David's Tangled Thoughts

There hasn't been an exodus out of an American city since the Civil War. The Burning of Atlanta comes to mind. The mayor of New Orleans has ordered everyone in the city to get out. No ifs, ands, or buts. It's just not habitable. No electricity, no water, no food, no services, no protection. People just can't live there. It is frightening to think that an American city is, for all intents and purposes, gone. A report said that it will take 16 weeks just to get electricity restored. That's nothing compared to how long it will take to reconstruct. And we're not talking about repairing structures. Bulldozers are comin' in and tearing down everything. It's going to have to built up from scratch. When will the population be allowed to return? Will they have anything to return to? How are they going to get people out of the disaster zone? Where do you put up over a million homeless people? This is turning to be a lot worse than we thought.

As much as I hate to make it seem like my problems are more important than those in LA and MS, I had to comment on the gas situation. During a normal hurricane event, the local economy is clobbered but nationally, the economy doesn't take a hit. We could have easily have weathered Katrina if she made shore in Florida or in the Carolinas. This time, we are really hurting and we are beginning to feel it. First of all is gas. I filled up yesterday during my lunch hour at $2.76/gal. When I left work, it was $2.88. When I went to the COA this morning, it was $2.99. Three hours later during lunch, it had soared to $3.19. When my dad came home he said it was $3.29. I have never, ever seen prices rise this quickly. Hell, I've never seen gas in the $2.80's before much less breaking over $3.00. So you may be saying, what's the big deal? They pay these prices and then some in plenty of other countries. I don't think that they appreciate just how much our economy is linked to o

As I watched Katrina's clouds roll in from the south today, I thought back to my trip to New Orleans while I was in Arnold Air Society. I was recalling some of the sights that I saw: The Superdome, Bourbon Street, Canal Street, and the Mighty Mississippi. I wondered just what those places were like today. The dome has damage and is filled up with refugees aching for some clean water, food, and sanitary conditions. Bourbon Street looked remarkably well but that could change since a levee broke and flooding is creeping into downtown. Last I heard, the western end of Canal Street was flooded so the water is making its way into the French Quarter. I almost feel guilty that I am sitting up here in the Midwest. I'm safe, dry, comfortable and bitching that gas shot up to $2.88 a gallon at the end of the night and it will get higher. But these poor people down in the south--they are really hurting. I can only scratch the surface in trying to grasp what they are going through. This real

While going through the BBC News , I was excited momentarily by a story in which the BBC was planning to offer their television programming over the internet. My eyes glazed over as I imagined the possibility of seeing the one show that I've been waiting for to cross the pond-- Dr. Who. Yes, I want to see the new Dr. Who seasons! I don't want to wait until PBS goes around begging for money again. But my bliss was shattered when I read this line: "A BBC spokesman said the corporation was aiming to simulcast a channel permanently but would restrict it to UK viewers only." Weak. I suppose it makes sense. After all, I'm not paying taxes to the British government so it wouldn't be right to coat ride this one. [Stamps foot]But I want to! *Yes, I do watch Battlestar: Galactica

While I was attending TRIAD, one of the county mounties said that the state of Michigan had the worst drivers in the country. Umm, maybe in the eastern part of the state but here in the west, them crazy drivers are all FIPs. The Michiganders around here just know how everything works and can execute maneuvers with their eyes closed. Hell, sometimes I actually miss the Michigan left turns sometimes. It sounds like a retarded concept but it works. I thought this cop was off his rocker when he said that we were bad drivers. We are the motor state. You would think that we would be the best. Looking back to the way I was driving on my way back, maybe there is some truth. So I'm zooming down I-94 just west of Romulus. Ever since I got on by the airport, there has been nothing but construction. Along with road repairs, they're trying to build some artsy fartsy new bridge. It's afternoon rush hour. People are leaving the city either to get back to the 'burbs or to their vacati

With minutes to spare after getting lost, we got to Taylor just in time. The TRIAD conference, although disorganized at first, seemed to actually go well. My supervisor Patty seemed to be a little irritated but she went along just fine. Going to various workshops felt like I was back at school. Feeling a little high school because everything was back to back. Feeling a little college because I was snoring through some of it! (Okay, maybe it wasn’t that boring.) Actually the CERT presentation had my complete attention. Or maybe it was the instructor that had it. :D The disaster preparedness was something I wanted to see given our anxiety left over from 9-11 as well from THE blackout. There was also a little first aid demonstration that the nurse showed us. She even had a little kid come up and prove that little kids probably won’t save your life even though they will make a well meaning try. The whole thing ended at four. Door prizes were handed out. Th

