Jeff Herz - My view of the World

CUnet – Customer and Vendor Task Management

2012-01-31T22:31:00.000-05:00

JobTraQ case study on CUnet

Background:

CUnet delivers industry-leading technology, media, and marketing services to more than 1,000 colleges and higher education institutions across the US and Canada to help reach, recruit and enroll the right students. Driven by a commitment to technology leadership, regulatory compliance, and exceptional customer service, CUnet’s higher education experts partner with schools to improve marketing performance and deliver qualified inquiries that meet enrollment and retention goals. With over 8 years’ experience in overseeing online marketing initiatives, CUnet offers one of the most experienced teams of interactive marketers in the higher education space.

CUnet is a subsidiary of Nelnet which is one of the leading education and finance companies in the US. Nelnet provides quality student loan products and services to students, as well as a full range of student-lending services and technology-based products to schools nationwide. This includes student loan origination and lending, holding, student loan and guarantee servicing, and software solutions.

Nelnet (NYSE: NNI), based in Lincoln, Nebraska, ranks among the nation’s leaders in terms of total student loan assets under management with $26.3 billion in net student loan assets as of March 31, 2008.

Nelnet is well positioned to capitalize on industry growth. Its sophisticated technology and software products allow the company to service loans both internally and for third parties, which facilitates the company’s position as a preferred originator and holder of loans for schools and borrowers.

Business Need:

With CUnet managing campaigns for so many different colleges and institutions, processing and handling requests and changes to their information and requirements created an ongoing challenge. In an average week, CUnet receives more than 1,100 requests from 65 different clients. In addition, with numerous combinations of secondary vendors being engaged for fulfillment of campaigns for each client, the number of modifications to track grew exponentially. As this continued to scale, it was often difficult for the office managers to determine whether each vendor had made all of the required changes for every client request timely, or at all. CUnet utilized numerous copies of local spreadsheets to manage this process, which led to confusion about which was the most recent version and who was working on or managing which request. In addition, this process provided almost no visibility for management and no metrics by which to measure success or failure.

CUnet needed a solution that was easy to use, centralized, and would provide both a comprehensive view for the customer management and vendor management teams so they could both quickly see what tasks were requested and completed by the clients/vendors.

The Solution:

CUnet engaged JobTraQ’s Professional Services team to design a solution based on the JobTraQ Task Management System. The goals were an easy to use, consistent, and automated solution providing a unified account management system for two related organizations with distinct tracking needs. JobTraQ now manages the assignment of the appropriate internal and external resources automatically and simultaneously, and immediately notifies them of the steps required to complete customer requests when those requests are received. The JobTraQ system now makes these open requests highly visible, manageable and accountable. Utilizing this centralized solution, CUnet has subsequently able to implement and tightly integrate a relational matrix which allows JobTraQ to assign internal resources to manage specific Schools or clients as well as specific Vendors. The total solution now dynamically recognizes which Schools and Vendors are associated to a request and assigns the necessary tasks to the appropriate internal resources to ensure that the Customer or Vendor is interacting with the right people for all requests and increasing the strength of the relationship. JobTraQ core functionality is leveraged to manage each request from beginning to completion, and the solution dynamically creates follow up audit requests to ensure the Vendors are in compliance to the School’s requests.

Overall, user training and adoption has been successful, with existing associates taking 2 to 3 months to fully adopt the system and begin to realize the true value of JobTraQ. On average, new associates are able to acclimate and adapt within a week, as they have no previous experience to adjust from.

Results:

CUnet has been utilizing their JobTraQ solution for approximately one year, and today they have brought their vendor completion rate from under 70% to over 96% and are now completing more than 75% of their tasks in less than two days. JobTraQ has enabled CUnet to record metrics such as the number of tasks (both open and completed) per client or vendor, the time spent to complete tasks by different vendors and internal resources, and other measures of business value. The most valuable reports provided by this solution are those that display the overall throughput of the organization. By analyzing all of the data at once, CUnet is able to identify trends by team members, clients, and vendors that would have been impossible to understand prior to having the data aggregated into one system and each task systematically tracked through the entire workflow. In addition, utilizing JobTraQ and having a well-defined task management structure in place has allowed for the rapid addition of a new team into the business process which ensures that each vendor is compliant with and remains in compliance with the School’s requests and performance expectations. This in turn has created the opportunity for CUnet to expand the list of services provided to their customers. Jeff Herz, Director, Internal Operations, said “We are much more adaptable now, able to identify business problems and then build a process around that problem and automate it very quickly. Thanks to JobTraQ, the automation is probably now the fastest piece of that puzzle.”

About Swift Software:

Swift Software Inc is an innovative developer of Task Management Software for the Enterprise. JobTraQ, which is Swift Software’s flagship product, provides organizations of all kinds with the ability to quickly design, configure, and deploy effective, scalable, and extensible Task-Centric Business Process, Project, Program and Workflow Management Solutions.

For more information, please contact sales@JobTraQ.com

Video - "I Have A Dream" Marth Luther King Jr

2012-01-16T19:07:00.001-05:00

I Have A Dream - Martin Luther King Jr.

2012-01-13T14:27:00.000-05:00

I am happy to join with you today in what will go down in history as thegreatest demonstration for freedom in the history of our nation.

Five score years ago, a great American, in whose symbolic shadow we standtoday, signed the Emancipation Proclamation. This momentous decree came as agreat beacon light of hope to millions of Negro slaves who had been seared inthe flames of withering injustice. It came as a joyous daybreak to end the longnight of their captivity.

But one hundred years later, the Negro still is not free. One hundred yearslater, the life of the Negro is still sadly crippled by the manacles ofsegregation and the chains of discrimination. One hundred years later, theNegro lives on a lonely island of poverty in the midst of a vast ocean ofmaterial prosperity. One hundred years later, the Negro is still languishing inthe corners of American society and finds himself an exile in his own land. Sowe have come here today to dramatize a shameful condition.

In a sense we have come to our nation's capital to cash a check. When thearchitects of our republic wrote the magnificent words of the Constitution andthe Declaration of Independence, they were signing a promissory note to whichevery American was to fall heir. This note was a promise that all men, yes,black men as well as white men, would be guaranteed the unalienable rights oflife, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.

It is obvious today that America has defaulted on this promissory noteinsofar as her citizens of color are concerned. Instead of honoring this sacredobligation, America has given the Negro people a bad check, a check which hascome back marked "insufficient funds." But we refuse to believe that the bankof justice is bankrupt. We refuse to believe that there are insufficient fundsin the great vaults of opportunity of this nation. So we have come to cash thischeck — a check that will give us upon demand the riches of freedom andthe security of justice. We have also come to this hallowed spot to remindAmerica of the fierce urgency of now. This is no time to engage in the luxuryof cooling off or to take the tranquilizing drug of gradualism. Now is the timeto make real the promises of democracy. Now is the time to rise from the darkand desolate valley of segregation to the sunlit path of racial justice. Now isthe time to lift our nation from the quick sands of racial injustice to thesolid rock of brotherhood. Now is the time to make justice a reality for all ofGod's children.

It would be fatal for the nation to overlook the urgency of the moment. Thissweltering summer of the Negro's legitimate discontent will not pass untilthere is an invigorating autumn of freedom and equality. Nineteen sixty-threeis not an end, but a beginning. Those who hope that the Negro needed to blowoff steam and will now be content will have a rude awakening if the nationreturns to business as usual. There will be neither rest nor tranquility inAmerica until the Negro is granted his citizenship rights. The whirlwinds ofrevolt will continue to shake the foundations of our nation until the brightday of justice emerges.

But there is something that I must say to my people who stand on the warmthreshold which leads into the palace of justice. In the process of gaining ourrightful place we must not be guilty of wrongful deeds. Let us not seek tosatisfy our thirst for freedom by drinking from the cup of bitterness andhatred.

We must forever conduct our struggle on the high plane of dignity anddiscipline. We must not allow our creative protest to degenerate into physicalviolence. Again and again we must rise to the majestic heights of meetingphysical force with soul force. The marvelous new militancy which has engulfedthe Negro community must not lead us to a distrust of all white people, formany of our white brothers, as evidenced by their presence here today, havecome to realize that their destiny is tied up with our destiny. They have cometo realize that their freedom is inextricably bound to our freedom. We cannotwalk alone.

As we walk, we must make the pledge that we shall always march ahead. Wecannot turn back. There are those who are asking the devotees of civil rights,"When will you be satisfied?" We can never be satisfied as long as the Negro isthe victim of the unspeakable horrors of police brutality. We can never besatisfied, as long as our bodies, heavy with the fatigue of travel, cannot gainlodging in the motels of the highways and the hotels of the cities. We cannotbe satisfied as long as the Negro's basic mobility is from a smaller ghetto toa larger one. We can never be satisfied as long as our children are stripped oftheir selfhood and robbed of their dignity by signs stating "For Whites Only".We cannot be satisfied as long as a Negro in Mississippi cannot vote and aNegro in New York believes he has nothing for which to vote. No, no, we are notsatisfied, and we will not be satisfied until justice rolls down like watersand righteousness like a mighty stream.

I am not unmindful that some of you have come here out of great trials andtribulations. Some of you have come fresh from narrow jail cells. Some of youhave come from areas where your quest for freedom left you battered by thestorms of persecution and staggered by the winds of police brutality. You havebeen the veterans of creative suffering. Continue to work with the faith thatunearned suffering is redemptive.

Go back to Mississippi, go back to Alabama, go back to South Carolina, goback to Georgia, go back to Louisiana, go back to the slums and ghettos of ournorthern cities, knowing that somehow this situation can and will be changed.Let us not wallow in the valley of despair.

I say to you today, my friends, so even though we face the difficulties oftoday and tomorrow, I still have a dream. It is a dream deeply rooted in theAmerican dream.

I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the truemeaning of its creed: "We hold these truths to be self-evident: that all menare created equal."

I have a dream that one day on the red hills of Georgia the sons of formerslaves and the sons of former slave owners will be able to sit down together atthe table of brotherhood.

I have a dream that one day even the state of Mississippi, a statesweltering with the heat of injustice, sweltering with the heat of oppression,will be transformed into an oasis of freedom and justice.

I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nationwhere they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content oftheir character.

I have a dream today.

I have a dream that one day, down in Alabama, with its vicious racists, withits governor having his lips dripping with the words of interposition andnullification; one day right there in Alabama, little black boys and blackgirls will be able to join hands with little white boys and white girls assisters and brothers.

I have a dream today.

I have a dream that one day every valley shall be exalted, every hill andmountain shall be made low, the rough places will be made plain, and thecrooked places will be made straight, and the glory of the Lord shall berevealed, and all flesh shall see it together.

This is our hope. This is the faith that I go back to the South with. Withthis faith we will be able to hew out of the mountain of despair a stone ofhope. With this faith we will be able to transform the jangling discords of ournation into a beautiful symphony of brotherhood. With this faith we will beable to work together, to pray together, to struggle together, to go to jailtogether, to stand up for freedom together, knowing that we will be free oneday.

This will be the day when all of God's children will be able to sing with anew meaning, "My country, 'tis of thee, sweet land of liberty, of thee I sing.Land where my fathers died, land of the pilgrim's pride, from everymountainside, let freedom ring."

And if America is to be a great nation this must become true. So let freedomring from the prodigious hilltops of New Hampshire. Let freedom ring from themighty mountains of New York. Let freedom ring from the heightening Allegheniesof Pennsylvania!

Let freedom ring from the snowcapped Rockies of Colorado!

Let freedom ring from the curvaceous slopes of California!

But not only that; let freedom ring from Stone Mountain of Georgia!

Let freedom ring from Lookout Mountain of Tennessee!

Let freedom ring from every hill and molehill of Mississippi. From everymountainside, let freedom ring.

And when this happens, when we allow freedom to ring, when we let it ringfrom every village and every hamlet, from every state and every city, we willbe able to speed up that day when all of God's children, black men and whitemen, Jews and Gentiles, Protestants and Catholics, will be able to join handsand sing in the words of the old Negro spiritual, "Free at last! free at last!thank God Almighty, we are free at last!"

Source: http://www.usconstitution.net/dream.html

How not to Interview for a Job

2012-01-09T16:48:00.001-05:00

This is from a friend and I could not help but sharing

(not) Me: I noticed on your resume you have assisted with editingmanuscripts, can you walk me through your process of doing that?
Her: I didn’t actually edit anything, my boss did theediting and changes, I just looked over those changes.

(not) Me: What type of management style do you like best?
Her: What do you mean?

(not) Me: What qualities would you like your boss to have?
Her: Qualities like my boss at (previous job)

(not) Me: Ok, and what qualities are those?
Her: He’s a friend……………(long pause)……. But he still makesure my work gets done.

(not) Me: Tell me about a time you were on a team project and itfailed, what can you do next time to avoid that?
Her: Like I said, I was an English major, we don’t have“team” projects.

Her questions for (not) me: Tell me about the gym membership reimbursement and how doesthe parking garage reimbursement work.

She didn’t seem nervous and that’s what made the situationso weird.

Bring Trader Joe's to Stamford

2012-01-02T17:19:00.004-05:00

I am on a new crusade to bring Trader Joe's to the old Borders Book Store location on High Ridge Road in Stamford.

If you would like to see this store here, please click the like on the facebook page and tell us why you would like to see it here in Stamford.

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Bring-Trader-Joes-to-Borders-Location-in-Stamford/218778924870674

CUnet Team Adopts a Family

2011-12-23T15:47:00.001-05:00

By Kate Noontz - With the holidays fast approaching, CUnet’s Compliance Team (known as MOQC) sought a hands-on activity to give back for the holidays . In Lincoln, NE, where much of the team is based, there are several “Giving Trees” which have tags on them, with each tag showing a child’s age, gender, and a few items they would like for the holidays. This seemed like the perfect opportunity for the group to “adopt” a family in need and help make sure that a few deserving kids would have a reason to smile on Christmas Day. So we went ahead, chose a few of those tags and hung them on our own little Christmas tree.

We chose four trees, representing four kids: a 12 year old girl who wanted a jewelry making kit, board games, and a bath and lotion set, a 12 year old boy who wanted C.D.’s, hat and gloves, and a basketball, a little 4 year old boy who wanted a helicopter, blanket, and Pixar Cars, and a little 6 year old girl who wanted a Leapster, board games, and a back pack.

Jeff Herz, based in the Paramus NJ office, decided to tackle the younger children and their wish list with the help of his family, and the rest of the MOQC team in Lincoln took the two older children. After pooling our donations together we set off to buy our gifts. We trolled the toy aisles and were able to find everything on their list, and even more! We took our gifts to the office and when Jeff’s gifts arrived we picked up all the bags and toys and carried them back to the Giving Tree.

We were all in high spirits after our adventures and glad to be able to give back to children who may have not had gifts for the holidays. We are excited to participate with this charity next year!

Happy Holidays! From CUnet

CUnet MOQC Compliance Team Adopts a Family

The Dash

2011-12-11T17:18:00.001-05:00

Nancy went to a funeral today and this poem was read. She came home and read it to me, and I think it is worth remembering what you do with your dash is what is important

The Dash - by Linda Ellis

I read of a man who stood to speak
At the funeral of a friend.
He referred to the dates on her tombstone
From the beginning to the end.

He noted that first came the date of her birth
And spoke of the following date with tears,
But he said what mattered most of all
Was the dash between those years.

For that dash represents all the time
That she spent alive on earth
And now only those who loved her
Know what that little line is worth.

For it matters not, how much we own,
The cars, the house, the cash,
What matters is how we live and love
And how we spend our dash.

So think about this long and hard;
Are there things you’d like to change?
For you never know how much time is left
That can still be rearranged.

If we could just slow down enough
To consider what’s true and real
And always try to understand
The way other people feel.

And be less quick to anger
And show appreciation more
And love the people in our lives
Like we’ve never loved before.

If we treat each other with respect
And more often wear a smile,
Remembering that this special dash
Might only last a little while.

So when your eulogy is being read
With your life’s actions to rehash
Would you be proud of the things they say
About how you spent your dash?

Letter to Stamford Advocate: November 6, 2011

2011-11-06T21:48:00.001-05:00

Dear Advocate:

I was appalled when I received a call from the city of Stamford on Saturday afternoon. I naturally assumed it was a message from the mayor or the schools or something else of general public interest. It was in fact a political robocall promoting the board of finance candidates Tarzia, Kolenberg and Reeder. The message asked me to vote for this slate of candidates and made it appear as if the city wanted me to vote for these candidates.

