Big John's Soapbox

Arizona Immigration Law SB1070

2010-05-08T12:11:00.004-04:00

Everyone else is sounding off on this, so I figure I might as well put in my two cents worth as well.

Arizona Immigration Law SB1070 does, in a nutshell, make it illegal to live in or travel through Arizona unless you're a US citizen. Bravo Arizona!

Living in Indiana like I do, I don't see the effects of illegal immigrants as strongly as a resident of Arizona would. In fact most of us live in states where the problem isn't very bad at all because of our distance from foreign borders.

How many times has our government told us they're going to do something to protect and enhance our lives, only to do something completely different when the time actually comes? I lost count a long time ago.

Now enter Arizona. Actually doing something to help its citizenry. Trying to solve a problem that plagues everyone in that state. Taking a stand for its taxpayers when the federal government wont.

California has counties threatening to BOYCOTT Arizona over this. Seriously?! This is a prime example of defending the taxpayers, why would you boycott that? Some groups are saying that this is an excuse for Arizona to do racial profiling against Hispanics, but people are going to profile other people regardless of if they have an excuse or not, it's one of the dark sides of human nature. What it is is an excuse for the voting, taxpaying citizens of Arizona to actually be protected by their state's government. Do we really need an excuse for that now?

So, let's all go tell our friends that Arizona is doing the right thing, and if you have a chance to support that brave state then by all means do so.

Upcoming Miami County Libertarian Meetings

2010-03-10T16:38:00.001-05:00

Our next meeting is March 22 at 6:00 pm in the upstairs meeting room of the Peru Public Library.

We will have another meeting at the same location on Monday April 12 starting at 6:00 pm.

This extra meeting allows us to get better prepared for the state convention at the end of next month.

If you or anyone you know is wanting to make a difference in our county, there are over 100 offices to run for; from township advisory board to prosecutor and almost everywhere in between. We also have candidates that will need help with their campaigns.

If you're not interested in any of that, we could still use the moral support and you passing along the message of liberty to your friends and family.

I hope to see you there!

MCLP March Meeting

2010-03-08T16:27:00.001-05:00

I thought I'd toss a quick post on here to remind everyone about the next meeting of the Miami County Libertarian Party.

That meeting is being held tonight, March 8, at 6:00 pm in the upstairs meeting room of the Peru Public Library.

I hope to see you there!

Full Body Scans at the Indianapolis International Airport

2010-02-07T23:49:00.005-05:00

I've been quiet for too long. But something has arisen that I feel I MUST speak out against, I must let as many people know about this as is possible.

In response to the December 2009 terrorist attack by Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) has ordered the use of full body scanners at airports across our nation, including Indianapolis International.

What does this mean to you? Well, these scanners emit very high frequency radio waves that reflect off a person and create a digital image. This image is in effect a nude image of the person being scanned. This means that when you pass through such scanners a digital picture of your naked body is generated for the TSA to view. This is not being done to individuals who warrant a closer examination due to something suspicious, EVERYONE who boards the plane is being forced to suffer this humiliating indignity.

There are a lot of problems with this. The obvious one is that people are looking at pictures of our naked bodies without our knowledge or consent. Secondly, our private medical information is revealed to whomever views these images; colostomy bags, mastectomies, Depends undergarment, breast and penile implants, catheter tubes, the size of breasts and genitals, and a lot more.

Another big problem is that this information isn't as secure as the TSA tries to convince us. As an IT professional I can tell you that no data can be completely secure, and just by the very nature of these images I think we all know that some of them will end up on the Internet for all to see.

But here's the kicker folks; the darn things don't even do a good job of detecting threats. Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab had the explosives woven into his underpants, these types of scanners would not have even identified them!

It's time to stand up, speak out, and be heard people! This is a link to a form letter. Print it out and send it to Senator Luger, Senator Bayh, and the Indianapolis Airport Authority. As citizens we simply cannot and should not accept this disgusting assault on our privacy.

Click here to read more about this.

4-H Projects

2009-06-16T22:14:00.006-04:00

Wow, it's been a long time since I posted anything; over a month now! Isn't just amazing how quickly the sands of time pass by without any thought from us what so ever?

Today Morgan and I put the finishing touches on her 4-H project, photography. Yeah I know, this isn't a big surprise, but hey we both like to do it. While that was going on Keri ran to Kokomo to save me from my own shortsightedness. In other words she went for the things I need to complete MY photography project. Morgan's is due tomorrow morning, mine on Friday.

As you can tell, we don't believe in waiting until the last minute for this stuff! Anyway, it IS our first year, so there is something of a learning curve. I was still talking to people about entering into the 4-H and I was still deciding on which picture I was going to enter yet today.

We're excited about it. Morgan's B&W entry is awesome, I'm sure she'll do well with it. The color entry is good, but I think her B&W is the real prize. Both of her entries are compilations of 10 photographs each. The B&W theme is "Capturing Memories" while the color theme is "Experiences in Color."

I'm entering 4 pictures,myself. 2 are 8X10 and 2 are 4X6. I had them narrowed down to 4 8X10 and 10 4X6, but I finally decided my 8X10 choices today. Interestingly both shots were taken at the Indianapolis Museum of Art in April. One is a shot of 2 tulips from just below the flower and the other is of the back, uh, porch of the Lilly Mansion. For my 4X6 entries I think it'll be a shot of Sue, the T-Rex at the Indiana Children's Museum, and a close up of a toad I found on Mother's day.

We're excited to be a part of this project. Regardless of how we place, I've really enjoyed learning more about photography and helping Morgan do the same

Spwing Weather

2009-05-09T11:04:00.003-04:00

There's something to be said about the warm weather. For some reason just having the outside temperatures in the 70's plus makes me feel good all over; I'm happier, more active, and my will power (to exercise, avoid bad foods, etc.) seems to be stronger.

Although this morning is comparatively chilly to yesterday, I won't lose heart, because I know I only have a day or two to go before the niceness comes back.

Thank you God for this beautiful spring time!

'Hate crimes' bill is full of swill

2009-05-09T11:00:00.002-04:00

I ran across this article by Matt Barber about the Hate Crimes Act, bill s.909. It is very well said and is worth the read.

'Hate crimes' bill is full of swill
Matt Barber - 5/7/2009 10:15:00 AM

Senate sponsors and liberal activist proponents of the federal "hate crimes" bill, S. 909, have been caught in a series of bald-faced lies. So confident am I of this, that if they can prove me wrong (for real I mean – you know, with evidence and such) I'll join their little soirée, don a very large pink evening gown and publicly voice support for the legislation.

To the express exclusion of other identifiable groups – including veterans, the elderly and the homeless – S. 909, in its current form, would grant special federal resources and preferred minority status to pedophiles, homosexuals, cross-dressers and – as Democratic sponsor Alcee Hastings recently admitted on the House floor – a host of other APA recognized "sexual orientations" (i.e., deviant sexual fetishes and perversions).

Not only is this legislation constitutionally dubious on First Amendment grounds, and a prima facie violation of Fourteenth Amendment required "equal protection of the laws;" it also flies in the face of the Tenth Amendment, which explicitly limits the federal government's authority in such matters to those powers delegated by the U.S. Constitution.

Here's how they're doing it:

In order for the feds to usurp the States' police power, liberals in Congress have had to openly place, within the very language of the bill, a series of transparent lies. To get around that pesky old Constitution and accomplish this brash federal power grab, they've been forced to misuse and abuse the Commerce Clause.

In a feeble attempt to constitutionally justify federal interference with local law enforcement, S. 909's sponsors have made – within the bill's "Findings" section – several outlandish and unsustainable claims relative to "interstate commerce." So outlandish are these claims, in fact, that the same language was intentionally withdrawn from the House version before it was passed and referred to the Senate.

But since the bill's Senate sponsors recognize that failure to include these fantasy "findings" immediately renders the legislation unconstitutional, the interstate commerce language has quickly and quietly found its way home.

First, while addressing "hate crimes" allegedly motivated by so-called "sexual orientation" bias, the bill asserts that existing law is "inadequate to address this problem." This is patently untrue.

When the legislation's 1968 "hate crimes" forerunner was introduced, there were multiple and verifiable cases of local prosecutors refusing to indict whites for violent crimes committed against blacks. Moreover, the 1968 law was actually conceived and passed with the primary purpose of righting this specific wrong.

The exact opposite is true today. As FBI statistics reveal, in the relatively few instances where bias motivated crimes are committed against homosexuals or cross-dressers, those crimes are, without fail, zealously prosecuted under existing law. Victims are granted "equal protection of the laws" regardless of sexual preference or proclivity.

Yet these same victims are, nonetheless, shamelessly and publicly exploited by homosexual activists and the mainstream media as the latest "hate crimes" cause célèbre. This, even as hypersensitive local prosecutors bend over backwards to take-down alleged "gay-bashing" assailants as to avoid kneejerk accusations of systemic "homophobia."

To illustrate the point, one need look only to the most famous supposed "hate crimes" victim of all, Matthew Shepard, who, as it later turned out, was killed during a robbery for drug money gone awry.

This fact notwithstanding, the left continues to disgracefully politicize Shepard's memory by claiming he was murdered simply for being "gay." Indeed, this very legislation, S. 909, is cited as the "Matthew Shepard Hate Crimes Prevention Act."

The bizarre irony is palpable. The two thugs who killed Shepard are currently serving life sentences for their crimes – and rightfully so – in the complete absence of any discriminatory and unnecessary "hate crimes" legislation. Justice prevailed and existing law was undeniably "[adequate] to address this problem."

In fact, I challenge proponents of S. 909 to provide one verifiable example of a prosecutor refusing to charge a violent criminal because the victim was a homosexual or a cross-dresser.

They won't. They can't.

But back to the interstate commerce charade:

Here, the federal government's own statistics serve to derail the "hate crimes" gravy train. According to the FBI, in 2007 – out of 1.4 million violent crimes in the U.S. – there were a mere 247 cases of aggravated assault (including five deaths) allegedly motivated by the victim's "sexual orientation."

Yet S. 909 makes the fantastic claim that there is an epidemic of such "hate crimes." So many, in fact, that it "poses a serious national problem." The bill hysterically declares – while providing zero evidence – the following nonsense:

• Such violence substantially affects interstate commerce in many ways;
• [T]he movement of members of targeted groups (homosexuals, pedophiles, cross-dressers, etc.) is impeded, and members of such groups are forced to move across State lines to escape the incidence or risk of such violence;
• Members of targeted groups are prevented from purchasing goods and services, obtaining or sustaining employment, or participating in other commercial activity;

And, here's the kicker. Wait for it ....Wait for it:

• Perpetrators cross State lines to commit such violence.

So there you have it, folks. If it weren't so serious, it'd be comical. But let's make sure we have it straight. According to Barney Frank, Ted Kennedy, Barack Obama and their S. 909 cheerleading cohorts, we must pass S. 909 immediately because right here, right now in America, it's not at all unusual to witness terrified hordes of fabulously dressed – yet wrongfully unemployed – "gays" and otherwise gender-confused blokes in lipstick and Jimmy Choo pumps, frantically fleeing Dolce & Gabbana before they've even had a chance to make a purchase, while inbred, homophobic, bat-wielding rednecks hotly pursue them across state lines.

Don't think I'll be wearing that pink evening gown any time soon.

Libertarian Party of Indiana State Convention

2009-05-06T21:30:00.001-04:00

This is to remind you of the Libertarian Party of Indiana state convention. It will be held May 15-17 in Clarksville, Indiana. The convention is a must-attend event each year in our party. Libertarians from across the State meet to mingle and swap ideas with each other, attend informative breakout sessions, and listen to interesting speakers. The keynote speaker at the Saturday Night dinner will be Radley Balko from Reason Magazine. He has also worked at the Cato Institute. He is an Indiana native, and graduated from Indiana University. He will be speaking on issues ranging from property rights to the Liberty movement. Also speaking will be Wayne Allyn Root. Root was the 2008 Vice Presidential nominee, and is working to win the 2012 Presidential nomination. He is also rumored to be seeking the LNC Chairmanship. There will also be presentations on school choice, candidate training, and reaching out to the media. You can find out more on the speakers, and register, here: http://www.lpin.org/node/632

The LPIN will also hold it's annual business meeting. This year, we will elect new officers, including a new state chair. Todd Singer has decided not to run again, which means there will be a race for chair! We will also set the course for the 2010 elections. As you know, the Secretary of State's race is in 2010. The LP will maintain automatic ballot access by winning at least 2% of the vote in that race.

There is a cost for both registration and hotel rooms. You can find out more about this at the convention website: http://www.lpin.org/node/632. The registration goes towards your meal costs, speakers, and convention space. You can register the day of the convention if necessary, but please RSVP with Executive Director Chris Spangle to ensure that you have a meal!

Here are the basics:

Time: May 15, 2009 at 5pm to May 17, 2009 at 10am
Location: Lakeview Holiday Inn, Clarksville, IN
Street: 505 MARRIOTT DRIVE
City/Town: CLARKSVILLE, IN 47129
Website or Map: http://www.lpin.org/node/632 and http://freehoosiers.ning.com/events/lpin-state-convention

Tenative Agenda for 2009 Convention

Friday, May 15th

4:00 PM - Hospitality Suite Opens in Hospitality Suite

Saturday, May 16th

8:00 AM - Registration Opens
9:00 AM - Convention Opens
9:00 - 11 AM - Seminars and Break out sessions, including:
- Reaching out to the Media and Voters with Eric Schansberg
- Running For Office with Rex Bell and Ken Moellman
- School Choice, presented by LPIN Secretary Melanie Hughes
12:00 PM - Lunch with Daniel Williams
1:00 PM - LPIN Business Meeting and Election of LPIN Officers (Voting for LP and LPIN Members only)
4:00 PM - other events/sessions TBA, Central Committee Meeting
6:00 PM - Dinner with Speakers
- Wayne Allyn Root, 2012 LP Presidential Hopeful
- Radley Balko, Senior Editor, Reason Magazine

Sunday, May 17th

9:00 AM - Breakfast with Speaker Ed Coleman, Indianapolis City Council
10:30 AM - Convention Close

**All Events subject to change
Registration Fees:

Platinum Level -- $125.00. Includes Saturday lunch, dinner and Sunday breakfast. (Student: $105.00)
Gold Level -- $115.00. Includes Saturday lunch and dinner. (Student: $95.00)
Silver Level -- $105.00. Includes Saturday dinner only. (Student: $85.00)
Bronze Level -- $95.00. Includes Saturday lunch only. (Student: $75.00)
Copper Level -- $85.00. Includes Saturday daytime speakers and workshops, no meals. (Student: $65.00)

Please register individually. To guarantee your status as a delegate to the convention, including voting rights, you must be a member of the LPIN in good standing. If you prefer to register by check, contact Chris Spangle at 317-920-1994 or by email at cspangle@lpin.org.

Hotel costs not included in the package. Attendees staying overnight, should make a reservation directly with the Holiday Inn, Clarksville. Mention the LPIN/LPKY convention to receive the discounted package rate of $73.00/night. Rates are guaranteed through April 17, 2009.

Why the Hate Crimes Act is Bad for EVERYONE

2009-05-03T23:11:00.003-04:00

The so-called hate crimes bill seems to be rearing its ugly head once again. This is a very dangerous piece of legislation that too many people just aren’t taking seriously enough. This is the bill that if passed, among other things, will make it illegal for a pastor or anyone else to say in a public setting that homosexuality is wrong and is a sin. Remember that the Bible says that homosexual behavior is a sin against God, and Christians and Jews believe this. Most other religions feel the same way.

The fact is it won’t matter if you’re a homosexual or straight, it won’t matter if you’re a Christian, Jew, Buddhist, Muslim, Hindu, Wiccan, atheist, or whatever. This bill will inarguably affect every man woman and child in the United States. “How is this so,” you ask? Read on my friend.

Consider the First Amendment to the Constitution of The United States of America, ratified on December 15, 1791. It says, “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.”

Note that “Congress shall make no law… prohibiting the free exercise (of religion)… or abridging the freedom of speech.

Also look at the Eighth Amendment, also ratified on December 15, 1791. It states, “Excessive bail shall not be required, nor excessive fines imposed, nor cruel and unusual punishments inflicted.”

Anyone in their right mind would agree that it would be “cruel and unusual” to lock someone in jail for saying homosexuality is wrong when everyone knows that same-sex rapes are common there. Not to mention that such imprisonment would clearly be in violation of the First Amendment in more than one way.

But this isn’t just about whether or not my pastor can speak openly against homosexuality. That is what they want you to think. As a magician distracts you by getting you to look to his right hand, he does something subtle with his left.

While Americans focus on the homosexual issue in this bill, the real truth is being missed completely. This bill is a direct assault on our Constitutional rights!

The First Amendment grants freedom of speech, not freedom of speech as long as it is politically correct. The First Amendment grants freedom of religion without government regulation and interference, not freedom of religion as long as the lobbyists from this group or that agree with it.

Note that I said the First Amendment grants, not guarantees these freedoms. There are no guarantees in life and if we sit idly by our rights, which are already being diminished at an alarming rate, are going to be stripped from us so fast we won’t know what hit us.

Stand up, speak out, and be heard! Pass this message along to anyone who will listen. Pass on to your elected officials that you strongly oppose this bill and the tyranny, yes tyranny, which it represents. The hate crimes act is a reprehensible assault on our Constitutional rights and we must not let it come to pass!