Season and I were able to leave the COA a little early but we still had to take care of things before we actually made the trip up to East Lansing. Gas, lunch, money, clothes. We still left with good time even though we had to stop by K-zoo. Season had some work related issues to deal with up there. When we got up there, I called up Moose to let him know that we would be dropping by his room when we got our hotel room. I was planning to get a room at the Super 8 but Grand River was horribly clogged. Instead, we went for the Hamilton Inn in Okemos. $120 for the night. Ouch. I thought about looking up Dusty but I never told him that I was planning on coming to campus. Plus, I think that there might have been some issues that I didn'’t want to deal with at the time. But Season and Moose were introduced and we gave her a short tour of campus. It was a tour for me as well. I saw the new Sparty statue that was put up as well as the addition to the Spartan Stadium where the original Spart

I know, I know. I said that I would be away. Well I'm at the internship site in Cass right now. I'm taking an "extended" break from some reading that I have to do. I will be leaving as soon as Season is able to leave which should be in a couple hours. I'm packed and ready to go. All I need to do is fill up the car and hit the road. With the recent rash of spam comments on the blogs that I read, I decided to change the comments procedure on this blog. I never noticed the feature before until I noticed it being used at The Outsiders Looking In . Word verification might be a little crap for keeping my site clean but it's probably well worth it. When I can, I'm going to change my profile as well. It's looking a little dated.

I'm off today to attend a conference in Detroit. TRIAD-which is an alliance between the sheriffs, local police departments, and senior citizen organizations, focuses on crime prevention on the elderly and provide more effective services to victims. My supervisor, Patty, has already left to make preparations for her own presentation that she will be giving. Season is going with me. It kind of throws a kink into my plans but I think it will turn out for the best. I'm planning to go to East Lansing tomorrow and visit Moose and probably Dusty. We'll spend the night there and then head to Taylor (yes for you Detroit people). It'll still be quite a drive, but I hope that what we get out of the trip to MSU will be worth it. So all of you fellow bloggers, make sure you do something interesting over the next couple days. I look forward to hearing about your adventures. Embellish if you need to!

What is it with PETA protestors using sex and nudity to make their points across? Just a while ago, there was the "Vegetarians make better lovers" protest in which a couple dressed down and made out in public. Now we got naked people wrapping themselves up in meat packages. I don't like animal cruelty as much as the next person, but that doesn't mean that I'm not going to eat meat. My not wanting to make animals suffer unnecessarily doesn't mean that I'm going to stop having them killed. In the end, their "feelings" are not going to stop me from wanting to ingest some flesh. Hell, the lion doesn't give a shit about the feelings of the zebra it just killed (which was more slowly than the animals killed for me.) Animals are not on the same level as me. I don't have to treat them like humans--so killing them is not "murder." I owe them no special considerations. "Only cannibals eat animals. Go Vegetarian." What the hel

In this article , Pat Robertson, founder of the Christian Coalition , advocated the assasination of Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez. Apparently it would be cheaper than opening another war front in order to secure oil. Sometimes I just have to shake my head at some of the Conservative kooks and wish that we were not in the same party. I tell you, the Democrats should toss out the Michael Moores and the Republicans should toss out the Pat Robersons. We don't need their big mouths making an ass out of the parties.

My sister left a little while ago to begin her studies at Western Michigan University in Kalamazoo. Because she is classified as a minority student, she was allowed to arrive a little early and participate in some additional programs being offered. Who am I going to tease now? She actually didn't take much. I recommended that she only take the basics for now. Since most students return home for Labor Day, she will have a better idea, then, of what she will need for the dorms. But she did take my TV and my little fridge. I guess I really don't need them anymore and it's good that they are being put to good use. Now that Kris is at school and will have high speed internet, I can see her spending quite a bit of time on the net. Hmmm, maybe she'll even start blogging? We'll see I guess.