As this robocall came from the City of Stamford I would assume a city employee had to approve this activity to use the city's assets and resources which were being used for inappropriate (political) purposes. The city now has a responsibility to find out who approved this action and determine what costs were incurred so that reprimands can be handed out and all costs are reimbursed by the (ir)responsible campaigns.

Finally, you would think two candidates who have spent a significant portion of their time in front of the Board of Ethics over the past two years would avoid any hint of impropriety before the election. However, getting elected at any cost would appear to be more important to Tarzia, Kolenberg and Reeder, rather than following the rules. How can we expect them to be the watchdogs of our community, when they are already misappropriating city resources before they are even elected?

Jeff Herz
47 Cascade Court
Stamford, CT 06903
(917) 913 5019 (cell)
LinkedIN: http://www.linkedin.com/in/jeffherz

Letter to Delta Airlines - Regarding Travel on July 31, 2011

2011-08-02T18:46:00.003-04:00

On July 31, I received a call from Delta at 1:36 pm informing me that flight #6269 from LGA to OMA was delayed by approximately 2 hours. As my final destination that evening was to be Lincoln NE, I was planning on driving from Omaha to Lincoln; I went online to check to see if there were other options available that might get me into Omaha/Lincoln earlier, so I went onto the delta.com website to investigate.

Once I signed in, the site showed that this flight was delayed and asked if I wanted to review other flights. I chose to review a flight from LGA --> MSP (DL 2019) and MSP --> to LNK (DL 3999), and before I knew it, I had been rerouted onto those flights without even being asked. Getting immediately rebooked onto those flights was not my original intent, as I believed I was just reviewing what other flight options were available.

Now without me authorizing this change, I was now booked on a flight that was leaving LGA an hour earlier, which means I needed to rearrange my transportation to the airport as I had reserved a car service to pick me up at my house in CT at 4:30. I now needed to leave at 3:15 pm in order to make the earlier flight. As my car service was unable to accommodate my last minute request and did not have a car available earlier, I was forced to drive to the airport myself and leave my car in long term parking, not my preferred method when going to LGA.

Upon arrival, I checked in and was given a boarding pass for both flights. As the time to board the initial flight (DL 2019) came, there was a mechanical issue with the jetway at the gate that prevented us from boarding. As chance would have it, I glanced at the departure board and noticed that the original flight (DL 6269) was listed as being on time, now an hour plus before scheduled departure of 7:35 pm. I then picked up a courtesy phone and spoke with a customer service representative to inquire about the original flights status.

The customer service representative was unaware of any scheduled delay of flight #6269, she suggested that maybe new equipment had arrived and the flight was now back on schedule. I asked her if she had any additional information about my original flight (6269) or the flight I was now booked on (2019), which was now late because of issues at the gate. She told me both flights showed up on her system as being on time. I asked her what would happen if I had delayed my travels for 2 hours per the phone call I had received and wound up the flight was on time, and she said I would probably have missed my flight. By this time, I told her I did not have time at that moment to continue the discussion, as I wanted to check back to see if my flight to MSP (2019) was boarding yet, but I was very upset since it appeared my original flight was now actually on time.

After checking and seeing we were still not boarding, I walked over to the gate where the original Omaha flight (6269) was scheduled to depart from in about an hour, and asked the woman at the gate there if she had any additional information about this flight. She said this flight was still showing up as being on time. There was no indication that the flight was going to be delayed and appeared that everything was on time. She asked if I would like to get onto that flight instead. I chose to decline and stay on the flight to MSP, since I was not very confident in that flight’s status.

As the delay boarding my new flight was getting longer and longer, I was growing concerned about missing my connection in MSP to LNK. Little did I know at that time it did not matter? After an hour delay, we were finally able to board the flight to MSP through another jet way, and I was told by the representatives at the gate, that I would still have sufficient time to make my connecting flight to LNK.

Upon landing in MSP, I checked the board in MSP to see what gate I would need to get to make my connection, and next to the LNK 3999 it said cancelled. So now I was told I needed to walk the length of the MSP airport to get to the nearest customer service station, pick up a phone, see what was available, and then make accommodations for the evening. Luckily, I got there before a few other passengers, as they had to wait to speak to the Customer Service Representatives since all four phones were currently in use. I was told the next available flight to LNK was at 10:15 p.m. the next day (8/1), which would have wasted my entire effort of travelling on Sunday to get to my office in Lincoln NE on Monday. It would have been better for me to drive the 7 hours at that point, rather than to continue my travels with Delta. I then inquired about a flight to Omaha, figuring a one hour drive better than seven. The agent was able to book me on a flight in the morning from MSP to OMA (DL 2707) and then I could drive to Lincoln. What bothered me was that the agent I spoke with was not proactive in offering other alternatives to help me get where I was going. She essentially said “Lincoln, nothing during the day, only the same flight at 10:15 pm that you were scheduled on tonight.” If I had not known the geography, I would have been stuck all day, and my company would have lost an entire day of productivity.

I also don’t know why there were not more live people made available to help all the stranded travelers when other flights had apparently been cancelled. The people on the ground did a fine job of printing my boarding pass (assuring me I would get a seat in the morning) and giving me vouchers for a hotel and meals. I wound up staying at the Days Inn Bloomington MN that seemed very far from the airport, and was not very welcoming.

Upon arriving back at the airport and checking in at the gate and requesting my seat assignment, the gate attendant told me the flight was overbooked and she could not assign me my seat yet. She then began asking if anyone would be interested in flying at a later time. Now needless to say, this is not exactly what I was expecting to hear, since the representative from the night before had assured me that I would have a seat available for me the next morning.

I am currently flying between NYC and LNK every other week from now until at least the end of the year as my company has asked me to build a team in Lincoln NE. I have chosen to fly Delta over United because I can avoid Chicago and the inevitable delays that come with going through that airport. However this experience has made me question whether that was a sound decision. The fact that you were proactive about the original flight should have been a great experience, and is commendable for you alerting me. However, your website while updated with the correct information immediately redirected me to another flight before I could even verify that is what I wanted to do. Thankfully I did not pick a flight that was leaving (at 4:25?) via Memphis, since I would never had made it to the airport for that flight. I should have been asked if this was the flight I wanted before I was rebooked. What if I was willing to go later and wanted to stay on the original flight? I had no option, it was just done.

At the airport, the people on the ground (and at your call center) had no idea that flight was in fact delayed, in fact I did check the website and it was not showing as being on time again when it was actually delayed (I subsequently received text messages from my travel agency confirming the delay after landing in MSP). Had the departure board at LGA shown this delay, my frustration would have been significantly less, and the cancelled flight from MSP to LNK would have just been a routine event that happens when you travel, but instead neither your website, your customer service representatives on the phone, nor the representatives in the airport knew anything about the delay and were therefore not able to help me make an informed decision about my travel plans. You started with something very good and positive, though stressful, and then exponentially compounded it by not informing the rest of your organization on this event.

I would like to know why I should choose to keep flying Delta over the next 6 months, and what you can do to keep me as a loyal customer based upon this experience.

Nanny's Gefilte Fish Recipe

2011-04-12T20:08:00.002-04:00

2.5 pounds of Pike 2.5 pounds of Whitefish Grind the fish Keep the Bones Wash Bones Boil Bones w Onion/Carrot salt and pepper – 30 S Strain the veggies, keep the water Grind 3 large onions finely Put fish in a bowl Add 3 ground onions Add some salt and pepper Add about 4 eggs Add matzah meal Form fish patties Cook fish balls for about 60 minutes on a low simmering boil

Letter to the Advocate: Questional Journalism

2011-04-03T21:55:00.001-04:00

I was appalled this morning when I read your lead article chastising the Stamford Public Schools Administration for submitting legitimate expenses for reimbursements. My initial reaction, based upon what I read on the front page, was that Dr Starr and his staff were going out for Steak dinners every weekend, then buying Starbucks coffees for the entire 5th floor and charging these back to the city. Then I realized after finding the rest of the story buried deep in the paper that the administration has submitted a grand total of $19k over the past 42 months. These legitimate expenses represent less than 0.00317% of the entire SPS budget over the same period of time, which begs the question of why is the Advocate flaunting this story as gross negligence or overindulgence, when in fact they are very reasonable expenses incurred by professionals who are in the business of supporting our schools and continuing to make our community great. Meanwhile further down on the same front page is a story about a real oversight by a different city department of over $700k that is going to have significant impact on the tax base this year. Why is the Advocate making freedom of information requests on this information and not spending their precious time and resources investigating more egregious issues within our city government? It feels like you are more interested in tabloid journalism and personality politics, rather than doing real investigating and reporting, to give us the subscribers the real facts so we can draw our own conclusions about what is really going on downtown.

My Opa - by Katy McCarthy (Age 14)

2011-03-13T08:10:00.000-04:00

I didn’t know my Opa for very long, but while I did know him, he was pretty great. He was always full of philosophical wisdom, such as, poop happens. Upon the news of his death, I had a bit of a conversation with myself, about everything I had ever done or ever known about him. It was the little things that were my Opa’s way of showing love that I kept coming back to.

Bedtime snack, our time, where we could sit and chat or not; algebra homework, where we would argue about the value of x and whether the answer to problem 36a was 42 or 24. His valiant attempts to teach me to sail, while I privately thought it was as boring as sin. His presence was always felt, even if he didn’t say anything, but when he said something, you better listen up, and on the whole, he was usually right. I remember every year at Hanukah we would get together to make something, the girls made one thing and the boys another. He would always give each kid a fair chance, even though some of us weren’t sure which end of a hammer was up. I tell you all of this as my own personal experiences with my Opa, as I knew very little about his childhood up until recently.

One very distinct memory was when he and my Mommom went on their trip around America. In our little apartment in Pittsford, I tracked their travels carefully on a U.S map as they sent me postcards. My Opa liked to travel, I think. And he gave really good hugs, great big belly hugs that squished you like a stress ball. I was the only one who could make him laugh by tickling his beard. He liked to travel and sail and build things, and a thousand other things I knew, but never really thought about He was smart and kind and couldn’t hold a grudge if he wanted to. His grandchildren, myself included, could do no wrong. We would take rides up the heavy side lair in his tractor, and pick raspberries. Even in the dead of winter, he was never cold. Even though I only got to know my Opa for 14 years, if you stretched out each moment with him, it would go on forever.

All of these things may not seem like much, but there are what made my Opa Opa, and it’s what I’ve got to hold onto of him, and while I’ll remember the stories and the pictures and the facts; this is what is going to stick. The things that made him Opa.

Memories of Opa - By Jacob Herz (age 9)

2011-03-13T08:09:00.000-04:00

I know nothing about Opa’s (Jim’s) childhood but I do know about him after I was born. Opa taught me two things: Sailing and building.

I started with sailing. When I first saw his boat it fascinated me. We drove to the nearest lake. We stepped into the sailboat and sailed off. I stayed near all the item’s so I could give them to Opa. We stayed for about a half an hour. I still remember it to this day.

Next was building. This was my favorite thing to do with him. The first thing I had built with him was a birdhouse. I also built a toolbox, a marble drop and a mini golf course. He also taught me how to use tools like a hammer to put a sign on the mailbox for a party and to take it off. He also taught me to use a drill to make holes in wood, so I could put screws into. I also like to get candy apples with Opa and practice driving the tractor in the driveway.

Shrek and Layers of an onion - Lisa Herz McCarthy

2011-03-13T08:08:00.003-04:00

When most people think of my father they don’t typically think of him, or generally relate him, to a cartoon character or worse yet a Disney character. I think my dad was most like Shrek. Not that he was an ogre, but he could be. Stubborn. Obstinate. Hard headed. Right. Certain of himself.

However, my dad had many layers. Like an onion. As a youth in Queens, he was active in Boy Scouts achieving the rank of Eagle Scout. It was in Boy Scouts that he met Bob Fromowitz. Little did they know that at the ripe age of 10 that this was the beginning of a nearly 60 year friendship. Through thick and thin, ups and downs, I don’t think either of them would change a thing. This is two layers of the onion.

After high school and graduating from Brooklyn Tech, he and Mom moved to Binghamton. I think it was not long after Dad met Bob, he met Mom. They, Mom & Dad, got married twice.

The first time was in December 1964 by a Justice of the Peace. Mom was a bit weary that it didn’t take and insisted on being married by a Rabbi, which they did in April 1965. They bought the property and built a house on Morgan Road. Mom has a picture of herself being incredibly pregnant with me. My arrival in May 1966. In March of 1969 Jeff arrived. More layers to the onion.

My father could not fathom my lack of concrete sequential thinking. My freshman year in high school, I took my New York State Regents exam in math. Logic was the subject. If p then q = who cares. I didn’t. I had an amazing math teacher that year who began to build a bridge between my father and I that I would not appreciate until many years later when the college I attended told me that unless I took statistics I would not graduate. For me this was a potential crushing defeat. So I registered for summer school to take just that stupid statistics class. I sat in the car, registration form in hand with a start date of the following Monday. I collected myself and called my father. Not only did he have the necessary calming effect on me, but during the first week we spoke by telephone almost every day. Those phone calls were tutorial in nature and help with my homework. Not once did we raise our voices. A sweetness to the onion.
Dad was a lifelong boater. He told me stories of being a Boy Scout and sailing in Sheepshead Bay. When we went to one of the Fromowitz boys bar mitzvah we stayed in a hot sheets hotel in or near sheepshead bay. The looks we got from the guy that checked us in. More layers to the onion.

So, now a boating story. One summer, I don’t remember how old Jeff and I were, but I was old enough to drive. Jeff and I had gone to school on Friday and I was allowed to drive us to school. We went to school packed to go to the lake for the weekend. There was a rendezvous at Troy’s Marina. Our directions were, go to school (and yes Mom probably checked to make sure we arrived at school and were there all day) then go to Johnsons boat yard right after school. We were to take the boat to the north end of the lake and the parental units would drive to Troys after work and join the festivities. Jeff and I made ready the USS Ragtime, motored out the channel, hoisted sails and beat feet up the lake. It was an awesome day for a sail and were smoking up the lake. Well, ok, for Cayuga Lake we were really steaming along. We took the crook at Ma Fords and set course for Milligan station. As we approached this bend in the lake we noticed a change in the forecast. We took appropriate measures to sail through the rain and increased wind we correctly anticipated as we sailed into crumby weather. The weather cleared, we shook out the sails and continued on.

As we approached Troy’s Marina, we radioed ashore, Mom and Dad were motored out to help us anchor. Then we were all transported ashore for the bar-b-cue and other festivities. Bedtime rolls around and we are motored back to Ragtime. We ready for bed and the Ogre bellowed. Of all the things that could have gone wrong trusting 2 teen agers to transport Dad’s second largest investment the length of Cayuga Lake it was his window that we forgot to close during this torrential rain storm. More layers to the onion.

As sure as I am standing here sharing but a few stories of a man with you, I am just as sure you have your own stories of an Ogre and an onion. Boy scouts, work, power squadron, supporter of academic endeavors, supporter of our athletic activities, participant in a multitude of ways at Temple Concord, mental and emotional strength, optimism. Synonyms for more layers to the onion that was my father. Character traits in a man, of a man, who tried, with much success, to share with his wife and instill in his children. In the coming days, weeks and months, please share your stories, recollections and memories with us. Stories of the essence of who my father is, was and wanted to be. For in the future Mom, Jeff, Nancy and I will need to be as diligent as he was in passing these characteristics on to our children.

Eulogy for Jim Herz

2011-03-11T11:45:00.001-05:00

I hope I can get through this, like my father I have a hard exterior, but we are actually soft and mushy on this inside. I am doubting it very much, but here are two quotes that will help me get started:

“Live as if you were to die tomorrow. Learn as if you were to live forever.” - Gandhi

“Try as much as possible to be wholly alive, with all your might,and when you laugh, laugh like hell and when you get angry, get good and angry. Try to be alive. You will be dead soon enough.” - William Sorayan

As I am standing here, that I have not been on this bima since I was bar Mitzvah’d. For those of you that were not here, just remember I did not make that invite list. For those of you that were here then, what took you so long to come back?

Seriously, it is both the happy and the sad moments that most often brings us together.

It was on that March day, 29 years ago, when my parents stood here and delivered their first serious talk to me. It was not about the birds and the bees; I am still waiting for that discussion, but rather about how they felt about me on that special day. When they finished, they handed me a type written copy of their heartfelt words they had just delivered so I would always have a copy. As a typical 13 year old boy, I did not comprehend or understand the message. I was probably thinking about girls, or if I would be able to sneak a drink at the bar at the reception afterwards. Unfortunately within a few short months that hard copy disappeared too. Their words were eventually erased from my memory forever. I looked for the speech occasionally through the years before I went to college and moved out of the house on Morgan Road, but to no avail. Remember, this was before the digital age, when there were no flash drives or hard drives, or writable floppy disks to store those words forever. Today, as I stand here again, I wish I had a copy of those words to remind me of their thoughts on that day as I stand here again remembering my father. Here is what I would like to think they said: I am a man now, they are so proud of me for what I had just accomplished. They told me how the future was wide open for me. I should seek out opportunities and know that the world was my oyster (Am I even allowed to talk about shellfish in synagogue?). I now stand before you, his family, his friends and his community to say goodbye. Too sudden! Too soon!

