New Orleans is GONE.

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.

The US runs on oil

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 oil and its price. It really is the fuel of America's economy. Slowly creeping to these prices wouldn't have been so bad, but this really is a price shock.

In response, some gas stations have dramatically raised their prices in an effort to drive customers away. Yup, you read that right. Stations that charge over $5.oo/gal while their competitors are selling at two dollars less are doing so to keep their reserves.

President Bush has authorized the tapping of the Strategic Oil Reserves. However, I'm not sure how this would help. Oil supply is not the problem. It's the refining and distribution of that oil that is. Four of the eight refineries are down. That region supplies 25% of the nation's gas. So you can see how that would be a problem. Although I have not personally read it anywhere, I heard that the government has rescinded the emission standards on fuels temporarily. This will allow, for example, gas made for Nevada to be sold in California which has higher fuel standards.

Then there is the fact that we just lost our southern port. Most of America's agricultural land drains into the Mississippi. Most of the ag exports go through New Orleans and with it gone, we may expect to see prices on those products going up as well. Shipments will now have to be done on rail or by truck which requires more of--you guessed it--gas.

This hurricane blew.

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 really is a disaster and we are only beginning to find out the repercussions of this even. Heaven forbid we have a repeat of last season and this area gets smacked again.

President Bush has cut short his vacation... apparently because of the storm. Truthfully, I don't care. It's mostly for show. What can he really do anyways? FEMA can handle it. I'm sure that the governors of Louisiana and Mississippi can do a fine job of handling the guard down there. Already, some big corporations are beginning to donate their time, money, and materials. I know that Wal-Mart has donated an initial $1 million plus whatever they can fundraise in all of their stores. In addition, they kept their stores near New Orleans open to give out supplies (which I'm sure they ran out of before their generators died.)

Ms. Sally said that her son, who works for AEP has already been told to prepare to head on south. Many of the companies are taking their workers from around the country and sending them to the south. I wish them well and hope that the recovery and reconstruction projects go well.

Frak*

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

We're WHAT?!

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 vacation destination (it was Friday.) We are all moving as a pack down the freeway at 80mph. No fast lane, no slow lane. We were all moving as one. The trouble is that the speed limit is 70mph but during construction, it is 45mph. If you get caught speeding in a construction zone, your fines are automatically doubled. Anyways, we are all going almost two times faster than what we should have been. As we came over a hill, we saw a squad car parked along the side with a state policeman standing behind an open door pointing a speed gun at us all. I saw him. The others saw him and suddenly everything turned a tinge of red as everyone applied their brakes. I had to smile as I knew that the chances that I would be getting a ticket were really remote. There were just too many people blatantly speeding.

Still, I refuse to accept that our state is full of crap drivers. They live in Illinois or Indiana.

Friday – TRIAD

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. The second person in front of me won (-64). The person after me won (-67) and the second person after me won (-68). Talk about rotten luck! As we headed back for home, we had to stop by Kzoo again for Season’s job. Then a place to cash her check. Then a little rest in Dowagiac. Then to Niles to drop her off. When I finally got back into Galien, all I could think about was crashing into my bed. I thought about heading to the Landing, a bar club in Indiana to meet up with Erin but I was too tired. BUT we will be going again soon.

Patty, my supervisor, is the lady in front with the limish top on. Cass County Sheriff Underwood is the gentlemen in the back. Second in from the right.

Thursday – MSU

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 Sparty is now located.

I told Moose that the next time I came up, I would take him out for a drink. The Barrel seemed reasonable. Perhaps I was looking for something more exotic, but maybe it was still best to play it low key. Throughout our time, I was worried that Season wouldn'’t feel comfortable with the conversation or that she might be left out. I still don't know what to make of the encounter. Then we went to Paul'’s house, a friend of Moose. We watched a little bit of TV before going to Midnight Madness.

For those who don'’t know, MSU is going through Welcome Week right now. Midnight Madness is an event where Meijer holds a huge sale for returning students. It used to be a lot bigger where stores all along Grand River Ave. had sales. Sadly it's been largely reduced. CATA provides free bussing and the place is choked with students. Meijer gave out free food and drinks. A live band performed, and the MSU cheerleaders threw out free goodies. It was getting late. Season and I didn'’t have to buy anything. So we made our leave of Moose and Paul.

I would have liked to have done some other things while I was there, but time restriction and lack of planning really didn'’t allow us to do it. But, I may be going up there in a little while.

Still here.

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.

Away Message

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!

Protestors go near-naked to prove point.

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 hell kind of slogan is that?

