I wanted a dog. Now I’m not too sure.

I’ve always wanted a dog- a beagle or a golden lab. My friends, Mandy and Ed were going away overnight and needed me to watch their dogs this weekend.  I’d tell you the names but I forgot them as soon as they left.  I had to resort to Dog 1 and Dog 2 but most of the times it was Hey and Psst.

These two dogs are friendly and extremely hyper. And they don’t have much sense of personal space but then I was warned of this by the owners.  And while it was adorable in the beginning, by the end of it, I was ready to hand them back.  I’m still willing to sit for them.  The dogs are pretty fun but I don’t think I could handle them day in and day out.  It made me realize that if I was to get a dog, my schedule is going to have to make an accommodation for.  Since I love how flexible I can be since I only have to care for myself, I’m not sure I want to give that up just now.

Hmmm, when I’m a little older, I’m going to have see about test-driving a kid.

Soho Japanese Bistro

Stacey,

Remember those sushi rolls that we had the Taste of Heritage Square? When you come back, I would highly suggest that you and Kraig try out Soho, the Japanese Bistro that opened up. My sister and I went there for lunch during Black Friday and I was impressed.

From what I observed, there were three ways you could dine. There was a bar where a chef would create the sushi rolls on the line. There was also a Teppanyaki room just like they have at Hana Yori’s. Then there is the normal dining area. Inside, the décor is very nice with styled beams enclosing the dining area, a nice water sculpture and a ceiling of twinkling stars. The Teppanyaki room is a bit different and enclosed with paper walls.

The menu was limited and they seem to keep separate menus for lunch and dinner. The lunch prices seemed to be on the pricy side with dishes running around the $9-12 range. Adding a pop punches it up a couple dollars more. My sister said that this place was nice because it offered lunch specials. It suggests to me that this place may have more variety than other similar restaurants.

Most of what you’ll find on the menu is sushi. My sister ordered some kind of platter which was $9.
She seemed to like it.

I think I got the most expensive thing on the menu which is the Bento Box consisting of Teriyaki beef, tempura shrimp, sushi, and rice for $12. Both of our lunches came with miso soup. I thought the that shushi was delicious as was the teriyaki beef. The tempura shrimp was pretty good with the weak part being the fried rice which is damn hard to eat with chopsticks because they were so loose!
I think that this place is more of a place to have an eating experience than a place to fill up on food. It’s one of those places to take a date, or have a meal with friends. Eating goes by slowly—even more if you can’t handle chopsticks so there’s more time for conversation.

Black Friday? Really?

I thought that my sister and I were going to try and join the morning masses for Black Friday. There were some very nice bargains but there’s always that fine print that says there’s only a limited quantity available so you have to really be cut-throat if you are going to get them. I’m not a person who likes to deal with crowds but I think it would be fun to do at least once. Black Friday is a beast that I would not tackle alone. Nope, I would have to have my sister with me! But… she chickened out.

We didn’t join the crazies. Instead, we left at a leisurely 11 which is about the time when all the door buster hours end and the longer sale periods start. We’d still be able to get some deals but the discounts wouldn’t as substantial. As we left our parents’ house, Dad said that if we were going to get Mom anything, to go for an MP3 player as hers has recently broken. Hers was a Chinese iPod rip-off that her company gave her. Instead of going with a regular MP3 player or Zune, we are going to give her an iPod nano. I am confident that she will find the iPod and iTunes easier to use.

Knowing how Apple operates with their pricing, I knew that getting an iPod at Walmart would be just like getting one from any other location with one difference: going to the one in Niles would be more convenient than going to the one in Mishawaka. Still, I was expecting quite a crowd and was surprised when there wasn’t one. In fact, the place was probably just as busy as it would be on a normal Saturday morning. My old internship supervisor noted the same thing.

Lunch was at a Japanese bistro—Soho in the new Heritage Square. I was very impressed and will blog about it next.

A trip to Target didn’t yield much. That place was picked over. The parking lot was full and people were packed in, particularly in the electronics section. Many of the DVD slots were empty. All but the most expensive GPS units were gone and that disappointed me as I wanted to get one for Dad.

Next up was a trip to the mall. The parking lots were full and I thought my sister was out of her mind to want to try and go in there. But we did and we made our way to Bath and Body works where she went and did her thing. I don’t buy those kind of products so I just held the bag and followed her around as she sniffed and judged a multitude of lotions, candles,--basically anything that gives off a scent.

