The Lynne Show

Snow and Solitude

2011-12-29T10:40:00.001-05:00

It is snowing outside. I don't have to work today. I am snug with a couple of snoring dogs, a fake fireplace, and a cup of hot tea. Perfect.

What I go through...

2011-11-29T11:55:00.003-05:00

Another fat bigot

This morning I was listening to the radio. The program had two economists discussing income inequality in our country today and what it means. At some point the dicussion turned to how there isn't just income inequality but life expectancy inequality too. And I swear to god, one of those dudes straight up blamed poor people for dying early because they are more likely to be fat. It was pretty early in the morning and I was half awake but it sounded to me like he was saying that poor people don't die sooner because they don't have the same access to health care. They don't die sooner because their lives are more stressful. They don't die sooner because they don't have the time or access to the kinds of recreation choices that make people healthier. No, they die sooner because they are fat and they are fat because they make bad choices. Which is probably why they are poor too.

I fucking hate people sometimes.

The D is the future.

2011-11-17T16:15:00.003-05:00

I am very worried about the direction our country is going in. I worry about it all of the time. But I am not entirely without hope

What makes me hopeful is Detroit. Seriously. Mother F*cking Detroit! What has happened to Detroit could be what happens to the rest of our country. Detroit has a 50% illiteracy rate and probably not coincidentally a 50% unemployment rate (if you count discouraged workers). The government is near collapse. There is decay and crime and every other thing everyone fears.

And you know what? It isn't that bad. People do step up. Although people do starve to death there or die of exposure, it isn't exactly common. We could all do better of course but what I am seeing in Detroit is a bunch of people making real policy changes that I suspect are going to result in a huge improvement.

Not only that, the "pull yourself up by your bootstraps" entrepreneurial spirit that everyone says is part of the American psyche is thriving there. I see it every day. I have a lot of friends who live there and the things they are doing are amazing. They are *farming* there (stick it up your butt big agribusiness!) Others are making things and then selling them and really actually making money in the process. People are starting all kinds of businesses. It turns out that for a lot of people, when they can't get a job, they make a god damn job and it is exciting in ways I can hardly describe. But mostly I see it as proof that the 1% isn't going to have an easy time with their feudalistic intentions.

There was a nice article on Huffington Post about just this thing today so I am sure that is why I am feeling that if Detroit can come back, the USA can come back. Here is a link:

Why Detroit? Why Now?

This one is for Bill Hicks: A positive LSD story

2011-10-02T09:35:00.001-04:00

I just had to think of Bill Hicks when I was reading this positive LSD story:

http://santacruz.patch.com/articles/landmark-clinical-lsd-study-nears-completion

Detroit

2011-09-11T11:18:00.004-04:00

I love Detroit. I really do.

Yesterday, I had quite a nice day there. I got to see all kinds of wonderful folks. First I met up with the Bachers at Dally in the Alley. Lots of people were there. I actually had a hard time parking and ended up parking all the way up on Seldon and walking. That worked out ok though because I was pretty much right across the street from The Old Miami, where I eventually ended up.

The Dally was really fun. I can't believe I've never bothered to attend this event before. *slaps forehead* It is basically the best block party ever! Like one often finds in Detroit, there was amazing live music on multiple stages. Later, I dragged my friend, Brent, to Traffic Jam for dinner. We saw Carl Levin there even! I am such a dork too and I totally pulled my "bus person" maneuver where I'll run into a person I don't know but see on the bus regularly someplace other than the bus and I'll be all like "HI!" like I am greeting an old friend. I totally did that to Carl Levin but he's a good politician so he totally did the same thing back to me. hahaha. He probably gets that all of the time.

After that, I walked over the Old Miami. It is really weird to me how that area is gentrifying. I didn't have to step over even one passed out homeless person! Seriously, it looks like a lot of the vacant buildings have been torn down and the older buildings still standing seem to be occupied and in good shape, at least as far as one can tell from the sidewalk. That makes me happy. I hope that neighborhood does well.

The Punk Fest benefit for Children's Hospital was pretty fun. I got there around 9:30p but still was able to see four bands. And also, as usual, I found myself a little awestruck at how much musical talent there is in Detroit. These bands were amazing! I always feel so lucky when I am in Detroit that I can, for not very much money, see really great live music in small venues. Even doing that "I'm too cool to run to the front so I am going to stand back here by the bar" thing leaves you within 50ft of the stage.

I ended up leaving around 1am and I don't know if it was the Dally or if it was that UofM had a night game that ended late but there were a lot of drunks on the road. :( That isn't something I love about Detroit. I avoided getting hit by someone running a red light on Woodward because I luckily noticed them out of the corner of my eye and stopped even though I had a green light. I had to swerve to miss someone who decided to cut me off on the entrance ramp to I-94. But the really scary part was when I was just in Dearborn and I saw someone get on the freeway going the wrong way. Luckily it was night time so those approaching headlights were very obvious. And also luckily, I and several other drivers, started flashing our lights and honking and the wrong way driver noticed and pulled onto the shoulder. It was pretty scary though and, let me tell you, it woke me right up. Whew.

42

2010-09-02T23:41:00.001-04:00

(With Thanks to Douglas Adams)

On the day of the Great On-Turning two soberly dressed programmers with briefcases arrived. ... Their names were Lunkwill and Fook.

For a few moments they sat in respectful silence, then, after exchanging a quiet glance with Fook, Lunkwill leaned forward and touched a small black panel.

The subtlest of hums indicated that the massive computer was now in total active mode. After a pause it spoke to them in a voice rich, resonant and deep.

It said: "What is this great task for which I, Deep Thought, ... have been called into existence? ...

"O Deep Thought computer," Fook said, "the task we have designed you to perform is this. We want you to tell us ..." he paused, "the Answer!"

"The Answer?" said Deep Thought. "The Answer to what?"

"Life!" urged Fook. "The Universe!" said Lunkwill.

"Everything!" they said in chorus.

Deep Thought paused for a moment's reflection.

"Tricky," he said finally.

"But can you do it?"

Again, a significant pause.

"Yes," said Deep Thought, "I can do it."

"There is an answer?" said Fook with breathless excitement. "A simple answer?" added Lunkwill.

"Yes" said Deep Thought. "Life, the Universe, and Everything. There is an answer.

But," he added, "I'll have to think about it." ...

The hum level in the room suddenly increased as several ancillary bass driver units, mounted in sedately carved and varnished cabinet speakers around the room, cut in to give Deep Thought's voice a little more power.

"All I wanted to say," bellowed the computer, "is that my circuits are now irrevocably committed to calculating the answer to the Ultimate Question of Life, the Universe, and Everything." He paused and satisfied himself that he now had everyone's attention, before continuing more quietly.

"But the program will take me a little while to run."

Fook glanced impatiently at his watch.

"How long?" he said.

"Seven and a half million years," said Deep Thought.

Lunkwill and Fook blinked at each other. "Seven and a half million years!" they cried in chorus. ...

[Seven and a half million years later]

[There] was a pretty tree-lined city square, and all around it as far as the eye could see were white concrete buildings of airy spacious design but somewhat the worse for wear ... many were cracked and stained with rain. Today, however, the sun was shining, a fresh breeze danced lightly through the trees, and the odd sensation that all the buildings were quietly humming was probably caused by the fact that the square and all the streets around it were thronged with cheerful excited people. Somewhere a band was playing, brightly colored flags were fluttering in the breeze and the spirit of carnival was in the air. ...

A man standing on a brightly dressed dais before the building which clearly dominated the square was addressing the crowd over a tannoy.

"O people who wait in the shadow of Deep Thought!" he cried out. "\x{2026}the Time of Waiting is over!"

Wild cheers broke out among the crowd. Flags, streamers and wolf whistles sailed through the air. The narrower streets looked rather like centipedes rolled over on their backs and frantically waving their legs in the air.

"Seven and a half million years our race has waited for this Great and Hopefully Enlightening Day!" cried the cheerleader. "The Day of the Answer!"

Hurrahs burst from the ecstatic crowd. "Never again," cried the man, "never again will we wake up in the morning and think Who am I? What is my purpose in life? Does it really, cosmically speaking, matter if I don't get up and go to work? For today we will finally learn once and for all the plain and simple answer to all these nagging little problems of Life, the Universe and Everything!" ...

Two severely dressed men sat respectfully before the terminal and waited.

"The time is nearly upon us," said one.

"Seventy-five thousand generations ago, our ancestors set this program in motion," the second man said, "and in all that time we will be the first to hear the computer speak."

"An awesome prospect, Phouchg," agreed the first man ...

"We are the ones who will hear," said Phouchg, "the answer to the great question of Life ...!"

"The Universe ...!" said Loonquawl.

"And Everything ... !"

"Shhh," said Loonquawl with a slight gesture, "I think Deep Thought is preparing to speak!"

There was a moment's expectant pause while panels slowly came to life on the front of the console. Lights flashed on and off experimentally and settled down into a businesslike pattern. A soft low hum came from the communication channel.

"Good morning," said Deep Thought at last.

"Er ... good morning, O Deep Thought," said Loonquawl nervously, "do you have ... er, that is ..."

"An answer for you?" interrupted Deep Thought majestically. "Yes, I have."

The two men shivered with expectancy. Their waiting had not been in vain.

"There really is one?" breathed Phouchg.

"There really is one," confirmed Deep Thought.

"To Everything? To the great Question of Life, the Universe and Everything?"

"Yes."

Both of the men had been trained for this moment, their lives had been a preparation for it, they had been selected at birth as those who would witness the answer, but even so they found themselves gasping and squirming like excited children.

"And you're ready to give it to us?" urged Loonquawl.

"I am."

"Now?"

"Now," said Deep Thought. ...

"Tell us!"

"All right," said Deep Thought. "The Answer to the Great Question ..."

"Yes ... !"

"Of Life, the Universe and Everything ..." said Deep Thought.

"Yes ... !"

"Is ... " said Deep Thought, and paused.

"Yes ... !"

"Is ... "

"Yes ... !!! ... ?"

"Forty-two," said Deep Thought, with infinite majesty and calm. ...

"Forty-two!" yelled Loonquawl. "Is that all you've got to show for seven and a half million years' work?"

"I checked it very thoroughly," said the computer, "and that quite definitely is the answer. I think the problem, to be quite honest with you, is that you've never actually known what the question is."

Ypsilanti Dog Drama

2010-08-11T22:28:00.004-04:00

Tonight I was meeting some neighbors for dinner at Sidetrack. I rushed home from work so I could get home in time to let my dogs play with my neighbor's dog, Cali. But, alas, Cali was not home. Cali's owner was home, however, and was quite worried. Cali had somehow escaped from my neighbor's gated front porch in the early morning. Naturally I was concerned because it isnt the norm for a dog that has run away to stay gone for so long or at least it never has been for most of the dogs I have owned. I took Tasha and little Maggie for a bit of a spin around the 'hood hoping to find Cali but we did not.

I had to meet people at Sidetrack so I put my dogs back in the house and headed over to meet my neighbors at Sidetrack. But as I was walking by the Food Coop, guess who was tied up out front. CALI! A staff person from the coop was standing outside and I asked about Cali and let her know that she was my neighbor's dog. Right then Cali jumped up on me which is something I have working with her on but apparently not very well because she keeps jumping on me when she is excited. I gave her a stern "NO JUMP" as is my habit and noticed a woman standing nearby giving me a very dirty look. Then she said, "If you didn't want the dog to jump on you, you shouldnt stand by her"

I replied, "She just isn't especially well behaved all of the time"

The woman wigged out. Her name is "Hope" which I have to admit is something I find highly ironic. Apparently in her world, suggesting that a dog might not be the model of good behavior is akin to serious abuse. At any rate, I started doing the whole thing of offering to take the dog home and whatnot. Hope just wasnt having any of it. Others tried to convince her that a. No one told me the dog was lost, I just knew. and b. Cali obviously knows me therefore I am probably telling the truth about knowing where the dog belongs.

She just started some crazy ranting about how I wasn't fit to own the dog because she wasn't fixed or because she got loose and a whole lot of other reasons. I kept explaining that the dog wasn't mine. I probably shouldn't have but I gave her a little lecture about how sometimes one might not approve of how someone else is raising their dogs (or children) but that doesn't mean one can just take the dog (or kids) away themselves.

I went to get a leash to take Cali home and Hope, seeing that I meant to take the dog home decided to try to leave. I just couldnt let that happen because I was worried that if she left, knowing only her first name, no one would ever see this dog again. I know that my neighbor would have been heartbroken but the truth is that I really like this dog too and have been really enjoying having her over every evening to play in my yard. The only way I could think of to stop her in that moment was to grab onto Cali's collar. She tugged and I tugged and sadly, we hurt Cali and caused her neck to bleed. I deeply regret that since my intention wasn't to hurt her. I guess when the adrenalin is high, it is easier than one might think to be rougher than one intended. Still, I couldn't let her take Cali so I don't regret stopping her from leaving.

Eventually some very wonderful women intervened. They helped calm everyone down and called the police. I also was very impressed with the way the Ypsilanti Police dept handled the situation. My neighbor got her dog back and I wasn't arrested for punching Hope in the face. Mostly because I didn't punch anyone in the face. That was because of those two awesome women and because of the police officers timely arrival.

City of Ypsilanti Does the Right Thing

2009-03-13T19:38:00.004-04:00

I am very happy that the City of Ypsilanti has decided to do right by its citizens and waive the fines from the recent snow ordinance enforcement fiasco. My faith in the city has been restored as has my trust in city employees.

Here is a link to the story in the Ypsi Citizen

Ypsilanti Citizen: City Waives Snow Removal Fees

Ask and Ye Shall Receive

2009-03-05T18:44:00.002-05:00

Prostitution sting leads to two arrests

But What About the Hookers???

2009-03-04T20:11:00.006-05:00

This weekend, I was hanging out with my sister bitching about this whole shovel mess in Ypsilanti. My sister reminded me of a story that she feels captures the essence of Ypsilanti...

A while back, I went to a neighborhood association meeting where representatives from the Police Dept were available to listen to citizen's concerns. For TWO hours, it was nothing but bitching about barking dogs, uncut grass, and people speeding on Prospect. Finally, after everyone was finished with that, one man stood up and asked, "But what about the hookers? Is anyone going to do anything about the hookers"

That made me laugh for days. And it has helped me put this issue into perspective a little bit. I want a walkable city as much as the next person and obviously I think it is important that the city government be accountable to Ypsilanti citizens. But our city has problems that are way worse than snow on sidewalks. Just sayin.

Ypsilanti Shovelgate - The Saga Continues...

2009-03-03T21:45:00.003-05:00

About a week ago, I received an invoice from the City of Ypsilanti for $103 for snow removal which they said occurred on 1/31. My initial reaction was to just pay the invoice because I couldnt remember if there was possibly any snow or ice on my walk that day. I was angry, though, because I was never issued a warning or notice of any kind. I also was angry because although I was being charged for snow removal, I never noticed that any work had been done. I was pretty angry, too, because this is not the first time I have had a bad experience with the city regarding ordinance enforcement (Click HERE to read about that experience)

Later, I came across Mark Maynard's post on the subject (which can be viewed HERE along with a subsequent post which can be viewed HERE). I came to learn that several other citizens received similar invoices and not a single one of them had received a notice or warning of any kind. Also, unlike me, many of them were certain that their walks were clear.

During the course of the discussion on that blog, there were a lot of people claiming that they received no notice. In fact, not a single person came forward and said that they had received a notice. Also, many people claimed that they had shoveled and as it happens, when they appealed, the city was unable to provide them with the photos the contractor is required to take of the walks needed shoveling. Also during that discussion, I was directed to a web site where I could see which properties received invoices. I was curious because the vacant property next to me has never had the snow shoveled even once this winter. They did not receive an invoice.

I decided to go to the City Council meeting tonight to voice my concerns. The first of which was that it appears that people were not given notices. The second of which was that there were consistent reports from many people that the work was not done. And the third issue was that the enforcement was selective such that the worst offenders, such as the vacant property next to me was not cleared or invoiced.

I was hoping that the city council would recognize that there was a problem here that was greater than just the people who have appealed this action or who have publicly complained. I suspect that if none of the loudest of city residents received a notice or warning, it is likely that many of the quieter residents did not either. I was hoping that the council would apologize to the residents of the city on behalf of the city employees who CLEARLY made a mistake here with the implementation of this ordinance. I was hoping to hear some plans about ensuring that ordinances are carried out properly.

I was disappointed. The attitude was basically, if you have a problem, appeal. And I heard that as far as notifications go, if a city employee says they left a notice, that is all the proof anyone needs. I also heard council members commend the staff on the job they did. Now, I wasnt expecting anyone to publicly censure a city employee for this but to *commend* them when there clearly is strong evidence that notices of abatement were not given is beyond the pale. At this point, I am just hoping that I misheard and they were being commended on taking the effort to enforce the ordinance in the first place (which they do deserve) rather than on the implementation which they do not. No one said anything about the selective enforcement even though I was not the only one to bring that up. Nor was there any discussion about how the city could make sure that the contractor did the job they were supposed to do. There was *some* discussion about improving the notification process and I appreciate that. But it isnt enough and it especially isnt enough in the absence of an apology or even much of an acknowledgment that the city was wrong

At any rate. I am going to appeal this. And then I will file it away with the other instances where I have been disappointed in how the city handles things. I can say this though. I am proud of all of my fellow citizens who came out to the meeting and spoke up, not just for themselves (as most of them have already had their invoices waived) but for everyone. One of the things this city still has in its favor is that folks in Ypsilanti are alright!

