Stuff about me
My name is Keith Michaud and this is “Letters From Away,” a blog written by a Mainer living outside the comfortable and sane confines of New England. The blog is intended for Mainers, whether they live in the Pine Tree State or beyond, and for anyone who has loved ’em, been baffled by ’em or both. Ayuh, I am “from away.” Worse still, I live on the Left Coast – in California. Enjoy! Or not. Your choice.
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Monthly Archives: June 2010
Maine’s statewide election results
Posted in Economy, Environment, Law and Order, Maine, Politics and government
Tagged candidate, election results, incumbent, primary election, voter, votes
Dine Out for the Gulf Coast
From June 10-12, 2010, participating restaurants throughout the United States will set aside a portion of profits to help those directly affected by the Deepwater Horizon oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico and to support the long-term restoration of the treasured coast.
Posted in Disaster, Economy, Energy, Environment, Food and Drink, Outdoors, Politics and government
Tagged BP, British Petroleum, Deepwarter Horizon, diners, Gulf Coast, Gulf of Mexico, oil spill, restaurant
Slamming down the cell phone to make a point and other technological oddities
I’ve had a cell phone for years now, but every so often I still listen for a dial tone before punching in the number I’m calling.
I know, it’s crazy, but I still do it.
Everyone knows that you punch in the number and then hit the Call button to initiate cell phone call. There is no dial tone, as there is with landline phones.
But old habits die hard. It’s what we all do with landline phones, after all.
Take slamming down a phone in anger to make a clear point that the telephone conversation has been terminated. You can’t do that with a cell phone or you’d end up with a bunch of bits and pieces.
Cell phone manufacturers should make a slam-the-phone-down function. You hit a button on your cell phone and the person on the other end hears a loud click and the call is then terminated.
However, I must say, the idea of ending a cell phone call and imagining the person on the other end continuing the conversation even though you’re not listening anymore is a bit fun, too.
Here’s another thing that I blame on technology for making me look silly. When I was working and after a particularly long day, I would – wait for it – hit the unlock button on my car alarm fob in an attempt to gain entry into my apartment. Yep, I tried to unlock my apartment door by unlocking my vehicle door.
I’m not proud, but it is the level to which technology has reduced me.
Posted in Uncategorized
Tagged car alarm fob, cell phone, dial tone, technology, telephone conversation
Coffeehouse observation No. 154
I was sitting in Exotic Java and a guy came in wearing shoes with Velcro and he wasn’t a toddler or 65 or older. Is that legal in California?!
Go to Coffeehouse Observer for more coffeehouse observations.
Posted in Coffeehouse Observer
Tagged barista, brew, caffeinated, caffeine, coffee, coffeehouse, coffeehouse observation, Coffeehouse Observer, cup o’ joe, espresso, exotic java, java, joe, pastries, tea, Velcro
Coffeehouse observation No. 153
I have no intentions of messing with the barista who just served me a Red Eye. She has a tattoo of Dirty Harry on one bicep and a skull in tophat on the other. She may be the toughest 90-lb. woman I have seen in quite a while.
Go to Coffeehouse Observer for more coffeehouse observations.
Posted in Coffeehouse Observer
Tagged barista, brew, caffeinated, caffeine, Clint Eastwood, coffee, coffeehouse, coffeehouse observation, Coffeehouse Observer, cup o’ joe, Dirty Harry, espresso, exotic java, java, joe, pastries, Red Eye, skull in tophat, tattoo, tea
Auburn doctors return from Haiti | Lewiston Sun Journal
Dr. Michael Regan met the girl — 14 years old, bright-eyed and sweet — in a hospital tent filled with flies and patients. Her lower leg had been crushed during Haiti’s January earthquake. She’d received treatment afterward, but in the nonsterile medical facility an infection had set in. Regan changed the pins in her leg, cleaned out the infection, gave her antibiotics. In the United States she could have had surgery in a state-of-the-art facility and would have been fine.
Not in Haiti. Regan predicted her leg will have to be amputated within a year. And there’s nothing the Auburn orthopedic surgeon could do for her — or for so many others in the very same tent.
“Oh, God, I can remember them all. There were so many of them. I’m a softy for kids, though,” he said. “I would have taken that kid in a heartbeat. If I could have found a way to get her here, she would be here.”
Regan returned from a stint in Haiti in March, one of three doctors with Central Maine Orthopaedics in Auburn to go. The doctors — Regan, Jeffrey Bush and David Brown — each spent a week in the impoverished country, taking turns away from their orthopedic practice this spring so while one was in Haiti two others could cover patients in Auburn.
Click on the link for the rest of today’s story by Lindsay Tice in the Lewiston Sun Journal.
