," she said.

Enraged Developer Fights Trust President

Outside the deluge continues, with a ridiculous amount of rain piling up on a decent amount of snow to create a nightmare for anyone wearing leather shoes. I read deep into today's Daily Hampshire Gazette to find a story about two clashing personalities at a recent public hearing for a proposed development. Writer Matt Pilon captured the sense that these two guys were really going at it you can just see the flared nostrils and angry looks.

"City Planner Stuart Beckley half-jokingly informed those still inattendance of the red panic button located behind their seats that would summon the police if pressed.
Boyle told the group that they should have called him with concerns before complaining to the city officials. "That was gutless." he said. "You can call me any time."

Boyle, visibly angry, told those gathered that he is an active member of the community who sits on six committees. "I'm the only developer that's pro-open space." he said. Bator, equally enraged, told Boyle that his company has built 'ticky-tacky patchworks' across the city.

"You're packing it in there," he said, "You're destroying it." Boyle, in turn, called Bator and the trust 'one-sided.' We might layoff three teachers this year, and you want to go spend a bunch of money on land," he said. "You're bad for the city."

"You can't talk to developers," Bator said as he stormed out. "You just can't"

Tonight the two sides face eachother againj, 'it may be a little awkward,' Pilon wrote.

The Ice Palace at Carnavale Quebec

Buying New Domains...Like It Was Going Out Of Style

It's been an exciting week, and it's only Tuesday. I just returned from a tour of Habitat/American Barn's offices, meeting designers who create plans for houses in their huge computer monitors and figure out how many boards they'll need to build them. I was showing Dave the info. on the new Deerfield Attractions website. He liked the concept, as does almost everybody we've shown this to, and we hope to see them on the new site.

In my exhubarance over how well this new site was going, I splurged and went out and bought three new domains. Watch this space as we roll out Northamptonattractions, Greenfieldattractions and Amherstattractions. All dot com. Ok, ok, now they just point to GoNOMAD.com....but give me a few days to get Joe crankin' on some layouts!

Time now to zip home and watch Nay while Francisco gives a massage. Then back here for more exciting action in the GoNOMAD offices. Next week I'll drive to Boston for my SEO presentation at the Boston Globe Travel show and pick up 0ur enormous 9' x 12' vinyl banner. And tomorrow at 7:30 am, I'll wake up with Brad and Bo and chat about what's fun in Quebec City.

Charlie Runs with the Bulls, Conn Asks the Questions

It's waiting time at Quebec City Airport, and the taxi ride here from the center city was, well you can call it 'white knuckle.' We sped over a snowy highway at 100 kph, the only solace is that this is just 70 mph, but the driver was cool as I closed my eyes and hoped for the best in the back seat. "You're used to this, right?" I asked, watching the blowing snow. "For thirty years I've been driving," he said confidently, and I have to admit that he never swerved on the white road.

At the airport, I am watching de-icers spray orange liquid over the Dash 8 prop plane that will take me to Montreal. As usual, I discovered the free Wi-Fi here by accident, as there is no indication that it's free and you land on a page that isn't the net at first but here I am.

I'm thinking about the funny conversations I had during our long dinners in cozy Quebec City. In our group was a tall and imposing man named Charlie Leocha, and he told me something I found amazing. For the past 32 years, he's gone to the running of the bulls for the entire eight days in Pamplona. He's never missed it, for three decades! He runs a ski and snowboard website and in the bio there he says he's a black diamond skiier and double diamond apres skiier. Gotta love that.

As we enjoyed sweetbreads and roast duck, I got a chance to meet Conn Jackson, the star of the Conn Jackson show, a cable and syndicated TV show out of Atlanta. He's a tall, handsome guy who looks a little like a younger Mitt Romney. In fact he said he had met the politician's son and was supporting him in his bid. I admired Conn's inquisitiveness and how earnest he was in his questions and how it contrasted with so many people you meet in TV who think they know it all. Conn, blessed with great looks, a charming personality and his own show, seemed the most humble and other-focused guy I've met in a while. I hope I run into him again soon.