<<---See also: Kaput. $600 to repair my car. $600 because something called a serpentine belt broke. [sigh]

The lamb gyro. They were a little skimpy this year. How disappointing. $5.00-- at least the price didn't go up this year. Bounthans (sp?) is the booth to go to if you are looking for Chinese. I hear that the meals they serve are really worth the money. I never went for the big platters because then I wouldn't have room for anything else! Crab ragoons and eggrolls here. $1.50 for the crab ragoons. $3.00 for the eggrolls. Most people drink pop here at the fair. Why? Because it's cheap. $2.00 will get you 32oz at the Korn Dog place. Refills are $1.50. There are lemonade stands but they are quite pricey. This cup here sells for $3.00 along the midway if I remember right. My sister found a booth tucked away by the horse stalls that sold them for $1.50. It's not often I get to drink all natural lemonade. Sirloin tips. Mmm, mmm, good. They are expensive as hell though! $7.00 for the regular meal. 1/4 lb of meat, 1/4 lb of mashed taters, onions, peppers (not shown here), and

I thought that I would show you some of my sister's exhibits shown at the fair. She showed a lot more than this but it was mostly small vegetables. Here in the first pic is the only turban squash entered in the winter squash category. My grandma is the only farmer that I've seen who actually grows this type of squash. At least, I've never seen anyone else selling it at the farmer's market. As for her artwork, she received an A for them. The last one earned her the Artist Showcase Award. Personally, I would have liked to see the grid removed. Having it there gave me the impression that the piece was not complete.

It's this kind of craptastic food that are contributing the expanding waist lines. The rumors are true... there is such a thing as fried twinkies and fried oreos. Unbelievable. Why fry something that is already horrible enough? Who in their right minds actually thought to do this? This smells eerily like Elvis Prestley's doing. Of course, I had to try it. So I sent my sister in search for these heart attack inducing snacks. So how were they? The oreos were horrible. We actually couldn't finish them. That decision probably preserved four minutes of our life span. I expected the twinkie to be mush. After all, I thought that a sponge cake would soak up all that oil. It ended up tasting like funnel cake except that it had runny cream coming out of it. I will never, however, try to eat those again.

The Berrien County Youth Fair had an excellent concert this year. Last year, they brought in Brad Paisley . This year we got Sara Evans and Josh Turner . Great stuff. And for $22, it was a good deal even for this apathetic country music listener. I got some tickets the night before. It was nearly sold out but we got fourth row near the end section. It wasn't a bad seat... but then again, it couldn't get much worse. But I got tickets for Erin and her sister who listen to country more than I do. Dusty also showed up with his date. My aunt was somewhere in the crowd, but I never saw her. Josh Turner started the concert off. He was pretty good. The songs that will be in his next album seemed to be pretty decent. I may buy it when it comes out. Well... okay, I won't but maybe I'll do some downloading. I've got 45 credits left. He finished with his hit Long Black Train . Good 'ol country Christian music. As it was playing, I was looking around the crowd. Just drinkin

This is a haystack. Apparently, it was introduced to the fair last year or the year before. Dad found it and wanted to have it again. For $7.50, it's enough to feed two people. I swear it's just a glorified breakfast food. Hashbrowns, onions, peppers, chicken, steak, salsa, cheese, and sourcream. I'm not a big fan of it. As I said in a previous post , I was going to go for some Wisconsin food. Here are the jalepeno cheddar poppers. $6.00. Fucking ridiculous... but oh so good. When I made my order, the guy there sounded like he was German. A little change of pace from those who sound Asian or Hispanic. But that brings up the German roasted almonds. $4.00 for a snack pack. I munched on these while attending the Sara Evans concert.

Since my car decided to break down so late in the day, it would be until tomorrow before we could do anything with it anyways. So we alerted the local police that the red Saturn sitting outside their station was broken and that they shouldn't ticket it. It would be taken care of in the morning. With nothing better to do, Dad and I went to the fair. We missed some of the first part of the circus and we had to sit at the far end, but we still made it. At least we got to the tigers and the "Lord of the Ring." [Gag] It was the end of the day, the tigers had gone through two shows already. If they were going to attack the trainer, this was probably the best time. Right? There were a couple good roars and swipes but nothing bad happened. Truthfully, the tigers were pretty dull. They just hoped up and down and two jumped through a hoop of fire. Yawn. Actually, the best part of the circus was this guy. Part comedian, part juggler, part geek, with a little bit of Carrot Top thrown