Our last trip was to a grocery store to pick up some fancy cheese as I will be making some French onion soup. Last time, the soup was a little on the sweet side but still good. Hopefully it will be even better tomorrow.

In the end, it didn’t seem like a productive day. Only one gift was purchased-the iPod nano for our mother. But we are getting Dad the GPS unit. We just ordered online. It was available and it was still heavily discounted. Based on what I saw today, I don’t think that this was a great Black Friday. But then again, I live in one of the most depressed areas of the country (hell, MSNBC has the Elkhart project) so my observations are probably skewed towards a negative Black Friday than what the nation might be experiencing as a whole. While places were busy, it wasn’t that much worse than any other regular holiday.

Mid-Season Sci-Fi Break

I have picked up three shows this fall: The Cleveland Show, V, and Stargate Universe but I’m only going to focus on the last two. V and SGU are going on mid-season hiatus and I’m sad to see them go so soon after getting into them.

Stargate Universe started off frustratingly slow and I was about ready to give up on it until a few weeks ago when the episode, “Earth” aired. That episode held the door open for me until the next one, “Time” came up and sat me back down. While I still have some worries about this series, I do think that it is becoming more enjoyable. I look forward to seeing more character growth because, quite honestly, Eli Wallace (David Blue), is the only one that I have taken a liking to.

V has had me in its reptilian grip ever since the pilot. It’s a remake on the original mini-series but I find this one to be so much better. They’ve simplified the story a bit, especially in terms of the casting. The original, I found, was harder to follow (but then, I was really young when that one came out). Kudos to Morena Baccarin who plays the head Visitor, Anna. Her way of delivering an icy nice personality is superb and really creeps me out. I think that kind of infiltration was missed in the original series where everything is great but there’s just something that doesn’t quite add up.

SGU will be going on its break after next week’s episode. You can catch up with it on hulu. I’m not sure when it will be back up exactly. I heard the second quarter of 2010, so I’m thinking April-Mayish on Sci-fy. V has already aired its last episode and will return in March after the Winter Olympics. You can watch past episodes on ABC.com.

It’s One of Those Days

My little cousin is sick. I don’t know if it is swine flu which is going around, but I didn’t ask. Luckily I don’t have to clean up after little kids.

I’m still having mini-freakouts after an incident that occurred this morning. At my work, I’m authorized to make outside calls. I have to use an access code to do so. I don’t use it that often as the outside line is really only needed for one person who carries a cell phone. I haven’t had to use it in a while so I forgot if I was supposed to dial my access number and then the telephone number or if it was the other way around. To dial out, I have to punch 9. My access number starts with 1-1. See where this is going? Yes. I ended up calling 911.

As soon as I entered 9-1-1, the phone started to ring instead of beeping showing that it was accepting the rest of my code. With a loud “CRAP,” I punched the button to hang up but the thing still connected.

“9-1-1…”

“Oh. I’m sorry. This wasn’t supposed to go through.”

“That’s…” blah blah blah- I was freaking out so bad I don’t even remember what was said before I was allowed to hang up.

Something that I discovered is that with South Bend, if you connect with an emergency operator, you can’t hang up. And it’s a good thing too because I certainly was trying and I only realized latter that if I did, they would have sent out a cop car to my work place. That would not have gone well with HR or the rest of my bosses.

And I’m still having mini-freakouts because, what if they are the types that fine people for placing non-emergency calls? Am I still going to get called in when they see that an emergency call was placed by me? Yeesh. At least my coworkers got a good laugh out of it.

I was going to write about someone else who was having a bad day but I forgot who it was. Hmm… oh well, must’ve not been important.

Preach it Sister!

At first it came on to my radar in little blips. Some of my social contacts were mentioning something about seeing a “New Moon.” It was odd because other than Kacey T., none of them were interested in astronomy but I brushed it off. Only recently have I discovered that “New Moon” is the new vampire movie of the Twilight franchise. I was asked this evening if I was interested in going to watch it. HELL NO.

I’ve had it with vampires and I don’t understand why they seem to be the latest fad. I blame this on Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Not the movie but the series. For me, it seems like that show has kicked off the fascination for these bloodsuckers. Now, I don’t mind the film adaptations of Dracula but there have been very few other vampire themed films or shows that I’ve liked. Queen of the Damned and Being Human are examples.

But it has gotten even worse since the pre-teen and teen girls jumped on the bandwagon with this Twilight crap. Even more infuriating is the disgusting fawning over Edward Cullen, or really the guy who plays him, Robert Pattinson (the guy in the picture). I just want to ask, “Really?” He’s probably one of the grubbiest actors I have ever seen. Until these movies, I could deal with annoyances of vampires stories being inflicted upon the public. But when people are contacting me and wanting me to come see this stuff, I am drawing a line.

