Originally uploaded by lawriekim
This is Amazing! I randomly found a picture from 1988 from my High School's Junior Prom. Absolutely incredible!!
July 11, 2008
Random New Hampshire Picture Of The Week #6
Originally uploaded by lawriekim
This is Amazing! I randomly found a picture from 1988 from my High School's Junior Prom. Absolutely incredible!!
July 6, 2008
Fireworks!!!
The leader in NH fireworks is Atlas PyroVision Productions. They supply all of the fireworks displays for Boston, NYC, Washington D.C. and annually hold a fireworks display in their hometown of Jaffery, NH as part of the Jaffery Festival of Fireworks. This is the 19th-year of the festival which is being held on Aug 16th at the Jaffery Airport in Jaffery, NH (For More Info). I went one year and it is spectacular, the company goes all out with syncing the show to music and it's as big as any major city, plus they usually test out new firworks so you could see things that you've never seen before.
A partial list of 'official' fireworks events can be found here. So there are plenty of ways to see how NH celebrates the art of explosions throughout the year and not just on America's birthday.
July 4, 2008
July 2, 2008
Public Radio: Not Just Garrison Keillor
July 1, 2008
NH Travel To-Do of the Month - Red, Red, Wine!
So one of the main problems I've had with writing this blog is the fact that I'm writing it as if I were still in NH and I'm not trying to be a promoter of New Hampshire in the sense that I want people to go there. I do want to raise the awareness of New Hampshire but do it in a passive kind of way. With that said here's another cool monthly piece that will focus on a travel aspect of NH.
This Month it's all about the wines! NH has some hidden gems and wine is always one of those products that people hold in high regard and only buy quote 'the good stuff'. Well let me throw this at you...
Jewell Towne Vineyards. Check it out and check out it's medal list here. That is just the first of the wineries that was featured but if you venture to the State's VisitNH.gov site you'll see there are three distinct regions in New Hampshire for wine.
The Seacoast Region (top suggested wineries by visitnh.gov) - Flaghill Winery in Lee, Jewell Towne which is in South Hampton and Zorvino in Sandown which actually has locally grown and imported grapes to make their wines.
The Merrimack Valley - Candia Vineyards, which specializes in fine wine and was "...NH’s only Diamond, Frontenac, LaCrosse, Noiret and LaCrescent wines, they were N.E.’s #1 most awarded vineyard at the Eastern States wine competition".
The Monadnock Valley - LaBelle Winery, this winery uses assorted fruits to present it's variations of wine.
None of these are distinctly close to eachother it's not a set up like the Finger Lakes Region or the Napa Valley Region but you could certainly complete a New Hampshire wine tour in one weekend. For more detailed info and maps check out the wineries websites.
June 27, 2008
June 25, 2008
Summer Means Baseball
I was watching the final of the College World Series and thinking about my baseball days during the summer. They're long and over but I loved playing the game, those 6pm start times where we'd just race the daylight to finish it up. Then there were the nighttime playoff games in Newmarket against our rivals, they were hotter than the temperature. Since moving away for college I haven't thought much about those days, briefly I had an idea to start up a website to keep the stats for the 16-18 year old league but that never materialized. Tonight I made it a point to try and find that Babe Ruth league and see what ever happened to those days. Here's what I found...
That page told me that New Hampshire Babe Ruth Baseball has moved so when I go where there tell me to this is what I find...
If you can't see either of those you can here and here.
Now you can see that neither site actually provides any information and actually one of them is completely void of ownership.
To me this is a travesty and in the days of the digital age not even having a website with a schedule up or a form to sign up seems absurd! Here's what I'm proposing... I know a few designer people and I know some people that might get to read this knows a few people too maybe even in the New Hampshire area. I call on anyone to email the commissioner, email here, and find out what the heck is going on and offer up some gratis service for just getting a site up so some of us alumni can follow along if ever we needed to (or ever had a blog that needed info). Even a Wordpress thing that feeds the site with content and a laymen person can update.
*I'll update when I either hear back from he commissioner or someone emails me about a site idea)
That page told me that New Hampshire Babe Ruth Baseball has moved so when I go where there tell me to this is what I find...
