Personal
Personal reflections, comments about things I've been doing, etc.
Our camp site
Submitted by Aldon Hynes on Sun, 07/13/2008 - 07:43
This is a picture of our camp site on Cape Cod. The weather is great wish you were here
EntreCard Highwater mark
Submitted by Aldon Hynes on Sat, 07/12/2008 - 07:33Okay, I did it. I dropped 300 EntreCards each day for 30 days.
Where do we go from here?
Submitted by Aldon Hynes on Thu, 07/10/2008 - 09:22As I reflect on my birthday yesterday, the lyrics from one of the songs in the Buffy the Vampire Slayer Musical comes to mind, “Where do we go from here?” Fiona loves that musical.
Yesterday was a wonderful day. I really appreciate the great messages I received from friends on so many social networks. Some people found it was my birthday from notices that these social networks sent out. Others saw from my post sent from ping.fm to many different networks that I’m part of. Ping.fm has really helped me stay up to date on many of these networks.
But, back to Buffy. Where do we go from here? Today, I’m going to Hartford to hear Sen. Edwards speak about his Half in Ten effort. The goal of Half in Ten is to cut poverty in the United States in half in ten years.
Hartford Press Conference with Senator John Edwards
Thursday 7/10, 11:45 AM
Boys and Girls Club
1 Nahum Drive, Hartford
Later, Sen. Edwards will be speaking in Bridgeport. However, I’ll probably not make it to that event.
Bridgeport Rally with Senator John Edwards
Thursday 7/10, 2:00 PM
Steel Point
East Main Street and Stratford Ave, Bridgeport
Friday, hopefully, will be a day of recuperation, catching up and then packing for vacation. On Saturday, we will drive up to Springfield in a circuitous route to our vacation on Cape Cod. Our first stop will be Memorial Service for Lori.
Because of this, we will not be able to make it to the Open House at www.alpacahillfarm.com. This is the Alpaca farm in Seymour, CT that I’ve written about in the past. They have two, by now, probably three new baby alpacas. The open house will be from 10 AM until 4 PM, 8 Willow Street, Seymour, CT 06483. We will find some other opportunity to see the alpacas. However, if you are anywhere near Seymour, I would encourage you to attend.
Another event that I’ll have to miss, but wanted to comment on is the Mark Warner fundraiser in Old Saybrook on Sunday. Mark Warner is former Governor of Virginia and is currently running for U.S. Senate. The fundraising luncheon will take place on a yacht in Old Saybrook. The honorary chairs of the event are Sen. Dodd, Sen. Lieberman, and Rep. Courtney. Guests are asked to contribute $1,000.
While I have a lot of respect for Gov. Warner, I don’t have that sort of money, nor do I have any interest in contributing it at a fundraiser where Sen. Lieberman is one of the honorary chairs. Oh well. I wish Gov. Warner luck anyway.
As we camp on the Cape, I will have limited Internet access. We’ll see how often I get on during the week. However, I should note that on Wednesday, July 16th, we will be going to a concert by Stage Door Canteen. It will take place at the Eastham Windmill Green, Rte 6A, Eastham MA. It is part of the Cape Cod Arts Foundation Music in The Parks Concert Series. My online social media friend, Beth Dunn works for the Cape Cod Arts Foundation and I hope to run into her at the concert.
I would love to write more about all of this, detailed thank you letters to everyone who wished me well on my birthday, and so on, but I need to hit the road to get up and see Sen. Edwards.
Clarence and Lori : Foreclosure, Bankruptcy, and Suicide
Submitted by Aldon Hynes on Tue, 07/08/2008 - 09:08Regular readers of my blog will know that it is named after the house that I lost in foreclosure a few months ago. This past week brought the next step in the saga. We met with our lawyer to finalize our Chapter 7 bankruptcy filing.
There is sadness. I have lost something I loved. There is shame and guilt. I grew up always avoiding debt and repaying those that I had. In addition it isn’t just big evil corporations that are affected by my bankruptcy. There are small business that I am friends with the proprietors that I cannot pay back. Then, there are my children. I cannot give them everything I want to. It is easy to see how this can be very depressing.
RIP, Lori Bonatakis, a Grassroots Hero
Submitted by Aldon Hynes on Sun, 07/06/2008 - 12:48I believe it was the summer of 2003 when I first met Lori. It was probably on the Dean for America blog, or one mailing list or another where we first met. I was living in Stamford, CT and she was living somewhere around Springfield, MA. We became close friends as we shared our hopes and dreams for Gov. Dean becoming President. We discussed ideas of getting Gov. Dean’s message out.
After Gov. Dean’s campaign was over, we stayed in touch. She came down to events at our house in Stamford. She kept me informed of what was going on in her life, and encouraged me to get involved with Deval Patrick’s campaign.
Our common interests went beyond politics. She worked in information technology and we often compared notes. We hadn’t been in touch a lot after Deval Patrick’s campaign. She had moved for a while down to North Carolina. We were both going through our share of difficulties. So, it is particularly shocking and saddening to hear of her passing.
There is a post about Lori on BlueMassGroup and on Ryan’s Take.
I’ve looked through old emails and posts on different blogs. I wish I could find some special words to sum it all up. I wish I could find some magic words to make it all better, but I can’t. I am shocked. I am saddened. Lori will be deeply missed.
