I remember when they actually blew stuff up as well.

I went to the Chicago Air & Water Show yesterday. You may remember a post about it last year when I met up with a fellow blogger.

My only costs: train tickets at $21.90 and parking: $1:00

Please feel free to click on the pictures to enlarge them.

Walking down Michigan Avenue on my way to the beach by Oak Street.
Aerobatic maneuvers. There were a number of acts similar to these. A couple solos and duos. One memorable one was a small bi-plane. The pilot addressed the crowd through the radio. The guy must be a big fan of the Austin Powers series as he was throwing around “Yeah Baby!” left and right.


B1

A pair of Black Hawks.

KC-10

Here are a few Blue Angels flying out from the Loop.
These two were flying upside down doing a close pass of each other. It was amazing enough to cause the woman in the foreground which buried her face into her husband’s side just moments after the pass was completed and this photo was shot.

Dragons on the River

I stopped by Niles this morning to check out Riverfest. The highlights of this festival are the boat races. Personally I like the dragon boat races.

This video was taken in the morning. I believe these are just practice runs. They didn't bother with drummers.

After visiting with some people that I knew and grabbing a pop, I headed back home rather than staying to see which of the teams won. I mean, it's not like I had any vested interest in any of them. I did venture up river though to check out the boats participating in the "Anything that Floats" race. One of the teams had a kick ass version of the Mystery Machine--wish I thought of taking a picture of it.

A Yogi Bear Movie?

I'm not sure if I should be horrified or excited.

Results From Yesterday

I don’t have official numbers from yesterday’s primary but what I do have is this:

Businessman Rick Snyder will be the Republican candidate for governor having secured 36% of the party’s voters. He competed against four others: Oakland Co. Sheriff (and former state senator) Mike Bouchard, Attorney General Mike Cox, Congressman Pete Hoekstra (MI-2), and State Senator Tom George (20th District).

On the Democratic side of the governor ballot, Lansing Mayor Virg Bernero has won his party's candidacy. I've actually met this guy. He was invited to one of my Poli Sci classes. I actually remember thinking that this guy was ambitious. I may not have agreed with some of his policy positions but I had to admit, he made very good arguments.

Congressman Fred Upton (MI-6) has won his primary contest against State Rep. Jack Hoogendyk (61st District). He won with 57% of the Republican vote and had the edge in all 7 counties that the 6th District covers.

I’m just gonna call it right now: State Rep John Proos (79th District) will be moving to the other end of the capitol building. He has beat Todd Griffee with 77% of the Republican vote. The senate seat (21st District) is a safe Republican seat so dollars to donuts he will win it in November.

I Will Have My Say. At the Ballot Box If Needed.

I voted in today's primary. I have mentioned in the past--I do not vote in primaries but I thought that I should make this one an exception. My congressman, Fred Upton, is up against Jack Hoogendyk. Mr. Hoogendyk was a member of the Michigan House of Representatives and whose last run at an office was for Carl Levin's seat in the US Senate. Based on the campaign signs, Hoogendyk appears to have support of the party in this area. I have seen very few signs up for Upton.

I have been satisfied with Congressman Upton's work in representing MI-6. And as far as I could tell up until now, he had solid support of his constituents. But I think that the anti-incumbency and tea party movements may cast doubt on whether he will be seated again come January. Indeed, Mr. Hoogendyk supporters have labeled Upton a RINO and "water-downed Democrat." While I wouldn't call Congressman Upton a right winger, I wouldn't say he's a RINO either as he has supported many republican plans in congress, some of which that I am actually against such as the constitutional amendment banning gay marriage. So if this gentleman to the right of me is a RINO, do I really have to ask what that makes me?

If the Republican party is going to creep further to the right, I don't really have a problem voting for the Democrats and I have already cast votes to prove that but I did vote today and I voted on the Republican ballot. I voted for the republicans that I felt best represented my interests. I intend to stay in this big tent and if my vote in a primary can help it from getting smaller, then I'm gonna do it.

As I make my way out from the "50%" column and into the "plus one," I'm not sure I'm gonna be able to shake my bitterness when the righties and yes--the lefties come looking for my vote.

Justice Served... With a Side of Fries

Since the changeover to digital, the number of effective channels that I have been able receive has went down from eleven channels* to three**. So I haven’t been too thrilled about it. When I moved to the new place, I decided that I wasn’t going to continue with satellite or get cable. That was too much money to spend per month. Besides, most of the television shows that I was watching were available to stream on the internet. As long as I had high speed internet I’d be fine. Unfortunately the summer is the dry season of worthwhile television shows so I have signed up for… Netflix.

To my surprise, I actually like this service. For nine bucks a month, it’s practically a steal. The cheapest rentals around here are $1 so I figure that if I watch at least nine movies a month, I’d be making it worthwhile. And I’m probably four or five months ahead at this point.

With Netflix, it’s been a trip into my past as I have been able to dredge up some almost-forgotten films and even television shows. Anyone remember that Around the World in 80 Days mini-series with Peirce Brosnan? Was anyone else upset when Earth 2 was canceled and now wishes to see those precious few episodes that aired? My last few movies that I watched were adapted from some of my favorite books that I read as a kid: A Wrinkle in Time and Where the Red Fern Grows. A Winkle it Time was pretty bad but the Red Fern, I liked.

If you like movies but don’t want to spend all that money on a DVD that you’ll probably only watch a few times, I think that Netflix would work well. I’m pretty sure my dad and sister would probably appreciate all the anime crap that is on there. :P



* 7-ABC/Chicago, 9-WGN/Chicago, 11-PBS/Chicago, 16-NBC, 22-CBS, 25-I forget, 28-Fox, 34-PBS, 46-Some Religious Channel, 50-What was UPN, and 57-ABC

**16-NBC, 22-CBS, and 28-Fox.

Thanks IN. I'm rollin' in the dough now!