If you can't see either of those you can here and here.
Now you can see that neither site actually provides any information and actually one of them is completely void of ownership.
To me this is a travesty and in the days of the digital age not even having a website with a schedule up or a form to sign up seems absurd! Here's what I'm proposing... I know a few designer people and I know some people that might get to read this knows a few people too maybe even in the New Hampshire area. I call on anyone to email the commissioner, email here, and find out what the heck is going on and offer up some gratis service for just getting a site up so some of us alumni can follow along if ever we needed to (or ever had a blog that needed info). Even a Wordpress thing that feeds the site with content and a laymen person can update.
*I'll update when I either hear back from he commissioner or someone emails me about a site idea)
June 21, 2008
I Knew It Would Happen...
I got through almost an entire week with keeping it strictly New Hampshire related. This though is where I lose my credibility. Bear with me as I make the connections throughout this string of consciousness. Last night I saw one of the best live bands if not the best live band currently making relevant music, My Morning Jacket. These guys wail in every aspect, the vocals, the guitar, the drums, the bass, you can really find yourself tuning into each element during the show, true entertainers. If you want to check them out here is a set-list I put together from last nights show, I'm pretty sure all the songs are there, you can see by it's length that the show went on for 2:45 about with them taking a quick 5-10 minute break right after Touch Me I'm Going To Scream Pt. 2.
Here's a video of one of the songs... view it quick cause it might get taken down soon.
Now one of the things that made the show so great was the venue. Radio City is by far the best indoor venue I have ever seen a show at. The acoustics are unbelievable and the sound just flows rather than feeling forced out. So here's where I make the connection, in all my years of living in NH I didn't actually see many shows within the state, NH isn't really a state that bands are going to route tours through and there is a serious lack of venue outside of the big box arenas, like Manchester's Verizon Wireless Arena. Taking these out of the equation because frankly they don't offer too much in terms of a unique experience, that isn't to say they aren't good to see a show, because the bands you're going to see there know how to handle a venue like that and can put on a great show. Ok so onto to the kind of live music experience you're looking for in NH here is how I see it.
I'll preface quickly by saying I haven't been to many of these venues but if I were a booking agent these are the places I'd be looking at to give my band the chance to create a unique experience for the fans.
Starting off with the larger rooms because they're a little easier to quantify and package into a digestible opinion.
The Hampton Beach Casino Ballroom - Half of this venues appeal is it's location, sitting right on the Hampton Beach boardwalk for all sun bathers to see. The marquee just right out over the road so it'd be hard to miss who's paying. I've never even been indside the place but I know given everything around it it's an ideal place to play a show, friends I spoken with say that a show there is pretty good sound and lighting wise which makes it a total win for a band to rock out.
I already mentioned the Verizon Wireless Arena and unless you a big enough band to play there I'd steer clear of playing that size room. One really large venue that gives a pretty unique and fun experience is the Meadowbrook Pavilion. It's a really big place set right on a lake, there is the potential for two stages and so festivals could set up there and make sure the small bands get a crowd along with the big boys without feeling intimidated by the size of the large stage. These outdoor venues usually make for a great music experience.
The other kind of cool venue is when Red Hook has shows at their brewery in Portsmouth. They usually bring a different kind of concert strictly because it is a special occurance. The last one I heard was they had George Clinton and the P-Funk All-Stars, now that would be a different type of show. Plus I haven't even mentioned the best part, there is plenty of beer around to really 'enhance' the show.
Those are three large venues in NH, now here are three small venues that I've heard good things about or been to a show and liked what I heard.
The Dover Brick House - I always heard good things about this place, Dover is a city full of current and former UNH students so there will always be a crowd ready to rock if you can get them to the show. From what I''ve heard it's a pretty standard pub set up.
The Red Door - I've heard a couple people gush about seeing music here. It's a much more intimate setting, more catering to the singer/songwriter than the bar band. That difference in feel makes can translate into something really special if you're there.
