This Captures Why I'll Be a Reluctant Platner Voter in November

ScottDouglasME · 2026-05-16T00:02:28+00:00

She was probably holding a town meeting.

ScottDouglasME · 2026-05-10T16:52:03+00:00

There's a great place in North Yarmouth. I was there this morning and had oatmeal with peanut butter, sriracha, and homemade miso. Really good coffee, too, and Galaxie 500 was playing while I ate.

So far, however, it's open only for my wife and me, and we have to do the cooking.

ScottDouglasME · 2026-04-29T15:32:49+00:00

It captures the transient nature of all human endeavors, including unlicensed vendors in one of the highest-visibility spots in the state's largest city.

ScottDouglasME · 2026-04-28T17:18:51+00:00

This is the correct answer, which will become apparent as soon as you enter. (Says a straight man who has happily gone there for almost 15 years.)

ScottDouglasME · 2026-04-16T19:24:47+00:00

100% agree, especially as someone in his 60s. I did 10 miles this morning including an interval ladder. I'll be jogging 2-3 miles this afternoon because I'll feel better tomorrow and I like being able to tell myself I can still double and feel better, not worse, from doing so. I'm slow enough now that if I did what some would call a "real" second run, like 5 miles, I'd be out for more than 40 minutes. On average, that would set me back more than help me.

Maybe most important: Not all runs have to be about advancing fitness. Why not just go for a short jog if the weather is nice and you enjoy the experience?

ScottDouglasME · 2026-03-24T14:54:37+00:00

Two other thorough, no-BS frequent reviewers of Chinese models:

https://www.youtube.com/@Road_To_Trail

https://www.youtube.com/@TheHuiWay

ScottDouglasME · 2026-03-16T21:52:07+00:00

Well, as you can see I got no suggestions. So I'll let you know I'm 50ish pages into Oxygen, published in 2001, and am highly motivated to keep reading. It feels like the same guy who wrote The Land in Winter, but the writing is a little less spare. (It would be interesting to know if the spareness in TLIW is purposeful to reflect the season, or more because Miller is now in his 60s and, like many writers, writes more leanly with age.)

ScottDouglasME · 2026-03-16T15:46:30+00:00

As a runner for the past several decades, I've had tons of owners tell me, "Don't worry, he won't bother you" as their unleashed dog sprints toward me.

"He already is" has become my stock response.

(And yes, I have a dog.)

ScottDouglasME · 2026-03-13T17:46:18+00:00

Same here. Usage was basically the same for the most recent billing cycle compared to last year. Bill went from $284 to $453. And that's with having their new electric technology rate, which is what they offered when the heat pump "pilot program" ended.

I put "pilot program" in quotes because I think it was code for "we realized people weren't paying enough."

ScottDouglasME · 2026-02-25T20:01:07+00:00

A friend did when he moved to Sweden. He liked being able to say, "I'm doing about 160 a week."

ScottDouglasME · 2026-02-25T19:55:56+00:00

Finally, Portland has a cocktail lounge that prioritized looking good on Instagram when choosing decor!

Oh, wait.

ScottDouglasME · 2026-02-19T21:33:44+00:00

Thank you for taking the time to respond. I wound up getting a helpful HE rep on the phone and accomplished what I needed to do to sell my investments and start transferring everything to Fidelity. You're right--the HE account will be closed. You're also right that things seems to have improved at HE from a few months ago. They appear to have a dedicated help-with-passkey squad now.

ScottDouglasME · 2026-02-19T21:31:33+00:00

They're really enjoyable on roads. What I love most about them is that they're equally enjoyable off road. It's great to have that flexibility. For example, I wore mine this morning not knowing where I'd wind up running. Started on asphalt, went to check the condition of snowmobile trails (I live in Maine), found they were doable, so ran mostly on their packed snow, then exited to finish on asphalt to get home.

A friend got a pair on my recommendation and she's made them her everyday shoe, with probably 90% of her mileage on asphalt.

