Boss, we've got another one.

Photo from the South Bend Tribune.

Hug a tree? I think not.

A few months ago we were informed that our trees in the front yard were going to be cut down because they were too close to the power lines. Apparently, the AEP believes that the possibility of our trees moving four feet towards the road during what would have to be a hurricane was just too great of a risk. And apparently our trees are more of a safety risk than the vines overgrowing the power lines and poles all along 3rd Street in Niles. Whatever, There’s not much that I can do about it. A fellow villager thinks differently. (Follow up article here.)

I’m a little ticked about the trees but I’m not going to chain myself to a tree. I’m not that attached to it. And I’ve already had my fill dealing with the police around here. I only wished that I had seen this article soon enough to get over to town and try to see them pull off this stunt.

Here’s a little bit of info: Her daughter that is mentioned in the article was a classmate of my sister. Her son was a classmate of mine. We called him Smee (like Captain Hook’s first mate) because he upset our class ranks and because we are mean. When I saw “we” I mainly mean Lisa and I. Luckily she transferred them to another school because she wasn’t satisfied with the high school that she mentions in the article. Funny how she brings that up.

Now that they have gone through the area, it turns out we are losing one of our trees while the other one will be “trimmed.” According to Grandma, it probably means they are going to cut half the tree down, guaranteeing us an ugly ass sight until such time they decide to come back and finish it off.

I’ll show you the results when they come in.

MP3 Player Escapes Destruction

My last MP3 player was an iPod style device. I shouldn’t have bought it. Most of the storage capacity went unused. The battery life sucked and I wasn’t going to shell out another wad of cash to have it replaced. Since Erin and I are planning to join the new Y when it opens up in a few weeks, I thought that it would be a good time to get one of the new flash drive MP3 players. The price has gone down for them and they are better for running with. So I got my card and headed over to Best Buy.

I got the Insignia 1GB and it has turned into a nightmare. It has taken me two days of screwing around with it to get it to play songs. First, I had to install a new program which required me getting on to the internet to download some files. Then I find out that I can’t put on my copyrighted songs on it. So then I had to connect again, and download the digital rights management thingy. I thought I was in the clear. Nope, I find out that the playlist function doesn’t work. I find myself back on the net in order to download the latest firmware update. The firmware update deletes my pre-loaded songs, some of which I actually liked. Did the update solve the playlist problem? Nope. Back to the internet to find some better online instructions for this model. None addresses the problem. So then I make an appeal to my techno-wizard cousin via email to help me. Meanwhile, I am playing with Windows Media Player and somehow I get a playlist to appear on the Insignia. How the hell did I do that? I have no idea.

The lack of a playlist option doesn’t bother me too much. However, if I wasn’t able to get my purchased tracks on to it, I probably would have taken it to the back field and connected it with my baseball bat.

The player came with pre-loaded music. Some of it was pretty good and I am sad that they got deleted. If you like music suggestions, I liked:

“Do It For Me Now” by Angels & Airwaves
“Best Days” by Matt White
“Happy Birthday” by Flipsyde
“Wanted” by Holly Brook

Remember blink 182? The band broke up and one of the members went on to form Angels & Airwaves. I may have to check out their album.

Flipsyde’s “Happy Birthday” is about an abortion but it reminded me of Fort Minor’s “Where’d You Go?” Now that I’ve listened to both in succession, I wonder what I was thinking.

Try them out.

I changed my mind.

When said that I’ve always wanted a stalker, I meant for one that I was attracted to as well. Damn…

Eating Dust

Last night Sara and I took a look at a house that our friend, Chris, recently bought. Sara also brought along her new son, Ethan. I’m always glad to meet up with old classmates. Usually I have a great time with them. This time, I came home unsettled. I felt like I was being left behind.

I used to have benchmarks by when I when I was to have achieved certain things. Graduate at 22. Find a woman by 25. Marriage by 27. Kids by 29. Somewhere in there, I would have landed a great job and bought a house. Now, I feel like I’m on indefinite hold. My friends are getting married, having kids, and now buying homes and I have yet to experience my first real kiss.