The Sad Cafe - This is the place I'm most familiar with. I remember when it first opened and I have been there so many times. I had friends work there and bands names are still on the wall somewhere there (I hope they still do that). This place wanted to be the afterschool hangout for all the surrounding schools but it would always get a bad rap because there were strict no dancing during music (mosh pitting) mostly, and if you think about it most high school bands are trying to be the next metallica and not the next jack johnson so that became a problem from the early on. There are a couple of issues with the room that I've always had, the setup is kind of weird with the stage against the side wall and not against one of the end walls, it's just a personal preference. They've done some really cool stuff with recording all the sets live and then let the bands use that to sell at the next show.
So maybe it wasn't so obscure to start off the post about My Morning Jacket and find a way to tie in NH. If you're in the area and want to take in some music check out one of these venues, I can't guarentee the quality of music but I will do my best with my monthly music playlist to find those bands worth checking out.
Here's a video of one of the songs... view it quick cause it might get taken down soon.
Now one of the things that made the show so great was the venue. Radio City is by far the best indoor venue I have ever seen a show at. The acoustics are unbelievable and the sound just flows rather than feeling forced out. So here's where I make the connection, in all my years of living in NH I didn't actually see many shows within the state, NH isn't really a state that bands are going to route tours through and there is a serious lack of venue outside of the big box arenas, like Manchester's Verizon Wireless Arena. Taking these out of the equation because frankly they don't offer too much in terms of a unique experience, that isn't to say they aren't good to see a show, because the bands you're going to see there know how to handle a venue like that and can put on a great show. Ok so onto to the kind of live music experience you're looking for in NH here is how I see it.
I'll preface quickly by saying I haven't been to many of these venues but if I were a booking agent these are the places I'd be looking at to give my band the chance to create a unique experience for the fans.
Starting off with the larger rooms because they're a little easier to quantify and package into a digestible opinion.
The Hampton Beach Casino Ballroom - Half of this venues appeal is it's location, sitting right on the Hampton Beach boardwalk for all sun bathers to see. The marquee just right out over the road so it'd be hard to miss who's paying. I've never even been indside the place but I know given everything around it it's an ideal place to play a show, friends I spoken with say that a show there is pretty good sound and lighting wise which makes it a total win for a band to rock out.
I already mentioned the Verizon Wireless Arena and unless you a big enough band to play there I'd steer clear of playing that size room. One really large venue that gives a pretty unique and fun experience is the Meadowbrook Pavilion. It's a really big place set right on a lake, there is the potential for two stages and so festivals could set up there and make sure the small bands get a crowd along with the big boys without feeling intimidated by the size of the large stage. These outdoor venues usually make for a great music experience.
The other kind of cool venue is when Red Hook has shows at their brewery in Portsmouth. They usually bring a different kind of concert strictly because it is a special occurance. The last one I heard was they had George Clinton and the P-Funk All-Stars, now that would be a different type of show. Plus I haven't even mentioned the best part, there is plenty of beer around to really 'enhance' the show.
Those are three large venues in NH, now here are three small venues that I've heard good things about or been to a show and liked what I heard.
The Dover Brick House - I always heard good things about this place, Dover is a city full of current and former UNH students so there will always be a crowd ready to rock if you can get them to the show. From what I''ve heard it's a pretty standard pub set up.
The Red Door - I've heard a couple people gush about seeing music here. It's a much more intimate setting, more catering to the singer/songwriter than the bar band. That difference in feel makes can translate into something really special if you're there.
The Sad Cafe - This is the place I'm most familiar with. I remember when it first opened and I have been there so many times. I had friends work there and bands names are still on the wall somewhere there (I hope they still do that). This place wanted to be the afterschool hangout for all the surrounding schools but it would always get a bad rap because there were strict no dancing during music (mosh pitting) mostly, and if you think about it most high school bands are trying to be the next metallica and not the next jack johnson so that became a problem from the early on. There are a couple of issues with the room that I've always had, the setup is kind of weird with the stage against the side wall and not against one of the end walls, it's just a personal preference. They've done some really cool stuff with recording all the sets live and then let the bands use that to sell at the next show.
So maybe it wasn't so obscure to start off the post about My Morning Jacket and find a way to tie in NH. If you're in the area and want to take in some music check out one of these venues, I can't guarentee the quality of music but I will do my best with my monthly music playlist to find those bands worth checking out.