Star Wars Day

2009-05-03T22:33:00.001-04:00

Tomorrow is Star Wars Day. Actually it is the first of two such days that occur each year in the month of May. If you don’t know what that is, then allow me to explain. There are two different days; one represents an anniversary while the other is more like Pi Day or Square Root Day; just something fun based on the date itself.

The first, in order of occurrence, is tomorrow, May fourth. This is the fun day based on the date. In Star Wars there is a saying, “May the Force be with you.” Now consider the date in question and try a play on words. “May the fourth be with you.” Get it? Like I said, it’s just for fun. Many Star Wars fans however, do recognize it as a special day.

The second Star Wars Day is May twenty-fifth, of course; the day the original Star Wars movie, later renamed Episode IV A New Hope, opened in theatres. This is the day that any Star Wars fan will recognize as a special day.

Some businesses are even offering special discounts on Star Wars merchandise to celebrate May fourth. Jinx.com is offering half off their Star Wars t-shirts if you order them on the fourth.

As you go about your day this fourth of May, smile and greet people as you might usually, but when you part company remember to offer them this good tiding, “May the fourth be with you.”

Miami County Libertarian Party Organizational Caucus

2009-04-30T11:51:00.004-04:00

There will be an organizational caucus held on Tuesday June 2 at 7:00pm. This meeting will be in the Peru Public Library’s basement meeting room. Use the front (Main Street) entrance and take the stairs on your left down; at the bottom of the stairs turn right and the meeting room will be on your left.

Topics during this meeting will include the adaptation of by-laws, election of officers, recruitment, and the party’s website.

In order to speak or vote at this meeting, you will need to be a resident of Miami County, Indiana and a member of the national or state Libertarian party. Proof of residency and membership will be required. For those who wish to become members of the Libertarian party you may visit the national website at https://www.lp.org/membership or contact lpinhq@lpin.org at the state level.

For more information, including a copy of the by-laws that will be presented, please visit our website www.MiamiCountyLibertarians.org or send an email to us at info@MiamiCountyLibertarians.org or phone Jason at 473-7203.

Will I Ever Learn?

2009-04-23T19:10:00.000-04:00

Will I ever learn? I mean seriously, will I?

Today I got a phone call from Julie at the courthouse switchboard telling me that a semi driver had arrived with three large things for the IT Department. Great news, so I headed out immediately.

When I got to the ground floor, sitting right outside the room where the switchboard is was a guy with some papers in his hand. Invoices or delivery papers of some kind I presumed. So I ask the guy if he had the boxes still on his truck.

He just looked at me. “The three boxes with computer equipment for the IT Department. Are you the guy who has those?” I asked. He said “No,” but he didn’t need to; the completely bewildered look on his face spoke volumes.

Next I went into the Drainage Department, where the switchboard is kept. There was Julie behind the desk with the phone. Something you need to know about Julie is that she is a ‘float.’ She is someone who works in different parts of the courthouse at all different times. Sometimes she covers an area for a day, sometimes just over a lunch break or fifteen minute break. She may be in the same office for an entire week, or she may not return there for a month. You just never know.

Any who, she’s at the switchboard when I walk in. “Where’s the delivery guy?” I asked her. She responds with “What delivery guy?”

Granted, she has a sense of humor and can pull your leg from time to time. After a minute or two, I realized with increasing horror that she wasn’t playing; she really had no clue what on Earth I was talking about. It wasn’t her that called.

Was someone playing a prank on me? Couldn’t be. We really were expecting three large boxes to arrive today, quite possibly by semi. No, this was real and I had no idea who called me or where my expensive boxes were at. Just great.

I wander outside and see a semi double-parked on Fifth Street, so I head in that direction. What’s the worst that could happen? Maybe he’ll think I’m cracked too.
Good news though, this was my guy and the boxes were still on the truck. Apparently he went into the Sheriff’s Office to ask about where to deliver these things. Someone from there would have called me then.

I still don’t know who called me. It wasn’t Julie; she never works in the Sheriff’s Office but the voice on the phone sounded just like her.

You would think that after four years I would have learned to ask who I’m speaking to before I go tearing off. But maybe not.

Heinlein on Taxes

2009-04-22T23:33:00.000-04:00

"There is no worse tyranny than to force a man to pay for what he does not want merely because you think it would be good for him" - Robert Heinlein, The Moon is a Harsh Mistress

House Bill 1604 Decided Today

2009-04-15T18:53:00.000-04:00

Today is tax day ladies and gentlemen; this is the day that our income tax is due to the federal and state governments. Ironically enough, it is also the day when the fate of Indiana House Bill 1604 would be decided.

All across the country protests were carried out today, tea parties, to let our legislators know that we do not appreciate our tax dollars being wasted and that we do not enjoy being over taxed. There were over a dozen such tea parties right here in Indiana, including one on the south lawn of the State Capital Building.

This is the same building where HB 1604 was passed today by approximately a two-thirds majority.

Taxes have been raised again. Tax dollars are being wasted again. TAXPAYER MONEY IS BEING SENT DIRECTLY TO PRIVATE BUSINESS TO LINE THE POCKETS OF BILLIONAIRES AGAIN!

How many protests do we need to have to make these people understand that we’re serious? We had the revolt last month; there are tea parties in hundreds and hundreds of communities today.

Are you serious? I’m serious! I have had it with the constant squandering of our money. I’m completely fed up with these so-called public servants ignoring the public and serving their own friends instead.

Let your representative know that you will be voting for those who are good stewards of our money; not just during an election year but all the time and during EVERY vote they cast.

Listen up you politicians! Some of you, a far too precious few, are exactly what the people need. Most of you are exactly what is driving our great nation into the gutter. You know who you are and so do we!

We will cast you out of office on Election Day, mark my words.

Miami County (Indiana) Libertarian Party

2009-04-15T16:37:00.001-04:00

There is going to be an organizational meeting for the Miami County Libertarian Party very soon! Although the date and location have yet to be determined, you can expect the meeting to be held in late May or early June of this year.

Topics will include reviewing and adopting by-laws, electing party officers, and recruiting.

This meeting is open to all Libertarians who wish to attend, and to anyone thinking of joining the Libertarian party. However, only current members of the Libertarian national or state party who reside in Miami County will be able to vote during this meeting.

If you are not yet a member of the Libertarian Party, you may join at the national level following this link: https://www.lp.org/membership

For more information on joining at the state level, send a message to lpinhq@lpin.org

Look here for more information as it becomes available. If you have any questions about the upcoming meeting, you may contact me at jevans@globalme.biz

My New Fish Heads

2009-04-13T23:03:00.001-04:00

Sometimes I can be a real stinker. Okay, don’t everyone pass out from surprise, yes it is true.

Last Saturday, the fourth, or was it Sunday? I don’t remember for sure. How about last weekend? Let’s go with that and I’ll start over.

Last weekend Keri, Morgan, and I went to Kokomo. This isn’t unusual of course, we enjoy shopping and dining there as they have much more to choose from and they have different things to choose from, then we have in Peru. And why shouldn’t they? Kokomo is like four or five times the size of Peru.

Anyway, Keri was looking for some shoes to wear for Easter and for an upcoming wedding. As we were browsing around a shoe store, I found a pair of grey fish head shoes. I’ve been wanting a pair of fish heads for some time, and these were on sale for only $20. They had red and black ones in my size too, but I really wanted these grey ones.

But the left toe, which is dazzling white, had a big dark streak on it that wouldn’t rub off. No problem, I’ll switch the left shoe with one from the other box and be on my way. Only the other pair had the same problem. The black ones and the red ones were pure as snow, both of the right shoes from the grey were too. Both lefts had a, well, a mean streak on them.

So I ask the sales lady what could be done about it. She takes the shoe to see if it will clean up somehow.

About five minutes later she returns, admitting that she couldn’t completely remove the spot. If you know right where to look and are looking at the shoe while holding it you can spot the spot easily enough. But wearing the shoe and looking down while standing and it is very hard to see. Probably no one would ever notice it.

“That’s too bad,” I said. “I really wanted that pair of shoes. Do you have any more in the back?” She assured me that all of their stock was on the shelves; there were no more in the back.

“Man that stinks,” I told her. “Tell me, if I buy this pair can anything be done because of the spot that won’t come off?”

She looks at her manager; the manager says to give me ten percent off. I agree and get my on sale shoes for another two bucks off. From twenty-five down to eighteen now.

The beauty of it is this. Any pair of shoes, no matter how careful you are, will get blemishes on them. It’s a sad fact of life. If, and I stress the word if, someone was to notice this very slight blemish, they would attribute it to normal wear. Chances are good that the first or second time they’re worn they’ll end up with at least that kind of a mark.

But I used it as a handy ruse to get an extra discount. Kind of rotten of me huh?

And what did Keri say about it afterwards? “I trained you well.”

Now who’s the rotten one?

Remember This Wednesday

2009-04-13T22:39:00.001-04:00

Here’s a reminder to everyone; THIS Wednesday is the Tea Party, the day after tomorrow. There are events all over our beautiful nation, so it shouldn’t be hard to find one near you. I personally will be going to Indianapolis.

In Indy, the actual event starts at 4:40 pm and is scheduled to run ‘till 6:30 pm. Bring your signs, bring your voices, bring your friends, and bring some tea!

Stand up, speak out and be heard my friends!

A Simple Wager

2009-04-13T22:36:00.003-04:00

Let me offer up a very simple wager; I've got a dollar that says our (Indiana) politicians are going to betray us and sell us out once again. I'm betting that those jackals pass the so called CIB Bailout, actually the Indianapolis Pacers Bailout aka line the Simons' pockets with taxpayer money.

Any takers?

The New Seat

2009-04-05T00:33:00.002-04:00

Today I put a new seat into my truck. Well, it isn't new new, it's just new to me. I bought it at a junk yard in Westfield on my way home from the Revolt at the Statehouse. I waited until I had both good dry weather, and time to put the thing in.

Unlike the horrors that assaulted me during the Utility Room Remodel, this project went quite smoothly. I was in fact surprised at how well it went. Replacing a seat probably sounds pretty easy to you, but I'm a computer guy, not a mechanic.

The original seat just broke one day. I was in a drive-thru and leaned over to get my wallet out. Snap! The seat tipped and I was leaning on my door. I've had the thing propped up for I don't know how long.

I didn't realize how much I compensated for the seat until we took a drive this afternoon. Every time we turned a corner I found myself leaning to make up for what the seat was doing. Except it wasn't doing it anymore.

Yippee! It's like having a new truck!

Come to the Tea Party

2009-04-05T00:29:00.004-04:00

I have added a new blog to my favorites, http://www.indianapolisteaparty.com/ which is about, you guessed it, the Tea Party coming up. Visit the tea party blog for more information.

The Tea Party is a rally being held on the south lawn of the Capital Building in downtown Indianapolis beginning at 4:30 pm on April 15th, tax day. I encourage every Hoosier with transportation to come. This is going to be another opportunity for us to let our legislators know how we feel.

Stand up, speak out, and be heard! Join the tea party!

House Bill 1604

2009-04-04T00:15:00.002-04:00

Hoosiers, this posting is for you. You probably have heard by now about House Bill 1604 (HB1604), if you read my blog I know you have.

There is no doubt that using our tax dollars to line the pockets of billionaires is abusive and just plain wrong. However, griping and moaning about it to our friends and family won’t get anything accomplished. This is a time for decisive action!

All I’m asking you to do is send an email to your representative asking him or her to vote NO on HB1604. It’s easy and only takes a couple of minutes. If you’re not sure who your rep is or how to contact them, visit this link: http://www.in.gov/cgi-bin/legislative/contact/contact.pl

If you know what district you live in and don’t want to use the state’s form, your representative’s email address adheres to the following formula: the letter h followed by the district number, then followed by @in.gov

So if your rep is Bill Friend from district 23, his email would be h23@in.gov

If you want to see what I sent, you may view a .pdf version here: www.globalme.biz/downloads/HB1604_Letter.pdf which will require you to have Adobe reader installed. Feel free to use any or all of it word for word if you want. If you would like a text version that you can edit it is at www.globalme.biz/downloads/HB1604_Letter.txt. This is in notepad which any Windows computer can open. Help yourself to either one, or both, of these files.

Stand up, speak out, and be heard!

No Joke

2009-04-01T23:35:00.002-04:00

The 'We are Being Robbed Again' post is NOT an April Fool's joke. I wish that it were, but alas it is the sad and terrible truth. I would never joke about something like that, because in today's world it just couldn't be funny.

We are Being Robbed Again!

2009-04-01T23:34:00.000-04:00

Oh my gosh I’m really mad! I’m not a swearing man, if I were this blog would probably read something like this: ^%#& 8ukj*&^8 7(&^!@$ #%#$ #^# &#& %#$# ~@ #&!~*&&@ &@^&% ^% 9&*! !*^&& ^ *@%#$!!% @$ &^%@. But I don’t swear, so let me put it in English.

The setting is beautiful Indianapolis, Indiana. Try to visualize a group of self serving, taxpayer robbing business men sitting in a meeting trying to figure out how to raise some more money. Who are these men? The Capital Improvement Board, CIB, which runs the sports stadiums in Indy.

What is their problem you ask? Well, they have a little budget deficit; it’s chump change really. 47.4 million dollars of chump change to be exact. What they say is that it cost 71 million dollars for the CIB to run for a year and they have a 47.4 million dollar deficit. That means they only have 23.6 million to work with.

Here’s the plan. They’re gonna get the Pacers and the Colts to each pay 5 million dollars. The CIB is going to cut 10 million out of their budget. Now the deficit is down to 27.4 million dollars. They have a solution to pay for that too, but first let me point out a couple flaws in their math.

First, as I understand it, the CIB has a budget of 120-130 million dollars annually; let’s be conservative and call it a measly 120 million. They need 71 million to operate, 120-71=49 million. Where’d the 49 million dollars go, I wonder? If they can afford to 10 million out of a 120 million dollar budget, that’s over 8%. Where have they been squandering that money over past years? Am I the only one seeing fat pockets?

And what is the bailout money for? The poor Pacers are apparently losing money. Yeah, that’s right. They’re worth over a hundred million dollars, they get the entire take from ticket sales, a percentage of all merchandise sold worldwide, and they don’t pay one dime of maintenance, staffing, nor upkeep of their arena. Yeah, it really sounds like those poor Pacers need the money.

Don’t let anyone fool you; this bailout is all about paying the Pacers OUR money. Sure, they’re kicking in five million, but they’ll be getting back roughly thirty million. That’s a whopping 600% return on their money! I’d sink millions in too for that kind of deal!

Don’t forget that the Pacers are a privately owned BUSINESS, owned by BILLIONAIRES!

Big deal right? The Colts chip in, the CIB chips in, and even the poverty stricken Pacers are going to chip in. Doesn’t come out of my pocket, right?

WRONG! In addition to the above, a new bill has been introduced, HB1604. Watch out, they’re going to try to slide it through fast. If passed, this will DOUBLE Indiana’s alcohol tax. It would increase admission to the games, increase the price of food and drink, and increase hotel and motel taxes. The combined hospitality taxes would put Indy at the top of the list. It would be the most expensive, hospitality tax wise, city in the entire country!

Remember, the taxpayers don’t see a dime of the increased admission, food, and drink money. Guess who pockets that!

I don’t drink, but this still really makes me mad. Taxpayer dollars going straight into the pockets of billionaires. We are being fleeced, robbed, hoodwinked, swindled, ripped off, held up, stuck it to, cheated, shafted, duped, deluded, conned, tricked, deceived, frauded, and taken for a ride. I think you get it.

But I have a solution. Actually I have two. First, call your representatives tomorrow (Thursday, April 2 2009) and tell them to vote against HB1604 and its blatant theft of tax money.

Second, boycott the CIB. More specifically, boycott the Indianapolis Pacers and the Indianapolis Colts. Don’t buy tickets to the games, don’t by any merchandise, and encourage everyone you know to do the same. Send a message, a very loud message. Hit these criminals in their wallets like they’ve been hitting ours.

Stand up, speak out, and be heard people!

The Moon is a Harsh Mistress

2009-03-31T22:25:00.000-04:00

I’ve been re-reading ‘The Moon is a Harsh Mistress’ by Robert A. Heinlein. I hadn’t pickup up this title since the eighties some time. Wow! Where on Earth did the time go?!

I did encounter something confusing to me. At one point the Professor, Man, and Wyoming are having a conversation about politics. Actually Man wasn’t so much involved, the other two were discussing it in front of him would probably be more accurate.

At any rate, over the course of a page they rattle off several different political groups, a couple which exist today, a couple that are variations on the names of current groups, and the rest were pulled out of Heinlein’s vast imagination.

One of the groups mentioned was ‘Libertarians’ interestingly enough. The part that confuses me is that the book was written and copyrighted in 1965 and 1966, while my understanding is that the Libertarian national party was organized in 1971. I am a fledgling Libertarian, so please bear with me and forgive my ignorance.

Did the party get its name from the idea in the book? Or did Heinlein perhaps get the name from a new upstart party that hadn’t officially formed yet? Or was it a coincidence? If any of you know, please fill me in.

I had forgotten much of this book, but I am seeing way too many correlations to today already in it. If you haven’t read it yet, you really should. Some of his ideas are really ‘out there’ but the comparisons to our country are astonishing, even though the book is set in 2075.