Mainers in Afghanistan Mainers in Afghanistan | Portland Press Herald/Maine Sunday Telegram
Posted in Maine, Politics and government
Tagged Afghanistan, fighting, Maine, Mainers, Marines, soldiers, troops
Maine’s fallen: Iraq and Afghanistan | Portland Press Herald/Maine Sunday Telegram
Posted in Maine, Maine history, Politics and government
Tagged Afghanistan, Air Force, Army, fighting, Iraq, Marines, Navy, sailors, soldiers, troops
Coffeehouse observation No. 152
Is there an upper age limit for pieced lips? There is a woman at the next table – she’s wearing fashionable glasses that make her look like a teacher or HR specialist – and she has a loop in her pierced lower lip. I’m terrible at guessing ages, but she has to be in her late 20s to mid-30s. Should she be thinking of getting rid of that thing? And would the hole heal?
Go to Coffeehouse Observer for more coffeehouse observations.
Posted in Coffeehouse Observer
Tagged barista, brew, caffeinated, caffeine, coffee, coffeehouse, coffeehouse observation, Coffeehouse Observer, cup o’ joe, espresso, java, joe, pastries, pierced lip, piercings, tea
Coffeehouse observation No. 151
This is for my newspaper and graphic designer friends. There’s a guy sitting in the coffeehouse wearing a Fresno State Graphic Design Club T-shirt. And on the back it reads: “We dream RGB. We bleed CMYK.” Only graphic designers and the people who love ’em will get it and grin to themselves. And photographers, too, I suspect.
Go to Coffeehouse Observer for more coffeehouse observations.
Posted in Coffeehouse Observer
Tagged barista, brew, caffeinated, caffeine, CMYK, coffee, coffeehouse, coffeehouse observation, Coffeehouse Observer, cup o’ joe, espresso, graphic designers, java, joe, pastries, RGB, tea
Maine stuff in my California apartment No. 3
Several books from my small library on the American Civila War. These books center around Joshua Chamberlain, scholar, warrior, hero, and politician.
This is an occasional multipart series of photos of things related to Maine that can be found in my California apartment. Today’s photo is of a few books in my small library on the American Civil War.
The first set is a series of books related to Joshua Chamberlain, a Bowdoin College professor, who joined the troops from Maine going off to fight in the Civil War.
He was given a leadership role in the 20th Maine Infantry Regiment and later, despite having no education in military strategies, became a highly respected and honored officer. He fought gallantly at Gettysburg, leading a bayonet charge in protection of Little Round Top Mountain, was severely wounded several times throughout the war, received the Medal of Honor, selected to accept Robert E. Lee’s surrender at Appomattox, served four one-year terms as Maine’s governor, and eventually died several decades after the war’s end from complications caused by war wounds.
These are three fictional novels from my small library on the American Civil War. They were written by Michael Shaara and his son, Jeffrey Shaara. "The Killer Angels" won the 1975 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction and was made into a movie, as was "Gods and Generals."
The second photo is also related to Chamberlain, but it is a trilogy of fiction. The first, “The Killer Angel,” was written by Michael Shaara and won the 1975 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction. It was made into the 1993 movie “Gettysburg,” with Jeff Daniels starring as Chamberlain. Shaara’s son, Jeffrey, added the prequel, “Gods and Generals” and a sequel, “The Last Full Measure.” “Gods and Generals” also was made into a film and Daniels stared as Chamberlain in that as well.
In “Gettysburg,” besides Daniels, the cast included Martin Sheen (Robert E. Lee), Tom Berenger (Lt. Gen. James Longstreet), documentary film maker Ken Burns (general’s aide), Sam Elliott (Brig. Gen. John Buford), Stephen Lang (Maj. Gen. George E. Pickett), and a bunch of other actors.
In “God and Generals,” the cast included Robert Duvall (replacing Sheen as Lee) media mogul Ted Turner (Col. Tazewell Patton), Bruce Boxleitner (replacing Berenger as Longstreet), C. Thomas Howell (Thomas Chamberlain), and Kevin Conway (Sgt. Buster Kilrain), and a bunch of other actors
This is an occasional multipart series of photos of things related to Maine that can be found in Keith Michaud’s California apartment. Keith Michaud shot today’s photos.
Posted in Maine history, Maine stuff, Photos
Tagged 20th Maine Infantry Regiment, American Civil War, apartment, “Gods and Generals”, “The Killer Angel”, “The Last Full Measure”, belongings, Bowdoin College, California, Jeff Daniels, Jeffrey Shaara, Joshua Chamberlain, Maine, Mainer, Medal of Honor, Michael Shaara, multipart series, photos, Pulitzer Prize for Fiction, Robert E. Lee
NWS says tornados touched down in Vt. and Maine | Bangor Daily News
Posted in Disaster, Environment, Outdoors
Tagged Maine, National Weather Service, New Hampshire, New York, South Paris, super-cell thunderstorm, thunderstorm, tornados, Vermont
Letters From Away 