June 20, 2008
Random New Hampshire Picture Of The Week #3
Originally uploaded by Mitt Romney
So I just went to page 13 of Flickr and all i saw was Mitt Romney. This is not an endorsement, I'm just a man of principle and said these were random so I guess I had to stay true to my word.
June 19, 2008
Music - Monthly New Hampshire Playlist
Starting a little recurring feature here. Each month I will feature a set of New Hampshire musicians that I find. I'll either find them on or upload them to imeem.com and post the playlist for the month in the post or over to the side so that you can come back and hear it whenever you want or you can grab it and post it on your site, that's the beauty of Web 2.0. So this months playlist comes from my earlier post about famous musicians who call NH home. If you go back to it (Where Do You Call Home? - A Call Out) you'll see the wikipedia page about famous people from the Granite State and one section is devoted to musicians. I love music so I thought I'd start this piece. So here is the first NH famous musician playlist (as you can tell it'll take me some time to gather up a full playlist so I'll definitely need the full month). I won't lie this playlist was made in order of pride. From top to bottom the artists I'm most proud to say came from my state.
Aerosmith makes the out of pure legacy, Ray Lamontagne goes second because if you've heard his voice you'll understand, the drummer from the Dresden Dolls is a respectable third. Here's where it starts to trail a bit. According to his wikipedia page Tom Rush was one of the few credited with starting the singer/songwriter genre which is amazing in and of itself however I hadn't ever heard of him before so I had to put him lower, Jon Spencer is a granite stater and I know I'm probably supposed to like them but I never really got into them so they go fifth. Black Sabbath is OK but really they aren't the same without Ozzy and unfortunately for Ronnie James Dio (the NHer) it's some pretty big shoes to fill: sixth on my list. The story of GG Allin is crazy and pretty long, the fact that I now know he's from NH I might have to devote an entire post to him but just know this, he allegedly committed suicide on stage in NYC. The Queers, not really familiar with them, I'm sure once being a fan of punk it's sacrilege to say I don't know this band or something but I just don't. Now we get into the real embarrassing stuff, Godsmack - ugh, Mandy Moore - yikes! Adam Sandler - We got into him enough but honestly the skit on here is terrific and if you have two minutes you should listen.
Aerosmith makes the out of pure legacy, Ray Lamontagne goes second because if you've heard his voice you'll understand, the drummer from the Dresden Dolls is a respectable third. Here's where it starts to trail a bit. According to his wikipedia page Tom Rush was one of the few credited with starting the singer/songwriter genre which is amazing in and of itself however I hadn't ever heard of him before so I had to put him lower, Jon Spencer is a granite stater and I know I'm probably supposed to like them but I never really got into them so they go fifth. Black Sabbath is OK but really they aren't the same without Ozzy and unfortunately for Ronnie James Dio (the NHer) it's some pretty big shoes to fill: sixth on my list. The story of GG Allin is crazy and pretty long, the fact that I now know he's from NH I might have to devote an entire post to him but just know this, he allegedly committed suicide on stage in NYC. The Queers, not really familiar with them, I'm sure once being a fan of punk it's sacrilege to say I don't know this band or something but I just don't. Now we get into the real embarrassing stuff, Godsmack - ugh, Mandy Moore - yikes! Adam Sandler - We got into him enough but honestly the skit on here is terrific and if you have two minutes you should listen.
June 18, 2008
Laconia Bike Week 2008
So I'm going to touch on a subject that I honestly don't know much about so saying that I'll probably not do it justice however lets give it a go. The one thing I know is that every summer growing up while mowing the lawn I would be interrupted by huge, loud roaring motors passing by on my road headed up north to Laconia for New Hampshire's Bike Week. Which is the longest running Bike Week in the country having started in 1916. This year marks officially the 85th Anniversary (seven years there wasn't a rally). The reason I'm going to talk about Bike Week though is because it really is the largest event that goes on in NH annually and it definitely deserves mention. As many as 420,000 bikers from all over the place decent on Laconia, NH (in 2000 the national census said it had 16,000+ residents). So really this city thrives on an event like this.