Inauguration Day 1/20/2009

2009-01-26T09:47:00.002-05:00

This is my account of my own experience of Obama's Inauguration. I stayed at my brother and his wife's house in Vienna, VA. My young nephews generously shared a bedroom while I was there so I could have my own room. By complete coincidence some friends of mine from Seattle were staying in a hotel in Vienna, VA that was only 1/2 mile from my brother's house.

I met up with my friends Beth and Barry, Beth's mother, Gratia, and their daughter B. at the Vienna Metro station. Although we all left the house very early, we didnt get downtown until around 10:30am which was too late to get anywhere in front of the Washington Monument.

The trains were running slowly because someone was pushed or fell onto the metro tracks so they had to turn the trains around before that station. That person was not seriously injured because of the quick thinking of some guy on the platform who knew that there was a space under the platform. He pushed her into the space and the train missed her. I was relived when I heard that. Click here for the story.

My brother was a couple of trains ahead of me because I wanted to wait for Barry/Beth et al and I figured I would text him and then find him once we got down there. While on the train, someone else got a text that streets were closed near the mall so we decided to get off the Metro at Foggy Bottom. Once I got out of the station, I got the text from my brother to get off the train at Foggy Bottom and head towards the WWII memorial. That was just one of many lucky occurrences that surrounded this event. I mean, I missed my brother's text but did the right thing anyways.

Once we got there, there were already too many people for me to find my brother even though he texted me his exact location. I could see where he said he was but I couldnt get over there. So I found a spot near a tree and sat down for a while. I had a pretty good view of the jumbo-tron for most of the ceremony but eventually the space in front of me filled up so I had to stand to see. It got really crowded even way back where we were. I mean crowded like you could barely move crowded. It looked like there were crowds all the way back to the Lincoln Memorial!

During the swearing in people were *very* emotional. There was lots of crying and hugging strangers and cheering. It was awesome! When Aretha came on, I yelled out "Detroit Represent!" and lots of people near me cheered and said they were from Detroit too.

After the swearing in, some people started to leave so I sat down again and watched the rest of the program. I was really happy to have found such a comfortable spot. It was a little cold but not too bad. I was only cold because I had taken off my coat to sit on it. Once it was over, I put my coat back on and was fine.

When it was time to leave, there was discussion about heading towards one of the museums to warm up but it quickly became obvious that there was NO WAY we were going to make it to one of the museums. We stood in a huge crowd that was moving towards the streets. It was remarkable because there was no pushing and no shoving even though the crowd was so dense that everyone was pressed up against everyone else. I have never been around such a mellow nice crowd except for at some Dead shows but those people were high. These folks were just plain NICE although there was some cheering and out breaks of a certain Bananarama song when the helicopter that may have contained Bush flew overhead.

Eventually we made our way back to Foggy Bottom where we ended up in a big crowd waiting to get into the station. They were limiting how many people could enter the station at one time, possibly because of the earlier incident. After around 45 minutes in yet another incredibly nice and pleasant but very dense crowd, we got into the station. I was impressed with the transit workers who were in charge. They kept making everyone repeat "when the person in front of you goes, you go" and "when the person in front of you stops, you stop" and cracking jokes so again, there was no pushing or shoving and lots of laughter. I think they took a potentially dangerous situation and made it much safer so huge props go to the Metro staff.

Eventually we got in but everyone was tired so we got on a train going the wrong way because it had seats and we just rode to Maryland and then eventually got off and got on the train in the right direction. There is nothing like a little discomfort to make one appreciate things like a seat on a warm train. People were very nice on the train too. One guy even gave us a free bumpersticker

Eventually, we made it back to Vienna. We met up with my brother then and we all went out for a very nice dinner.

Schadenfreude, Football, and Elections.

2008-11-06T21:47:00.005-05:00

We all have our dirty little secrets or what should be dirty little secrets but aren't because we write about them in our blogs. One of mine was how often I find myself rejoicing in the suffering of others. Not all the time of course as I am not without compassion. But man, sometimes when some boastful jerk gets taken down a peg, I swear I get giddy in my toes.

I first noticed this tendency a few years after I moved to Ann Arbor. You see, Ann Arbor is the home of the University of Michigan which has a football team...a good football team...a football team that wins most of the time. Winning football games is a big deal on Saturdays in the fall. It is what Ann Arbor does. In fact, if you arent especially into football, you hardly notice it except for the occasional bragging by people who seem to think that being a Wolverine fan makes them a better person (because they have the good judgment to be a fan of a winning team I guess) The team wins and everyone goes about their business as usual...UNTIL...

They lose. Then, the whining begins. And it is serious whining. It is whining mixed with anger and rage. And I love it. There is something about watching someone get enraged over a FOOTBALL GAME (ferchissakes) that fills my heart with joy. I hardly ever watch football but when I do, there is a part of me that always roots for the team playing Michigan only because I know that if that team beats Michigan, the fans will sulk and pout and rant and rage and so on.

It turns out that I get the same feeling after elections. Not towards everyone who voted for McCain. I actually like McCain and can totally understand why a reasonable person might vote for him. But there are people on the right who just were jerks in the weeks leading up to the election, who are now rivaling Wolverine fans in the sore loser department. And I love it.

I keep reading craigslist because they keep entering rants like this one. They are losing it and I LOVE IT!!! I keep hoping that someone will interview that mean lady in Grosse Pointe who wouldnt give candy on Halloween to Obama supporters or their children. How do you feel today lady? That's what I want to know.

So that is my secret. If you see me grinning and all giddy. That's why. These guys might rant for four whole years. Elections are way better than football as it turns out. boo yah!

Yay!!!!

2008-11-05T10:11:00.000-05:00

It's Summertime and the Living is Easy

2008-08-19T22:44:00.003-04:00

This is just an update. I dont have anything special to write about so much. It is just summertime and for me, summer in Michigan means all is good. I've had friends staying with me most of the summer which has been nice. I've been swimming in the lake a lot which is also nice. Lots of hanging out, drinking beer, watching fireflies and the usual summertime pass times. It's all good.

Here is a photo of me from a couple of weeks ago. This is the first time I held my nephew Joey. I am not sure which one of us is more uncomfortable. I think I'll be a better Aunt when he is older. Then I do stuff like take him out and get him all sugared up on ice cream and overexcited about whatever activity I can drag him on before returning him to my sister. Ha ha.

Think of the Children

2008-07-22T18:55:00.002-04:00

So today, after enduring 45 mins on the bus with a screaming child, a man at the bus station stopped me and asked me if I was interested in saving children. I told him "no thank you" It was only after walking away that I realized that I had said "no thank you" in the exact same tone I might have used if he had just asked me if I would like him to take a crap in my hand. Oops.

Art Fair

2008-07-19T00:00:00.000-04:00

I havent had any trouble working downtown during this art fair. I have a
parking pass so even though I had to drive downtown Wednesday and
Thursday due to after work plans, I had no problems with parking.
Traffic was actually easier in the morning, I suspect because a lot of
people who usually drive downtown werent. Afternoon traffic has been
crappy causing me to try to remember all my old "back ways" but I
surprisingly did manage to drive all the way from downtown to Trader
Joe's yesterday on side streets. Today it was even easier as I took the
bus to work. My office is on Washington so, with the exception of one
loud kid with a lemonade stand, there hasnt been any noise.

My favorite things so far:

1. There is a booth with interesting stone sculpture on Main Street in
front of National City. They are way out of my price range of course but
if I had the bucks, I might consider buying one of those.

2. I have a friend who is a photographer and also is REALLY into crafts.
She isnt part of any of the official juried art fairs but knows the
people who own the building where A Vault of Midnight is located so she
has some arrangement to set up outside their store. She has a lot of
photos on magnets so I bought one of those. She also has some pretty
cool bowls she makes by melting vinyl records and notebooks with covers
made from the record covers.

3. I always end up checking out that King's Chosen area or whatever it
is called. There was one woman with silly drawings of pub signs with
dogs that probably are the artistic equivalent of those dogs playing
poker posters but I really liked them. Since I now own a pure bred dog,
there was one picture with a yellow lab that I liked.

4. In the same area there was a booth with what looked like wind chimes
made out of melted and smooshed liquor bottles. I thought those looked
fun.

Labrador Lessons

2008-07-16T21:51:00.003-04:00

I just got back from the lake. First I stopped off at my sister's house to meet my new nephew. I didnt hold him though because he only weighs five pounds and is too little. People who are that little are scary. But I poked him and that made him cry. And I swear, he waved good bye to me when I left.

Then I went to my parents' house and went swimming with the dogs. When I adopted my five y/o Labrador last fall, I was kind of disappointed because she both didnt know how to swim and didnt know how to fetch. So this summer we have been spending a lot of time at the lake and she has spent some time with Larry the Labrador who lives at the lake. He's been very good about showing her how Labradors are *supposed* to behave.

Anyways today, even though Larry was no where to be found, Tasha fetched and swam all on her own. She even went WAY out into the deep. Then she and I and my sister's dog Buddy swam around together. It reminded me of how people pay money to swim with dolphins. I wonder if I can charge people to go swimming with the dogs. Haha. Probably not.

Oh yeah, I went to Art Fair today too. It is nice working downtown. I was able to walk around for an hour which is about my limit for Art Fair. It was hot but then I was able to go back to my air conditioned work place. And I get to do it again tomorrow. And Friday.

Watch Out!!! There is another Fremont in the world

2008-06-30T22:34:00.002-04:00

My sister had a baby boy tonight which is very good news. What is not good news is that he is premature. He was born fast apparently and weighs in at just over 4lbs. But, considering his early arrival, he is healthy. I guess we wait and see at this point.

But I know someone who had a premature baby and that baby grew up to be a healthy, beautiful, smart, kid. So it seems hopeful.

Ginger RIP

2008-06-07T14:57:00.002-04:00

I took my cat Ginger to the vet this morning and had her put to sleep. I think she was 19 years old but I dont really know since she wasnt a kitten when I got her. I had her for 17 years or so. She was pretty out of it but still wasnt happy about going. Still, it was a short irritation for her since I took her to the vet closest to my house, Ypsilanti Animal Clinic. They were really great there and the procedure was quick and painless. She had a pretty uncomfortable night last night. She wasnt in pain especially but was so weak that she could hardly walk. She could walk about a foot and then she would have to lay down and rest for several minutes. She was crying in frustration every time she tried to move. I know she just wanted to get to whatever spot she wanted to go to and I would have carried her if I knew where she meant to go. She was pretty dehydrated too as she had stopped drinking water for the most part and I could tell that wasnt especially comfortable for her. It was time.

I buried her in my back yard right in the middle of all the rose bushes.

The Story of Ginger

Ginger was a stolen cat. Her first owners abused her terribly. From what I understand, they beat her and starved her. I was working at a pet store at the time and one of my co-workers stole her from her neighbor in order to protect her. I think some of the odd behaviors she had throughout her life were a result of living in such a bad environment. For instance, she loved to open up packages of food and when she was young and spry, she often would get into the cupboards, open up boxes and bags of dog treats and then eat some and knock some down for the dogs. Needless to say, that increased her popularity with the canine members of the household.

The owner of the pet store agreed to take her as a pet store cat. It turned out, though, that Ginger did not have the makings of a pet store cat. She never was especially social (guests to my house often wondered aloud if I was lying about having a cat since they'd never seen her) so she hid from the customers all day. By night she prowled the store until one night either someone left the giant finch cage open or she figured out how to open it herself. Let's just say that Ginger was an excellent hunter which turned out to be another reason she was ill suited to be a pet store cat.

I had kind of been looking for another cat to be a companion for my cat Fred. The owner of the pet store agreed to pay to have Ginger spayed if I took her in so she came to live me me. I dont remember what her name was before but I changed it to Ginger because I thought Fred and Ginger were good names for a pair of cats. Her first week with me was awful. She went into heat and made my life miserable. She made Fred's life miserable as well as she kept getting amorous with him but with no success because he was neutered. Eventually, she went out of heat and I was finally able to get her fixed.

We moved around a lot. Some of my roommates liked Ginger and some didnt. Her favorite thing is the world to do was to claw up furniture and harass other cats (and especially Jeanne's cat Spock). But she got declawed and after Spock, she never had to live with any more cats other than her buddy Fred.

She did have to live with dogs though. After Fred died, 11 years ago, I brought Brooke into our household. She was 10 months old and had some issues of her own. Ginger always liked Brooke though. Sometimes when I would leave them home alone together, I would come home and Ginger would be crusty with dog saliva since Brooke seemed to like kissing her all day while I was gone. I cant say that Ginger liked that treatment but it is a testimony to how much she liked Brooke that she allowed it to happen. My next dog was Crissy and Ginger loved Crissy too. Sometimes out of the corner of my eye, I would catch Ginger giving "love bites" to Crissy. Then came Cookie who only was with us a short time. Ginger *hated* Cookie. Cookie was part Border Collie and had a hobby of herding cats. Ginger, it turns out was not very fond of being herded. She tolerated Cookie although sometimes Ginger would sit in the middle of the floor and hiss when Cookie walked by. And lastly, Ginger had Tasha. She didnt like Tasha at first but Tasha treated her very much as Crissy did, i.e. with a lot of respect and an acknowledgment that Ginger was the one who wore the tail in the family. Ginger warmed up to Tasha quickly and for the last several months, I sometimes found them sleeping in large dog bed together.

Ginger was a very bossy cat. She pretty much ran the show around here. I sometimes joked that if there were such a thing as reincarnation, she surely had the soul of a great general. I wonder if I will know what to do with myself without her to boss me around.

Sick Cat

2008-06-01T20:58:00.003-04:00

My cat is probably going to die very soon. She isnt eating and can barely walk. She isnt in any pain though and trust me, she is the sort who would let the world know if she were. So for now, I am not going to take her in to be put to sleep since her least favorite thing in the world is to go anywhere in a car but she especially always hated going to the vet's office. She's 19 years old. It is the end of an era of my life, for sure.

C'est Bon, Non?

2008-03-27T12:41:00.001-04:00

I am back from my lovely trip in Paris. I will probably spend some time this weekend writing a long boring post with lots of photos :) But for now. All I can say is that Paris is awesome but it is nice to be back home too although I wish the weather were a bit nicer here.

Well Regulated Capitalism with hints of Socialism on the Side.

2008-03-14T21:10:00.005-04:00

I am leaving for Paris tomorrow. Yay! And I should be packing and cleaning my house. But as per usual, when I need to be doing one thing, I find reasons to do something else. In this case, blogging!

Since I am going to France tomorrow, I have been thinking about the economics of the place. It is funny because one of the first papers on economics I ever wrote was one where I compared and contrasted the economic systems of the USA and France. I was in eight grade and while it was a good paper for a person of that age, I still remember that I called France's economy Capitalist and in the margins where I wrote about all the state owned and operated businesses (mostly utilities and transportation if I remember correctly) my teacher wrote, "Isn't this Socialism?" *

And so it was. France has a economic system that imho combines some of the better parts of capitalism with some of the better parts of socialism. It is a system that has worked for decades. They have universal health care coverage. They have government services that Americans can hardly imagine. But most industries are private and generally the economy is a capitalist one these days. France is from everything I have heard a nice place to live and a nice place to work.

Here is the thing. There probably is no perfect economic system. But France seems to have come close in that they have a well regulated capitalist economy with large socialistic safety nets. In many ways, their economy is similar to the economy in the USA except they lean a bit more towards the regulation and safety net while we have a slightly more laissez faire approach.

I honestly believe that the US government could look to France and other European countries for guidance in our economy. I dont advocate pure socialism. I believe that those Chicago School economists were right about some things although goodness knows they werent right about everything. For instance, the state cant control all aspects of an economy for the simple reason that there are so many variables in any economic system that no one can know all of them. There are market forces and like the forces one finds in the field of physics, those forces are present no matter what one does. One can no more legislate away forces of supply and demand any more than they can legislate away the force of gravity.

But a government can and should influence the forces that are present. A government can perform certain tasks more efficiently than the private sector while the private sector excels in other areas. e.g. fire and police protection are probably better accomplished by government bodies than by private firms. And the production of ordinary goods and services are usually best accomplished in free markets (although still with some regulation).

Basically it comes down to this. Economic systems that are too socialist are inefficient. Think Soviet era state control. Not so great. But unregulated capitalist systems have their own problems. Think about how long that free market would stay free if the capital gets too concentrated into the hands of a few. Monopolies are a product of capitialism and are, in their own way, hugely inefficient.

