Where in the world is Ben? Edmonton, Canada

Ah, Canada in the summertime!  Green trees abound and not a snowflake to be seen.  Come back in a few months, however, and Edmonton can be MINUS 40 DEGREES (Fahrenheit or Celsius, take your pick).  On a short trip recently to the University of Alberta, it was on the positive side of the temperature scale and very pleasant.  The trick will be to return after the start of hockey season but before the snow hits!

And one more thing — FOOTBALL IS BACK!!!

Are you ready for some FOOTBALL?

Where in the world is Ben? Part 2: Spain

Yes, this was my actual hotel.  Barcelona?  No.  Madrid?  Nope.  I was in the beautiful port city of Vigo, a city of about 300,000 located not too far from the edge of Portugal and built apparently on the side of a mountain rising up from the shoreline.  It’s a good thing I kept in Lehigh-walking shape (look it up, frosh), because every place we walked seemed to be straight up the steep streets.  I was here on business, on the company dime, so no chance to hop on one of the frequent European cruise ships that dock here and sail away, but it was interesting to tour through the city with my colleagues from Mumbai in search of the only Indian restaurant in Vigo.  It was a great three days — fresh fish, a cool sea breeze, you just can’t beat it.  Want to learn more?  (Of course you do.)  Here you go: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vigo 

Where in the world is Ben? Part 1: Switzerland

Zürich, a strangely odd city, yet one of my favorites.  On one hand, you have the clockwork-precision trains, the high-finance banks, the hugely expensive jewelry shops with watches that cost more than my house.  On the other hand, you have the mix of Swiss, British and Spanish pubs, the hotels with kegs offering free Swiss apple juice, the posters advertising all sorts of rock concerts.  Ah, but I will not be back any time soon as I have transferred responsibility for our partnership with a Swiss actives company to one of my colleagues, so for now, I will have to get my fondue fix elsewhere.

Where in the world is Ben? The UK

Big Ben, of course

A week-long trip to England brought me to three cities — London, Leeds and Manchester.  London was great, as always — I stayed in a cool boutique hotel (Hotel Indigo — look it up) near Paddington Station, surrounded by great pubs and restaurants, and only a few blocks’ walk from Hyde Park and Buckingham Palace.  Next up was Leeds, a nondescript town about 4 hours north of London, and then on to Manchester (home of Man U), a gritty urban city if there ever was one, before heading home.  The English are a great people; they are kind and generous, and quite helpful in recommending just the right beers to try.  Unusually for me, my colleague and I DROVE the entire trip, forsaking the Tube, trains and taxis due to the large distances between our appointments, and it was lucky for me that I wasn’t the one behind the wheel trying to stay on the “wrong” side of the road.  Ah, well, nobody was hurt in the making of this trip, and therefore — except for the excruciating 5-hour delay flying home due to the tremendous storms in NJ, and the embarrassment of shopping for “Will and Kate” souvenirs for my girls – it was another fantastic visit across the pond.

Where in the world is Ben? Las Vegas

The Strip

Las Vegas — what an odd place.  I was there for a business/scientific conference and after the technical presentations and lectures I certainly enjoyed the food, gambling and street performers, but no shows this time.  Celebrity sightings included Tori Spelling (at least I think it was her), somebody who was the absolute spitting image of Michael Jackson, and all the Elvises you care to imagine.  The light and water show at the Bellagio was visible from my hotel window at Bally’s; that was fun to watch.  And just prior to the conference, I spent a day with two of my favorite people, Bruce and Dania, eating a lot of ice cream and watching them clean up at the roulette tables.  But on the OTHER hand, Vegas seemed to be strangely lifeless, full of tourists, beggars, escort-service rustlers, itinerant musicians of dubious talent and more concrete than I expected, and it was NOT cheap.  On the list of vacation spots, I would rate it a 4 and as a business destination a solid 5, but despite all of the thousands of people milling about shoulder to shoulder, it struck me as a lonely place.

And awa-a-a-a-y we go!

For the past two years, my job has taken me around the world to countries near and far, and yet the only commentaries I’ve posted have been connected to our great town of Verona.  Well, the ether is just too big a place for that, so I hereby inaugurate a new category for this blog — World Travel.  Coming up, observations on my recent trip to Las Vegas, with comments on trips to England and Switzerland later this summer.  However, don’t be upset, dear readers — now that our town has elected three new town council members and the budget battle for 2011 rages on, there will be plenty of comments, insights and (yes) criticism on Verona topics.  How sweet it is!