I’m not giving myself a whole pity party just yet. Since I finally admitted that I was gay, I’ve experienced a whole new set of emotions. Most of it is excitement and anticipation. I can get into a relationship without guilt of basing it all on a lie. Maybe I’m a little too much of a romantic but I want to get that right.

Since February 26, 2005, I’ve stopped to catch my breath. I’m still trying to evaluate what I want in life and how I can achieve that. I think it’s time I at least got moving. Sure things didn’t turn out the way I planed. The dream isn’t gone. I’m just looking at it with a better perspective.

It's Black Friday

I hope that all of you had a great Thanksgiving. I'm about to take off for work. It's Black Friday and I'm looking forward to it beign over and done with. While I'm off at work, I'm hoping my mom will consider using the left over turkey to make turkey curry-an idea I unashamedly got from watching Bridget Jones's Diary a couple nights ago. I'm not sure what I'll be walking in to but I'm pretty sure it won't be pretty. I've never been to a mall on Black Friday. *gulp*

I Do Know My States

What the hell? I'm a geography genius and this POS web quiz is telling me that I can't pass the third grade scoring 100%? Who needs to ride the short bus? Not I.

If you want to give it a go, click here.

New Dollar Coins

Artcle: U.S. Mint to Unveil Presidential Coins

If Americans are to accept dollar coins, the government needs to get rid of the dollar bill. They can't coexist successfuly.

Not the Bond Experience I Expected

I have not seen a good film since this summer and I was hoping that the new James Bond film, Casino Royale, would be great. Quite honestly, I’m still thinking, “What the fuck did I just see?” I’m sure it’s a great movie, but I had a difficult time trying to follow it. Usually, I can get the rough idea on the first sit down with a Bond film. (Mind you, I have only been aware of the Pierce Brosnan films.) Then with subsequent viewings, I can pick up on some of the details. With Casino Royale, I gave up and just went with the flow. I may have to go watch it again and maybe I’ll finally get what was going on.

My friend Erin and I went to Showplace 16 which is on the other side of South Bend. We figured that the Niles Wonderland (I still call it the Niles Ready) would have been packed since it was opening Friday. Trust me, the Niles theater is not a place you want to be packed into. Since Showplace had, I think, three theaters devoted to Casino Royale, we would have better luck of getting a decent seat. To be safe, we got our tickets first and then headed out for dinner. When we got back, there were only three or so people in the theater before us. Where’s the crowd?. The crowd never showed up. When the movie started, the stadium section wasn’t even 1/3 full and the lower floor section only had a few stragglers in it. Was there something that the general public knows about this film and we didn’t? Not that I was complaining or anything. Hell, I love me some elbow room.

Both Erin and I were wondering about Daniel Craig, the “blond” Bond. Um, he wasn’t blond to me. More like, a light brown. Erin thought he was good looking. Me, not so much. Is it me, or does he look more like a villain? However, I did find him to be more gritty than Pierce. Not as suave or sophisticated. I think that was what they were going with him since this movie seems to be retcon.

Casino Royale noticeably left out a couple things. Where was Miss Moneypenny? Where was Q? Where were the ridiculously fancy devices too? Only M seemed to survive. (And isn’t Judi Dench simply perfect for the part?)

This was Erin’s first time watching a Bond film. I might have to go get a few DVDs so that we can watch some of them. I’m thinking GoldenEye to start.

Again, I liked it but I didn’t get it. So I am hesitantly suggesting that you see it if you already haven’t.

UPDATE 21 Nov. 2006:
James Bond fan, David Fearn, changed his name to:

James Dr No From Russia With Love Goldfinger Thunder-ball You Only Live Twice On Her Majesty's Secret Service Diamonds Are Forever Live And Let Die The Man With The Golden Gun The Spy Who Loved Me Moonraker For Your Eyes Only Octopussy A View To A Kill The Living Daylights Licence To Kill Golden Eye Tomorrow Never Dies The World Is Not Enough Die Another Day Casino Royale Bond.