The best bet is a combination of the two. Regulated capitalism with strong social safety nets. There is more stability (and trust me, stability is good for free markets). There are fewer social costs. It's not all about money.

My dream economy would have things like universal health care and a guaranteed minimum income. More social security benefits. More social programs including free higher education. More government run businesses like utilities. Better roads, better public transportation, better funding for scientific research including things done just for the fun of it like going to the moon. A highly regulated labor market with lots of laws protecting workers. And yes, higher taxes. I believe that if we spend our money in good ways that build infrastructure, it will allow the regulated but otherwise free capitalist firms to go about their business with the most efficiency.

* That paper was written shortly after the Mitterrand government had implemented a big socialist reform which created a backlash such that many of the previously socialized and state controlled institutions were placed into private hands.

My job rocks

2008-02-27T20:02:00.002-05:00

I had my six month review today. It rocked. I got a big raise. I love it there. I have seven windows to look out of from my desk. I have a fancy office chair. I work with some seriously awesome people.

I am still alive

2008-02-21T22:01:00.004-05:00

I have, alas, been very bad about blogging lately. And the funniest part about it is that it hasnt been because of a lack of things that I have wanted to write about. I swear, at least once a day I find myself thinking, "this would make a good blog post" and sometimes I even compose the whole post IN MY HEAD where it does no one any good.

I have wanted to tell the world about the people I see on the bus. Last week, I saw a mentally ill woman I used to know a long time ago. She didnt recognize me. But she was on the bus with a man who was clearly in love with her and with whom she apparently lived. I listened to their conversation for the entire TWO HOUR bus ride home (snow storm). It was funny because I found their words to each other very touching and very nice and it made me feel kind of good. But I was still stuck on the bus for TWO HOURS and I had a pee a little bit and I was hungry and frustrated and wanted to scream. Anyways, this woman was just so happy that she was, perhaps inappropriately, spreading it around by talking to people on the bus. There is, after all, bus etiquette that strangers only rarely speak to each other. As I got off the bus downtown, she said to me, "sweetie, if you need the eleven, you need to wait right by me" but I had to decline her offer since another bus which could get me home had just pulled into the transit station.

I wanted to tell everyone about my car which has now broken down twice in a week. I just spent five hundred bucks on it and now it is back in the shop and who knows how much else I will need to spend. The timing is bad because I need all the money I can get for my upcoming trip to Paris. I am going to do my taxes this weekend and I am going to hope that I get my refund before I leave. Still, on the money front, except for the car repairs, I am digging myself out of a financial hole that I am ashamed to have found myself in because I am smarter than that. Sometimes smart people do dumb things. But anyways, I have recovered from an earlier financial crisis and have enough money to live my life without the horrible budget I have been living with for the last several months. But, of course, I am going to still live with the horrible budget but just knowing that I dont HAVE to somehow makes it easier to do it. Weird I know. But there you go.

I wanted to tell everyone about last night. There was a lunar eclipse and everything worked out perfectly for it which as anyone who lives in Michigan can tell you, the chances of a clear night in Michigan in February arent especially high. But last night was crystal clear and the moon turned this cool orange color. I was at the lake where there are few city lights or at least fewer than here in Ypsilanti. So I stood on the deck there for a half an hour in the cold and looked at the beautiful moon and the stars which just seemed to get brighter as the moon got darker. I looked up at my favorite constellation, Orion for a long time and I thought about things I learned in my astronomy class about how Orion is in a part of space where new stars are being born and about how I'll be dead before any of the light from a star being born right now ever gets to earth. The nebulae in that part of space, such as the Orion Nebula, are just about the most beautiful things I have ever seen.

There has been more stuff too but I will have to save it for another time...

Ann Arbor Coffee Shop Blogging

2008-01-30T13:28:00.000-05:00

It is really cold and windy here in Michigan today so I didnt want to go far for lunch. I figured it would be fun to take my laptop over to the coffee shop across the street.

Coffee shops are such interesting places and coffee shops in Ann Arbor are especially interesting....

It's mostly women here at the moment. I dont know if there are actually more women in the coffee shop but the there is only one guy in the back room here. Maybe women prefer this back room because it has an intimacy to it and is a good place to sit around unnoticed. I have had lots of people tell me that this particular coffee shop is known as a "pick up place" so maybe people sit back here in order not to be noticed. I like to sit back here so I dont get distracted by people coming into and leaving the coffee shop.

The conversations are what you might expect. Lots of liberal politics. Some gossip. Some business conversation. That sort of thing. One of the reasons I like the back room is that it actually is difficult to eavesdrop because the conversations blend together. I interviewed for my current job here and didnt worry about people listening in.

I come to this place often enough that they know my name but I usually just get coffee in the morning before work and dont hang out so it is kind of neat to sit here and see whats going on. There is such a different atmosphere here than there is at coffee shops in Ypsilanti. The people in Ypsilanti feel more real to me somehow. I always feel like I am "hanging out with the cool kids" when in the coffee shops in Ann Arbor. Isnt that funny? I think it is just that so many people are clearly very affluent while in Ypsilanti, people look different. I know that if places were like houses, Ann Arbor would be some kind of model home used to show off some designer's work while Ypsilanti has a more "lived in" feel to it. If you went to Ann Arbor's house, the dishes would all be done and the only clutter would be a stack of Russian novels on the bedside table. But in Ypsilanti, you might find things a little less put together and showy and more homey and comfortable. Like you could put your feet up on Ypsilanti's coffee table but you might feel you had to take your shoes off when entering Ann Arbor's house. :)

Things Are Good

2008-01-21T20:41:00.001-05:00

Ahhhh. The neglected blog.

It is funny how little I feel like writing these days. I guess things like writing come in waves. At least for me anyways.

So things here in Michigan are good or at least as good as can be when the temperature is down in the teens and single digits (that's below zero with the wind chill). I am constantly reminded that I cant find my winter stuff -- gloves, hat, etc. I always tell myself in the summertime that the cold will motivate me to clean up my stuff so that I can find things like my hat and gloves and yet here I am with none of those things.

It is kind of like my washer. It broke last August. And every time I go to the laundromat, I tell myself that going to the laundromat will motivate me to clean up my basement so I wont be embarrassed to have someone come deliver a new washing machine. Not that I have the money for a new one at the moment. I figured I wasnt going to get around to buying one so I bought a plane ticket to Paris instead! I guess there are rewards to procrastination.

Anyways, all in all, life is good. I still love my job and still have it. I have a really cool house. I have wonderful friends. I went to my friend Burt's 40th birthday party on Saturday night. I had a really good time. I lost touch with him and that whole crowd for years but have reconnected with them (because of MySpace of all things) and I am just so happy about that. I met Burt when I was in the 7th grade! It is nice to talk to people who knew me whan I was young because I was so different then that no one I meet now can ever get to know that kid that I was. But Burt knows. As it happens, I was kind of an asshole but Burt is kind enough to have forgotten that part or at least kind enough to say that he does. But then wasnt everyone kind of a jerk in junior high/middle school? I suspect that my sister who teaches kids that age might agree with me although I've never asked her.

Work, Dogs, and TV

2008-01-08T12:45:00.000-05:00

I havent been doing much this past week except the usual going to work, walking the dogs, and watching TV.

Work - Man, I have to say that my job totally rocks. I know I am always going on about it to people but I have really been fortunate to land here. My co-workers rock. The bosses rock. I get treated well all the time. I am generally good at what I do but I have found out that even if I make a big mistake, I get treated a lot differently at this job than at my other one. I still have days where I wake up and dont feel like going into work but they are much fewer and far between than before. All in all, in that area, things are going well.

Dogs - they sure are fun. Last week we had lots of snow and it is so funny to see how differently each of my two dogs deals with snow. Brooke LOVES it. She always runs out and dives right in. She gets her whole head under the snow, she runs around in it, she makes snow angels, and generally just has a blast with it. Tasha on the other hand will walk outside and then will turn around and try to walk back in the house as soon as she realizes that there is snow on the ground. I have to make her go out to pee. It is hilarious!

We have been having some really unseasonably warm days for the past couple of days. I think it got up to 64F yesterday which was a record high. There has been a lot of rain too which combined with the melting of all the snow from last week has meant a lot of mud. There is so much water and mud down at the park that the paved path is mushy. That is too bad since I am pretty sure that the city doesnt have money to replace it. They did replace the lighting down there though but, so far, they havent turned them on. Oh well. I went down there yesterday and there were lots of people with dogs there. It was cool. Tasha LOVES meeting people and other dogs. Brooke likes it too but with less gusto than this yellow lab.

TV - I have just discovered Friday Night Lights. NBC.com has full episodes all the way back to the pilot on their web site. I have watched the entire first season in a week and a half! When I first heard of it, my thought was "A show about high school football in Texas? It sounds perfectly awful" But it turns out that it is well written and quite interesting. Even the football parts are decent. I would even go so far as to say that this show's fake, staged football games are much better than real live football games. For one thing, they only last a few minutes and they just show the "good parts" ;) I am learning things about football from watching the show though.

Happy New Year!

2008-01-01T16:51:00.000-05:00

What can I say? 2007 was a good year for me. I can only hope that 2008 will be just as good. I hope everyone's 2008 will be good too. There are 104 chances to win the lotto this year. I hope that me and my closest 103 friends all hit it big. Haha. J/K I am sure that if that scenario were to actually occur, I would find myself behind bars since no one, not even me, would ever buy such an occurrence :)

I am not big on New Year's Resolutions but I do have some goals this year.

I am going to go to Europe.

I am going to work to improve my external environment (i.e. keep my house cleaner)

I am going to challenge my mind somehow. Maybe this will be the year I spend more time playing video games :)

Merry Christmas

2007-12-25T08:47:00.001-05:00

Diplomas

2007-12-15T19:54:00.001-05:00

I finally got my diploma from Eastern which was this whole drama. They
sent it to me via UPS but they required a signature. I only got the last
notice of a final delivery. Luckily I found the other notices in the
bushes because I was all set to call UPS and bitch them out. There were
some pretty wet and windy days so the notices must have blown off my
door. I ended up having to stop by campus to pick it up myself.

I kind of wondered why they insisted on sending it signature required
because who would steal a diploma? I mean, it isnt like it would have
any kind of value to someone else. It has my name on it after all. That
got me thinking so as a joke, I xeroxed it and then whited out my name
and wrote my name back in with a black sharpie so it would look extra
fake. But that was just something silly to do with it.

I ended up throwing the thing into the trunk of my car. That is where it
is now. I cant think of a thing to do with it. I suppose I could throw
it into a drawer or something. That is what I did with my high school
diploma. It seems kind of pretentious to display it although part of me
wants to because I get happy every time I look at it since it means no
more school for me.

Anyways, I am just curious. To those of you who have earned some sort of
diploma, what did you do with it. Where is it now? Do you think it is
pretentious to display it?

I know...I know...

2007-12-04T18:30:00.000-05:00

Yeah I know I said that I was going to blog every day in November but after a while, I found that it became a chore and since blogging is supposed to be a hobby, I decided to give myself a break. Truthfully, I still dont feel much like writing so I am just going to share some pictures instead.

This is one of my new dog Tasha. She's pretty wiggly but managed to sit still just long enough for a photo:

And of course, this is my favorite dog, Brooke:

This is one of my sister's dog, Buddy:

This is a photo of the dinner table at Thanksgiving:

And finally, this is my mother, my cousin Catherine, my cousin Anna, my Aunt Nancy, me, and my sister-in-law Katrina modeling some hats that belonged to my grandmother who died in September. She had some pretty interesting hats!

Your mission, if you choose to accept it.

2007-11-19T19:26:00.000-05:00

Years ago, my aunt brought my sister back a present from Paris. My sister teaches French. My aunt is a retired teacher. She knows about kids and what interests them. She knows that teachers often have to come up with creative bulletin boards in their rooms. Her present to my sister was toilet paper from the bathroom in the Eiffel Tower. (My present was a bottle of overproofed rum from Jamaica).

My sister used that toilet paper on a bulletin board with great success. It turns out that middle school age kids *are* interested in exotic Eiffel Tower, Parisian toilet paper.

Anyways, over the summer, I told this toilet paper story to my friends who have since moved to France. I told the elder daughter that I think my sister could use some NEW Eiffel Tower toilet paper. I told her that if she happened to find herself in Paris, she should go to the Eiffel Tower, find the highest bathroom, and get me some more toilet paper.

My friends called me yesterday. They are going to Paris. That nine year old girl seems to be taking her mission very seriously. I think someone I know might get toilet paper again for Christmas. haha

Oh Yeah!

2007-11-16T23:46:00.001-05:00

We got a pool table at work today.

Fire?

2007-11-15T19:11:00.000-05:00

While I was out walking the dogs this evening, I noticed a whole mess of fire trucks on Prospect. There is this one house there that I walk by all the time. Every time I walk by it, I always think that it has a fabulous porch and sometimes I wonder if I could build up a little wall around my porch too but then I remember that I dont have enough money to do it and the historic district people would probably be against it anyways.

I think I walked by at the tail end of whatever excitement there was. I didnt see any fire, just a bunch of fireman crawling around the house. They had a ladder too and looked like they were paying close attention to the chimney. I am guessing that the people who lived at that house probably got lucky.

It is shame that we have to cut back on our fire protection. I really hope that something changes and cities like Ypsilanti can have money for such niceties again.

Aging

2007-11-14T19:07:00.000-05:00

Sometimes I cant even keep promises to myself. I skipped blogging yesterday but I dont feel bad about it. Well...not too bad. I wasnt feeling well. I had a headache and pretty much spent the entire day in a dark room sleeping because anything that had to do with light hurt my eyes. I think it was either a brain tumor (very unlikely), a migraine (still pretty unikely) or else my vision is going bad and I might need glasses (much more likely). This headache came on after I worked all day on a computer and then came home and read for 6 hours or so.

Of course, I dont have a vision plan so if I do need glasses, I'll have to pay for them myself. I am going to wait and see if I get any more headaches though before I decide to spend any money. The funny thing is that I dont know how much of that is because I dont want to spend money and how much of that is because I dont want to admit that my eyes, or any other part of me, might be aging.

I am not entirely sure why I dislike seeing the signs of aging in myself. It isnt so much that I am worried about losing my looks because I never had conventional beauty in the first place and in the second place, I kind of think that older women *are* beautiful in their own way anyways. No...I think what bugs me is that aging is a reminder that life is finite and I figure that around half of my life is over. I just feel like I want MORE time. Half over already? It can't be!

Oh well. I hear that when people get really old, they sometimes feel done. I guess that is my wish: That no matter when or where I die, I'll feel done living.

Something's going on...

2007-11-12T19:38:00.000-05:00

So, I went down to Riverside park today for a walk. It was difficult because the park has very little lighting these days which is kind of sad. I mean, it was only around 10 years ago when I first got Brooke that I would go there and find almost all of the lights lit. Over the years, they have been knocked down one by one with fewer lights until this year, they just havent turned them on at all.

But. There were some people from a construction company and it looks like some round cement things that seem likely to be foundations for new lights are being put in. Has the city found money for park lights after all? It would be awesome if they did.

Exchange Rates

2007-11-11T20:07:00.000-05:00

I cannot remember a time when the Canadian dollar was worth more than a US dollar. But today, I was curious about the rate and was shocked to learn that the rate is $1.07 USD to $1 CAD. Wow. What will this mean?

My first thought was that I might need to learn to appreciate American beer since my favorite beer, Labatt Blue, is made in Canada. My second thought was that now probably isnt a good time to visit Toronto. My third thought was that this is probably good for Michigan and the rest of the country too.

You see, a weak dollar means a lot of things. Foreign vacations get more expensive. Flying in water from France gets even more decadent. Basically, imported things become more expensive relative to domestic versions. That will mean higher prices for anything imported. It also means that moving jobs offshore becomes more expensive which means jobs that would have otherwise been lost to foreign competition will remain the US.

Michigan, in particular, probably needs jobs more than it needs cheap crap from China or expensive French cheeses or nights out at the Windsor Ballet.

I Love Weekends

2007-11-10T23:25:00.001-05:00

Yeah yeah, I know. who doesnt enjoy weekends? Seriously though, I have been having a relaxing one. I got Harry Potter from the library and have been sitting around, eating toast, drinking tea, and reading.

If Only There Were a Place Like That

2007-11-09T19:53:00.000-05:00

At my old job, I used to get free books. Lots and lots of free books and the books that I didnt get for free, I got a deep discount. It was great at first but eventually I realized that I had a problem. I had a hard time throwing away books. I also found that I had hard time giving them away (I eventually settled on wrapping them up and passing them out as White Elephants at the family Xmas party). It was a LOT of effort.

As it happens, my mother had a similar problem because I kept giving her so many books. We were sitting in the kitchen one day bemoaning having so many books in our possession. "Why is getting rid of books so hard? Why cant I just throw them away? If only there was a place where one could go where one could rent or borrow books to read so that when one is done, one doesnt have to keep the book!"

My Dad just shouted in from the other room, "you mean like a LIBRARY?"