It was just over 60 hours ago that Nancy and I received the call I think all of us dread. At that moment, as we were more stunned and shocked to comprehend what had just occurred, I realized that I would need to come back and speak again. To talk about my father in the past tense before it seemed to be his time. Just a few weeks back in January, before they went to Panama he talked about how he was having the time of his life, how he wanted to travel now while he was still healthy, since one never knows what the future holds. When he got back, there was an unbridled enthusiasm in his voice about going to visit Lisa and Katy in Vermont and visit my family in CT this week. In fact my parents were supposed to be in their car travelling down I-91 right now. No one expected us to be here, not now.

For those of you that don’t know, my father and I have spent a great deal of time building upon the family tree that was originally created by his mother before she passed away. He was actually in the process of writing his autobiography to be included in the family tree. Luckily he was able to complete his life’s story right up until he got married, so we will all always have that as a reference point for his formative years. Unfortunately it now up to my mother to complete this work, in what will inevitably be considered the unauthorized biography of Jim Herz.

In doing this genealogical research, we had recently become acquainted with a distant cousin who was going to be visiting family here in the US and Canada in June. When he expressed an interest in meeting with us, I suggested we meet at my parent’s house here in Binghamton. My father then started to reach out to all descendents of his great-grandfather in order to invite them to this cousin club gathering. He put together the list and wrote the letter inviting them to come to here, and to be reacquainted. He spoke with many of them directly asking if they had updates on distant cousins that he had fallen out of touch with and to just to catch up with others. It is sadly ironic that he was able to reestablish some of these links before this occurred. It was important to him that as the oldest living male in the Herz family to have this opportunity to bring the extended family back together.

Just like his Uncle Erich he also felt a great sense of pride knowing he now has two grandsons, Jacob and Owen who can carry on the Herz name for at least another generation. I know (As you heard) Jacob is very sad today as he was planning on coming here this summer to learn how to sail and do woodwork in Opa’s shop. Owen and I will now have an unfortunate link in that both of our Opa’s passed away when we were too young to remember and sadly will have little or know remembrance of our grandfathers beyond stories and pictures. Owen still does not understand what has happened as each day has woken up and asked where Opa was.

Now his granddaughters are a completely different story. Both Katy and Mollie were the apple of his eye. He viewed them both as his angels, his princesses. Although he would not admit it, he loved going to their dance recitals and watching them perform. He enjoyed giving them a little more dessert after dinner, or to defend them if they were misbehaving, which of course rarely happened. This was certainly no behavior which Lisa or I ever witnessed when we were children. He finally seemed to be comfortable in his role of grandfather.

When I was a kid, Dad did not come to many of my sporting events. He always seemed to be working, if not at Singer Link, then for one of the many organizations where he dedicated his time and efforts. He never sat still, was always involved in something. Organizations include the Temple, the Fire Company, the Jewish Cemetery, the Power Squadron, Ham Radio, and most recently building the Center for Innovative Technology including rebuilding one of the original the Blue Box simulators.

As a kid, I always resented that he spent more time at work than with his family. I would wonder why he couldn’t spend more time and being a more involved father. What I now realize, as a father myself, is that it is not always easy to make that choice. We have professional responsibilities that too often conflict or overtake our personal responsibilities. It is a balance that is too often weighs in the direction of work. As I have grown older, and maybe more wise, I have come to realize that I may not have always agreed with the choices he made, but I certainly understand why he made those choices. He was motivated to build the best home life he could for the entire family. He provided us the opportunity to go sailing all summer long on Cayuga Lake, vacations on Lake Ontario and bareboat charters in the Virgin Islands. He put Lisa and I through college. He made a choice and it was the right choice for all of us, in his own way he has always put family first. I may not have always agreed, but I certainly understand that now more than ever.

What is most amazing to me is that he was married at 23 and a father at 24. Honestly, I can still barely take care of myself to this day and most certainly was not ready for a wife and kids when I was 24. Thank goodness I found Nancy or I might still be wondering around, unable to match my clothes or send thank you notes.

He never watched sports on TV. I only have two recollections of him watching TV and they both involve perhaps the two best World Series moments in recent history. In 1986, we were sitting in our living room; I think we were rooting for the Mets, as I could never see myself rooting for the Red Sox. When the ball dribbled between Buckner’s legs, my father actually jumped out of his chair and started celebrating, something I do all the time when the Yankees, or Steelers or Rangers score, but it was not something I have never seen him do before or since. Then in 1991, we were at a cousin’s bar mitzvah and staying in the basement of their house. So we turned on Game 7 and watched Jack Morris battle Jon Smoltz through 10 shutout innings in one of the best pitching duels ever. I will always cherish and remember those two games for the rest of my life, not because the Mets or the Twins won in the end but because I got to watch them and make a lifelong memory with my Dad.

When I first started thinking about getting up here today, about 1 am Wednesday morning, my mind was absolutely blank. What was I going to say? Others in this position often have time to prepare, to think and plan. Not us. I wish I had more time, not to think about what I would say if this happened in the future, but rather more time to spend time with him, to go sailing, to have another Thanksgiving celebration, to allow Katy and my kids more time to enjoy their Opa. Instead there was no warning, no signal, just bam, lights out and it was over. He had no apparent suffering and no pain, which is good and I am incredibly thankful for that. It is the way he always wanted to go, but not now. He was not ready. We were certainly not ready. Not when he still had so much more to give to his family, to his friends, and to his community.

For those of you that know me, I have always treated sickness and death with humor, as a way to deflect the seriousness of the situation with the assumption that “if I ignored it, it might just go away” or “why deal with it now if I can deal with it later”. This outlook probably stems from the auto accident that killed 3 of our grandparents on Hanukah just over 32 years ago. I was essentially allowed to ignore the funeral, sitting in the car, playing on my electronic football game while the graveside service occurred just outside my door. Maybe I don’t know how to grieve. Rabbi Barbara has told me that I need to grieve and maybe I will, or maybe I am. I don’t know. People have called and asked how I am doing and I respond “I am fine”. Honestly, I would have preferred to be at work today, how often do you hear that? But now I must deal with it. We must help each other through this difficult time. We must say Goodbye to my Dad, but more important we must also figure out how to move forward without him and that may be more difficult.

Here is a poem a friend of mine sent to me when her father passed away

I am standing on the sea shore,
A ship sails in the morning breeze and starts for the ocean.
She is an object of beauty and I stand watching her
Till at last she fades on the horizon and someone at my side says:
"She is gone."
Gone! Where?
Gone from my sight - that is all.
She is just as large in the masts, hull and spars as she was when I saw her
And just as able to bear her load of living freight to its destination.
The diminished size and total loss of sight is in me,
not in her.
And just at the moment when someone at my side says,
"She is gone",
There are others who
are watching her coming, and other voices take up a glad shout:
"There she comes"
- and that is dying. An horizon and just the limit of our sight.
Lift us up, so that we may see further.

Jim Herz Obituary

2011-03-10T11:20:00.002-05:00

James Herz of Binghamton

Jim Herz, of Binghamton, passed away suddenly Wednesday March 8th, 2011, at his home. Born May 8th, 1942, the son of German immigrants who escaped the Holocaust.

Jim graduated from Brooklyn Tech; he worked as a program manager for Singer Link, Corp. and retired after 33 years of service. Jim was very active in the community, his talents and interests were truly diversified, as he was an active member of the Boy Scouts of America and obtained the rank of Eagle Scout, a past commander of the Susquenango Power Squadron, a past President of Temple Concord, Head of the Westlawn Cemetery, Past Chairman of the Town of Binghamton Planning Board, member of the Town of Binghamton Volunteer Fire Company, as well as an avid sailor and bird watcher.

Surviving Jim are his loving wife Carol Herz, his daughter Lisa McCarthy, son and daughter in law, Jeff and Nancy Herz and his grandchildren Katy McCarthy, Jacob, Mollie, and Owen Herz.

Funeral Services will be held at Temple Concord 9 Riverside Drive on Friday March 11th at 12:00 noon with Rabbi Barbara Goldman-Wartell officiating. Shiva will be observed at 7:00 p.m. at the Herz home Saturday and Sunday.

Those wishing to make direct memorial donations in Jim’s name to either Temple Concord, 9 Riverside Drive Binghamton, NY 13905 or Town of Binghamton Volunteer Fire Company PO Box # 154 Hawleyton Road Binghamton NY 13903.

Dad

2011-03-09T02:17:00.001-05:00

Goodbye Dad

2011-03-09T02:09:00.000-05:00

Dad with Owen March 2010

Goodbye Dad, I will miss you

What Baseball team should I root for?

2011-03-04T08:38:00.001-05:00

Courtesy of http://cdn3.sbnation.com/imported_assets/666055/ibd_baseball_flowchart.jpg

Letter to the Advocate: BoE Leaders Priorities

2011-02-12T11:16:00.001-05:00

Dear Stamford Advocate,

In Thursday's Advocate (http://www.stamfordadvocate.com/default/article/School-board-looks-to-save-social-worker-positions-1007957.php) there was an article regarding trying to save 5 social workers from axe during the budget process. Board President Polly Rauh said: "I just feel in this day and age, I would love to be seeing an increase in mental health services, but I'm certainly not going to sit here and decrease it." Where I have come to understand the vital nature of the social workers within our the district, it left me wondering at what cost. If we add the costs of those social workers back into the budget, then what is going to be sacrificed in the process? Or was Dr. Rauh actually advocating for increasing Dr. Starr's proposed budget, since the job we have elected the Board of Education to do is to advocate for the what all of our scholars needs?

THEN I looked at Advocate this morning (http://www.stamfordadvocate.com/news/article/School-board-asks-Starr-to-cut-1-9M-from-budget-1009793.php) and saw that now Dr. Rauh is now proposing to trim another $1.9 million from the budget by "reducing the district's math coaching staff of six to two or three positions, as well as reassessing the $30 additional per student allocation for bilingual students" So in the age of NCLB, where Math scores remain a vital cog to determining federal and state funding, she is proposing to cut by 50-66% current resources directly from the classroom that could significantly and detrimentally impact our schools funding now and long into the future. She is also suggesting we "reassess" funds currently being spent to help bilingual children, those new to our community who have come here for an opportunity to achieve the American Dream. Yes their parents probably don't vote, and maybe they don't come to the public hearings, so lets reallocate those funds away from those that require those extra dollars, so only some of our scholars are prepared for higher education and success in the 21st Century.

To me it just begs the question of where are the priorities of the leaders on the Board of Education? Serving the needs of the students and the district? Or serving on the Board of Representatives and demanding to hold costs to the politically acceptable 3% increase or less? How can Dr. Rauh as President of the Board of Education and Jerry Pia as the Board VP and head of the Fiscal committee, honestly say they are representing the children and the district on this board, and not abstain with an obvious conflict of interest when the education budget comes before the Board of Representatives?

Sincerely,

Jeff Herz

Alice's Restaurant - Arlo Guthrie

2010-11-25T19:12:00.000-05:00

Alice's Restaurant
By Arlo Guthrie

This song is called Alice's Restaurant, and it's about Alice, and the
restaurant, but Alice's Restaurant is not the name of the restaurant,
that's just the name of the song, and that's why I called the song Alice's
Restaurant.

You can get anything you want at Alice's Restaurant
You can get anything you want at Alice's Restaurant
Walk right in it's around the back
Just a half a mile from the railroad track
You can get anything you want at Alice's Restaurant

Now it all started two Thanksgivings ago, was on - two years ago on
Thanksgiving, when my friend and I went up to visit Alice at the
restaurant, but Alice doesn't live in the restaurant, she lives in the
church nearby the restaurant, in the bell-tower, with her husband Ray and
Fasha the dog. And livin' in the bell tower like that, they got a lot of
room downstairs where the pews used to be in. Havin' all that room,
seein' as how they took out all the pews, they decided that they didn't
have to take out their garbage for a long time.

We got up there, we found all the garbage in there, and we decided it'd be
a friendly gesture for us to take the garbage down to the city dump. So
we took the half a ton of garbage, put it in the back of a red VW
microbus, took shovels and rakes and implements of destruction and headed
on toward the city dump.

Well we got there and there was a big sign and a chain across across the
dump saying, "Closed on Thanksgiving." And we had never heard of a dump
closed on Thanksgiving before, and with tears in our eyes we drove off
into the sunset looking for another place to put the garbage.

We didn't find one. Until we came to a side road, and off the side of the
side road there was another fifteen foot cliff and at the bottom of the
cliff there was another pile of garbage. And we decided that one big pile
is better than two little piles, and rather than bring that one up we
decided to throw our's down.

That's what we did, and drove back to the church, had a thanksgiving
dinner that couldn't be beat, went to sleep and didn't get up until the
next morning, when we got a phone call from officer Obie. He said, "Kid,
we found your name on an envelope at the bottom of a half a ton of
garbage, and just wanted to know if you had any information about it." And
I said, "Yes, sir, Officer Obie, I cannot tell a lie, I put that envelope
under that garbage."

After speaking to Obie for about fourty-five minutes on the telephone we
finally arrived at the truth of the matter and said that we had to go down
and pick up the garbage, and also had to go down and speak to him at the
police officer's station. So we got in the red VW microbus with the
shovels and rakes and implements of destruction and headed on toward the
police officer's station.

Now friends, there was only one or two things that Obie coulda done at
the police station, and the first was he could have given us a medal for
being so brave and honest on the telephone, which wasn't very likely, and
we didn't expect it, and the other thing was he could have bawled us out
and told us never to be see driving garbage around the vicinity again,
which is what we expected, but when we got to the police officer's station
there was a third possibility that we hadn't even counted upon, and we was
both immediately arrested. Handcuffed. And I said "Obie, I don't think I
can pick up the garbage with these handcuffs on." He said, "Shut up, kid.
Get in the back of the patrol car."

And that's what we did, sat in the back of the patrol car and drove to the
quote Scene of the Crime unquote. I want tell you about the town of
Stockbridge, Massachusets, where this happened here, they got three stop
signs, two police officers, and one police car, but when we got to the
Scene of the Crime there was five police officers and three police cars,
being the biggest crime of the last fifty years, and everybody wanted to
get in the newspaper story about it. And they was using up all kinds of
cop equipment that they had hanging around the police officer's station.
They was taking plaster tire tracks, foot prints, dog smelling prints, and
they took twenty seven eight-by-ten colour glossy photographs with circles
and arrows and a paragraph on the back of each one explaining what each
one was to be used as evidence against us. Took pictures of the approach,
the getaway, the northwest corner the southwest corner and that's not to
mention the aerial photography.

After the ordeal, we went back to the jail. Obie said he was going to put
us in the cell. Said, "Kid, I'm going to put you in the cell, I want your
wallet and your belt." And I said, "Obie, I can understand you wanting my
wallet so I don't have any money to spend in the cell, but what do you
want my belt for?" And he said, "Kid, we don't want any hangings." I
said, "Obie, did you think I was going to hang myself for littering?"
Obie said he was making sure, and friends Obie was, cause he took out the
toilet seat so I couldn't hit myself over the head and drown, and he took
out the toilet paper so I couldn't bend the bars roll out the - roll the
toilet paper out the window, slide down the roll and have an escape. Obie
was making sure, and it was about four or five hours later that Alice
(remember Alice? It's a song about Alice), Alice came by and with a few
nasty words to Obie on the side, bailed us out of jail, and we went back
to the church, had a another thanksgiving dinner that couldn't be beat,
and didn't get up until the next morning, when we all had to go to court.

We walked in, sat down, Obie came in with the twenty seven eight-by-ten
colour glossy pictures with circles and arrows and a paragraph on the back
of each one, sat down. Man came in said, "All rise." We all stood up,
and Obie stood up with the twenty seven eight-by-ten colour glossy
pictures, and the judge walked in sat down with a seeing eye dog, and he
sat down, we sat down. Obie looked at the seeing eye dog, and then at the
twenty seven eight-by-ten colour glossy pictures with circles and arrows
and a paragraph on the back of each one, and looked at the seeing eye dog.
And then at twenty seven eight-by-ten colour glossy pictures with circles
and arrows and a paragraph on the back of each one and began to cry,
'cause Obie came to the realization that it was a typical case of American
blind justice, and there wasn't nothing he could do about it, and the
judge wasn't going to look at the twenty seven eight-by-ten colour glossy
pictures with the circles and arrows and a paragraph on the back of each
one explaining what each one was to be used as evidence against us. And
we was fined $50 and had to pick up the garbage in the snow, but thats not
what I came to tell you about.