It only took Indiana a couple months to cough up eleven bucks. Sheesh!

Rolling My Eyes at Daley

An oil pipeline owned by Enbridge ruptured near the town of Marshall three days ago. The oil leaked into Talmadge Creek which then flowed into the Kalamazoo River. Chicago’s Mayor Daley is demanding that Michigan AG Cox start an investigation into the oil spill saying that oil leakage into Lake Michigan would be worse than the Asian carp leaking into the lake from his city.

Fuck off Daley.

Is the oil leak an important issue? Of course it is but we’re talking about contamination of, what, 40 miles of a small river in the middle of the state? With all the containment and cleanup efforts, I doubt that much, if any, harmful amounts are going to get to the lake.

But let’s just say that this spill directly dumped into the lake—about a million gallons. It would be an environmental disaster for sure but how many years of damage are we talking about? Even if it was decades, I would argue that would still be far less damaging than one Asian carp about to reproduce. Once an invasive species gets into the Lakes, it’s going to be there long after the oil is broken down. And if the Asian carp is half as bad as it is being portrayed, then we’re talking about a permanent reduction—and some would say loss—of Michigan’s sports fishing industry.

So let’s just be clear, Mayor Daley is willing to grasp at anything to give this state a slap in the face for all the heat he is getting for the Asian carp and his unwillingness to do more to keep those damn fish from getting past the locks and into the Lakes.

Better than single shots, I guess.

All the clutter has been cleaned out and the apartment looks pretty decent. How long it will last this way? ...Probably not past Monday morning. Heh heh.

I had plans to do a large photosynth of the place so you could take a virtual tour. After 173 individual photos were taken, I loaded them on to photosynth were I only achieved about a 60% synth. I have it another try and still, the great interactive picture turned out to be a depressing dud. Here it is, almost 2200 and I started out at 1700.

Screw it. I took a series of shots from two positions: one at the main entrance and the other at my bedroom entrance.





Time to take these pics and have them synth at 100%: <20 minutes. *facepalm*

Will I ever get unpacked?

I didn't realize I was such a slow poke when it comes to moving. When I was moving around up in Lansing, I had to do everything in one go. Since I'm only moving a few miles from where I used to live, I'm taking my sweet time. Three weeks after the official move in, the living room is still holding boxes of trash and stuff that I haven't unpacked yet. This weekend, I hope to finally get everything placed, that way I can actually take some pictures of the place and post them here.

Happy Independence Day--About A Week Late

A little over a week ago, July 3rd, my sister and I went to Six Flags Great America to meet up with our cousins, Jessica and Eric. It was originally hoped that we would go to Cedar Point. We were at Six Flags less than a year ago and it would have been nice to go to a different park but the cousins had things to do on the fourth and a six hour drive to Sandusky wasn’t something they were eager to do.

We waited here just beyond the entrance. It took a long time to get through as people did not know how to line up properly.


Have you ever been to a ride which brought in groups of people into a waiting room where a presentation was made before you got on the actual ride? Like the Haunted Mansion at Disney World’s Magic Kingdom? Well this was a similar one but instead of filling up the room, a line was made up along the back wall. I went ahead and moved to the far end where we would exit to the actual ride. Because of this, we got called names by the idiots who didn’t think to do it themselves. It’s not my fault they don’t know how to fill a room. I’ve been doing this for over two decades over dozens of parks. My guess is that this was their first time. Still, no need to call us assholes when they are ignorant assholes.

The rest of the day went fairly well. We managed to get Eric to go on a wet ride over his protests. It was freakin’ hot out and I was welcoming a chance to get a little wet. We didn’t get to go on all the coasters again but I was satisfied with what we did get on.

A note to 14/15 year olds out there: please don’t make out when we are in the queue. Some quick kisses, no big deal, but when you’re sticking tongues down each other’s throats… go find a bush or head back out to the parking lot. I’d tell you to get a room but you wouldn’t be able to book one. But whatever, please don’t subject the rest of us to it. Some other pervy kids might get into it but the rest of us are a little put out.

Yes. They made the unfortunate decision of not using sunscreen.



We spent the night at my Uncle’s house. On the fourth, we accompanied the family to a party being hosted by some of their friends. I was uncomfortable. I hate being put into situations where I am forced to be in the company of strangers. In hoping to avoid the assembled guests, I followed Eric down to the dock on the lake and for most of my time there, tried to keep my distance.

These folks seemed fine. They were welcoming but still, seeing this flag being flown did not make me feel any more at ease.

Yet, I found it a little amusing to see this flag flying right next door.

We left in the late afternoon after my aunt gave me some extra kitchen items for my new apartment.

As we drove back home on the Illinois Tollway, the local residents were shooting off their fireworks. Sure they’re not as big as the shows the towns put on but not knowing where or when a good mortar would go off had its own thrill.

Back to State and Visit to WMU

I had some business with my credit union which is based in East Lansing so I went up there today. It’s been a few years since I’ve been back on campus and it always amazes me to see the improvements that are always being made. This time around, I saw that they created underpasses at the rail road crossings on the southern end of the main campus. One of the more shocking was this on the north end by the College of Social Science:
I’m not sure what they are going to be building here.
Here is Phillips Hall, my dorm from freshman and sophomore years. Just recently they installed an art sculpture. The cost for it would have completely paid the tuition and housing for three students seeking a four year degree.

I stopped by the Student Union and I was happy to see that my credit union opened a branch there. That was a very smart thing as together with the campus post office, it makes the Union more of a one-stop service area.
There were a couple things that I didn’t care for. The food courts were closed. Closed! On a Saturday. Now I’ve seen reduced hours during breaks but I have never known them to close. Even the stacks were closed when I walked by them (although they would have opened later in the day.)