Read it here.

Idiot.

h/t: Dlisted

The Real Voltron is Back

Many people my age must remember watching G.I. Joe, Tranformers, and He-Man. They are classic cartoons that are part of my childhood. By the way, if anyone has copies of the show, Spartakus and the Sun Beneath the Sea (Les Mondes Engloutis), contact me. We need to talk. Another one of my cherished television programs was Voltron.

Voltron is a large battle robot that is comprised of five robotic lions and piloted by the Voltron Force. Voltron defends the planet Arus from the evil King Zarkon. Two series of this particular robot were produced. The latest one was made a few years ago using CGI and was total crap. I missed the original.

Dad found out that the Cartoon Network has been airing the old Voltron series early in the morning. He used to watch the show too. Now he is taping them for the both of us. This is so cool. I’m sure I’ll be reawakening some old memories with these new playings. I’m going to feel like a kid again!

*cough*

I should have called in sick to work this morning. I didn't. I'm too reliable of an employee to do so. I'm going to miss the Ohio State-Michigan game. :-( *sniffs*

Bad Bus Riders

I have a fear of passing school buses that have teenagers on board. I'm always anticipating a loud thud on my roof caused by an object chucked out by an a-hole student. It happens. I know because I've seen it done on more than one occasion when I was in high school.

Is It Christmas Season?

The day after Halloween, we were ordered to put up the Christmas stock and decorations by corporate. That same week, Sunny 101.5 began playing Christmas music at night. Last week, Cat Country 99.9 switched completely over to Christmas music. The anchor stores now have their countdown signs up. Thanksgiving has yet to come, and it seems like Christmas has been here forever.

Call me what you will, but I firmly believe that Christmas should not come around until the day after Thanksgiving at the earliest. Ideally, I don’t want to have anything to do with the holiday until three weeks before the event. I don’t hate Christmas. It’s my favorite holiday, actually. What I don’t like is being burned out. When Dec. 25th rolls around, I want to celebrate it. There have been some years where I was looking forward for it to being over. I hate feeling like that.

On top of the burnout, there’s also the commercial aspect of the holiday. I’m not a religious nut job or anything but I prefer the Christian version of Christmas. Other than getting gifts, some of my best memories are of church services, particularly the mid-night services. I get to see my family and even extended family. Another way this manifests itself is with my choice in Christmas music. Jingle Bells can not touch the hymns such as Adestes Fideles or The First Noel. The only “secular” songs that I’ll sing out loud and proud are the Muppet’s Twelve Days of Christmas and sometimes that one Chipmunks’ song.

Last night, though, I decided to tune to 99.9 and listen to Christmas songs. It might have been a little early but I might as well take a few moments to enjoy it before I have to shut out the rest until Dec. 10th or so.

Travel & TV

With the exception of Orlando, FL, the last place that I traveled to was the Philippines. I miss traveling to other places. While, I am dreaming up trips all over the world, (London in 2012, cross your fingers) there are so many places I want to travel in my own country. The United States is so huge and I’ve only seen the tiniest fraction of it.

There is this show that my dad tapes and I watch called 5 Takes USA. A group of five foreigners from the Philippines, Indonesia, Singapore, Taiwan, and Australia travel around the United States. They are given an allowance of $50/day and we get to see the country through their eyes. So far they have been to Las Vegas, Alaska, and Washington, D.C. I’ve only seen the Alaska and D.C. segments but I am watching the show with fascination.

One of the things that I dislike about this country is that it is so inaccessible to visitors. Unless you come from Japan, Western Europe, or one of the Anglo countries, you would find it very difficult to come here. Even though Americans on the whole do not travel abroad often, we do have a thought that we can pack a bag, grab a plane ticket and passport and go anywhere in the world we want to. If I could afford it, I could be on a plane back to the Philippines by tomorrow morning. If I was a Philippine citizen, my chances of making it to this country are extremely thin. So when I see a foreigner around these parts, I am pleasantly surprised.