Came to talk about the draft.

They got a building down New York City, it's called Whitehall Street,
where you walk in, you get injected, inspected, detected, infected,
neglected and selected. I went down to get my physical examination one
day, and I walked in, I sat down, got good and drunk the night before, so
I looked and felt my best when I went in that morning. `Cause I wanted to
look like the all-American kid from New York City, man I wanted, I wanted
to feel like the all-, I wanted to be the all American kid from New York,
and I walked in, sat down, I was hung down, brung down, hung up, and all
kinds o' mean nasty ugly things. And I waked in and sat down and they gave
me a piece of paper, said, "Kid, see the phsychiatrist, room 604."

And I went up there, I said, "Shrink, I want to kill. I mean, I wanna, I
wanna kill. Kill. I wanna, I wanna see, I wanna see blood and gore and
guts and veins in my teeth. Eat dead burnt bodies. I mean kill, Kill,
KILL, KILL." And I started jumpin up and down yelling, "KILL, KILL," and
he started jumpin up and down with me and we was both jumping up and down
yelling, "KILL, KILL." And the sargent came over, pinned a medal on me,
sent me down the hall, said, "You're our boy."

Didn't feel too good about it.

Proceeded on down the hall gettin more injections, inspections,
detections, neglections and all kinds of stuff that they was doin' to me
at the thing there, and I was there for two hours, three hours, four
hours, I was there for a long time going through all kinds of mean nasty
ugly things and I was just having a tough time there, and they was
inspecting, injecting every single part of me, and they was leaving no
part untouched. Proceeded through, and when I finally came to the see the
last man, I walked in, walked in sat down after a whole big thing there,
and I walked up and said, "What do you want?" He said, "Kid, we only got
one question. Have you ever been arrested?"

And I proceeded to tell him the story of the Alice's Restaurant Massacre,
with full orchestration and five part harmony and stuff like that and all
the phenome... - and he stopped me right there and said, "Kid, did you ever
go to court?"

And I proceeded to tell him the story of the twenty seven eight-by-ten
colour glossy pictures with the circles and arrows and the paragraph on
the back of each one, and he stopped me right there and said, "Kid, I want
you to go and sit down on that bench that says Group W .... NOW kid!!"

And I, I walked over to the, to the bench there, and there is, Group W's
where they put you if you may not be moral enough to join the army after
committing your special crime, and there was all kinds of mean nasty ugly
looking people on the bench there. Mother rapers. Father stabbers. Father
rapers! Father rapers sitting right there on the bench next to me! And
they was mean and nasty and ugly and horrible crime-type guys sitting on the
bench next to me. And the meanest, ugliest, nastiest one, the meanest
father raper of them all, was coming over to me and he was mean 'n' ugly
'n' nasty 'n' horrible and all kind of things and he sat down next to me
and said, "Kid, whad'ya get?" I said, "I didn't get nothing, I had to pay
$50 and pick up the garbage." He said, "What were you arrested for, kid?"
And I said, "Littering." And they all moved away from me on the bench
there, and the hairy eyeball and all kinds of mean nasty things, till I
said, "And creating a nuisance." And they all came back, shook my hand,
and we had a great time on the bench, talkin about crime, mother stabbing,
father raping, all kinds of groovy things that we was talking about on the
bench. And everything was fine, we was smoking cigarettes and all kinds of
things, until the Sargeant came over, had some paper in his hand, held it
up and said.

"Kids, this-piece-of-paper's-got-47-words-37-sentences-58-words-we-wanna-
know-details-of-the-crime-time-of-the-crime-and-any-other-kind-of-thing-
you-gotta-say-pertaining-to-and-about-the-crime-I-want-to-know-arresting-
officer's-name-and-any-other-kind-of-thing-you-gotta-say", and talked for
forty-five minutes and nobody understood a word that he said, but we had
fun filling out the forms and playing with the pencils on the bench there,
and I filled out the massacre with the four part harmony, and wrote it
down there, just like it was, and everything was fine and I put down the
pencil, and I turned over the piece of paper, and there, there on the
other side, in the middle of the other side, away from everything else on
the other side, in parentheses, capital letters, quotated, read the
following words:

("KID, HAVE YOU REHABILITATED YOURSELF?")

I went over to the sargent, said, "Sargeant, you got a lot a damn gall to
ask me if I've rehabilitated myself, I mean, I mean, I mean that just, I'm
sittin' here on the bench, I mean I'm sittin here on the Group W bench
'cause you want to know if I'm moral enough join the army, burn women,
kids, houses and villages after bein' a litterbug." He looked at me and
said, "Kid, we don't like your kind, and we're gonna send you fingerprints
off to Washington."

And friends, somewhere in Washington enshrined in some little folder, is a
study in black and white of my fingerprints. And the only reason I'm
singing you this song now is cause you may know somebody in a similar
situation, or you may be in a similar situation, and if your in a
situation like that there's only one thing you can do and that's walk into
the shrink wherever you are ,just walk in say "Shrink, You can get
anything you want, at Alice's restaurant.". And walk out. You know, if
one person, just one person does it they may think he's really sick and
they won't take him. And if two people, two people do it, in harmony,
they may think they're both faggots and they won't take either of them.
And three people do it, three, can you imagine, three people walking in
singin a bar of Alice's Restaurant and walking out. They may think it's an
organization. And can you, can you imagine fifty people a day,I said
fifty people a day walking in singin a bar of Alice's Restaurant and
walking out. And friends they may thinks it's a movement.

And that's what it is , the Alice's Restaurant Anti-Massacre Movement, and
all you got to do to join is sing it the next time it come's around on the
guitar.

With feeling. So we'll wait for it to come around on the guitar, here and
sing it when it does. Here it comes.

You can get anything you want, at Alice's Restaurant
You can get anything you want, at Alice's Restaurant
Walk right in it's around the back
Just a half a mile from the railroad track
You can get anything you want, at Alice's Restaurant

That was horrible. If you want to end war and stuff you got to sing loud.
I've been singing this song now for twenty five minutes. I could sing it
for another twenty five minutes. I'm not proud... or tired.

So we'll wait till it comes around again, and this time with four part
harmony and feeling.

We're just waitin' for it to come around is what we're doing.

All right now.

You can get anything you want, at Alice's Restaurant
Excepting Alice
You can get anything you want, at Alice's Restaurant
Walk right in it's around the back
Just a half a mile from the railroad track
You can get anything you want, at Alice's Restaurant

Da da da da da da da dum
At Alice's Restaurant

Happy Guy Fawkes Day - Nov 5, 2010

2010-11-05T10:10:00.002-04:00

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guy_Fawkes_night

Commemorating the Gunpowder Plot to blow up Parliament in 1605

Remember, remember, the 5th of November
The Gunpowder Treason and plot ;
I know of no reason why Gunpowder Treason
Should ever be forgot.

Guy Fawkes, Guy Fawkes,
'Twas his intent.
To blow up the King and the Parliament.
Three score barrels of powder below.
Poor old England to overthrow.
By God's providence he was catch'd,
With a dark lantern and burning match

Holloa boys, Holloa boys, let the bells ring
Holloa boys, Holloa boys, God save the King!

Hip hip Hoorah !
Hip hip Hoorah !

A penny loaf to feed ol'Pope,
A farthing cheese to choke him.
A pint of beer to rinse it down,
A faggot of sticks to burn him.
Burn him in a tub of tar,'
Burn him like a blazing star.
Burn his body from his head,
Then we'll say: ol'Pope is dead.

The Gunpowder Plot of 1605, in earlier centuries often called the Gunpowder Treason Plot, was a failed assassination attempt against King James I of England and VI of Scotland by a group of provincial English Catholics led by Sir Robert Catesby.

The plan was to blow up the House of Lords during the State Opening of Parliament on 5 November 1605, as the prelude to a popular revolt in the Midlands during which James's nine-year-old daughter, Princess Elizabeth, was to be installed as the Catholic head of state. Catesby may have embarked on the scheme after hopes of securing greater religious tolerance under King James had faded, leaving many English Catholics disappointed. His fellow plotters were John Wright, Thomas Wintour, Thomas Percy, Guy Fawkes, Robert Keyes, Thomas Bates, Robert Wintour, Christopher Wright, John Grant, Sir Ambrose Rookwood, Sir Everard Digby and Francis Tresham. Fawkes, who had 10 years of military experience fighting in the Spanish Netherlands in suppression of the Dutch Revolt, was given charge of the explosives.

The plot was revealed to the authorities in an anonymous letter sent to William Parker, 4th Baron Monteagle, on 26 October 1605. During a search of the House of Lords at about midnight on 4 November 1605, Fawkes was discovered guarding 36 barrels of gunpowder – enough to reduce the House of Lords to rubble – and arrested. Most of the conspirators fled from London as they learned of the plot's discovery, trying to enlist support along the way. Several made a stand against the pursuing Sheriff of Worcester and his men at Holbeche House; in the ensuing battle Catesby was one of those shot and killed. At their trial on 27 January 1606, eight of the survivors, including Fawkes, were convicted and sentenced to be hanged, drawn and quartered.

Details of the assassination attempt were allegedly known by the principal Jesuit of England, Father Henry Garnet. Although Garnet was convicted and sentenced to death, doubt has since been cast on how much he really knew of the plot. As its existence was revealed to him through confession, Garnet was prevented from informing the authorities by the absolute confidentiality of the confessional. Although anti-Catholic legislation was introduced soon after the plot's discovery, many important and loyal Catholics retained high office during King James I's reign. The thwarting of the Gunpowder Plot was commemorated for many years afterwards by special sermons and other public events such as the ringing of church bells, which have evolved into the Bonfire Night of today.

2010 Stamford Board of Education Endorsements

2010-10-30T17:29:00.002-04:00

Dear Stamford Friends,

Please find my endorsements for this year’s Board of Education election below. As many of you know I am actively involved in the school community and want to keep you up to date on what is at stake this year. I realize this is a long letter, but I felt it is necessary to keep you informed. The fact is that the issues are not simple, and they go beyond any one hot button issue. Feel free to forward this along to other if you desire.

This year's election stands as a mandate on the job Dr. Joshua Starr is doing as superintendent of the Stamford Public Schools and the overall direction we are going as a district. This year it is important to vote for a Board of Education that will allow his programs to continue moving forward, improving our schools, and preparing all of our students, our children, for the 21st century. This means voting for:
Angela Lorenti and Bob King on November 2.

Overall, the district is moving in the right direction. We are closing the achievement gap, and we are leading other CT urban schools. In fact, other superintendents come to our schools to look at where we are succeeding in closing the gap, with the goal of implementing those plans in their own districts. Dr. Starr is chairing CAUS, the Ct Association of Urban Superintendents, and there are individual success stories coming out of our schools every day. Unfortunately we don’t have the dollars to pay staff to publicize all these great things that are happening, but we are leading the way for others and making significant improvements across the board, which runs counter-intuitive to the common perception of the Stamford Public Schools. The reality is Stamford is an anomaly in the North East, our population is still growing and people are still interested in moving here. There is a lot of talk regarding a mass migration out of Stamford. But the fact is that people are not fleeing, because Stamford offers more options, and more diversity, than any of the surrounding towns, and that makes for a more well-rounded educational experience for our children.

Dr. Starr has also made large strides in putting programs into the school that are uniform throughout the district. There are no longer over 100 reading programs; the new math program is one that spirals back to reinforce the lesson, letting students learn and succeed even if it does not register the first time. The Science Times has published articles saying this is in fact the best way for students to learn. Science and Social Studies are much more hands on now than ever before. I believe that Dr. Starr does have a vision and that Stamford schools are becoming more successful because of that vision.

I don't believe that Stamford needs to keep turning over superintendents left and right, continually changing programs and direction based upon the whims of the political winds that are blowing each election season. We need a long term strategic plan that moves beyond each year and is absent of political turmoil. I think that the children need Dr. Starr to stay where he is and complete his vision, as this would lead to the continued success of all of our children. Students and schools need the consistency of a standard curriculum across the district and the only way to achieve this is to keep the superintendent. Any changes at the top will take almost five years to reverse current policy and/or implement any new policies.

There is a very passionate vocal minority that has been actively campaigning against Middle School Reform (MSR) and would like us to believe that Dr. Starr is driving the district towards mediocrity. This group, led by Stamford Residents for Excellence in Education has done an amazing job of organizing and aligning their issues with the major political parties here in Stamford. They would like to see Dr. Starr removed (endorsing candidates that could make this option a reality) and have Stamford return to our old system, a system where political patronage drove educational policy, a time when more of our schools were failing to meet state and federal standards and running the risk of our schools being taken over by Hartford. This is a potential future where no qualified superintendent would want to work in Stamford. The next superintendent will not have the ability to implement an educational policy to improve our all our schools, to give every student in Stamford an opportunity to succeed. We would only be able to attract sub-standard candidates who are simply willing to do whatever they are told. This is not a system I wish to return to, nor is it a place where I want my children learning.

It has been discussed and debated that the Middle School Reform (MSR) process has been flawed from the start, but Dr. Starr has compromised and crafted a plan that has been accepted by Hartford, since their mandate was no grouping at all. The GE Foundation has generously donated an additional $10.4 million based upon the continuation of de-tracking strategies. This money is being used for teacher training and other professional development; if that money was removed because we changed the direction of MSR it would be devastating to the city from both a fiscal and teacher morale perspective.

The reality is this is the first year that the plan has been in place, and it does require some modifications, just as you would expect any other initiative in the business world. There is a Middle School Advisory Council that is made up of parents and administrators who are responsible for shepherding these changes in a controlled and rational manner, discussing the necessary changes and making the modifications. Course corrections need to be the mantra here, not a complete reversal to the old system. I encourage you to read Dr. Starr’s response to the SREE letter regarding the initial results of MSR here and then decide for yourself:

http://stamfordpublicschools.org/filestorage/68/109/741/Response_to_Stockman_JPS_10_21_10.pdf
I also ask you to let all the facts speak for themselves and not allow distorted and skewed statistics to paint an incomplete picture of what has actually been accomplished.

Dr. Starr is certainly not perfect, and has his flaws, but what person doesn’t? I don’t believe one person is capable of pleasing everyone in an organization or community as large as our city schools. However, he is now more dedicated to Stamford, having just relocated his family from Brooklyn, NY to Stamford, and enrolled his own children in the Stamford Public Schools. This sends a message loud and clear, that he has enough faith in what he is doing to put his own children in our schools and believes that the schools are going in the right direction. This is a difficult decision for all parents, and knowing that he has chosen our district speaks volumes.

The fact remains that he has not done anything egregious that would justify the Board of Education terminating his contract. The actual costs of this process to the taxpayers of this city are going to be quite significant and during a time of economic distress and limited tax base, this just does not seem to be a prudent decision. Some of the costs include: paying him severance of almost $250,000 for him not to work for one year while he looks for another position; the cost of an interim superintendent while we search for a replacement; the cost of a consultant to search and place suitable candidates to be interviewed; the cost of paying candidates to come to Stamford, etc.. These are probably just the tip of the iceberg in additional costs that will be siphoned out of the classrooms and need to be spent on activities that will not see any return for years to come, assuming the new person is even allowed to stay long enough to implement their vision.

For these reasons I am supporting Angela Lorenti and Bob King on November 2 as they will support these initiatives and continue to be advocates for our children, not political puppets who are more interested in establishing power downtown.

With regards to the 3rd opening on the Board of Education, I feel Geoff Alswanger is a very
smart person, who has spent a great amount of time speaking with parents and coming up to speed on the issues that the district is currently facing. Geoff has described himself as a frustrated parent of school age children, and having another voice on the board would certainly be helpful. Geoff has said he is willing to listen to the community, work collaboratively with the other members of Board of Education and the other city boards. He also says he is open to working with Dr. Starr as long as Dr. Starr is willing to listen to Geoff’s concerns. He has come to the table with a strong opposition to MSR, and claims he wants to make some minor tweaks, though adding more groups is not considered minor by the people working on the MSAC. However, without knowing exactly the details of his plan and the changes he wishes to implement, and how these could impact the ongoing reforms, it is difficult to know exactly how his election will affect the MSR train, which has already left the station. Although it is unclear to us how he will vote with regards to the other issues currently in front of the Board of Education, Geoff appears to be a good candidate, given his willingness to work with Dr. Starr other city officials, and his dedication to improving the educational system for all of our children.