Hahaha. I thought of that because I have finally gone to the library after not going for several years. I went because I dont have the job with the free books anymore. I got *two* books.I am rather glad, now that I think about it, that when I am done reading these books, I can take them back to the library. They wont clutter up my house more than it already is.

Happy Dogs

2007-11-08T21:49:00.000-05:00

Sometimes I wonder about why I find it so necessary to keep dogs. Part of it is that they are a deterrent against would be home invaders or at least they are a deterrent against the sane ones...owning dogs didnt keep that crazy naked man from running through my house for instance. But part of it is that there is just something about a dog that warms my heart.

I had one of those moments today when I took the girls for a walk to Riverside Park. We were walking and Tasha, the new dog, spotted some people with dogs on the other side of the park. She just got all excited about it and well...full of JOY. When we got close enough, I let her go over to meet them and as soon I said "OK" she just tore over to them all wiggles and happiness. Then, when I whistled for her, she came running back to me with the same enthusiasm. She expresses her joy with her WHOLE body too.

For Brooke, of course, going to the park is old hat but she still loves it and she too just pranced and ran and generally had a good time. Now we're all cozy in our little house and everyone is happy.

In short, the dogs remind me to have joy. And sometimes, like in the winter when it is dark all the time, I need that.

Hybrid Buses

2007-11-07T19:49:00.000-05:00

Since Daylight Saving time ended, I've been getting up earlier which is saving me money again. I get a free bus pass from work so every day that I can get up in time, I save the cost of parking downtown and the cost of gasoline to drive downtown and the wear and tear on my car. It is an amount that I figure to be around $50/week.

I took the bus this morning and had the good fortune to ride one of those new hybrid buses. They are especially ugly buses but much nicer for riding in. They are quiet and less stinky. Well less stinky as in there seem to be less engine fumes but never fear, they may sport the odor of alcholic - cigarette addicted - non bathers. I sometimes wish we could go the way of SF and have all electric buses or even streetcars! Oh well, the hybrid buses are a move in the right direction and are a pleasure to ride. Ok, maybe not *pleasure* to ride but definitely an improvement.

Today

2007-11-06T20:25:00.000-05:00

I cant think of any brilliant posts to write so I am just going to talk about my day...

I woke up and was glad that the sky was beginning to get light. I am NOT in favor of ending Daylight Saving time a week later. Seriously, I need to be up by 7:15am if I want to pack a lunch and take the bus to work from Ypsilanti. Last week, I kept waking up after 8am which meant that I had to drive to work and pay to park and even then, I was 10 minutes late a couple of times. Besides, having darkness in the mornings doesnt make me save energy because I turn on lights and then forget to turn them off when I leave. It is much much better for me to just wake up when it is light.

My work is going well. I enjoy it. I get to go swimming on my lunch hours. And today there was an announcement that we might be getting a pool table! It will mean getting rid of the ping pong table but everyone agreed that a pool table would be better for formulating and discussing ideas. I still dont get tired looking out of the windows but unfortunately now that the sun is to the south, there are certain times of day when it shines right into my eyes and then I have to shut the blinds. Still, sun in my eyes is better than no sun.

I went to Costco after work. How boring. The sad thing is that I pretty much only had enough money to pay for dog/cat food and treats for the dogs. Or maybe that is a good thing because Costco is an easy place to blow a lot of money.

Then I had dinner at my parents and picked up my dogs who were on vacation at the lake. Now I am home and I am going to watch a DVD and then I am going to see if I can find some election results before going to bed.

The thing is...I know that my life is somewhat boring now and I am kind of happy about it. It's all good boring. Which is way better than bad interesting, if you know what I mean.

Sherman Alexie is Awesome

2007-11-05T21:34:00.000-05:00

So I met up with a couple of my lovely neighbors and went to see that Sherman Alexie lecture thing at EMU. It was great! He is not only good at telling a story in print, he is good at telling a story in real life too. If there is one thing I love, it is a person who can tell a good story. I probably got that from living with my Dad who has a particular talent for oral story telling. Actually now that I think about it, a lot of folks in my family have that talent. It makes family events that much more interesting. I have noticed too that I am drawn to people with this particular talent. I have a lot of friends who really can spin a mean yarn when they need to. Sometimes their stories are so good, I repeat them. I know this is a trait a lot of others have too and that always makes me laugh.

It is funny though how sometimes a great story when told orally can become lifeless in a written form. Writing a story down takes away so much. You cant gesture or give people funny voices or anything when writing. I think that is why I am always so impressed with people who can take a story and give it life in print.

So what can I say about Alexie. Well, I'm impressed.

The Road Not Taken

2007-11-04T17:43:00.000-05:00

This morning, I heard a story on the radio about Antioch College in Yellow Springs, OH. They are in real danger of closing and are at the moment only staying open because the alumni have managed to raise enough money to keep them open.

I never was a student at Antioch but there was a time when I really wanted to be. I even visited their campus. I loved the place. It was exactly the sort of hippy dippy free thinking kind of place that I know I would have both loved and would have suited me best academically. When I first heard about Antioch and told my Dad about what a cool place it seemed, he just started laughing and said that every weirdo in our family has always wanted to go to Antioch so Why Not? My uncle and one of his cousins went there.

But I ended up deciding not to go. I got a scholarship to the local community college. I had a new boyfriend and I was all in love with him. The tuition at Antioch was way more than my parents could have afforded. EtC ETC. I took a different road.

It hasnt been bad. My life, in many ways, is really darn good. But every so often, I wonder how my life might have turned out differently if I had just gone to that school. Who would I have met? What would I have learned? It is during those moments when I think of a certain famous poem by Robert Frost. And then I laugh

Stop City Income Tax - Vote On Tuesday, November 6

2007-11-03T20:34:00.000-04:00

The town I live in, Ypsilanti, has an income tax issue on the ballot this Tuesday. It is for a proposed temporary income tax of 1% for city residents and 0.5% for non-residents who work in the city. There is some property tax roll back in the scheme which gives a break to people like me who own property in the city.

Oddly, I find myself in opposition of this tax. Most people who know me know that is not the usual position I take on these sorts of issues. I usually am very much in favor of tax increases especially when I think that the tax money will be spend wisely. I know that the last time I can remember any kind of tax increase in Ypsilanti being voted on (the road one around six or seven years ago), I voted yes for it. I just cannot, in good conscience vote for this income tax.

Firstly, I dont like it because I think that with the property tax roll back, it places more burden on renters than on homeowners. Since renters tend to be poorer, it puts too much burden on hard working lower income people who are the very group of people I believe should have tax burden lifted from them.

This poorer group is also represented by people who work in our city. Yeah, ok, the people over at EMU probably have pretty decent jobs at decent pay (especially the professors), but over on my street there is a factory. A factory which, judging by the cars its workers drive and by how many dont seem to have cars at all, clearly is not paying too much. And there are lots of other low-wage jobs in this city and those people probably cant afford the tax either. I mean, even if their tax burden is only a hundred dollars a year, it is important to remember that for a poor family, a hundred dollars is a LOT of money. It is a utility bill. It is a winter coat. It is a whole wardrobe from Value World. A week's groceries. Whatever. I just know when I see the workers at that factory that they can ill afford such a tax.

Another reason I am against this tax is that I think the main reason the City of Ypsilanti needs this tax is because the tax structure in our state is broken. I believe that this tax will not fix that but instead may hide some of the symptoms of it which will mean that things are less likely to change. Maybe the state needs to see cities like Ypsilanti struggling? Something has to change though. It sucks that I have to pay so much more tax than my neighbors in Ypsilanti Township. It sucks that I have to pay so much more tax than my parents, who live in Green Oak Twp in a house easily worth four times as much as mine. I dont mean that I have a higher rate either, I mean that I pay more tax...more than a thousand dollars more!

This income tax is also something that is very visible and something that will have an effect on the housing market here and not a positive one. I know that reduced fire and police protection and all of the other cuts that will happen without the income tax will also have a negative effect on house and rental prices but I think that because an income tax is so in-your-face visible and reduced fire and police are not things that one notices every day, the tax will have the more negative effect.

So, please vote NO on the City Income Tax.

Guilty Pleasures

2007-11-02T20:10:00.000-04:00

Tonight, what I would be doing instead of blogging and what I will be doing as soon as I am done blogging, is to engage in some guilty pleasures of mine.

Naturally, no guilty pleasure list would be complete without food. And tonight for dinner, I am having a great big giant "everything" bagel. It will be toasted and will have lots of cream cheese on it. YUM!
I am going to watch Meerkat Manor. A show that I stumbled on over the summer while hanging out at my parents house. They have cable. I dont. But I have Netflix and Netflix has Meerkat Manor. So I have two DVD's of the cute little buggers to watch.
Booze. Let's just say that I have a bottle of wine and I dont need to drive anywhere tonight.
Pajamas. I LOVE pajamas.

Well, now that I think about it, that is a pretty lame list. In my younger days, I would have been dropping acid and staying up all night with my friends causing trouble. Although I sometimes miss those days too, there is something to be said for the life of a boring middle class middle aged lady too.

NaNoWriMo

2007-11-01T19:36:00.000-04:00

November is National Novel Writing Month. Every since I first heard about NaNoWriMo, I've considered participating. I mean, writing a novel seems like a good goal for a person to have in life. And it is one that pretty much any literate person can achieve. I mean, the goal is just to write a novel. It isnt to write a good novel although that would be pretty cool. It isnt to get published. It is just about the act of creating. Also on my agenda for Someday is to create some kind of painting/fresco hybrid thingie. I think I have that one scheduled for the Tuesday after I win the lotto.

Anyways, as usual I am wimping out of NaNoWriMo. But, I am going to participate in the less ambitious NaBloPoMo - National Blog Posting Month! I am going to write a post every day in November. It is a good way to keep the ole noggin working and November is a month where I kind of need that. So...expect to hear a lot from me. I cant promise it will be any good, of course. But that goes without saying.

Blogging

2007-10-31T07:37:00.000-04:00

I know that I havent been updating this blog much lately. It is weird but I just dont feel much like writing in the evenings for some reason. Part of it is that most things are going well.

Tasha, the new dog, is settling in. She's still destroying things when I go to work but usually very minor things. She has been re-potty trained for the most part. She likes going to the park and she likes going to the lake.

My job is still going well. I love having windows to look out of. Especially this time of year. The trees are in full color and I can see tons of them from my desk. I am keeping on top of all of the work. As I learn more, the work gets easier. On the days when I do get stressed, I use the Y membership they give me as a benefit to go swimming on my lunch hour. There is nothing that de-stresses me as well as swimming.

For Cy Klone

2007-10-24T20:54:00.000-04:00

I had a bowl of Mango flavored granola with 2% milk and an apple for breakfast this morning

New Dog

2007-10-15T22:58:00.000-04:00

Well, I have finally decided to get another dog. I dont have any photos yet because I cant find the battery charger for my camera. But she is a yellow lab and well...pretty much looks like every other yellow lab out there. Generally I dont like pure bred dogs but I had reason to get this particular dog. I have a very elderly cat and needed a dog who wouldnt harass the poor dear. So, a friend of mine who volunteers at an animal shelter let me know that this dog has no interest in cats so I decided to try her out. I took her home for a weekend trial and she really has no interest in cats so she gets to stay.

There have been some problems though. She needs a refresher course in potty training but that has been going ok. She has separation anxiety and apparently can get destructive. Today, while I was at work, she didnt pee (GOOD DOG!) but she did get into the linen closet and tore up a couple of rolls of toilet paper and some menstrual pads (BAD DOG!). Hopefully she will become more calm as the week progresses.

She is five years old and her name is "Tasha"

Sherman Alexie

2007-10-11T04:15:00.000-04:00

Sometimes it's called passing out and sometimes it's just pretending to be asleep.

Sometime ago, I had a literature class where we read a collection of short stories written by Sherman Alexie called The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fistfight in Heaven. There was one day where a friend called me to tell me that a mutual acquaintance of ours had committed suicide the night before by jumping in front of a train. That very evening I settled onto my couch to do some required reading for my class. I live next to the train tracks and trains come through several times a day and, as it happens, a couple of trains went by while I was reading.

The story was one of the most powerful stories I've ever read. The things going on my real life while I read it just made it more so. The story was A Train is an Order of Occurrence Designed to Lead to Some Result which you can read HERE

Since that time. Sherman Alexie has been one of my favorite authors. I admire him. I am jealous of his gift. I find his work entertaining. He makes me think. I guess you could say that I am a big fan.

Last night, I found out that Sherman Alexie is going to be speaking at Eastern Michigan University on Monday, November 5. Better still, as far as I can tell, the event is free!

corn plastic

2007-10-03T18:46:00.000-04:00

I've noticed a lot of corn plastic around these days. I am not normally a cup reader but the other day, I read my cup of iced tea from Sweetwaters and noticed that it said it was made with some kind of bio-degradable plastic made from corn. And then tonight while I was waiting for my sandwich at Cafe Luwak I noticed that they had a sign up that said that they too were using this corn plastic.

I can not wrap my brain around this stuff. I just cant see how corn can become plastic. It just seems not right to me.

But I can say this, there is something different about this corn plastic. It has a different feel to it and the more I see it, the more I am coming to like it. I dont know what it is about it.

People Who Died

2007-09-26T19:59:00.000-04:00

I keep thinking that I want to write a little bit about my Baba's life since it was a pretty interesting life and certainly a long one. I am not especially ready for that yet though.

My grandmother was 93 years old. She died while eating breakfast. She had a waffle shaped like Mickey Mouse. My aunt said that she had eaten two ears and half a face before she died. She didnt choke. She wasnt ill. She just woke up that morning, sat down to breakfast, ate half of it...and died. Not a bad way to go if you ask me.

So, I caught a cold at the funeral from kissing too many relatives I guess. So I am cranky. Which is why it sucks that I cant get Jim Carroll's People who Died song out of my head. I feel like I want to add another verse:

"Baba ate two ears and half a face. She was 93 when she died...93 WHEN SHE DIED...
These are people who died died. They were all my friends, and they died!!!!"

Baba RIP

2007-09-20T19:03:00.000-04:00

My last remaining grandparent died this morning. It hasnt really hit me yet but I am sure it will. She lived a long life and was well into her 90's so it isnt exactly surprising but well...I guess I feel a little surprised by it. Are we ever really ready for someone's death?

Running into People

2007-09-15T10:59:00.000-04:00

I have to say that one of the nicest things about working downtown is that I run into people I know almost every day. I ran into Kate the other day which was fun. I havent talked to her in a while and she walked me to the bus stop and chatted while I waited for my bus which certainly is a nice way to pass the time.

Yesterday morning as I was hurrying along Main Street, I ran into my friend Aviva's mother. Then, as I was sitting at my desk looking out at the Fleetwood, I saw Aviva herself helping her husband put up flyers for his band's show next weekend at the Heildelberg.. Later, I went over to the Fleetwood for lunch where I heard the full story about the flyers. Apparently there is some guy named "Richard" who goes around taking down people's flyers. Aviva caught him taking down her husband's flyers and yelled at him. I wish I had seen that!

Casino

2007-09-10T18:46:00.000-04:00

I can be pretty lame sometimes. This past Saturday, I went on a tour bus trip to a casino. My friend, Heather, volunteers for a charity and her charity had a fund raiser where folks paid $25 bucks for a bus ride from Belleville to Greektown Casino. So I figured it is for a good cause and I enjoy Greektown *and* gambling *and* Heather's company so I signed up for the event. We went out to dinner at Hellas which has been a favorite place of mine since the first time I was taken there as a small child and the waitress came out with the OPA! cheese. It is funny because I have always wondered about the people arriving at Casinos in big tour buses. I always wondered what kind of person would decide to go to the casino on a big ole party bus. Now I know :) Anyways,I won $50.

Stuff

2007-09-05T18:58:00.001-04:00

Well, my second week at the new job seems to be going well. Folks there seem to think I am doing a good job which is good. I have some ideas for making things more efficient that I hope they will like. The commute remains terrible. Today I dropped off my Dad's car at the body shop and took the bus into work. That wasnt too bad. But coming home was a NIGHTMARE. It took me an hour and a half door to door. Yuck. Oh well. I guess I know what to expect tomorrow though.

I got to thinking about the economics of public transportation though. In the past week and a half, I have ridden on several AATA routes. The buses always have plenty of riders. This morning the #4 was so crowded, I wasnt sure anyone else would be able to get onto it. Granted, I am only riding the bus at rush hour but still... Anyways, it seems to me that one of the biggest costs for the bus is labor so I started thinking about ways that AATA could reduce labor costs while making people's commutes better too.

The answer is technology. I know this is a pipe dream but I wonder if the technology exists to build some kind of elevated light rail/monorail that doesnt need a person driving the train. And if so, I wonder how much it would cost to build such a thing. I imagine that it must cost a lot. And by "a lot" I mean an amount where the AATA wouldnt be able to recoup the costs quickly enough with whatever labor savings they might have. Still, it would be nice to have such a thing running between Ann Arbor and Ypsilanti. It seems to me that if one could get from Ypsi to Ann Arbor in 20 mins or so without getting stuck in traffic, more people would become mass transit riders.

