Radio Shack Does It Again

UPDATE: I noticed over the weekend the Cumberland Farms on King Street, the same place that scans the driver's license of anyone, regardless of age, who buys tobacco, and therefore is already heavily invested in the gathering customer data game, if they'd ask for my phone number if I bought a Go Phone. "No," the clerk said with a puzzled look on his face. "Why would anyone do that?"

I hesitated to write about this for fear of governmental reprisal, but then I realized that "they" probably already know, so what's the harm?

But first a little background. The most suspicious person I know is my brother; and by suspicious, I mean it in the sense of he is suspicious of other people and entities not (necessarily) in the sense that he is someone to be suspicious of. What do I base this assessment on? Well, here's just one reason: it wasn't until last year that my mother found out his real address. For the 15 years or so that he has lived in Virginia, he's been giving his everyone his Mailboxes Etc.-type address for mail and other things.

My brother is six years older than I am, and when we were growing up, I was fascinated by all of the electrical gizmos he made. At one point, he'd created a push-button panel right next to his bed from which he could control all of the electrical things in his room. In the days before the Clapper, this was cutting-edge stuff. And I'm crediting him for introducing me to Radio Shack. I don't know in what context exactly, but I've always associated him with Radio Shack. So, given his libertarian bent, I also just naturally assumed that Radio Shack was on board with that. (I know what you're thinking: Radio Shack is the company that used to ask for your name and address any time you bought anything. I'm not saying I'm smart here--I'm just sharing what I believed.)

So a few days ago I went into Radio Shack for a cell phone battery. It all started when I got an iPhone for (myself) for Father's Day. My kids told me that my wife had lost her cell phone, so as I was going through the iPhone process, I had them make my old cell phone my wife's new cell phone. And everyone was happy, until the battery in that cell phone died. I took it to the AT&T store in Northampton, and they told me that I could either go to Radio Shack and buy a battery or buy a Go Phone. So, off to Radio Shack I went.

They didn't have any cell phone batteries in the store (a not-uncommon occurrence if you've tried to buy anything at Radio Shack) and the woman helping me said that I could just order one online. As I headed outside to ponder my options, I spotted the Go Phone display and decided to go that route. As she unlocked the display to give me one, the saleswoman said, "You know, AT&T will know that you're using a Go Phone and cancel your service." That seemed a bit odd, since it was an AT&T employee who'd told me to do this. "I'll take my chances," I said.

So we walked over to the register and she began the checkout procedure. She hit a few keys on the computer and then asked, "Phone number?"

"Wait a second," I said. "Why do you need my phone number?"

She literally threw up her arms and let her head fall back so that she was looking at the ceiling. You'd have thought that I asked her to inventory every battery in the store or something.

"The system needs your phone number," she said.

"The 'system'? What system?"

"The government," she said.

"The 'government'? Why does the government need my phone number, and can you tell me what government rule says that Go Phone purchasers have to provide a phone number?"

At this point she brought over another salesperson to help her out.

He walked over to me, spread his arms out and intoned, "It's the PATRIOT Act."

My first thought was to ask him to tell me exactly where in the 800-plus page PATRIOT Act it says that Radio Shack has to get my phone number, when I remembered my brother and one thing he taught me: it helps to have an alias for situations like this.

So, to speed the process along, I duly gave them what they asked for: a phone number. And I got my Go Phone.

But I left with my confidence in Radio Shack severely shaken.
I suppose the real question, however, is not why I go to Radio Shack, but why I will most likely go back to Radio Shack.

How Do I Get to the Hall of Fame?

I took the boys to Cooperstown this week for a quick overnight trip to the Baseball Hall of Fame. I'd never been before, and neither had they, so it seemed like a good way to reward ourselves for a spring full of baseball.

Despite being a little befuddled by our computer-generated directions (that's when I was able to tell the oldy-but-goody by replying "practice" when one of my children asked me how we get to Cooperstown) and slowed by some wicked thunderstorms, we arrived at our hotel around 4:30 on Tuesday. Our first stop was the hotel pool. But then we rallied and after a quick change of clothes, we headed into Cooperstown. Before we got there, though, we saw Cooperstown Dream Field, a multi-field complex that hosts Little League tournaments during the summer. We stopped to watch for a bit, but we had to leave because it was getting chilly. Yes: chilly on June 30th.