On my way back, I contacted my sister to see if she wanted to catch lunch as I would be passing her university on my way back home. We met up and had lunch at a Chinese buffet. After that she took me on a tour of downtown Kalamazoo.
…where we saw a fountain…

…and church.


We also visited candy shop that was very retro. I liked it a lot.

We drank odd pop…

…and ate Blue Moon ice cream. Yum!

Now that I'm back home. I think I'm getting sick :( But that aside, it was an excellent day.

We’ve Got the Power!

We had a large storm come through late Friday night and early Saturday morning. We rode out the first wave but power was knocked out in the second. I could see that the winds were pretty nasty but it was nothing that I hadn’t seen before. I just thought that we were unlucky enough to catch a cell. Turns out this was a big ass cell that covered multiple counties.

Usually, when a storm knocks out power, it is restored within a day. What was so unusual about this storm was that the damage was so widespread. We pretty much had a micro-hurricane. Around noon on Saturday I headed up north to Stevensville to get some gas at my mom’s request.

Baroda. This is one of many trees that were blown down. I saw a house that had a swath of its roofing blown off.

A few houses down from where I live I saw that these poles. This was probably where our power was interrupted.

That evening, I drove into Niles and South Bend. The traffic signals in Michigan were out. Indiana’s were mostly up but there were a few intersections that were still down.

The fridge in the house and the freezer in the mudroom held together by Sunday. Everything in them was okay. The freezer in the garage couldn’t hold on and much of the meat had begun to thaw. My uncle came by around noon and took two full sized coolers of the beef. I would say about 150 to 200 pounds. The chicken was grilled and the hamburger was cooked so it could be refrozen later.

Power came back on later that day. Some of my friends in the South Bend ‘burbs did not have power. I’m guessing the power poles that were hanging over into the road might have been too much of a hazard and got bumped up on the priority list.

Housing: Affordability vs. Everything Else

The housing search did not go well earlier this week. Before heading out, I made a list of properties that were in my price range. Every place that I visited in Michigan had waiting lists. I got on them but no one could give me an idea of how long the wait might be. Gritting my teeth, I headed into Mishawaka, Indiana to inquire into a complex down there. To my surprise, they had units open so I filled out an application. At that point, it looked like it was going to be my only option.

So this Mishawaka place. On the plus side, it was well within my price range and there was even a discount internet provider (whose name I’ve never heard of). It looked nice but from what my coworkers tell me, looks can be deceiving. Apparently it is pretty rough and I’ve heard stories of people getting shot there. The fact that the unit that I was applying for was ground level and the windows were secured with wood dowels, did not impress me.

I found out earlier today that a place in Buchanan had a one-bedroom available and those ahead of me on the list didn’t go for it. I asked the office person there if I could drop by after their office hours and check it out. If the apartment worked out, I was going to make out an application and pretty much guarantee them that I would sign a lease.

I toured the unit and it doesn’t look as attractive as the one in Mishawaka but there is more space. It’s also a bit more expensive. I think that the biggest selling point for me was that I could still remain in Michigan. This is hugely important to me because I can still maintain my residency so that if I apply to grad school, I will pay the discounted in-state tuition. In addition, I wouldn’t have to go through all the other annoying obstacles of establishing Indiana residency by changing over my vehicle registration and insurance. In addition, it’s a lot easier to get to and from work. Even though Mishawaka is the next town over, I have would have to drive miles of surface streets. Buchanan is just a shot up the highway and a hook into town.

The lady seemed confident that I would get the unit and even asked me if I wanted to move in within the next couple days. I think it would be less complicated if I just waited until July. At least I would have a couple weeks to see if I can scrounge up some used items to furnish the apartment with. As of right now, I basically have a bed, desk, chair, computer, and some odds and ends still left from living in the dorms.

More on this later...

We.... won? *scratches head*

According to my friend Adam, the 1-1 tie between England and the United States is the reason why he can’t get into soccer. How can anyone tolerate a game that ends in a draw? Someone’s gotta win! In addition, it’s strange how a tie can be a “win” for one side *cough*USA*cough* and a loss for another.

See also: “Give it another shot?”

Bringing My Phone Back

Hey, does anyone remember this:

The music in this vid was one of many ring tones that have been wiped clean off my phone.

Yesterday morning my phone booted up to an error screen and I could not reset it with a battery pull. After fiddling with it all day and getting nowhere I took it the Verizon kiosk in the mall. They referred to one of their actual stores. Then those people sent me home telling me to update the software. I was not happy with their customer service. Although they seemed willing to, ultimately, provide me with a replacement, they wanted me to see if I could figure it out on my own.

When I got home their suggestion of downloading software to the phone didn’t work. I spent a few hours on it and got nowhere. Fed up, I left it connected to my computer and when I came back a few hours later it had somehow connected to my computer and I was able to restore it to factory settings.

Luckily I have my contacts backed up. A lot of media got deleted, mostly but that’s no big deal. I can replace the few ring tones that I liked anyways. I’ll probably be personalizing the phone over the next couple of days. I didn’t realize how customized I had it.

Really, I’m just glad that I don’t have to buy a new phone or go through the hassles of submitting an insurance claim. I can still wait until my renewal window is open or when my contract is up.

Considering Giving it Up to the Cloud

See also: --> “Well, I needed a new handset anyways,” and “I want to be a Crackberry addict!”

I should have more pressing things to worry about but lately I have been considering what phone I will get when I am eligible for my upgrade—in three months. I haven’t made a decision as to whether I should continue with BlackBerry or move onto a handset carrying Android.