I called some friends to see if they wanted to go to the fair last night. The circus was in town and the latest show was at seven. No one wanted to go or couldn't go. Alright, fine. I'd still have time to drag my grandma who I knew was going to be there but wasn't sure if she was planning on going to the circus. Well I left around six. I would have had plenty of time if my car didn't crap out on me. I was making a left in Buchanan when this sreeching, grinding sound started up. I stopped up at a local market and checked out the sound. I figured that it must be serious and I didn't want to risk making the trip to Berrien Springs just to attend a circus show. So I turned back and headed for home. I didn't get far. My power steering went out. The battery light turned on. And the temp gauge showed that my engine was rapidly heating up. So I pulled into this parking spot right by the post office and police station. I called my father because he knows more about car s

In yet another nod to fellow blogger Edward , I decided to make a post of my own "fridge porn." In his post , he talked about how big his parents' fridge was and that he was upset about it. I was aware that the Brits have smaller fridges but I didn't realize that they suffered from inadequacy (joke lang.) So, from America, where bigger is always better, here are pics of my fridges. Yes, that's plural. First, there's the fridge, which is the one with all the magnets on it. It serves as our message board/phone book in addition to storing our food. Then there is the freezer which holds our vegetables, frozen foods, as well an assortment of critters. Next to that is my drink fridge that I had with me in the dorms. Would I be correct in guessing that mine is bigger than Edward's? On top of that are some of my other things that I have brought back from State . I certainly don't feel bad about having so much space to hold so much food. I think our two culture

Fair week is just a glutton fest. It's probably worse than Thanksgiving. At least on that day, it's just one day of stuffing. This... this is four days of grazing at a wide selection of delicious and fattening foods. All this stuff rapidly deflates my wallet but I figure, most of this stuff I only eat once a year. Really, who makes elephant ears in their kitchen for the fun of it? Or German roasted almonds? Or Blue Moon ice cream? So Monday was day one. Because the fair opens at eleven, and I have to be in Niles by three for work, I just went there to wander aimlessly and get lunch. My sister came along so she could get out of some farm work. I don't blame her. I'd rather be at the fair than hoeing or picking berries. We weren't able to go into the livestock barns. Judging was still taking place. We only saw a bunch of cows really. Speaking of cow-- we decided to eat some by getting a Philly Steak sandwich. A Philly Cheesesteak is sooo much better-- preferably in PA

Well, here are the first photos from the Berrien County Youth Fair. Tractors! Yea... I know you are wetting your pants in excitement. South of the midway, there is a large lot that showcases farm equipment. The John Deere displays take up the majority of the space. I like to browse through there as these tractors are in great condition. Plus, it's not often that I get to climb aboard some of these behemoths. Yeah-- I'm a redneck. This model (the 420) is identical to my grandma's tractor at the farm. I crashed this one into the pole barn. It forever turned me off from wanting to learn how to drive stick. I probably should get over that soon. We had a second John Deere known affectionately as the TenTen. I liked to drive that one much more as it was faster... and I never crashed it.

I'm going to be busy as hell for the next week. A full time schedule at work while trying to fit in the Berrien County Youth Fair . So for the three or so of you who care... my postings may be few and far between. Hopefully, I'll make it worth the wait.

Jake posted a link to his buddy at TheAngryAmerican who has some great photos of their tour in Iraq. Check it out. In fact, check them both out.

<<--See: What the hell just happened here? Sadly, it appears it was a fluke. Damn.

I am sick of the song "You and Me" by Lifehouse! Until a couple weeks ago, I didn't mind the song. I'd go as far as to say that I enjoyed it when it came on the air waves. The local pop radio station, U93 has been playing that song constantly. I swear it is on at least once an hour. U93 has been sponsoring the Lifehouse concert at Club Fever. Apparently they think that playing this one song over and over will provide publicity for the event. For me, it has turned me off from even considering going to the concert. Every time that song turns up, I have to switch channels to 103 The Bear. It's a little more hardcore but it's the better than "You and Me." Lifehouse has plenty of other songs-- can't they give them some air time?