Rich Lyons is also a parent of school age children and has made a strong push over the last few days to reach out to various members of the community and listen to their concerns. He seems to have heard over the past few weeks that there are many issues and voices that are impacted by the above issues. He recognized the division with the community and within the current Board, and he says he is willing to work to find compromise with the new Board of Education. As a former member of the Stamford Board of Representatives, he knows how to work with this system and get things done. Rich also appears to me to be a good candidate.
Thank you for taking the time to read this letter. I know it is long, but I feel it is important to present the facts so you can make an educated decision when you go to the polls on Tuesday.

Sincerely,
Jeff Herz

Letter to the Advocate: School image - Oct 26, 2010

2010-10-26T10:44:00.001-04:00

Stamford schools suffer more from a public relations crisis than a real crisis of education.

We have numerous success stories every day across the district in every school. Speak to most parents and they will tell you how they love their teachers and love their building administrators.

Of course there will be exceptions, but I am always amazed at how happy most parents I speak with are about their schools. This says that we are doing something right. This is what we should be promoting in order to improve the overall image of our district.

Jeff Herz

Stamford

Keep Dr. Starr for the children

2010-10-23T20:59:00.005-04:00

Dr. Joshua Starr has made large strides in putting programs into the school that are uniform throughout the district. There are no longer over 100 reading programs, the new math program is one that repeats information letting students succeed even if it does not register the first time. Science and Social Studies are much more hands on now than ever before. We believe that he does have a vision and that Stamford schools are becoming more successful because of that vision.

What we don't believe in is that Stamford needs to keeps turning over Superintendents left and right and therefore continually changing these types of programs. We think that the children need Dr. Starr to stay where he is and complete his vision and hopefully this would lead to more continued success of our students. Children and schools needs the consistency of a standard curriculum across the district and the only way to achieve this is to keep the superintendent. Any changes at the top will take almost 5 years to reverse current policy and/or implement any new policy's.

Finally, that Stamford Schools suffer more from a public relations crisis rather than a real crisis of education. We have numerous success stories every day across the district in every school. Speak to most parents and they will tell you how they love their teachers and love their building administrators. Of course there will be exceptions, but I am always amazed at how happy most parents I speak with are about their schools. This says that we are doing something right. This is what we should be promoting in order to improve the overall image of our district

Nancy and Jeff Herz

Principals: Parents like middle school reform

2010-10-23T20:32:00.000-04:00

Principals: Parents like mid-school reform
Published: 08:08 p.m., Friday, October 22, 2010

To the editor:

At the Board of Education Candidate Forum at Roxbury Elementary School on Oct. 19, several candidates claimed that there were widespread complaints from our community regarding Stamford's Middle School Transformation -- in particular the grouping practices -- now entering its second year, having extended from just sixth grade to sixth and seventh grade.

We were curious about this claim, so we called and asked the middle school principals at Cloonan, Dolan, Rippowam and Turn of River how many complaints they have received from parents regarding the new grouping practices. The number of complaints ranged from zero to a handful.

We asked how that number compared to complaints about placement and grouping under the old four-to-five-group grouping system. Unanimously, the principals answered that there were far fewer complaints under the new system than under the old system; which one principal described as "voluminous." One principal reports that parents have thanked him for giving their children a fair shake now.

So, are the claims made by these candidates based on facts or the desire to inflame public opinion against Middle School Transformation? They were clearly not based on facts in the schools actually undergoing the change.

The silent majority of parents in Stamford are clearly more satisfied with the new grouping system than they were with the old system. It is unfortunate that the candidates didn't take the time to speak with the administrators in our schools before making such inflammatory statements.

People can torture and cherry pick data in an effort to contradict the promising test scores that emanated from last year's sixth graders, which were higher in every category than the scores of sixth graders the year before under the old system. They can try to fear monger, claiming that people are moving out of Stamford, and out of our public schools, despite the fact that enrollment is up and consistent with the district's predictions.

The truth is, if they bothered to speak to those working in the middle schools, they would know that the new grouping system, admittedly a work in progress, has not resulted in disaster. It is working. Just ask the principals.

Wendy Lecker

Cindy Grafstein

Stamford

The writers are co-presidents of the Stamford Parent Teacher Council. This letter represents their own opinions. They did not write this on behalf of the council.

Recap of BOE Candidates Forum Oct 14, 2010 - Rippowam Middle School

2010-10-15T09:07:00.004-04:00

Here is my recap
Bob King spoke the most eloquently and completely about the issues without pandering to any specific group. Clearly he understands the depth of the issues, since he has been involved for so long.

Geoff Alswanger spoke the most passionately and clearly has a good grasp of some of the issues. I do believe he is too focused on MS reform and needs to understand there are many other issues that too need to be addressed. I think if what he says is true he will be a good member, I just worry he is saying the right things just to get elected and then his sole goal will be to try to derail the MS train, which has already left the station (right wrong or indifferent). (btw/ I am not well versed on this issue, so I cannot and will not comment on the merits either way) We will see.
I thought Rich Lyon was a dunce during the forum, not paying attention, asking for the question to be repeated each time he came to speak. Then I spoke to him afterwards and got a much different impression. I doubt I will vote for him, but at least he showed me he was not as idiotic as he looked on the stage.

Bayonne did not say anything substantial or relevant, leaving no impression on my other than the he has put on weight since he bought his suit as his jacket was clearly too small

Limone is a complete idiot and was belching incomprehensible facts and contradictory statements that made no statements. Almost always leaving us saying "huh" or "what"

Leydon struck me as a complete nothing. He grew up in Stamford, his parents grew up in Stamford, his wife grew up in Stamford, he has 4 kids, he was on the board in the 1990s and has been on the board of reps. His delivery and style was not dynamic, I have no idea how he has won elections previously. I have no idea why he is running ,except people are leaving Stamford because of our schools.

Angela Lorenti was not able to attend as she was attending her daughters induction into National Honor Society at St. Johns University last night. I know, as an Independent, she is focused on being an advocate for the students, and not letting city politics influence how money is allocated or the priorities of the school board.

This was a recurring theme throughout the night, but no one said if the issue was real or perceived. Bob King did bring up that we have a lot of students who go onto higher education and are incredibly successful and those stories need to be better articulated and promoted. Someone also mentioned (after the forum) about further engaging the business (outside of GE) to engage them to invest in the schools and the community to encourage their employees to live and stay in Stamford. This was the best idea I heard all night and it took place in a small conversation not on the dais. As you know I think all our schools are great in there own way, and we need to spend more time promoting them, rather than just allowing the negative perception to continue (off my soap box now).

There was also a ground swell to support the teachers and not impact the classroom with any changes or budgetary constraints on the horizon. However, none of them touched upon my major concern is that the union is not necessarily in line with their rank and file in how things are being run and managed.

Finally the support around Starr was mixed. King supported him, calling him an innovator. Lyon said he needs to play the politics game better, probably a true statement but it came across kind of crass. Limone and Leydon complained he does not compromise and does not listen to the public and Bayonne was upset because he interviewed for another position. Alswanger took the middle ground on this, saying they all need to work together

I hope to get at least one more so I can hear more from everyone.

Letter to the Advocate: BoE Candidates Targeting Starr

2010-10-14T16:24:00.001-04:00

To the Stamford Advoate editor (published Oct 14, 2010):

Do the Board of Education candidates who oppose Superintendent Starr and plan to vote to terminate his contract upon election understand the fiscal ramifications of this path?

There is speculation in the community that that is exactly what the prospective board members who are opposed to Dr. Starr are planning to do if they are elected.

Some of these extraneous costs associated with this plan include buying out of his current contract, hiring a consultant to find a replacement, the possible need for an interim superintendent, and then the time a new person will need to become acclimated and implement a new direction.

These unnecessary costs will further remove resources from the classroom and prevent us from moving our schools forward in a positive manner until this change is completed.

Let's be careful for what we wish, and ask what is the cost of rash, politically motivated decision-making. Where are the fiscal watchdogs on this issue?

Jeff Herz

Stamford

Letter to the Advocate: Fiscal irresponsibility of BOE candidates

2010-10-08T11:03:00.003-04:00

Do the BOE candidates that oppose Dr. Starr and plan to vote to terminate his contract upon election understand the fiscal ramifications of this path? Some of these extraneous costs associated with this plan include buying out of his current contract, hiring a consultant to find a replacement, the possible need for an interim superintendent, and then the time for a new person to become acclimated and implement a new direction. These unnecessary costs will further remove resources from the classroom and prevent us from moving our schools forward in a positive manner until this change is completed. Lets be careful for what we wish, and asking what is the cost of rash, politically motivated decision making. Where are the fiscal watch dogs on this issue?

Pujols and Ichiro for the Baseball Hall of Fame?

2010-09-28T13:33:00.005-04:00

When the editors of Zisk sent out notifications looking for submissions about Albert Pujols or Ichiro Suzuki , I was on vacation and reading Bill James “Whatever Happened to the Hall of Fame”. Since I don’t have any personal anecdotes about Albert Pujols or Ichiro Suzuki; as I have never seen Ichiro play in person and have only seen Pujols play live once in the 2006 NLCS Game 7. (He went 0-2 with two walks, nothing outstanding or substantial. I don’t need to remind any of you Met fans that he was not the hero of this game, hello Yadier Molina.) SO I figured I would do an analysis to determine if either is worthy of Cooperstown enshrinement at this point in time, 10 years into their respective MLB careers.

Before reading this book, my opinion of who deserves to be in the Hall of Fame was somewhat subjective, essentially was the player considered to be the best player at his position for the period of time he played. Here is an excerpt from a previous piece I wrote for Zisk back in 2005 on the Hall of Fame standards:

“Let me start off in a broad category of what type of player does not belong in the hall of fame. Mediocre or above average players, who might have had a few good years, but has not performed over the long term. Compilers, players who played beyond their years even though their statistics continued to fall, but they hang on to reach some individual goal, that baseball anointed as being hall of fame numbers, don’t belong in the hall of fame (hello Don Sutton, and Dave Winfield). Quite simply, was the player good enough to be great and elite by the standard of being held up against his peers of the day, if yes, then you can argue they should be in the hall, if you can name 2-5 players better then that player at the same position, then I would say they are good, but not great and should not be in the Cooperstown.

“The Hall-of-Fame should be reserved for the best of the best at the time they played the game; those individuals who performed almost every year of their career significantly above the league average. During the steroid era, hitters were hitting the ball better than ever before, so just because you have averaged 30 HR’s during this period does not make you a hall of famer, since many players have routinely hit 50+ in the time frame. The bar on which we measure needs to be moved up or down over time based upon the level of competition, the ball parks, the expansion and many other factors.”

So with this standard in mind, let’s first consider these two players. Pujols is an absolute no brainer. Pujols has not only been the best first baseman consistently over the past 10 years, but he has to be considered one of the best players in the game as well. The only comparison might be Alex Rodriguez, whose reputation has been tainted by steroids, where Pujols has been clean to date. The only other first baseman that could be considered great over the past decade is Todd Helton and Lance Berkman, but he is not equal to Pujols by any standard, with Helton having played 50% of his games in Colorado’s thin air could have skewed his numbers upwards and Berkman has been injury prone. Some of the other young studs like Prince Fielder, Ryan Howard, and Mark Teixeira have been good but not in the same category as Pujols yet over the past decade.

With Ichiro it becomes a bit more complicated. In the aught decade there have been numerous outfielders that could be considered great, some polluted by steroids, some remain clean. They include Vlad Guerrero, Manny Ramirez, Barry Bonds, Andruw Jones, Carlos Beltran, Torii Hunter and Johnny Damon. Unfortunately as a player in the steroid era I am not sure how to measure Ichiro. He is a throwback to the dead ball era, a strong armed singles hitter, who is adept at moving the runner and knows how to take the extra base. His baseball knowledge is off the charts, however he does not have the offensive prowess of Vlad, Bonds or Manny, (nor does he have the stench of steroids). He does have the defensive skills of Beltran, Hunter and Jones, and he possesses 9 gold gloves to prove it. However, as Bill Mazerowski has shown defense does not get you into the Hall of Fame.

I am not sure if playing in Seattle, on a lot of mediocre teams has hurt my perception of Suzuki as opposed to someone like Damon who was always on winning teams, in the playoffs and prominently displayed here on the East Coast playing for the Red Sox and Yankees. If we just consider Ichiro’s MLB stats and exclude his body of work from the Japanese leagues then I am not sure he stands out amongst this group and can be considered the greatest of his era. Quite frankly other than Bonds and Ramirez no other OF stands out as being great over the past ten years and is worthy of induction based upon my gut, which is purely subjective.

Now if we look at the numbers, Pujols again remains as close to a perfect Hall of Fame candidate (numbers via baseball-reference.com through July 20, 2010):

Albert Pujols:

Black Ink*	Batting - 39, Average HOFer ≈ 27
Gray Ink**	Batting - 213, Average HOFer ≈ 144
Hall of Fame Monitor	Batting - 230, Likely HOFer ≈ 100
Hall of Fame Standards	Batting - 50, Average HOFer ≈ 50

In all of these categories, Pujols is off the charts in all areas except the Hall of Fame Standards where his perfectly in line with those already enshrined.

More interesting is to look at what players have similar stats at the same age (29 for Pujols). These comparables are all in the HOF or will be eventually and include Jimmie Foxx, Hank Aaron, Lou Gerhig, Ken Griffey Jr., Frank Robinson, Mickey Mantle, Juan Gonzalez, Mel Ott, Hank Greenberg and Orlando Cepeda. I think there is little doubt that there is no one on this list except Gonzalez, who belongs enshrined in Cooperstown. This further reinforces the belief that Pujols has got what it takes.

By Age	Age	G	AB	R	H	2B	HR	RBI	BB	SO	BA	OBP	SLG
Albert Pujols	29	1491	5485	1130	1822	410	388	1179	872	615	0.332	0.426	0.625
Jimmie Foxx	29	1561	5551	1216	1852	313	379	1345	985	859	0.334	0.442	0.617
Hank Aaron	29	1511	5940	1077	1898	321	342	1121	541	609	0.319	0.373	0.569
Lou Gerhig	29	1232	4542	1075	1558	321	267	1146	806	508	0.365	0.453	0.643
Ken Griffey Jr.	29	1535	5832	1063	1742	320	398	1152	747	984	0.297	0.379	0.563
Frank Robinson	29	1502	5527	1043	1673	318	324	1009	698	789	0.302	0.389	0.553

Career	Yrs	G	AB	R	H	2B	HR	RBI	BB	SO	BA	OBP	SLG
Albert Pujols	10	1491	5485	1130	1822	410	388	1179	872	615	0.332	0.426	0.625
Jimmie Foxx	20	2317	8134	1751	2646	458	534	1922	1452	1311	0.325	0.428	0.609
Hank Aaron	23	3298	12364	2174	3771	624	755	2297	1402	1383	0.305	0.374	0.555
Lou Gerhig	17	2164	8001	1888	2721	534	493	1995	1508	790	0.34	0.447	0.632
Ken Griffey Jr	22	2671	9801	1662	2781	524	630	1836	1312	1779	0.284	0.37	0.538
Frank Robinson	21	2808	10006	1829	2943	528	586	1812	1420	1532	0.294	0.389	0.537

Ichiro Suzuki

Black Ink*	Batting - 36, Average HOFer ≈ 27
Gray Ink**	Batting - 129, Average HOFer ≈ 144
Hall of Fame Monitor	Batting - 204, Likely HOFer ≈ 100
Hall of Fame Standards	Batting - 36, Average HOFer ≈ 50

Ichiro is on track with the Black Ink Standard and HOF Monitor, but falls short on the gray ink and HOF Standard. This means Ichiro has led the league in categories, but does not come close to leading in other (power) categories. Pujols on the other hand is a more complete offensive player and has led or been in the Top 10 for most offensive categories.

For Ichiro, it appears he is veering away from the Hall of Fame standards; when we compare him to similar batters for him by age 35 include Jack Tobin, Wally Moses, Ken Griffey Sr. Mickey Rivers, Dom DiMaggio, Kenny Lofton, Willie McGee and Pete Fox. These are all good players, but not one of them is great, nor are any of them in Cooperstown and I think we can all agree that they should not be there.