I do like my current phone, the BlackBerry Storm, but as it ages, the shortcomings are becoming more apparent. The messaging capabilities have been top-notch and I have valued its ability to sync up to Outlook but the memory is low and applications are bare bones in comparison to their counterparts made for Android or the iPhone. I don’t know what has changed by the in the past few days, but my phone hasn’t been syncing properly. My calendar entries created on Outlook shows up hidden on my phone. Entries on my phone don’t sync to Outlook.

Outlook has always been my manager of emails, events, and contacts. I have been hesitant to switch over to Gmail completely. I’m not comfortable putting up what I would consider sensitive information up into the cloud. I like to know where that data is—in a computer tower that I can destroy whenever I want. Should I move to Android, it looks like I will have to give it all up to the cloud. It could be a good thing as syncing issues shouldn’t be a problem and well it’s free unlike Outlook. I just have to get over the psychological hurdle of letting my data go.

Finding a place to live, how hard can it be?

I have submitted an application for low income housing but the waiting list is six months long. I suppose for the application fee, it’s worth the gamble that an available spot might open up within a month or two. I started a broader search and there really isn’t much in my price range but there a few.

Going on to the various apartment hunting websites, most of the listings are in South Bend. I found two places offering studios in my price range. The neighborhoods don’t look too bad either. They’re buried inside the city with no easy way to get to work or my parents. …And, God, I don’t want to be a Hoosier.

There are two places nearby in Michigan that I really like. In fact, when I’ll be inquiring about one of them first. It’s a studio. The setup is nice and the price is just right and—hello indoor pool! I’ll have to put in a time-off request at work so I can check this and other places when their offices are open. Sometimes having a 9-5 job is damn inconvenient!

Cross your fingers for me that there are available spaces.

When Fashion Does Not Make Sense

Seriously, these people are just fucking dumb.

I’m hot. No really, I am.

The weather probably isn’t the first thing I would want to talk about when taking up the blog again but whadda ya gonna do? Spring has been dry this year but the temps have been cool until the past weekend. We hit 88 today (or 31 for you metric people) it wiped me out. It is by no means a hot day but when the temps climb from the low to mid 60’s to the high 80’s all of the sudden, I do not react well. I’m feeling sticky and nasty. Ugh.

I’m fighting tooth and nail trying to stay in the area and finding a place to live. If I don’t find a place by July 1st, the plan is to head to Florida. A friend of a friend has kindly offered me a place to crash. There may be some hope, though, as a higher position has opened up in the company that I work for. This is good news, as I like the company. So wish me luck!

V had its season finale not too long ago. I’m glad that ABC has decided to renew it for another season. I do not have a great opinion of the alphabet networks as they continuously disappoint me by axing some of my favorite shows. Southland and Eli Stone come immediately to mind. I have found some other V-heads to talk about the series with. It’s like being in the good company of Star Trek nerds again! I didn’t quite get the cliffhanger. Particularly, I’m wondering why are they bringing back Joshua? Not that I mind of course.

I Hope

I've got to stop blogging for a while. Things have occurred and I don't think I can deal with this right now. I would share but it's humiliating and I don't feel like sharing it with the world. I hope to be back. Maybe with my next update I'll be writing from a better place.

David.

It couldn't have hurt

This YouTube channel is awesome!

h/t to HISHEdotcom

Walking up to the Interstate

I went up to the family farm today. I haven’t gone since mid-fall because I’m paranoid about overtaxing my car. Really, it’s almost 90 minutes worth of driving. When I got there I could see that it was still too wet to drive up so I parked at the entrance. After I was done with my business, I looked off to the interstate and it seemed to me that it was a little more open than I last remembered.

A long time ago--shoot I was still in elementary—a lady from the gov’t stopped by and showed my grandparents a map. When I asked, I was told that the state was buying up some of their land up next to the interstate. According to my grandpa, it didn’t really change anything. I’m not sure if we are farming land that is officially the state’s or we were never farming the land they bought in the first place. What I did notice was that there was a free access point where there had been shrub and a barbed wire fence. Aside from the highway railing, there was nothing preventing me from walking onto the road.

It’s a good thing it wasn’t this open when I was living here. I know I would have snuck out for a visit.

Love ko ‘to

I forgot to pack my lunch today. Okay, I didn’t. I was running late and didn’t have time to make one so I knew I would have to hit up one of the fast food joints down the road. By the time lunch was rolling around, I had a craving for some chicken nuggets from McDonalds. I only had five bucks so the pan was to get a 10 piece which is 3-something and a coke. When I got there, I got a pleasant surprise. There was a 1-day special. Six piece for $1. So I got 12 pieces for $2 plus my drink. As I was being handed my order, I was told that I was the 25th customer and I would be getting a certificate for a free value meal. (Apparently that day every 25th customer got one.) Lovely. I got more for less and I got a free meal in the future. I love it.

Overthinking Yoda

Raise your hand if you thought Yoda was a “human.”

I don’t know about the rest of you but I raised my hand.

When I was young I was too smart for Star Wars. So smart I was dumb. I won’t get into why humans were in a galaxy far far away, existing in the past but seemingly living in the future. Nor will I discuss how measuring time using units of distance was wrong. Let me just talk about Yoda.

First I knew that some species that looked “human” were infesting the Star Wars galaxy. I mean they were everywhere. They couldn’t be real humans because real humans are here, in our galaxy, in our time. So if they weren’t humans than their condition must be different. I seriously thought that these humans had long life spans like 1,000 years. It’s just that at the end of their lives they ended up all short and pruney like Yoda. What sold me on that idea was when Yoda says to look “When nine hundred years you reach, look as good you will not.” Surely that means that in 900 years, Luke was going to end up looking like Yoda only uglier. Sounded reasonable to me at the time.

*Shrugs shoulders*

I Seriously Need to Catch Up

I got a lot to cover but I’m going to try to keep it to short bites.