An Old Treasure Rediscovered

2009-03-30T22:48:00.003-04:00

Today I was practicing with my new phaser, and an astonishing thought occurred to me. Deep in the abyss of our attic, buried away and almost forgotten to the sands of time, was something of tremendous value and great interest. Eagerly I grabbed the ladder and headed up.

There it was! Hanging right where I left it, my red original series Star Trek shirt was beckoning me with its siren song.

I bought this thing yeeeaars ago, sometime during the four years that Keri and I were dating. We’ll have been married fifteen years come May, so I have had the thing a while. The problem is that about the time we got married, I changed jobs, going from being very active to pushing a pen as an insurance agent, and gained a lot of weight. The shirt hasn’t fit for I don’t know how long.

Jason and I used to film short videos for children’s church. We would do something goofy that had a vague correlation to what the topic was. This was three or four years ago. That was the last time the shirt had come out of the attic. Jason wore it for one of the characters; I couldn’t fit into it then.

But sixty pounds is a lot of weight, and the thing fits pretty good now. It’s a little tight around the gut, but I can suck in for now. As I lose more weight the shirt should start to fit better.

It’s pretty hard to tell in this shot, but that is an ensign’s stripe on the sleeve, and it is clearly an Enterprise issued uniform top. In case you haven’t guessed by now, that is my new phaser I’m holding. Too cool!

For those who are wondering, this is indeed a self portrait; I think I’ll use this shot for my FaceBook profile for a while.

Ensign Evans is back!

The Cole Porter Classic

2009-03-29T22:10:00.002-04:00

Last year I ran in the Cole Porter Classic. There was a 5k run, a 5k walk, and a 10k run. 5k is approximately 3.27 miles, which I knew I could walk with no problem. I wasn’t sure if I could handle six and a half miles of running, so I entered the 5k run. I thought it would be a challenge for me.

A challenge? This run was last fall and when did I run more than three or four blocks previously. Let’s see, in school gym class when they made us. No wait, I was one of those who walked more than they ran. What about softball? No that was only a couple bases at a time. Oh! I know! The last time I ran more than three or four block at a time was never! Yeah this ought to be a challenge.

I had about a month to prep for it. With the way I tend to over do things, I’m surprised I didn’t enter a marathon (26.2 miles) for my first run. I trained and trained, I pushed myself really hard. When it came to the 5k, I ran a lot of it, but not all the way. I pushed myself so hard during that thing I was exhausted for the next two days.

Today I learned something about my brother Brian. He used to run; in fact he had been up to three miles during a session. So we decided that we would run this year's Cole Porter Classic together. Wicked cool!

Now, I’ve been planning on running again, to start getting my endurance back up; I just haven’t done it yet. I’m sure that once I start, I’ll want to keep doing it. I’m just still feeling lazy from winter. In fairness, I haven’t run since the Classic.

Now I have an excuse to get out there and start plugging away; that excuse is male pride. Ego. Yeah, I can’t let my little brother out do me now can I?

Seriously, this is going to be fun. I’ve no idea if we’ll be up to the 10k or not, but either way it will definitely be fun.

Happy Birthday Dad

2009-03-29T22:06:00.002-04:00

Today is my dad’s 69th birthday. Mary, my step-mom, had a small surprise gathering planned for this afternoon. She called me about it on Wednesday. Not surprising is that dad knew about it as early as Thursday.

He told Mary that he wanted to go to Fort Wayne for his birthday, eat somewhere nice and meander about town. So Mary naturally spilled the beans about today. I told her that she just isn’t sneaky enough.

Had it been me, I would have agreed with him. “Why yes, that sounds like a great idea. How about we leave at 11:00, or would you rather go a little earlier than that?” Then I would wake up ‘sick’ Sunday morning, and ask if we could just do it next weekend instead.

Yeah, I can be sneaky; I get it from my dad. Pretty cool huh?

It’s my dad’s birthday, we’re at his house, and he gives ME a gift. Go figure. He and Mary bought something for me to thank me for taking care of their computer so promptly when it broke a couple of weeks ago.

It’s a 40th anniversary Type II Phaser from Star Trek. It has realistic lights and sound, plus a detachable Type I Phaser. Awesome! Thanks guys! They bought it from someplace called What on Earth, which I hadn't heard of before today. I'll have to check them out.

Anyway, it was a nice visit; it’s always good to spend family time. Happy birthday dad!

Heading to Westfield

2009-03-28T09:54:00.000-04:00

Well, I didn’t make it. I had intended to put something on my blog every day this month, but I missed it yesterday. I guess I will have to put forth more effort next month, although I don’t feel that I’ve been too shabby this month.

Later today we are heading to Westfield, about an hour from here, to pick up a part for my truck that I paid for on Wednesday but couldn’t take delivery of then. It’s a seat for my truck.

For some reason the driver’s seat on the Chevy Tahoe seems to break; it isn’t just mine, I have heard of several doing this.

There is a 60 percent chance of thunder storms today. If April showers bring May flowers, what do March showers bring?

The More I Think, the Madder I Get!

2009-03-26T23:42:00.000-04:00

I’m not sure what makes me more mad; being lied to, being taken for a fool, or being brushed aside like a pesky little fly. Since I am a voting, taxpaying citizen of Indiana, I actually rate all three of these.

Yesterday I stopped by the Governor’s office to see if I could speak with him. I didn’t actually expect to because I had no appointment and I’m sure he is a busy man. But it doesn’t hurt to ask, right?

I ask the girl working at the desk if I could speak with our governor and she told me that he doesn’t see anyone unless they make a written request to do so. I am standing in the office and cannot make an appointment for later this week, later this month, next month, next year, or whenever. I cannot call in to make an appointment either; it has to be a written request. The more I think about that, the madder I get!

You see, first it is a lie. It has to be because if anyone who wanted to see him had to write a letter to do so nothing would ever get done. Lieutenant Governor Becky Skillman doesn’t make a written request every time she needs to speak to him, I sure any legislator that needs to talk to Governor Daniels doesn’t need to make a written request, and I’d bet you money that even lobbyists don’t have to write a letter asking for a meeting. But a voting, taxpaying citizen has to write a letter begging an audience with King Daniels.

Secondly, I was taken for a fool. This girl smiled sweetly and wrote down the governor’s mailing address for me as if to say, “Here’s my condescending story and an address, all is well at the statehouse little man.” Now I can be content and placated because I have been given a golden opportunity to see the king. Hah! My left foot I have!

Lastly, I was brushed off. You see, handing me the address was her way of dismissing me. She basically shooed me out of the office like an insect. Yeah, I could have raised a holy fuss about it all, but what good would getting arrested serve? In our state of martial law where a citizen cannot carry a state flag, pole or not, into the statehouse without getting arrested do you really think I would have stood a chance against some forty armed guards?

No, I am reduced to this; I have to write a letter to prayerfully petition his High Honor King Daniels to please, please, let me have a moment of his time. Perhaps I should sign it “Your humble servant,” because this sure as heck isn’t the way a boss should be treated by the employee; it makes me feel like he thinks I work for him somehow.

Governor Daniels, WE are YOUR boss, as a taxpaying citizen I AM YOUR BOSS, not the other way around. This is the high handed crap that reminds me how very far from the visions of the founding fathers our nation has strayed.

Well, I WILL be writing that letter requesting an audience. I guarantee you that one of the topics I bring up will be this load of horse manure!

Let the Revolt Begin!

2009-03-25T19:07:00.001-04:00

Amazing! That’s the only word I can readily come up with that describes the Revolt at the Statehouse rally today. There were several great speakers including Sean Shepard, Diana Vice, Gary Welsh, Melyssa Donaghy, and many others.

As I have mentioned before, this was about sending a message to our elected officials; we want them to understand clearly that it is WE THE PEOPLE that are in charge, not the elected officials, and we are sick and tired of the shenanigans.

It was nice to put faces to some of the names I’ve heard and read about, and to put faces to some of the people whose blogs I read. Indianapolis Attorney Paul Ogden was the driving force behind this rally; it was Paul’s blog that I directed you to for more information on the Revolt at the Statehouse.

As hard as this may be to comprehend, the speakers actually believed what they were saying. This was not politics as usual, but real human beings, taxpayers no less, who want a change to come about before it’s too late. Libertarians, Republicans, and Democrats were all there as this was not about party lines but about true change.

Believe it or not, we made a little noise out in the crowd as different speakers brought up issues that affect us all. While on the surface some of the issues only relate to Indianapolis, such as the Speedway Redevelopment Commission and the Capital Improvement Board, they are really the same thing we all have in our local communities but with different names and on different scales.

Considering that I had a hard time hearing over the racket I helped to create, I’m quite sure that every elected official and lobbyist in the building knew we were there and that we were in general not happy with them.

Perhaps the most entertaining speaker was Diana Vice, a housewife from Lafayette and author of the Welcome to My Tea Party blog. Being a mother with grown children, she likened our politicians to unruly children and brought a ‘naughty chair’ and a paddle to help straighten them out!

Once the event was over, I spent a little time wandering around the statehouse as it was my first visit. It is a truly beautiful building, the architecture is wonderful to behold. Any Hoosier should take a day to visit Indianapolis and see the Capital Building for themselves.

Before I left, I had one more bit of business to attend to. For those who know me it won’t surprise you to know I stopped by the Governor’s Office to chat with our Governor, Mitch Daniels. I feel that I have some excellent insights that he should know about as my ONLY motivation is to better my country, state, county, and city.

Apparently a taxpayer needs to make a written request in advance to schedule an appointment with Governor Daniels. It is refreshing to see that he is keeping busy, but frustrating because I know that a written requirement is NOT required of EVERYONE, if that were the case our state would be run less effectively than it already is. So I got the address and will try to get something scheduled for a later date, which will give me more time to provide even better wisdom and advice for him.

Revolt at the Statehouse is Tomorrow

2009-03-24T20:57:00.000-04:00

All right folks tomorrow is the big day. The Revolt at the Statehouse begins at 11:30 am. There will be several speakers there from all walks of life and the overall message is going to be the same.

WE THE PEOPLE are sick and tired of our elected officials doing as the please with OUR money. It is time these politicians get back on the rail and remember that they were put into office by US to serve US.

Pay to play politicking, squandering our money, conflicts of interests that pump millions of tax dollars to millionaires and billionaires who serve on the very boards that pass out this money; all of that needs to stop and that’s what this ‘revolt’ is all about.

Keep in mind that this is for all of us, regardless of political affiliation. After all, it is all of OUR money being wasted, right?

I hope to see you in downtown Indy tomorrow. Here is your chance; stand up, speak out, be heard.

For more information, check out this blog: http://www.revoltatthestatehouse.blogspot.com/

My Dog has Lost His Mind

2009-03-23T23:21:00.000-04:00

My dog seems to be about ignorant these days. He was never really super smart, but recently he seems to be even less intellectually blessed.

Over the past several months I’ve noticed that his hearing has gotten pretty bad; he is an old dog after all. Morgan is 11.5 and we got Chewie around the same time as Morgan. Dog years to human years equal eighty and a half years old. So the hearing thing makes sense, but why is he getting dumber?

He’s an outside dog who, during the winter months, pretty much keeps to himself. Now that the weather has changed, more peeps are wandering around and he barks at them. Typical.

The thing is, he has to see them or smell them to know they are nearby. Dogs have poor visual acuity, so he is using his incredible nose to find targets for his racket. His hearing is so bad, he doesn’t know when my truck pulls in the driveway, nor does he know when I’m approaching his house to feed him; unless he sees or smell me.

So why does he bark at me? At ME? Tonight I fed him, watered him, took him some table scraps from the delicious roast Keri made, and when I went to our front yard to gather the trash cans to take to the back, he barks at me.

The wind was blowing from me towards him, so I know he smelled me; he had to have. This isn’t the first time he’s done this either.

Yep, he is surely losing his mind.

Shooting Lesson

2009-03-22T23:24:00.000-04:00

What a beautiful day this was. I’m maybe starting to sound like a broken record (a broken WHAT?!) with my constant raving about the incoming weather patterns, but hey I like the warmth. Cold sucks, plain and simple.

The three of us took a nice long walk this afternoon, down to the river walkway, all the way down the walkway, then back home. We stopped off at Miami’s Fort so Morgan could play for about half an hour.

Later, I took Morgan out shooting for the first time. Yeah, she’s eleven and you may be thinking I should have done this long ago, but Keri Beri wasn’t comfortable with it. Besides, we just used a BB gun today.

Morgan did great! It took her a few shots to get used to the weapon, but once she started zinging that empty pop can, she just kept on going. Each successful shot she took I had her take a step farther back from the target, so she was hitting at a decent distance when we stopped for the night.

This was a great chance for me to teach her gun safety. I realize that it is a BB gun, but they can still be dangerous if handled improperly. All the rules of gun safety certainly apply to this gun, and if she learns them now she will remember them when she moves up to .22, 9mm, etcetera.

I am really proud of her, she listened very well to my instructions and she seems like a natural at shooting. Keri and I used to shoot together when we were younger, but she lost all interest in guns when she became pregnant with Morgan. Strange…

I’m hoping that we might all shoot together as a family sometime fairly soon. That would be excellent indeed.

The Wabash Reef aka Big Four Reef

2009-03-21T23:51:00.001-04:00

The Lord truly blessed us with a beautiful day today, don’t you think?

Keri, Morgan and I went to Wabash to see my dad today. I took over a new power supply to replace the one I loaned out on Saturday last week. Now he has a nice new one and the computer is working happy and okay.

Afterwards he and Mary took us out for supper; we went to Pizza the Hutt. They have bone out wings in several flavors including some massively hot ones. I asked the waitress if they were really hot and she assured me that they were. She actually advised me to go with the medium ones.

Naturally I got ten of the hot ones, knowing they wouldn’t really be THAT hot. But they really were pretty spicy. They kind of add up on you, after 4 or 5 you start to sweat a bit. Nice.

Before we went to dad’s we decide to find the Wabash Reef, also known as the Big Four Reef, a supposedly famous reef known throughout scientific circles around the country, perhaps even around the world. I Googled it and found a document from 1949 that someone had scanned into Adobe PDF. Interestingly it referred to the reef as “The famous Wabash reef.”

I grew up in Wabash, my mom seemed to know everything and everyplace, but I had never been told about this place. I stumbled upon a reference to it in the Wabash County Museum a couple of weeks ago.

It is a really cool place to visit, Morgan and I took lots of photos as you might expect. Anyone wanting to see it let me know and I will give you directions. It is surprisingly easy to find. I had been within a hundred or so feet of it countless times in the past and never even suspected anything. Very interesting.

The Tyrant Reborn

2009-03-20T23:00:00.000-04:00

Happy first day of Spring, everyone!!

It has not been a bad start to the season; the weather was mild and the sun was bright. A nice day, I think.

This is my first blog entry from my rebuilt computer, Tyrant. I suppose this is Tyrant version 2.0 or something like that. Since my machine got hit by a virus I couldn’t eliminate, I reformatted the HD and started fresh.

While I was at it I upgraded to Vista. Yeah I know, it’s taken me a long time, but I frankly haven’t much liked Vista since it came out; I know I’m not alone in this. Nut we have machines being deployed at the county with it, so I need t have a good understanding of it and the only way that happens is through using the thing.

Oh well.

Once I do get used to it, it may not be that bad. Look at IE 7 for example. When it came out, I didn’t like it either; tabbed browsing was bothersome to me. I got used to it and like tabbed better than non-tabbed now. Actually IE 8 is my favorite browser; it has some really neat features.

Now I think I’ll play some Mafia Wars on FaceBook for a relaxing time of putting hits on rival mafias.

The Utility Room Project - Part 6

2009-03-19T23:01:00.001-04:00

After a pretty long week of working on the utility room, I can now foresee the end of the project. All that remains now is to put the handles onto the two cabinet doors and to do some minor touch ups on the baseboards.

Whew!

After the cabinet debacle yesterday, which I still don’t want to talk about, I was starting to lose hope that this job would ever end. But today my hope is restored and I am feeling good about it all. Now I can concentrate on my next urgent task.

A couple of days ago my computer got hit by a virus. I have used three different removal tools and they all say my machine is clean, but a clean one doesn’t act like this. Anyway, I thought my security was pretty tight for a civilian, but I guess it wasn’t as good as I thought.

I have a hardware firewall, the windows firewall (duh!), a piece of software that locks my registry down, and Norton Corporate 10. Sounds good, right?

The problem here is Norton 10. Yes it was a god product when it came out, but I kind of lost track of time. I installed it in either 2005 or 2006 which is really too long ago to have not updated the program itself. I kept the definitions up to date, but that isn’t enough.

Lesson learned, I guess.

Now I am formatting a hard drive so that I can copy my files onto it, so I can them format my main drive and start over. The data transfer should take most of the night.

The Utility Room Project - Part 5

2009-03-18T22:59:00.002-04:00

I finished working on the utility room for tonight about an hour and a half ago. It was a sometimes frustrating, yet productive evening; sometimes a debacle, sometimes smooth flowing. Other than that I for once don’t have much to say. Well, not about that subject anyway. At least not tonight.

The room is looking pretty god though, and most importantly Keri likes it a lot, and that makes it all worthwhile for me.

I like the way it’s turning out too, don’t get me wrong. But this is a project Keri wanted done, so therefore I want to do it in such a way that she like it. That seems to be where we’re at.

The Utility Room Project - Part 4

2009-03-17T23:02:00.000-04:00

Bullet proof. Bomb shelter. Impenetrable stronghold. I’m not sure exactly why, but when my utility room was built someone really felt that it should be all of these things and perhaps more. Yesterday after work I started back on getting this room finished up.