I woke up to the pattering of little feet and squeals. Turning over to look at my clock radio, I saw that I had four minutes until it would go off. I buried my head into my pillow, trying to capture my few remaining moments before I would have to take on the day. Eeeee! Okay, I guess I'll just have to get up. I walked out into the hallway to see my two cousins alive and well in the main living room. Alyssa and James are here for today and tomorrow while their mom is out on business. [sarcasm]Lucky us [/sarcasm]. I don't know how to handle little kids, and James practically screams his head off if I get near him. I just know that at some point during all this, my parents are going to want some time alone and my sister will be at work... and I'll have to watch them. In all seriousness, I told my Dad that if that were to happen, I'm just going to put a leash on them and tie 'em to the tree in the yard. So far, no major incidents have occurred but I still might want to

See the related article here . If plane travel has exceeded pre 9-11 levels, has anyone else been wondering why our airline companies are all going bankrupt? Bad management I tell you. Those $80 tickets to Vegas and Orlando are not helping matters (even though, I'd be happy if I were flying to those places). Today, Roe was talking about how airlines might consider charging travelers by the pound. Well, I'll be screwed if that idea went through. And surprisingly a lot of people think that would be a good idea-- as long as those companies don't have to look to Congress for some more bail-out money. Gas is skyrocketting. In Chicago, they have broken the $3.00 barrier. A phenomenon that has only occurred on the west coast until now. Luckily, my region is doing better on average. I just filled up my tank at $2.46/gal. I'm still waiting on that Iraqi oil [taps foot impatiently.]

After over a month of not seeing my two best friends-- just out of the blue-- we settled back into a somewhat normal coexistance. I saw Sara and had lunch with her. Adam actually talked to me. This happened within hours of each other. Did I step into another dimension? I'm walking cautiously on this one...

My apologies for taking a while to make another post. Things have been rather hectic so most of my time online was just looking for other blog updates and emails. I was free Monday night to go out with a couple of Niles buds. Originally, I was just going to meet up with them at the Riverfront Cafe for some drinks around 9. But after some arm twisting, I got dragged to see " Wedding Crashers. " (I recommend taking a pass on this one.) A fellow blogger reminded me how much I miss Guinness. I hadn't had it since.... Brian's birthday bar crawl last fall? Anyways, rather than ask for my usual Labatt or Miller Light, I asked the waitress if they had Guinness there and she said they did. So I ordered it. I was going to have Amanda take a picture of it so I could post it proudly here on the blog. I was dumb. I should have been more specific and asked if they had it on tap. Instead, I got it in a bottle. Not the same. Yeah, I can hear the laughs now. Chuck it up. Eh, but at

Idiots! I should have posted this a few days ago, but I just got back the results today. In a vote 898-1000, Niles Township voters decided not to pass a 2 mill increase to further fund the Niles Township Police Department. Folks, we are facing the real possibility that the department will have to disband. I'm serious. As it stands currently, there are only 10 officers covering 44 square miles of territory cut into segments due to the size of the City of Niles (which falls under the jurisdiction of the Niles City Police Department.) Only two of these officers are full-time. And one of the remaining eight, is not even paid! Because the force is stretched thin, there hasn't been a night shift operating since last fall. So who has been picking up the slack? Well, the Berrien County Police Department and the Michigan State Police. Niles City PD said that they will respond to township calls--but only in an emergency. See, NCPD has it's own staff shortage. I don't know about t

I went back to the Cass County fair yesterday for the first half of my internship. My supervisor Patty was there for some programs that the COA was hosting in the morning and early afternoon. When I got there around 10, the place was still deserted. This time it was understandable since the rest of the fair didn't start until 11. These three country singers were performing when I met up with Patty. They were really good as they stayed an hour over their allotted time with their captivated audience. After the trio was done, Season and I went out to get some lunch. Way at the other end of the food strip, there was a little and unremarkable booth with a simple sign that said, "Miss Saigon." It may not have been much it gave the best deal for food out of all the booths there in my opinion. Yesterday, I paid $6 for a pizza and pop. For $5, I got an eggroll, fried rice, bourbon chicken, and a pop. We headed back to the COA site with our food and saw a radio program being put o

Today, the internship took me to the Cass County Fair in Cassopolis. The COA was sponsoring a dance class there around noon and Season took me along to go take some pictures. As you can see here, there weren't that many people around. When we got to the fair grounds, I would guestimate that I saw maybe sixty people. When we finally got to our building where the dance class was being held, there were only seven couples. For the most part they seem to be enjoying themselves as they were doing waltzes and tangos-- other old timer dances. It didn't take us long for the pictures to be taken. Season got all the good ones for she is "the professional." I offered to give her some of my snap shops as well. I just have to remember to send them to her by email. Despite Berrien County claiming to have the "Midwest's largest youth fair," I thought that the BCYF was actually pretty small. It was hard to imagine anything smaller. Nope, Cass County destroyed that belief