AND THE BEAT GOES ON

Memorial Day weekend has come and gone....all sorts of activities including the wonderful Riverfest in Williamstown where I went for a raft ride on the Hoosic. Now I've ridden on rafts in Colorado and Wyoming....but I never went on the Hoosic....how dumb is that? I learned a lot from our wonderful guide. The saddest thing was seeing an old town dump from 30 years ago that is now exposed right on the river. It needs to be recapped but the question is, will that be enough? One of the best things about running for office is learning new things, listening to other's opinions and generally trying to keep an open mind. It's hard because the natural inclination is to convince the other person that you're right and that you know everything. And sometimes you're speaking to someone who themselves doesn't have an open mind, and so all you can do is listen. But it behooves one to try and figure out where the wisdom lies.....I am sad to say that today I imposed a new control on this blog. You have to be "registered" to comment. It's not my style, but I came home after a very long day on the campaign trail to find a snide remark awaiting me. I don't mind snide if the person says who he is. Then I can put it in context. But anonymous snide I don't need. This is a difficult enough task, "putting yourself out there" and generally allowing anyone in the world to have an opinion on you, that one doesn't need gratuitous taunts. So sorry everyone. This week is the Democratic State Convention. I've been to tons of them....but never as a candidate.....not sure what to expect in that all the focus will be on governor and lt. gov. but all the Senate candidates will be there trying to grab people's attention too. It should be quite the experience. We will have the famous oval "WARE" window stickers available and a few posters and will generally try to work the crowd. It helped that the Deval Patrick delegates had two meetings this weekend....one in North County and one in Pittsfield. It's a great group of people that I'm proud to be associated with. It always helps to learn people's names and faces before you get to the hubub of the convention floor. For some people this is a first convention so you want to make sure they have fun and feel part of what is going on. It's democracy in action with a large dose of chaos thrown in. I also just noticed that I missed my own "blogiversary." I began this blog last 16 May so happy versary to me. What a difference a year makes.....