This years event got started off on a very sad note, earlier this week, on the first day of the celebration there was a deadly accident involving a biker headed north for Laconia. A full report on the story can be found here. This is in lieu of the festival expecting a much smaller crowd than normal due to rising gas prices and the slowing economy. NH's Union Leader has a full story on that here.
These negatives however should not deter interested people from attending the events b/c despite the current trend this is a spectacle worth witnessing whether you're into those size crowds or have a new bike to show off or just passing through. There isn't much else that I can say toward this so I'll just let the experts tell you what you may need to know...
http://www.laconiamcweek.com/
http://www.laconiabikeweek.net/
http://www.ride2rally.com/
Bike Week runs June 14-22. Here's a video of last years highlights.
This years event got started off on a very sad note, earlier this week, on the first day of the celebration there was a deadly accident involving a biker headed north for Laconia. A full report on the story can be found here. This is in lieu of the festival expecting a much smaller crowd than normal due to rising gas prices and the slowing economy. NH's Union Leader has a full story on that here.
These negatives however should not deter interested people from attending the events b/c despite the current trend this is a spectacle worth witnessing whether you're into those size crowds or have a new bike to show off or just passing through. There isn't much else that I can say toward this so I'll just let the experts tell you what you may need to know...
http://www.laconiamcweek.com/
http://www.laconiabikeweek.net/
http://www.ride2rally.com/
Bike Week runs June 14-22. Here's a video of last years highlights.
June 17, 2008
Whale Of A Tale In New Hampshire
Word On the street in New Hampshire is that this season is going to be a great year for whale watching off the coast of New Hampshire. The 13 miles of of NH's coast is the lowest out of any coastal state clocking in only 13 miles (full chart) but with those 13 miles there all all the options of the other states. One on the more popular options are whale watches. This season a number of reports are out that whale watches will (BOSTON CELTICS NBA CHAMPS!) be some of the best ever. The presences of more humpback whales in the water this year seems to be the reason everyone expects a better time. Here are some links to good reports and resources for when you're in the area...http://www.newhampshire.com/article.aspx?articleid=2048
http://www.granitestatewhalewatch.com/sightings-news.cfm
http://www.blueoceansociety.org/ww.htm
p.s. the picture is from Portsmouth, NH and a common meeting place for late nights.
New Hampshire Sales Tax
It's really really late and maybe thats why I just had to make this quick post but I was reading the one comment on my page and the commenter asked a question about New Hampshire's state sales tax which actually doesn't exist. I grew up in a state not having to pay extra for clothes or CDs or shaving cream or anything of those things. It's kinda like growing up on the internet (well until net-neutrality kicks in - that conversation is happening on another blog). Back to the question at hand and whether or not there still is a sales tax in NH, to find that answer out I googled it just to make sure and in the results lied this link on Urban Dictionary. All I thought was WOW, that is pretty amazing and if I ever found an appropriate way to use that it would be amazing (well not that I'd ever be in that situation, I'm just saying one of my friends maybe or well never mind...).
New Hampshire has no sales tax (the real law)!
New Hampshire has no sales tax (the real law)!
NH Business of The Month- Stonyfield Farm
Many yogurt lovers know this brand of yogurt it's the number four leading yogurt manufacturer in the country. I just found out they were from NH a few months ago. I was turned onto an initiative of theirs before I got to know the yogurt side. The initiative is Climate Counts which is a non-profit organization that holds businesses accountable for their ecological footprint. It calls to action investors who care about the environment to act with their money and not invest in companies that show little to no acknowledgment of their footprint (the rankings can be found here). Now again whichever side of the debate you're on you can acknowledge the fact that they are doing their homework with this and that they have set out to make a difference in a cause they truly believe in which is admirable.
Aside from Climate Counts.org the company is the #1 organic yogurt maker in the country and does it all within the state of NH. You can go check out their farm in Londonderry, NH (Tour information is here). They also give 10% of the profits to environmental causes and use only milk from New England and the Midwest.
I guess after gushing over this company for two paragraphs I can provide one more example to why this company is pretty cool. Earlier this year they had a mishap with their low-fat blueberry yogurt (full article). People were reporting glass fragments in their yogurt and actually the article is still showing up #3 on searches when you search 'Stonyfield Yogurt' but they were the ones that reacted going as far as a full investigation with the findings being revealed here two weeks after the first cases were announced.
