I keep wondering about this and then forgetting I looked up the answer. :-) I just checked the FEMA map, and I live quite comfortably in Zone C, despite the proximity to the Penobscot River — the flood risk is minimal.

I still can’t help wondering what would happen if a hurricane blew a storm sturge straight up Penobscot Bay at high tide, though — would it peter out before it got up to us? The river does have an average 13-foot high tide at Bangor, with a record of 18 feet…

The Dinner Store recently opened in Downtown Brewer. They allow you to prepare 6 or more meals from their menu, bag them, take them home, freeze them, and then cook them when you’re ready. They advertise that servings are $3.75 or less: that’s less than some fast food burgers these days. I’m looking forward to going over and trying them out soon; I’ll post the report here when I do. :-)

Inspired by the caucus earlier this month, I decided to attend tonight’s meeting of the Brewer Municipal Democratic Committee. (I’m front and center on their website, as I’m in the middle of a picture showing Governor Baldacci addressing the caucus.) I was surprised to learn that it was one of only about 6 in the state — the rest are county-level, I think.

After the meeting, I asked Paul Davis, the chair, if there was anything I could help with on the web or database side of things. He asked me if I knew anything about blogging. :-) They’re looking for someone to do a political blog that’s associated with the Committee, but not officially of the Committee. It would be my own independent voice, talking about things hopefully of interest to local Dems. I’m looking forward to seeing how this works out.

…by the Washington State Republican Party refusing to count all the votes before calling the state for McCain.

And may your 2008 be all you hope. :-)

Erin and I went down to the celebration in Bangor — I have a bunch of pictures posted to my Flickr account.

Methinks Flickr needs to update their geotagging imagery.

Two days ago, Anita Rowland died. She’d been battling cancer for quite some time, but her family thought she had 6 months to go, until last week, when it went down to a month — and then a few days over the weekend. She passed away on Monday, as her husband held her hand. He has a memorial thread over on his LJ.

She was one of the first Seattle bloggers I started following, and the organizer of the monthly blogger Meetups in Seattle and on the Eastside. I swiped many a link from her for this blog. :-) I first became aware of her, I think, when I heard an interview on KUOW about blogging. (Mine existed at the time, but I wasn’t doing much with it.) If I remember correctly, I listened to it while delivering pizzas in Woodinville.

She and Jack cared for her grandson, R—-. Ael and Erin met him once at a Meetup at Crossroads, and instantly hit it off.

While updating my mailing info at Powell’s, I came across a neat interview and Q&A session with Stephen King. My interest in him has been a bit revived since showing the girls his house and the Biography video.

While browsing around flickr just now, I came across this shot.

Wish I had gotten it myself. :-)

Or, not.

Last night, I was too distracted at home to do the work I needed to do, so I decided that what I needed was a little time away from the net connection. I packed up my laptop and headed over to the Brewer Tim Horton’s, where I settled in at midnight with a coffee and a couple of Boston Cream doughnuts.

After about an hour of studying the code behind WordPress, which was not what I was supposed to be working on, I finally got into the groove, updating the database and completing my first pass through the app’s Setup Wizard. The nearly-empty restaurant was ideal for work: the only distraction was the Musak, easily countered with a little filk. I broke for breakfast around 5:00, when the breakfast sandwiches came on the menu, and continued until just after 6.

As I was getting ready to head home and wake up the schoolgirls (or at least, the one who wasn’t running a temp), the owner came over to my table. I was pleased to see him, as I had chatted with him in the past about such things as WiFi and possibly getting a job and training up through the ranks to management.

“I understand you’ve been here quite a while.”

“Yes, I had some work that I couldn’t get done at home.” (or something to that effect)

“Well, I don’t want this place becoming a hangout, so don’t do it again.”

Excuse me?

I’m sitting here with my laptop, with evidence on the table of multiple trips to the counter, and you’re complaining about me being productive? Do you not understand the concept of “coffee shop”???????

“Fine. I’ll be happy to take my business elsewhere in the future. All of it.” He walked away.

After the gentleman behind the counter made the mistake of wishing me a good day, and getting the short form of this rant, I left, never to return.