Eminent Domain 2

<<--See also: Eminent Domain.

X over at the Geek Crew brought this article to my attention:

WorldNetDaily 28 June 2005
Supreme Court justice faces boot from home?
Developer wants 'Lost Liberty Hotel' built upon property of David Souter
by Ron Strom

A private developer contacted the local government in Supreme Court Justice David Souter's hometown in New Hampshire yesterday asking that the property of the judge – who voted in favor of a controversial decision allowing a city to take residents' homes for private development – be seized to make room for a new hotel.

Logan Darrow Clements faxed a request to Chip Meany, the code enforcement officer of the town of Weare, N.H., seeking to start the application process to build a hotel on 34 Cilley Hill Road, the present location of Souter's home.

Wrote Clements: "Although this property is owned by an individual, David H. Souter, a recent Supreme Court decision, Kelo v. City of New London, clears the way for this land to be taken by the government of Weare through eminent domain and given to my LLC for the purposes of building a hotel. The justification for such an eminent domain action is that our hotel will better serve the public interest as it will bring in economic development and higher tax revenue to Weare."

The Kelo v. City of New London decision, handed down Thursday, allows the New London, Conn., government to seize the homes and businesses of residents to facilitate the building of an office complex that would provide economic benefits to the area and more tax revenue to the city. Though the practice of eminent domain is provided for in the Fifth Amendment of the Constitution, this case is significant because the seizure is for private development and not for "public use," such as a highway or bridge. The decision has been roundly criticized by property-rights activists and limited-government commentators.

According to a statement from Clements, the proposed development, called "The Lost Liberty Hotel" will feature the "Just Desserts Café" and include a museum, open to the public, "featuring a permanent exhibit on the loss of freedom in America." Instead of a Gideon's Bible in each room, guests will receive a free copy of Ayn Rand's novel "Atlas Shrugged," the statement said.

Clements says the hotel must be built on this particular piece of land because it is a unique site – "being the home of someone largely responsible for destroying property rights for all Americans."

Souter has claimed Weare as his home since he moved there as an 11-year-old boy with his family.

"This is not a prank" said Clements. "The town of Weare has five people on the Board of Selectmen. If three of them vote to use the power of eminent domain to take this land from Mr. Souter we can begin our hotel development."

Clements says his plan is to raise investment capital from wealthy pro-liberty investors and draw up architectural plans. These plans would then be used to raise additional capital for the project.

While Clements currently makes a living in marketing and video production, he tells WND he has had involvement in real estate development and is fully committed to the project.

"We will build a hotel there if investors come forward, definitely," he said.

Clements is the CEO of Freestar Media, LLC, which is dedicated to fighting "the most deadly and destructive force on the planet: abusive governments," the website states.

The activist says he is aware of the apparent conflict of someone who is strongly opposed to the Kelo decision using it to purposely oust an American from his property.

"I realize there is a contradiction, but we're only going to use it against people who advocated" the Kelo decision, Clements told WND. "Therefore, it's a case of retaliation, not initiation."

Clements says some people have already offered to put money into the project.

All I am looking for is poetic justice.

Eminent Domain

It used to be thought that Eminent Domain did not mean that the government could not take away private property and transfer it to another private entity. (There are minor exceptions to that but I won't get into detail.) First lets look at what laws affect me:

Federal Constitution, Amendment 5 of the Bill of Rights:

"...nor shall private property be taken for public use, without just compensation."

Michigan Constitution, Article 10 Section 2:

"Private property shall not be taken for public use without just compensation therefor being first made or secured in a manner prescribed by law. Compensation shall be determined in proceedings in a court of record."

Well, what is public use? It had been thought that public use meant that the government could only take your private property in order to convert it to public property. For example, they were going to build a road, a military base, a school, park land, or things of that nature. A case coming out of New England had a local government condemning decently kept houses and businesses. They want to take that property and hand it over to a private developer. Essentially they were robbing Peter of his land and giving that land to Paul. Their justification? It will provide a better tax base and make the community look better. Does the term public use really include that? Hell no! It may cause a benefit to the public but the public does not use it. It's still private property, subject to the wishes of the new owners. The U.S. Supreme Court, however, disagrees. Apparently, a community's desire for greater tax revenue meets the constitutional requirements for eminent domain.

Let's say you are fortunate to live in one of the states where your property taxes are based on the value of your home at the time of purchase. And let's say that you were really fortunate in that your property quadrupled in value in the five years you lived there. The government has the right to kick you out of your house and sell it to another person because the government would be able to get more taxes from the new owners.

This is completely outrageous.

See also Eminent Domain Watch.

The Ten Commandments

The Supreme Court of the United States handed down a ruling in which displays of the Ten Commandments could or could not be displayed on public property depending on the context of situation. In order to decide the constitutionality of such a display, someone needs to find it to be nuetral. If the display has the intent to endorse a religion, it is illegal. Confused? Sure. Basically it means that no more Ten Commandment stuff can be put up but if it's old and been there for a while, it's okay. That saves half of Washington (including the Justices' own chambers) from being sandblasted but keeps future monuments from being erected. Cowards.