Once we made it into Cooperstown, we found a place to park that was right across the street from the Hall of Fame itself. I'm tempted to say that the place is so small we almost missed it. The truth is, it does look small from the front, but it would be really, really hard to miss it, situated as it is in the middle of downtown Cooperstown, surrounded by souvenir shops and baseball-themed restaurants, like the Short Stop, where we ate.



When we walked in, the place was virtually empty. Our first stop was the theater where we watched a short video that talked about the history of baseball in America. I'll admit that I got a little teary eyed thinking about what baseball means to me and how it's special to be able to share the experience with my children. And I don't even consider myself a big baseball fan! I can only imagine what it must be like for the hardcore fans when they fist get there. It really is a place where dreams abound. It says so right on the floor.





While I was in Cooperstown, I also had the opportunity to confirm that a story told to me by one of my English professors years ago was true. It seems that when James Fenimore Cooper, for whom the town is named, spent some time in Europe, the townsfolk took it upon themselves to build a road right through his property, including his house. Right next to the Hall of Fame is a private road overseen by a statue of the man. And yes, he does look pissed. But who wouldn't be?

Preparing for Summer

Either the weather has finally gotten to me or I just need some time off from work (which, thankfully, I'll be getting next week) but I found myself unjustifiably but genuinely angry at my children's justifiable excitement over the end of school and summer vacation. I know that I'm just jealous that they can revel in a hedonistic lack of responsibility and scheduling, but I'm also suffering from the feeling that my own summer, what little there is, is being washed away by the constant rain. I mean, the days are already getting shorter.

Yesterday was the last day of school and when everyone woke up in my house, I told the kids that the superintendent had added one more week to the school year, because she decided the kids didn't learn enough. Neither one of my children believed me for an instant. They're clearly on to me. I'll admit that it was a half-hearted attempt, but I failed at ruining even a moment of their vacation. I'll have to console myself with the knowledge that I'll have plenty of opportunities to try again over the next few months.

In the meantime, I've decided to embrace as much of the crappy summer as we've got left (a bad attitude to have before July 4th, I know).

In that frame of mind, we've played some baseball.



We've visited the bears in Easthampton.


And we've hit some golf balls.


We also ran in the second annual Northampton Mile race at the high school. Owen finished last, but he' already set his sights on next year when he will make sure to go to the bathroom before the race instead of during the race and not finish last.

A Very Special Day, Update II

I'm the sweaty guy in the blue shirt hoisting a beer to celebrate the successful passing of a proposition override vote. I've never seen so many people so happy to have their taxes go up.

I may be indulging in hindsight, but during the day yesterday I had growing feelings that the election wouldn't be as close as it was in 2004 and that the YES votes would carry the day quite easily. I began to sense this yesterday afternoon as I drove to my sign holding spot at the intersection of North Maple and Main Streets in Florence and didn't see anyone holding any no signs at Smith Voke or at the intersection near the Academy of Music. And when I got to my spot, I found only a fellow yes sign holders and no sign of any no signs. I could chalk this up to a lack of organization and resources on the the part of the no people, but I think it also had to do with the general sense in Northampton that we needed an Override. And that showed in the enthusiasm and dedication of everyone who volunteered for the Yes campaign, including the woman who joined me with her daughter just because she wanted to hold a sign for a little bit longer yesterday.

And then there was the woman who was walking in Florence who thanked me for holding the sign, saying that she'd woken up and forgotten that the election was yesterday. She then told me that she'd voted yes. I also heard from one guy visiting from Alabama who wanted to know what the sign was all about. I explained to him how Proposition 2 1/2 worked, and he told me that in Alabama, there are no local property taxes. The towns raise money through a sales tax that goes on top of the state sales tax. This means that in some towns, you could be paying as much as 9.5% sales tax, and that includes clothing. And I thought Massachusetts' system was messed up.

As a testament to how high-tech the Yes campaign was, at Paradise City Tavern, where everyone gathered to hear the results, someone had hooked up a laptop to the big screen TV and projected a spreadsheet that had each ward and precinct broken out. As the results came in via cell phone, they were posted on the spreadsheet for everyone to see. Veteran poll watchers told me after seeing just a few wards' results that the override would pass, and they were, of course, right.



After that, it was time to celebrate not just the fact that the override had passed, but the fact that a dedicated group of people had achieved something important for the city they all love.