I’ve been stressing out over work. Someone quit and I have been picking up some of the slack which involves me doing additional work. Not that I want to pat myself on the shoulder but I already sit on my ass and read, type, and think all day. This is stuff that I can see and manipulate. However, add in some more analytical stuff in order to locate missing things and I want to go bonkers. I come home and all I can do is veg out even though I should be studying or forging ahead with my job search.

I haven’t seen my friend Erin in months so we got together over the weekend. My intention was to find a new Chinese takeaway place since the one that I liked came under new management and their food is horrible. We weren’t terribly successful but we did find a sit-down and dine restaurant. You know, the kind that existed before buffets. They had excellent dishes but their prices were very high. So the search continues.

I’ve been following the news about the Greece fiasco. Some of the right pundits here point to that country and say that will be the US in a couple of years. While I do not argue that America is creating a mountain of debt by digging a hole to China, Greece and America are not exactly the best subjects to compare. After all, we can always manipulate our money such as devaluing it. Greece can’t since it uses the euro.

Normally, I’m the kinda guy that likes to see big time companies fall but I have to say, I feel bad for Toyota. While I think that they need to pay up and make these car owners whole and safe, I think that there are people who want to take this company down and bleed it for all it’s worth. I don’t think that it deserves that. I’m still willing to buy a Toyota.

East coast babies are still complaining about the winter snow and weather. Gimme a break.

I’m pretty much done with the Olympics. I did enjoy watching curling. Imagine that. BTW, what is it with the Scots inventing the most expensive sports possible—gold and curling? Will be watching the hockey game coming up.

I don’t want to get my hopes up but I’m looking at a position that may be opening up at a courthouse around these parts.

I'm Not Feeling It

I feel bad and must apologize for my absence. I have not been in the greatest off moods lately and am not really In the mood for blogging. There are plenty of things I want share.

Soon.

I'll be back again soon.

Rumor: Former Coworker Takes Plea

I could have sworn I blogged about him earlier this year but one of my coworkers got involved in an incident where a man was shot dead. The coworker was named as the "mastermind." He was charged with murder. After a brutal double homicide that occurred in my hometown not to long ago, it reminded me of him and I asked if anyone had heard anything about his case. The only thing I was able to find out is that he has agreed to a plea deal. He'll plead guilty and testify against the actual shooter. In exchange, he will get 10 years. Who knows if that will get cut even further for good behavior. While I certainly think that he doesn't deserve the death penalty or even life in prison, I think ten years is not enough time--especially if he really was the person that set this whole thing into motion.

Because 140 Characters isn’t Always Enough

Twitter isn’t the best place to converse due to the limits imposed. This post is mainly for suenarmie as a response to some of her tweets.

@usapines Gen Wasington was a Virginian? No. Powhatans, yes. The white Americans
rising against Britain was right but Confederation wrong?

General President Washington was indeed a Virginian. He was born there, raised there and participated in Virginian society and state. Chief Powhatan was not a Virginian. While Powhatan may have resided on the land that would become the territory of Virginia, he was not part of that society. Powhatan was the head of his own.

Yes Americans rising up against Kingdom of Great Britain was right. For the most part, the colonists were happy to continue to be a part of the empire but then Great Britain got involved in some wars and racked up their debt. Well where were they going to raise money? Hmm, their colonies in the New World of course. So the Parliament at Westminster passed acts that started to tax the colonists. The colonists had no representation in Parliament. Britain continued to pass acts that further enraged the colonists even going as far as altering the colonial legislatures. Westminster declared that it alone had the right to legislate upon the colonies even though the colonies had no representation. For further charges against King George and the British Parliament, I urge you to read the Declaration of Independence. It's there, listed out.

I’m assuming when you mention “Confederation” you are referring to the Confederate States of America rather than the Articles. The CSA is entirely a different case than that of what happened between the colonies and Great Britain. Before the U.S. Constitution, the colonies were separate and independent states but they were bound loosely under the Articles Confederation and this union was to be “perpetual.” The first government, however, was not strong and so the U.S. Constitution was drafted and the states were given the choice to join the union or be released. Although the new constitution did not refer to the union as being “perpetual” the concept remained. This is the line of thought that Pres. Lincoln used when he argued that the southern states could not leave the union. That once you’re in, you’re in forever.

Now I honestly cannot see how you can make a comparison between the colonies and the southern states. As I said, the driving wedge between the colonies and Great Britain was the lack of representation of the colonies in the government that was legislating over them. This is not the case with the CSA. In fact, the southern states arguably had more of a say in the government that they were so aggrieved against than the colonies could even dream about having in Westminster.

It’s fine to argue that states have the right to leave the union. Personally I do not believe in the idea of perpetual union. However, I do believe that states cannot flippantly decide they want to leave the union. Joining the United States required two things: 1, that the people of the applicant state wanted to join and 2, that the people of the United States wanted them to join. It follows that the only way for a state to leave the union for that state’s own people to want to secede and that the rest of the people in the U.S. wants them to leave as well. In other words, you go out the same way you come in.

@usapines Feelings have nothing 2 do with the law. Many Muslims feel nonMuslims
should not b in Muslim countries but killing them is murder.

I don’t know where you are pulling this out from either. Please show me where I am letting passion overriding the reason when it comes to law

It’s bad when we’re driving people like him away.

Indiana Senator Evan Bayh announced that he will not be running for reelection. Some of my republican pals will think that this is just another democrat running scared from constituent anger. Sen. Bayh said that he didn’t want to continue due to the bitter partisan divide. It’s a surprise I know, but I actually believe what this politician says.