Check out this blog.

There are plenty of other blogs that I read that I don't link to. The reasons vary. Sometimes they are personal. Sometimes, the blog itself is to well known that I don't feel its necessary to link to it. One that I will now be adding is "National Guard Tanker in Iraq."

I could go into a political tirade about the War on Terror but I won't. I just want to say that a lot of weight which governs my opinion comes from people who are actually involved in the issues that I am interested about. When it comes to the War on Terror, I make it a point to try and find the perspectives on what the members of the military are thinking. There are plenty of blogs written by soldiers and all of the ones that I read are relatively well known except for this one. I just happened to run across it one day as I was hitting the "next blog" button. I made a note of it in a file that I keep of interesting websites to check back on. It never made it onto my blogroll until now because some of what he wrote seemed to be just for his friends and family and I would have felt guilty if I directed unwanted attention to a forum that he may have wanted private (even though that sounds silly considering the nature of a blog and the internet.)

So please give his site a try and write him some comments. And while you're at it... I could use some too. C'mon you aspma people. I know you're out there.

A Graduation Party and a High School Reunion

Saturday was pretty hectic. My sister held her graduation party on the same day as my high school reunion was being held. So I will break this post up into the two areas. --Okay, you’re just going to have to ignore my previous post. I don’t have many pictures of any substance. But, I guess I’ll throw out the ones that were taken.

Kristel’s Graduation Party

Preparation for my sister’s party actually started a couple weeks before it was held. Here you can see my mom cleaning and rearranging the living room. In the picture is also the new couch and curtains that she bought. I swear, I should have bought her a horse whip. She made me do quite a bit of chores to get this thing done. I don’t know why she made such a big fuss about having the house spotless. The plan was to have this party outside. Well the weather got to be pretty bad for the day. It was in the mid 90’s with high humidity and no breeze. It was actually worse than Philippine weather. So I suppose that making the house clean was a good idea after all. I knew that everyone was going to stay in the house as much as they could. Hell, I would!

When I got up for the day, I still had to clean my room and do my laundry. In between doing that, I helped my dad put up some of the equipment outside as well as helped prepare some of the food. About two hours before the party would start, I became the full time fry cook and tended to the lumpia—a very dangerous thing for my mother to do… leaving her son with tons of his favorite food.

Although I wasn’t really looking forward to seeing her friends, I was excited that my extended family was showing up. I just hoped that they got here early enough so that I could talk to them before I left for my reunion. It turned out that I wouldn’t have enough time with them as I would have hoped, but it was good to see them for as much as I did.

First off, there were the Coombs. They are from my mother’s side of the family. Aunt Connie was my mother’s sister who married my Uncle Marc and had my two cousins, Jessica and Eric C. Usually it was us who went over to Illinois to see them. It has definitely been a couple years since I’ve last seen them. Eric has gotten big… like football player big. He probably could kick the crap out of me. The Coombs are pretty much the only members of my mother’s side that I really consider family other than my grandmother and a few others. The rest, I really don’t know about.

On my paternal side, almost everyone was there. My cousins Jason and Eric B. stopped by. When they came in the house, I didn’t recognize them at least not until I saw Eric and realized that Jason was standing there next to him. My paternal grandma has seven grandkids (or 9 if you count non-biologicals). Jason, Eric, my sister and I represent the first wave. The last three were only born a couple of years ago. We used to be pretty tight but we’ve pretty much drifted apart. I still think to that last good summer when we spent time at the farm. It was so much fun. Now, we barely see each other, much less doing anything. That’s too bad.

The party seemed to be pretty stiff as most people splintered into groups. It felt awkward sometimes because it seemed as if some people were left hanging in the breeze with no attention from my sister. There was her high school buddies, my paternal side family, and the Coombs—all left to fend for themselves.

After two hours, I had to leave for my reunion which was being held at the American Legion Park in town. When I drove by, there was no one there. I wasn’t all that late and I knew that there had to be at least some people who wanted to go. I figured that they moved it to someplace else and no one had told me. So I went back to the house where I called Season. She didn’t respond so I called Chris. He told me that it had been moved and was now at Jessica’s house. Lot of good that did me, I didn’t know where Jessica lived! So I had him come and pick me up while I hung out a little while longer with my relatives.

The High School Reunion

I had felt both excitement and dread as I waited to go to this reunion. Even after I sent in my RSVP, I had considered just skipping out on it because I wasn’t sure if I wanted to face the people who I expected to be there. Our class was small; there were twenty of us. Out of all of them since graduation, I’ve only kept in real contact with two of them—Season and Sara. When I came home, I would also hang out with Adam. People like Chris, I rarely talked to ever again and I feel terrible about it. Now, I was unsure where I stood with all of them socially and even economically. I was afraid to know, actually. It was practically a miracle that a reunion was actually taking place and who knows if there will be one for 2010. So this might be my only opportunity and I had to take it. I had to go.