Meeting the Past at the Chateau Frontenac

Last night after some down time in my room at the Hilton, we ventured back out into the cold to the famous Chateau Frontenac, now a Fairmont property, that is a one of Quebec City's most famous landmarks. As we sipped Kir Frontenac, a signature drink created for the carnivale, we were regaled by a lovely woman dressed in an 1880s costume. She was one of many period actors who mingle with the guests and provide a little history lesson about this famous place.

"When they built a railroad all the way across Canada in the 1890s, connecting the province of British Columbia with the four eastern provinces, the trains had no dining or sleeping cars. So the owners of the railroad decided to build fancy hotels, like the one in Banf, and this hotel, so passengers would have a place to sleep and dine during their journeys."

She spoke like someone who lived long ago, and continued with our impromptu history lesson. "Do you know that every room, every single one of the more than 600 rooms are different?"

The Chateau is immense, with a central tower rising above a wide expanse of smaller towers and dormers, all placed right on the mighty St. Lawrence, where huge ice chunks flow past. They have what looks like a funicular, but is really a slide where you launch yourself down a steep slope in a track. We didn't get to experience the slide, but it looks like fun.

When you first enter the Chateau, you're greeted by this friendly hound, who everybody wants to pet and say hello to. It's a great way to be welcomed.

Dogsledding on Ile d'Orleans, Outside Quebec City

It's fun to be back on a press trip after a few months at home. I almost forgot how much I enjoy meeting journalists and talking shop with website owners and writers. On this trip, I'm joined by Madelyn Miller, known as the Travel Lady, who publishes nine websites and hails from Dallas. Also on the trip is Jesus, a reporter for the Miami Herald who loves cold weather. Charlie from Boston, owner of a ski website and Tripso.com has also joined us.

The weather here is cold...really cold. We spent the morning touring this wonderful old city and learning about its 400 year history. Ten months of this year will be celebrations, including an amazing video projection that will show a 40-minute video onto giant grain elevators that are 600 meters wide. It will be the largest video ever shown, and will take place in the summer.

After our tour of the old city, we drove over a bridge to the Ile d'Orleans, to have lunch in a country auberge. Then we made our way up a steep hill to go dogsledding. Mushing the beasts through deep snow, the air was crisp and the dogs yipping and yapping. Unlike the dogs we saw in Greenland, these guys were friendly and ok to pet, and I kept my foot on the brake while we caromed through the smooth snow. It was a wonderful way to spend an afternoon, and on the bus back to the hotel I dozed. Why was I tired, it was the dogs that did all the work!

Dressed for The Cold at Quebec City's Carnival

The winds were blowing and outside from my 15th floor Hilton hotel room, the flags strained, flapping wildly on their poles. Yet outside, long lines of schoolchildren wound their way past five-foot snowdrifts into tunnels that take them to a park where a huge house has been built of ice. All around, flags snap for the big 400th anniversary of the city. It's 2008, four hundred years since 1608 when settlers first came, and nobody keeps the Quebecois inside, except maybe a Canadiens game on TV.

There is something wonderfully satisfying about walking around during blowing, snowing weather and having made the choice to wear the right clothes. My silk longj ohns from L.L.Bean, my 'flaps down' wool hat from Greenland's Hotel Arctic, and my warm fleece muffler combined with many layers has allowed me to walk these streets in comfort. I love that. I made my way into the center of the city, reading all of the signs in French, and found a cozy cafe where soup was on the menu. In my rusty French, I told the server I'd like 'la meme chose' --the same thing--pointing to a tray with a coffee, soup and some crackers on it that another patron was carrying to a table.

Then I inquired about le WiFi...that didn't translate as well, but the word internet prompted a quick 'oui oui!' and a flurry with a little machine that spat out a password and username. Voila! Even though my hotel, dammit, charges $11.95 per day in the room, and $5 an hour to use their business center, I knew I'd score free internet if I ventured out into the cold. No signs share this info, and no other Quebecois seem interested in firing up laptops. They'd much rather talk animatedly, leaning in to get the juicy details.

At a cross walk, a surprise--a little digital clock ticked off the seconds until the light would turn red. Never seen that before, and I also have never seen snowdrifts as big as these. "If they get to three meters, the city has to remove them," my driver told me. 'So the city is hoping that we don't break that three meter level...but this month we're getting close."