When I hear or read about the Europeans bitchin’ and moanin’ about the U.S., one of the thoughts running through my mind is that perhaps they wouldn’t feel so terrible if they would actually come and see this place for themselves. I would be them dollars to donuts that their conceptions about this country and its people are quite different than reality. I laugh at the thought of a person, who thinks Americans are out to conquer the world, running into a regular Joe who couldn’t even point to Canada on a map if presented with one.

When those five travel journalists talk about their experiences, I get excited. I get excited because I get to see my own home as if I had never seen it before. It makes me appreciate it all so much more. When they talk about the U.S., it’s always positive although I do get a kick out of their responses when they are confronted with some American pastimes. For instance, the Australian’s aversion to bow hunting. The Taiwanese’ complaint that there were too many trees in Washington D.C. Their awe at quilting. Their participation in Halloween. (Who hates getting free candy?)

I understand why the visa system is so rigid for most foreigners out there. I’m sorry for that. If I could, I’d throw open the borders and let you all in so that you can experience life the way I see it.

There are so many places in the world that I want to go. Yet, I there are so many adventures here in my own back yard. My list of must-sees is extensive: Yosemite, The Grand Canyon, Mt. St. Hellens, Craters of the Moon, Yellowstone, St. Louis, New York City, Isle Royale, The Upper Peninsula, Hawaii, Mackinac Island, and so much more…

At the end of the last 5 Takes USA episode we watched, my dad told me that he would like to go to Washington again. I must admit, while there are things on my list that I would like to cross off first, I would love to see the great Capitol of the Empire Republic. Maybe while I’m there I can join a protest. Hey, I’m in the minority now. :-P


UPDATE 20 Nov. 2006:
Article: U.S. Is Most Unfriendly Country to Visitors, Survey Says

It's Not Butterball

Our turkey for this year's Thanksgiving was obtained for free. It fell from the back of a semi truck. You think I'm lying?

Want a Tribble?

It looks like we are selling tribbles at the store now. Actually, you are looking head on at a plush dog. Crazy.

What's it like where you live?

I know these are old but I had wanted bring them back up again. Another blogger published a great post about being proud of where you're from. Blogthings' "You know You're From [here] When..." doesn't have a great list when it comes to Michigan. I live in an area of Michigan that blends in with Indiana and Chicago so I thought I would pick and choose points that I thought reflected my area from each of those three lists. The following, I've experienced or understand with amusement. If you don't have any idea what some of these things mean, don't feel bad. You're probably not from this area! You can always ask if you wanna know though.

You Know You’re From Michigan When…

You define summer as three months of bad sledding.

You can identify an Ohio accent.

Owning a Japanese car is a hanging offense in your hometown.

You know how to play (and pronounce) Euchre.

The Big Mac is something that you drive across.

You believe that "down south" means Toledo.

You bake with soda and drink pop.

You drive 75 on the highway and you pass on the right.

You know how to pronounce "Mackinac".

The word "thumb" has a geographical rather than an anatomical significance.

You have experienced frostbite and sunburn in the same week.

You expect Vernor's when you order ginger ale.

You know that Kalamazoo not only exists, but that it isn't far from Hell.

Your favorite holidays are Christmas, Thanksgiving, the opening of deer season and Devil's Night.

At least one person in your family disowns you for the week of the Michigan/Michigan State football game.

You know what a millage is.

Traveling coast to coast means driving from Port Huron to Muskegon.

Half the change in your pocket is Canadian, eh.

You show people where you grew up by pointing to a spot on your hand.

You know what a "Yooper" is.

Your car rusts out before you need the brakes done

Half the people you know say they are from Detroit... yet you don't personally know anyone who actually lives in Detroit

"Up North" means north of Clare.

You know what a pastie is.

