Lauren Dunn Cancer Benefit

Lauren Dunn of Hull is a charming and gregarious 6 year old who was stricken with a rare form of cancer earlier this year. While there are certainly many physical and emotional issues for her and her family to deal with, there are also financial hardships, especially in the current down cycle.

On Sunday, November 29, 2009, a benefit for Lauren is being held in Dorchester, MA from 2-7PM. It’s going to be held at Florian Hall on 55 Hallet St and will feature Live Entertainment, Refreshment, Raffles, and a Silent Auction.

For a $20 donation, this is a great opportunity to directly help the quality of life of a child who could really use it. Check out the photo of her on the front page of the Boston Globe: http://www.fitpacking.com/Lauren/ and a link to the accompanying article.

Just so you know, I will be attending the benefit ……….. so that I can tell you all about the upcoming Fitpacking trip to the Florida National Scenic Trail / Ocala National Forest, January 16-24, 2010. You might consider joining us since this is a GREAT time to get away from the freezing winter weather especially to go hiking and get in shape. http://www.fitpacking.com/2010/FT.aspx

Good news from my mother, Noa Miller. In this month’s elections, she was just re-elected to the Water Pollution Control Authority board for the town of Middlebury, CT. She is also a member of the Middlebury Commission on Aging. If you live in the area, you should stop by the swearing in ceremony at Shepardson Community Center on Monday, December 7, 2009 @7:00PM ……………. so that SHE can tell you all about the upcoming Fitpacking trip…

Speaking of Fitpacking, we were recently featured in the Howard County Times of Maryland. The article can be found here: http://www.explorehoward.com/events-entertainment/67207/great-fall/ and in this article, you don’t have to scroll all the way down to the bottom to receive gratification (if reading about Fitpacking can be considered any kind of gratification.)

Fitpacking guides, Todd “Big Ovaries” Soprych and Rosie Enos have started a backpacking venture targeted to women called Roam the Woods, http://www.roamthewoods.com/ because like me, they failed Economics.

And finally, instead of leaving you with some thought provoking, opinionated jeremiad, I’ll leave you with a barf bag link: http://www.bclocalnews.com/bc_north/northernsentinel/opinion/70241612.html I have no idea why this site went to great pains not to link to http://www.airsicknessbags.com . Maybe they didn’t want to contract cyber-cooties or have Google downgrade their site for linking to questionable content.

Remember that this is always available at my blog: http://stevesmildlyinformativestuff.blogspot.com/

When did ADD become such a great quality?

I’ve always believed that the inability to focus on a single task such as say, driving, performing your job or talking with your spouse would be a characteristic that you’d want to correct (except for talking with your spouse). Not so! People these days revel in their inability to concentrate. Flitting from one focus to another, their ADD has become a point of pride. To hear some people tell it, you’d think the disorder was a badge of honor attained through years of study and practice.

Industry supports and encourages this. Twitter thrives on the supposition that people can optimally handle information in 140 character bursts. And it is the rare employer who would even consider hiring someone who asserts, “Although I excel at singular, analytic tasks that require focused concentration, I don’t multitask well”.

It’s just another one of those things that make me shake my head and realize how old, out-of-touch and marginalized I’ve become. I suppose the only way I’ll ever be able to cope with this phenomenon and use it to my advantage is to short Ritalin stock.

In another vein, I was recently interviewed as some sort of career expert on Dream List Radio for Teens, despite not having any teens (or career) myself. In the interview, I explain to teenagers various ways to prepare for career opportunities in being a wilderness guide. I did my best to somehow make it sound much more interesting and lucrative than the debilitating career suicide it actually is: http://www.dreamlistmedia.com/Outdoors/42.aspx

15 year old Brad Jones, (son of Roger Jones, the 1st place winner in the 2009 North Cascades National Park Stud competition) recently was awarded the rank of Eagle Scout. His Eagle project required 400 hours of volunteer service time. That’s more time than most people spend on their personal hygiene every year. (Check out the study in the Journal of Public Health, March 2008). Congratulations Brad!

If you’re tired of being summarily ignored by society, well, I suppose you could get a tattoo. But if that inexplicably doesn’t get you the avalanche of attention you so desperately want and so richly deserve, consider contacting Darlan Erlandson. She’s a publicist who specializes in concerts, shows, theatrical events, books, films, production companies and most any venue. Contact her now at fame@acd.net .