Seriously, all this makes me want to make a trip to KFC just to stick it to them.

Would Jesus have done that?

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.

I'm jealous of my TV.

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.

Drained again

<<---See also: Kaput.

$600 to repair my car. $600 because something called a serpentine belt broke. [sigh]

Fair Food 4 (the last)

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 shrooms. Quite tasty but I probably could've gotten a lot more bang for my buck if I just headed for the Outback.

I saved the corn dog for last. It is always one of the last things that I get at the fair. By now, I have mentioned the Korn Dog stand. It serves the cheapest drinks and is by far the most popular stand in the entire fair. It is the norm to have the lines (yes plural) extend across the pedestrian way, clogging up traffic. While I will visit that stand almost every time I want a drink, I save the corn dog until last. Don't know why though. It's just always turned out that way. $1.25 for the beef dog.

Kris's exhibits

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.

Fair Food 3

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.

Country music... rocks.

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 drinking in the sight of something that is uniquely American. For all the faults that our country has, there is no place that I'd rather be.

Cause there's victory in the Lord I say
Victory in the lord
Cling to the father and his holy name
and don't go riding on that long Black Train

There was about a half hour intermission between Turner and Sara Evans who was the main attraction. It was funny to see a quarter of the crowd file out to have a smoke while another quarter tried to get Turner autographs. This poor guy in front of us was with his dad. It was obvious that he wasn't a fan of country and his dad was a nut. We all were smirking at each other has he bitched about having to wait a little longer than he expected.
Sara Evans was the star of the show. Just as intended. Her songs seemed more lively and she interacted more with the audience. Actually being able to stand up as she sang was a welcomed relief to my legs which were getting cramped sitting in those bleachers. I swear Filipino theaters have more room! Like Turner, she played some songs from her upcoming album. She played one or two of her hits. Just enough for nostalgia but not enough were I was thinking, "I heard this before. Play something new." Her encore performance was the icing on the cake. I think that her version of Heaven is Place on Earth is better than Belinda Carlisle's. Erin said that she will burn me two of Sara's albums. Which reminds me, I still have to give her a copy of Coldplay.
Since my pictures don't do the performers justice, I ripped two off the net.

Fair Food 2

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.

At least I saw the circus.

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 in. First he took ping pong balls out of his suit case of goodies. Swallowed them, regurgitate them, and juggled them. Along with a bunch of other stuff. Definitely more entertaining then the Afghan dogs, monkeys, and bears doing tricks.

Kaput

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 stuff than I do.

At first, I figured that I might have cracked the engine block. The last issue with the car was an oil leakage. Now, I could understand if the oil sensor was on the fritz. But shouldn't the temp gauge have tipped me off? Plus, why would my power steering be affected? So I wasn't entirely sure that it was that.

So now the Saturn has been towed to the dealership. No word yet on what's wrong with it. I'm not looking forward to the news. Hopefully it will be the cheapest problem. I'm hoping that Dad decides to say "fuck it" and turn it in. I've got some money saved up. I could use a new (read: used) car.

My "fridge porn"

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 cultures are different in respects to our spending habits. Now, I've never been to the UK so I can't speak with authority on the subject, but from what I understand, they don't shop like Americans do. And I know that Filipinos don't. My family and many others only go shopping every other week. Usually, the weekend after pay day. Stores here have weekend sales. You break out the flyers, circle what's on sale, and then spend a day collecting everything needed to last you for the next week or two. The idea of buying as needed, is practically a foreign concept. You buy when cheapest, and you buy in bulk. So, you need a place to store your stuff.
Since I'm from a family of farmers, we have plenty of food to save up. In addition to the fridge and freezer, depending on what's in season, you might find bushels of potatoes, onions, winter squash, corn, beans, and so on. Beans and corn? You'll never see store bought ones in this house there is the wall in the basement full of canned fruits. If Armageddon was to take place in October... we'd still be eating well until sometime in spring.

Another point brought up, was spoilage. Yes, some spoilage does occur but it's not often. There is just something automatic in my parents' heads that causes them to rotate through the foods. The last time I saw my mom throw something away was a head of lettuce a few weeks ago.

Fair Food 1

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. In a pinch, this will do though.

Then there is the Pennsylvania Dutch Funnel Cake. I swear it's just a bunch of pancake batter fried up but it tastes slightly more sweet. And no, that's not due to the powdered sugar on top. I could probably look up a recipe on line, but I'm lazy. I'd never use it anyways. $5.00 for the sandwich, $3.50 for the funnel cake.

Tomorrow, I will be abandon the Pennsylvania food in favor of Wisconsin... which means CHEESE, CHEESE, CHEESE.