Chris came by and picked me up. I felt a twinge of guilt since I have not hung out with him since graduation and had only recently started to talk to him. It would be great if we could hang out but we are still running in different circles. We got to Jessica’s house to find her, Mandie, Sara, and Season. As time went on, more and more people came in.

Most of us looked pretty much the same as we did in high school. Jimmy sarcastically said to me, “Wow, [I] didn’t recognize you from your hair.” Yeah, I guess I my hair style has never been changed. Of all of them, Nathan seemed to have changed the most—at least to me. He looked a lot older than the last time I remembered. He used to be a scrawny but now he has filled out.

I had expected to be there for maybe a half hour, but I was there for five… listening to everyone trade stories after quite a bit of liquor lubrication. It was nice to hear some of it. Kind of disappointed that I wasn’t apart of most of it, though. As I looked at the crowd around me, I thought quite a bit of how time as affected us. It also brought out some things that I really didn’t want to face about myself mainly that I am constantly in worry that I will end up a failure. In each and every one of my classmates, I found something that I wish I had. Steve is married. Amanda has a baby. Nathan wants for nothing. Chris is completely independent. Dusty is on his way up the ladder of success and Brandon travels.

My kick in the ass came with people finding out that I worked at Wal-mart a high school job in most people’s minds. Yet, I received only glancing flak, most of which I initiated. What I got out of it, was that it’s a job and at least I’m doing something. Season calls it “transition.” I hope to God that she’s right. Basically, I should stop being the whiny bitch that I am and suck it up.

People like Brandon and Steve, who I had been intimidated by in school were actually friendly. If you told me in 2000 that I would one day feel comfortable enough to sit with these guys—much less shake their hands, I would have laughed in your face. It feels good to be wrong.

I still don’t know what the future holds for 2010. I don’t know if we will get together again. I hope so. Thanks and kudos to Jessica for pulling this thing off even though she never had to. She stepped up to the plate and it was really impressive. It was better than I had hoped. All I know is that when I next see them… I hope that I’ve got a job and I’m not single… and maybe I was a little thinner… and…

Standby...

… large posts are coming your way along with pictures! Expect them late Sunday or at latest, Monday.

Pentagon Creating Student Database

See this Washington Post article.

The Department of Defense wants a database of high school students aged 16-18 as well all college students to be used for recruitment purposes. Information to be collected will be name, birth date, social security number, and addresses which, so far, is not unexpected. In addition, however, they will be looking at a person’s grade point average, ethnicity, and area of study.

Now I can understand that the DoD has an interest in achieving a certain readiness level by having a pool of recruits. Don’t they have that info from my registration with Selective Service? The government does not have a compelling need to have access to a person’s GPA, ethnicity, or area of study. In fact, my University does not release that information to anyone… not even my parents unless I give them permission. Now they must or possibly face the threat of losing federal funding. Of course, the DoD would say that individuals can opt out… but the procedures on how to do that are not advertised. After all, the DoD has to rely on individuals being either ignorant or lazy in order to maximize the effectiveness of their database.

This particular part I found amusing:

The Pentagon's statements added that anyone can "opt out" of the system by providing detailed personal information that will be kept in a separate "suppression file." That file will be matched with the full database regularly to ensure that those who do not wish to be contacted are not, according to the Pentagon.

I love it! A database of people who don’t want to be on a database.

Pistons Win!

The Pistons won Game 6 of the NBA finals, 95-86. I'd write more... but I'm so damn tired right now, I'm going to bed. I'm excited though... really I am.

Senator Durbin (D-IL) Apologizes

Illinois Senator Dick Durbin apologized for his remarks regarding the soldiers at Guantanamo Bay. He has been under pressure from the republicans and even by a few of his fellow democrats to apologize for comparing U.S. soldiers to Nazis. Chicago Mayor Richard Daley called on him to apologize. Could it be because Daley’s son is in the military? Last week he refused to apologize saying that his comments were taken out of context. I’m not so sure. Looking at the Record, his words were pretty bad and if I was in the military, I would be offended.

Truthfully, I didn’t care if he apologized or not. I don’t have a high opinion of him anyways and anything he said would have fallen on deaf ears. But his “apology” today made me even more enraged. Those fake tears and wavering voice… give me a break! Your “apology” wasn’t even an apology. Translated, he said, “I apologize if you were offended.” Nothing new from what he said last week. Kiss my grits Eddie Haskell*.

*Watch “Leave it to Beaver” and you’ll understand why radio host Terri O’Brien calls Senator Durbin that.

Planetary Alignment!