On Oct 1st, the tinny crackle of my voice permeated the airwaves of St. Louis on KTRS 550-AM. Thus, an audience that was as incredibly massive as AM radio could muster, experienced all the barf bag joy and happiness they scarcely knew could exist within themselves.

As if in lockstep, Nicehobbies.org listed sickbag collecting on their celebrated hobbies list: http://nicehobbies.org/funny-hobbies-list

Even Fatpacking has received some blog coverage: http://www.joannee-joannee.com/2009/09/fatpacking.html . Sure it’s negative, but hell, it’s press!

If you’ve ever dreamed of moving to Montana and raising up a crop of dental floss spending every day guiding people through the mountains of Big Sky Country or hiking the Bob you might consider purchasing a turnkey outfitting business from the father of a colleague of mine, Jodie Hooker’s dad. The business is called Bob Marshall Outfitters. http://www.BobMarshallOutfitter.com

Oh, and in the remote event that you actually checked, there was no Personal Hygiene study in the March 2009 Journal of Public Health. However I was indeed on AM radio in St. Louis.

Need Twitter Help!

I am attempting a cheesy marketing stunt that doesn’t involve a six-year old child and need your help. I am going to give away the free Camelbak pictured here: http://www.fatpacking.com/images/Camelbak.jpg. The person that wins will be the first one whose twitter name appears in 100 tweets and re-tweets along with a link to the Fatpacking website.


So for example if your Twitter name is @JoeShlabotnick, and you tweet:


RT: 1st w/100 retweets wins a new Camelbak, details http://tinyurl.com/XXXX Check out Fatpacking, http://www.fatpacking.com @JoeShlabotnick


Then I could do a search on both Fatpacking and @JoeShlabotnick for 100 occurrences and give away the item. Now @LotsOfFollowers, who has a bigger social network, might (hopefully) decide that they want the Camelbak and retweet as


RT: 1st w/100 retweets wins a new Camelbak, details http://tinyurl.com/XXXX Check out Fatpacking, http://www.fatpacking.com @LotsOfFollowers


That’s 126 characters. The tinyurl of the web page with my explanation of the stunt will probably be longer when I generate it and the Twitter ID might be much longer too. And to top it off, the Tweet is pretty confusing.


First question: how do I explain this all in 140 characters? What should my tweet say?
Second question: I only have tens of Twitter followers. How do I disseminate this beyond my newsletter?


I’m doing this so that a link to Fatpacking proliferates throughout Twitter. Twitterers not only have a chance at the Camelbak, their Twitter name also proliferates.


That’s all for now. I’ll resume actual Mildly Informative activity soon. I’m considering sending shorter, more frequent posts.


Remember that all mild information is mirrored on the blog: http://stevesmildlyinformativestuff.blogspot.com/

Am I on the Barf Bag Gravy Train?

Collectibles Corner TV recently interviewed me about the Air Sickness Bag Museum (http://www.airsicknessbags.com/ for those few who may not know). If you can endure the nails-on-chalkboard sound of my voice in order to hear the nails-on-chalkboard sound of my opinions, the interview can be found here: http://www.collectiblescornertv.com/35-air-sickness-bags-an-old-bottle-and-turtle-junkables-nao-porcelain-and-the-forum/. In the remote event that you aren’t interested in minute details about say, Iron Mechanical Turtle Banks, you can start the video at about 4 minutes in. Then, after watching the clip, you under 30s should Google the term “Chalkboard”.


Now if the rich, juicy goodness of that interview has whet your appetite for a figurative sickbag dessert, check out: http://www.killerstartups.com/Site-Reviews/airsicknessbags-com-air-sickness-bag-museum-online. Aside to lawyers: Is it worth trademarking the improbable phrase “Barf Bag Gravy Train”?



Fitpacking is in the news! Here’s one of the best articles ever written about it. Sure, it’s all lies, but that’s what keeps it from being boring: http://www.walkaboutmag.com/34footpaths.html . For those who prefer a visual representation of a Fitpacking trip, some pictures of last week’s Fall Foliage Trip can be found here: http://www.facebook.com/Stevebo?v=feed&story_fbid=171596010927#/album.php?aid=112005&id=17187844623 .



