What I Learned On Katahdin

This is part way down Knife's Edge, and still six hours to go in our hike. Phil coined the phrase 'blue blaze of sanity' since the fact that there are trail markings is what makes doing this not completely insane.

In the entire history of my blog, I have never thought about and rewritten a post so many times. I didn’t want to sound nonchalant about doing some stupid, dangerous things and at the same time, I didn’t want to sound overly dramatic. Here is my attempt at balance, and my cautionary tale.

This past weekend, I hiked Mount Katahdin with my British friend Phil. He had always wanted to go but thought it was too dangerous to attempt alone. I said when he visited Maine again, we’d do it.

He arrived on Thursday from London and Friday morning, we headed into the North Maine woods (Millinocket more specifically) and made camp. The next morning (3:30 am more specifically) we took down camp and headed into Baxter State Park.

The plan was to park at Roaring Brook Campground, hike the Helon Taylor trail, take Knife’s Edge to the summit of Katahdin, hike down Cathedral then Chimney Pond trail back to Roaring Brook. It is a long and difficult hike under normal circumstances. Attempting this in October is not something I plan to do again, mostly because I was really stupid about it.

Nicole’s Quest To Find A Seamstress Or Why Everyone Should Have A Website

The dress that launched a bunch of phone calls. I love Ebay.It all started when I ordered this fabulous silk designer dress on eBay. Normally completely out of my price range, I got it for $40. I figured if it didn’t fit, I could have it altered.

The dress was even more beautiful in person but since I am not a size 8 Anne Klein dress form, it needed alterations to fit. Normally I attempt this sort of thing myself but the potential for disaster on silk made me decide that maybe I should call in an expert. And so my search began.

A Google search yielded some places in Bangor (an hour away) and a dry cleaner in Ellsworth (30 minutes away). I know that the dry cleaner subcontracts this kind of work out (I had something repaired there before) and it would take a few weeks turnaround to get it back. Was there no one in my entire county who could do this?

I checked the Yellow Pages. Nothing. I even tried to convince a friend to help me do it for money. She wasn’t confident enough to attempt silk but did give me the number of a local sewing store. I called them (since their owner once told me she barely checks her email) and was given a phone number to Acadia Sewing.

Too Cute Tuesday: Limoncello Part II

Too Cute Tuesday often shys away from crafts that take more then a few hours to complete, let alone multiple days. We have short attention spans and like the instant gratification of having accomplished something (anything!) between 7 and 9 pm on a Tuesday night.

All that said, We made a special exception for limoncello. You may remember that we got the party started with zesting lemons and Shakira just two short weeks ago. Tonight, it was time to see how it all came out.

Spoiler Alert: It doesn’t suck, which both surprised and delighted us.

Before you judge the use of a mug, we shared in tasting the results! Yum!

Marketing Monday: America’s Best Idea

Is your business or non-profit promoting itself in a cool new way? Contact me; I’d love to write about it!

America's Best Idea: A good series and a good example of PBS promotion. I feel like I'm hearing about this everywhere, don't you?

I’ll know I’ve hit the big time when I am written about in the New York Times or the Huffington Post…or both! (Until then, I bask in my small-though-significant-to-me internet fame.) It’s probably a bit easier, however, for a national broadcasting agency to get this national press coverage.

Why Ending Effective Educational Programs Makes Terrible Economic Sense

Recently, a local school district has closed off a computer technology program open to high school students. Their reasons cited were low enrollment. My old boss Chris wrote an excellent letter about his experience with the program in the local paper. It got me thinking, beyond the impact of one individual student, how do these programs effect the world beyond the classroom?

Schools exist to make productive members of society. And when you look into the data, a lot of these technical programs end up being pretty effective. They increase graduation rates and beyond that, students who go through these programs earn more money, have lower unemployment, and lower rates of substance abuse.

So subjectively, these programs are fantastic. But what is their actual return on investment, beyond preventing bad things from happening to teenagers?

ROI on a student enrolled in a technical program in high school. Not bad. Actually pretty darn great!

Need marketing help?

X