I only had two regrets as I went home last night. One was that we didn't ask for enough in the override. And the other is that if we don't do something to fix the situation on a much larger scale, we're going to be right back where we are now in a few years.

Very Special Day, Update I

I went to Serio's to pick up a sandwich for lunch. I work in Easthampton and could have easily picked up something there, but I wasn't getting enough Override news through email and over the Internet, so I figured I'd drive through Northampton to see what I could see.

As I waited to make my order, I made small talk with a local salesman who commented that he'd heard me on Bill Dwight's show. I said that didn't really surprise me, since he worked for the radio station. He said that someone asked him about the override, even though he didn't live in Northampton and admittedly didn't know a lot about it. Nevertheless, he said he told the person to vote for it, because either way, the government is going to get your money.

A fatalistic attitude, to be sure, and one that wouldn't really fit nicely onto a lawn sign.

A Very Special Day

I got back from the Y this morning and found my six-year-old on my computer. When he saw me, he told me that it was a very special day. I asked him why it was a special day and he pointed to the date on the computer screen. "It's six sixteen. It's Vote Yes Day," he said.

And here I thought lawn signs weren't that effective.

So, after I showered and had breakfast, I took him to the polls to vote with me. While there wasn't as big a crowd at my polling place as there was in November, I could still sense electricity in the air, a combination of tension, excitement, and uncertainty about the final outcome.

Once inside, we reviewed our ballot carefully.



We confirmed that we wanted to vote YES and connected the appropriate arrows. Then we went and checked out. The poll workers were kind enough to ask for Owen's name as well as mine. The only disappointment in the whole process was that they weren't giving out "I Voted" stickers at this election.

As we drove away from Smith Voke, I saw two sign holders, one holding a YES sign and one holding a no sign, having an animated discussion in the designated sign holders section. It struck me as somewhat inappropriate, because chances are that the person you're arguing with (it did look like an argument), who's holding a sign and all, has already voted and you're probably not going to change their mind. I hope this isn't a harbinger of things to come today.

Radio, Radio

On Friday I went on Bill Dwight's show to talk about tomorrow's override vote. I appeared with Northampton City Council President Jim Dostal and you can listen to the show here if you'd like.

I've met Jim Dostal once or twice and have certainly never appeared on the radio with him before. We met again in the waiting area outside of the WHMP studio and strategized for only a couple of minutes before it was time to go on air.

Jim spoke from a numbers and City government perspective; I spoke from the perspective of a regular guy who researched it and came to the conclusion that the override is the way to go. I think that Bill did a good job of asking each of us questions that allowed us to speak from our respective positions. I think it was a good appearance, though I'm not so sure how much good it will do in the grand scheme of the Override.

I'll admit that I'm suffering from a bit of campaign fatigue. I'm looking forward to post-election time, when I can open my email and not see messages from people looking for me to help out with this or that. On the flip side, one of the advantages I've had in being so involved with the campaign is that I've had a set of discrete tasks to focus on that has allowed me to not focus on what it will mean to me personally if the override doesn't pass. And I'm not talking just about the $150 or so that my taxes will increase, but the affect the cuts will have on my children's education. Former classmates of mine have posted class pictures from elementary school on Facebook and I've been surprised at how large the class sizes were back then, and that was with one teacher and no aides. Of course, we were all much better students back then than what you'd find in elementary schools today, right?

But it's not just about the obvious things that can be seen, like larger class sizes, fewer extracurriculars, fewer police on the streets, but also the unseen stuff. I mean, how frustrating must it be to a city employee that the people in the community place so little value on your job that they're going to make sure that you don't get a raise and have to work harder because those around you have gotten laid off, and that's the good news? It's got to wear people down. And then there's the ultimate impact this will have on the overall desirability of Northampton as a place to live. People don't want to live in a place with declining schools and city services. And this isn't something that will immediately appear on Wednesday should the override vote not pass; it will seep in slowly but appreciably over time.

But a lot of people don't want to hear about that. They see it as a black and white issue: it's not the right time to ask them to pay more in taxes. Of course, they don't offer when a good time to ask for more in taxes might be, which leads me to think that there is never a good time because they'll never agree to it.

And that's where the challenge is. Without any campaigning, if you asked people in Northampton to approve an override, most people will say no. History shows us that the voters here don't approve general overrides. So tomorrow we'll find out if hard times and a well-run campaign can overcome a longstanding bias against general tax increases.