I must live in an era of extraordinary cosmic coincidences. Another event is set to occur that won’t reoccur until I’m long dead. I’m kind of bummed about missing our last total solar eclipse but at least the next one will be in 2012 so with luck, I will still be alive. From the 24th to the 27th of this month, the planets Mercury, Venus, and Saturn will converge in the early evening sky coming within a degree of each other. You could cover them up with the end of a finger with your arm fully stretched out. Mercury and Venus will actually be so close, that you could see them in the same telescope view.

Location is at East Lansing, at 9:40 in the evening looking west-north-west. To see it in your location, look towards the west as soon as the stars come out after sunset.

Cardinal Sin

Cardinal Sin, the former Archbishop of Manila died early Tuesday (or late Monday, for those in America.) He was 76.

As I had indicated when Pope John Paul II passed away, I don't agree with the church on a lot of issues. I've even been guilty of saying not-so-nice things about the two earning a strong rebuke from my mom. I've actually been harder on Cardinal Sin (couldn't he have changed his name?) Mostly because I felt that he was overly political and advocated policy that was far too conservative--even for my taste. I mean c'mon... no divorce or birth control or dare I say abortion? It makes me think that the Roman Catholic Church has got an iron grip on the country and to me, that's not necessarily a good thing.

My social views may have differed with the Cardinal but I can still admire someone who clearly has more faith than I have.

Cutting the Strings

I had over a page worth of stuff that I was about to blog but as I looked over it, I realized that much of it had to deal with personal issues that I am sure my friends do not want shared (even though I can count the number of regular readers here on one of my hands.) But if you are still curious, I gave a little hint during a previous post. Yes, it still has to deal with the whole Sara/Adam deal.

I want to remove myself from this whole situation but that means cutting ties with people that I care about. I feel guilty about that because as a friend, I feel that I should stick it out to the end. I'm waiting for people to hit rock bottom and yet all they seem to do is keep sinking. It's gotten to the point where I just want to get out. Well maybe getting out isn't the correct way to say it since I was never really "in." Perhaps, turning away is better.

My circle and I are well into our twenties now. Isn't it about time we grew up?

Sad way to end the day

This evening I got a letter from State Senator Cameron Brown. A rejection letter. Thank you, Sen. Brown. No... I'm not being sarcastic here. Sen. Brown's office has been the first to actually write me a rejection. Up until now, I have either heard nothing from the offices that I have applied to or I have had to speak to an office aide who told me that the position has been filled (or something along those lines.) Although, I am obviously hurt by another rejection, I still see this as a huge courtesy on their part. Come Monday, I think that I will write him back. Who knows maybe it will keep my name in his head. Couldn't hurt could it?

Don't do it Katie

Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes are getting married? Excuse me while I vomit in the nearby trash can... Okay, so this has got to be one of the most disturbing Hollywood pairings. I mean, damn! He's freaking 16 years older than her. Ten would have been much more tolerable--but sixteen? And now Katie is converting to Scientology? There's just something that reaks of wrong and I can't quite put my finger on it. Age? Freaky religions? Emotional outbursts? Passive demeanor associated with cult members?

DistressedJeans has something to consider:

If you need further proof that Tom is gayer than a pink silk bedroom with leopard print pillows and the boisterous tunes of Liberace's piano in the background, Tom says, "I've seen Dawsons Creek and I've seen her work and you go, Man, that girl is really talented." Was he forced to watch Dawsons Creek? Did he also watch Melrose Place? Was he an avid fan of Beverly Hills 90210?

DO I HAVE DUMB WRITTEN ON MY FOREHEAD?

For more, link to: Free Katie.

I'm going back... maybe

Well, I think I’ve made a decision. I’m going back to school. If not this fall, then probably in January. Things are not set in stone, so this could all change at a moment’s notice. I am currently looking at information about pursuing a second degree in Criminal Justice. My biggest hurdle will be trying to get student loans. Previously, my parents took care of the financial side of my education at least up to the point of tuition. The rest was covered by me. I’m eternally grateful that they helped me get through considering I went to the second most expensive public university in the state. (The University of Michigan being the first.) They haven’t given me any exact figures on how much my student debt is but I’ve got a pretty good idea. I’m sure that in a few months (when the bills start coming in) they’ll let me know. So I’ve estimated that I am going to need at least $20,000 to complete the second degree. Where am I going to come up with that kind of cash? Working at my current job and saving everything I make, it would take me about two years. If I go, I’m doing this on my own. My parents aren’t going to help me. Nor should they considering now that they have to worry about my sister who will be starting at Western Michigan University in a couple months. If anyone can point me to resources for absolutely broke wannabe college students I would really appreciate it.

An Evening of Swimming and Pizza

I just got back from a good evening at the beach. I hadn’t seen Season since she has gotten back from Florida I thought that I would since I had the day off. The plan was to rent a movie (Harold and Kumar Go to White Castle came to mind) and I would get a pizza. A cheap evening since, let’s face it, we’re all strapped for cash. Sara hadn’t answered my phone calls so I went to her house and dragged her out. BTW, she had a job interview. Keep your fingers crossed for her.