Taking Care of the Leaves

The leaves are raked up and it looks like it’s done for the season.  If there is anything about fall that I hate, it is having to deal with leaves.  Depending on where you live there are certain restrictions on how you can get rid of leaves.  When I was living in Niles, we couldn’t burn our leaves.  Instead, we had to rake them to the curb and the city would come by on designated days to suck ‘em up and haul it away.  Other places allow you to burn leaves but they must be done in an enclosed container.  Where I live now, we’re technically allowed to burn open piles but we have to get a permit.  The reality is that we could probably light the whole lawn on fire and it wouldn’t be an issue.  So we burned this year.  Personally I would rather we mulch, but there’s still a bunch of debris left over from last year.  I guess my parents didn’t want to add to it so they picked out  place on the lawn, piled the leaves together and burned away.  I’d say our carbon footprint is sixteen square feet.  Oh… that’s not how to do it?

There IS a Map for That

A while ago Verizon came out with an ad campaign highlighting its 3G Coverage in comparison to AT&T. Watch this ad:

AT&T was PO'd big time and slapped a lawsuit claiming that the ads were deceptive in that they were leading viewers to conclude that AT&T doesn't offer coverage in the non-shaded areas. Apparently Verizon's coverage is so vast that people think that the shaded areas in both maps for Big V and Ma Bell was for cellular coverage period. Oh no, AT&T doesn't dispute the fact that these maps are accurate... just that Verizon's labeling of 3G is not sufficient notice for all the idiots out there who are watching the ad.

AT&T's request for an injunction has been denied but the lawsuit is till going forward. In the meantime, AT&T is hitting back with an ad of their own:

Oh, Luke, what happened to you?

So let's go with why I'm not with AT&T:

Nation's fastest 3G network. Oh that wold be nice if I lived in a 3G area in the first place. But even if I did live in such coverage, AT&T's network is still widely derided as pretty shit. I've seen vloggers from the San Francisco Bay Area just bitching up a storm on how crappy their service is.

Talk and surf at the same time. Hmmm... would be nice except I'm not that talented. Realistically, I'm doing one or the other.

Most popular smartphones. True. But what good is a smartphone when you don't have the network to back it up? Where I work, it'd be fancy brick. Where I live, I might get it to work if I cooed to it first.

Access to over 100,000 apps. Put an asterisk on that baby because the only way someone with AT&T is going to get that is with in iPhone.

Folks, I'm not saying that AT&T is total crap. It just is around here and I'm sure there are plenty of places in the country where Verizon is crap and AT&T is the king of all voice and data. If you are going to choose a network provider, don't choose one because of the bells and whistles with their phones, networks, and plans. Do your homework and choose one that best suits your needs.

Coming to America for Trial

Attorney General Eric Holder announced a little while ago that a number of inmates at Guantanamo Bay would be brought to federal court in New York City to stand trial. One of those that will be standing trial is Khalid Sheik Mohammed, accused of being the mastermind of the 9/11 attacks. Mohammed was captured in Pakistan by that country's authorities with aid by American forces. He was brought to Gitmo where he was tortured with waterboarding and a confession was extracted. Attempts were made to put him on trial in a military commission however, those proceedings weren’t able to move forward because of the Hamdan decision. Even though congress has since found a way around that, Mahammed’s case has not moved forward much until recently.

So I’m sure that many of you have heard the debate raging on whether we should be trying Gitmo detainees like Mohammed here in the US under a civilian court or in Gitmo with the military commissions. I am satisfied with arguments on both sides of the issue but I find myself falling on the side of the military commissions.

President Obama has indicated that he intends to use the military commissions that were started under the Bush administration, although with tweaks. It seems odd then that the DOJ (presumably with Obama blessings) has decided to try only some of the Gitmo detainees in federal court. So why only some and not all? It seems kinda shady right? My first thought was that this was going to be a naked show trial and done more for political posturing than carrying out justice.

The decision on who will be going to federal court and who will be going to military commissions is unclear to me. The best guess that I can come up with is that those that have been caught on the battlefield fighting against the military will be going to the military commissions. Those, like Mohammed that were caught in jurisdictions by other government authorities and then handed over to the America will go to federal court.