And I’ve been fortunate enough to garner even more media coverage that has absolutely no chance of helping me pay off any of my bills. The Modesto Bee published an article illustrating how not to interview for a job. You can experience the wacky hilarity here: http://www.modbee.com/columnists/workwise/story/862754.html



Just a thought. Instead of shouting “You lie!”, Senator Joe Wilson could have made his point far more eloquently by just throwing his shoes.



Finally, it’s time for some social commentary that I spent a lot of time thinking about but will ultimately affect no one in any tangible way.



The Wonderland Dog Racing track near Boston closed permanently last week. It’s good news for the dogs, but like anything else these days, for some it’s an opportunity to spout the rage that they love almost as much as life itself.



Now I can’t for the life of me figure out what’s so amazing about dog and horse racing. Some people claim they love the beauty and grace of majestic animals racing. And that may be true, but nobody ever assembles dogs or horses together just for the sheer joy of watching them run. There’s always some kind of wagering involved.



Much like the stock market, the NCAA tournament, and dog fighting, if no monetary payoff was involved nobody would care about these things in the least. If people get some auto-erotic thrill by guessing outcomes over which they have no control, good for them. But why involve animals?



Every year, scores of elite Track & Field gazelles graduate from college and are forced to take idiotic dead-end jobs just to make ends meet. Why not put an end to dog and horse racing permanently and bet on racing athletes instead?



It’s far more entertaining. Pro wrestling fakes the competition yet it thrives because of their athletes’ personalities and back stories. The same could be true of human racing. It would save all the jobs that dog and horse racing fans use as a red-herring to rationalize their cruelty, but it would also create new jobs for the athletes and be more humane to the animals to boot.



And while some might claim that betting on humans would cause corruption, then someone please explain why jockeys somehow can’t be corrupted. Just make sure to say it angrily and forcefully.



If you have something worth saying to the elite and powerful audience of superhumans who read this newsletter, send it on and I guarantee I’ll find some way to trivialize your point for a cheap laugh.



Remember the blog can be found here: http://stevesmildlyinformativestuff.blogspot.com/

Please Stop Delivering My Mail Already

I am not a government efficiency wiener. In fact I’m about the only person you’ll ever meet who thinks taxes are too low (yes, really, but I’ll address that another time).

For now, I think it’s high time the Post Office stopped delivering US Mail so frequently. They should only deliver it a maximum of 3 times per week, say Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. Now this might reflexively offend your sensibilities. After all, no living American has ever been without their daily snail mail fix. But if you take a moment to let the feeling pass, you might see some merit in the idea.

The bulk of the mail you now receive is well, bulk mail. These days, few if any important documents arrive in the mail at all. If it’s important or time-sensitive, you receive it electronically or if a physical item is required, via Fedex.

Oh sure, we all reminisce about how great it was to get that perfumed letter from a distant love (all 3 times) or how exotic it was to have a pen pal in 1974. But even then, time was not of the essence, just as now you don’t wait by the mailbox in desperate anticipation of your Val-Pak.

Now you may bristle at the notion that your paycheck will be delayed an extra day, but I’ve got news for you. If you receive your paycheck in the mail, you’re already receiving it at least a day later than you ought to. And isn’t it time you started paying (and receiving) your bills online?

I have no idea how substantial the cost savings of 50% less frequent mail delivery would be or what else we could fund with the vast sums of money saved, but one thing is for certain. I am not going to do any of the research necessary to find out.

In other news, Gayton Gomez has finished her first novel. I can’t tell you anything about it but she did admit there were space aliens in it (tangentially anyway) so you know it has to be good. If wry wit and tortured sensibilities borne of a lifetime full of pain appeal to you, you should read this book. Next newsletter, I’ll find out what the title is.