So we go and find Season’s apartment, which we had not been to. She actually lives in a duplex and I could have sworn she said that her entrance was at the back so that’s where we went. Like close friends, I opened the door and saw the back of some guy. Ooops! Wrong apartment. I backed out quick, probably about to knock down Sara who was behind me. Beet red, I called out a loud “Sorry!” before we jetted for the front entrance where I phoned Season just incase the guy I just walked in on came out with a bat (it isn’t the safest of neighborhoods we were in.)

As I was doing that, Sara noticed Season peaking down from her blinds and in a few minutes we were ushered into her apartment. Nice digs. It was clean, nice looking, and I was very impressed. My apartment would resemble the Buchanan landfill and probably smell just as bad. My plans for renting a video were quickly thrown away as we found out that she didn’t have the equipment necessary. Oddly enough, I think it was Sara who suggested we go swimming. Now first of all, it’s the middle of June and I was expecting Lake Michigan to be cold as hell. Second, it was freaking 6:30. By the time we got to St. Joe, it’d be past 7:00. Third, I didn’t have a suit with me, I’d have to go home and get it. Yet, I hadn’t been to the beach in two years.

“Let’s do it.” I said.

In our area, there are two places with easy public access to the beach that are well known. There is Warren Dunes and Silver Beach. Both require you to pay for parking. Silver Beach is in St. Joe and is heavily populated. But down the shore, there’s a little less known park called Lions Park. There is free parking and there aren’t any crowds. The only downside is that they dumped gravel there to prevent beach erosion. It can be a pain but we were hitting the lake for free and it was a small price to pay. We were going to be in the gravel free lake for most of the time anyways.


picture credit: www.stjoeclarionhotel.com

The three of us have issues with our bodies. Let’s just say we are not model material. Season and Sara don’t have anything to be embarrassed about though from my POV. So I guess not having the crowds around was a good thing. We waded in the water for a little bit so that we could get acclimated. I got sick of standing around so I just went ahead and plunged into the water. It’s the best thing to do really. Season followed soon after but Sara was determined to just stand there and slowly go deeper.

After pissing themselves (unfortunately me being down current from them) we started to swim around a little. It was great to finally be in the big lake again. I didn’t realize how much I missed it. The swimming part was pretty limited as we just began to talk the shit. Season floated the idea of getting a boat and go to Chicago that way. It wasn’t meant to be serious but I thought, “Why not?” Chicago is only 45 miles at a straight shot. To address Sara’s fear of fresh water sharks (which she thinks maybe in the lake) we could just start out in Michigan City and just hug the shoreline until we got to the Windy City. The problem of course, is how are we going to get a boat, and what are we going to do with it once we got to Illinois.



We left about an hour before the sun would set so we wouldn’t be cold. None of us had eaten yet so I suggested that we go to Pizza Hut and I offered to pay. Season directed to the one in Stevensville. I was worried about what they were going to order. I started to sweat when they started to list the things that they didn’t like. I guess you could say we compromised and got a supreme pizza (which had the sausage that Season didn’t like and the olives that Sara didn’t like… or maybe there wasn’t olives…) I was planning for a dinner for two meal deal and pay for one extra drink. They looked at me as if I was crazy. They weren't sure that it would be enough. I tell you, I had no idea that they could eat so much pizza and breadsticks. So we ended up getting a dinner for four when there were really only three of us!

Dinner conversation was pretty heavy, mainly centering around the problems with our friend Adam. Adam and I apparently don’t speak anymore. He thinks that I’m spending too much with Sara with whom he has an unhealthy obsession with. Even though I once held a flame for Sara, I no longer feel that way for her. She’s just one of my closest friends. I just wish my other one would believe that. Apparently, he hates the fact that Sara hangs with me that she had to lie and say that she was in Mishawaka with her cousin. It points out how abusive this guy would be in a relationship. So I guess Adam and I aren’t friends anymore and maybe that’s the best. It still sucks anyways.

Okay, the way these two were talking, I was beginning to think that I would be fighting them for table scraps. Yet, only half the pizza got eaten! They better not give me the “I’m such a heifer” speech ever again. So now I’ve got a half a large pizza in the fridge. Will I see it tomorrow? Probably not after my Dad and sis find it.

Congratulations are in order.

