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.

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.

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.

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.

…I just found a gallery of pictures from the 2004 fire in Bangor when the Masonic Temple burned down. Amazingly, the photographer got there before the firefighters started spraying the water that made later pictures so iconic, and stayed there until the wrecking ball went to work the next day.

Ael stayed home from school today, thanks to some lingering queasiness from last night (too much lactose, I think). I decided that muffins would be good for breakfast, so after I dropped Erin off at school, I walked over to Paradis.

I was pleasantly surprised to spot Krusteaz muffins on the shelf. It’s hardly rare to see Seattle companies (besides Starbucks, of course) on the shelves around here, but they’re nice to find anyway. :-) It was over $2: the Betty Crocker muffins were .89. Easy choice, right?

Wrong.

After looking again at the price tags, I noticed that the unit price for the Krustez muffins was actually lower than the Betty Crocker ones. Checking back of the boxes, I found that the Krusteaz mix made 12 muffins, while the Betty Crocker mix made…

Five.

Anybody here have a muffin tin with 5 cups? Raise your hands, please. Go ahead, I’ll wait….

If they do, they might get fired, like the Maine State Tourism director.

See my previous posts and Lance Dutson’s more-current one for some history.

Thanks to Scoble for the pointer in the right direction.

Shel Israel recently took part in a photowalk that Scoble organized. A photowalk is when a group of people wander around, take pictures, and upload them to flickr (or similar site). He urges us to do the same for our areas: I’m thinking that once the weather turns nicer, maybe we can wander from Brewer over the Chamberlain Bridge, through downtown Bangor, and up past Stephen King’s house.

Any takers?