A couple of things that have been bothering me though have been that the administration is claiming that those going to federal court have extraordinary evidence is against them. In Mohammed’s case it’s been openly said that he is going to be found guilty. Even when questioned about the remote possibility that he would be acquitted, it has been said that Mohammed will not be let go. Why, then, even bother with a trial if 1.) he’s going to be found guilty, 2.) he’s admitted he’s guilty, 3.) he’s said he wants to die a martyr, and 4.) he’s never going to be released anyways? Sounds like and awful waste of time and money to me.

Also I question the legitimacy of the government’s pursuit of justice because it appears to me that if the government is sure that it has damning evidence, then they are comfortable with convictions in federal court? Yet, if the government doesn’t have the evidence, well… they’ll just go to military commissions where these people do not have the same rights and protections and the level of permissible evidence is lower with an allowance for hearsay or coerced testimony. It’s like if they can’t hit ‘em with the ping pong ball, they’re going to use the kickball. But going before a military commission is probably something that these detainees would rather go before since they have a lower conviction rate than the cases that go to court in the US.

My personal preference is to keep them at Gitmo, and go with military trials (not commissions) which has higher evidentiary requirements and the detainees retain more rights. I think that bringing some to the mainland for trial only muddies up the classifications of these detainees and opens back the questions of what kind of rights these people have.

Really? I just thought they weren't hot.

Cry Republic

After watching an interesting The National episode I read Andrew Coyne’s article and his defense for holding onto the monarchy. It was pretty interesting but I find it amusing that there are people who defend these royal families. I’ve lived all my life in republics where the people are sovereign. The idea of a family who is put on a pedestal, regardless if they hold any real power, is a gross thought. Even the idea of political dynasties here in the United States with Kennedies, Clintons, Daleys and Bushes make me uncomfortable.

Why should countries like Canada or Australia retain their queen? How often is the Queen of Canada actually in Canada? Or Australia? These countries run their own affairs perfectly well and on the surface, it would seem that they should be perfectly fine to transition into republics. But for a political/social system that is tied in with the crown, it may be more difficult I can imagine. Personally, I find a situation in which a parliament remains and is now choosing a head of government and head of state to be another scary thought.

I’m happy with Canada keeping the status quo. But hey, they get to live with the idea of a future King Charles and thankfully, I don’t.

A Meeting of Equals

So here’s the picture of President Obama bowing before Emperor Akihito of Japan. It’s been making the rounds on the blogs. Here’s my take: President Obama should not have bowed. He is the head of state meeting another head of state. This botched bow (when bowing, don’t touch) showed deference so in a sense, America was showing that it was positioning itself in a lower standing to that of Japan. The State Dept. really needs to start briefing the president on proper protocol because he keeps fucking it up. He should have only done what the Emperor could have reciprocated. In this case, a shaking of hands and a head nod would have sufficed.

Upgrade Complete

I upgraded my computer to Windows 7 last night. I had said before that I was going to wait until a Service Pack was issued before upgrading but my dad bought a upgrade bundle pack (Three upgrades for $150). Hmmm, I could either pay him the $50 for one of the copies he got or get my own later for $120. Didn’t really need to think about it.

There were some tech articles that I read that said that the upgrade could take a number of hours. One quoted up to 21 hours. I didn’t think it would take that long. I already knew that my hardware specs were more than adequate. Basically, if your computer was purchased with Vista, it’s good to go for Win 7. What I didn’t know was that since I’ve got a fair amount of shtuff on it, I didn’t know how that would affect the upgrade time. Counting the time it took me to back up my files, uninstall or disable incompatible programs, update the computer, and then reinstall programs, it took a little over five hours.

For anyone who has subscribed to Windows Live One Care, that is incompatible with Windows 7. So kiss it goodbye if you are going to upgrade. You’re going to have to buy new security software elsewhere. If you’re a cheapskate like me, Microsoft does have a free version called Microsoft Security Essentials. I installed it and I don’t have plans to buy security software.

My iTunes program was flagged as being incompatible. Well sorta. I had one site telling me that it was incompatible and to reinstall after upgrade. The actual upgrade program just told me to deauthorize my computer. I did and after the upgrade was complete, iTunes was working fine and all I to do was reauthorize.

Now that I’ve played with it for a while, I’m not that impressed with it. Don’t get me just wrong, I like it but when I see YouTubers practically having an orgasm over how great this new OS is, I think they're nuts. I very rarely had a problem with Vista and while I can see the improvements in Win 7, I don’t think $120 is worth it. Even the $50 that I paid is questionable (considering I could use that to go towards a new starter motor).