I ran across Mike the other day. We went to high school together and I think we got along okay. He was more of a friend of a friend but we pretty much in the same circle. He’s a good guy and I was disappointed to learn that he dropped out three months before we graduated. Three damn months! All he had to do was show up and he would have been good to go. Although, can I really bitch about that fact when he’s currently making good money and has a steady job and I don’t? Good for him on that but that’s not what I want to give congrats for. Actually, he told me that he had just gotten married. Mike? Married? Finally! Okay, okay, that’s sounds totally wrong considering that I’m almost at a loss for words when I hear that fellow classmates are getting married and even having kids. Yet, in his case… “finally” is exactly what comes to mind. See, he had been seeing another Galien student named Sheila. Most of us saw that there was something between those two even when they wouldn’t admit it. When we graduated, we heard that she had pretty much been disowned by her mother for accepting a marriage proposal from Mike. When I left for college, the last thing I heard was that she had moved in with Mike and that the marriage was still on. Then a little while latter, I heard that the wedding was postponed. Then a little while after that, I heard that they split up. When I finally came home last December, I asked Sara if she knew how Mike was doing. I came to believe that Mike and Sheila had gone their separate ways… at least until I saw them.

Just completely out of the blue, Mike says, “I got married today.”

I probably looked like a fish. Imagine mouth open and eyes popped out. I actually did not believe him.

“Are you serious?” I asked. It was an extraordinary coincidence that I would see him on the day of his wedding. Also add the fact that I didn’t see a ring on his finger. “Where’s your ring?” I asked.

“Oh, I don’t wear it. I can’t with my job so it’s at home.”

He said it in such a deadpan way that I still had trouble believing him. Still it was a believable story. He does do mechanical work which does require the removal of jewelry.

“So shouldn’t you be on your honeymoon now?” What the hell was he doing in Niles?

“In about a month…” Apparently, Sheila’s work required her to stick around before she and Mike could go off and enjoy themselves.

“Well then, congratulations to you both.”

When I said that, it probably didn’t seem to be genuine and perhaps it wasn’t. After all, I still couldn’t really believe that they had just gotten married. But really, I do mean it now. Congratulations to you, Mike and Sheila. You have my best wishes for you and your future together.

Friday Observations

Tropical Storm Arlene




Poor Florida. They just can’t seem to get a break! Well, I guess the winter and spring are a break… but what I mean is that they are just getting all the bad luck with storms. Tropical Storm Arlene is threatening the “sunshine” state. As Roe said, all these storms are going to lower the average age in Florida to like… 92 years old.

Today’s Fashion Trends
I headed for University Park to peruse through some of the sales. Actually I was there to people watch more than anything else. As I said in a previous post, I’m not a fashionable person so I thought that I would check out what people are wearing. I’m noting the people in polos and cargo shorts. I realized that some people just copied what a mannequin was wearing and bought the same thing. Although it was something that I could easily pull off, I still got self-conscious. First, I thought I would just be copying the latest fashion trends (but that’s dumb, considering I want to appear a little more fashionable.) Second, I don’t think I have the body to pull some of this off. Take the tight t-shirt look. Nuh uh. No one needs to see me like that. Also the flip flops. Growing up in the tropics, I’m used to it and I’m used to other people wearing them but not here in Michigan! Sandals (without socks) I can handle but wearing flip flops to air conditioned malls and restaurants by a bunch of northerners is just too weird for me.

Chick-fil-A
Ever since I could remember, Chick-fil-A was just a novel fast food stall located at the University Park Mall. Sort of like Orange Julius. I probably tried it for the first time when I was in seventh grade. That was when I actually had a monthly allowance of some worth and I could go around the mall by myself. My first time there ended with me having half my fries and sandwich being eaten by my parents. But what I did manage to get away with was very good and on occasion, I would eat there if I was ever in the mall for a long period of time and if that period of time spanned over a dinner period.

As the shopping district continues to expand, new stores like Super Target, Pier 1 Imports, and Menards, are cropping up. A couple years ago, Chick-fil-A opened one of their regular joints. I tried it for the first time today and was it busy as hell. I might’ve left if I wasn’t committed to the drive through lane which doesn’t allow you to exit once you enter it (so hope your car is in good working order before you take the lane.) The wait wasn’t too horrible considering how many people were ahead of me.


This has to be some of the greatest company mascots ever.

If you’re tired of the same old burgers and Taco Hell shoots right through you… give Chick-fil-A a try.

Coldplay


Coldplay's X&Y

I went into Best Buy considering buying Coldplay’s new album X & Y. But being burned by sucky ass albums before, I wanted to preview it first. Best Buy has a computer station that is connected to Napster and I can listen to entire songs instead of 30 second previews. I didn’t listen to all the songs but I listened enough to realize that I would be just as satisfied if I downloaded the tracks I wanted. It would be cheaper than buying the whole thing. So instead of buying a $10 album, I walked out with a $49.40 Napster card that will credit me with 60 downloads. It sounds like a good idea…

I’m probably offending my more rabid conservative colleagues when they find out that I’m buying Coldplay songs. But you know what? I don’t really give a shit. I can separate my politics from other things in life. Just because Chris Martin and co. may be a bunch of left-wing nuts, doesn’t mean that I shouldn’t listen to their music. It’s great music! To me, it’s almost ridiculous as the Southern Baptist boycott of Disney because Disney is gay-friendly. Besides, I know that Mr. Martin and his wife are really conservatives at heart… all rich people are aren’t they? And this goes with the entire entertainment industry. I’ll still watch movies that star actors who are some of the most loud-mouthed kooks out there. It’s just coincidence that I really don’t watch most of them in the first place. I’ll just tell my boycotting friends that I’m more of a practicing capitalist than they are. Whoever sells the superior product or service gets my buck. I have no interest in their history or ideology… unless they are like Michael Jackson. [squirms]