Waiting to Board a Tiny Plane to Quebec City

I'm in the terminal at Bradley, waiting to board a tiny Beechcraft for a 40-minute flight to Montreal. It's my first trip of the year, and the destination is Quebec City, where they are celebrating the Winter Carnival. Fellow blogger and friend Ginger Warder just returned and she warned me--it's cold up there!

Getting to the airport and through the screening, the TSA folks were in a good mood. When I left two quarters in the bin one cried out, 'hey, a tip!' and another sported a marvelous Hollywood tan. 'Nice tan,' I complimented, and he replied "we work on it." I ran into Guy Piccolo at his parking lot and he too was in fine spirits. "We just got back from the Superbowl" he told me. "Great except the wrong guys won."

Over the next few days I'll paint a picture and put in the words of the people I meet on the trip. I haven't traveled since we returned from Sweden in late December, it feels like a perfect time to board a little plane and exit into a place that will feel foreign and new. Even though it's so close, from all I've heard Quebec's charm lies in how much it feels like France.

Grilled Rat; It's What's For Dinner in Saigon

What's new on the menu in Vietnam? None other than rat! I read on this rainy morning a story by James Hookway in the WSJ that told of the booming market for rodent all through Vietnam. Street vendors and restaurants report they are looking for rats to sell, and to serve grilled with lemongrass or roasted in garlic. The entree costs about 60,000 Viet dong, or $4.

While rat has had its place on the Vietnamese table for centuries, it was the bird flu scare of 2004 that boosted demand for the tasty rodents. And because so many snakes and cats are already being made into meals, the rat's natural enemies are 'not as common. Snake prices have doubled, to $18 a pound, due to demand, and snake farms are cranking as many of them out as they can.

Some restaurants even allow patrons to bring their own rats, in case they don't have enough to sell. But most Vietnamese like to cook rat at home, 4.5 pounds is enough to feed a hungry dinner party of ten. According to the story, slightly chubby rats taste best, it's that thin layer of fat that gives a nice sizzle on the grill. It's the year of the rat, on the plate and on the calendar.

Cindy McCain: "The Only Person He Trusts Is Me"

You can always find interesting stuff on Rush Limbaugh's website. He's in trouble with the GOP because he's launching missiles against the assumed nominee. Here's a link from the Times UK about the target of the talkmiester's rath.

"McCain’s marriage has long attracted attention both for the 18-year age gap between husband and wife and for their adopted Asian daughter, who became the focus of one of the most vicious dirty tricks of the 2000 presidential campaign.

The couple have also overcome daunting health problems that included McCain’s bouts with skin cancer, a stroke suffered by Cindy in 2004, and her admission a decade earlier that she had become so addicted to painkillers that she was stealing them from a medical charity she ran.

Yet somehow the McCains have emerged as a potent and durable political partnership. Cindy McCain was at her husband’s side last week as he celebrated the Florida primary victory that has put him at the front of the Republican field.

A former Arizona rodeo beauty queen and daughter of a millionaire Phoenix businessman, Cindy McCain was 25 when she met her future husband at a cocktail party in Hawaii. John McCain was a 43-year-old naval liaison officer travelling with a congressional delegation, his sights already set on a political career.

He was also still married to his first wife Carol, although the couple had recently separated. Carol later attributed the breakdown of the marriage to “John turning 40 and wanting to be 25 again”. McCain fell like a brick for Cindy, who was the heir to a brewery distribution business worth millions. For several years afterwards the McCains endured Washington gossip that he had dumped his first wife - who had been crippled in a car accident - in favour of a trophy bride to enhance his political ambitions.

It was in the late 1980s, after a series of miscarriages and giving birth to three children, that Cindy developed spinal problems and was prescribed painkillers after surgery. Her husband and family had no idea she was secretly taking pills stolen from a charity she had created called the American Voluntary Medical Team, which sent mobile surgical units to war zones. When federal agents began to investigate gaps in the charity’s records, Cindy telephoned her husband, a senator in Washington, and confessed.