Replacing the light switch was easy, it went as planned which was very nice. When I replaced the overhead light fixture I ran into something interesting. You see, I’m not a professional carpenter nor am I an electrician. So when I put the new hardware up I followed the example of how the old was installed. I really should know better by now.

The mounting bracket piece was upside down. I figured this out after I had everything put together and I was trying to figure out why the fixture didn’t want to go flush with the ceiling. So I took it all back apart, read the directions, and began reassembling the thing. The irony of reading the directions after I encountered a problem is not lost on me, by the way.

They used sheetrock on the ceiling too. Why?! When I flipped the first piece over, the holes no longer lined up, which means I had to drill through the sheetrock in order for the screws to penetrate the stuff. While I was at it I replaced the screws they had used before with longer ones to provide extra holding power.

Now the new light is up and it looks nice. Keri did a fine job of selecting it. Even though it uses the same bulbs as the old fixture, I actually moved the old bulbs to the new light, it is much brighter than the old. Under the shade it has a larger surface area and is more reflective than the old one was.

Then I uncrated the cabinets. Again the wife did a good job of selection. I gave them a thorough looking over and determined how I was going to install them. There was one tiny issue with one of them.

One of the hinges was broken when I took the cabinet out of its box. These are internally mounted hinges, so nothing hit the thing during shipping. Anything that could have caused such damaged would have torn the cardboard carton badly, and likely would have damaged the cabinet itself too. Both were fine, which means the thing probably left the factory that way. Quality control anyone?

So today I got to drive back to Kokomo to replace the cabinet. It’s only about an hour round trip, so I thought might still get these things up yet today. That will just leave the baseboard install, which is waiting on a couple of minor patches that I didn’t realize I needed before I painted. That should be dry enough to paint tonight so I should be able to mount the baseboards tomorrow afternoon.

The baseboards went as expected. The touchups are finished and drying. Tomorrow I’ll probably get them installed.

Lowes was either understaffed or swamped today. From the looks of the parking lot I would surmise that it was the former and not the latter. I walked right in and took care of my return, headed back to the cabinets and went straight to the one I needed, then I headed over to the carpeting.

Keri bought a runner Sunday, and she wanted me to pick up more of the carpeting in a custom length. So I went to the carpeting for her; and there I waited and waited and waited. I fond what I needed, push the “need assistance” button, and no one came. I don’t know how many times I pushed it before someone got there. It turns off after so many minutes.

Someone did eventually come to my rescue and I got out of there. I did not get the cabinets up tonight, but I got them laid out and I have my plan of attack for tomorrow.

Almost done.

The Utility Room Project - Part 3

2009-03-16T11:23:00.000-04:00

Don’t you just love it when things work out the way you want them to? I certainly do. So what in the world is the deal with this utility room of ours?!

Yesterday I spent some nine hours painting. Yes, painting a roughly 64 square foot room took that long. There was one setback after another; it is obvious to me, and has been for years, that this type of work is not my forte.

First of all my brilliant idea of sealing the ceiling with primer was not completely successful. The primer caused the old paint to peel off too. Hopefully after it is cured in a day or two this problem will be handled.

Then I moved on to painting the walls, which did go smoothly but took all stinking day. You see, this is the utility room, which has water pipes, a hot water heater, and a furnace permanently attached. The washer and dryer I could move around as needed. There is also a coat and storage closet that we decide to paint on the inside as well.

You don’t realize how much stuff ends up in a closet until you have to take it all out for some reason. I managed to cover the entire bathroom floor with the contents of that closet, and the coats were all on the bed!

Back to the painting, the paint went on okay as I said before, but it was thinner than I was expecting so it required two coats. That was no biggie, but painting behind the furnace and water heat proved to be very difficult.

We moved into this house about fifteen years ago, the walls in every room were Sears brand Antique White. We have redone every room since then, except the utility room. We repainted it once, but we used the same color it had been so that we didn’t have to go behind the furnace and water heater. Keri wanted the room to be persimmon this time, which is a pinkish orange color that makes the room look really nice. It was worth the time I spent straining to get behind everything.

Then I moved onto the baseboards. There were a couple of setbacks here as well, but the most frustrating part was the length of the pieces. I had asked Keri to pick up eight foot long baseboards, four of them. The guy at Lowes lied to her and told her that’s what they were, but they were rally only seven feet long each. So I started out four feet short.

This was alright, I actually only needed a couple feet off the forth one, however this made my margin for error very tight as I had very little excess to work with now. All of my pieces are cut and fitted now, but I cannot nail them to the walls.

The utility room is the one room in the house that does not have ¾ inch drywall. It has ½ inch drywall with a ¼ inch of sheetrock. You can’t nail through this stuff, nor can you drive screws through it. You have to drill a pilot hole, and then drive your screws. Screws don’t work for baseboards because the heads are too large too cover up.

This means I need some adhesive like Gorilla Glue. I’ll be picking some yup later today. I also am going to get the cabinets up today. I will at least get them started; I need to re-hang one of the doors and I need to put the handles on them before I hang them. There are a couple of minor details to do to the room also, but I should have it finished soon.

The Utility Room Project - Part 2

2009-03-15T22:33:00.003-04:00

Today I started back on the utlity room, this was painting day. After working from one this afternoon until after ten tonight, I have only one thing to say: ARGH!

The Utility Room Project - Part 1

2009-03-14T22:38:00.001-04:00

Today we began a bold new project; the revamping of out utility room; paint, baseboards, and a new cabinet system. Not too heavy of a project, right?

So why don’t things go as expected? Sanding the ‘cottage cheese’ off the ceiling seemed to take forever, and the cleanup of that dreadful mess even longer. We bought this textured paint to put on the ceiling, it looks like wet sand. We wanted this to cover the minor imperfections left from the old, but that didn’t go as planned either.

The guy at Lowes said to roll it on with ½ inch nap roller. I poured some into our paint tray liner, the tray seems to have been abducted by aliens since we last used it, and tried to roll it on the ceiling.

Yack! It was like trying to paint with cement! The crazy thing was when I rolled, it seemed to peel the old paint up as it went, giving a horrible splotchy look to the entire area.

Tomorrow I’m going to paint the walls while Keri goes to Kokomo to pick op the cabinets we decided on yesterday. By we I mean she. She’ll pick out our new baseboards and bring them home too.

I will paint the ceiling with primer or white paint, let it dry and set completely and then try painting the textured stuff on again. I think that the paint will seal the ceiling, giving the cement stuff something better to hold onto. My fingers are crossed.

I am expecting that the project will go more smoothly tomorrow (waves hand) “You will go smoothly tomorrow.”

My New Addiction

2009-03-13T11:49:00.000-04:00

I have found a new addiction, and its name is Mafia Wars. This is a surprisingly addictive game on FaceBook. Lloyd K and John P were telling me about how fun these games are, and were they right!

The gist of it is this; you build up a Mafia organization with yourself as its head. You do jobs, such as muggings or robberies, earning virtual cash and experience. The experience can make you tougher, while you use the cash to buy weapons that make you a more formidable opponent. You can also buy properties, which provide a steady stream of income that you don’t have to work for.

As you recruit friends to your Mafia, your organization grows stronger. As you get bigger, you can go to war with rival Mafias.

It is pretty simple to learn, and seemingly impossible to stop!

Try it out and see for yourself. Better yet, let me recruit YOU, and both our organizations will be stronger for it.

The Cat's Strange Habit

2009-03-12T12:39:00.000-04:00

Our cat is so strange. Maybe they all are, in fact I KNOW they all are to an extent, but Blossom seems extraordinarily odd. Simply put, she has bizarre habits.

Now, I understand that cats are dreadfully nosey beasts that seem to be anywhere and everywhere you don’t want them. So I ignore the fact that anytime we walk into the grey bathroom, sometimes called my wife’s bathroom, that the cat has to run in to see what’s going on.

In Blossom’s defense, her food dish, water dish, and cat box are all kept in this room. However, these things are ALWAYS there, they do not go away even when one of us enters the room. The cat is a typical feline pest in this regard.

To set the stage for the cat’s weirdness it is important for you to know that the stinking creature gets fresh water every day, sometimes more than once each day, thanks to Morgan and Keri’s diligence. Morgan even puts ice cubes in the cat’s water just so it’ll have a nice cool drink. I don’t typically water the thing, though I do toss some food out from time to time to shut the cat up.

Despite this, whenever there is condensation on a window or door glass, the cat has to go lick it off. Gross! It will stand on its back legs and stretch up to get as much as is possible. But even though that is ridiculous, there is a far more sinister habit this animal has.

Every time, every single time, one of us takes a shower, the cat feels that she needs to drink the shower water. If it gets into the bathroom while one of us is showering she will hop up onto the edge of the tub and lick the water from the shower wall.

If we are done, she will actually go all the way into the tub to drink off the floor of it. I kid you not. It doesn’t matter that her feet get wet, nor does it matter that water may drip onto her goofy little head.

I tried to break her of this. One time I apparently didn’t get the door shut tight, so the stinking cat let herself in during my shower. True to form she got onto the edge of the tub and started licking the wall. I had a brilliant idea!

I reached outside the curtain from the other end of the tub, watching the beast the whole time to make sure she suspected nothing, and then I gave her a good push right into the tub while the shower was running. Naturally she spazed out and ran full speed from the room.

It didn’t stop her though. She didn’t even avoid trying to get into the room when I was in it, so I just made sure the door was tight from then on.

Oh well.

Taking the Plunge

2009-03-11T16:19:00.002-04:00

Yesterday I bought the bullet and joined FaceBook. You're probably wondering what took me so long, and frankly I don't have an answer for you.

What I do know, however, is that there are an unfathomable amount of people on FaceBook! Just by giving a few details about me and a few email addresses I have found more people that I know than I thought I knew!

There is a fun social game called MyFarm, Keri got me hooked on it already. If you don't know how to get to it, type MyFarm into the search bar and select Open Application for the first result you get. There's a help button if you need it.

I'm hooked, and you should be too!

Another Beautiful Day

2009-03-10T20:38:00.001-04:00

What a beautiful day we had again today. Never mind that it rained pretty much all day; the temperature got up to 70^o!!! That my friends makes it a beautiful day.

Today was Morgan’s second 4-H meeting, she wanted to join and this is her first year. She is in photography, very cool, and cats. Yuck!

Since it was so nice we decided to walk her to the meeting, it was only about a mile away. Then Keri suggested we pick up Brendan and Katlyn, this is their first year too. So we went about a half mile out of our way to get them which made our walk that much more pleasant.

We walked for an hour exactly; it rained the whole way but we didn’t mind at all. Keri and Morgan each had an umbrella, while I had a water resistant hood on my jacket that I could pull up when it rained too hard for comfort. When we left the meetin’ hall I took Morgan’s umbrella.
No, I didn’t leave the poor girl stranded. When her meeting was over I picked her up in the truck, with the umbrella just in case.

I am so glad to have this warm weather; it makes me feel so alive when I get out like this and I love the family time.

Keri Amazes Me

2009-03-10T20:11:00.003-04:00

I am frankly amazed; it seems that every day my wife does something new and unexpected. Yesterday was especially shocking.

She always says that she doesn't like computers, hates them in fact, and knows nothing about them. Recently she vowed to learn more about computing, yesterday she took a giant step.

Keri has a FaceBook page.

Yep. I couldn't believe my ears when she told me she was going to do it. Then she did it, and spent about an hour online last night. She basically stayed up an hour later than normal just to play on the computer. Tonight she's been at FaceBook for about an hour so far.

I'm so proud of her. I don't have a FaceBook page and I'm the family uber geek. She's cool!

Photos from the UFO Crash Site

2009-03-10T11:19:00.008-04:00

The UFO crash site has been cleaned up; with the exception of a few divots in the lawn it is as if the thing never existed at all. No, I’m not talking about a military cover up. I am referring to Morgan's once and former trampoline.

I mentioned in a previous blog that it looked like a UFO crash site, which I'm still convinced of. Here’s a picture of it, judge for yourself. This was taken after the mess had been moved back to our yard and piled up. It had actually landed across the alley and almost against the neighbor’s house you see in the background, with a 30-40 foot long debris field.

Before our bike ride last night I started pulling apart all of the pieces and getting the area cleaned up. I finished after we got back home. I had totally forgotten how many springs there were to this thing.

I’ve been told that steel is running around 25 bucks a ton, so I ought to get a solid buck-fifty, maybe even two whole dollars out of this crap, I mean scrap. Yippee skippy.

I mentioned in that same blog from yesterday that one of the steel tubes had been ripped in two. I was wrong about that; there were more than one of these that got abused that way. Here is a close up of how the tube should have looked. This is one of the pieces from the circular part; note the slight curvature of the horizontally oriented part. The little notch is where the spring attached; the vertically oriented part is where one of the leg pieces attached.

Real nice. Now this is what that same type of piece looks like after being ripped apart. This particular on was still attached to itself, barely, but some of the others were not so fortunate. I tried to orient the damaged piece the same as the other for the sake of comparison.

This poor thing took a horrible beating!

Here’s a detailed shot of the damaged area. You can see how uneven the edges are from the violent tearing apart the steel received. I’m frankly very glad that my family and I were inside the house when this was going on. I think that a person standing out there would probably have gotten a flying lesson that day as well.

The Cure for Insomnia

2009-03-10T11:18:00.000-04:00

I think I’ve finally done it; I have the cure for insomnia! After literally decades of searching I think I can safely say there is a cure. I am not talking about drugs, chemicals, hormones, or the like. It is something far simpler and much less dangerous, and the only side effect is better health.

What, oh what could this miracle cure be? I’m so glad you asked. It’s the south Broadway Street hill, located in beautiful Peru, Indiana. Well, it is half the cure anyway.

Allow me to explain. You see ever since I was little, I remember this from age six, I have had insomnia. No matter what I do, no matter how hard I work out, no matter what I eat or drink, my body just refuses to shut down until midnight to 1 o’clock am. And I always have boundless energy the next day; even when I don’t use any caffeine for weeks at a time.

Last night Keri, Morgan, and I went for a bicycle ride. Yeah, it was a trifle on the chilly side, but we did it just the same. On the way home we stopped at B&K South for some food. While we were eating I issued a challenge to Morgan.

In an effort to help her improve her physical conditioning, I came up with a diabolical plan. I told her if she could ride up the south Broadway Street hill without stopping, I would hand her a ten dollar bill. I took the bill out and showed it to her, so she knew that she could take immediate possession. There were a couple of stipulations, though.

At the bottom of the hill is a crossroad; at the top is the South Peru School. The school has a small sidewalk that extends out to Park Drive. She had to ride from the north side of the intersection to the afore mentioned sidewalk without stopping. She could pedal from either a standing or sitting position, but if she stopped the deal was off.

She wondered what would happen if she went so slowly that she tipped over and had to put her foot down. This indisputably counts as stopping, so I recommended that she not go that slowly.

Keri didn’t think she could make it herself, so she agreed to take the rear so she could watch Morgan and make sure she didn’t try to cheat. I took the lead; I told Morgan that I would ride all the way up the hill to show her that it can indeed be done.

I made it about two-thirds of the way standing, then I had to sit because my legs just wouldn’t go any more; I almost had to put MY foot down. But I did make it, then I rode back down to see how the girls were doing; I met them at about the same pint I started sitting.

Unfortunately Morgan didn’t get to the top without stopping. Keri said that she hit a certain point and she just couldn’t keep the bike moving, though she had tried with all her might. I think we may extend the ten dollar offer until she makes it.

Okay, enough about the hill, it’s only half the cure for insomnia anyway. The second part is a nice relaxing soak in a hundred and two degree hot tub. We hadn’t been in the hot tub since Keri’s surgery last month because the incisions on her leg had to heal completely.

I know that the cure is both of these things combined because I have exerted myself like that and more in the past and not fallen asleep at a decent time. I’ve done the hot tub in the past, still no sleep. I’ve done tremendous workouts followed by the hot tub, all to no avail. But I had never ridden the hill and then done the hot tub.

Last night I went to bed by 10:30 and fell asleep within about fifteen minutes. Since we are now on Mitch Daniels time, or as some in Indiana call it, ‘Daylight Savings Time,’ that’s really like 9:30 to me.

I may have to do this more often…

Pi Day is Coming Soon

2009-03-09T12:34:00.001-04:00

Now that the excitement of Square Root Day is over, it’s time to get geared up for Pi Day. Yay!

Not sue what Pi Day is?

Pi Day is March 14. Do you get it? The first three numbers of pi are 3.14 you see. Pretty simple, kind of cool.

You celebrate Pi Day by baking and eating pies. A lot of people do something fun with them, such as bake a pi shape onto the pie somehow, or decorating after it has cooled like you would a cake.

All right, you know Pi Day is coming up on the 14th which is this Saturday. Now you have no excuse whatsoever to not celebrate. I gave you plenty of warning.

Morgan's Trampoline

2009-03-09T12:32:00.001-04:00

A couple of years ago we bought a trampoline for Morgan. It was nothing fancy mind you, a basic twelve foot circular trampoline with a safety net around it. Since we have no place to store it, it has remained outside from the day we bought it. This has worked out great, until this winter.

One night during a heavy wind, the tramp learned how to fly, and it went zipping down the length of our yard. It appears that it rolled a time or two, as the poles for the safety net were scattered and one was bent up somewhat.