Well, enough with the bus I guess...

Labor Day Weekend was really nice. I had people up to the lake on Saturday and Sunday. We had a blast. Shannon brought me a birthday cake on Sunday which was really nice. The weather was great. We swam a lot. It was all good.

Adventures with AATA

2007-08-30T18:57:00.000-04:00

The first week at my new job has been going well. The only thing about it that I dont like is the commute. It has been taking me between 45 minutes and an hour and a half EACH WAY. This is mostly because of traffic. I've been going to the Pioneer High school park and ride but the traffic getting there is bad and then the bus has to fight even worse traffic on Main Street. I am hoping that all of this traffic isnt normal and it is due to this being student move in week. We'll see.

AATA operates only one single express bus and it isnt one from Ypsi. It goes from the Plymouth Road Mall to Downtown. It might be faster for me to drive to the Plymouth Road Mall and park there and then take the Express bus downtown. I dont think I should catch too much traffic going over that way.

Or I might just take the bus all the way from Ypsilanti. I think spending that much time on the bus might make me go crazy though. I have always really hated riding the bus. I often get motion sickness from being on the bus which is kind of weird because I almost never get motion sickness in cars unless certain people are driving.

Another possibility at least when the weather is nice would be to catch the Washtenaw bus with my bike in the bike rack. I could get off at S. University and Washtenaw and then have a five-ten minute bike ride to work. I know I would be allowed to bring my bike into the office.

Anyways, transportation issues aside. I am really loving my new job. My work environment is really awesome and I am starting to do actual work now which is nice. It is really nice to be downtown too. Today I spent my lunch hour walking around and then I went and got a coffee at SweetWaters Cafe, which while expensive has really nice coffee. I am pretty sure that even though it is across the street, I might be able to connect to my new company's wireless connection from there which means that I'll probably be able to work from there sometimes once I am confident enough to do work without constantly asking questions.

First Day at Work

2007-08-27T20:48:00.001-04:00

I had my first day at my new job today. So far...so good. I have a lot of confidence that I will be able to do what they need me to do. I have a to learn of course but I am good at that sort of thing. Everyone is nice there and helpful. They took me out to lunch for my first day which was really nice. And the WINDOWS! I had windows all day and not just any windows...but windows with an actual NICE VIEW. A nice view of trees and downtown. I can see The Fleetwood Diner from my desk. My former boss kept calling it The Treehouse because she couldnt remember the company name but I have to say that it really felt like being in a Treehouse.

Working downtown will probably be good for my health too. For one thing, I am working on the third floor so going up and down stairs all day will be a good thing. But also, my new company gives everyone a membership to the Y, which is a mere two blocks away (I can see that from my desk too). That means that I can go swimming on my lunch hour if I want to.

I still have to work out the parking thing. I parked at the park and ride at Pioneer HS and that worked ok but I wonder if another park and ride might be faster. I am going to check it out. I cant afford to park in the city lot that is right across the street except once in a while. It's $9/day.

Car Thieves in Ypsilanti

2007-08-23T11:39:00.000-04:00

Last night I had dinner with some neighbors and there was some talk about crime and safety in the neighborhood -- mostly in relation to reducing city services like the police force. As it happens, I am not against reducing some services but I am not so sure about reducing police and fire services.

And just in case I needed a reminder about why, the car I've borrowed from my Dad was broken into last night. At first I thought I had forgotten to lock it but the police officers who took the report pointed out where the thieves had forced open the drivers side door lock. They also pried apart the ignition which activated the anti-theft system so now, the car wont start. The cops said that they probably tried to steal it because it is a Chrysler and apparently Chryslers are easy cars to steal...usually. Not all of them have anti-theft systems I guess. The tow truck driver said the same thing.

Ok, the anti-theft system did what it was supposed to do and the car wasnt stolen. But I had to have it towed to the Chrysler dealership and I had to take today off of work (unpaid) which I can ill afford. Again, I guess I should be grateful that this happened today rather than next week when I'll be in my first week at my new job.

I have to admit though, that I am getting tired of this. I usually dont lock my car and it gets broken into on average about once a month. But no one has ever actually tried to steal my car before. They just take loose change and returnable bottles usually. This is a somewhat recent thing too. It was a few years after I first moved in here that my car was broken into. It bugs the crap out of me though. It bugs me that there are people in the world who have so little respect for the property of others. It bugs me that we have an economy were some people get desperate. This summer has been pretty bad for me crime wise too. I had my hand chair stolen from my porch, I had a guy sleeping on my lawn in his underpants and a sleeping bag stolen from my neighbor..and now this.

I cant help wondering if all of this petty theft has something to do with the whole situation at the jail. The jail is always full so often the police arrest people and then just let them go right away. The people who live far away from Ypsilanti generally are the ones who have voted not to spend money to expand the jail. Why should they? They dont have the same crime problems. They have been able to move away from such social issues.

Right now, I cant say that I totally blame them. Well, I blame them for not voting to expand the jail but I dont really blame them for choosing to remove themselves geographically from the crime that necessitates a jail and an expensive police force. If you live far from the poor people, you are much less likely to be a victim of a crime. So you can get away with less police and that saves you money on your taxes. It is normal and rational for a person to make such a decision.

As much as I complain about the tax rate in Ypsilanti, we dont pay the same taxes that people who live in the City of Detroit pay. They *really* pay through the nose tax wise and I dont mind mentioning that their city income tax combined with the highest property tax rate in the state combined with lousy services has not really encouraged people to move there. One has to wonder, is Ypsilanti headed in the same direction?

Our tax system is broken. Seriously. You see, when people are looking around for a place to live, they can choose a place like Ypsilanti or Detroit. But there is infrastructure in place in those places that has to be paid for. There are old employee pensions, roads, parks, etc. OR people can choose to live someplace close to the city where they can avoid paying for city services while still benefiting from proximity to the city. Then, as the people who can afford to move out, move out, they leave behind the people who really cant afford to leave. They leave behind the social problems and poverty that lead to higher crime levels which leaves fewer tax payers to pay for those things. That higher taxation further discourages the people who can best afford to pay for things from moving into cities. And so on... Combine all of that with other market forces and voila! You have SE Michigan and all of the sprawl that is so characteristic of this area.

So? What is to be done. I know some people take the view that the answer is to gentrify the area, to drive up rents and property values so much that the poor people are forced to move. I wonder how much of this type of thinking was behind the failed Water Street project? It certainly seems to be a technique that has worked for Ann Arbor. Ann Arbor is much more high brow than it was when I first moved there 22 years ago. But, I think Water Street is a good example of how the gentrification approach is nearly impossible.

A better approach would be to fix the property tax structure so that tax payers in areas with a lot of social problems dont end up paying for *all* of those problems while people who live in places removed from them dont pay anything at all. Of course, that solution might be just as impossible at least judging from the jail situation. I still say that the Ypsilanti police should start releasing people who would have gone to the jail if there had been room in places like Saline or Milan or even Ypsilanti Twp. That might motivate those motherfuckers to vote for a bigger jail!

You'll Be Sorry

2007-08-22T10:56:00.000-04:00

I picked up a book in the free book room yesterday. (This is my last week of the free book room which is one benefit of this job I will surely miss). This book is a book of poems written by Jeffrey Skinner called Salt Water Amnesia. The poems are decent but not likely to become favorites, although with poetry, you never know. Sometimes a poem read and cast off becomes a favorite later on. Many of these poems are prose poems. A lot of people don't even think prose poems should be considered poems but I have to admit that I really like them. I often wish I had a better command of metaphor, simile, analogy, and other symbolic language. Then I would be able to impress people with my brilliant prose poems instead of writing them on scraps of paper to be tossed into a notebook at the bottom of my closet.

This batch of poems isn't bad. There is one that I like better than the others called White Dwarf. This is the beginning of it:

One day when our sun runs out of fuel and collapses inward under its own weight, then picks up enough mass from its neighbor to explode outward, the blown debris approaching a good fraction of the speed of light, then, then, you'll be sorry.

I like this one because it really captures an emotion I feel when someone hurts me. I often imagine some future scenario where everything goes wrong for the object of my ire. Usually my fantasy involves them realizing at the last minute how very wrong they were to have hurt me. It is childish, I know, but it always makes me feel better. And as long as I keep my thoughts to myself, it is a perfectly harmless exercise. Still, there is an absurdity to it too and that particular line in Skinner’s poem brought that home to me. Yeah yeah...Someday when the earth is in flames and you are DEAD, you'll be thinking all about *me* ME *me* because yeah...like you wont have anything better to think about. And you'll be sorry. Your last thought will be deep regret for taking my heart and stomping on it over and over until it squished through your toes. Yeah, you'll be sorry alright. You're probably sorry that you forgot to pick up your drycleaning that one time too. And sorry that you cut off that lady in traffic that other time. You're sorry alright. Riiiiiight.

Last Week

2007-08-21T10:37:00.000-04:00

I am in my last week at my current job. It is funny how hard a last week can be. I thought it would be easy because of the whole light at the end of the tunnel effect. But instead, I just want to be gone. I have cleaned out my cube of all of my personal stuff. I am ready to be gone. Oh well, I still have things to do around here to finish up. Mostly I am trying to write documents so that the people they hire off the street with limited computer skills can have a tiny chance of fixing things. I have to admit, though, that the literacy skills of some of the recent hires are so lacking that I am not entirely sure they'll be able to read anything I write down.

One thing that is good about this being my last week is that self evaluations are going to be due for the mid year reviews soon. And I don't have to do one!

My Lines! My Lines! I Can't Remember My Lines

2007-08-18T11:27:00.000-04:00

I was chatting with some co-workers the other day about commercials and one of them mentioned that the Detroit Zoo was running some of their older commercials and especially one particular classic commercial that they ran for YEARS back in the 80's. We found it on YouTube and it is funny how something like this can be stored almost hidden in one's memory for *years* but almost perfectly. I mean, I havent thought about this commercial EVER that I can think of and yet when I saw it running again, I was able to go along with it perfectly while anticipating the next line. Weird. I guess I can remember my lines after all

When it Rains, It Pours

2007-08-16T16:46:00.000-04:00

I have kind of fixed my computer. I have fixed it up enough that I can get on the internet anyways. I think I can replace all of the applications I had on the old computer since so much of it was freeware anyways. I might have to buy a word processing program but then again, I might not. I mean, now that I am not going back to school, I don't know how much word processing I'll be doing.

I spoke to the graduation audit person at EMU yesterday. She had called several times while I was in Nova Scotia. She said that I hadn't listed a minor on my graduation application. I said that I didn't know that a minor was *required* but she said that it was. I told her that I never picked a minor because I never was able to make up my mind. I spent about 30 seconds wondering how many classes I was going to have to take to pick up a minor in something...ANYTHING. I wondered if there might be a minor in belly button lint picking because that is about all the higher education I felt up to. And then, she chimed in with her happy cheery voice, "You have enough credits for a minor in Psychology"

So I was all like, "Hell FUCK yeah! That's what I want!!!" (although I didn’t say *exactly* that) And ta-da...I am a college graduate with a BS degree in Economics and a minor in Psychology. I am glad that I got a BS degree too rather than a BA degree because somehow the BS seems more appropriate.

And what would a new college graduate need most you might ask? A new job perhaps? Well, hunky dory lucky me, I have one of those too. Hot DAMN this has been a good summer for me.

The job thing is totally a silver lining behind the dark cloud sort of thing too. I had a conflict at work that was enough to get me looking for another job. I happened to check craigslist for reasons I don't even know because I would never have thought to look for a job there. I guess I was thinking that it wouldn't hurt to be thorough. Anyhoo...there was only one job there but it was The Job. It was the kind of job where, when I read the job description, I just couldn't even believe it. It had crossed my mind that one of my friends who knew I was job hunting had put it there as a prank. It was that good. It is a tech support position at a small software company but one that is growing and one where there will be many opportunities for me to grow along with them. I am going to learn some really exciting things.

I sent my resume. It never hurts to do that. Within a couple of days, I had my first interview. It was one of the best interviews I have ever had in my life. The guy who interviewed me even used to work with one of the people I had listed as a reference! I met some of the other people who work there. I thought everyone was really nice. I got this feeling that I would fit in well. The offices have WINDOWS! Seriously, work for eight years in a windowless cubicle and then laugh when someone suggests that something like a window can be the icing on the cake of a good job. Anyways, a couple of days later, on my last day in Michigan before leaving on vacation, I had a second interview and a job offer. Man, did *that* make my vacation extra nice.

So, I have a week and a half here at my current job. I start my new job on 8/27. I’ll be working in downtown Ann Arbor. I don't know what I'll do about parking yet. Most likely, I'll start taking the bus to work.

Oh and the week I got my job offer, my brother got a really good promotion at work and my parents won all of their sailboat races. So when it rains, it pours eh? My mother says that someone in our family needs to buy a lotto ticket!

Home Again

2007-08-15T10:34:00.000-04:00

I am home again. I always love coming home from a trip. There is nothing like a trip to make one appreciate the comforts of home. Unfortunately, one of the comforts of my home, my computer, is still broken. I should have it fixed today but I might have to order a restore disk which could delay things. Welcome to hte real world :) At any rate, my blogging might be lacking for a few more days. Just a few more days though.

Blogging on Vacation

2007-08-10T17:54:00.000-04:00

I am on vacation at the moment in Baddeck, Nova Scotia. I am just hanging out at the local library at the moment and I have just under a half an hour left of precious computer time. Yes, I have chosen not to go sailing again tonight so I can spend time sitting inside writing. True confessions time I guess. I am an addict.

But I am having a good time. My friends' house is a fabulously rustic old farmhouse. I'll post some photos when I get home. The time away from the internet has mostly been good for me. I have been reading some good novels and thinking that it is a shame that I dont make time to do that more often. I have been swimming in Bras D'or Lake (saltwater lake) almost every day. I have been stung by a jelly fish and although my friends offerred to pee on me, I declined. I think the kind of jellyfish here are kind of mild as jellyfish go though. The kids keep getting stung repeatedly and keep going back for more. I've gotten good at spotting them and swimming in weird zig zag patterns to avoid them.

I have been sailing in a small boat and have decided that I probably wont be reliving my teenaged years of sailing small boats all day. I think it is going to be keel boats for me from here on out. Keel boats and kayaks...and pontoons. It makes me feel old. But that is ok. I am old. Or maybe I'll just say that I am old-ish. A few days ago though, I watched a sailboat race with a finish in the harbor. That was unusual. I saw this one boat make the moves on another boat and it was beautiful. Seriously beautiful.

I saw a seal today in the lake. Well, it was either a seal or an underwater swimming dog. My vote is for seal. I saw a bald eagle in a nest next to the beach at the house. I had a partridge follow me for miles because one of the kids had fed it a cookie just before I happened along. I flipped out about the partridge. Yup, a bird smaller than a chicken apparently has the power to cause me to lose it. I called it a MOTHER FUCKER...to its face!

Tonight, after the library closes, I am going to go to a caleigh where my friends and I will just sit back and enjoy some of the local music.

And yet, I am homesick. I miss my dog.

Gone Fishin'

2007-07-27T13:18:00.001-04:00

I'll be back in late August.

Fat, Broke, and Lonely

2007-07-22T15:06:00.000-04:00

Someone was telling me about a book called Fat, Broke & Lonely No More!. Amazon has the following description about it:

Do you ever obsess about whether to order dessert, buy those pricey sandals, or be totally honest on a third date?

If so, then you are already acquainted with the fear of being fat, broke & lonely. If only we could eat less, get paid better, and be more outgoing.

Only it's not that simple. Our endless quest to be fit, flush, and partnered (no matter where we fall on the scale) inevitably makes us feel fat, broke & lonely. The symptoms are anxiety, shame, and fear, and the diagnosis is feeling miserable about ourselves. We have two choices: give up, convinced that this is just a lifelong, losing battle, or go toe-to-toe with our negative self-image and take back our lives.

Real-life anecdotes, practical strategies, and a touch of sass make this revolutionary five-step plan a must-read. First, Moran helps us discover the root of the symptoms. Then we learn how to break up with fat, broke & lonely for good. And finally, we learn how to hook up with the life of our dreams—and who doesn't want that?

I havent read this book yet but I am very interested in it. I am curious at what her solutions might be. I hope it is something more that a glorified instruction manual for losing weight, earning more money, and gettin' hitched. Nevertheless, just the title got me thinking. I have to admit that I think it is interesting that the author of this book is addressing all of these things together in one book. At first, I thought it was odd but when I stopped to think about it, it all makes a kind of sense because those things are all connected in a way.

I mean, I am fat. And like it or not, being fat makes it MUCH harder to find a mate. Being single increases loneliness. But it also has financial implications since single women tend to be poorer than married women. In my own case, I have a household income that is just slightly below the mean household income in the USA. But if I were married to someone with the same income, the two of us would have an income in the top 20% of household incomes. That is a difference between having a middle class income and an upper middle class income.