You occasionally cheer "Go Lions- and take the Tigers with you."

Snow tires come standard on all your cars.

At least 25% of your relatives work for the auto industry.

You don't understand what the big deal about Chicago is. (I understand this, just don’t agree with it.)

You know more about chill factors and lake effect than you'd EVER like to know!

Your snowblower has more miles on it than your car.

Shoveling the driveway constitutes a great upper body workout.

When giving directions, you refer to "A Michigan Left."

You know when it has rained because of the smell of worms.

You never watch the Weather Channel - you can just assume they're wrong.

The snowmen you make in your front yard actually freeze. Solid.

The snow freezes so hard that you can actually walk across it and not break it or leave any marks.

All your shoes are called "tennis shoes", even though no one here plays tennis anyway.

Your major school field trips include camping and cross-country skiing.

Half your friends have a perfect sledding hill right in their own backyard.

You Know You’re From Indiana When…

You drive for three hours and the scenery outside doesn't change.

There's three feet of snow on the ground and school is still in session.

While driving all you see is corn.

You start saying to yourself "More than corn in Indiana my butt."

Walking through Wal-Mart with two carts full of kids is normal.

The hip hang-out place is McDonald's. Wal-mart

There really is more than corn in Indiana. There’s soybeans, too.

A restaurant has an invisible wall in the non-smoking section and you believe it works.

You think you don't have to use a turn signal on your car because you don't use it on your tractor.

You build your dream house on a cornfield, and you considered it posh.

You warsh your clothes and you think George Warshington was the first president. (This irritates me to no end.)

You're proud to be called a Hoosier, even if you don't know what one is.

You have no problem spelling or pronouncing "Terre Haute"

Detassling was your first job. Bailing hay, your second.

You say things like "catty-wumpus" and "kitty-corner".

You live in a city ... and there's a cornfield in your backyard. (Well, there's a cornfield at least.)

You can see at least 2 basketball hoops from your yard. (Three if you really want to know.)

"Getting caught by a train" is a legitimate excuse for being late to school.

People at your high school chewed tobacco.

Everyone knows who the town cop is, where he lives, and whether he is at home or on duty. (Umm, that would be Dale)

To you, a raccoon is simply a "coon".

The vehicle of choice in your area is not a car, but a pickup.

To you, a tenderloin is not an expensive cut of beef, but a big, salty, breaded piece of pork served on a bun with pickles.

You know what chip-and-seal is, and your high school was located on just such a road.

You go the county fair every night of its week-long duration.

There's actually a college near you named "Ball State."

The last "g" is silent in any word ending in "ing."

You think the state Bird is Larry.

You Know You’re From Chicago When…

You say "Wanna go with?" when you mean "Do you want to come with me?"

You know what Kennedy, Dan Ryan, Eisenhower, Edens, and Bishop Ford, have in common and curse one of them daily.

You can name three or four extra taxes nobody else pays.

You know the difference between Richard J Daley and Richard M Daley.

You say Chicawgo and not Chicaago.

Da is a proper definite article.

You expect corruption in local politics.

You guard your shoveled parking space with an old chair and unusable broom.

You know why they call it "the Windy City."

You know dead people who voted.

You understand the Democratic machine and don't fight against it.

You've never ever considered the idea of hiring non-union laborers.

You've never been to Springfield.

You know exactly how many cars are "legally" allowed to turn left after the light turns red.

The "Living Room" is called the "front room"

You don't pronounce the "s" at the end of Illinois. You become irate at people who do

You measure distance in minutes (especially "from the city"). (Grandma: 45 minutes. Work: 35-40 minutes. Wal-mart: 18-20 minutes. Tasty Chen's: 9 minutes. 7 minutes 20 seconds if I don't hit the red lights.)

You refer to anything South of I-80 as "Southern Illinois"

You refer to Lake Michigan as "The Lake"

You refer to Chicago as "The City"

You buy "The Trib"

You think 35 degrees is great weather to wash your car!