If you’re an XP holdout, it’s time to upgrade to Win 7. Uh… don’t upgrade-upgrade. Just buy a new computer.

If you’re a Vista user and it is working fine for you, I honestly think that your money could be best used elsewhere. $120 for an upgrade is just not worth it.

I wouldn’t say it was an unlucky day.

Friday the 13th, for me, has always been a good day. This time, it was shaping up to be an awesome, fun-filled day. Sara and Adam had agreed a while ago to come with me to the gay bar to see the annual drag pageant. One of our classmates, Jon was supposed to be competing and they wanted to see him all decked out. A couple days ago, it looked like they were going to back out as Sara claimed that she could only get a babysitter for her son up to 2300. But then in the morning she texted me saying that she was going so I assumed that she was good to go for an all-nighter. She even asked if I wanted to catch dinner and some bowling. Sounds like fun to me. Also in the plan was to meet Lee and Jamie, who are coworkers of mine, at the bar.

So things went to hell.

I was anticipating meeting up at 1830 for dinner but we had to wait for Adam who didn’t show up until 1945. That was pushing the time since it was would be another half hour to get to Mishawaka for dinner. That wouldn’t leave much time for bowling, so dinner was scrapped for some finger food at a bowling alley in Niles. I believe I have said it before on this blog, but I don’t bowl very often. I’d say more than five, but less than ten, so I can still use my hands to count how any times I’ve done it. We ended up playing three games. I won the first and last but we all suck so that’s not saying too much. I did bowl my best ever. 110. Woo hoo. I finally broke the triple digits.

When we were done, Sara asked me if there was anyone that I was planning to meet up at the gay bar. She needed to know if I had a way to get home. Errr… Sara was my ride home. Turns out that she still had to get her kid by 2300 and that she was planning to just sit there for a few minutes to check out Jon and then go home. I was pissed. It was around 2130 and so I told them we needed to book it back home so I could get my car which would put me at least 45 minutes late to the pageant. So since she had to drive me all the way home, she just thought it best that she not go—but that I should take pictures and send them to her.

Ugh.

By the time I got home, got my car, stopped by the gas station and ATM, I was nearly an hour late. I had estimated that the pageant would only be two hours or less. Really. The ones on television are only about that long and they’ve got like 50+ contestants. This place would have three maybe four. Thankfully I was wrong as it ended up going for almost four.

It turns out that our classmate, Jon, wasn’t in the show as I spotted him in the audience with his friends. I had a little short chat with him. He told me that he was going to do it next year. To be honest, I’m not sure he quite remembers me. He never did use my name and never asked me anything more than my general welfare. I took an empty seat near the side bar but still within earshot of him. I was ignored for the rest of the show. Ass.

While I did see Jon, Lee and Jamie were nowhere to be found. They skipped out and I wasn’t too happy. Jon, the only person that I know, didn’t seem to care that I was there and there was no one else that I knew. The best conversation that I had was with the lesbo next to me while we were making some snarky comments about a contestant (who seem incapable of smiling).

The pageant itself was very entertaining. I think that my only gripe with it was that so much of it was lip-synching and trolling for money. Seeing a drag queen shaking hips, lips, and pointing to people can only last so long before it gets boring. But there were a few numbers that seemed more creative and even artistic. The person that I thought did the best job ended up winning. It was very much deserved.

So this may be my last posting for a while. I am about to upgrade my computer. It’s no spring chicken and it has plenty of programs on it. I heard that it can take up to a day. Geeze, I hope it’s not nearly as bad as that.

Yeah, they suck because God abandoned them.

I've been fed up with Notre Dame football coach Charlie Weis for a long time. Not that I'm really complaining that the university is hanging on to him. I'm not exactly a fan of the Irish. I like them but I don't cheer them on unless they are playing Michigan or Purdue. Rumors are going around that Weis will be fired at the end of the season. Maybe if they're spanked by Pitts it'll be even sooner.

There was a minor article and unsurprisingly there were negative comments of the coach and ND. A lot of those comments, I thought, were reasonable. One I thought was ridiculous:

ND is not and will never be the same university that won all those games in past years. Not because of coaches or players. It's the university that has changed. It has lost it's grounding in God's word. That is the reason for it's failure. It was once great because it was good. It is now a liberal Politically Correct Program, not a university.