So...Fat, Broke, and Lonely. Here are my thoughts on each of those things.

Re: Fat.

Well, since I *am* fat, I pretty much always feel fat. What I have learned is that being fat is probably outside of my control. Or rather, what it would take for me to be not fat is more than I can do and still be sane and happy. I have also learned that doesnt mean that I am a bad person. Being fat also doesnt mean that I necessarily have to be terribly unhealthy. So I changed my goal away from losing weight and have made new goals that are more attainable. e.g. walking several times a week is a goal. Making sure I eat enough fruits and veggies is a goal. Reducing my sugar intake is a goal. Those are all good things but are not things that cause me to lose a significant amount of weight.

I have put a lot of focus on not internalizing the messages our culture has about fat, especially those messages that arent based in fact. For instance, it isnt laziness on my part that keeps me fat. It isnt a complete lack of willpower that keeps me fat. It is a constant battle though because our culture tends to shame people for being fat. A lot of people consider it a moral failing.

Basically my solution to feeling fat has been to change my outlook on what fat means. It doesnt mean I am unhealthy although since it is a risk factor for certain things, it does mean that I need to monitor my health more closely than others might need to. It doesnt mean that I am a bad person. It doesnt mean that I am ugly. It just means that I have a body shape that is different than most people's.

Re: Broke

I am often broke. Some of that is due to some bad financial management on my part but ironicly some it that is due to good financial management on my part, i.e. I feel broke when I dont have enough money to buy things that I want but not buying them anyways on credit is good financial management.

Lately though, I have been under more financial stress than usual. If I were to lose my job, I dont know what I'll do. Unemployment benefits would not be enough for meto live on. I might need to sell my house in such a situation if I couldnt find a job within a month or so. Almost all of my savings are in my retirement account which I could access but with penalties. I would hate to do that but if push came to shove, I guess I would have to.

What this has taught me more than anything is that I *really* need to work more on getting my financial house in order. I need to spend even less than I am spending now. I might need to try to find a roommate or something. I need to save more money so I can have that six months of salary that everyone recommends saved up so that if I ever find myself in a situation where I might lose my job, I wont be stressed out about it.

Re: Lonely.

I guess there are different types of loneliness.

There is what I consider real lonliness where one finds oneself cut off from the rest of the world. Sometimes in the winter I experience this because I tend to get depressed in the winter. It is a vicious cycle. I get depressed enough that just going to work sucks up most of my energy so I dont make an effort to socialize. Then the lack of social interaction means that I start to feel lonely, which makes me more depressed, which in turn, makes me even less likely to do social things. I often have to make a real effort to socialize even if it is only talking to someone on the phone for a half hour.

Being social and making the emotional connections that prevent loneliness are hard work. But important work. When I feel lonely, I call people and make an effort to see them. I tell people I love them. I hug my friends.

There is also the loneliness of being single. Some of that, though, isnt real loneliness on my part, but rather a response to cultural expectations that people, and especially women, be partnered up. Mostly, I have decided that I am going to be single for the rest of my life and I have come to terms with that. I honestly believe that it is better to be single than to be with the wrong person. If the right person should happen to come along, that is great.

Being single and feeling that particular kind of loneliness is still hard though. I dont meet very many men that I am interested in but when I do, they have (so far) pretty much always rejected me at some point or another. Well, all the men have rejected me except for the ones I rejected first! haha. Seriously though, that is a mind set I fall into occasionally. I will think, "Every man in the world has rejected me" but really that isnt true because there have been men who havent but whom I felt were lacking in one way or another so I actually was the one who rejected them. I guess it is easier to forget the people one rejects as romantic partners than the other ones. And ok, while I am not beating my many suiters off with a stick (although I did recently have a guy camped out on my front lawn), I do have some men who are interested. It just hasnt been anyone in whom I am also interested.

In conclusion, I guess I have to say that I am fat, broke, and lonely at least by many other people's definitions and I dont think it is all that bad really. There are worse things certainly and my life is generally pretty good!

The friends have arrived

2007-07-18T13:17:00.001-04:00

Well, Shannon/Caleb and family have arrived. So I probably wont be doing *too* much blogging. Here is a photo of Anja updating her blog...

I have to say, that her blog is pretty interesting for a blog written by a kid. If you want to check it out, Click Here for SuperJimPandaBear

Job Hunting

2007-07-17T12:31:00.000-04:00

It turns out that the anxiety I was feeling yesterday at work was totally and completely well founded. I am currently looking for another job. I think that finding another job is a skill and one that I have never really cultivated in myself. The truth is that I have never gotten a job where someone I know didnt ask me to come apply. Jobs in the past have landed in my lap. I dont think I am good at selling myself.

But I need to get better at that. I have a lot of skills that someone surely will find useful. The question is how can I make others see that I am a hard worker and that I am really smart? I work well with others. I actually really love giving really good customer service because there is nothing nicer than making people happy all day or making other people's jobs easier. I am really good at that too.

Anyways, I think the hardest part of this is going to be all of the rejection I am likely to get. I mean everyone I know who has gone on a job search has always had to apply for several jobs and has always needed to go on several job interviews. I think I am ready for that though. I think I can present myself well. So wish me luck!

Angst and The Rules

2007-07-16T15:20:00.000-04:00

I feel really weird at the moment. I guess it is a feeling that can best be described as angst. Probably it is just a normal worry about the next horrible situation at work that I am likely to have to deal with. I hope that is what it is. I wasnt feeling this earlier in the day.

Today actually started out pretty good. I had an email from a long lost friend in my inbox and that made me really happy as he was at one time one of my very best friends. We've just fallen out of touch in recent years which happens sometimes. I kind of had to laugh though because I have been saying "I know that I never call and never write but that doesnt mean that I dont love you" to a lot of people lately.

Which kind of reminds me of that lovely dating handbook The Rules. Because one of the things they keep saying over and over is that if someone is interested in you or cares, they will call. I KNOW that isnt true because there are a lot of people in this world whom I LOVE dearly and whom I seldom call. I found a copy in the free book room lately and brought it home. I figured it would be good for a laugh. And it was. I mean the whole thing is just chock full of crazy rules that I cant imagine might work. I can say that out of a sense of curiosity, I decided to follow all of "The Rules" for one week. They didnt work for me any better than the more traditional dating advice of "just be yourself." The advantage of the latter though is that I kind of like being myself. So I am going to stick to that one.

Reading The Rules did get me thinking about some things. Mostly I thought the entire thing was complete bullshit. I had to wonder how I might feel if following The Rules had helped me. I mean, it is basically a manual on manipulation. Not my thing really. And I think I would resent being with someone if I felt that I had had to manipulate him into being with me. Ah well, the chapters are short and it is good bathroom reading. Like most things there are a couple of good points tucked in there here and there. Things like, you cant change people so if the guy you are dating isnt treating you well when you are dating, the odds are that he wont suddenly shape up once he has a wedding ring on his finger. But ok. Other than that, it is pretty much bullshit.

2007-07-15T19:09:00.000-04:00

Crazy Weekend
Man, I can not believe how wild this weekend has been. I put in 10 hours of overtime for work by 3p Saturday afternoon and pretty much all of it was involuntary. Unfortunately, I cant really talk about the details because of my company's draconian blog policy. But I was in danger of missing the graduation party my sister was having for me and the conflict was *really* stressing me out. It isnt common for my job to reduce me to tears but it happened this weekend. Oh well, I have sent out some resumes...so wish me luck. I have to admit though that the whole prospect of a serious job search stresses me out a lot too. I have rejection issues and all of the rejection that is a normal part of a job search really gets to me.

I got lucky though and the universe aligned in my favor so that I was able to show up at my sister's party on time and I was able to enjoy myself. She lives on the same lake that my parents do and I love hanging out there. I had lots of good conversations with everyone.

This morning though, the hard drive on my laptop died. And of course, I have no backup and I should know better! Oh well, I'll try to recover whatever I can. Luckily these laptop hard drives are cheap and I can get one twice as big as the old one for under $100. Now, I am sitting here on my other computer which I dont like as much. But at least I havent been cut off of the internet. I mean, how else could I spend an entire day procrastinating about cleaning the house?

I'm So Hot, I Have Men Camped Out On My Front Lawn

2007-07-12T10:10:00.000-04:00

I am really tired today. I woke up at around 4:30 this morning and I happened to look out of my front window. There was a guy camped out on my front lawn with a sleeping bag! At first I thought he was a dog so I went and put some clothes on so I could go out to see if it had tags but when I looked out of the window again, I noticed he was standing up and wearing his hooded sleeping bag like a cape and dressed only in his underpants. I really couldn’t tell much about him except that he was no dog. He was just a silhouette in the glow of the street light.

He kind of reminded me of a guy I used to know named Bruce who always wore a hooded cape and had I not recently learned of Bruce’s death, I might have actually thought it was him. Not only because of the cape but because it simply wouldn’t surprise me to find Bruce sleeping on some random lawn in Ypsilanti. In a way I wish it had been Bruce because that would mean that the rumors I had heard of his death had been false. Also, I know that he wouldn’t ever hurt anyone.

I thought of just ignoring the guy and letting him try to get some small amount of sleep. But I couldn’t. I mean, I just couldn’t go back to sleep myself knowing that guy was out there. It was creepy. I kept thinking of that naked man who broke into my house a few years back. What if *this* guy decided to try something similar while I was asleep? There were my neighbors to consider too. What if he decided to try something similar over at their houses while they were asleep? It just didn’t seem prudent to ignore him.

I didn’t want to deal with him on my own though either. So I called the police. As usual, I was very impressed with the response I got from the Ypsilanti Police Department. I called their non-emergency number and they were still at my house within five minutes. They told me that hanging out dressed in underpants and wearing a sleeping bag like a cape is not a crime but they were sympathetic that I was scared about the guy being on my lawn. And they got him to leave although he left his sleeping bag. I moved that this morning because it looked like it could be an expensive one and since today is trash day, I worried that it might get picked up. At any rate, I continue to have a strong appreciation for the Ypsilanti Police Department. They’ve always responded quickly even for minor things.

I cant get this guy off of my mind though. Why was he camped out on my front lawn? I mean other than the obvious explanation that I am so beautiful that it isn’t surprising at all for me to have men camped on my front lawn ;). But seriously, I wonder what his story is. Is he one of the mentally ill guys from one of the local group homes? Is he one of those people in town who get caught up in all of the drugs and prostitution that goes on over on Michigan Ave? Was he kicked out of his house in the middle of the night to wander the neighborhood wearing only his underpants? I guess there is no way to know. I hope that he is ok. I hope that the police could help him.

Update: I found out later that the sleeping bag belonged to my neighbor where it had been stolen from her truck. I am especially glad that I moved the sleeping bag now that I know it didnt even belong to him but actually belonged to my neighbor.

What a Weekend!

2007-07-09T13:59:00.000-04:00

Whew. I had a busy weekend!

Friday

I spent Friday night at my grandmother's house. She is pretty old and is having mobility issues and is in danger of falling. She cant even get out of bed on her own which is an obvious safety issue. So someone has to stay with her all the time. Usually it is my aunt who does that but she was on vacation so my sister and I were watching her over the weekend. It was nice spending time with her but exhausting too. I cant imagine being the primary care giver for an elderly person. My hats are off to anyone who takes on that role.

Saturday

On Saturday, I went and hung out in Detroit with a whole bunch of people who, like me, grew up there. A bunch of them still live in the city and some are like me and have moved out to the 'burbs.* We hung out at Brent and Gianna's house for a bit which was cool. My friend Anna was visiting from LA. I could go on and on about what a great person Anna is but I figure that the people who read this who know her already know that and no one else will really care.

I went to the City Fest at the New Center by myself because Anna wanted to go to a movie at the DIA and I didn't want to see it. I got really lucky because I ran into my friend Burton within about five minutes. Burton always cracks me up and makes me laugh. I went to middle school with Burton**. I must have met him in seventh grade which would mean that I've known him since I was 12 which means that I've known him for more than 25 years!

At City Fest, I got to see a band that I particularly enjoyed called Yo La Tengo. I had never heard of them. I don't usually indulge in too much live music because I am really cheap. But this concert was FREE which is my favorite kind. One of the best things about free concerts is that it allows a person to take a chance on something. I mean, what was the worst that could happen? I might not like them...in which case, I could just leave. But I did really like them! Now I might have to buy an album or something.

Eventually we all ended up at the Majestic where I had a pretty nice time talking to lots of people. I sometimes think of myself as being kind of anti-social and it is true that I do spend a lot of time alone and also true that I generally enjoy that time. But I am also a talker and once I get going...well..."blah blah blah"! It was wild being there at that bar with lots of people with such similar backgrounds to me. I mean, I have a lot of friends "from high school" but most of those people are from the high school I went to for my senior year, CHS in Ann Arbor. They are all fun people but none of them understand anything about the high school I went to for three years in Detroit, Cass Tech. It was kind of fun talking about Cass Tech and stuff.

Sunday

Sunday was hot. It was one of those days with a hot wind where you just cant get cool no matter what you do which, of course, means that there is only one thing to do: Go to the LAKE!!! I had quite a day there. I had my sister's dog Buddy with me and my own dog, Brooke. The evil dog hating neighbors were there so I put Brooke and Buddy out on the swim raft which worked really well until it was time to go back to shore. Neither one of those jerks would get off the raft. I thought about climbing onto the raft myself to push them off but decided it would be easier to just take the kayak out to them. I got on the kayak and both dogs were willing to get on it. Unfortunately, Buddy isn't much like Brooke who sits still in the kayak and he leaned over too far and tipped the kayak over. Brooke got stuck underneath it which was really scary for her. She could of drowned! But she didn't and later on I took her back out in the kayak and she didn't seem too scared of it so at least that didn't traumatize her.

The best part of the day though was when two loose dogs came by and went over to the horrible neighbors' house where they were all gathered. I am not sure but I think they had food on the ground like last time and I think the dogs went for it. It was awesome because this time I could laugh at them for keeping their food on the ground knowing that the really bitchy lady wasn't going to come yell at me for it. All I had to do was sit and watch the screaming and chasing of dogs and general chaos. Ah...sweet sweet schadenfreude!

* It is funny, though, because even though I am 1/2 hour from Downtown Detroit, I just don't think of Ypsilanti as being a suburb of Detroit. I think of it more as a suburb of Ann Arbor.
** At Burton International School (just another weird coinicidence)

Power and Control: The Corporate World

2007-07-05T19:42:00.000-04:00

I had a conversation with a co-worker today about a former supervisor of mine. More than any other supervisor, I really disliked working for this guy. One time I even got so upset with him that I stood up and walked out. I have never done that before or since but that day, my choice was to calmly say that I wasnt feeling well before walking out or to start screaming my head off. I guessed that the latter action would have been rather embarrassing for me.

Mostly what I didnt like about this guy was how controlling he was. He was constantly looking over everyone's shoulders to try to catch us surfing the web. He got himself on a committee to change the dress code to one that was more restrictive. He would just randomly tell people to do things and would get angry if anyone questioned him at ALL. The time I got upset with him, I was clocked out but sitting at my desk when he came and told me to move. I said that I was at lunch and he said that it didnt matter.

So I said that I would move right on over to the time clock to punch in and he forbade me to punch in so I told him that I was punching in and if he had a problem with it, he should discuss it with the HR department and then in my own special "fuck you" kind of way that I know others find annoying, I told him that when he talked to the HR department he might want to mention the FLSA and the Dept of Labor's views about firms having their employees work off the clock.

Basically, a little bit of labor law worked in my favor that day. He couldnt fire me because it would have been illegal (and an incident with another co-worker that happened a week later kind of led me to believe that he would have fired me if he could have). I was insubordinate but since he was telling me to do something illegal, I was protected.

The funny thing about this guy too was that he actually is a pretty nice guy in every other situation. He is not alone. So many people, when given any kind of power over anyone else, act as if someone had just given them a jackass pill! That is what happens when one guy gets to supervise 8 people. What happens to people who find themselves in charge of large corporations?

The other day I was watching a documentary about Ralph Nader. They mentioned that after _Unsafe at Any Speed_ was published, Nader thought he was being followed. Nader reported that strange women would come up to him in places like the grocery store and ask him out. My first thought was "man, that guy is paranoid" but then they started interviewing people who backed up his story. They interviewed people who had noticed he was being tailed. They interviewed people who had been getting strange phone calls asking them for information about Nader. Was he fucking anyone? Was he a pot smoker? etc.

It turned out that it was GM who was doing all of this in an effort to discredit the Nader. They even admitted that they sent the sexy women to try to seduce him so he could be found in a compromising position! Now that is a company with too much power, imho. It was too bad for them that Nader is such a nerd because they never were able to find any dirt on him. It pretty much took an act of congress to get GM to lay off!

It got me thinking about large corporations and the power they wield. I worry that our current SCOTUS is giving too much power to corporations by essentially making some of the labor laws and antitrust laws meaningless. I worry that a lot of people have an attitude that corporations should be allowed to amass huge amounts of power.