You know what goes on a Chicago Style Hot Dog

You know what Chicago Style Pizza REALLY is

You understand what "lake-effect" means

You know the difference between Amtrak and Metra, and know which station they end up at. You have ridden the "L"

You respond to the question "Where are you from" with a side" example:"WEST SIDE", "SOUTH SIDE" or "NORTHSIDE." (In my case, it’s “The other side of ‘The Lake’”)

You know what the phone number is to Empire Carpet! (*sings* Five, Eight, Eight, Two, Three-Hundred, Empire!)

You wear gym shoes, not sneakers.

It's January and you see someone's kitchen chair in the street, and you know that if you're a responsible citizen and bring it back to the sidewalk you will be shot on sight

You live two miles from work and it takes you two hours to drive there

You don't flinch when you pay the fifth toll of your 45-minute car ride on the highway

When you read a big story in the paper about mob ties in the city government, your first reaction is "So, tell me something I don't know."

You pluralize grocery stores and retail chains: "I'm going to Jewels"; "I bought it at Targets"; "I couldn't find parking at Wal-Marts" (In my case, it’s Meijer’s and not Meijer)

You're not ashamed of wearing a big fur Russian hat, or a headsock with one hole in it, in public from November through March.

The Results: Some Good. Some Bad.

Well ladies and gents, The House of Representatives has gone to the Democrats. As of right now, the Senate is still up in the air with two races too close to call. Although, the way the edges look, it appears that the Senate will go over to the Democrats as well. Time for President Bush to break out the veto pen.

Democrat Governor Granholm was reelected. I'm not thrilled about it but at least the other guy didn't win. Fortunately, Congressman Fred Upton kept the 6th District. Even though he loses his chairmanship, I am still proud to have him serve us. The Michigan Republicans also hold on to the Attorney General and Secretary of State offices.

My State Senator appears to have kept his seat although I'm not sure I can say the same about my State Rep. Although the precincts reporting were low, his democratic challenger was in the lead. It is possible that he did win, and that the reporting precincts were in democratic rich areas such as Niles.

The Proposals were a mix bag as well.
Proposal 1 passed overwhelmingly. I don't understand why voters want to tie up funds.

Proposal 2, The Michigan Civil Rights Initiative also passed. No more affirmative action programs within the state. I hope the courts are bracing for this one.

Proposal 4, Eminent Domain passed. I am very pleased about that.

Proposal 5, which would have tied up funds for education did not pass. It makes me wonder why Michigan voters would tell the state that they can't touch funding for state parks (Proposal 1) but they don't have to set aside money for education. Even though I didn't vote yes on Proposal 5, I would have been more partial to funding education than protecting funds for recreation.

It's almost time for me to get to work. Perhaps I'll post more later.

(Did I just hear some groaning?)

Method of Voting

Remember back to the 2000 election and all the problems with those hanging chads? After that circus affair, there were calls to modernize voting equipment all across the country. That resulted in the Help America Vote Act. We were supposed to see a phase-in of more sophisticated equipment such as those touch screen devices. Touch screens haven’t come to our corner of Michigan—yet. To tell you the truth, I’m kinda glad.

Personally, I like punch ballots (like those used in Florida) the best. When I voted for the first time in East Lansing, punch ballots are what we used. It wasn’t hard to cast my vote. Latter in the week when the news locked onto those voting problems in Florida that threatened to hold up the election, I couldn’t believe what I was hearing. Oh, I was merciless when I described the ineptitude of Florida voters. Granted, the butterfly ballot (using a punch card) wasn’t the best design but still, any reasonably intelligent person should have read the instructions. Even if they didn’t they could have followed the arrows to the punch hole. And at least in Michigan, there was a direction to make sure all your punches went through and that the ballot was cleared before you turned it in.

The polling station that I used this year uses scan sheets. The voter fills in a broken arrow pointing to the candidate of his or her choice. Like the punch card, it leaves a paper trail. I don’t really have a problem with this method. In fact, this method makes it easier to review your ballot. What bothers me is that you have to insert the completed sheet into a device that looks like a business sized paper shredder.