That must have been some wind; this thing weighs 125-150 pounds.

Saturday was so warm, such a beautiful day to be alive. Keri and I spent about an hour checking the trampoline out thoroughly and putting it back together. I straightened the bent pole, even. I figured someone should test it to make sure it was safe for the kids, so naturally I started jumping up and down on it like a 12-year old.

It was fun, it was safe. We gave it the official seal of approval.

It turned out to be a busy day, so Morgan never had a chance to try it out for herself. She did get her circus physical, and signed up for four acts, one of which is trampoline.

Sunday we went to circus roundup to meet the trainers and make sure all the paperwork was in place. She affirmed her commitment to the acts, and I was glad that I fixed her trampoline up; I know she’ll get a lot of use out of it.

It rained all day Sunday, so the kid didn’t get to use the tramp yet. Around 6 o’clock we had a gully washer; such a torrential downpour as I hadn’t seen for a few years. We also had heavy winds. This was not a tornado, just heavy winds; so heavy in fact that in one community the wind picked up a school bus (empty of kids) and tossed it onto a building! Not into the building, ON it.

Have you figured out where I’m going with this yet?

Morgan looked out the window and yelled that her trampoline was taking off. Did it ever! It flew 40-50 yards, hit the ground rolling and blew into I don’t know how many pieces. Glorious!

The wind only lasted about fifteen minutes, the rain about an hour. Then we went out to pick up the pieces from the neighbor’s yard. Ouch! The poles for the safety net were scattered in a debris field about forty feet long, as well as leg poles, springs, and even some of the poles from the circular part.

A lot of the poles were bent; some were shaped like hairpins, with one end bent all the way over to touch the other end. One of the poles from the circular part was ripped apart. I do not mean to say that it came apart at the seam, that’s what the other poles did. No this literally ripped apart in a place where there was no seam.

We dragged it back to our yard, collected all of the pieces and put them on it. This mangled mass of messed-up metal now looks like a UFO crash site. It’s hard to believe it was once something nice.

Now that thing weighed, as I said earlier, around 125-150 pounds. The ironic part was what happened to the two trash cans I had set out to the curb. They are plastic garbage cans, nothing special at all, filled with leaves they weighed in at about twenty pounds each. They didn’t budge. Didn’t move a freaking inch! Go figure!

Revolt at the State House

2009-03-08T12:01:00.002-04:00

Ok Hosiers, here's something interesting. On March 25, 2009 there will be a 'revolt' at the Indiana Statehouse. You can read more here http://www.revoltatthestatehouse.blogspot.com/

Simply put, this is a rally for citizens to stand up, speak out, and be heard. Politicians will be called to task for pay to play and other dirty shenanigans.

Be heard.

Why is the Heat Gone?

2009-03-07T22:09:00.001-05:00

Keri, Gail, and the kids are still in Kokomo. They went to get some paint from Lowes, this was around 3:30 or so. About ten ‘till ten I talk to Keri on the phone. Apparently they will be leaving Wal-Mart in ten to fifteen minutes. All righty then.

Keri reminded me that I needed to take a movie back to the store, Australia with Hugh Jackman and Nicole Kidman. Good movie, it’s long but worth watching for sure. Anyway, it’s about one and a quarter miles to the video store and I’m debating how I want to get there.

Walking is my first choice. But it’s been raining a lot. What if I get caught in some kind of downpour halfway there? So walking is out. I know, I’ll ride the bicycle. Yeah, I dusted it off earlier and this would be the perfect time to use it again. A nice evening ride. (this was around 10pm). That’ll be great, about a ten minute roundtrip. I could handle a little rain if it started. Sure I can.

So out the door I go, ready to unlock my bike. Oh dear. It seems to be raining. Hmmn. Wait a minute, it’s COLD out here. I’m still in my Hawaiian shirt and shorts from this afternoon when t was 70 something. How the heck did it get this cold? Why is the heat gone? Forget this!

I check the temperature and it says it is 50 degrees outside. Huh? Why is the heat gone? Crap.

So I drive down to the video store. Boring, but warm and dry anyway.

Now it’s twenty after ten, Keri was going to call me when they left Wal-Mart, but she hasn’t called yet. It would seem that ten to fifteen minutes was a somewhat overly optimistic estimate of time left in the store.

After all of this I have only one question.

But why is the heat gone?

What a Beautiful Day the Lord has Made

2009-03-07T15:48:00.000-05:00

WOW!!! What a beautiful day the Lord has blessed us with. 70+ degrees in north central Indiana! Awesome!

Yesterday was great too. I am so glad to feel the warmth again. Yes. I do realize that winter is not over, but that’s ok. It will be soon.

Keri had a meeting with the women’s group from church this afternoon, so Morgan and I took a short bike ride. A short, two hour bike ride from roughly the National Guard Armory to the East End Market and back.

Morgan is a pretty funny kid. Yesterday when the three of us were taking a nice walk through the park, she said that her legs felt like jelly. She said the same thing today on our bike ride. We were barely on our way back, and I didn’t have the heart to tell her.

We live at the top of the South Broadway Street hill, which is a fairly steep climb if you’re on a bike. I challenged her to ride up it with me, and although she didn’t make it, to her credit she gave it a good try.

Now Keri, Morgan, Gail, Katlyn, and Brendan are on there way to do some shopping, while I have a website to get finished up.

Windows open, check. Rock n’ Roll blasting, check. Time to get busy.

Freedom is So 1940s

2009-03-06T22:59:00.002-05:00

I just ran acroos this video. It is very to the point.

Anyone who enjoys the freedoms and liberties that our great nation has to offer should take a few minutes to watch this.

Here is the link: http://www.thelibertypapers.org/2009/03/06/freedom-is-so-1940s/

Enjoy.

We Have a Stinking Cat

2009-03-06T11:59:00.001-05:00

We have a cat living in our house. Why do we have a cat living in our house? Because I am a sucker and let Morgan have one. Keri thought we should let her have one, but I did not agree.

Anyone who knew me growing up would know that we had house cats; I grew up with cats in the house, for the most part there were more than one at any given time. I loved those cats. I would hug them and pet them and name them George. Yes, one of them was really named George.

But the last thing I wanted in my home was a stinking cat! My mom thought for the longest time that it was Keri that kept saying no, but in reality it was me; I was the hold-out.

Keri would tell me that we should just let Morgan have a cat. But I warned her. I grew up with cats in the house and even though I loved them as a child, I knew the truth about them.

Cats are dirty, hairball hacking, ill-tempered, smelly beasts who shed constantly and everywhere. They get into everything; counters, closets, on desks and dressers, on TVs, into fish tanks. You name it and the stinking cat will get into it. Don’t let me forget that they are careless too. How many things have I seen broken over the years because a cat knocked it off of somewhere the cat shouldn’t have even been.

You just can’t have anything nice with a cat in the house. But I got suckered by my girl and now we have a cat.

We’ve actually had the thing since July of 2007, I think. Keri, the neat-nick, finds herself constantly frustrated with the cat, Blossom.

It makes messes everywhere, it coughs up ugh, it gets grouchy, it smells funny, it sheds on every piece of furniture we own, it is constantly on the table and counters, it gets in the closets, it gets onto my desk and plays with my processors and other gadgets, it gets onto the dressers and onto the TV. We don’t have a fish anymore, but rest assured that if we did the cat would be after it. It has broken things too, countless things, my things.

Morgan sometimes locks the cat out of her room, because Blossom will tear her things up. Keri is constantly amazed at how fast the sweeper fills up with cat hair. We have a Dyson, so you can actually watch it fill up as you go.

These two girls act surprised that Blossom is a free-roaming disaster area, but I’m not.

And here is the worst of it. Cats are fairly long lived animals which means it will probably be around fifteen-eighteen years. It is supposed to Morgan’s cat, which we got when she was ten. Ten plus fifteen equals twenty-five. Morgan will either still be in college, or will have graduated by then, and will presumably be living somewhere on her own. Guess where the cat will live. Yep. When Morgan moves out, you know we’ll be stuck with that bleeping fur ball.

I’ve suggested using Nair on Blossom, and then we could pretend she is a Sphinx Cat, but Keri won’t go along with it. I’ve tried to move the cat outside with the dog, but Morgan wigs out.

So I guess we’re just stuck. With a cat. In the house.

The Big Bang Theory

2009-03-05T12:39:00.002-05:00

Anybody besides me watch ‘The Big Bang Theory?’ When I first saw it advertised I thought “The Big Bang Theory? How interesting could it possibly be? No thanks!”

And so season one went by without notice. Then my friend Seth was talking about it over lunch one day. He went on and on about how funny it was; four egghead buddies that are so smart they can barley relate to the real world and one normal neighbor girl. Hmmn…

As it happens, I came into the show right at the beginning of season two. It turns out this is the funniest show I have seen in a long, long time. Sheldon, the most intelligent and least normal of the four, is my favorite. In one episode, Leonard described Sheldon as, “One lab accident away from becoming a super-villain.”

It comes on Mondays on CBS at 8:00 pm. This past Monday was ‘The Cushion Saturation.’ Although I laughed my head off throughout the show, the last two minutes were so good I had to rewind the DVR and watch it more.

For those who are unfamiliar with the program, here is a brief quote from ‘The Cushion Saturation.’

(Penny is sitting on the couch, in Sheldon's spot)
Sheldon: You're in my spot.
Penny: Are you planning on sitting here?
Sheldon: No, I'm going to the comic book store.
Penny: Then what difference does it make?
Sheldon: What difference does it make?
Leonard: Here we go.
Sheldon: That is my spot. In an ever-changing world, it is a single point of consistency. If my life were expressed as a function on a four-dimensional Cartesian coordinate system, that spot at the moment I first sat on it would be (0,0,0,0).
Penny: What?
Leonard: Don't sit in his spot.

There is an excellent page about the show on TV.com. Check it (the show) out people, and let me know what you think.

Breaking the Silence

2009-03-05T12:17:00.000-05:00

Kristie (of Life with my X-Men) told me that I should put more entries into my blog. Haven’t I been putting a lot out already?

May 6, June 6, July-November 0 (!), December 11, January 8, February 7. Uh, maybe not so much then. That’s really out of character for me; I typically have a lot to say and I make sure that others know it. I stand up, speak out, and make my voice heard. If that fails I speak louder and more vehemently.

So why have I been so silent with my blog? I’ve really no freakin’ idea what my deal has been. But it’s not too late; there is hope for me yet, after all I’ve put out 7 this month already counting this one.

So here’s the deal, I’m gonna post at least one blog entry every day this month. It’s not like I have nothing to talk about, so I’m just gonna do it.

Kristie? Kristie? Are you there? Did you read that? Yep, it’s going to happen.

For everyone else that thinks I’ve been strangely silent, watch out!

Is There Really Nothing To Do?

2009-03-04T12:31:00.001-05:00

I don’t understand why people say that, “There’s nothing to do in Peru.” If there actually was nothing going on, or next to nothing, then I would be a believer. But I’m not a believer, because there are tons of things to do!

As the webmaster for Miami County, I update the community calendar page. There are currently 77 different events taking place that are open to the community. Many of these last for more than one day, and many of these encompass several things to do. For example the 4-H Fair lasts for about a week, features exhibits of all kinds, tractor shows, demolition derbies, rides, carnival games, and much more.

The above referenced page doesn’t include things like the several productions that Ole Olson puts on during the year, nor does it include the many activities that our local churches have. I’m sure that for every thing listed there is at least one more that I don’t know about. Many of the local businesses have events too.

Garden Gate Greenhouse, for one, offers free workshops that teach you how to have a more successful garden and on properly freezing your harvest. The link to their site will be http://www.gardengategreenhouseinc.com/ and it will be online by March 14. How do I know? Because I’m the one building their website, that’s how. If you want one of your own, visit http://www.globalme.biz/ for more info.

Something else not covered by ‘events’ would be places. We have the Nickel Plate Trail, Mississinewa Reservoir and spillway, Seven Pillars, Miami Nation of Indians, the Miami County Museum with two floors of displays, Bunker Hill Drag Strip, Miami County Speedway, and the River Walkway to name a few.

So, before you say, “There’s nothing to do,” why not open your eyes a little and take in just a few of the many things that our community has to offer.

Is It Spring Yet?

2009-03-03T23:37:00.003-05:00

Is it Spring yet? It seems like this cold winter has been dragging on forever now.

I am SOooo over the cold it isn't even funny. I'm ready for the warmth, the flowers, the green, the bees, the short-sleeved shirts.

I want to wear my Hawaiian shirts outside with no jacket and be comfortable. I realize that Spring is now just over two weeks away, but please God make it WARM now.

Please, please, please!

Happy Square Root Day

2009-03-03T21:57:00.003-05:00

For those of you who have been living in a cave, today is Square Root Day. Square Root Day is an unofficial holiday where the month and day are the square root of the last two numbers of the year.

Today is 3/3/09. You see how 3 is the square root of 9? There are only nine such days in any given century.

1/1/01
2/2/04
3/3/09
4/4/16
5/5/25
6/6/36
7/7/49
8/8/64
9/9/81

A couple of exceptions occur each millennium as well. There is 10/10/2100, 11/11/2121, 12/12/2144.

The number of years between Square Root Days in a century are consecutive odd numbers. 3, 5, 7, 9, 11, 13, 15, 17. This helps illustrate that every odd number is the difference of two consecutive squares as shown here:

2k + 1 = (k + 1)² – k².

The ‘generally accepted’ method of celebrating Square Root Day is to cut a radish or other root vegetable into squares to eat, thus creating ‘square roots’.

Hah! I bet you weren’t expecting a math lesson, were you?

More Fun With the Space Heater

2009-03-03T17:09:00.003-05:00

I gave in to my inner geek today at lunch and tackled the problem of our ‘cordless’ space heater. I couldn’t help myself; I have this toolbox full of things for working on electronics; a veritable arsenal of tools spoiling for a new project.

I began by disassembling the hapless heater so that I could fully see how much damage it had suffered. Not bad at all, it was simply a cord blown in two pieces. Not a big deal.

Man that thing was dirty on the inside! Yuck-o! My trusty can of air made quick work of the dust mess, then I could get to work in earnest. I cut off about six inches of cord from the outside, stripped of about the same on the inside, then proceeded to patch things back together. A couple of wire nuts and four zip ties later and I was ready to put the cover back on it.

Keep in mind that it has that blackened area where the cord enters the body, a scar from Sunday night when the cord blew itself apart. I did not attempt to remove this discoloration. A little ‘battle damage’ adds character to the heater; it lends more interest to the piece.

I took it into the bathroom and set it up on the (granite?) counter just in case, plugged it in and turned it on.

Heat, glorious heat! The little bugger started warming me almost instantly. Now I have my space heater back and hopefully will be able to get another five or six years out of the thing. And to think that they say there are no user serviceable parts inside…

Fun With the Space Heater

2009-03-02T23:12:00.001-05:00

Last night I was running our small electric space heater. We run this thing a lot during the c-c-c-cold winter days and nights. I was sitting in the computer room working away on a website I’m building, minding my own business and keeping quite warm.

When I went to tuck Morgan in, I turned the thing off. Maybe half an hour later I wanted it back on. I leaned over, turned the knob and…

Nothing. Nada. Zilch.

I turned it off and then back on, still no response. I went into the other room where it was supposed to be plugged in, and yes, it was still plugged in. Hmmn.

I unplug it from there and plug it into one of the sockets in the computer room, turn it back on and still nothing. Bizarre.

Holding it a foot or so from the floor, I turn it on its face and examine the back; nothing caught in it, the motor isn’t buzzing. I flip it onto its back and check out the front. No change, it’s like it isn’t getting any power.

I’m not sure what I was expecting from the heater at that point in time, but I know what I was NOT expecting!

SNAP-POP!

I dropped that heater so fast you might have thought I was never holding it. Having heard that sound, plus the sound of the heater bouncing off the floor, Morgan asks if I’m ok.

Why would she automatically associate frying electronics and things bouncing around the house with me??

For some reason, the heater blew itself into two different and distinctive parts; the cord and the body. Yes, the cord blew completely in two. It was not hanging by a proverbial thread; it was simply no longer attached.

There is now a 2mm electric cord stub sticking out the back of the heater, with a charred, blackened area around it. Cool.

I wondered what on earth would possess an otherwise well behaved heater to do something like this. We’ve had it for, I don’t know, five or six years and it has never misbehaved like this.

Electrical cords, if exposed to prolonged heat, can become brittle. My guess is that is what happened to our trusty heater. The cord grew brittle, the wires inside made a little contact, and POW!

Which brings me to the positive side of this tale. I should be able to snip off six or eight inches of the cord, disassemble the heater, and reattach the cord. If there wasn’t any internal damage it should just start working again.

Keri thinks I should throw it away, but hey it cost like twenty bucks. If I can fix it in a few minutes, maybe it’ll be good for another few years. If it does this every five years I could get another thirty years out of it before I run out of cord. I think it’s worth a shot, what the heck.

It Must Be A Woman Thing

2009-03-01T23:26:00.002-05:00

Keri went shopping yesterday, but she was not alone. She and her sister drove to Fort Wayne to meet their cousins, Kelly and Kristie for their umpteenth annual shopping trip. To the uninitiated, that would be Kristie of Life with My X-Men.

So they leave Peru at 8:00 am, get back around 11:30 pm, and Keri walks in with three pairs of pants and one shirt. From the same store.