A poll about DNC Chairman, Howard Dean

Howard Dean

WLS is currently doing a poll on their website. It asks, "Which party's membership is more fired up by DNC Chairman Howard Dean?" Choice of "Democratic" or "Republican." Of course, I have taken a second and voted. As of roughly 1750 EDT, 80% of respondents say that it is the Republicans that are more "fired up." Hey, I sided with the majority! Of course it is the Republicans. We couldn't have asked for a better gift from the Democrats than Howard Dean. As I have said before, in America, you always shore up your base and then go for the middle. Dean is great for the Democratic party base but he is even better at driving the moderates to the right. The people sitting in the RNC just sit back and smile inwardly every time Chairman Dean opens his mouth. Oh, I'll grant the liberal democrats saying that Dean is this great guy... for them. But does he actually attract the "real" moderate? I don't think so. It gets even better when elected Dems have to say that Dean is a great Chairman yet can't bring themselves to support what he says. I believe it was Senator Edwards, the other day, that said Dean doesn't speak for the party. Umm, being the DNC Chairman... I think he does speak for the party.

Mmm... balut!

I've gone through three blogs today that mentioned something weird that you can cook or eat. I thought that I would share with you all this picture of a balut egg. It's a Filipino delicacy-- a boiled and fertilized duck egg.

There must be two different kinds of balut eggs. This one was eaten while I was at UPLB for study abroad in 2003. The first one that I had was in 1989. Maybe it's an Illocano thing, but the first one I had was a little more watery and the you could actually pull the duck out by its beak. Much to the disappointment of my lola, I refused to eat the duck and instead chucked it from the second floor balcony to see it make a rather nice splat. The rest of the egg was good though (for a stomach wrenching "delicacy"). I guess it will be another 14 years before I'm ready to try that again. So I guess I should start thinking for a 2019 vacation to the PI.

Alligators in the sewers...

... er... I mean St. Joe but... you know-- same thing.

A gator was found in the St. Joseph river and was even photographed. See the WNDU story here.

People who buy pets like alligators and boa constrictors need to be shot. Not only are they retarded enough to buy one of those things, but they are retarded for just releasing them into the wild when they grow too big. If they can't handle these thing they should kill them. Gator does make for some good eatin' ya know. Don't know about snake but if Crocodile Dundee is right... it may give you gas.

Summer Storms

A storm off Lake Michigan.


Yeah, I'm one of those freaks that loves bad weather. I was driving home last night from work and headed westward into a strong thunderstorm cell. Most of the lightinng was quick and contianed in the clouds but ocassionally, I would see a ground stike. This seems to be typicall of electrical storms here in the Midwest. Take a look at the picture above. That's pretty much how it looks like most of the time.

A few years ago, I went on ASSIST to Ellsworth AFB. The plains states seem to have some of the most dramatic storms I've ever seen. As I was touching down at the Rapid City airport, we decended through the clouds and I marveled at all the lightning that was occuring all around us. I remember this one teenager who looked like she was traveling alone just gripping the arm chair and silently praying to herself. I'm sure if we got hit by a bolt, I'd be shitting myself too, but for the moment, I was having a great time. To date, it has been the only time that I've flown through a thunderstorm. Sometimes, I wish I knew someone in the US Air Force Reserve or NOAA who get me on to one of those reconaissance flights into hurricanes. Now that would be an adventure.

Congratulations Kristel!

My sister, Kristel graduated from Buchanan High School today in a short ceremony. The ceremony was held outside on the football field/track despite the threat of thunderstorms. Mom and I decided to be safe and brought our umbrellas. What kind of Filipinos would we be if we didn’t? :P After my December graduation at state, this almost seemed like a private affair. After all, there were just over one hundred students in Buchanan’s graduating class. Take that and compare it to State’s which had, I think, over one thousand. Yet, even that is small in comparison to spring where it is not even feasible for the entire graduating class to have a ceremony together. I would guestimate that somewhere around seven thousand graduate then.

Grandma and Uncle Kenny turned out to watch Kris. We spotted them from across the bleachers and Dad went to fetch them. Uncle Kenny didn’t want to climb over people to get to where we were sitting so they just waited over there. The commencement was very short. Only the Superintendent gave a speech. Actually, he only introduced the school board and the student speakers. The student speakers were the meat and potatoes of this program. There were a total of six speakers! Whatever happened to just the speeches made by the valedictorian and the salutatorian? As you would expect, they all pretty much said the same thing over and over again. However, I did find one to be slightly memorable. It was based on the phrase, “no fate but what we make.” The geekness in me was overjoyed by the fact that someone had used a line in Terminator 2 for their speech. After they were all done, they handed out their diploma holders (they get the real diplomas later.) I made it a point to not only applaud my sister, but her Galien friends as well. It was unfortunate that they were forced to move to Buchanan after Galien HS closed down but they have done well for themselves over there. So congrats to her friend Jeff (007), and to Dennis and Nathan.