Although there is an anti-incumbent attitude rising within the electorate, Sen. Bayh would be reasonably safe even though Indiana is regarded as a republican leaning state. Of course, he has the democratic base of support but he has earned the respect of many republicans due to his fiscal policies and positions first as a two-term governor and then as senator. He is a well-known and well liked centrist democrat and even though he probably wouldn’t be winning by large margins as he did before, Bayh, I am pretty darn sure, would have kept his seat.

Personally, I have great respect for the guy and would probably vote for him if I was a hoosier. Granted, there are things I had issues with him on. He particularly pissed me off when Pres. G.W. Bush was trying to get his appointees through the senate and Bayh would always vote “no.” Still I would rather have people like him in the senate than some of the other nut jobs there now.

I really think democrats should be pissed off at this news. A relatively safe seat is pretty much up for grabs. I think they still have a chance to salvage this as the candidate the republicans have fielded doesn’t appear to be that threatening so far. It’s pretty much too late to for a regular application as the deadline for turning in the paperwork has passed or will pass shortly so however the dems go about it, they’ll need to find another strong democrat to put on the ballot.

<<--See Also: "VP Pick and a Dead Proposal"

One Tenth But Big

I was curious to see how Vancouver would follow up the spectacular opening ceremonies that Beijing put on. I couldn’t even imagine that they would even try. There was no way that Canada could put up that kind of money and manpower. From what was reported, Vancouver’s opening ceremony cost was one tenth the size of Beijing. For the amount they spent, it had the potential to be just as great as Beijing’s.


The ceremony started out great. Vancouver used an array of projectors that along with three dimensional objects created some stunning visuals. The stories that these visuals were trying to capture seemed interesting and relevant. They had a strong start but the presentation started to peter out. When they got to section covering the prairie provinces using Joni Mitchell’s Both Sides Now, I was bored—almost to sleep. Really, though, that wasn’t the big problem.

The most painful and awkward moment was during the lighting of the stadium cauldron. The plan was to have four pillars come out from the stadium floor. They would then tilt until they touched together around a central main column. Four torch bearers would then light the four columns simultaneously which would then cause the central and main cauldron to ignite. Unfortunately one of the columns failed. After a few minutes, I guess they decided to go ahead with their three functioning ones.

Some other things:

Unlike the summer Olympics, the parade of nations comes at the beginning. Personally, I think that this is a better idea. If I was an athlete, I’d want to be in the stadium watching the show rather than milling around in a parking lot somewhere.


The Queen of Canada didn’t make herself available to open the games, leaving it to her Governor General, Michaelle Jean. I know Queen Elizabeth II will probably do so for the London games, but c’mon, I think that’s a royal snub for a realm she rarely visits in the first place.

The ceremonies also called attention to Georgian competitor, Nodar Kumaritashvili who died earlier in the day on a luge training run.

I haven’t heard any music from Sarah McLachlan since the 90s. It was nice to hear her perform once again.

Oh, and GO TEAM USA!

After almost a decade, I now know what that damn song's name is!

I think I was a sophomore in high school when my parents signed for internet access. Since we lived in the sticks, dial-up was the only offering. Still, the connection was good enough to allow us to listen to streaming radio from around the world. The audio quality wasn't the best but the variety in music was great. There isn't much variety on American radio, I can tell you that. One of my favorite stations was Radio Pilatus coming out of Switzerland. There was a particular song that I would hear from time to time. Obviously it must have been a hit and the more I heard it, the more I liked it. Eventually, I was able to record about 2/3 of the song. I was never able to find the information for the song so I could obtain a copy. It was in German (or at least Germanic). I kept that file thinking that one day I would come across someone who also knew the song or could listen to it and give me information. I tried a student studying German and even a student from Germany. Nothing. That is until today.

It occurred to me a couple days ago that I have had this German guy sitting in my contacts list and I never asked him about the song. Well here was a chance, and I was going to take it so I sent him the song file and by this morning, I had my answer. The song that I have liked for over ten years, clipped and with degraded audio, was So Bist Du by Oli. P. Check it out:

Hearing a higher-quality and complete version is kinda weird. I don't know how to properly describe it but it just wasn't the same song that was going through my head all this time. I still liked it, although I think the beginning could have been better. I'm finally glad to have my answer.

h/t to keira0tash for posting the vid.

Commercials With the Perfect Amount of Nostalgia and Cheese

Verizon is continuing to hammer away at AT&T. I my opinion, Verizon has been preforming better in the ad wars. I haven't seen this one on the television, but I liked it enough to link it on here:

Y'all remember Big Red gum right??? Just checkin...

h/t Verizon

But I’ve got nothing on Imelda.

I probably could have done more important things this afternoon. Instead, I spent a good part of it cleaning and shining my shoes. While I was growing up, I only had two pairs of shoes at any one time. After all, my dad said that I only needed “regular” shoes and “church” shoes—sneakers and a more formal looking deck shoe usually. After pulling out what I had from my closet, I have 11 pairs of shoes. 9 are shown here:
The two not listed are my combat boots (I can’t remember where I put those) and my flip flops which have been put away until summer. Not counted are my sandals. Ever since I caught my dad borrowing them a couple summers ago, I have not touched them. To me, shoes are not articles of clothing that you share. I’m all for borrowing pairs of pants or shirts but shoes, socks, and underwear are big no-nos.

For a guy, I think that I do have quite a number of shoes. I looked up the question on answers.com and it said that the average man owns 3 pairs of shoes. Good grief, I own 11 and I still think I could use a few more.

Go after the elementary schools too while you’re at it.