I really hate it when people try to infer that when things happen in this world, it is because of God. God is blessing you when good things happen (because you're good too) or he's cursing you when bad things happen (because you're behaving like the devil). It's like when that televangelist (I forget his name at the moment) blamed Hurricane Katrina because of America's sinful behavior. Or how about the Phelps clan thanking God for dead soldiers because of all the homos. If that were true, you'd think that God could have better aim and actually flooded the French Quarter instead, of you know--EVERYTHING ELSE. Or maybe God could actually strike down those queers with lighting bolts instead of straight soldiers being torn into by IEDs.

So hear that ND people? Behave yourself and God just might come down from the sky and help you win a game. I have it on good authority that he's an Irish fan.

Bad Times for Work, Food, and Play

There’s been a lull at work lately and they have been giving the option for people to leave early. I was asked if I wanted to go home but I’ve got plenty to keep me busy. So it’s been pretty nice to catch up on some work and if this continues into next week, I can probably start implementing some changes to a few spreadsheets that I compile.

I’ve experimented with going to the Y before work versus going to the Y after work. I haven’t been liking either option. In the morning, I’m so dead tired. Also when I get there, the only people that are there are the old people or the gym rats. Both crowds make me uneasy. The plus side is that the place isn’t crowded. The evening is the pits. People are everywhere and so are those damn kids. Mostly I don’t like it because I end up having to wait until 8pm until I can get dinner at home.

I started running again. Okay “run” might not be the best word. You should see me. I’m sure it’s funny looking. So far, it’s been short as my side feels unsure and it tires me out pretty fast. Still, I manage to walk for about 40 minutes.

Last week I vowed to cut out fast food and managed to keep away until this evening. Here’s what happened: My exit was closed on the freeway so I had to take a detour through Buchanan. As I was driving through the business strip there, I got a craving for a coke. Without even thinking about it, I swung in and got myself a combo meal. Scary. I crave fast food and my body automatically takes me to it.

DC Sniper Execution

Back in 2002 there were a series of sniper shootings in and around Washington, DC. Over the course of a few weeks, the area was gripped with fear and ten people ended up losing their lives. John Allen Muhammad and his teenaged accomplice, Lee Boyd Malvo were caught and put on trial in Virginia. Muhammad was found guilty in his trial and sentenced to death. Maryland also found him guilty of the murders that he committed in their jurisdictions. Apparently his convictions and sentences handed down by these two states were enough and no other jurisdictions sought to bring him to trial. This evening, John Allen Muhammad was executed by lethal injection.

Michigan does not have the death penalty and it’s a point of pride that we were one of the earliest to reject it. Attempts to introduce the death penalty have always been defeated and I have said that if it were to ever be put on a ballot, I will vote no. But while I can make that decision based on my personal beliefs, when I hear of John Allen Muhammad and his predicament, I have very little sympathy. Considering how monstrous some people can be, I would even say that their execution is deserved.

OJ With Pulp

I went grocery shopping after work on Friday and while I was near the dairy case, I was looking over the selection of orange juices. There's a brand that I normally pick up. It's slightly more expensive than some of the other brands but they provide more of what the others do and that is... pulp. I love pulpy orange juice. But on that day, another brand was being sold at a significant discount. Oh it has pulp in it and it will do and it still tastes great.

For now, there's a poll to the side. Do you like orange juice? If so, how do you like it?



UPDATE: 15 Nov. 2009 @ 2117

The results are:

Came This Close to Another Blogger

Like I said previously, I don't blogroll every blog that I visit. There are actually a couple people around these parts that I do read. One of them is Mo. Now I have never seen any of these people, at least I'm not aware that I have but this evening I realized that I may have been standing next to Mo a number of days ago at the Niles Walmart. Normally, I use the self-check out lanes but I opted that time to use the regular checks stands toward the grocery end. He was there with another gentleman and I kept looking at him because he seemed familiar but at the time I couldn't place him. Now that I just checked out his site, it hit me--I had the opportunity to meet another blogger and I missed it. Okay, even if I did realize who it was, I might not have actually said anything. It would be cool to have someone come up to me and say that they read my blog. It would also be a tad horrifying because they would have me at a disadvantage. I dunno... it's just weird. Maybe next time though.

PostSecret at Western

I don't blogroll every blogs that I visit on a regular basis. One of my favorites that is not listed is PostSecret. Basically, people send in postcards containing one of their secrets to the site owner, Frank Warren. A selection of these secrets get posted on the site on Sundays. It's hard to put into words just how much some of these secrets affect me so if you haven't already seen the site, please check it out.