For those of you who really don’t have a feel for what Fitpacking destinations are like and actually care (an intersection of about 2 people) check out this slideshow produced by megastud Roger Jones taken on the North Cascades National Park Trip this August. Unlike the other lame links contained in this newsletter, this one is really worth clicking: http://secure.smilebox.com/ecom/openTheBox?sendevent=4d5445774d4467314f4456384d6a45344e5467304d44553d0d0a&sb=1

Speaking of Fitpacking, it recently merited a mention in the InsureMonkey Blog: http://www.insuremonkey.com/community/2009/08/04/planning-a-vacation-consider-a-fit-trip/. Sure, InsureMonkey may sound minor, but I’m hoping it’s the stepping stone to similar, but even greater media leviathans such as the WarrantyLemur Blog or the UnderwritingDungBeetle Blog.

I was recently featured in a PBS article about health insurance. They only asked me factual stuff and not my opinion. That’s too bad because I would have come out strongly in favor of the death panels that the wacky far right came up with to scare people. But if you want to read the article: http://www.pbs.org/newshour/updates/health/july-dec09/exchange_07-23.html


If you’re a big fan of SMU football, well I guess you’re either an 18 year old frat boy or you’re an adult who really should be spending more time with your family that you’re so desperately trying to avoid. However if you insist on following the team, booming baritone Chris Martin will be doing play-by-play on TWC Metro Sports (whatever that might be) on the following dates: 10/10, 10/17 (all at 7pm), 11/7, 11/14, and 11/28 (2pm).


And finally, I would not be fulfilling my personal mission of harassing you with barf bags if I didn’t send you a link to some recent media coverage, this time from South Africa: http://www.dispatch.co.za/article.aspx?id=341324. My next goal is to obtain media coverage in Lesotho.

Remember that this newsletter is posted to the Steve’s Mildly Informative Stuff Blog: http://stevesmildlyinformativestuff.blogspot.com/.

TLC’s What Not to Wear and Fitpacking

An opportunity has presented itself to be on TLC’s What Not to Wear for Boston area residents.

If you have a female friend or relative who could use a wardrobe and hair makeover and would also be a good candidate for a Fatpacking Trip, please let me know.

TLC is open to adding a body composition change / weight loss component to their upcoming visit to Boston. Once the person accepts, we will take them on a week-long Fatpacking Trip, and then they’ll go to New York with a slimmer figure for the traditional show, although TLC will of course determine how all this plays out.

If you are comfortable nominating a friend or relative for this show (remember, it has to be a secret), think they will be amenable to accepting, and would be capable of completing one of our trips, please let me know as soon as you can.

Please also tell me a thing or two about the person that would pique the interest of a casting director. Photos and even a video would be that much better.

I need to respond by the 24^th, so the sooner the better.

I hate Twitter

Iranian uprising notwithstanding, I think Twitter is stupid. But since vapidity has never been a limiting factor for me, my inner lemming has compelled me to start Tweeting. My Twitter name is “abuse_me”.

If you decide to follow @abuse_me, you will find that abusive tweets will be delivered directly to you without the cumbersome hassle of talking to your boss or your spouse or listening to conservative talk radio. So if you’re ever feeling full of yourself or need to be knocked down a peg, consider being among the first to follow @abuse_me. With your support, this can turn into one of those ubiquitous viral Internet memes like Badger Badger Badger.

http://computerhunter.us/?p=9364

http://sentientforcefield.blogspot.com/2009/06/ephemera.html

Writer, real estate expert, raconteur, and dervish (whatever that is) Suzanne Stavinoha announces her new travel book called Ciao Sweetie, detailing how to plan your own vacation to an Italian Villa. Buy a copy here: http://www.amazon.com/Ciao-Sweetie-Vacation-Tuscan-Farmhouse/dp/1440119414/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1242874312&sr=1-1. If you buy enough copies, she’ll be able to leave the position she just accepted with CB Richard Ellis in Houston.

That’s all for now (what, you want more content to consume?). Please inundate me with your news.

This message is mirrored at http://stevesmildlyinformativestuff.blogspot.com/.

Johnny, tell him what he’s won…

It’s a brand new car!

While most people regularly strive to improve themselves with professional, personal, or emotional breakthroughs, I found it easier to just buy a new car instead. It’s a Toyota Solara SLE Convertible (SLE = Solara Loogie Edition). It’s not nearly as exciting as I’ll claim it is when I try to sell it someday, but I do enjoy driving it with the top down and heated seats on. As this is the first time I’ve ever purchased a non-American car, I was pretty conflicted about it.