"Down Under" became one of my favorite songs back in the 80s. I was a little sad to hear that the group, Men at Work, has lost a copyright infringement suit. Apparently a part of the song contained a tune from the kid song “Kookaburra Sits in an Old Gum Tree.” It’s that fluty section. Here’s the video. Listen for it:

I never made the connection although now that I’ve listened, I do hear it. Still the decision disgusts me. First of all, who knew that Kookaburra was even in copyright? Seriously, what other childhood songs that we learned are copyrighted? (Did you know that Happy Birthday to You is in copyright?) It’s ridiculous. I think that songs such as Kookaburra have entered into the public domain and ought to be free from infringement suits. Kinda like generic trademarks – asprin, thermos.

The plaintiff, Larrikin Music Publishing, is presumably going to be rewarded damages although due to statute of limitations, they’re not going to get back royalties for the entire time the song has been out. The Australian reports that Larrikin is seeking 40-60% royalties which is, to me, outrageous. First, there aren’t any damages that I can tell. Who confused the two songs? As I said, I didn’t even make a connection until it was pointed out. Second, the infringement is a small part of the song. Finally, it’s a freaking kid song whose only commercial value lies in music books in elementary schools and maybe episodes of The Wiggles.



h/t to alliewolfgal for posting the vid on youtube.

Oh, yeah, we have candidates too.

It's funny to me how I know more about the republican candidates that are running for governor in Illinois than I do about the republican candidates running for governor in Michigan. That's what happens when I live in the Chicago media and economic zone. Plus, Illinois politics is a lot more fun to follow. Full of back-stabbing, incompetence, corruption, power, and money.

If it ain't broke...

Capt. L. sent me an email about a week or so ago asking me to join him on Facebook on a page dedicated to protesting the new Spartan logo.

Current logo on the left. Proposed logo on the right.

I got the email the day the news broke about the new logo and immediately joined. I like my old familiar logo and I am not a fan of the new one. From what I have read, MSU teamed up with Nike to “update” the logo for $ome reason.

The majority of the people commenting on the State News, and all of the alumni that I talked to, do not like the new logo. A few did, though, concede that change is good. After all, MSU has gone through many different logos. Still, this isn’t the change that many of us would support.

One supporter, though, is men’s basketball coach, Tom Izzo. In an article that I read today, Mr. Izzo seemed “disappointed” over how much of a fuss the logo change is causing. In that article and elsewhere, it is suggested that what Tom Izzo wants should be what Tom Izzo gets. Basketball is MSU’s sport and Izzo is our beloved coach but why should we feel like we’re hostages to what the administration and athletics department ants? Now, to be fair, I didn’t get the feeling that the coach was going to leave if the logo gets dropped but I am finding it very disturbing when people are suggesting that we have to do everything we can to keep him happy. Sorry to say it but I’d be happy to see anyone go if they are working against the MSU community. It may be just another logo to people out there, but for many of us, it’s our indentifying logo.

Maybe when the MaxiPad comes out.

When the iPod Touch first came out, there were a number of people that I knew that wanted one. The only arguments that I can remember were over the price and that the touches had nowhere near the storage capacity of the more classic iPods. It took a few months but I managed to scrape up some cash and buy a first gen iPod Touch and I have loved it ever since. Now the iPad has been formally introduced and I’ve decided that this isn’t a product for me. At least not yet.

I need the iPad to primarily serve as a mobile interface with my computer. Whether I am connected directly to my computer network via Wi-Fi or through a cellular data network (3G). My computer is a desktop and if I am in my living room and I want to look something up, I take my iPod or my BlackBerry out of my pocket. I don’t bother going all the way to my room. And that’s fine for just looking at stuff on the net. Sometimes, though, I want to access files of my computer. There might be a song drifting through my head, or maybe I want to add something to my word document that I use for this blog. I’m just not sold yet that this can be a seamless interface.

For right now, I'm holding off but yes, I think I might be a second or third generation adopter as more features and capabilities are added.

C'mon! I know what you're trying to do.

Verizon sent me an email this afternoon informing me that they have lowered their all-you-can-talk plan from $99.99/month to $69.99/month. Instead of making me excited, it kinda ticked me off. You see, other small carriers have extremely better plans even if they aren’t national carriers. Walmart actually has their own phone (through Tracfone) that offers unlimited talk, text, and data for $50/mo and it’s non-contract. So I am glad that Verizon is lowering their prices, seemingly in response to the competition, but something smells fishy.

Forget the fact that I am on a family plan but before I modified my plan, I would say that I had a bare bones plan:

39.99: 450 minutes. (Unlimited night, weekends, and in-network mobile)
5.00: Text plan (250 txt messages)
29.99: Unlimited* Data (BlackBerry)

For each category above, I got the lowest offered. That was sufficient for my usage. I could use with less talk time and more texts but bottom line was that it was enough.

Now Verizon is dangling the new all you can talk and text plan for $89.99. But as far as I know, all the other tiered pricing points are staying the same. For those customers who are on the second or third tier plans, if they are willing to throw in a couple more bucks every month, they could make an easy jump. That is what Verizon is banking on.

To move my sister and I over to unlimited would be an extra $15/month. It’s so tempting. So that’s why I’m pissed. Just lower all the other damn plans Verizon. Sheesh!



*Verizon’s contract actually reserves the right to cut you off after 5 gigs.

I have a note!

I apologize for my absence. It hasn’t been due to any writer’s block that’s for sure! But other websites have held my attention for the past couple of days along with some extra work. One site I have been spending a lot of my time and pulling my hair out over is PinoyExchange. One of the political issues being talked about in the Philippines is Charter Change (or what they call Cha-Cha). There is talk of transforming their government from a Presidential System to a Parliamentary one. There’s a-hole of a poster that makes strong arguments for a model change but he can’t hold back the insults to those who disagree with him. Broadly speaking, I do think that a Parliamentary system would be better for the Philippines but I get kicks out of poking at his posts because I think he’s got too much faith in that system and I don’t think he is taking a look at all the dimensions of how government is implemented, ran, and supported.