Career	Age	G	AB	R	H	2B	HR	RBI	BB	SO	BA	OBP	SLG
Ichiro	35	1519	6481	1008	2151	246	87	542	442	646	0.332	0.337	0.432
Jack Tobin	35	1619	6174	936	1906	294	64	581	508	267	0.309	0.364	0.42
Wally Moses	35	1576	6203	953	1838	364	82	568	661	377	0.296	0.364	0.423
Ken Griffey Sr	35	1539	5636	914	1689	293	100	649	565	683	0.300	0.364	0.434
Mickey Rivers	35	1468	5629	785	1660	247	61	499	266	471	0.295	0.326	0.385
Dom Dimaggio	35	1396	5637	1046	1679	308	87	618	750	570	0.298	0.383	0.419

Career	Yrs	G	AB	R	H	2B	HR	RBI	BB	SO	BA	OBP	SLG
Ichiro	10	1519	6481	1008	2151	246	87	542	442	646	0.332	0.337	0.432
Jack Tobin	13	1619	6174	936	1906	294	64	581	508	267	0.309	0.364	0.42
Wally Moses	17	2012	7356	1124	2138	435	89	679	821	457	0.291	0.364	0.416
Ken Griffey Sr.	19	2097	7229	1129	2143	364	152	859	719	898	0.296	0.359	0.431
Mickey Rivers	15	1468	5629	785	1660	247	61	499	266	471	0.295	0.327	0.397
Dom DiMaggio	11	1399	5640	1046	1680	308	87	618	750	571	0.298	0.383	0.419

The biggest knock against Ichiro is that he played 9 years, starting at age 18 in the Japanese Pacific League for the Orix Blue Wave. He did not arrive in the MLB until he was 27. If we include his stats from the Japanese League and assume that there level of play is equivalent to the MLB, then he should go in. If we assume that the JPL is like our minor leagues, then he should not be enshrined because he does not qualify on the subjective side, nor does he really cut it on the quantitative side either based strictly upon his MLB stats. If the BBWA wants to equate him to Jackie Robinson, saying that he was the first breakthrough Japanese star here, then that is perfectly acceptable as well.

Finally, on a completely separate note, the one thing that bothered me about the Bill James book was his contention that Don Sutton (which was written in 1995, prior to Suttons induction in 1998) belongs in the Hall of Fame simply because he had compiled 300 wins. It still bothers me that this guy got in, since he was never considered by anybody during his career to be elite and amongst the top 10 pitchers in any given year he played. Although I consider Dave Winfield, a player who played too long simply to pad his stats in order to improve his chances of gaining access to the Hall of Fame, I have to concede he was considered amongst the top players in many of the years he played ball.

*Black Ink: Named so because league leading numbers are traditionally represented with Boldface type. The definition for the test that I'm using here was written up in Bill James. The essential point is to measure how often a player led the league in a variety of "important" stats. This method penalizes more recent players as they have 14-16 teams per league, while the older players had just 8. To get a point you must lead the league in that category.

Batting Statistics

Four Points for home runs, runs batted in or batting average
Three Points for runs scored, hits or slugging percentage
Two Points for doubles, walks or stolen bases
One Point for games, at bats or triples

** Gray Link: Essentially the same as the Black-Ink above, but it counts appearances in the top ten of the league. For each appearance the values are below. As with the Black Ink, this method penalizes more recent players as they have 14-16 teams per league, while the older players had just 8. To get a point you must be in the top 10 in the league in that category.

Batting Statistics

Four Points for home runs, runs batted in or batting average
Three Points for runs scored, hits or slugging percentage
Two Points for doubles, walks or stolen bases
One Point for games, at bats or triples

Jeff is a rabid baseball fan and baseball card collector. Realizing his dream of playing Major League Baseball died in a plane crash outside Canton OH in August 1979, he set his sights on becoming a nerd instead. Immersing himself in statistics long before SABR came to reality. After SABR was formed, he realized he was not really as quantitative as he once thought, since he could not follow anything they were saying. Now, he lives in Suburban CT with his wife, 3 kids and dog, fighting the local board of education to make our schools more successful and praying the wife will let him watch the last inning of tonight’s Yankee game after another crappy reality program on every channel out there.

This was written exclusively for Zisk Magazine #19

2010-09-17T14:12:00.001-04:00

Now: Researching CRM solutions. #SalesForce v #MSCRM #Dynamics. Later: Repenting

2010-09-13T09:24:00.001-04:00

Amazed at how different coffee tastes when using sugar vs Splenda, my normal morning coffee additive

Letter to the Advocate - Sunday May 30, 2010

2010-06-03T21:07:00.000-04:00

I support Dr. Starr and do believe that beginning a discussion around a contract extension is a prudent and advisable course of action at this time. I believe that if you look at his overall accomplishments over the past 5 years, we are in a better position than where we were prior to his arrival. The best thing we can do for our children is to establish consistency in the schools and that starts at the top with the superintendent.

On the flip side, by simply opening this discussion and starting to negotiate does not mean that an extension should be a foregone conclusion. There are many points which will need to be negotiated to determine if an extension is fiscally responsible or in the best interest of Stamford children and the school district. We won't know until everyone is at the table and ready to talk.

If the BoE chooses not to open negotiations at this time there is no reason to discuss a new search now or in the near future as there have been no egregious issues which should lead us to move in another direction. The search process would be an ill-advised use of tax payer money now, when we have a person who is interested in staying and is following the initiatives and direction set forth by the Board of Education.

Jeff Herz

Letter to the Board of Education - Dr. Starr's Contract

2010-06-03T21:05:00.001-04:00

Dear Board of Education Members,

I would like to let you know that I support Dr. Starr and do believe that beginning a discussion around a contract extension is a prudent and advisable course of action at this time. I believe that if you look at his overall accomplishments over the past 5 years, we are in a better position than where we were prior to his arrival. The best thing we can do for our children is to establish consistency in the schools and that starts at the top with the superintendent. Even if you choose not to renegotiate the contract now, there have been, in my opinion, no egregious issues that would cause us to begin a new search now or in the near future. This entire process would be an ill-advised use of tax payer money, when we have a person who is interested in staying and is seemingly following the initiatives set forth by yourselves on the Board of Education.

On the flip side, by simply opening this discussion and starting to negotiate does not mean that an extension should be a foregone conclusion. Any discussions of an extension must include a performance based compensation that is tied directly to improvements in the districts performance across the board and metrics put in place by the Board of Education. Although we have made great strides over the past few years in consolidated curriculum's, improving teaching standards there is still much work which needs to be done before we have reached our potential and Dr. Starr needs to be at the front of these initiatives.

If one of the negotiating points involves Dr. Starr moving to Stamford and enrolling his children in our schools then all the better, since that sends a message to the community about the superintendent's commitment to the schools. If he feels strongly enough to move his family here, then that shows he is committed to Stamford and to its school. I would also ask in the negotiations, if that is the path you choose to pursue, that there are some form of penalties or remunerations if he is to apply to another school district during the term of the revised contract. This needs to be a two way street, and we cannot have him leaving mid-way through his contract.

Finally, this is not and should not be a political issue. This is about our children and what is right for them. This is about our city and what is right for our future. The superintendent works for you, the members of the Board of Education. If you set the goals and agenda then measure his accomplishments and performance against the goals then it is clear if Dr. Starr is doing what is necessary to prepare our children, my children for the 21st century or not.

Thank you for your time,

Jeff Herz

Seeking Answers on the BoE cuts

2010-04-03T07:20:00.004-04:00

To the editor: Thano Chaltas - Stamford

The mayor, through his CFO Fred Flynn and Board of Finance leadership, have targeted cuts of $5.6 million vs. the Board of Education budget request of $223 million by setting a specific desired budget level of $217.7 million.

Neither the BOF nor Mr. Flynn/Mayor Pavia has stated why they think Stamford schools are overfunded and where the so-called waste and potential cuts reside.

Through three sets of hearings lasting nine hours, the BOF and Mr. Flynn have uncovered no significant potential cuts. (Superintendent of Schools Joshua) Starr and the Board of Education have done their homework on this budget and are running a tight ship. The district received outstanding results in fiscal management from the Cambridge Report/Audit. Moreover, the BOE's recent negotiations with the teacher's union resulted in the only wage freeze for a city union and health care costs below other city workers.

The Board of Finance and Mr. Flynn/Mayor Pavia appear to be blindly following the misguided direction of a 1 percent tax increase without regard for the impact on our city. This budget direction will result in a $5.6 million cut to the current BOE request for a paltry 1.81 percent budget increase. The BOF may argue that by City Charter they simply set the budget and the BOE must come up with specific programs to cut. But that response is a copout. If they make the overall budget cut, they must take responsibility for the implications.

Where are these cuts going to come from? The $5.6 million Draconian cut could result in the following actions: closing one school (Turn of River, Davenport, and Toquam have all been mentioned) which would increase the size of all our schools; elimination of up to 90 teachers which would increase class size; losing elementary school instrumental music, losing extracurricular activities, reducing AP classes/high school electives, or moving to half-day kindergarten. Each of these alternatives is wrong for the education of our children and wrong for Stamford.

Over the last five years, SPS has made significant gains in academic achievement while increasing efficiencies and improving operations, despite the elimination of over 70 teaching position due to budget constraints. Let's not move backward and give up those gains.

This voter is more than willing to pay 50 cents a day in tax increase to keep the BOE budget as submitted. I urge the BOF to vote for the BOE budget as submitted. If the BOF votes to go along with Mr. Flynn/Mayor Pavia, together they all need to own the consequences.

Thano Chaltas - Stamford

Letter to Editor: Stamford Advocate

2010-04-02T23:24:00.002-04:00

Dear Advocate Editor,

I am not sure the mayor is hearing what hundreds of parents are trying to say, and today's story "Pavia wants retraction" further reinforces this concern. The issue which the PT council is appropriately telling the parents of Stamford is that our children s education, our programs, our schools, our administrators and our teachers are all at significant risk if the current proposed board of education budget is further reduced by the board of finance (or by the board of representatives.). In order to help mitigate this risk the pt council delivered talking points through their membership asking parents to mobilize and reach out to talk to the board of finance members and to speak to the mayor, asking him to support the budget(s) he has proposed.

For the mayor to demand a retraction regarding his role in the process demonstrates that he is missing the forest amongst the trees. The bigger issue is we, the parents of Stamford are asking the mayor to be a leader and participate in the process, not stand behind rhetoric and the city charter, giving an appearance of weakness and ineffective leadership by deferring to the other elected boards and not trying to steer the conversation himself. Right now this appears to be petty nit picking and politics as usual by the mayor about his role. By focusing on this one issue on role clarification is distracting and diverting our attention away from the bigger issue of what actions the city elected officials need to take now to deal with hard times and how those decisions will impact the long term health and viability of Stamford.

Not every parent who received this message from the pt council may or should understand the mayors role as provided by the city charter, as I am sure most parents have not read the charter, myself included. So on one level it is fine that the mayor clarify his role and educate us on the intricacies of the city charter.

So for that I say Thank you MR. Mayor for the civics lesson but Quite frankly, this is not what we are looking for when asking for your assistance and guidance in trying to convince the board of finance to pass the budgets, with no additional cuts as they have been proposed by the mayor himself.

What I do question is the judgment of the mayor and his staff to take time and effort to send canned response to multiple parents as a response to their emails stating that we have been provided with misinformation and then clarifying the mayors role in the process as per the charter. There was not a mention regarding his position on this issue, not a reference to the fact he has heard us and is going to help us (or not), just a dryly crafted, politically and factually correct response which provides no comfort to concerned parents or information which will help them understand if the mayor supports there position or not. This is not the response that your residents, the parents, the tax payers, the voters who elected you are expecting to hear from their leader.

If the mayor was unhappy with the Board of Education (BoE) budget, as a non voting member of that board, he could come to the meetings and express his opinion on the subject directly to the board and participate in the budgeting process. Instead he has allegedly violated the charter by attempting to send a delegate to represent him after missing all meetings since he took office, during one of the most contentious budget seasons in years. He has sent his CFO, Fred Flynn, to discuss his budget expectations and priorities instead of participating in the process directly. Basically the mayor has skirted dealing directly with the BoE and has not participated at all in the process. this fact is perhaps the most disappointing to most parents that I have spoken with in the community.

Candidate Pavia ran on an education platform and promised to make the city boards more collaborative. Right now we seem more divided than before and are at seriously at risk of jeopardizing our education system here in Stamford.

I would like to see and hear what the mayor has to say about this budget. He was not at the joint BoF/BoR budget public hearing on march 22 at TOR. Mr. Tarzia explained as per the charter he had no responsibility to attend and hear what the public had to say. By not being there, he did not see 600 people in the auditorium in support of his proposed budgets, he did not hear 75 people speak in favor of the current proposed budget and not hear one sole dissenting voice demanding deeper cuts.

I want a mayor who is willing to stand up and say he supports what he has proposed or that he is not in support of the BoE budget and is an agreement with Mr. Tarzia and Mr Kohlenberg, believing that there is significant waste in the school budgets. I want to see a mayor who shows he cares through action and not empty words. I want to see our mayor lead our city through these hard times, so we can be prepared when the tides turn and we come out with a strong plan to replace what we had to take away. I don't want to see a canned response hiding behind misinformation and clarifications about the charter.

Sincerely,

Jeff Herz
Stamford resident, parent, tax payer and voter

Response to Post in Stamford Advocate Blog

2010-03-31T23:33:00.002-04:00

http://blog.stamfordadvocate.com/stamford411/2010/03/30/parents-emails-to-pavia-receive-form-response/#comment-11392

I may not be an expert in Stamford government, I do understand the mayors role as provided by the city charter and I never doubted the validity of the mayors message or his role in the process. What I questioned is the judgment to send a canned response to multiple emails asking for his assistance and guidance in convincing the board of finance to pass the budgets, with no additional cuts as they have been proposed by the mayor.

If the mayor was unhappy with the boe budget, as a non voting member of that board, he could come to the meetings and express his opinion on the subject directly to the board and participate in the budgeting process. Instead he has violated the charter (though I am no expert) by attempting to send a delegate and has sent fred flynn to discuss the budget expectations again instead of participating in the process directly.

Candidate Pavia ran on an education platform and promised to make the city boards more collaborative. Right now we seem more divided than before. I would like to see (he was not at the public hearing on march 22, though by charter (again not being the expert) he did not need to be there to hear 75 people speak in favor of the current proposed budget and not hear one sole dissenting opinion) and hear what the mayor has to say about this budget. I don't want to see a canned response hiding behind misinformation and clarifications about the charter, which you correctly point out that I am no expert.

Sincerely,

Jeff Herz
Stamford resident, parent, tax payer and voter

2nd Letter to Stamford 18th District Representatives

2010-03-29T17:19:00.001-04:00

Mike/Jim,

Thank you very much for the fast and prompt response. Your thoughtful and collaborative response is greatly appreciated. It makes me feel very comfortable knowing that you are both, not only checking your email on a weekend, but also working together to actively and jointly address the concerns of your constituents. After having observing the Board of Education process for the past few years, I want to make sure I thank you for dedicating yourselves to representing us in the Board of Representatives. I know that you are both volunteers who are spending a great deal of time and are obviously equally invested in our community. I also understand that you must receive a fair number of letters, emails and calls from people like me all across the district wishing to share their concerns and wanting you to represent their individual needs in our city government.

I could not agree more with you, that these are tough times. I spent a great deal of last summer being unemployed, so I understand first hand what it is like trying to make ends meet on a fixed, limited or non-existent income. It is completely understandable that with limited budget options, that some organization or services have to feel the axe, and that not every single resident is going to approve of the difficult if not impossible task at hand. As an aside you mention the fact that seniors who have lived here for their entire lives have contacted both of you regarding their tax rates, and others have contacted you about saving our libraries. At the Public Hearing on Monday March 22, every single senior resident that came to the podium to speak, actually spoke in favor of the current budgets as they are currently proposed in order to keep the libraries open. Not one person, young, old or middle aged came up and spoke out that the budgets should be further reduced in order to save the city more money. After all isn't the point of the Public hearing to allow our elected officials an opportunity to listen to the people speak about the issue at hand. I know in the past that the seniors have flooded to these hearings and overwhelmed the parents, but that was not the case this year.