So my unannounced celebratory post about a yogurt company may lead to frequent spotlights on cool companies based out of NH that I find or decide to learn more about. They might not all be on the extreme positive side.
June 16, 2008
Where Do You Call Home? - A Call Out
So for this blog I rely a lot on my friends and family from NH who are reading the papers and watching the news. My first little tidbit came from my mom who mentioned the fact that the University of New Hampshire received it's largest endowment to date earlier this month. Now this post might be a little bit of a stretch but it's something I've always wondered. Here is the basics of the story of the endowment coming from the Union Leader (Full Article)...
After reading it my immediate thought was who else who attended UNH could put up that kind of dough so upon extensive research (wikipedia) i found this list, on there you'll see one Hall-of-Fame baseball player (who didn't graduate from the school) a couple of pro-footballers, a few pro hockey players, two astronauts and two university presidents with a smattering of high-ranking government officials and a bunch of no-name entertainers. One name you don't see on there that I grew up believing attended the school is Adam Sandler. A quick check of his wikipedia page tells me that he was born in Brooklyn and at five he moved to Manchester, NH and lived there all the way through high school, attending Manchester Central High School. He went on to graduate from NYU but the reason I bring him up is a hearsay story from my youth is that Adam Sandler briefly attended UNH and was kicked out very early on and he admitted this during a concert on the campus many years later. Here's where the story makes a big jump. The man who donated $25 million is proud to be from New Hampshire, proud to have made money and give it back to his home state. Here's a clip of Adam Sandler from June 4th showing where his allegiance lies (skip to 17:15 where the Sandler interview starts and wait for the question Conan asks about the basketball playoffs):
What you see in the clip is Conan trying to play to Sandler's supposed roots in New England but Sandler catches Conan off guard with the Knicks comment even going as far to say he grew up in NYC. When I saw this it just didn't sit well with me. As you can see we don't have that many famous representatives of the state and we need to keep as many as possible. Sandler is a nice man and a decent comedian and huge movie star he also has given back to the Boys and Girls Club of Manchester, NH but I'm just saying with the limited resources we have we need to bring to light the NH roots!
For a full list of famous New Hampshirites check out the Wikipedia page 'list of people from New Hampshire'
After reading it my immediate thought was who else who attended UNH could put up that kind of dough so upon extensive research (wikipedia) i found this list, on there you'll see one Hall-of-Fame baseball player (who didn't graduate from the school) a couple of pro-footballers, a few pro hockey players, two astronauts and two university presidents with a smattering of high-ranking government officials and a bunch of no-name entertainers. One name you don't see on there that I grew up believing attended the school is Adam Sandler. A quick check of his wikipedia page tells me that he was born in Brooklyn and at five he moved to Manchester, NH and lived there all the way through high school, attending Manchester Central High School. He went on to graduate from NYU but the reason I bring him up is a hearsay story from my youth is that Adam Sandler briefly attended UNH and was kicked out very early on and he admitted this during a concert on the campus many years later. Here's where the story makes a big jump. The man who donated $25 million is proud to be from New Hampshire, proud to have made money and give it back to his home state. Here's a clip of Adam Sandler from June 4th showing where his allegiance lies (skip to 17:15 where the Sandler interview starts and wait for the question Conan asks about the basketball playoffs):
What you see in the clip is Conan trying to play to Sandler's supposed roots in New England but Sandler catches Conan off guard with the Knicks comment even going as far to say he grew up in NYC. When I saw this it just didn't sit well with me. As you can see we don't have that many famous representatives of the state and we need to keep as many as possible. Sandler is a nice man and a decent comedian and huge movie star he also has given back to the Boys and Girls Club of Manchester, NH but I'm just saying with the limited resources we have we need to bring to light the NH roots!
For a full list of famous New Hampshirites check out the Wikipedia page 'list of people from New Hampshire'
June 13, 2008
Random New Hampshire Picture Of The Week #2
Originally uploaded by RockN
Portsmouth is my favorite town in New Hampshire, this is the harbor there.
