Hamp Errands

Around the downtown.

This beautiful morning I took the bus to Northampton to pick up my check at the office of the Valley Advocate. When I got off the bus, I took this little shortcut between the courthouse parking lot and Center Street.



Dynamite Records is moving from its longtime location in the Thornes complex to a place on Main Street.



That's remarkable for two reasons. For one, most record stores seem to be going out of business due to the internet, not expanding to a new location. Also most of the moving by downtown businesses these days is off of Main Street, not onto it.

Is this spraypainted stencil cool or scary?



The Valley Advocate offices are located in the building of their corporate parent The Daily Hampshire Gazette.



Inside the Advocate headquarters not much was happening. Tom Sturm was doing his usual chore of putting together all the listings for the Happenings section.



Helping out is intern Alex Ross from Westfield State College.



At noon I went to the Alcoholics Anonymous meeting at the Unitarian Church that is officially called the Northampton Lunchtime Group. It is however universally known as "The Looney Nooner."



Notice the sign saying it is a violence free zone. The sentiment is nice, but has a single act of violence ever been stopped by such a sign?

After the meeting an AA friend and I put on the ritz by going out to eat at the King Street McDonald's. I noticed that the Wendy's that stood for decades next door has been completely torn down.



This is what it looked like before the arrival of the wrecking ball.



Oh well, life is change. Arriving at the bus stop a little early, I avoided boredom by stopping in at Broadside Bookstore.



There is no excuse for boredom as long as there are books in the world.



I hope the rumors turn out to be true that Barack Obama intends to choose Senator Joe Biden (above) as his running mate. Biden would definitely add some much needed heft to the ticket. Wiseass Ann Coulter has this to say about the announcement on Saturday of who Obama is going to choose.

This week, Barack Obama's challenge is to select a running mate who's young, hip, and whose accomplishments in life don't overshadow Obama's. Allow me to suggest Kevin Federline.

Would Federline be worse than Dan Quayle? Actually I think KFed is tres sexy.



Or at least he used to be. These tragic photos showing before and after the Britney break-up suggests he's been consoling his broken heart with lots of beer and pastries.



Amazingly, I have not gotten fat as I've aged.



These days I like to just watch the river flow.