I am not really sure what I can do about it other than to talk about it and to remind people that who they vote for in the presidential election can really make a difference with this. The damage in this area done by the Bush administration and their appointees to the court might last for decades. Who knows how much more powerful large corporations might become in the mean time?

I also think that besides voting, it is very important to support consumer activists who work hard getting the word out about corporate misdoings. The corporations have a lot of power but they *need* the rest of us as labor, as consumers, and as stockholders.

So let's all just think about all of this a little bit. What kind of world do we want? One where we are powerless and subject to the whims of the CEO class or one where we have regulated capitalism designed to keep any one firm from growing too large?

Universal Health Care

2007-07-03T14:43:00.000-04:00

There are many reasons why universal health care would be a good idea. I am going to talk about just one of them: The lack of universal health care gives too much power to large corporations when it comes to employee/employer relationships.

Under our current system, people can get health insurance or coverage only in certain ways. They can be a veteran which allows them to access the VA health care system. They can be old enough for medicare or poor enough for medicaid. Or, they can get their health insurance from their employer. Most people get their health insurance from their employer.

Because of the nature of insurance and spreading risk over groups, larger employers can provide better health care benefits than smaller employers who in turn can provide better benefits than what an individual could buy with the same amount of money. In other words, large corporations have a big edge over small businesses and the self employed.

The lack of universal health care can stifle entrepreneurship. People can find themselves chained to employment at Big Company or at the very least they are less likely to try to go it alone since even if they are successful enough at starting a business that they can eventually get some employees, they *still* cant provide health insurance at the same low cost that large employers do. In the labor market, workers look at total compensation packages. They add up wages +benefits and come up with some idea of the total compensation. They dont care that company A can provide health care at half the cost of small business B. So small businesses lose out and fewer people become self employed which over a long period of time can mean that larger segments of the work force end up working for large corporations.

Having an employer provide health care benefits also gives them an incentive to discriminate. A pure profit driven incentive too. Which means, that companies who discriminate and thus are able to lower the rates of illness in their group will be more successful than companies who dont. (And trust me, a result of at least one SCOTUS decision, large companies will probably be able to get away with discriminating even if there are laws prohibiting it). For example, companies might do what they can do in order to reduce the age of their workforce. They might decide not to hire fat people. They might decide not to hire people who smoke even if they dont smoke at work. They might decide that people of certain races are more risky health wise and they might avoid hiring them. They might be wary of hiring the disabled. And so on. I am sure there are many ways that employers can unfairly discriminate against groups of people with a goal of reducing health care costs.

Universal health care does two things that take power away from large corporations in the labor market.

#1 - universal health care is likely to result in an increase in the number of non-corporate jobs out there. It will increase the self employed which in turn is likely to increase small businesses. That would mean a smaller percentage of the jobs would be in large corporations. Would people still work for large corporations? You betcha! It just would mean more options available.

#2 - universal health care would reduce a very real economic incentive for employers to discriminate against groups of people in our society. It will also provide them one less excuse for prying into employee's personal lives.

Saturday

2007-06-30T23:16:00.000-04:00

I spent the day out in the rowboat with a friend and with my dog, Brooke. My sister lives on the same lake that my parents do. When we got over near my sister's place, I started to hear what sounded like a dog in serious distress. It turned out that mysister's dog, Buddy, had seen Brooke in the boat and just went crazy. We rowed over there with Buddy screaming the whole time. When we got close enough he jumped in and swam out to us. It was hilarious.

School's OUT forever!

2007-06-29T12:05:00.000-04:00

I know I have not updated the old blog much recently. My apologies.

I have been busy but I should have some extra free time for at least the next couple of weeks. You see. I am done with school. And I don't just mean that the semester is over. I mean I am DONE with school. FOREVER. Or at least I think I am. It wont be official until someone actually reviews my application for graduation and then gives me a diploma. But by my careful calculations and by running the EMU online graduation audit 8 million times, I am pretty confident that I wont be taking any more classes.

After I was done with that last final exam though, I will admit that I went home and sat around waiting for that college degree to change my life. But alas my life is still pretty much the same as it was earlier in the week. I guess you need the actual diploma to arrive in the mail before getting the life changing advantages of having a degree, right?

Meme

2007-06-22T18:04:00.000-04:00

Proshat tagged me for a meme. I have been neglecting my blog lately and this seems like a good way to get back into it. so here it goes...

1. Last movie you saw in a theater?

Wow, I have been so busy lately that I haven’t been socializing much. Shame on me. The last movie I saw in the theater was Borat.

2. What book are you reading?

I am between books at the moment. I just finished one called With All Our Strength which is about RAWA: The Revolutionary Association of the Women of Afghanistan.

3. Favorite board game?

Settlers of Catan

4.Favorite magazine?
Harper’s

5. Favorite smell?

Rain

6. Favorite food?

Pizza.

7. Favorite sound?

The sound of a sailboat halyard slapping against a mast.

8. Worst feeling in the world?

Betrayal and Loss.

9. What is the first thing you think of when you wake up?

That depends on the day but usually I think, "oh man, I don’t feel like going to work"

10. Favorite fast food place?

Kluck’s Drive In

11. Future child’s name?

I am not going to have kids. But if I were going to, I would name my child(ren) after my grandparents. If I were to have a boy, his name would be Perry Michael and if it were a girl, her name would be Justine Elizabeth. Interestingly, in the past, whenever I have had this discussion, people (usually men) say that they don’t think it fair that I would pick both the first and middle names. My reply has always been that he has a choice. He can pick the last name OR the first and middle names. What is funny is how many have gotten upset about that because they just figure that the kids should automatically get the father’s last name and then should get a say in the other names too. Because you know, otherwise I am not being FAIR to the men. *rolls eyes*

12. Finish this statement. If I had a lot of money:

I would quit my job and travel...

13. Do you drive fast?

In the mornings I drive fast because I am usually a little bit late.

14. Do you sleep with a stuffed animal?

Not in the last 30 years or so I am afraid.

15. Storms cool or scary?

VERY cool. I love storms. And ok, sometimes they can be scary especially when tornados are sighted and the sky turns green. But even when they are scary enough to drive me into my basement, they are still cool

16. What was your first car?

The first car that was MINE was my 1996 VW Jetta. I am still driving that. Now granted, I had other cars which officially belonged to my parents but which I drove. I guess the first car I drove regularly was a 1979 Ford Fairmont station wagon.

17. Favorite drink?

Water.

18. Finish this statement, "If I had the time I would...":

Spend more time hanging out at the lake.

19. Do you eat the stems on broccoli?

Of course. They are the best part!

20. If you could dye your hair any color, what would be your choice?

I like my hair color but if I had to pick a different one, I would probably dye it blond.

21. Name all the different cities/ towns you have lived in?

Detroit, Michigan
Ann Arbor, Michigan
Sault Ste Marie, Michigan
Ypsilanti, Michigan

22. Half empty or half full?

The Glass is twice as big as it needs to be.

23. Favorite sports to watch?

American College Football. I especially like it when MSU beats UofM which is a rare enough occurrence that it is extra special. I also enjoy watching figure skating, gymnastics, swimming, diving, horse racing, and occasionally baseball.

25. Morning person, or night owl?

I am a night person for sure.

26. Over easy, or sunny side-up?

Over easy. But actually I am more scrambled than anything else.

27. Favorite place to relax?

My extra large arm chair in my living room.

28. Favorite pie?

Cherry. Although I had a very excellent slice of blueberry pie this weekend from the Grand Traverse Pie Company that was sooooo good it might be my new favorite pie. It was made with Michigan blueberries too.

Rambling

2007-06-21T21:26:00.000-04:00

So I took the day off of work on Tuesday so I could go to a doctor's appointment and run some errands. I encountered a big traffic jam on my way there which was really surprising because my doctor's office is so close. There was a water main break right at Michigan Ave and Grove St. Which made me worry about the water I had before leaving. It must have been OK because here it is two day later and I still walk the Earth. I felt very sick yesterday though but suspect that was the result of my tetanus shot.

I have decided to go to Nova Scotia. I like it there and even though I love Michigan summers so much that I want to avoid missing any time here, Nova Scotia is a nice place to be too. I'll still get to go swimming every day.

Nova Scotia and France?

2007-06-12T21:25:00.000-04:00

Yesterday was kind of an anti-Monday. I won a prize at work: a Sony portable DVD player. And when I got home from work, I noticed that my very kind neighbor had mowed my lawn! I am pretty sure it wasn’t the city because whoever mowed my lawn ignored the much longer grass of the lawn on the other side of me and also mowed my neighbor’s lawn.

I was planning a really cool trip this summer but had to cancel it due to cost. About the time I was canceling that trip, a friend presented me with two great opportunities for vacations.

1. Go with her to her family's cottage in Nova Scotia. I have been there before and it is really nice. She is talking about driving there which made me think that maybe it was a sign that I won that DVD Player because it comes with a car adapter and I think that such a thing might be useful with kids in the car.

2. Visit her in France where she and her family are going to be renting a large apartment from October to March. It's in a small town near Switzerland and is about 90 minutes away from Paris by high speed rail.

Naturally I want to do both! And I can if I go to France in February. I think this would be ok especially if I bought a rail pass for France which would allow me to do a short weekend type trip to Paris. I think it is cheaper to go in the winter too. Certainly there are fewer tourists. I wonder if it is really cold there in the winter though. You see if I go to France in February, I wont be able to go to Florida in February which was what I was kind of planning to do.

But you know, I can go to Florida anytime, right?

You know, I have too many places I want to go and not enough time and money. I guess that is everyone’s problem!

A Visit

2007-06-05T20:26:00.000-04:00

My friends Terry and Jen came over on Saturday. I was worried because I had to tell them that I couldn’t go on vacation with them this summer. Last fall the three of us discussed going on a vacation together but it was an expensive sort of vacation (around $5k a person) and I was only able to save up about half of the amount which just isn’t enough. But it turned out that I worried for nothing because they aren’t going either and for pretty much the same reason. We’ll have to go to China and ride the choo-choo to Moscow another time.

We had a good day visiting though. There was a good storm in the afternoon and a lot of rain got dumped. The rail road tracks by my house got totally flooded. The water was so high that we weren’t sure we should cross so we had to take the long way to Kluck’s for their yummy hamburgers. Luckily the water had gone down enough for us to cross the rail road tracks by the time we were done getting our food. I wanted to take a walk down to Riverside Park to see if it flooded but I never got around to it.

Work: When Less is More

2007-05-31T18:46:00.000-04:00

I have been saying for years that Americans simply work too much. And by work too much, I mean that Americans are "at work" for too long not that we get too much done. You see, every person has a limit and at some point in the day, almost everyone gets a little burned out. I know that in the latter part of the day, I have no ability to focus on much at all.

So I found This Article in The NYT rather interesting.

The thing is, *everyone* I know wastes time at work. People might be clocked in for 8 hours a day but no one does 8 hours of work or rather no one does 8 times the work they do in a really productive hour. Some people work slower the rest of the time. Some people take lots of "mini-breaks" where they surf the net or just stare off into space when management takes measures to stop the web surfing. Some people chit chat with their co-workers. There are a million different ways to goof off at work.

The managers where I work have done everything they can to limit goofing off. They break up conversations so no one can chit chat. They have designed the work space so that everyone's monitors are in view so they can just walk up and down the aisles to make sure no one surfing. They monitor people as closely as they can.

But it doesnt work. One of the things I observe with great interest is all the many ways people hide their goofing off. They have mirrors in their cubes so they can see if a manager is coming. They also have ears which allow them to hear the managers walking towards them. They chit-chat only with co-workers who work near them so both talkers can remain seated since the primary way management knows they are talking is when they see them standing up. Generally people put great energy into hiding their goofing off. Some people I know who work in other jobs make it a point to go to work early and to stay late just so the boss will think they are hard workers. When I ask them if they think they get more done by doing that, they almost always say that they dont get more work done or they only get a little bit more done. The extra time is purely for appearances.

But what if people didnt have to do that? What if people really were judged on the amount of work they do rather than how busy they appear to be while at work. What would happen if people focused just half of all that energy into work? Would they be more productive? I think that most people would be. And most people would find themselves a bit less stressed out and that goes double for people with families. Sometimes I think about the impact such a change in the working culture would mean to people who raise children or care for elderly relatives, I get all angry that we dont have a movement blooming where workers demand it.

But then, I think that a lot of people, managers and workers alike, simply cannot believe that most people will do the same amount of work in six hours a day as they do in eight. When I go off on this particular rant (which is one of my favorites, as anyone who hangs out with me face to face can tell you.), I am always amazed at how many people just can't believe it is true. Or they believe that it is because people are lazy and if they could just come up with some better method to make sure people goof off less, they could squeeze more work out of people.

Oh well, maybe someday

Betelgeuse, Betelgeuse, Betelgeuse!!!

2007-05-31T14:49:00.000-04:00

I used to go winter camping a lot and I'll freely admit that there are certain things about winter camping that I dont like. For instance, sleeping in the cold or rather *trying* to sleep but not being able to because it is TOO COLD does not rate high on my list of things I like about winter camping. But there are things that I like about it and oddly, two unrelated things have reminded me of very positive things about my winter camping days.

One of them is my Astronomy class of all things. You see, Orion has always been my favorite constilation and it is so easy to see in the winter sky that one of the activities of any winter camping trip for me was to just sit there and look at it. So, we've been talking about Orion in my class lately because it happens to be a really active part of space with lots of nebulas and cool stars and such. Everytime we talk about Orion, I always kind of remember sitting outside in the dead of winter gazing up at it and the very peaceful feeling I would always get then.

In a completely unrelated coincidence, one of my main winter camping buddies, Terry, is in town for a visit. He and his wife, Jen, are coming over this weekend. I'm all excited about that because they are awesome and they have been doing a lot of traveling so I know they'll have good stories.

And just to draw another crazy link in this mix, I will mention that one of my memories of Terry involves him dancing around singing Harry Belefonte's Day-o which was on the soundtrack of Beetle Juice which, or course, sounds just like Betelgeuse which is, of course, a star in Orion.

A Post in Which I Blame The Sun For Not Blogging

2007-05-23T20:24:00.000-04:00

Man. This past week has been pretty nice. There has been lots of sunshine so I have been doing stuff outside. I have even already been swimming up at the lake! Yesterday was the BEST because there were no boats on the lake and I just swam all the way down the shore and then back. The water wasnt too cold although it wasnt warm either. Not bad though for a pre-memorial day swim.

The other main reason I havent been blogging is that I have been going to school full time for this short spring semester. It is intense and it has been keeping me busy. One of my classes is an online class which is nice because I have a wireless internet connection so I can sit outside and do my homework.

My other class is an Astronomy class. This class is essentially my last class at EMU. It is one of those science classes I put off because they sounded lame and hard and just not something that would be interesting. I thought I would hate it. But what do you know? I dont hate it and rather, really enjoy it! I kind of wish I had taken this class earlier because now I want to take a Physics class since the physics part of Astronomy seems the most interesting part. And of course I want to take more Astronomy classes too.

I got to look at the Sun through a telescope earlier this week in our class. That was really cool. I didnt take a picture of it myself but I found this one from about 11 years ago on the NASA web page. This is pretty much how the sun looked to me since we were using a similar filter (obviously, it is a bad idea to look at the sun through a telescope without a filter). This picture was also taken during a period of low activity on the sun. Sun activity goes in cycles of about 11 years so this picture was taken during the last low activity period. So it was very neat even though it wasnt very active. I can only imagine what it must look like when it is in an active phase!

So there you go. Instead of blogging, I have either been out playing in the sun or out learning about the sun.

Still a Loser!

2007-05-17T14:31:00.000-04:00

I am bummed because I didnt get that job with the non-profit I applied for recently. I cant remember if I mentioned it here or not. But about six weeks ago, I applied for a pretty cool job with a private foundation. I did get four interviews into the process though so I must have been seriously considered. That is something I guess.

Anyways, I always have a hard time dealing with rejection and to be honest, that has me more bummed out than not getting the job. Oh well. There will be many many other jobs I can apply for and I imagine that I'll get turned down for most of them which will give me lots of opportunities to work on whatever issues with rejection I might have. And the HR person was nice enough to tell me the reason they picked someone over me and it certainly was a valid reason. They picked someone who already has been working for that particular non-profit so they are more familiar with it. I will just remember that old cliche that successful people tend to fail a lot because successful people takes risks and try. Yup. I am going to keep trying. I am going to be that kind of loser guy who always has dates because he asks *everyone* out ;)

It is funny too how the whole "sour grapes" thing can kick in so powerfully. I mean, my thought pattern right now is that I really didnt want that job anyways. I am really feeling that too even though I know it is a lie and that I really *did* want the job. But you know, it wouldnt have given me the experience needed to advance in the direction I think I might want to go and I am pretty sure that if they hired me at close to my current salary, I would have been at the upper end of the pay range for the job which isnt exactly the best position to be in if one wants things like raises. And so on.