This has to be a woman thing. If I went shopping for 15.5 hours, minus 2 hours round trip for driving, I am pretty darn sure I would have spent a young fortune. I would have had a lot more than four pieces of clothing to show for an all day event.

I came home with more than that from the Brickyard 400 and the Indianapolis 500 last year. And that wasn’t shopping, it was watching a race!

Yeah, this is definitely one of those women things.

Keri tells me that she doesn’t like to shop with me, I’m just no fun.

Well, when I go into a store to shop for clothing, I follow a pretty easy process.

Find men’s clothing section
Look at clothes
Select clothes that I like (if any)
Try on clothing (if needed)
Toss the crap onto the cart outside the changing rooms
Goto the checkout with good stuff, pay and leave

We’re talking 20, 25 minutes tops. Keri can spend HOURS looping between steps 2 to 5, and then leave without buying anything. If I spent that long without buying anything, I’d feel like I wasted my time. When I’m with her I try to hit the pause/break button to save her from the endless loop, but it provides a less than satisfactory result.

That’s all right. I know she had fun; in fact she was looking forward to this day since the four of them planned it out. She looks forward to it every year, it’s one of her favorite days of the year. No really, it is.

Oh Yeah, It is most definitely a woman thing.

P.S. to Kelly – Yesterday you had Keri convince me to do something, a fix for something that was bothering you. Remember? Well it is done. I took care of it a few moments ago.

Expelled No Intelligence Allowed

2009-02-28T10:36:00.000-05:00

Expelled No Intelligence Allowed.

Have you heard of this movie yet? It is a well written and well thought out documentary style program hosted by Ben Stein. Granted Ben Stein is not my favorite of celebrities, but he’s ok.

But this Expelled, this is something to watch. Add it to your must see list and rent it soon.

It is not a funny movie; it covers a very serious problem in the United States. Stein explores an alarming and ever increasing trend in our scientific community. The censorship of Intelligent Design.

Intelligent Design is a term pack with controversy to be sure. But it does not necessarily mean ‘creationism’ nor does it mean ‘you must believe in my God.’ Simply put, ID means that life is to complex to have occurred accidentally; there must have been an intentional purpose behind it.

Darwinism is packed full of holes. When Darwin came up with his theory, so little was truly known about cells and, indeed life itself, compared to today that you would think any real scientist would want a better answer. You might think, as I did, that scientists explore all of the options, asking whatever questions that need to be asked, and finding answers to those questions.

It would seem that this is true only if your explorations and questions do not in any dispute Darwin. If you break this rule, you get fired and blacklisted. No kidding.

In the film Ben talks to several scientists who had this happen, not because they said ‘God created the heavens and the Earth,’ but because they suggested that Darwin’s theory was incomplete and maybe, MAYBE, Intelligent Design could account for some of the gaps.

I know this sounds like a conspiracy theory, but see for yourself. Watch as Ben looks at emails and other documentation from the men and women who booted these scientists out; documentation where they clearly state that ID was the reason for the person loosing their position. Watch while they deny this on camera. Watch while Ben has security remove him from the Smithsonian Institute for simply asking ‘Why?’

Interestingly enough there is a strong tie between Darwinism and atheism. What I found staggering is that leading Darwinist scientists and atheists say that Intelligent Design is a complete fallacy, but life could have been seeded on Earth by aliens.

Huh?!

If an alien race sent a ship to Earth and planted early organisms or animals or whatever here, wouldn’t that still be Intelligent Design? Wouldn’t you have to be intelligent to create an extra-planetary vehicle of some kind? Wouldn’t you have some purpose in seeding life on another world? Even if your purpose was ‘just because we can’ that would still be a purpose.

Anyway don’t take my word for it. Go get the movie and see for yourself. Ask for it by name: Expelled No Intelligence Allowed. Don’t be surprised of you get a blank stare or two, after all the so-called ‘free-press’ doesn’t talk about this movie.

If you can't find it, visit http://www.expelledthemovie.com/ for more information.

Spread the word, while you still can.

Don’t Feign Ignorance

2009-02-28T10:23:00.000-05:00

Last night Morgan went into the restroom, nothing unusual there. Then Keri walks up to the door and with open palms starts smacking the door loudly. Bam, bam, bam, bam, bam, bam, bam!

Morgan yells, “Dad!”

No why on earth would she think I would do something like that? Do I ever pick on her? I mean come on; I’m as guiltless as a newborn, right?

Well, ok, let’s maybe not go into all of that.

So I tell her through the door that it wasn’t me. Strangely she didn’t believe me.

When she gets out I reaffirm my innocence, and I remind her that I’m not going to lie to her and that it wasn’t me. She still isn’t convinced. I suggest that she ask her mom to see if she will deny banging on the door.

Morgan asks Keri, and Keri plays innocent. “Did I do what? What are you talking about?”

Morgan says, “Don’t feign ignorance.”

I completely lost it. I have never heard her use that expression before and it cracked me up big time. Somehow I never considered that she might pick up on that, despite the fact she hears me use ‘feign ignorance’ from time to time.

Oh my gosh, that kid is cool!

Jesus Take the Wheel

2009-02-10T17:11:00.001-05:00

Sunday we were on our way to church, minding our own business, when it happened.

The car, a front-wheel-drive Chevy Equinox, started sliding out of control on a patch of road that looked no different from the rest of the road. One moment we were driving, the next we were out of control.

As a guy, that’s something I’m never happy about; not being in control. I realized that, because of the unpredictable friction on the road, my trying to compensate for what the car was doing was not helping. So I just kinda relaxed and let the Lord guide the car.

It came back under control in the wrong lane and a few mph slower, but it was under control. So I got back into my lane and continued on to church.

Then Bob comes up to me in church, “So, I hear you had a little trouble getting to church today.”

Once I affirmed that this had been the case, Bob then proceeded to tell me that someone behind me wasn’t so fortunate.

In fact I found out yesterday that there were actually two wrecks at that same spot shortly after we had gone through. The two happened so close together, both in time and location, that when the police arrived they thought at first that it had been one accident.

Our experience reminded me of that Carrie Underwood song, Jesus Take the Wheel. You know, where she’s out of control, finally just gives up and gives it to God. Yeah, it was like that.

Thank you Lord for protecting us once again from harm.

Our Faith is Under Attack!

2009-02-10T16:54:00.004-05:00

Typically I do not copy paste for my blog entries, but this is so well written that I do not think it could be improved upon. Christians pay attention, people of any faith, this means you too. We are being attacked in this new stimulus package that the Democrats are pushing. Need convincing? Read on.

This is from the AFA (American Family Association):
President Obama's stimulus bill discriminates against Christians and people of faith. The stimulus bans universities and colleges from using funds to renovate buildings where students engage in "religious worship."

U.S. Senator Jim DeMint made the following statement after Democrats voted 43-54 against his amendment to strike from the economic stimulus bill language that discriminates against people of faith. Senator DeMint's amendment would have eliminated a provision that bans any university or college receiving restoration funds, from allowing "sectarian instruction" or "religious worship" within the facility. This would in effect bar use of campus buildings for groups like Fellowship of Christian Athletes, Campus Crusade for Christ, Catholic Student Ministries, Hillel and other religious organizations.

"This is a direct attack on students of faith, and I'm outraged Democrats are using an economic stimulus bill to promote discrimination," said Sen. DeMint. "Democrats should be ashamed of themselves for siding with the ACLU over millions of students of faith. These students simply want equal access to public facilities, which is their constitutional right. This hostility toward religion must end. Those who voted for this discrimination are standing in the schoolhouse door to keep people of faith from entering any campus building renovated by this bill.

"This is now an ACLU stimulus designed to trigger lawsuits designed to intimidate religious organizations across the nation. This language is so vague, it's not clear if students can even pray in a dorm room renovated with this funding since that is a form of 'religious worship.' If this provision remains in the bill, it will have a chilling effect on students of faith in America" he continued.

"Our culture cannot survive without faith and our nation cannot survive without freedom. This provision is an assault against both. It's un-American and it's unconstitutional. Intolerant and it's intolerable."

This funding restriction is unconstitutional. In the 2001 Good News Club v. Milford Central School Supreme Court decision, the court ruled that restricting religious speech within the context of public shared-use facilities (or schools) is unconstitutional.

Pages 164-165 of the stimulus contain the following prohibitions on the use of $3.5 billion available for renovation of public or private college and university facilities.

(2) PROHIBITED USES OF FUNDS. No funds awarded under this section may be used for - (C) modernization, renovation, or repair of facilities (i) used for sectarian instruction, religious worship, or a school or department of divinity; or (ii) in which a substantial portion of the functions of the facilities are subsumed in a religious mission; or construction of new facilities.

Former Speaker Newt Gingrich urges Christian activists and other conservatives to e-mail and call their representative and senators demanding that the language discriminating against people of faith be removed.

Gingrich feels that if Christian activists would have enough courage and holy anger to e-mail and call their representatives and senators, a number of Democrats would vote no on final passage. We should demand that this anti-religious provision be removed.

Christians have not expressed enough outrage focused on the concept that people of faith are being taken advantage of by the stimulus bill during a time of crisis. They are being stolen from them when they are down and out and looking in good faith to the government for help. Instead of the stimulus we need, the liberals are getting the pork that they want -- for themselves, their families, and their friends. They are pickpockets and thieves preying on the down and out.

It's as if the Good Samaritan had come over to the man who was robbed and left for dead, bent over, and reached for his wallet and ran on his way instead of helping. It's like the looter who takes advantage of a natural disaster to steal.

The liberals are taking advantage of a crisis, just like Rahm Emanuel said. His quote: "'You never want a serious crisis to go to waste,' Rahm Emanuel, Mr. Obama's new chief of staff, told a Wall Street Journal conference of top corporate chief executives this week." - WSJ, Nov. 21, 2008.

So what can you do? Get involved! This link http://capwiz.com/afanet/issues/alert/?alertid=12633201 will take you to a page that you can enter your zip code into, and then it will list your representative’s names. I do not know if this link will work everywhere, but it works in Indiana. Wherever you are, contact your representatives and let them know how you feel.

In the above link you can, once you’ve entered a zip code, use an email that is already composed, create your own unique message, or a little of both.

People of faith, the time for action is now! Let the voices of the American people be heard in Washington and all over this great nation!

Stand up, speak out, and be heard!

Six More Weeks of Winter

2009-02-03T20:29:00.002-05:00

So yesterday Punxsutawney Phil saw his shadow, I'm told. It's too bad I missed it, but it is hard for television to capture the excitement of a giant squirrel predicting the weather. At least that's what Bill Murray said in Groundhog Day, and I see no reason to dispute him.

If the groundhog sees his shadow, then it's supposed to mean we have six more weeks of winter, if he does not then we have an early spring. Looking at my trusty Star Wars calendar, the first day of Spring occurs on March 20 this year; yeah that's about six weeks away.

This little rodent is smarter than he looks it would seem.

The problem with winter is that it is COLD. Yuck! Another problem is that it is the ugliest season we have, unless the ground is covered with snow and then it is a beautiful season. If we have to have the cold and yuck for six more weeks, I hope that means we can have six more weeks of snow.

Who's with me?

My Inspiration

2009-02-02T16:43:00.009-05:00

My wife has been doing such a fine job with losing weight. Since December 28, 2008 she has lost well over 140 pounds.

Now, some might say that this means there is less of her to love, but I disagree. The love I have for her knows no bounds, and each little bit of her can now receive more love per square inch, it's concentrated more now in other words.

Anyway, everyone in the family is proud of how well she's been doing, and her path has not been an easy one. She gave up two of her favorite foods, breads and potatoes, to get to this point. She also has kicked sugars to the curb.

According to my precious Keri, "No food is worth me being fat."

She's right. Our government would probably need a committee to study this for months, but let me tell you slimming down feels great. Keri has been an inspiration to me and others that she knows, we are gaining control over our lives as we follow her lead. I know how much better I feel, and I can imagine how much better she must feel, too.

Back some thirteen months ago, the fifty pound mark seemed like an unattainable goal for her, and now look! She has lost almost triple that amount. Way to go girlfriend!

Thank you sweetheart for having the courage to begin this journey, and the fortitude to keep going on even when you haven't wanted to. You have certainly been my inspiration over this past year and a month.

Super Bowl XLIII

2009-02-01T23:38:00.004-05:00

Yippee!!

The Steelers won the Super Bowl! Yes! Awesome! Cool! Way to go!

When I was a kid, I was a huge Pittsburgh Steelers fan. Then when I was in high school, I started following da Bears. When the Colts moved to Indy, naturally I started rooting for the home team. So you have to understand, if the Steelers were playing the Colts or da Bears, I would not be rooting for Pittsburgh, but if they're playing anyone else, pow!

Once Indy was knocked out of the playoffs, I was rooting for Arizona to make the Super Bowl, after all they had never been to one and did in fact have pretty much the worst postseason in the history of the NFL.

Once they are actually playing the Steelers, any caring thoughts I had for the birdies are gone.

What a close game! I was cringing as the Steelers let a 13 point lead turn into a deficit. I tried screaming at Tomlin, naturally I had the best strategy for winning the game, but for some reason he just wouldn't follow my advice. As loud as I got, I'm sure he could have heard me in Tampa from northern Indiana, even over the crowd noise. He was just ignoring me, I suppose.

But what a great game! NFL.com called it one of the wildest finishes in Super Bowl history, and I for one am inclined to agree. And that interception and 100 yard run back by Harrison, wow!

What a spectacular ending! A phenomenal catch by Holmes with what, 20 or so seconds on the clock?! And then a fumble recovery with 5 seconds to go to end it.

You know Cardinals, you did a great job. With this being your first Super Bowl, you made it such a Super Bowl. Do not hang your heads, because you played great. There is no shame in the type of game you had. Something tells me that Arizona will be staging a Super Bowl comeback very soon.

It is a game like this that keeps me looking forward to the next Super Bowl.

Congratulations to the Pittsburgh Steelers! Enjoy your record 6th Super Bowl win!

Hope Restored, for a While...

2009-01-30T18:22:00.004-05:00

I see that Blagojevich was impeached, removed from office by a UNANIMOUS vote. Good, great!

Like most Americans, I tend to lose hope when I see some of the really dumb things our politicians do in OUR names sometimes. I don't need to list examples, you can think of enough on your own.

But a unanimous vote on this actually restores my hope and faith in our government, at least for a short while. Although a lot of improvement is needed, this seems to have been handled justly.

Kudos.

People are Funny

2009-01-30T17:57:00.003-05:00

A funny thing happened on Monday. Yes, I know it's a bit over, but it was funny enough that I still wanted to write something about it.

About 3:30 Monday afternoon there was an equipment failure that caused communication errors between Central Dispatch and the Peru Police Department. As I am working on finding a solution to the problem, I am walking back and forth between the two buildings (about a half block apart) and calling between the two.

Around 5:00 pm, Morgan calls me to let me know that someone has left a message saying my truck is going to be towed in twenty minutes if I don't move it! Apparently I had a couple of cars blocked in. This is where it gets interesting.

You see, I parked in a county owned lot, one that is for employee parking and requires a parking pass on your review mirror if you are going to park there. I am an employee, and my pass is hanging where it belongs. I was also parked within the confines of one space; in other words I was parked about as legally and correctly as is possible.

If the city or county police are going to tow a vehicle, they're going to go through Central to do it. So the next time I called Central I asked if they knew anything about my truck getting itself into trouble somehow. Nope, Nada, nothing.

So I put it out of my mind and got back to work. I figured that if my truck disappeared from its parking space, then I would have a stolen vehicle to report. Imagine the irony of having your vehicle towed or stolen from a county lot while on county business!

Anyway, it occurs to me that I don't have anyone blocked in, but I did park in "some one's space." You see there are two apartment houses that border this lot, and the residents park in the lot when they return home for the evening. When I parked there that afternoon, the lot was almost full, there was really only one space left so that is where I parked.

When I got back to the lot around 5:30, I was really hoping that the truck would be missing, or at the least that someone would say something to me. But they didn't, and the truck was still there of course.

Someone decided to try to intimidate me, to bully me for parking in "their spot." No one has a reserved space on that lot, and if you find yourself blocked in when all the other cars are parked correctly; well I say you have a problem then.

Here's the funny part. Yeah I know, about time right? As I walked up to my truck, I looked around at the other vehicles on the lot, none of which were blocked in, and noticed that mine was the only one with a parking permit.

Yep! I could phone in a complaint and get every other car towed right off that lot. Hmmn, Could I be that big of a jerk? Yes I could.

But not this night.

This whole thing didn't tick me off at all, in fact I was laughing about it. I still think it's funny. Keri told me to park there again and she would give me a ride home from work and back in the next morning. Now THAT sounds like a splendid idea! I might just do that next week one day.

Should IL Governor Rod Blagojevich Be Impeached?

2009-01-26T12:11:00.002-05:00

Despite my joke in early December about a senate seat for sale; I have been trying really, really hard to bite my tongue on this whole Rod Blagojevich ordeal. After all he is the Illinois Governor and I live in Indiana, and this whole thing has already been talked to death; but enough is enough.

This bozo represents everything that is wrong with our political system today. It is men like this that create mistrust in all sectors of government and across all political party lines.

He has maintained from the beginning that he’s done nothing wrong, despite the fact that the feds have recordings of him trying to sell Obama’s senate seat. He said he will fight this accusation; and the first thing he did was to say that they didn’t have any right to record him in the first place.