Last night I went to Kalamazoo as Frank was speaking there. My sister goes to Western Michigan University so she was able to get me a ticket. It was a very enjoyable event and it seemed entirely too short. Plus, it was nice to have a little more information on PostSecret--how it came to be started, how it has affected Frank's life (and even his mom's), and even the carrier who delivers these postcards. At the end of his presentation, Frank invited members of the audience to come forward and confess their secrets. Some of them were heartbreaking and some hilarious. I'd repeat them here but there not my secrets to tell.

Election Day 2009

Today is the first Tuesday in November which means the polls are open all across the country. I’m staying up late this evening to watch the numbers come in for some interesting races and referenda. I did not vote today. While I will not miss an election that deals with a political office, I tend not to vote in off years. Usually the only thing that will be on a ballot will be a request for millage increase or some other such nonsense which usually gets voted down anyways. This year, was pretty much moot as there was nothing on the ballot this year. But let’s get to some of the local stuff.

The RTA tax was voted down overwhelmingly in St. Joe County. The proposal was to raise the local income tax another quarter percent. Folks around here are already pissed when their local income taxes were more than doubled beginning last month. I, too, was included in that because I work in St. Joe. Whether or not I would be exempted from this hike, I’m not sure. The tax was basically about upgrading and consolidating the South Shore Line which is the rail line connecting South Bend and Chicago. 95% voted against raising their taxes.

Galien’s Road Millage Proposal passed with 85%. I don’t know what plans they have but if puts an end to all this chip n’ seal, I’ll be happy. Best part is that while I use the roads in the township, I technically live just outside the borders so the millage wouldn’t affect me. Oh wait… I don’t own property so it doesn’t affect me anyways. Yay!

Mike Nofs took Michigan’s State Senate seat for the 19th District. It’s a sweet piece of candy as the Republicans only have a hold on the Senate. The governorship and the State House of Representative are firmly in the grip of the Democrats. Could this be a sign of what’s to come next year when all senate and house seats come up for grabs?

One of the more interesting races was, or rather still is as of this posting, New York’s 23’rd Congressional District. They are having a special election as the seat was vacated by Congressman John McHugh (R) to serve Obama’s administration. Local Republican party leaders chose to select Diedre Scozzafava to run against the Democrat’s Bill Owens. Now this district has been firmly in Republican control in the past but the Dems have been eyeing it. If the Dems win it, it would reduce the Republicans to only two seats in the state’s Congressional delegation. Scozzafava was probably chosen in hopes of capturing the moderate to liberal vote, keeping the district in the Republican column. She has been known to be on the liberal wing of the party with her support for same-sex marriage and abortion. This caused some outrage with the party base and Doug Hoffman came up and ran under the Conservative Party hoping to bump off Scozzafava. A split between the Conservative (Republican) and the Liberal (Republican) would have seemed disastrous for the party as Bill Owens would be able to swoop in. Scozzafava, the other day, chose to suspend her campaign but in a spiteful move to her party, she threw her support to Democrat Bill Owens. Last report has Bill Owens taking NY-23.

The Republicans are having better luck with the New Jersey and Virginia governorships. Virginia was a knock out with Republican Bob McDonnell defeating Democrat Creigh Deeds with 60%. Virginia has been as sore spot since the normally Republican state was secured by Obama in the last election.

New Jersey was setting up to be a nail biter. Polls up to election day showed Rep. Chris Christie and Dem. Governor Jon Corzine virtually neck and neck. New Jersey is a Democrat stronghold--the bluest of the blue and the fact that they would vote a Republican almost makes you do a double take. Perhaps if Corzine wasn’t seen as an epic failure, he could have kept his seat.

I suspect that I will be going to bed without knowing the results of Maine’s Question 1. A Yes vote would cancel out the legislature’s act to allow gay marriage. After a despicable campaign ad focused on scare tactics, the anti-gay marriage groups were able to close the gap. Exit polls are showing the YES and NO side at half and half.

Although President Obama is still polling with a relatively high approval ratings, there are questions about whether or not these races are a sort of referendum on him. The White House has already made sure to insulate itself as much as it can from this. The standard line will be that these are all local races made with local concerns. Perhaps that is true but then again there’s seems to be a larger backlash against all the policy points that are coming out of the White House and the Democratic Party. Bush’s economic mess has now become this administration’s and I think that people aren't getting or seeing the changes they were hoping for.

I’m more like you than you’d like to admit.