She admitted at the time that the 1994 episode had “nearly destroyed both of us”. But she underwent treatment and attended meetings of Narcotics Anonymous as part of a deal with prosecutors who dropped charges.

A few years earlier she had visited Bangladesh with a different charity and decided on the spur of the moment to help a little girl with a cleft palate whom she met in Mother Teresa’s orphanage.

The McCains eventually adopted the girl, named her Bridget and raised her as their daughter. She is now 16, but during McCain’s ugly presidential primary fight against George W Bush in 2000, voters in South Carolina began receiving telephone calls suggesting the senator had fathered an illegitimate black child.

The authors of the smear have never been identified, but Bush was the beneficiary and went on to win the South Carolina primary and the Republican nomination. The McCains have never publicly blamed Bush and their relations have been outwardly cordial. But Cindy recently admitted that she keeps a “grudge list”.

Cindy McCain, now 53, claims she has no interest in policy making - “I am not the legislator in this family. He is” - and that she intends to keep busy running her charities and her family’s company. As first lady, it is clear that she would play a key role. Acknowledging that McCain had made many enemies in Republican ranks, she added: “The only person my husband can trust is me.”

New Staff, New Hiring, Make the GoNOMAD Economy Grow

Today we're running a help wanted ad on Craig's list for cafe help. That's a good feeling, we're adding to the jobs of America, the vaunted jobs that every pol talks about. Creating jobs for Americans. We're doing that at GoNOMAD.

The ad on Craig's list will bring in about 10 or 15 responses, most likely. And most of them will be great candidates. I think that Craig's list sort acts as a screener, because people who answer Craig's list ads have never been anything but friendly, normal, like me sort of people. Does using a website to try and get a job separate you from someone who relies on shoe leather?

We have hired Manjula to join the ranks of our web designers. She, Dave Chouinard and Joe Obeng make up our team and our projects are getting noticed. Today at the cafe, Mitch Anthony, a creative type and a designer, complimented me on the look of the site. Nice to have that, and it feels like we've tapped a nerve with the concept and so far, our execution.

This is What Saturday Night Should Be

Last night was the kind of Saturday night I want 52 weeks a year. Sometimes that all important night just creeps up on you, and without plans you end up doing nothing fun. If somebody were to ask me how I'd like to spend Saturday night, last night is my answer. I like to spend time around a dinner table discussing the world, eating good food, sharing wine and learning about people across from the table.

We drove up to Montague to Michael and Susan's, they live in the village center. They organized a 'Ground Hogs Day' party with an Indian food theme. So all afternoon, Cindy and I worked grinding spices and heating strange ingredients to make a vegetable korma. It was fun to cook together with a common goal of creating something interesting for the Indian table.

There were three other couples there, each had made their own Indian dish. One guest made a spinach paneer with homemade cheese, another chicken marsala, there was chutney, and yogurt Raita, and naan, and a sweet carrot dish, but the best part was the conversation.

We talked about politics, and Hillary and Barack, and the horror that is John McCain, and the question of whether Hillary is likeable enough to get in. We talked about terrible plumbers and handimen who have ripped us off, and about movies and shows and the various diversions in our lives.

It was the kind of night where nobody left the table, we just switched from wine to water, and continued talking until it got late and people started to yawn. Then it was time for a collective 'well, we better be going' and then a flurry of kisses and hugs and a drive home to snuggle in a warm bed.

It was a perfect Saturday night!

Deerfield Attractions.com Attracts the Neighbors

I ventured out into the sleet and chill to rally fellow business people to join our nascent Deerfield Attractions website, and so far there's lots of enthusiasm for the plan. It makes so much sense, after all, to try and capture tourist visits using a website, and it didn't hurt that we've made great progress with getting the signs on Rtes 116 and Rtes 5&10.

The Recorder's Jeremy Dirac wrote the story in today's paper, and as it percolated through the town, we got some calls and emails from Deerfield people wanting to get in on the action.

I don't think I've ever had the chance to offer something for sale that's such a no-brainer, good deal. I mean, who offers free photography, text, links and optimizing for two hundred bucks a year? We do baby, we do!