Is this really your defense, Mr. Blagojevich? Seriously dude that is spoken like a true crook. You are not above the law, no politician should ever be.

But he doesn’t stop there.

He is not just causing problems, unrest, and mistrust in Illinois and for the next governor, but he is trying to pull others in with him while attempting to undermine the entire process. He claims that he has a witness that will testify that there was nothing untoward during their conversation. Great!

Fact is, no matter how many witnesses he pulls out of a hat, there are still recordings of him BREAKING THE LAW. If he had a legal conversation with someone about the senate seat, that would be one out of how many? If the witness contradicts the recorded evidence, then we have another liar like Blago. So his miracle witness doesn’t have any real bearing on the impeachment, yet he claims the whole process is unfair.

Yeah well selling a senate seat is unfair too. It’s unfair to the voters who put their faith in their governor, it’s unfair to the honest politicians who deserve a chance at that seat, and it’s unfair to the rest of the nation because it gives politics in general a bad name.

Here’s the part that got me to finally break my silence, though; this guy is comparing his struggles with those of Martin Luther King Jr., Nelson Mandela, and Gandhi. It’s almost like Blago is trying to throw so much crap out that the smell alone will drive off his tormenters. He’s trying to turn this into a circus, with him as the ringmaster.

Or has he lost his mind, gone off the deep end? Sane people don’t behave like that do they? No one that I know does.

In addition to that, he actually claims that if he had done something wrong that he would have resigned. That would be like John Dillinger telling the police, “Officer, if I had robbed that bank, I would’ve turned myself in.”

You know, if we’re going to compare Governor Rod Blagojevich to other well known personalities, how about guys like John Dillinger, Al Capone, or maybe the Boston Strangler.

Impeachment in this case is a no-brainer I think.

Microbicide Research

2009-01-22T11:48:00.001-05:00

Ok, I’ve done a little research on these microbicides that President Obama was talking about in his agenda. By definition a microbicide is a compound or substance whose purpose is to reduce the infectiousness of viruses, bacteria, and other microbes. Microbicides for sexually transmitted diseases are a more specific type of them.

There are different areas of study in microbicide research. The compounds that are designed to work vaginally are not also effective rectally. There is simply too big a difference in how these two areas of the body are put together.

I don’t think anyone should have to suffer from HIV or AIDS. It seems to me that this type of research is valuable, and can be put to good use not just in developed nations like ours, but in third world countries where AIDS is a MUCH worse problem.

If you hear of research being done on microbicdes for women, make sure that is what the research is for; don’t let someone feed you a line about it.

I hope that our president really means that he supports this research for women, and is not using it as an excuse for helping the homosexual agenda along. I question this because he did list his support of this research at the VERY BOTTOM of his gay rights agenda, which makes me wonder just how high of a priority this really is for him.

If you want more information on microbicides for sexually transmitted diseases, Wikipedia has a great article here http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Microbicides_for_sexually_transmitted_diseases that makes a good starting point.

Obama's 'Civil Rights' Agenda

2009-01-21T21:45:00.004-05:00

Ok, I'm getting really ticked off!

Have you read our new President's agenda yet? The section on Civil Rights is absolutely appalling. Here is a link to that page: http://www.whitehouse.gov/agenda/civil_rights/

He actually is comparing gay rights to racial based civil rights! You have to be kidding me!! It's under the heading "Support for the LGBT Community." LGBT stands for lesbian, gay, bi-sexual, trans-gender if you didn't know already.

Look at what he's saying!

"Expand hate crimes statutes." This is REAL dangerous ground folks. Up front it sounds great, but the last time the government tried to shove that down our throats it included banning our pastors from preaching that homosexuality is a sin. That battle isn't over, it is just beginning.

"Fight workplace discrimination." That's right, churches might have to hire gays despite the fact that their lifestyle goes against much of what we believe.

"Support full civil unions and federal rights for LGBT couples." Full civil unions? Federal rights? Are you serious?! He's saying that homosexual couple should have all the same rights as a MARRIED couple. Christian, Jew, Hindu, Catholic, Muslim, and most other religions feel that homosexuality is WRONG, and 90 some percent of Americans are NOT homosexual. Why the heck are We the People allowing this garbage to be forced on us?

"Oppose a constitutional ban on same-sex marriage." Yep, that's right. He wants to blow traditional marriage right out of the water. Men marry men; women marry women, and then enter the polygamy. Where will it stop?

"Repeal don't ask, don't tell." Hello?! Sexual orientation is a choice of lifestyle, not a civil right, and it should not be treated as a civil right. The United States has spent millions on forcing the homosexual agenda on us and our children, President Obama will make this more of the same.

"Expand Adoption Rights: President Obama believes that we must ensure adoption rights for all couples and individuals, regardless of their sexual orientation. He thinks that a child will benefit from a healthy and loving home, whether the parents are gay or not." That is word for word on www.whitehouse.gov. How can you call a home with a homosexual couple, that most Americans consider to be wrong and a perversion, 'healthy?' Not only will the child NOT benefit from this, but they will then be raised to accept this despicable behavior as normal. THAT IS SO WRONG!

"Promote AIDS prevention." Here's another one that sounds good on the surface. But look a little closer. Age-appropriate sex education should make you ask "Who determines what age is appropriate for what education?" This is Big Government cramming ideas that WE don't believe in onto OUR children.

He goes on to talk about distributing contraception in prisons to help prevent AIDS, then says that AIDS is a stigma that is unfairly associated with the gay lifestyle! Contraceptives are to prevent unwanted pregnancy. Two dudes in a prison are not going to make babies. Period. And if that is not an example of 'gay lifestyle' then I don't know what is.

"Empower women to prevent HIV/AIDS." This one sounds good, even after you read the whole paragraph. Are they hiding something? I think a little more research on these microbicides is in order just in case.

I believe that homosexuality is wrong; I think it is a perversion and an abomination against God. Most Americans agree with this attitude, so we should not let our lawmakers force us into accepting something that we all KNOW IS WRONG. If you hear about some law like these being passed, raise Cain about it!

Be sure about this, too. I do not hate gays, lesbians, bi-sexuals, or transgender people. I think they are wrong and what they are doing to themselves is appalling. Please join me in praying for them, that they will awaken to see what they are making themselves and that they can change before it's too late.

Why doesn't anyone ever talk about the HARM that homosexuality causes the people who practice it? This entry is already long enough, so I'll have to save that for another day.

May God bless you all.

Let's Get Started

2009-01-21T12:01:00.004-05:00

Last night's meeting went really well. Although there weren't a lot of us there, it was great to meet people who share many of my views on how our government is run.

Chris Spangle came from the Indiana Libertarian Party, he had quite a bit of things to talk about. I found it interesting to hear his views on the political situation in Indiana and the rest if the US.

Chris passed out some literature at the end of the meeting, which I read as soon as I got home. I have extra copies, if you want one just let me know. The most fascinating part of these documents was in seeing how much the party actually agrees with me, or is it the other way around?

It would seem that there is a definite interest in starting a Libertarian Party in Miami County, so if you want more information, contact me.

The time for change is upon us, and it is up to each of us to have the initiative to make this country a better place for ourselves and our children.

Quick Reminder

2009-01-20T16:52:00.003-05:00

I just wanted to remind everyone that the call-out meeting for the Indiana Libertarians is tonight at 6pm. It is being held at Harvey Hinklemeyer's in Peru. For more information on the meeting, click this link: http://freehoosiers.ning.com/events/event/show?id=2477119%3AEvent%3A4270

If you have any questions or need directions, call me or email me.

I look forward to seeing you!

2008 was a historical year for our nation and even for our own Miami County. 2009 is already been historical in some ways, and thanks to people like you promises to be even more so as time progresses.

Happy New Year, Let's Make it a Good One

2009-01-01T00:57:00.005-05:00

It's here! After 366 anxious, nail biting, nerve-racking days of waiting 2009 is upon us.

Last year was great, we saw a lot of history in the making and we can expect more of the same for the new year.

I have a couple of suggestions that will turn 2009 into a memorable year; if these ideas are followed I tell you that this would be one of the most historically significant years in modern times. What are these gems of wisdom? I'm glad you asked...

First, let us decide to speak our mind. I don't mean to be rude, condescending, vulgar, disrespectful, or anything like that. Behavior of that kind only causes people to close their ears to your voice. So be polite, but let people know how you feel.

For example if you hear someone speaking out in support of something you disagree with, put your own opinion into the mix, perhaps someone will gain enlightenment from your words. You wont know unless you try.

If you see a wrong being done, do what you can to set it right; this may be simply calling 911, or speaking up and telling someone to chill out if they're out of line.

Secondly, remember to question authority. I don't mean that you should become some kind of rebel with a chip on his shoulder; if someone in authority tells you something, ask why it should be that way. This country was founded on the voice of the people counting for something, and it was done by patriots who dared to question the authority of the King of England! Look where it got us.

A government should act with a respectful fear of the people, if the government has no such fear then the door is opened for tyranny to raise his ugly head. Never assume that it could never happen to us; that is exactly when you will start to see it happen.

Lastly, take action when action is needed. The next time you see something that needs changed and you think "Gee, someone ought to do something about that," well guess what my friend; God put that thought into your head for a reason. Step up and do something to help bring about a positive resolution to the problem. That includes spreading this message to others, the more of us that act the more powerful an effect we'll have and in a shorter time.

To recap; speak your mind in a positive and polite manner, question why things are being done the way they are, and step up to do what is needed when it is needed. I guarantee you that if the majority of Americans did these things that our country would change for the better.

All right, here is the clincher. Now that you've read this I double dog dare you to to follow these steps; find one opportunity each day to do one of the three ideas. Don't worry, there will be plenty of these opportunities each day.

Stand up, speak out, be heard. This is America, let's keep it well.

Suspicions Grow

2008-12-19T19:38:00.002-05:00

Yesterday Keri became suspicious about Morgan's behavior. Morgan was sneaking around the house and whispering to me.

I told Keri that Morgan was not into mischief, and otherwise not to worry about what was going on. Can you believe that she wasn't entirely prepared to do that? For some reason she became even more suspicious. Hmmn.

When I came home today Keri asked me what I was doing and I responded "Nothing." She looked at my right arm which was casually resting against my hip in an uncomfortable manner. When she walked past I nonchalantly moved my arm to keep it out of her sight. Shortly there after she noticed me closing a chest that we rarely get into, then a little later she saw me closing a closet door. I pretended nothing odd was going on but she wasn't falling for it.

It is Christmas time after all. In a few days I think that all mysteries will be revealed.

Mwah hah hah!

Ice Storm

2008-12-19T19:32:00.004-05:00

I guess we got the same thing a lot of other folks did last night, an ice storm. This morning we woke up to about 1/2 inch of ice everywhere. The power lines were sagging, limbs I could easily walk under yesterday were bowed down to the ground.

Speaking of trees, our neighbor's tree looks like a bomb went off in the upper branches, limbs were (are still) lying all over the place. I watched out our window as some of them fell this morning. Occasionally one would brush the power line on its way down and our lights would flicker, but otherwise our power stayed up all day.

Beautiful to behold but not much fun otherwise, this is the first ice storm we've had here this season, but the forecast calls for more of the same.

Are there any places for sale in the Florida Keys right now?

The Recount is Over

2008-12-15T16:26:00.000-05:00

The lamps are out, the pens have been set down, and the recount is officially over. The recount commission met this morning to determine the status of several ballots, and once we were satisfied that they had indeed been counted we looked over the final numbers and agreed on them.

That done, we filed a certificate of our findings with the County Clerk and it was then presented to the Judge Banina for review. Provided he approves it, he will issue a court order declaring the winner of the Recorder and Auditor offices.

Our results did not create a huge change in the previously certified election results. Although we through out 6 ballots that had improper credentials, which by the way we never looked at how they had been voted, the Democratic candidates numbers remained unchanged. Brenda Weaver lost three votes, and Jane Lilley lost two, but these two Republicans were found to be the winners of the election; voted into office by the will of the people. Congratulations to both of you.

At last it looks as though the controversy surrounding this election is at an end. I find it hard to imagine how anyone could find just cause to request an appeal of our findings; we spent a great deal of time and energy to provide results that would be incontrovertible.

Brent Davis, one of the other two commission members, told me this morning about a conversation he had had with another local attorney. As far as anyone can tell, this is the first recount in Miami County history and as such it would serve as the guideline by which any later recounts would be completed. Our work, it seems, is the precedent that later recounts will follow as their example of what to do or what not to do.

Hopefully we have set a good example to be followed.

I have to say that this has been a tedious process, but I am honored to have been included in this historic course of action. It was quite pleasurable having the opportunity to work with Brent Davis and Mary Costin, the other two commission members. Thank you both for your hard work.

I also want to thank the men and women of the Miami County Sheriff’s Office for their assistance, especially to; Sheriff Ken Roland, Captain Dave Vitek, and Sergeant Mike Rogers. I also want to thank Micro Vote’s Bill Haas and Steve Shamo for taking time to assist us with the voting machines. A heartfelt than you is also offered to everyone who came in so quickly when we called on you for answers.

Miami County Election Recount

2008-12-13T10:56:00.004-05:00

Yesterday and Thursday the recount commission gathered to determine the winner of the election in Miami County for Auditor and for Recorder. This is a tedious, yet necessary process to resolve a very close election.

Thursday consisted of recounting the voting machines. These include the machines used for absentee voting, sometimes called early voting, and those machines used in the 31 precincts on election day. Since we are a small county, this only amounted to sixty-nine machines with over 13,000 votes. We started at 8:00 am and finished around 6:00 pm.

Friday we hand counted all of the paper ballots, this kept us busy from 9:00 am until 10:00 pm. On election night, these ballots were scanned into a computer, much like tests are sometimes scanned in school. The scanner broke down on election night near the end of the counting, which added fuel to the fire when there was talk of a recount.

After we counted all of the paper ballots from mail-in, overseas, military, and provisional voters which was over 900 ballots, we then came up with totals for each of the candidates. The newspaper will be printing these preliminary results on Monday. We expect to arrive at our final results sometime on Monday, but for now Jane Lilley still has the lead for Auditor and Brenda Weaver still has the lead for Recorder.

Monday morning the commission will reconvene to determine the status of several ballots that raised a question Friday evening. Once this is determined, we will come up with final numbers that we can agree on, there will be discussion, then we will certify the results and file them with the County Clerk. She will then present them to Judge Banina for final approval.

I'm glad to have been a part of this, but I definitely would NOT want to do it for a living. My eyes still feel like their bugging out of my head!

Seat for Sale

2008-12-09T23:01:00.003-05:00

For sale: Slightly used Senate seat in Illinois. Recently vacated, ready to move in to. Order today and an apartment with a view of the J. Edgar Hoover Building in Washington D.C. will be included. Price: A steal at only $500,000. Send inquiries to Governor Rod R Blagojevich, State Capitol, 207 Statehouse, Springfield, Illinois 62706.

(Yeah, I'm bad sometimes, but I just couldn't resist!)

Back to the Y

2008-12-09T22:55:00.004-05:00

Another day, another workout! Somehow it has taken about a week for me to get my second workout done in the Better Weigh program at the local YMCA.

My trainer said that I should keep about 48 hours between workouts, but I just couldn't seem to get in there, things just kept popping up. Grrr.

Anyway, I made it in earlier tonight, pushed myself a little harder than last time, and feel better than I did the last time.

Yippee!

Time for Change

2008-12-08T12:46:00.000-05:00

All right my friends, I have some great news! A few minutes ago I got off the phone with Chris Spangle, the Executive Director of the Indiana Libertarian Party. There is going to be a calling-out meeting held at Harvey Hinklemeyers on Tuesday January 20 at 6 o’clock pm. Chris is planning on attending this meeting. The address is 14 east 8th Street, Peru Indiana. If there is anyone who doesn’t know where Harvey’s is at, get a hold of me and I will provide you with directions.

As most of you know, there were several close races in Miami County during this most recent election. The Recorder’s office was determined by 25 votes, the Auditor by 38 votes, the County Council had three seats up for election one of which was determined by 99 votes, and our District 2 Commissioner was settled by 408 votes. 14,341 people voted on November 4th and the numbers being this close speaks volumes.

The Republican Party has proven time and again that it is unwilling to change, on a local, state, and federal level. The Democratic Party has, locally at least, proven itself mostly unable to bring change. The votes have been cast and the people of Miami County have spoken; it is quite obvious that the voters aren’t happy with any of the choices we were offered.

This is why Miami County inarguably needs a third party.

For everyone who is fed up with the Republican Party’s refusal to change, and for everyone who is tired of the Democratic Party’s inability to change, for anyone that thinks they know a better way to run things, this meeting on January 20 is for you.

Tell your friends, tell your family, tell your neighbors, and come prepared to begin the true change that our county so desperately needs.

A Christmas Carol

2008-12-07T20:16:00.000-05:00

Yesterday my wife and I took our daughter to see A Christmas Carol at the Indiana Repertory Theatre in Indianapolis. We went with Keri’s sister Gail and her family, seven of us in all. This was, I believe, the thirteenth annual performance of this wonderful tale.

To make our trip down to Indy an interesting one, God allowed it to snow for us. We saw several slide-offs, and were even stopped briefly because of one that seemed to involve two vehicles. We were kept safe, and the drive only took us about four hours instead of the usually hour and a half.

