Chamber director releases Top 10 list

    This past week, despite having more Purel in the office than candy, my germs and I had a vacation on my couch. For those in that need-to-know category, I’m fairly certain on at least one day, the germs were winning. Complete with all the necessary vacation accessories, I decided I was some glad to have them.     Ellen gave up sugar last week, for those of you working folks. I sat on the couch considering how really dreadful a cold would be in many other places in the world (ie. Haiti: The Topic on virtually all channels at some point in any given show); no cough drops, no tissues, no chloraseptic, no motrin, no liquids at all, no shelter, and then again, no tissues.
    Between determining there is nothing on TV in the daytime (I had suspected as much), and much grateful snuffling with my vacation accessories, I was happy to see there were fair amounts of trailers traveling past. Good. This was only Monday and Tuesday.
    By Friday I was still being grateful for the really fairly profuse snowmobilers traveling in every direction. It was a big weekend: Andy Santerre Run, the International Festival, caravans to Quebec, Moosestompers … on and on.
    I was also struck by all the trucks. Now I’ve read the statistics before about one in every five vehicles on our roads is a voracious fossil fuel carnivore averaging all of about 8 mpg, so I know that’s the case. But watching it all travel past eventually began to give me pazzzzzzmall businesses! Now there you go, that’s a good thing. Maybe some of them were only delivering arm chairs and TVs for the Big Game, but all sales are good sales. I do believe it, but it’s another statement that worries me. More later.
    So between snufflaging and being glad for commerce traveling by, I came up with a germ induced top 10 list of things to think about as you have a sick vacation on Main St. in Caribou, Maine.
10. Could Dead River really have as many trucks as it seems, gleefully driving to greedy fuel tanks all over The County, or is it just an off campus smoking policy and a chain smoking driver traveling just off site to smoke down at the old Caribou Ford lot?
9. Do you suppose the school department needs bottled water? Don’t we have some of the best water in The County? How much does all that bottled water cost anyway?
8. What is getting delivered by Fed Ex every day to the Superintendent’s Offices? Do they have their own account? Is it a built-in fee?
7. Where are all those Big Logs coming from? Where are they going with them in such a hurry if all the mills are shut down?
6. How much do you suppose one of those radar guns would cost (all the better to clock those log trucks whistling past)?
5. What would we do if we were cut off by some natural disaster and all the milk and food trucks couldn’t get here for some period of time? Not good.
4. Is everyone really on the phone all the time? What do they have to talk about that can’t wait until they get home or to work?
3. Why with the onslaught of instant accessibility and connectivity, what’s with the social skills of our young people? In general, they seem to not know how to talk on a “real phone” and even though they’re always connected with someone else, connectivity doesn’t equal communicating.
2. How are we going to get Bombardier to make mean green sledding machines?
1. Do you suppose the sledders had a good time this past weekend? Do you think they’ll come back?
    Surely our odds are good at least one of those travelers will want to come back and start a business, yes?
Again, some of these thoughts are germ-induced, and I’m really not trying to be flip. I hope you are all well, probably don’t stop in this week, we may yet have more than our fair share of too many germs, but do call us!
    Wendy Landes, MPA, is the executive director of the Caribou Chamber of Commerce & Industry. She can be reached in person at 24 Sweden Street, Suite 101; by telephone at 498-6156 or via e-mail at wlandes@cariboumaine.net.