The John Deere lot

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.

Announcement

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.

Check this site out.

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.

I thought so

<<--See: What the hell just happened here?

Sadly, it appears it was a fluke. Damn.

No more Lifehouse!

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?

Visiting relatives

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 slip out a message to my friends to have them rescue me from this place! Two rounds on me guys if you can extract me without alerting my family. I'll pop in a Disney tape and distract them...

Fueling our lifestyle

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.]

What the hell just happened here?

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...

Before I go to bed...

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 least you get a pic out of it. I was considering not posting it-- or at least blanking out my face... I must say, though, the cafe's Caramel Appletini was pretty good. Erin, the girl who let me have some of hers, said it was too strong. Honestly, I wouldn't know because my drinks are pretty much beer or straight up liquor. Mixed drinks are something I just don't order... I just mooch off friends who obviously have better taste (::wink:: at Erin) So lessons learned today: 1.) Owen Wilson sucks. 2.) You can shoot ice chunks out your nose. 3.) Ask if their drinks are on tap (like they are thankfully done at Bee-dubs.) 4.) Never, ever, repeat a certain someone's history with marijuana. And 5.) I always look like crap in pictures.

Okay, I'm going to have to write some more latter... because it is just way past my bed time and I've got to get to the office in the morning.

Voters nix a tax increase.

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 the rest of you out there, but township cops are in a better position to respond in a timely matter than the County or State troopers. Hell, the nearest squad car may be a few townships away!

Two freakin' mills! That's all they wanted. A mill, by the way, is one tenth of one cent of the value of property being held. For every dollar that your property is worth, you pay one tenth of one cent. According to one of the news reports that I read, a township owner who has a $100,000 piece of property would pay an additional $100 per year. It was a nice even number to throw out even though there aren't many properties that valuable.

So what happens now? Well, things could remain the same, but the force is just inadequate. The township board may vote to disband the force and use that money to contract out to the Niles City Police as well as the County cops. Problem is, how much are they going to charge the township for protection and will they increase their patrols of the area?

Day 2 @ Cass County Fair

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 on. You know-- those shows they did on radio before TV? After taking the pictures for the Messenger, Season and I got down to eating the rest of our food, listening occasionally to the show. I don't recall which radio series they did, but I remember that I wasn't that interested in it. Some family type of show. I really wish that they did The Shadow. I probably would have stayed the full time if they had done that.


I had some office work back at the COA so when we left, Season and I took a picture of this little guy that I had almost stepped on. For the rest of the day at the office, I worked on some advertisements that will go into The Messenger. A project that was to take maybe 45 minutes took me three hours. I just couldn't concentrate. But I got it done and headed home.

I was expecting to go out with Erin, Carrie, and Justin in the evening but it didn't happen. Postponed until Monday night. I'm kind of uncomfortable going out to drink on a Monday, but that comes from a time when I planned on getting buzzed (at best) whenever I went out for drinks.

I lost money to see old people dance.

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 almost immediately. Like I said before, there was hardly anyone there. Granted, we arrived in the morning, but still, even at BCYF, the place is buzzing as soon as the gates are open. By the time we left, the rides were still not being operated due to the lack of riders. And it was early afternoon when we did so.

Season and I walked around--for about ten minutes to see all the sights. Walked down the street shown below and we saw everything. Well except maybe the livestock exhibits. But really, who wants to go look at dirty, smelly animals before lunch? Not us. As we were walking back, I stopped to get something to eat. My first time eating fair food since... well, a while. For the outrageous price of six bucks (for my international readers that is P336[PHP], £3.38, or ¥666), I got myself a slice of pizza and a Pepsi. I decided that the elephant ears, gyros, Philly steaks, funnel cakes, and corn dogs could wait a couple more weeks... or maybe until tomorrow when I go there again.

Fish 'n Chips & Egg Rolls. Hmm... this must be the ethnic booth.

It's sad when the only thing there that really caught my attention was this 2000 Mustang. [sigh] I just had to go up to it and run my hand across the hood and leather interior. I closed my eyes for just a few seconds so I could imagine me tearing down the highway. But instead of staring at it all day, I took a picture because--you know-- it lasts longer. Chadfox recently wrote about his doctor friend buying one of these kick ass cars.

Before heading back to the COA, we stopped by Diamond Lake. As with most lakes here, the place is surrounded by nice houses that I could only one day hope to afford. But looking at the water here, I wouldn't want to go in that. Too polluted. One of these days I will have my Mustang and beach house. I just have to go out and snag me a doctor or lawyer.