Before leaving for Justin and Carrie’s Halloween party, my aunt stopped by with my two cousins. They were going to go trick-or-treating in town. She claims that it is “safer” and “nicer” than the town she lives in. It’s from 5pm to 6pm. Methinks she only does it because it’s daylight out and she only has to walk around for an hour. Next year I may have to break it to my cousins that the next town over has it from six to eight. Potentially, they could get over three times the candy if they hit both places! *evil grin*

I chose not to walk with them as my costume was sort of complicated. Plus, I had been on my feet all day doing some warehouse work and earning some overtime pay. All that standing around aggravated my leg and I didn’t feel like trekking around the place if I didn’t have to. So while they were gone I put on my costume and painted on my beard. I still had some time left before I needed to head out to Justin’s so we ended up talking politics.

Now if you’ve read me in the pass, you know that my aunt is crazy conservative. She saw one our Newsweek magazines on the table and let out a statement of disgust. The current issue has a cover--something about the liberal’s survival guide or something like that. I think it has to do something about the hard left base for Pres. Obama. So we got to talking about Obama’s spat with Fox News. She thought that what he was doing was awful and was an infringement of the freedom of the press. I pretty much defended the President saying that if he didn’t want to go on Fox News, he didn’t have to. That doesn’t infringe on the freedom of the press as Fox News is free to report on anything they want. Maybe they won’t get the sit down interviews that the other networks get but that’s their problem. I told her that they only thing that I had a problem with was his trying to kick Fox out of the White House Press Pool. Luckily the other members, ABC, CBS, NBC, and CNN refused to go along with the administration.

She asked me if I was a liberal. Before I even answered by dad said that I was. Now I consider myself to be in the conservative camp but my conservatism comes more from a strict constitutional interpretations and conservative fiscal views than it does from the Christian Right. I was willing to mix it up a bit so I challenged them: throw some issues at me and we’ll see where we are. And they did. I was asked how I felt about health care, cash for clunkers, term limits, and more. And while I seem to be answering to their satisfaction I was just waiting for, “How do you feel about gay marriage,” because I knew it was all going to hell if I gave them answer that I would have given them.

After the grilling was done my aunt said that I was conservative for her. I smiled a bit only because I know that I really am not.

Farm Dogs & Harvest

I mentioned in a tweet that my grandma’s dog had puppies and that I didn’t even know that she had a dog in the first place. I think it was in late spring when her dog, Tracee disappeared. She had gotten broken away with her chain. A gas station attendant said that she saw someone pick up a dog that still had her chain attached. Although I wouldn’t say it to her face, I pretty much figured that Tracee was a gonner. She had tags on. So whoever picked her up knew that she was owned and where to bring her back.

Fast forward to a few weeks ago when my dad said that Grandma’s dog just had some puppies. I was confused. 1.) Grandma lost her dog. 2.) Even if Tracee came back, she was already spayed. 3.) When did she get a new dog? After asking my dad to explain, it turns out that a friend at the market said that he had found a stray. When he heard that Grandma lost her dog, he offered to give her the stray. It was a beagle mix. Grandma agreed to take her in and named her Trixie. (Hmmm. Trina, Tracee, and Trixie. I’m beginning to think that my grandma has a fondness for dog names beginning with T-R.) One day my dad asked her, “Does that dog look like it’s getting fat?”
A couple days ago my dad said that someone had found Tracee and that he would be returning her to Grandma. I would learn latter that this person claimed that Tracee was living over by the Walmart, less than a mile away from the winter home that she escaped from.

So yesterday I went to the farm to pick up my dad and while I was there, I took the opportunity to check out this new dog and her pups. When I drove up to the farm house, there was a dog that looked like Tracee. I wasn’t 100% sure it was her but as soon as I saw her collapse for a rest in the middle of the yard, I knew it was her. Tracee is wildish dog. She hunts at night and she sleeps where she darn pleases, which does not always mean her dog house. But I did check out Trixie which to me, looks like the larger size of beagle. She’s a bit thin but I guess when she has 8 pups feeding from her, I can imagine that she would be looking a little drained.

They don’t know what breed sired the pups but to me, they look bulldoggish. They’re really cute and I kind of want to keep one. I better watch my mouth more often because I have been “volunteered” to take care of these dogs (all ten) while Grandma and my parents take a trip to Disney World for Christmas. Yup I will be spending Christmas alone this year with another person’s dogs. FML.
The farm is pulling in the last of the harvest. Although the farm doesn’t officially close until the snow comes, Grandma is expecting to pack up and move back to the winter home in about four weeks. Here’s a couple pictures of the last of the winter squash, cabbage, sweet potatoes, and walnuts.