I’m not ready to embrace the idea of electronic voting until they address the security issues. Hacking and the lack of a paper trail worry me. Plus I’m very pessimistic when it comes to the average voter’s intelligence. I don’t think electronic voting makes things easier. I can’t tell you how many times I have been stuck behind some a-hole who can’t work the self-checkout kiosk at Wal-mart. Those damn things walk you through it step by step and still they can’t get it! I can tell you, if they can’t figure that out, they aren’t going to figure it out in the voting booth.

No, I’ll stick with paper ballots. It’s simple—for most voters.

It is time

If you haven't already, make sure you go vote.

And remember, Republicans, you vote today. Democrats vote tomorrow.*



*Okay, it was funnier when I heard it.

Wishing For a Snow Storm

Fall is my favorite season. But there is one little itty bitty thing I hate about it: leaves. Not the pretty leaves in the trees but the ugly ones on the ground. The ones that have be to be raked up. You would think that when we moved out the part of the country where property is measured in acres and not square feet, we would have invested in some good yard equipment. Sad to say, the only yard tool that got upgraded was the pushmower. So yes, we have to rake all that land with all those leaves by hand. Ugh. Last year, though, we got lucky. Just before we were set to go raking, we had a huge wind storm that blew most of the leaves out into the fields. Then it snowed. This year we weren’t so fortunate.

This afternoon my mom and I raked leaves. By no means did we actually do the entire lawn. Are you crazy? That’d be a two--perhaps three day job. Nah, we did the area along the house.

Both of our neighbors have leaf collector attachments for the riding mowers. Dusty’s stepfather was out there at the same time we were. It’s kind of embarrassing slowly raking leaves while your neighbor is zipping along. It’s even more embarrassing knowing that you aren’t going to clean up your entire lawn and realizing that those leaves left on our property are eventually going to blow onto his. And it gets worse when you know that he knows that. And then you want to crawl into a hole when he starts doing some of your yard adjacent to his. In this photo you can see where the property line is (yellow) and how much of our leaves he sucked up.

Yeah, I’m wishing for a snow storm to hit us right about now.

Turning Blue?

I’ve got a bad case of selective hearing. Usually, it rears its ugly head whenever my parents are talking. The other day, my dad was making some conversation about the upcoming election. He was making sure that I had planed to vote. I was kind of brushing off his concern because…well… I’ve never missed an election and had no plans of starting now.

“…so we can vote for Granholm*.” My attention focused back on what my dad was saying.

“I’m voting for Granholm. What do you mean ‘we?’ You’re not voting for DeVos?”

“Nope. What has he done?” Then Dad dropped the conversation.

I was in shock. Dad wasn’t going to support a republican candidate? That hasn’t happened since… since… Perot**.


*Governor Granholm, a democrat, is running for reelection against Dick DeVos, a republican.

**Ross Perot was the independent candidate for president in 1992. He was running against incumbent President George H.W. Bush and Arkansas Governor Bill Clinton.

Be with you in a bit.

It seems like I am going through a dry spell with postings lately. There are a number of projects going on at work right now. All this week, I’ve been closing and working some extended hours in order to get prepped for the holiday season. (Sunny 101.5 is being prevented from playing over the store speakers because they are now playing Christmas music.) The huge project was getting together new Jelly Belly fixtures. Still yet to do is take down Halloween, put up Christmas, move a few sections of candy, set up a candy bar rack, conduct a couple of inventories, and figure out how to make more room for more product. I’m not really complaining because I’m getting extra hours. Plus, I like ripping things apart and putting them back together. It’s nice to throw that in when most of the time I’m concentrating on customer service.

Because I love it...

UPDATE 02 Nov. 2006:
I've provided a better quality picture taken from this article from the New York Post also dated 02/11/2006.

h/t: Drudge Report