Uh, we did goof off quite a bit. We made a couple of stops in Kokomo and a couple more in Westfield, so it wasn’t like we were actually driving for the whole time.

The play was excellent; the players gave a lively and emotional performance. The audience was so appreciative as to give a standing ovation at the end. I wanted to yell “Encore, Encore!” but I restrained myself since I wasn’t sure how exactly that could be done. A Christmas Carol is playing for a couple more weeks, if you have the chance you really should go see it as I know you would not be disappointed.

Speaking of disappointments, it was COLD yesterday. I would much rather walk the streets of Indianapolis when it is sunny and warm. That wind would whip between the buildings and blast us without mercy. It kind of reminded me of a scaled-down version of Chicago.

If you do make it to see the show, make sure you get dinner reservations ahead of time. We tried one restaurant during intermission, but they weren’t accepting any walk-ins or reservations until nine pm, and our show was scheduled to end at five-fifteen. We decided to try our luck with some other places nearby.

Did I mention that is was cold? Walking around the downtown area being told that a party of four (if we split our group in two) would wait thirty to ninety minutes, and a group of seven started their wait at ninety minutes, was something less than my dream evening.

We settled for the Rock Bottom, which offered a thirty minute wait, and enjoyed some very tasty food there. It was cold inside the restaurant, too.

Anyway, except for the terrible and biting cold, we had a great time. We finished our evening by shopping in the Circle Center Mall for a few hours before heading home. I think we made it back shortly before midnight and went straight to bed.

There is a Better Weigh

2008-12-05T11:54:00.001-05:00

They say that the average person gains 5 to 7 pounds over the holiday season, meaning from Thanksgiving through New Years Day. That’s quite a bit if you think about it. If you do not gain or lose anything throughout the rest of the year, then in ten years you will have gained 50 to 70 pounds, in 20 years 100 to 140 pounds. Yikes!

Fortunately there is help available. Our local YMCA has a program they call ‘Better Weigh’, which is a five week program they run periodically during the year. The current rendition started on December 1 and runs to January 5 I think. The beauty of it is that it costs almost nothing to do.

How it works is you first go in and meet your trainer, who finds out where you are and helps you set goals. Then your trainer works with you to develop a routine to get to those goals. You then go in 2 or 3 times a week to workout. Pretty simple really.

So, yesterday evening I go in to meet Randy. We spent some quality time with the Nautilus equipment, free weights, and treadmill. That was great, it burned a little bit, but that’s how you know you’re actually getting something out of it. This was all well and good, but then he had me lie on a bench to do some leg lifts.

I work at the courthouse, which is three stories, and the Annex building across the street is also three stories high. The stairs are much faster than the elevator, so I take the stairs almost exclusively. The only time I don’t is if I have a cartload of computer equipment to move. I don’t just walk the stairs, I run up them taking them two at a time, and I do this several times per day. I thought my legs were the strongest part of my body. Ha!

I can’t even lift my own legs up 12 times in a row. I could only do one of the lifts 6 times and the other a mere four times. Randy said that I shouldn’t let this discourage me and I won’t, but it definitely looks like I have my work cut out for me.

They are awarding prizes at the end of this program, some for the biggest weight loss, and some for those people who maintain their weight over the five weeks. My personal goal is to lose 5 to 7 pounds. I figure if I can reach this goal, then that is prize enough for me.

Politics

2008-12-03T17:00:00.004-05:00

Ok, so maybe I went brain dead for a while. During the 2008 Presidential race I was actively supporting Bob Barr, the Libertarian candidate, but I didn't once write a blog about it!

Hello John, what were you thinking?!

I spoke to people all over Miami County, and in other Indiana counties encouraging people to not waste their vote on the lesser of two evils. This blog would have been a great way for me to spread the word around. Well, live and learn I guess.

But maybe I can make up for it a little now. Here's the deal...

If there is anyone out there who has given up on the Republican's ability to lead our country, listen up. If you think the Democrats are not qualified to rule our nation, pay attention. There is another way!

The United States is NOT a two-party system, contrary to what the press would lead us to believe. There are dozens of other parties out there. The largest and best informed of these are the Libertarians.

So if you are ready for change, real change, then I have some tough news for you. You are gonna have to get off your butt and do something about it!

I am looking for persons in Miami County, Indiana and the surrounding area who are ready to do something. There isn't a lot of time before the next election, but there is a lot of groundwork to get done.

If you are interested in joining a group of patriots who want to bring real change over the next several elections, contact me. If you are not from my area I will try to put you in touch with someone near you.

Any existing Libertarians from Miami County and nearby, please contact me. I would like to set up a meeting so that we can get organized here as we currently do not have a local Libertarian party.

I'm Back

2008-12-03T16:50:00.002-05:00

As you can see from the dates on my previous blogs, it has been a while since I've written anything, but rest assured Big John is back on his soap box and ready to get revved up once again!

It's funny, really, how quickly time can slip past. It doesn't seem like I've been away more than a couple of weeks, but it's been over 5 months! Wow! My last entry was June 26.

Well, I will do better from here on out my friends.

Later!

Family Vacation part 1

2008-06-26T16:29:00.002-04:00

Anyone who knows me at all, knows that I am a paranoid person. Therefore, I did not tell too many people that I was leaving for Florida for an entire week. Yep, I pretty much kept it to myself.

So on Thursday June 12, Keri, Morgan, and I flew from Indianapolis to Tampa Bay International Airport. And we weren't alone either; Gail (Keri's sister), her husband Jason, and their two children went along too. It was truly a family vacation!

Before we leave, we check weather.com to see what's going on in central Florida. They called for a 30% or greater chance of rain every day we were going to be down there. Yikes!

We land without a hitch, find our rental company, and with only a couple of false starts end up in Davenport, Florida. We had rented a house there because it was cheaper than a hotel. Nice house too; four bedrooms, three bathrooms, huge living room, dining room, in ground pool with fountain, gated community, etcetera etcetera. As I said before, nice house.

After settling in, we move on to Orlando to visit Keri and Gail's Aunt and Uncle. That was fun, it was great to kick back and visit a while. Keri and I hadn't been to their home for around 11 years or so.

When we get back to our home, it was getting late. The front gate was locked and low and behold, we don't have the password for it and we cant get anyone on the phone because it was so late.

Fortunately, someone else who was staying there pulled up behind us. He gave us HIS password and we went on with our lives. I'm a computer professional - NEVER give out your passwords people!! Perhaps the alcohol that I could almost taste on his breath had clouded his judgement, or maybe we just looked like nice folk. Regardless, we were happy to be inside the gate where we wanted to be.

What we didn't realize at the time, the password thing was something of an omen for things to come...

Long Time Quiet

2008-06-26T16:24:00.003-04:00

I've been quiet for, what is for me, a very long time. Twenty days since my last post, my where has the time gone?

Naturally, I have an excuse. I was on vacation last week.

What's that you say? What about the other 2 weeks of silence? Well, I was on vacation last week...

Anyway, I'll be dropping some new posts up here over the next few days, because I really want to talk about our family vacation.

Keep on keepin' on.

WOW Hits 1 Contest

2008-06-06T23:56:00.002-04:00

Kristie at Life with My X-Men told me about a cool contest going on. Hope ya don’t mind Kristie but I just copied your info below!

Shannon at Rocks In My Dryer has been given TWENTY boxed sets of 17 CDs, one CD for each of the artists represented on WOW Hits 1 to give away to her readers.

Included in each set:
20 people will each win the following boxed set:
1. Barlow Girl - How Can We Be Silent
2. Aaron Shust - Whispered and Shouted
3. Cadia - Cadia
4. Point of Grace - How You Live
5. Skillet - Comatose
6. Brandon Heath - Don’t Get Comfortable
7. Michael W. Smith - Stand
8. Third Day - Wherever You Are
9. Relient K - Five Score and Seven Years Ago
10. Casting Crowns - The Altar and the Door
11. Steven Curtis Chapman - This Moment
12. Chris Tomlin - See the Morning
13. Matthew West - Something To Say
14. David Crowder Band - Remedy
15. Jeremy Camp - Beyond Measure
16. Newsboys - Go
17. Toby Mac - Portable Sounds
And it includes a copy of the WOW Hits 1 CD

Go check her out!

My New Business Venture

2008-06-06T23:32:00.001-04:00

Those who know me know that I run a web design business, Global Marketing Enterprises. The company is expanding from just websites into screensaver production, too.

For our screensavers, what we do is painstakingly select high quality photographs, add a soundtrack (to some of them), and put them into a screensaver that can be loaded onto any Windows-based computer. They come as an installer package; you simply follow the installation wizard’s instructions. Easy!

Anyway, there are currently only 9 different to choose from, and they are not being heavily marketed yet. Once there are a dozen available, the mass advertising campaign will begin.

All are available as a free trial, which means only a few pictures will display. Download them and pass them out to your friends! Note that to view all of the pictures a license must be purchased (don’t pass the license around to your friends, though!) from the online store.

Check out the online store here http://www.globalme.biz/store.htm.

Anyone with ideas about what they would like to see as a screensaver theme, or if you have any ideas that might help us improve, please let us know! Just use the contact information on the Global Marketing Enterprises website.

Everyone, enjoy!

Aluminun Foil Mystery Revealed!

2008-06-04T23:49:00.002-04:00

Yesterday, my wife’s cousin Kelly sent us an email about aluminum foil. Uh okay then.

But after I read it I was surprised to learn that the box actually comes with a LOCK to keep the tube of foil from falling out unexpectedly. How long has this been there?!

On each end of the box, there is a little tab that says ‘Press here to lock end’ and it actually works.

Cool!

Thanks Kelly!

Date Night!

2008-06-03T16:14:00.005-04:00

Saturday, Keri and went to the Indianapolis Repertory Theatre to watch the Fantasticks. The IRT is a beautiful historic building on Washington Street, about a block from Meridian in downtown Indianapolis. This was opening weekend and the show reflected the IRT’s return to musicals.

It had been some time since they had one. But we, meaning the audience, gave a standing ovation at the end of the performance. A funny show, I highly recommend it. Check out http://www.irtlive.com/ for more information on it. If Saturday’s show was anything to go by, the IRT will be offering more musicals in the future.

Afterwards, we headed a few blocks northeast to the Rathskeller (http://www.rathskeller.com/) restaurant. Ooh boy! This is a German restaurant, and the food is excellent! Try the Brat and Kraut Balls, they are delicious.

After our meal, we went through the Keller Bar to get to the Bier Garten (Beer Garden). They had a live band playing who were pretty good. They call themselves The Elect.

We were blessed by God with a beautiful day and night, a great show, awesome food, and live music. Our date night (and anniversary gift to one another) was somewhat expensive, but definitely worth it. We had a super time.

The Indianapolis 500

2008-05-26T21:42:00.005-04:00

Yesterday I went to my first Indy 500 race. I think I can sum up the overall experience with one word, awesome!

My boss and I were granted suite passes by AT&T, which was really nice. We were pampered quite well! A bus ride with police escort to the track, great seats, free food and drink (prime rib!) a private restroom (for suite guests only) and of course, air conditioning if we wanted to come inside. The funny part about the suite is that someone had a Cubs game on, and several people were actually watching baseball DURING the race!

What's up with that?! I like baseball, but come on people!

Attendance they say was over 300,000 which is the biggest in a few years. Several celebrities were there, including 3 men who have received the Congressional Medal of Honor, our nation's highest honor.

The weather had everyone a little nervous as Indy had gotten rain something like 14 of the 21 days prior to the race. However, we had about 72 degrees and not a single drop of rain fell on us. Thank you God for that blessing!

The most exciting part was when the Wii Fit car smacked the wall at turn 4 and spun out of control; rocketing into the pits at around 200 MPH! It smashed into the inner pit wall, spun through the sign that tells the drivers how fast they are going (they should be going 40 MPH through the pits however this sign said the car was STILL going 96 even after hitting 2 walls and doing all that spinning ) and then slid through and past several stalls before coming to a stop, below and about one pit stall past, us.

When leaving we rode our bus with police escort, I said we were pampered, back to downtown Indy, which took all of 15 minutes. No red lights, no traffic (for us) and no stopping. Cool! The news said the lines going into the track were about 2 1/2 miles long at 6 am, and I hear they're even longer getting out. Thanks again to our hosts Brian Clark and AT&T.

An unbelievable experience, a once-in-a-lifetime experience, and one I hope to be blessed enough to do again some day!

The Best Day of My Life

2008-05-22T16:09:00.004-04:00

Ok, you are probably wondering about that title - what made May 22, 2008 the best day of my life? Well, truth be told this is not the best day, I am talking about a flash back day.

Let's look at May 21, 1994. Yeah, that's the day. The best day of my life. The day I married my best friend, Keri.

Keri and I dated for four years, we met on May 20, 1990. Her parents were starting to think that we'd never tie the knot, but good things come to those who wait. Keri was definitely worth the wait.

Each May now, for the last 17 years, I have looked back at the day we met with fondness, wondering where all the time has gone since it doesn't seem anywhere near that long.

Yesterday on our 14th wedding anniversary, we spent some time looking back on our life together and I reflected on the best day of my life. Funny how you don't really notice something like that until much later.

Thank you Keri Beri for saying 'yes' way back when, thank you for putting up with all my antics over the years, and thank you for giving me the best day of my life to look back upon.

I love you Keri, you are the best.

Ty Pennington in Peru - Part II

2008-05-15T12:18:00.005-04:00

Okay. I finally got around to reading yesterday's newspaper and I can see why some folk are a bit upset about the Extreme Home Makeover video request that myself and about a hundred other people participated in on Monday.

The Wednesday article, which in the Tuesday edition was promised to be the complete story about the video, turned out to be something less than complete. The article went something like this:

"Circus, circus, circus, circus, circus, circus, circus, circus, circus, circus, circus, circus, circus, circus, circus, circus, circus, circus, circus, circus, circus, circus, circus, circus, circus, circus, circus, circus, circus, circus, circus, circus, circus, circus, circus."

"Circus, circus, circus, circus, circus, circus, circus, circus, circus, circus, circus, circus, circus, circus, circus, circus, circus, circus, circus, circus, circus, circus, circus, circus, circus, circus, circus, circus, circus, circus, circus, circus, circus, circus, circus, circus, circus, circus, circus, circus, circus, circus, circus, circus, circus, circus, circus, circus, circus, circus, circus, circus, circus, circus, circus, circus, circus, circus, circus, circus, circus, circus, circus, circus, Grants."

Yeah, that is a bit disturbing. But I stand by what I said before - at least we were DOING SOMETHING, not just sitting around whining and complaining like so many others were.

Then today's paper hit the stands.

The headline on the front page says that the circus video includes the Grant family. The article (finally) delivers the whole story, or most of it anyway. Thank you! Now all of the do-nothing whiners and complainers can see that they opened their traps a bit too soon.

Again today I've been listening to people talk. No one is talking about the video today. No one is apologizing for jumping to the wrong conclusions either. Their thought process must be "If we just sweep our words under the rug and pretend we didn't say them, I bet no one will even notice that we said anything in the first place."

Ha! Yeah right!

I wonder what our do-nothings are going to find to gripe about today, since even they can see that the video organizers and participants are in a bash-free zone?

After all the controversy and nonsense, I just hope that something positive ends up as a result of all this.

Dukes Hospital Ice Cream Social

2008-05-14T19:07:00.003-04:00

Dukes Hospital sponsored an ice cream social this evening from 4:00 to 6:00 pm. They had many games for the kids and adults to play and some great prizes as well.

And of course, ice cream. It was great!

Thank you to the hospital and all of the staff who made this possible. My family and I enjoyed our time there.

Ty Pennington in Peru

2008-05-14T12:43:00.004-04:00

Monday night I received a phone call from one of the volunteers with the local circus. The message she left asked me to drop everything and meet at the circus building at 5:15 pm and to bring along more people. The idea was to try to convince Ty Pennington and the Extreme Home Makeover show to come to Peru.

I looked at the clock, it was almost 5:30 already. But my wife, daughter, and I dropped what we had planned an made a beeline for the circus building. On the way my wife got on the phone and rounded up three more people as well.

So we all stand around for about an hour, making a video requesting Ty and the show come to Peru to help us out.

In today's newspaper (which I have yet to read) there is a write-up about that. Let the complaining begin!

Who can say what is in another person's heart? I certainly cannot sit here and tell you what motivates any particular person. My thought process Monday was simply this: if we can get Ty Pennington to Peru, maybe the Grant family, who lost their home and business in a fire Saturday, will get some much needed help. If the circus, whose building is adjacent to the Grant's building, gets some help too, even better.

But today, people are questioning the motives of those who participated in the video request. We're all selfish, thinking of the circus and giving no thought to those who lost everything in the fire.

Hello?! You bunch of do-nothing whiners and complainers! Where were you Monday night from 5:30 to 6:30? Were you sitting at home whining that something needed to be done?

Better than a hundred of us went out and did SOMETHING. Now you sit around and complain that we did. Who do you think you are? Why don't you DO SOMETHING instead of complain about those of us who do?!

Will Ty Pennington come to Peru because of what we did? It's possible, but not likely. But we took the time to make an effort. We joined together and reached out. Where were you again?

If you are someone who is or has helped with this situation already, then this message is not for you. If you have no idea what I'm talking about, or even where Peru is, this message is not for you.

This message has been for all of the do-nothing whiners and complainers in our community. You know who you are! Get up and DO SOMETHING constructive, instead of belittling the works of others.