June 6, 2008
Random New Hampshire Picture Of The Week
Originally uploaded by adamantine
I love randomly trolling through flickr to see what you can find and so I brought that idea to this blog in the form of a random NH picture each week. Here's the first entry
June 4, 2008
New Hampshire 2.0
Having not paid attention to the New Hampshire Web 2.0 community ever while living there it is very interesting to go back and see what the competition for the clicks of NH looks like. Here's what I've found.
Most of the New Hampshire blogs are about politics. I won't get into mine but I will say it was nice to know that there's a mix bag of them on either side of the coin. I've added most of those to the Blog Roll on the right hand column because those are the ones you'll probably find when you search New Hampshire on Google. But I can definitely say that there are a few that peaked my interest and are obviously well maintained.
http://www.politickernh.com: When I was home recently I saw the editor of this blog on the local Sunday morning talk show speaking to the political influence of NH in the upcoming election.
http://newhampshire.wordpress.com: Immediately peaked my interest because the title simply says 'Live Free Or Die" (the state motto for all those outside of NH). A very new site but the editor does their homework and has a very direct approach.
http://www.granitegrok.com/: Researches well, draws opinions based on facts and has been around for over two years.
http://www.bluehampshire.com/: Pretty standard blog that is upfront about it's agenda.
Something else I found interesting was that there are quite a few towns that have embraced the Web 2.0 blogosphere. The top result was Londonderry who's website: http://www.londonderrynh.net is extremely well maintained and full of so much info it's almost a little over whelming but if you live or are visiting Londonderry, NH you'll probably find anything you're looking for there. Other notable cities are of course the capital and fellow blogger user, Concord, NH (http://ourconcord.blogspot.com/) and Fremont, NH (http://nh.blcss.com/fremont.php) who actually has it's own YouTube channel (http://youtube.com/user/fremontr) where you can watch town meetings and other interesting (or not) events.
Then there are the sites that I would love to try and be more like... My favorite that I found Cow Hampshire (http://cowhampshire.blogharbor.com/blog). I once heard a story that not many years before I was born there were more cows in NH than there were people. I have no citations or fact to back that story up but a simple google search gives you this result:
'[Q] Aren't there more cows than people in NH? [A]No. You're thinking of Vermont, and the people population surpassed the bovine population sometime in the seventies. According to the 1990 Census, about 1.1 Milion people live in NH.' Source - http://boulter.com/nh/
Anyway when I found Cow Hampshire I though of that story. Cow Hampshire is mostly about the history and tradition of New Hampshire and maybe I'll end up referencing the site when I'm looking up that type of thing but for now it's just a good website that's different than any other you'll find on NH.
Most of the New Hampshire blogs are about politics. I won't get into mine but I will say it was nice to know that there's a mix bag of them on either side of the coin. I've added most of those to the Blog Roll on the right hand column because those are the ones you'll probably find when you search New Hampshire on Google. But I can definitely say that there are a few that peaked my interest and are obviously well maintained.
http://www.politickernh.com: When I was home recently I saw the editor of this blog on the local Sunday morning talk show speaking to the political influence of NH in the upcoming election.
http://newhampshire.wordpress.com: Immediately peaked my interest because the title simply says 'Live Free Or Die" (the state motto for all those outside of NH). A very new site but the editor does their homework and has a very direct approach.
http://www.granitegrok.com/: Researches well, draws opinions based on facts and has been around for over two years.
http://www.bluehampshire.com/: Pretty standard blog that is upfront about it's agenda.
Something else I found interesting was that there are quite a few towns that have embraced the Web 2.0 blogosphere. The top result was Londonderry who's website: http://www.londonderrynh.net is extremely well maintained and full of so much info it's almost a little over whelming but if you live or are visiting Londonderry, NH you'll probably find anything you're looking for there. Other notable cities are of course the capital and fellow blogger user, Concord, NH (http://ourconcord.blogspot.com/) and Fremont, NH (http://nh.blcss.com/fremont.php) who actually has it's own YouTube channel (http://youtube.com/user/fremontr) where you can watch town meetings and other interesting (or not) events.