I test drove a Pontiac G6 Convertible and now wonder if I (and others like myself) had just bought American, whether Pontiac might have survived. Ultimately, I didn’t buy the G6 because A) when the top was down, there was no trunk space B) the top would not go down on the (cold) day that I test drove it, and C) OMG, what a slimy, slimy salesman.

The entire experience raised a philosophical conundrum. As a Liberal, I wonder why other Liberals who go out of their way to buy local products at premium prices, abandon these principles to unilaterally buy foreign cars. Similarly, Conservatives who consistently stock up on the cheapest import products at MALL * WART steadfastly buy American vehicles. I’m not sure why such an inconsistency exists, but I’m sure someone will histrionically explain it to me in the most partisan way possible.

In other news, and I use “news” in the loosest sense of the word, Fitpacking has received some media coverage. Check out this recent article from MSNBC: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/30137945/?pg=5#Travel_IT_FitnessTravel. The splash page for the article can be found here: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/30137945/?pg=1#Travel_IT_FitnessTravel in case you are interested in say, Bikini Boot Camp.

Actually, business has been hard to predict. While the March trip to Joshua Tree National Park was great (see the first set of amazing photos here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/39834440@N00/sets/72157617570761259/ ), the April Great Smoky Mountains Trip had to be cancelled due to lack of participation. Fortunately, the forthcoming Shenandoah National Park Trip is completely full. I have no idea why participation is spotty, but I can assure you that all trips are marketed equally poorly.

Now if you were ever inclined to ask me “How’s work?” you might expect me to issue the borderline Pavlovian response “I hate my job”. However, if you can overlook a little cognitive dissonance, I was actually featured in a Calgary Sun article entitled “Why I Love My Job”. http://career.calgarysun.jobboom.com/headlines-calgarysun/2009/02/13/8382701.html.

If you are a preservationist who sees value in preserving our shared architectural heritage, please go to http://www.partnersinpreservation.com/ and vote for the Paragon Carousel as worthy of protection and rehabilitation. Built in the roaring 20s when people built merry-go-rounds because alcohol was illegal, the Paragon Carousel is iconic of Hull’s identity. The Carousel is currently in first place in online voting, and sorely needs the funds that winning this competition would bring to restore it to its former grandeur as an architectural treasure (and fairly lame ride). Please vote once a day through May 17th.

And if you are into really old buildings, maybe Italy is the place for you. Will this be the year you finally visit? Contact mailto:suzanne@suzstav.com>Suzanne Stavinoha , who is coordinating a farmhouse villa vacation in Tuscany this September to either Villa Clara (http://www.italianvillas.com/villa.aspx?villa=105997) or La Pozza di Volpaia (http://www.italianvillas.com/villa.aspx?villa=105977). These wonderfully romantic edifices are both beautiful and quaint (translation: constructed before the days of plumbing). The cost is between $750-$900, but you should e-mail her for details.

Who among us hasn’t always wished for breakfast falafel? Well, maybe God hasn’t answered this prayer, at least Paula Cofman will. She is opening a new Hull eatery called “To Dine For”, and will be serving up delicious American and Mediterranean delicacies daily. More details forthcoming.

Though I’ve never really been a one issue voter, I have a new singular criteria that I am going to use to determine who to vote for. If a candidate claims that they will eliminate waste or bloat, they will automatically not receive my vote, even if this obviates me from voting for anyone at all.

Oh sure, there are always services you pay for that you don’t use, but that doesn’t make these services wasteful. Everything is wasteful to someone. Even the destitute among us have a right to claim that government is wasteful because their sales tax dollars are spent maintaining infrastructure that they don’t use.

Politicians who promise to cut out the fat are really promising you … that’s right, a big bag of nothing. These candidates might as well just proclaim, “I oppose terrorism!” to the adoration of wild cheering crowds. Normally, I’d try to tie up this train of thought with some kind of thought-provoking revelation, but I’ve decided to cut out the waste.