With all that you have said in mind, let me ask you a few questions that I think are very relevant to the discussion. What happens if the Board of Finance makes further cuts to the Board of Education budget and the Mayors city proposed budget? Lets assume it gets down to their stated goal of 0-1% total tax increase. Then it is the responsibility of the superintendent and the Board of Education to make further cuts to already overburdened school system It is the mayors responsibility along with the Board of Representatives to make further cuts to the services the city currently provides to their citizens. What happens next year, when the same Board of Finance members are still in the same position of being able to hold the entire city hostage to their misguided mandate? We now have 2 consecutive years of reduced services across the board. We now have at least 1, maybe 2 or 3 schools closed, shuttered unused and still costing the city money to maintain, we have lost between 100-200 teachers, not older more expensive teachers, but the younger more energetic less expensive teachers who should be the live blood of the schools for the next generation, we have further reduced administrators in the central office, whose goals it is to drive new standards, and improve district-wide performance, leaving no one there except to maintain compliance with state and federal mandates. We have scaled back or closed Weed and Bennett Libraries, and reduced hours at the other branches, making access to books, the internet, and shelter such as last weeks black out inaccessible to everyone, especially those not as fortunate as you and I. Police and fire services would also be cut to the bone, meaning an increase in crime, and a significantly increased chance of a major fire or other incident that could jeopardize multiple lives of any of our fellow citizens. Please tell me which part of this scenario is not realistic? Tell me what part of this scenario is not worth fighting for the current level of budgets with no further cuts? How is this going to impact the Stamford housing market and increase the tax base, bringing new residents to town? How are we going to compete for our fair share of ECS dollars and other state funds available from Hartford?

Gentleman, I don't want you to think of me as a naysayer, I am very enthusiastic and proud to have set down roots here. I am always blown away by the amount of my friends that grew up here and have chosen to live here and raise their families here. It is a true attribute of Stamford that its children return in force and help keep the culture alive. But I am worried that my children, and your children will not make the same choices. This is indeed a very bleak picture that has been painted and if it comes to fruition it will take us not years, but decades to recover. Is this is the city we want to live in? To raise our children in? To attract new residents and new families? Tell me how I can help prevent these scenarios from becoming reality.

Sincerely,

Jeff Herz

ATTENTION ALL STAMFORD CT PARENTS:

2010-03-29T17:02:00.000-04:00

ATTENTION ALL STAMFORD(CT) PARENTS:

WE NEED YOU TO CALL THE BOARD OF FINANCE AND THE MAYOR THIS WEEK.

Because they are not willing to raise taxes 2.65%, our schools stand to lose over 5 million dollars

This will mean:

Closing Turn of River Middle School, Davenport or Toquam

PLUS:

Moving to half day kindergarten and/or;
Losing more than 40 teachers and/or;
Losing all extracurricular activities and /or;
Losing elementary school music and /or
Reducing AP classes.

Closing one school will mean all other schools will get larger. EVERYONE will be affected.

Closing one school will not even save enough money to get us halfway to $5 million.
WE NEED YOU TO TELL THE BOF AND THE MAYOR THAT YOU ARE WILLING TO PAY 2.65% MORE IN TAXES

The Mayor has been absent during this entire struggle. He refuses to come to BOE meetings, did not come to the public hearing and has not explained his reasons for cutting the boe budget.

We need you to tell them that you will hold each of them responsible for lasting damage to our school system and city if they cut the board of education budget.

Here are the numbers to call (at the very least please email):

Mayor Pavia: 203-977-4150; mpavia@ci.stamford.ct.us
Gerald Bosak: 203 223-2567; gbosak@aol.com
Kathleen Murphy: 203-324-1423, kathleen.murphy@greenwichct.org
Joseph Tarzia: 203-325-8081; jtarzia@optonline.net
Robert Kolenberg: 203-329-2962; bkolenberg@optonline.net
Tim Abbazia: 203-323-9764; tabbazia@optonline.net
Mary Lou Rinaldi 203-322-9655;

PLEASE MAKE THESE CALLS ASAP- THE BOF WILL VOTE APRIL 6

Tell your friends and family as well; this is not simply a school issue, this will ultimately affect all of Stamford residents.

Thank you,

My Speech at the Joint BoF/BoR Budget Public Hearing - March 22, 2010

2010-03-28T20:50:00.002-04:00

My name is Jeff Herz, I am a Stamford resident, a tax payer and a voter. I moved to Stamford in 1996. I am the proud parent of three children ages 8, 5 and 2. My wife Nancy, represents the 3rd generation of her family in Stamford, which makes my children 4th generation Stamford.

I moved here from Binghamton NY, where I was born and raised. It was a great community; a place where you can leave your doors unlocked, where kids can play outside with no worries even after dark, a place I would return to if it existed anywhere besides in my memory. In the 1980’s many of the larger companies left my town taking all the skilled jobs with them. There was no reason to stay in a place where there are no jobs, no chance of a future equal to my parents, and no reason for a young person to remain in the community where 50-70% of my high school graduating class had already decided moved away within 5 years.

Now let’s contrast that with Stamford, my hometown now. One of the things that has impressed me about Stamford, is the number of friends I have met, like my wife, who were raised here and have chosen to return to Stamford. This is a fact that continues to blow me away, because of where I came from. There is something positive about the culture, about the shared history that has brought so many of my wife’s peers back to the community. When we were looking to buy a house, we never considered any other town except Stamford. There is something here that has brought back an entire generation of people who have chosen to make this town their home and have chosen to raise their families here. And that fact continually amazes me since the idea of returning home is as completely foreign to me as I can imagine.

Now, let’s take a moment to consider the long term effect of any additional budget cuts beyond what has already been proposed. If additional cuts are made, teachers will lose their jobs, not expensive older teachers, but younger more energetic teachers. Schools could close, my school, your school, who knows which school the roulette wheel will ultimately stop on but someone’s schools will close. Class sizes will grow, making the chances of a student being pushed beyond their potential diminish exponentially. And this is not just about the schools, do we want to be known as the community that does not care about education, does not care about children, does not care about our cities future residents? How are we going to attract new residents, new tax payers, if we can’t support our schools, can’t keep libraries open, can’t protect our citizens? It just begs the question, if this trend of cutting core services continues, will my children want to move back to Stamford in 20 years, or will Stamford come to resemble Binghamton where the overwhelming majority of their youth have moved away? Will your children want to move back here? Would you want them to?

I am here to support the Mayor’s budget as it has been proposed to the Board of Finance and to the Board of Representatives, please vote to support the budget with no additional cuts.

Letter to Stamford 18th District Representatives

2010-03-27T18:36:00.000-04:00

Dear Representative Raduazzo and Representative Caterbone

I am writing to you today to express my deep concern about the current state of Stamford commitments to our children, their education and the future of our city. My wife's family has lived in Stamford for 3 generations. We are the proud parents of three children ages 8, 5 and 2, with the older two attending Toquam Magnet Elementary School. We stood together with my fellow Toquam parents 2 years ago to defend our school during the redistricting process and became very ingrained in the business of the board of education, which has provided me with a great perspective of the real challenges that this community faces. In that same process, I met multiple other parents from across the city, who are all interested in achieving exactly the same thing, sending their kids to the best schools system possible We are also members of various other community organizations and our kids participate in Stamford Youth sports. If you add this up, we are very invested in the city what is happening in the city now and how the decisions that are made today are going to impact us immediately and how they may effect our children in the coming years.

As one of the 600 people who attended the joint Board of Finance / Board of Representatives Finance Committee this past Monday at Turn of River Middle School, and one of the 75 people who spoke in favor of the current budgets as presented, I believe the community spoke loud and clear that we are all willing to accept a tax increase in order to preserve the current level of services that we as a community have come to expect from our schools, libraries, fire and police. In spite of the fact that current levels are barely sufficient to achieve or maintain any standard of excellent.

What is increasingly concerning is the apparent recklessness which certain members of the Board of Finance are approaching this budgeting process. There seems to be no reality check amongst the Board of Finance members who have set an agenda without a real understanding of what the impact of their proposals will really wreck upon our fine community.

I would like to request that as our elected representatives, that you stand up and fight for what is best for our district and our city. Providing the necessary funding for our schools is an absolute necessity, and any further budget cuts would be absolutely devastating to our school district and to our city. It is not like any cuts that are made this budget season are just going to miraculously return in full force next year. The impact of further cuts could be a reduction in teachers, meaning larger class sizes and less individual attention for every student. Today's Advocate talked about the possibility of closing a school, but even this draconian measure unfortunately would not fill the entire budget cuts that the Board of Finance is requesting. Closing a school or letting teachers go will also not help the value of our homes, nor will it help attract new families (and new taxpayers) to move to Stamford, since we will be known as the town that does not care about education or children.

Finally, I would like to ask you where the mayor has been during this whole process? Mayor Pavia ran on a platform of supporting education, however, he has yet to attend a Board of Education meeting, and was noticeably absent from the public hearing on Monday. Although the city charter does not require the mayor to attend these public hearing, as it is the budget he presented, he should take responsibility and accountability to the people and be willing to listen to a packed auditorium of voters speaking about his proposed budget.

I would welcome the opportunity to speak with you in more detail about this issue as I firmly believe that the decisions being forced upon the community by a very minority members of the Board of Finance will have a long term and lasting negative impact that will take years or decades for us to fully recover. As someone pointed out Monday night at the public hearing that the current economic downturn is temporary and already beginning to show signs of turning around, let us not overreact to a temporary situation.

Thank you for your time

Jeff Herz
47 Cascade Court
Stamford, CT 06903

2010-01-31T10:39:00.001-05:00

Owen is wearing underpants this morning, which makes me happy knowing that the days of diapers will soon come to an end

2010-01-24T16:53:00.001-05:00

Hope 2 missed FG don't come back to haunt the #jets, #NFL, #AFC

2010-01-24T16:26:00.001-05:00

These next 2 minutes, could make a huge difference in who goes to the Super Bowl #Jets, #NFL, #AFC, #Colts

2010-01-24T15:45:00.001-05:00

Wow, that was some impressive pass J-E-T-S, #NFL, #AFC

2010-01-24T15:22:00.001-05:00

#Jets cannot afford to give away points #MissedFG, #NFL, #AFC

2010-01-15T15:49:00.001-05:00

I think I am a bird: Figs and nuts for lunch

2010-01-12T12:09:00.001-05:00

Apologies to all who received an email from this morning, my email was hacked into this morning and spammed my entire contact list. Furthermore, I neither use nor endorse the product alledgedly advertised

2010-01-12T12:05:00.001-05:00

Apologies to all those that received an email from me this morning, my account was hacked and used to blast an ad for some products that I neither use nor endorse. Please disregards

2009-12-17T08:59:00.001-05:00

odd coincidence, my battery died on the BB last night, which shut off the radio transmitter. This morning, I re-enabled wireless and did not receive any email, a quick call to VerizonWireless and was told me mail is down.

2009-12-11T11:47:00.001-05:00

updating my address book, if your email address has changed let me know

Letter to CT Gov, Lt. Gov and Stamford Legislative Delegation, TO PROTEST THE GOVERNOR'S CUTS TO EDUCATION FUNDING

2009-12-04T21:22:00.003-05:00

Dear Governor Rell, Lt. Governor Fedele and Members of Stamford's Legislative Delegation:

As a Stamford resident and taxpayer, I am writing to protest the Governor's proposed cuts of over $426,000 in Stamford's Educational Cost Sharing (ECS) funding.

Stamford's school district has substantial and costly needs. Over 40% of Stamford's students qualify for free and reduced price lunch, almost 15% of its students are English Language Learners, 37% of its students come from homes where English is not the first language and about 10% of our students have disabilities. Despite this level of need, Stamford has historically been underfunded by the State. In fact, our district must rely on local funding for 86% of our budget. Our district receives one tenth the amount of ECS funding that most similarly situated municipalities receive.

In our struggle to compensate for inadequate state educational funding, our city contends with divisive battles over the school budget every year. Year after year, our schools have to cut staff, services and programs. With dwindling resources, we must meet ever increasing mandates.

It is inconceivable that the state would wreak further havoc to our schools by cutting already promised funding. Such cuts will be devastating to our school budget. Regardless of the economic climate we are in, we must continue to properly educate all our children. Depriving students of needed educational resources will only cause our students to fall behind. The lasting consequences of an inadequate education are far more costly in the long run than any short term savings that may accompany such funding cuts.

I urge you not to make the cuts to the ECS funds. Neither our City nor our State can afford the lasting damage that will result.

Sincerely,

Jeff Herz

addresses
Governor.Rell@ct.gov,
LTGovernor.Fedele@ct.gov,
William.Tong@cga.ct.gov,
Jim.Shapiro@cga.ct.gov,
Carlo.Leone@cga.ct.gov,
Gerald.Fox@cga.ct.gov,
Patricia.Miller@cga.ct.gov,
Livvy.Floren@cga.ct.gov,
Scott.Frantz@cga.ct.gov,
amcdonald@pullcom.com

First Round of Tiger Woods Jokes

2009-12-03T11:56:00.001-05:00

Tiger's new movie is out: Crouching Tiger, Hidden Hydrant.
Apparently the police asked Tiger's wife how many times she hit him. She said "I don't know exactly... but put me down for a 5."
Tiger Woods is so rich that he owns lots of expensive cars. Now he has a hole-in-one.
Elin's excuse? She had to play a bad lie.
What's the difference between a car and a golf ball? Tiger can drive a ball 400 yards.
What were Tiger Woods and his wife doing out at 2.30 in the morning? They went clubbing.
Tiger Woods crashed into a fire hydrant and a tree. He couldn't decide between a wood and an iron.
Why did Tiger leave the house so early? He has a 2:30 tree time.
What do a Cadillac SUV and a Nike golf ball have in common? Tiger Woods can drive them both into the trees.

Thanks Len

2009-12-02T18:12:00.001-05:00

reading ppt decks before heading home, the definition of true excitement

2009-11-26T09:31:00.001-05:00

Wishing you all a very happy thanksgiving, and want to ask you to remember to take a moment and think about what you have to be thankful for in our lives. For me, it is my wife, kids, parents, in-laws, and everyone reading this. Thank you

Abraham Lincoln's Thanksgiving Proclamation October 3, 1863

2009-11-25T15:58:00.001-05:00

Abraham Lincoln's Thanksgiving Proclamation
(from the collection of Lincoln 's papers in the Library of America series, Vol II, pp. 520-521).

The year that is drawing towards its close, has been filled with the blessings of fruitful fields and healthful skies. To these bounties, which are so constantly enjoyed that we are prone to forget the source from which they come, others have been added, which are of so extraordinary a nature, that they cannot fail to penetrate and soften even the heart which is habitually insensible to the ever watchful providence of Almighty God. In the midst of a civil war of unequalled magnitude and severity, which has sometimes seemed to foreign States to invite and to provoke their aggression, peace has been preserved with all nations, order has been maintained, the laws have been respected and obeyed, and harmony has prevailed everywhere except in the theatre of military conflict; while that theatre has been greatly contracted by the advancing armies and navies of the Union. Needful diversions of wealth and of strength from the fields of peaceful industry to the national defense, have not arrested the plough, the shuttle, or the ship; the axe had enlarged the borders of our settlements, and the mines, as well of iron and coal as of the precious metals, have yielded even more abundantly than heretofore. Population has steadily increased, notwithstanding the waste that has been made in the camp, the siege and the battle-field; and the country, rejoicing in the consciousness of augmented strength and vigor, is permitted to expect continuance of years with large increase of freedom. No human counsel hath devised nor hath any mortal hand worked out these great things. They are the gracious gifts of the Most High God, who, while dealing with us in anger for our sins, hath nevertheless remembered mercy. It has seemed to me fit and proper that they should be solemnly, reverently and gratefully acknowledged as with one heart and voice by the whole American People. I do therefore invite my fellow citizens in every part of the United States , and also those who are at sea and those who are sojourning in foreign lands, to set apart and observe the last Thursday of November next, as a day of Thanksgiving and Praise to our beneficent Father who dwelleth in the Heavens. And I recommend to them that while offering up the ascriptions justly due to Him for such singular deliverances and blessings, they do also, with humble penitence for our national perverseness and disobedience, commend to his tender care all those who have become widows, orphans, mourners or sufferers in the lamentable civil strife in which we are unavoidably engaged, and fervently implore the interposition of the Almighty Hand to heal the wounds of the nation and to restore it as soon as may be consistent with the Divine purposes to the full enjoyment of peace, harmony, tranquillity and Union. It is the duty of nations as well as of men to own their dependence upon the overruling power of God; to confess their sins and transgressions in humble sorrow, yet with assured hope that genuine repentance will lead to mercy and pardon; and to recognize the sublime truth, announced in the Holy Scriptures and proven by all history, that those nations are blessed whose God is the Lord.

- Abraham Lincoln's Thanksgiving Proclamation October 3, 1863

What am I thankful for - #3

2009-11-18T09:05:00.002-05:00

In the spirit of Thanksgiving, I am writing down something which I am thankful for every day between now and Thanksgiving.

3) I am thankful for two parents who have taught me the difference between right and wrong, who instilled in me the confidence to be my own person, and helped mold me into becoming the man, husband and father that I am today.