Kris with Grandma, Mom, Uncle Kenny and Dad. She has on the honors cord as well as a blue stole which indicates her membership in the National Honor Society.

My Education in the Philippines

From The Manila Times:

On Thursday Rep. Mary Ann Susano of Quezon City submitted a bill [HB 4370] adjusting the school calendar from June through March to September through June.

This is quite a string of thought since this quote was from an article dealing with an approaching typhoon and is barely connected to what I have to say.

The last time I was in the Philippines was in the summer/fall of 2003 when I participated in MSU's Study Abroad Program and went to UPLB. Before making my application to Study Abroad, I was planning to take a heavy summer session load plus a heavy fall load so that I could graduate on time. I was supposed to have graduated in May 2004. UPLB's semesters are staggered from MSU's. So it started in the middle of MSU's summer session and ended in the middle of MSU's fall semester. That meant that I would only be able to do one semester's worth of credit in the Philippines when I could have done two in America. I went to UPLB anyways and I have never regretted it. I came in during the rainy/typhoon season (hence the article.) Let me tell you-- thank god for typhoons (hurricanes for us who live by the Atlantic.) With the weather in the Philippines going from the low 80's to low 90's, typhoons brought down the temps for a little while. Two of them came by when I was there and I got to enjoy some comfy 70's for a little while.

In 1987, I moved to the Philippines where I went to school at Beehive Elementary in San Fernando, LaUnion. It was a private school and I had to wear these dorky uniforms. Nah, they weren't so bad... they were green and white (hmm... what a coincidence). Checkered and solid patterns. Anyways, students there are two years ahead of American students. They graduate at grade 10 versus our grade 12. When I got there, I was such a dumbass. In fact, I'm confident that I never passed. I think they graduated me just because I was the foreigner that they felt sorry for. Yet... I owe them a jump start on my academic studies. My grades pre-Philippines were pretty poor but when I got back, they shot straight up. When I enrolled at North Elementary in Mountain Home, ID I was ahead of my classmates. With that jumpstart, I continued to be at the top until I caught senioritis during my sophomore year. Then it just went downhill from there.

Back to the blurb. I think it's a good idea to adjust the semesters. I wonder what they think about it over there.

Greetings From MSU!

Hello everyone. I'm in the Main Library here at Michigan State, taking a break from job hunting. I'm also here to collect some information about getting another degree-- this time in Criminal Justice. But anyways, I can see that I am completely invigorated. I stepped out of the hamster cage* with this huge ass grin and I can tell that people noticed. Oh yeah, I should mention that I'm wearing that awesome orange shirt that I bought the other day. I must say that I had a couple people notice me . It feels like I've returned home and I couldn't be happier. I have got to get a job up here!

The trip up here didn't take long. Just over two hours. Oh, but how I hate those FIPs**! I swear all of them have lead foots as they were on my ass all the way through I-94. I also made sure to keep an eye out for all the beater trucks in case this was they day Chad Fox came through the state. Probably not, now that it sounds like he is stuck in Iowa.

My first stop was to get some money and some lunch. I was hungry for some cafe food. Hey now! Cafe food here is good! Well... most of the time. It may have been expensive to get a meal ticket ($6.75) but it was well worth it. I make it well worth it. Cajun chicken, beef and turkey wrap, chowder, salad, cherry cheesecake, and ice tea. Yum! Not to mention I got to see my friend Brian. He got the internship to D.C. I'm glad he got into the program. He doesn't know where he will end up with yet, but he's looking at some house committee or some think tanks. I'll admit, I'm jealous but he's a cool guy and it still makes me feel good that he's doing so well. I spotted Mario who told me of some former worker that after 4 years still hasn't found a job and had worked for Wal-Mart. (I think he got me and this other dude mixed up.) Thanks Mar, you know how to make me feel better.

So now, I am about to go back to looking for some job posting and some academic possibilities. I may just go deeper into debt and come out with my second B.A. Let's hope that I'll get a job before I go down that road though. Well, I'm off to Baker soon. After that, I am going to see my good friend Sara who is also in town. She's up here to help take care of her niece, Eva. I thought that I would drop by and give her some company.

It's good to be back!!

*It's a parking structure that is sided with colorful tubes. It looks like a hamster cage-- thus the name.
**Fuckin' Illinois People. Or sometimes Fuckin' Indiana People (but only when they do something really bad to tick you off. We love the hoosiers not the Ill-anoyans.)