A number of new stories that I wanted to share have come and gone. One story that I have been following for the past week or so is the special election in Massachusetts to fill the senate seat left by the late Ted Kennedy. The two candidates for the seat were Democrat Martha Coakley and Republican Scott Brown. Now Massachusetts is a stronghold of the Democratic Party but just a few minutes ago, news came that Coakley has called Brown to concede. This is being seen by the Republicans as a referendum on Obama’s agenda, especially on the health care bills now being reconciled in Congress. Democrats are trying to play this down as Coakley running a “lackluster” campaign. You can now see her on the pavement along with Creigh Deeds. Oh, and also they are blaming impatient voters. Yup… smart move-- blame the people.

It will be interesting to see now, how the Democrats in Congress and the administration are going to move to still move their agenda forward. Will they try to delay the seating of Mr. Brown? Will they quickly pass the senate version of the Health Care Bill? Will they result to reconciliation? Do they have a RINO mole up their sleeve?

Anyways, it’s almost ten o’clock and I’ve got to see for myself that Southland (the cop show NBC stupidly cancelled) is on TNT.

What Happens When You Put Fire to Ice and Lookalikes

We’ve been in sub-freezing weather since just before Christmas. Now that the Ice Festival has started, so has a heatwave. Yesterday I thought I had better go that evening to see the ice sculptures before they started to melt. Seeing that my friend Stacey was in town from her job in Maryland, I thought I would ask if she wanted to join me.

The big event that was happening when we got there was the fire and ice show. Very basically, a group of ice sculptures would refine these big stacks of ice surrounding some combustible material. This would be done to some music, lights, and a bit of fooling around. One of the guys looked just like my friend Brian from MSU. Although MSU Brian has lost quite a bit of weight. All that politicking around tends to do that to some people. :-P

You might think that lighting up some ice blocks would make this a quick show but it really does last a while. When we left, the flaming guitar was still intact.

We passed a tent that had a murder mystery dinner going on. It was 30 bucks. Even if we weren’t late in getting to the tent, I wouldn’t have been keen on paying that much for it. Okay, maybe I would have it if it wasn’t just a spur of the moment decision. There was however a sign for a chili cook-off tomorrow.

It may sound odd, but the thing to do here at the ice festival is eat ice cream. Unfortunately the booth wasn’t set up that night.

We had dinner at a restaurant in old downtown. Our waiter was Dave who I immediately recognized from a couple years back at Pizza Hut. I remember him because I thought he was cute, he looked like Mancow, and he majorly screwed up our orders. Yuuuppp… not much has changed.

KFC gets no love.

Hey Doc,

I’m guessing that you’ve already heard something about this but I only heard about it this morning via Gulf Stream Blues. KFC has pulled an Australian ad that depicts a white Australian in the midst of blacks supporting the West Indian Cricket Team. Trying to relieve an awkward situation, he presents a bucket of fried chicken to his neighbors. Apparently the ad was pulled after Americans caught wind of it on YouTube.



For an American who doesn’t see the context of the ad, this would seem racist since fried chicken is associated as part of the black stereotype. Having just written that, it seems so ridiculous but there it is. What’s even worse is that it was a white man providing the chicken! You can read this situation as just being an awkward situation and him trying to make nice (which is what I think they were going for) or you can read it as a white guy who can only calm down the black people by giving them chicken (which is what is being seen here). So we’ve got Americans complaining about an ad that’s not marketed towards them and Aussies who think the Yanks are crazy. I don’t know about you but I find that funny.

I get why Australians would want the Americans to shut their pie holes about this but I also understand why KFC felt it had to pull that ad. The fact is that KFC has a horrible time when it comes to public relations. It seems like every time they are in the media, something is going wrong. Whether it’s the name change, trans-fat, chicken abuse, cash-only options, the Oprah-coupon debacle, and now this. Considering most customers are here, trying to do damage control state-side by changing marketing campaigns abroad seems logical.

h/t ChubbyWubby1980 for posting the vid.

Preach it!

So much for transparency! Not that I ever believed them in the first place.



h/t PoliJAM for posting the video.

A Waste of Space -- Airspace, I Mean.

Although I believe that I am using this audio ad and pictures legally under Fair Use, Michigan does not protect me from SLAPP lawsuits but I wanted you to hear the radio ad that I first heard a couple days ago which absolutely infuriated me. Check out this article for more.

I’m Not Taking That Trip

I bought into the hype and decided to see the new move, Avatar. From what I understood, it was supposed to a bad ass movie with state of the art special effects. It was even going to be shown in 3-D! I thought it was a yawn-fest.

It is a visually pleasing movie. The world of Pandora looked lush and wonderful. I was impressed with the plant life with its bioluminescense than with the animals which to me, were mutant forms of dogs, horses, and rhinos. Computer generated images aren’t quite up to the believable stage but this movie brings it close. Special effects with the human tech was very believable, however, and I kinda want one of those power suits for next Christmas!

My main gripe with the movie was that once you know the basic plot, it is entirely predictable. For a while, I was scratching my head thinking that this was like some movie I watched when I was young. After reading another critical post that mentioned FernGully, then it hit me. Also the moral of the story, I thought was insulting. This movie is basically the guilty-white-man-movie. I'm serious, it feels like Cameron was making an apology to all the Native Americans, Africans, and other indigenous populations for the Europeans coming in, killing them, and draining out the resources. I’m sorry but I’m not going to the movies to ride on a guilt trip.

Since we decided to go to a 3-D showing, our two tickets alone cost $17.50 which I think is quite outrageous. I know I did say that the movie is visually pleasing, the 3-D effects weren’t that great, or actually needed, in my opinion and that a 2-D picture should suit everyone just fine. If I had known that, I would have paid $7.00 for the two of us at Wonderland in Niles.