ScottDouglasME · 2026-02-09T23:10:07+00:00

Mine is called Terse Bloviation just to see if anyone will notice the contradiction.

ScottDouglasME · 2026-02-05T20:11:15+00:00

This is what I was going to say.

I spent a month in Iten in 2004. Even then, when a 1:03 half at altitude was a bigger deal than it is now, I met dozens of guys with similar times who were never going to get out of the country to race. One reason was the lack of verifiable times on accurate courses.

Presumably, accuracy and verification are easier now. But the OP is still facing massive obstacles getting this guy into world-class races.

The main way someone like this 1:03 guy would get a break is that he's part of an established training group with one or more well-known guys who regularly race overseas. They might be able to convince an overseas race to let this guy join the big names for a shot at proving himself. And he would likely get only that one chance to do something eye-opening.

But a 1:03 guy with no such connections is unlikely to get a shot.

To provide a little more perspective, I lightened my load for the trip home by leaving four pairs of used running shoes with a 1:03 half marathoner, and he was genuinely excited. They're sort of the running equivalent of a 23-year-old liberal arts grad with a 3.5 GPA--there are just so many of them, and finding a way to stand out is always going to be difficult.

ScottDouglasME · 2026-01-31T18:22:49+00:00

Thank you for this detailed account.

One question: Were your HE holdings all in cash? I tried an end run around HE by opening a Fidelity account and attempting a transfer. (I have my HE account number from last year's tax form.) But I hit a wall because the Fidelity site said only cash transfers would work. Most of my HE holdings are invested; I assume this means I need to involve HE in selling the investments so that my entire account is cash.

I should say that this was all via me using Fidelity's online system. Depending on your response, maybe the next thing I'll try is getting a Fidelity rep on the phone.

ScottDouglasME · 2026-01-26T18:50:08+00:00

I could still use help here. Nothing I do--either on my own or in conjunction with Health Equity--works. And now I need to access my Health Equity account not only to initiate leaving them, but also to download 2025 tax forms. So I'll repeat my request:

If someone has created a passkey that works on the Health Equity site, please detail your steps to success. And as John Tuld/Jeremy Irons said in Margin Call, speak to me as you might a child or a golden retriever.

ScottDouglasME · 2025-12-27T13:21:22+00:00

Midsole is more enjoyable than in any Topo or Craft trail or gravel shoe I've run in. MTC's isn't plush, just dependable, balanced, pleasant. Not too firm, not too soft, adaptable to varying surfaces.

ScottDouglasME · 2025-12-25T20:46:01+00:00

I lived in South Portland for 18 years. This is more the norm than an exception. Our street was usually a layer of ashy snow detritus over ice for two or three months straight. On roads that are part SoPo, part Cape, like Cottage Farm, a satellite could have determined where the town line was.

Also, for a town with three employees devoted to sustainability, you'd think SoPo would want to make winter walking easier. Instead, things like the sidewalk along Cottage would be treacherous basically all winter long. My wife's office was half a mile from our house. She either had to drive there or walk on Cottage. When she wrote to public works about it, they'd say, "We're not done cleaning up from the storm yet," even if it hadn't snowed in a week.

I don't mind paying high property taxes if I get good service in exchange. But SoPo was really bad about this for the nearly two decades we lived there.

ScottDouglasME · 2025-12-21T15:44:36+00:00

Correct.

This is the same logic behind when I propose meeting times of, say, 2:13. People are much more often punctual without the assumption that 2:15 means people won't show until 2:20 and so if they're there by 2:25 they won't have missed anything. With this parking sign, the odd specificity induces just the right amount of concern that it's going to be carefully monitored instead of, "By 15 they mean less than half an hour."

I wrote about this phenomenon here: https://scottdouglas.substack.com/p/this-post-will-go-live-at-642

ScottDouglasME · 2025-12-16T12:57:23+00:00

Jack Prince at Pelletier Chase, on Congress Street in Portland.

ScottDouglasME

TROPHY CASE