David's Tangled Thoughts

Photo from the South Bend Tribune .

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

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 myse

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

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.

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*

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 .

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.

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

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!

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*

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.

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

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

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?

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

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 sout

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

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.

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.

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 stepf

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.

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.

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