If you have news you’d like me to disseminate next edition, please let me know! And remember that Steve’s Mildly Informative Stuff is a self-important blog: http://stevesmildlyinformativestuff.blogspot.com/

More Coffee, Please

While I don’t want to dwell on the palpable negativity and gloom that pervades our everyday lives, I do feel it’s important to acknowledge that life for most of has become virtually void of the joy we once experienced, and that I am affected by it more than I’d like to admit. I say this to offset the notion that the “how great my life is” pabulum proffered in this Mildly Informative communiqué is a completely accurate representation of the entire elephant (if you are blind, my life is an elephant, and you are one of those Cretins who believes that metaphors are somehow clever and illustrative).

That said, my life is great! During the last week of January, I was fortunate enough to guide the Cumberland Island, GA Fitpacking trip, a new destination. The island is largely flat and features gnarled, century old live oak trees, saw palmettos, and scads of tilazia eucinoides, aka Spanish moss, which by the way, is great for cleaning oil out of a popcorn pot. We saw a panoply of the island’s charismatic mega-fauna including wild horses, wild hogs, alligators, armadillos, and dolphins, not to mention a wealth of birds and smaller critters.

I could continue to try to instill you with false enthusiasm about the trip by droning on and on about it in prose, but why not just look at some of Z’s photos here:
http://www1.snapfish.com/thumbnailshare/AlbumID=278854972/a=7458331_99082776/t_=7458331 as well as some of Julie’s photos here: http://www1.snapfish.com/thumbnailshare/AlbumID=258485474/a=7458331_160772505/t_=7458331.

While we’re on the subject of backpacking, the website Trip On A Deal recently featured Fitpacking in their very first video segment of 2009: http://triponadeal.blip.tv/file/1630580/. In the immortal words of Frank Zappa, “It’s a little bit cheesy, but it’s nicely displayed”. The Fitpacking coverage occurs only about a minute or two into the broadcast, so you can probably sneak this into your day while on hold for your hair appointment, even though your hair probably looks far better than you think it does, and if you just smiled once in a while, nobody would even notice your hair.

Attention people who read! Elitists like you may prefer reading a website about Fitpacking over watching a video about Fitpacking. Of course, you most likely prefer suffering through a kidney stone to either. So after you pass that stone, why not check out the slightly less painful Fitpacking feature on the HealthStatus website: http://www.healthstatus.com/health_blog/2009/01/05/2009-weightloss/

Regarding media coverage, not much new on the barf bag front, although the Air Sickness Bag Museum did have a few blog mentions recently:
http://www.been-seen.com/article.cfm?id=10848
http://jimmathers.com/02/04/crazy-museums/

On a more serious note, I received the following from Ann Lefebvre:

My friend, Margie LaSalle in Atlanta GA has been diagnosed with bone cancer and has been given a prognosis of less than 2 years. She has a husband and two very young children whom she will leave behind very soon. Since Margie is no longer able to use the stairs, they are trying to sell their townhome and purchase a ranch home in the same area. In this market, things just aren't moving and they really cannot wait. So, a children's book has been created in Margie's honor as a message to her two small children about her being around "always and everywhere". The proceeds of this book will directly support the LaSalles in purchasing the home that they desperately need while they sell their townhome and will allow Margie to remain home with her family. The book can be purchased at www.alwaysandeverywhere.org for $14.99.

Please help if you can.

My mother, Noa Miller has been featured in the book “In the Spirit of the Maggid”. One chapter of this book, “A Grandfather’s Plea” details her fairly recent visit to her grandfather’s (my great-grandfather’s) hometown in Germany, and what she found in a letter written by him to German officials soon after Kristallnacht. You can find the book here: http://www.amazon.com/Spirit-Maggid-Paysach-j-Krohn/dp/1422608727/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1234131256&sr=8-2. Go Mom!

In conclusion, there are many things to pontificate about, but this time I’d like to weigh in on steroids, which have become resurrected into de rigeur news fodder. While I can see both points of view, I am unsure whether or not records, awards and championships should be stripped away from athletes who have taken performance enhancing drugs. However if it is determined that their athletic accomplishments are tainted and no longer count, then I feel it’s only fair for beauty pageant winners to be stripped of their titles if it’s found that they’ve undergone any kind of cosmetic surgery. For that matter, even wearing make-up should be considered “performance enhancing” and be cause for their dismissal.

Remember that this newsletter is mirrored on the Mildly Informative Blog: http://stevesmildlyinformativestuff.blogspot.com/