Then there are the sites that I would love to try and be more like... My favorite that I found Cow Hampshire (http://cowhampshire.blogharbor.com/blog). I once heard a story that not many years before I was born there were more cows in NH than there were people. I have no citations or fact to back that story up but a simple google search gives you this result:
'[Q] Aren't there more cows than people in NH? [A]No. You're thinking of Vermont, and the people population surpassed the bovine population sometime in the seventies. According to the 1990 Census, about 1.1 Milion people live in NH.' Source - http://boulter.com/nh/
Anyway when I found Cow Hampshire I though of that story. Cow Hampshire is mostly about the history and tradition of New Hampshire and maybe I'll end up referencing the site when I'm looking up that type of thing but for now it's just a good website that's different than any other you'll find on NH.
June 3, 2008
New (s) Hampshire
For the initial post I went the standard research route: Google 'New Hampshire News' and see what comes up. The results were three familiar sites for any New Hampshire native, WMUR (Top TV News Channel), Union Leader (Top Newspaper), and the Concord Monitor (State Capital Newspaper) out of those top three 'reliable' source I wasn't willing to jump on any bandwagon with a news item. It's been beaten to death but the news is negative and sad (in both contexts, emotional and pathetic). Just look at these screen shots below and if you can't see the headlines I've linked you to them as well...
WMUR - Top News Stories This Morning
- Rocks Thrown At Cars On Spaulding Turnpike
- Two Bodies Found Inside Lempster Home
- Police Chief Charged With Violating Restraining Order
- Laconia Police: Handgun Stolen In Burglary
- Berlin Families Displaced By Fire
Unionleader - Top News Stories
- Paint-Splattered Man Pulls Off Bank Heist
- Nurse Jailed for Stealing Patient's Pain Pills
- The next three are repeated from WMUR
Concord Monitor - Top News Items
- Counsel Cuts nighttime use of fire engine
- Teachers may sue over health rebate
- Lawyer fined in parkway case
- Retirement deal still elusive
So I included all of those screen shots and link in order to show the negativity that was very present on Tuesday morning. I also include all of these because I intend to stay away from having this be a negative sounding blog because frankly there's too much of that going on. I want to focus on good solid topics like how great/ridiculous the state motto is 'Live Free Or Die' and perhaps debate one of the Onion's many options for changing it.
So with all that said this won't be a travel site, or a top news site or a 'best ways to get cheap liquor site' (NH is known in New England for it's state liquor stores on the side of the highway, thats the only way it gets there). I think this will be more about discovery of a state that I've lived in for over 20 years.
WMUR - Top News Stories This Morning
- Rocks Thrown At Cars On Spaulding Turnpike- Two Bodies Found Inside Lempster Home
- Police Chief Charged With Violating Restraining Order
- Laconia Police: Handgun Stolen In Burglary
- Berlin Families Displaced By Fire
Unionleader - Top News Stories
- Paint-Splattered Man Pulls Off Bank Heist - Nurse Jailed for Stealing Patient's Pain Pills
- The next three are repeated from WMUR
Concord Monitor - Top News Items
- Counsel Cuts nighttime use of fire engine- Teachers may sue over health rebate
- Lawyer fined in parkway case
- Retirement deal still elusive
So I included all of those screen shots and link in order to show the negativity that was very present on Tuesday morning. I also include all of these because I intend to stay away from having this be a negative sounding blog because frankly there's too much of that going on. I want to focus on good solid topics like how great/ridiculous the state motto is 'Live Free Or Die' and perhaps debate one of the Onion's many options for changing it.
So with all that said this won't be a travel site, or a top news site or a 'best ways to get cheap liquor site' (NH is known in New England for it's state liquor stores on the side of the highway, thats the only way it gets there). I think this will be more about discovery of a state that I've lived in for over 20 years.
January 14, 2008
'07 Best Of Music
** Editors Note** This post is a past post from late last year sometime. It has nothing to do with New Hampshire but I'm going to leave it up anyway. Two years ago I released a 'Best Of.." for the music of 2005. I took last year off due to laziness but this year I'm back but in a little smaller fashion. The beauty of this years list is that I can provide a playlist of all the tracks thanks to imeem.com. I'll start it off with that and then I'll add some other categories. Enjoy...
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