And the race is on! (Just not with me…)

Make sure to follow www.myveronanj.com for details of the upcoming race for the open Verona Town Council seats.  The first update is here:

http://www.myveronanj.com/2011/03/15/eight-file-to-run-for-town-council/

I ran for Council two years ago on a platform of honest, open and transparent government, one that responds to the needs of the people and tackles the issues of the day and beyond.  This didn’t seem so important to our township residents in 2009 but became critically important in 2010, and remains so today. 

I wish all eight candidates the best of luck, and here’s to a HIGH voter turnout on election day!

In the category of “People don’t think”…

"My" fire hydrant on Fairview Avenue

 

It boggles my mind that despite every thought of common sense, people still do not shovel out the fire hydrants in front of their houses after a big storm.  If I was a neighbor, I would want that hydrant cleared so that if there was a fire, the firemen could get to it, and I would certainly go up to my neighbor’s house and ask him to do it (or even help him do it), but if the hydrant is in front of YOUR house, wouldn’t that be the first thing you would do?

 

And yes, I have a hydrant right in front of my house and yes, it is COMPLETELY cleared away (i.e., access from both the street side and the sidewalk side).  It was a pain to do, with solid slush and snow over 3 feet high from the town plows coming by so often, but sheesh, it really was one of the first things we did.

And the Verona town council chickens out

As you’ve all read by now, the Verona town council has decided to leave the seat of departed council member Ken McKenna vacant until the next election in May 2011, rather than filling the seat now with an appointed candidate.  To be charitable, I should say that the council “took the easy way out”, but unfortunately I cannot be that kind — the council has failed to live up to their duty as representatives of the people and have ignored the residents’ calls to action, and the council members deserve to be chastised for their inability to consider what is best for the PEOPLE, not the council itself.  They are more concerned about the potential advantage/disadvantage an appointed candidate may have in the May elections (assuming that person even decides to run) rather than the issues facing Verona here and now.  Here is the full text of a statement I provided to www.myveronanj.com after I was asked for my comments:

“I am very, very disappointed in the Verona town council’s decision tonight to keep the open council seat vacant until May, a period of about 8 months.  While I respect and appreciate their explanations, I completely disagree with their conclusions and their consensus on this issue.
 
“If the members of the Verona council felt that electing (rather than appointing) a person to this position was the critical and deciding factor, then they ALL failed in their obligation to urge departing council member Ken McKenna to submit his written resignation in time to put this position on the November 2010 ballot.  Mr. McKenna, as you know, publicly announced on August 16th his intention to resign from the council, but failed to submit his written paperwork until several weeks later, after the September 1st deadline had passed to place his seat on the November ballot. (Contrast that to the councilman in Cedar Grove, who recently announced his resignation from the council and THE SAME DAY handed in his paperwork, according to the Verona Cedar Grove Times.)  The reason for Mr. McKenna’s delay has never been made public, but that is irrelevant; the point is that a person could have been elected to this open seat in November 2010, only a few weeks from now, and would have satisfied the public’s need for a full council and the council members’ belief that elections are critically important.
 
“Apparently the council members felt that the council can run just as well with four members as with five.  However, you’ll note that councilman Sapienza could not attend tonight’s meeting due to emergency oral surgery — this left the council with the minimum for a quorum, three people.  If one other council member happened to be away on business or otherwise unable to attend the council meeting, the meeting would have been forced to be cancelled.  This would not have been a service to the community, and is distressing to me.
 
“Full disclosure: I was one of the residents who submitted a letter of interest for the vacant council seat, and I am also a former candidate who ran, unsuccessfully, in the May 2009 council election.  Three of my four campaign issues in 2009 were (a) the need for a more open and accessible town council, (b) the need for greater fiscal responsibility and (c) the need for more clarity regarding the revaluation — these are all issues that mattered then, and still matter today, to the residents of Verona.  Whether or not I personally would have been appointed by the council or elected by the public this November is not important — there are many other citizens with similar concerns and a desire to contribute to a better Verona — but leaving the council seat open is certainly NOT the way to improve this community.”