2) I am thankful for the 3 most wonderful children that I could ever imagined. They bring me joy every day and I could not (and would not want to) picture my life without them

1) I am thankful for my beautiful wife, who has made my life complete

Bon Jovi: Living on a Prayer

2009-11-17T20:09:00.002-05:00

Here is another song that I heard on the way home tonight. Took me back to the days in Hilliard Hall at Ithaca College

Once upon a time
Not so long ago

Tommy used to work on the docks
Union's been on strike
He's down on his luck...it's tough, so tough
Gina works the diner all day
Working for her man, she brings home her pay
For love - for love

She says we've got to hold on to what we've got
'Cause it doesn't make a difference
If we make it or not
We've got each other and that's a lot
For love - we'll give it a shot

[Chorus:]
Whooah, we're half way there
Livin' on a prayer
Take my hand and we'll make it - I swear
Livin' on a prayer

Tommy's got his six string in hock
Now he's holding in what he used
To make it talk - so tough, it's tough
Gina dreams of running away
When she cries in the night
Tommy whispers baby it's okay, someday

We've got to hold on to what we've got
'Cause it doesn't make a difference
If we make it or not
We've got each other and that's a lot
For love - we'll give it a shot

[Chorus]

We've got to hold on ready or not
You live for the fight when it's all that you've got

[Chorus]

What am I thankful for - Day 1 & 2

2009-11-17T08:56:00.004-05:00

So the meme out there have asked to post every day between now and thanksgiving what we are thankful for, and being the simple person that I am, I have to oblige:

1) I am thankful for my beautiful wife, who has made my life complete
2) I am thankful for the 3 most wonderful children that I could ever imagined. They bring me joy every day and I could not (and would not want to) picture my life without them

RUSH: Spirit of Radio

2009-11-17T08:54:00.003-05:00

I heard this song on the radio on the way home last night and can't get it out of my head. I might as well enjoy it, since it is a great song:

Begin the day with a friendly voice,
A companion unobtrusive
Plays the song that's so elusive
And the magic music makes your morning mood.

Off on your way, hit the open road,
There is magic at your fingers
For the Spirit ever lingers,
Undemanding contact in your happy solitude.

Chorus
Invisible airwaves crackle with life
Bright antennae bristle with the energy
Emotional feedback on timeless wavelength
Bearing a gift beyond price, almost free

All this machinery making modern music
Can still be open-hearted.
Not so coldly charted
It's really just a question of your honesty, yeah,
Your honesty.
One likes to believe in the freedom of music,
But glittering prizes and endless compromises
Shatter the illusion of integrity.

Chorus

For the words of the profits were written on the studio wall,
Concert hall
And echoes with the sounds of salesmen, of salesmen, of salesmen!

6 Mistakes Companies Make in Selecting an Interactive Agency

2009-11-16T21:38:00.000-05:00

This was published by Peter Weiss of Weiss and Mowery a digital consultancy run by a good friend and long time colleague . Here is the entire White Paper

1) The client Cowboy
2) Avoid Eye Contact
3) I'll Have What He's Eating
4) Agencies are Non-Profit Institutions
5) Be Careful What You Wish For
6) "RFP" is Shorthand for "Ready for Primetime"

The 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month

2009-11-11T09:19:00.004-05:00

I would like to take a few minutes today to stop our regular activities and think about all those who have offered to give their lives or willing to put their life on the line in order to protect our country and defend our freedoms. From the dough-boys in the trenches of WWI, to the Greatest Generation of WWII, to those that fought courageously and valiant efforts of Korea and Vietnam, to our current generation of soldiers that have been involved in the first Gulf War and are now stationed here or abroad in Iraq and Afghanistan

From The Nation:

On the 11th hour of the 11th Day of the 11th month, the guns of World War I fell silent. And a war that should never have been fought – arguably by anyone, certainly by Americans – was done.

Americans who know their history celebrate Veterans Day not to honor war, but to recognize the soldiers who died and the soldiers who survived the wars of the past – and, hopefully, to ponder the futility of abandoning George Washington's advice to avoid the entangling alliances of distant continents and the mortal combats of the kings and conquerers who intrigues Americans rejected when the United States revolted against monarchy, colonialism and the madness of empire.

From Don Russel in the Stamford Advocate

"The eleventh hour of the eleventh day, of the eleventh month" -- that was the way Armistice Day was described to us in school and at home -- the time and the day the Germans surrendered to the Allies of World War I.

At 11 a.m. we knew the time by blasts from the factory whistle at Yale and Towne. One could hear the Yale and Towne whistle in every corner of Stamford. It was the community signal for snow days -- no school, and other emergencies. But on this day it was the signal that everything stopped. Drivers emerged from cars and stood at attention facing east for three minutes. A brief blast from the whistle signaled people that the Stamford community parade was starting its line of march from what is now Washington Boulevard to Atlantic Street, past Old Town Hall to St. John's Park for the annual ceremony of remembrance. I remember from my childhood some of the fiery speeches by leaders and veterans of what was called "The Great War," which indeed it was. Pictures of Doughboys (the common name for soldiers in muddy damp trenches waiting to "go over the top" into battle and for most, sure death) were on the front pages of most newspapers.

Remember the 5th of November

2009-11-05T06:55:00.000-05:00

Remember, remember, the 5th of November
The Gunpowder Treason and plot ;
I know of no reason why Gunpowder Treason
Should ever be forgot.

Guy Fawkes, Guy Fawkes,
'Twas his intent.
To blow up the King and the Parliament.
Three score barrels of powder below.
Poor old England to overthrow.
By God's providence he was catch'd,
With a dark lantern and burning match

Holloa boys, Holloa boys, let the bells ring
Holloa boys, Holloa boys, God save the King!

Hip hip Hoorah !
Hip hip Hoorah !

A penny loaf to feed ol'Pope,
A farthing cheese to choke him.
A pint of beer to rinse it down,
A faggot of sticks to burn him.
Burn him in a tub of tar,'
Burn him like a blazing star.
Burn his body from his head,
Then we'll say: ol'Pope is dead.

Attention Stamford Voters; Board of Education Endorsements

2009-11-01T22:25:00.001-05:00

Net/Net, this year's election is a bit of a farce, since the city charter says the majority party (democrats) can have no more than 6 of the 9 seats, so that guarantees that at least 2 of the republicans (Pia, Olson or Pierre-Louis) running will win, even if they receive the least amount of votes. I guess they could win all 3 seats, but I seriously doubt that, since enough democrats will come out to vote in the Mayor's race to ensure one Dem will finish in the top 3.

In my opinion, Jerry Pia is a given, since he has name recognition, has been on the BoE in the past and is currently on the Board of Representatives. He is very experienced in the inner workings of the city and and might be able to help navigate the budget process more effectively and will fight to protect the schools educational needs

That leaves the only Olsen and Pierre-Louis as the remaining Republicans candidates of choice. Fred Pierre-Louis is very knowledgeable of the process, as he is a teacher in Naugatuck. He seemed smart enough in the debate I was at to say when he did not have enough information to answer a question, rather than try to sugar coat, and I can respect that intellectually. He supports middle school reform as he "is a doctoral student at U of Hartford and his research focuses on mixed ability, or heterogeneous, classes. A pilot project, done as part of his research, found that 14 low-achieving students placed in college prep courses came to think of themselves as college prep students." - Stamford Advocate

I dont know much about Olson, other than she is running on the same ticket as Pia and she could not attend the forum I attended as she claims she is sick with H1N1. She has gotten into a bit of hot water recently with the Catholic schools, since she claimed to have gotten sick as a nurse there, and has said that students at her school have contracted H1N1, though the Principal has denied any students have tested positive. Certainly rips her credible to shreds in my mind. She is also a former school nurse and health instructor in Stamford Public Schools, though I dont think this is sufficient enough to garner my support. The fact that she was unable to attend the forum I attended, sends a signal to me that she is not dedicated or committed in spite of being sick. This may not be a fair assessment, but all is fair in love, war and politics.

That leaves 1 seat for the 2 remaining democrats running. Polly Rauh has the greatest name recognition and is probably the most qualified and right now, and (imho) we need experienced people on the Board of Education to muddle through the process. However, she is for school choice (basically breaking the city into 4 quadrants and assigning 4 schools to that area and saying you can go to any of those schools) and I am not sure how feasible or realistic that really is going to be implement here, since there are much more pressing issues in this city right now.

I liked Naomi Chapman-Taylor but it will take her months to get acclimated and become productive. She has not been to enough BoE meetings to really know or understand the issues. If she comes on a regular basis, she could wind up being a good candidate next year.

I am supporting Jerry Pia, Fred Pierre-Louis and Polly Rauh. Each comes with their own pluses and minuses, but I feel that they are best candidates for Stamford now. Pia and Rauh are both experienced with the Stamford political scene as they are currently on the Board of Reps. Pierre-Louis is a high school teacher and is on the ground in the classroom and can speak first hand to the needs of students. I think a combination of both education and political experience is the leadership qualities which we need now.
The Advocate ran a bit of a profile on the candidates, that is worth a read.

http://www.stamfordadvocate.com/localnews/ci_13640383?source=rss

They also endorsed the same candidates that I am supporting.

2009-10-30T18:12:00.001-04:00

Blanton to start Game 4 for #Phillies, huge break for #Yankees as Lee starts Game 5, and can only relieve in Game 7 (if necessary)

Another reason to avoid divorce

2009-10-30T17:46:00.001-04:00

True story from Sweden some might enjoy.......

After 17 years of marriage, a man dumped his wife for a younger woman. The downtown luxury apartment was in his name and he wanted to remain there with his new love so he asked the wife to move out and then he would buy her another place. The wife agreed to this, but asked that she be given 3 days on her own there, to pack up her things.

While he was gone, the first day she lovingly put her personal belongings into boxes and crates and suitcases. On the second day, she had the movers come and collect her things. On the third day, she sat down for the last time at their candlelit Dining table, soft music playing in the background, and feasted on a pound of shrimp and a bottle of chardonnay. When she had finished, she went into each room and deposited a few of the resulting shrimp shells into the hollow of the curtain rods. She then cleaned up the kitchen and left.

The husband came back, with his new girl, and all was bliss for the first few days. Then it started; slowly but surely. Clueless, the man could not explain why the place smelled so bad. They tried everything; cleaned & mopped and aired the place out. Vents were checked for dead rodents, carpets were steam cleaned, Air fresheners were hung everywhere. Exterminators were brought in, the carpets were replaced, and on it went.

Finally, they could take it no more and decided to move. The moving company arrived and did a very professional packing job, taking everything to their new home. Including the (curtain rods).

(Maurice, thanks for sending this along)

2009-10-28T17:14:00.001-04:00

Am now the Director, Interactive at #C2Creative

2009-10-27T20:14:00.001-04:00

Attention Stamford Voters and Parents: It is time for our voices to be heard, a unified parent community has to be heard in order to be effective: http://tinyurl.com/ylqxhmd

Attention Stamford Parents: Let your voice be heard in the upcoming Election

2009-10-27T20:07:00.002-04:00

Friends,

As we approach this upcoming election, other interest groups are out there rallying the troops. It is time we, as parents, begin to flex our political muscle.

In this year's BOF election, we have a slate of candidates on the Democratic ticket that is more pro-education than we have seen in a very long time. Tim Abbazia, and John Louizos have always been supporters of the education budget and they are now joined on the ticket with Dudley Williams, a former BOE member and, in his role as a GE employee, the coordinator of GEs highly substantial educational grant to our district. I am not saying this because I’m a democrat (which I am not) or because I am a friend of theirs (I do not know any of these gentlemen personally)—we really just need the best people for the job. It just happens to be the case that these three Democrats represent our best chance to get BOF support for a strong education budget in the coming years.

And, while party politics SHOULD NOT matter, If Joe Tarzia and Bob Kollenberg, who have been staunchly in opposition to increases in the school budget, get more support and have leverage over more fellow Republicans on the BOF, we will only see a continuation of their clear agenda in recent years to push for significant cuts in our school budgets.

We only have a few days before the election. If a parent-based grassroots effort is going to work, it needs to have everyone's help. If everyone on this list could start the communications chain and begin to mobilize their respective communities and reach out to friends in other communities to do the same, we could make a considerable impact on election day--- and make it clear to these candidates that they should be beholden to us once in office as the interest group that got them elected.

If we don’t not make some noise and gain some political capital now, when it is most important, we will have no one to blame but ourselves when, in the months to follow, we see the BOF making dramatic cuts to the school budgets once again. Let’s show Stamford that the parent community is a force to be reckoned with. Let’s make it clear to our politicians that they need to support our schools, and that not doing so can have political consequences.

I hope you will join with me to make our voices heard. Together, we can make a difference.

Feel free to cut and paste in order to forward onto your friends

Best Regards,

Jeff Herz

Should we take flu shots for H1N1

2009-10-08T11:00:00.002-04:00

Here is a comment I made to a friend wondering if she should get her kids the flu-shot:

Since my initial childhood shots, I have not been vaccinated for anything (except the occasional tetanus shot after a puncture wound) and I am still standing. I agree halfheartedly with others about the only reason we have vaccines is so that the pharmas can make more $$$, and that is not necessarily a bad thing.

As Nancy will attest, I rarely take anti-biotics and when I do I almost never finish them. I believe that all this "medicine" is impacting and effecting our ability to naturally ward of natures attempt to kill us, which is why the bugs and viruses are getting more and more nasty as time goes on.

I also believe that we as a species have lived for thousands of years before modern science required us to take preventative medicine, and assuming we don't find some other way to kill ourselves prior, we will live for a few thousand more.

The current strain of H1N1, has been bad, been declared a pandemic, but has not been particularly deadly as of yet, so at the end of the day if it does not kill you, it only makes you stronger. So even though Nancy is looking to get the kids the flu shot, I would recommend against it, though coincidentally, Nancy never asked me or anyone else their thoughts on this subject.

BBQ Beer Can Chicken w/ Oven Roasted Tomatoes and Broccoli

2009-09-23T19:55:00.000-04:00

Start with one whole chicken (fryer or broiler).

Generously add chicken rub (mine is Kosher Salt, Onion Powder, Garlic Powder, paprika, cayenne pepper, chili powder, lemon pepper, and cumin)

Open Can of beer, drink (or pour off) 1/3 of the can. Pour some of the rub into the remaining beer. Place the chicken over the beer, so that as it evaporates it moistens and flavors the inside of the chicken. Place the chicken on a grill (or in the oven) and kick for 2-3 hours. The chicken will stand on its legs and the beer can.

Turn oven to 450. Cut tomatoes in half, drizzle in EVOO spread out over baking pan then sprinkle iwth balsamic vinegar, kosher salt and pepper.

Cut Broccoli into small bite size pieces and throw into a ziplock bag. Cut up 3 cloves of garlic and add to bag. Add EVOO to zip top baggie to coat broccoli and garlic with oil. Place on another baking sheet and add kosher salt and pepper.

Cook both trays for 20-25 minutes, then combine and serve.

http://bbq.about.com/od/chicken/ss/aa072807a.htm

http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/george-duran/spice-rubbed-beer-can-chicken-recipe/index.html

2009-09-18T09:35:00.001-04:00

off to the darien farmers market, lunch, then pick up kids at school to head to Binghamton for the holiday with my parents.

2009-09-17T17:00:00.001-04:00

Who is better as an all around ball player and leader: Pete Rose or Derek Jeter?

2009-09-16T10:57:00.001-04:00

Just back from the dentist, who fixed a chipped tooth, what a relief

Something has gone seriously wrong here

2009-09-14T09:15:00.003-04:00

The Daily Dish - More Reason from the Right

Or: why I am not a tea-partier:

The kid holding it, according to the reader who took this picture, was maybe 16. Obama is a communist and a fascist and a traitor! Then this:

The above protestor is comparing an attempt to privately ensure millions of people currently uninsured is the equivalent of this:

Action T4 (German: Aktion T4) was a program, also called Euthanasia Program, in Nazi Germany spanning October 1939 until August 1941, during which physicians killed 70,273 people specified in Hitler's secret memo of September 1, 1939 as suffering patients "judged incurably sick, by critical medical examination", but described in a denunciation of the program by Cardinal Galen as long-term inmates of mental asylums "who may appear incurable".

This is as sick as those who called Bush a Nazi before the Iraq war. But unlike the Iraq war, the proposal for universal healthcare was a big issue in the last election, was widely debated, and the winners of that election are fulfilling a clear pledge. So what we have here is unhinged hysteria. I certainly think pent-up anger at Bush (which partisanship and religious devotion meant they could never vent) is a part of this; but the fact of a non-white, non-Southern effective president should not be discounted.