Friday Oct 12 Primo goes to the senior center and a volunteer picks up yard signs

I had nagged and nagged at Primo to go to the senior center. I emailed the senior center and was told he could come but could not leave any campaign literature behind. The director wrote,

Goldy, we would delighted to meet your husband, but we do not allow campaigning in our facility during  hours, Monday – Thursday form 8-4 and Friday from 8-2. If indeed he wanted to come and chat with our diners (11:30-12:30) one day that would be fine. Literature can be handed out, he can talk to diners, we will introduce him, but he really can’t “campaign.” Literature cannot be left here when Mr. Digger  leaves. The problem is impartiality. We have to remain impartial here. Allowing someone to actively campaign  would mean that I have to invite every  candidate to come and do the likewise. While everyone is welcome, I do not have time to set up a debate/forum.  We would like to meet your husband, all it would be is an introduction to all as a group  and then he can walk around tables and chat with folks. You are both welcome to come to lunch. The menus for October are on our website. We ask that folks put in their order for lunch by noon of the working day before someone plans on visiting. The County Department on Aging asks a $2.50 voluntary contribution for those 60 years of age and above and $6.00 for those under 60 years of age.

Let me know if I can be of further help to you. Please let us know when your husband will be coming. 

Primo didn't want to go. "All those old people!" he moaned.

This from a man who had adored his grandparents.

"They'll be nice," I said. "They vote! They'll love you!"

So he went.

"They were so sweeet," he said, "but it was kind of a waste. There were only about 25 people there and most of them lived outside of the district. But they were soooo nice!"

"I told you they would be nice!" I said. But I had anticipated that it would be a more worthwhile visit.

When I got home, I called one of  our neighbors, who had volunteered to deliver yard signs. I spent an hour this morning putting together delivery routes. I did it by hand on google maps, then Primo told me, when we were messaging, that there are probably programs that do that, which OF COURSE there are and I don't know why I didn't think of it. So I googled "how to design a delivery route" and all sorts of options popped up. I tried RouteBuilder.com. It wouldn't have been that much faster than what I did because it wouldn't have clumped addresses. I still would have had to break out the different routes by hand. But it would have been nice to upload 30 addresses at a time. Next time, I'll know better.

He came over to get them and started to tell me a very long story about why he couldn't put a sign up in his own yard. Fortunately, he caught himself and smiled ruefully. "I'll have to tell that one later," he said.

I was grateful. This guy is very nice and off the charts smartski - he's a professor of something that it's hard to be a professor of - chemical engineering or something like that. It's not like he's a prof of a "studies" subject, which for the most part, are academically lacking. 

Oh relax. You really want to tell me that it's as hard to get a PhD in social studies as it is to get one in physics?

But he likes to tell long, involved stories about things he knows about, which is a lot. He knows a lot. But sometimes, you just want to give someone his signs and get back to making your green tomato pie that you're making with the green tomatoes you rescued from the tomato vines someone pulled up and tossed in the curb yesterday. I saw the tomatoes on my way to the bus stop and harvested about two dozen of them. Stuck them in my gym bag, carried them to work, then carried them home again.

So our smartski neighbor is nice and helpful and he knows that he talks a lot.

I am so grateful that he is helping.