In the mean time, another person has quit my small team of six. Someone else was fired recently too so we are down two. That means, of course, that I will spend the next several months working my butt off just to keep my head above water. Even if they hire replacements soon, it will take a while to get them up to speed. And ok, I'll admit that a big reason I wanted that other job was so that I wouldnt have to deal with the mess that is coming now that we are so short staffed.

A week revolving slightly around Anna

2007-05-12T19:57:00.000-04:00

It has been a very busy week for me. I kind of like it...having stuff to do.

On Sunday I had lunch with one of my oldest friends. It is nice having friends whom one has known since forever. I think I must have been around 4 y/o when I met Anna/Auhna which means she is one of the few people outside of my family to have known me when I was a kid. We went to the Blue Nile in Ferndale which is pretty much like the Blue Nile in Ann Arbor. Very good but kind of expensive. Mostly we talked about Anna's glamorous life in L.A. I didnt have as much time to spend with her on this trip as I would have liked. She returned to LA on Wednesday.

Then, today, I went to Detroit with my friend Heather because I had free tickets for a play at the Hillberry. We got there early so we went for a little walk and then ran into "BillyLeopard" , an old high school friend of mine who also just happens to know Anna. I didnt have too much time to talk to him because we had to go to the play but it was nice to see him anyways.

After the play, Heather and I went for a little drive around the city. We drove up to the old neighborhood where I showed her where I used to live. And then we noticed that Anna's old house was for sale and having an open house! The owner was very nice and let us have a quick tour even though I admitted I wasnt really looking for a house to buy. Still there is a part of me that wants to just because it is a great house at that price. It is not only a great house but it is a GREAT neighborhood: all tree lined streets and beautiful old houses built mostly in the 20's. The 1920's is just one of my favorite eras for houses. My own house was built in 1925.

In between all of that, I am working full time and going to school full time and trying to keep my lawn mowed.

Let me Give You a Hand!

2007-05-07T19:45:00.000-04:00

ugh. Someone stole my hand chair from my front porch. That always creeps me out a little bit. I mean. I know strangers do come up onto the porch from time to time. Sometimes they knock and try to sell me stuff and sometimes they come to leave fliers from local restaurants. Still, when something goes missing...it is a reminder that *anyone* can come onto the porch.

This chair used to belong to my friend Gary and I have to say that although I have owned it for a while now and although I have occasionally parked my butt into the chair's surprisingly comfortable cupped palm, most of my best memories about the chair were from when the chair belonged to Gary. Still, I always really liked the chair and it used to give me a smile every day when I got home from work. Oh well, it had some sentimental value but I am trying to have less stuff and I suppose one way to look at this is that it is the universe's way of liberating me from some small portion of my stuff.

I always wonder about the sort of person who would walk onto someone's porch to steal a hand chair. Did they steal it because it seriously is a cool chair? Or was it someone who thinks they can resell a used hand chair? It is funny too because I know a lot of people who have stolen stuff before. Some people have cheated on their taxes. Some people have stolen cable or illegally downloaded music or whatever. Still, it seems that actually stealing a physical object from someone's porch is not something most folks would do. Oh well, it was probably a Gary groupie. Someone heard that Gary's ass used to OWN that chair and they couldnt live without it.

Honestly though, I have often wondered why things like lawn and porch furniture dont get stolen more often. I think about that every time I sit down with the Smith and Hawken catalog. I mean, I love the teak benches and I know they last forever and I know that one of those benches would look lovely on my porch. But even if I could afford one, and I most certainly cannot, wouldnt a thousand dollar bench on a front porch just be a little bit too tempting?

I did call the cops about this though. I told them they didnt need to send anyone over but they did anyways. They sent a very nice woman who took down all of the information. Man, it has got to be boring being a cop sometimes. I mean, I can not imagine that The Great Hand Job is a caper worth writing home about.

Silly Dream

2007-05-01T13:58:00.000-04:00

I always think it is very funny the way real world things can become incorporated into our dreams. While I know that generally, no one likes to read about other people’s dreams, allow me to share a snippet from my dream last night:

I was Elizabeth Bennet and Colin Firth was *of course* Mr Darcy. We were walking in the English countryside during a thunderstorm and then a train came by so we rushed to check into a motel. In the motel, there was one of those old beds that would shake if you put in a quarter. We put in a quarter and the bed started shaking and then a giant clap of thunder...woke me up.

It was then that I noticed that my bed was shaking just like the beds in those old motels. And there was thunder and lightning. Which is of course, why my bed was shaking. You wouldn’t think a 35 lb dog could shake a whole bed but it turns out she CAN!

As you might imagine, the whole idea of Mr Darcy in a cheap motel with a shaking bed has had me laughing a little bit all day.

Shooting Fish in a Barrel

2007-04-30T18:37:00.000-04:00

Every so often I like to go to townhall *dot* com to laugh at certain conservative writers. They say the darnedest things! This article by John Hawkins was just too much to pass up:

Conservatives believe that judges should act like umpires instead of legislating from the bench. That means that judges should determine whether laws are permissible under the Constitution and settle debates about the meaning of laws, not impose their will based on their ideological leanings. Liberals view judges as a backdoor method of getting unpopular left-leaning legislation passed. They don't want umpires, they want political partisans in black robes who will side with them first and then come up with a rationale to explain it.

To be clear here. What John Hawkins means by "legislating from the bench" is any decision the Supreme Court makes with which he doesn't happen to agree. If the court happens to make a decision with which he does agree such as the recent decision to uphold a law banning a particular abortion procedure, that is settling a debate about the meaning of a law. Had it gone the other way, it would have been "legislating from the bench." Believe me, no one, not even the most pinko commie liberal, actually views the Supreme Court as a legislative body. They don't even expect the judges to strong arm congress into passing laws.

Conservatives believe that individual Americans have a right to defend themselves and their families with guns and that right cannot be taken away by any method short of a Constitutional Amendment, which conservatives would oppose. Liberals believe by taking arms away from law abiding citizens, they can prevent criminals, who aren't going to abide by gun control laws, from using guns in the commission of crimes.

I am sure that whenever the Supreme Court ever chooses to interpret the second amendment in any way that restricts or regulates arms, they will be "legislating from the bench." But seriously, what Mr Hawkins doesn't seem to understand is that when there is some form of gun control in place, it reduces the overall supply of guns in the community which in turn makes guns more expensive and more difficult to get. In other words, gun control limits the supply of guns on the black market which is generally where the criminals get them. What some liberals understand and what Mr Hawkins apparently doesn't understand is that if the supply of illegal guns is reduced, there were be fewer guns in the hands of criminals. If it actually will reduce the number of guns in the hands of criminals enough to justify the legislation is a matter of debate to be sure. But clearly, there are people who support gun control laws who have a better understanding of why those laws might work than Mr Hawkins does.

Conservatives believe that we should live in a color blind society where every individual is judged on the content of his character and the merits of his actions. On the other hand, liberals believe that it's ok to discriminate based on race as long as it primarily benefits minority groups.

Without getting into some of my own ambivalent feelings about affirmative action, I will just say that it is very easy to say that we should live in a color blind society when one is a member of the class of people who just happens to get the most privilege because of their race. While I don't know of John Hawkins's reactions to specific situations I cant say for sure, but again, it has been my experience that when certain white people ever find themselves in a situation where things actually are color blind and they are treated like everyone else, they don't generally like it. For instance, some of the people who are against affirmative action at the college level have no problems with programs that tend to benefit white people like legacy admissions or UofM's policy of giving preference to residents of the U.P. I suspect that if universities here in Michigan were to ever give geographical preference to students from predominately black communities, the same people who call for "color blind" policies will again complain that some other group other than them is getting preferential treatment.

Conservatives are capitalists and believe that entrepreneurs who amass great wealth through their own efforts are good for the country and shouldn't be punished for being successful. Liberals are socialists who view successful business owners as people who cheated the system somehow or got lucky. That's why they don't respect high achievers and see them as little more than piggy banks for their programs.

Ah yes…the old 'liberals hate rich people' argument. As it happens, a lot of entrepreneurs *did* get lucky in addition to working hard. Working hard alone does not necessarily lead to economic success in the USA. But that isn't why I think that we should have progressive taxation. Progressive taxation is, I assume, what Mr Hawkins is talking about when he says that liberals view rich folk as "piggy banks". You see, entrepreneurs benefit more from those liberal programs than everyone else so it only makes sense that they should pay more in taxes. For example, all that money we spend on defense benefits everyone but it really benefits the rich who get to have their businesses in a country that isn't being attacked on a regular basis. Education spending provides those entrepreneurs with a reasonably educated work force. Roads allow both workers and customers to get to the businesses these entrepreneurs are building as well as giving them something for their trucks to drive on assuming their businesses ever have to ship anything. The internet was originally a liberal government funded program which then spawned hundreds of dot com millionaires. So it isn't that liberals hate entrepreneurs. It is just that many liberals recognize that since they benefit the most from government programs, they should be the ones who pay the most for them. Oh and as it happens, a lot of those entrepreneurs who have amassed great wealth are liberals themselves. Somehow I doubt they are filled with the self loathing Mr Hawkins logic would have them feel.

Conservatives believe that abortion ends the life of an innocent child and since we believe that infanticide is wrong, we oppose abortion. Most liberals, despite what they'll tell you, believe that abortion ends the life of an innocent child, but they prefer killing the baby to inconveniencing the mother.

I am not going to get too deep into this one. I will just say that most liberals know the difference between a fetus and an infant. An abortion isn't infanticide and a fetus is not a baby. Even the IRS agrees. If you don't believe me, try to deduct a fetus on your next tax return.

Conservatives believe in confronting and defeating enemies of the United States before they can harm American citizens. Liberals believe in using law enforcement measures to deal with terrorism, which means that they feel we should allow terrorists to train, plan, and actually attempt to kill Americans before we try to arrest them -- as if you can just send the police around to pick up a terrorist mastermind hiding in Iran or the wilds of Pakistan.

I am not even sure what Hawkins is getting at here. My best guess is that he means that conservatives believe it is ok to invade countries at a huge cost to our own both financially and in human lives because people in those countries share a religion with some other people who committed a terrorist act which makes them our enemies. Well, I guess I cant argue with him. There were no Weapons of Mass Destruction in Iraq because we confronted and defeated them before they had a chance to get them. Um. Yeah. Ok. It is just like Lisa Simpson's Tiger Repellant Rock!!!

Well, I'm half way through his article and I think I just need to give it a rest. It is too easy and probably isn't fair to pick on one of those conservatives who clearly isn't much of a thinker. And fwiw, I have come across conservatives who probably hold many of the same opinions as Hawkins but who tend to have more intelligent reasons why. And I probably should spend some time critiquing their writing but it isn't as easy and it isn't as fun so I probably wont.

The Grass is Always Greener

2007-04-27T21:17:00.000-04:00

I went back to work today where I found out that I will most likely be disqualified from the short term disability benefit because I went into work last friday which means that the one week waiting period reset. As it happens, I would have only been entitled to 80% of 24 hours of pay. I've missed 64 hours of work and would be required to use personal/vacation days for the first forty hours anyways. Still it is frustrating because I went into work last Friday mostly because I felt guilty about staying home even when I was sick. And maybe I didnt really want to admit that I was as sick as I was. Oh well.

This whole sickness has really brought up a lot of feelings of frustration. This business of missing out on some money reminds me that I have allowed myself to be in a financial situation that I dont like. It also reminds me yet again of how fragile a body can be. One good flu virus and you're out for a couple of weeks! And it can be worse too. Arent we all just one good car accident away from being laid up for weeks and weeks... or worse?

And of course, there is that feeling I get once in a while that it just really sucks being single. And I know that is a complete example of The-Grass-Is-Greener thinking as a good friend reminded me when I was whining about it on the phone earlier this week. She reminded me that spouses can be a lot of work and that when one in a twosome gets some highly contagious illness, it is very likely that the other one will too and then you're not only sick but you have to put up with someone else's hacking cough in the middle of the night. But of course in my mind, I would be married to someone immune to all illnesses ;)

Seriously though. It is one of the weird parts of my personality that I could probably spend a fortune on therapy figuring out. On the one hand, I have a real desire to have someone take care of me and I mean totally. Financially, emotionally, make me chicken soup, etc. And on the other hand, I *hate* letting my friends help me. I turned down a lot of offers of help this past week. So I long for something that I hate getting. How fucked up is that?

Oh well. I am better now. My health has returned. My tax refund will spare me any serious financial issues. My good humor will be back before too long and things will seem rosy again. I mean it is almost summer time and even if I cant afford to go on some special vacation, I can spend a lot of days swimming under blue skies and that is something.

Still Sick!!

2007-04-24T22:08:00.000-04:00

So, I have now been sick for nine straight days. NINE DAYS! And it is making me crazy. In fact, I think one of the worst things about this is the death of a favorite lotto fantasy of mine where I win the lotto and then hole up in my house for months. Yeah, not going to happen. It is just like how my fantasy of being a long distance truck driver was ruined by one single solo road trip to California.

I will say this though. I have been clued in to one of the great inventions of the modern world. As previously reported, I lost my voice over the weekend. It started to come back on Monday but at a cost: extreme pain whenever I tried to talk. So, I actually went to see the doctor which anyone who knows me knows is not something I ever do lightly.

I had to see a new doctor because the one I liked has finished her residency and moved on. But the new one made up for it with one simple thing: a potion she calls "magic mouthwash" It is something mixed up at the pharmacy and it contains Viscous Lidocaine (1 part) Maalox (1 part) Benadryl (1 part). It totally and completely numbs the whole mouth for at least an hour with another hour of partial numbness. So that means that half the time, I have no throat pain since I get to use this stuff every four hours.

On a more serious note, my lungs are in bad shape. Apparently, I have symptoms of asthma. I dont have asthma and these symptoms are totally related to this sickness I have but the doctor seems to feel that I might need to have some kind of steroid treatment if the rattling and wheezing in my lungs doesnt go away by friday. I hope I dont need steroids though because she started listing the negative side effects of that particular treatment and it didnt sound too good. There is nothing like hearing that you might have to be put on a medication that can cause psychosis, irritability, some kind of hip disorder that leaves one immobile and WEIGHT GAIN. Ok, I'll admit it . I got a little annoyed when the doctor seemed to have an attitude that the weight gain might be the worst outcome of taking steroids. Cos I guess it is ok to become a raving psychotic bitch with bad hips as long as one doesnt GAIN WEIGHT!! Oh well, I mean it isnt like I want to gain weight or anything but on the list of side effects, that one was really the least scary for me.

Oh well, what can I say. This "magic mouthwash" of hers can make me forgive her anything.

I am Dumb

2007-04-22T10:23:00.000-04:00

I cannot speak. Whatever this sickness is that I have, I have completely lost my voice. What is funny is that I dont usually realize how often I talk to the animals who live in my house with me. Cos, you know, *that* is what crazy people do. Well, color me crazy. I keep going to talk to the little furry beasts but all that comes out is a throaty whisper

It is funny because I received an invitation to my cousin's graduation party next Saturday. I was supposed to have RSVP'd by yesterday but, since I couldnt talk, I couldnt call my aunt to tell her I would be there. I really spent most of yesterday in a thought process that went something like: If only there were some way I could communicate with my aunt that doesnt require using one's voice. If only there was a way... It really took me until this morning before I remembered that DUH! I could send an email. *slaps forehead*.

It Hurts to Laugh

2007-04-18T23:45:00.000-04:00

I am still sick but I finally dont have a fever anymore. Whew.

I have been coughing a lot and now it hurts to cough and it hurts to laugh. But, dear readers, since I assume that it doesnt hurt YOU to laugh, I will share a little internet funny with you.

Go to Google Maps and then ask for driving directions from New York City to Rome. Such a silly!

sick

2007-04-17T12:12:00.000-04:00

I have some kind of sickness. The timing is awful as I have a couple of big tests on Thursday. I am not sure I will be well by then. There are no makeups. So sick or not, I have to go. I always hate policies like that because I generally dont think people should be encouraged to go out in public when they sick. Anyways, I have had a severe cough and a fever that ranges between 100-102.

But I gotta admit that when I heard about all that business at Virginia Tech yesterday, it helped me put my misery into perspective. I am uncomfortable and will have to use some of my precious vacation time to pay for not going to work. But I am safe and all of my loved ones are safe too.

All is well

2007-04-11T18:32:00.000-04:00

I know that I have not written much here lately. Mostly it is because I have gotten very busy at work. It turns out that being busy at work even effects my blogging from home. I often find that I am pretty spent at the end of the day. So I come home and just veg. I think things will get worse at work too in the near future. But that is ok, being busy at work makes the days there seem shorter. And once I am done with the school thing, I’ll have extra leisure time.

I didnt get that job I mentioned in another post but I did get some good feedback from the person who interviewed me. I didnt interview quite as badly as I thought. She also gave me some really good suggestions for what I need to do if I want a similar position including telling me about a different job I might consider applying for (I applied for it).

I also had an interview today for a totally non-IT related job that sounds very fun. I have been scheduled for a second interview which seems promising. I think that interview went better than the other one. So we'll see. Wish me good luck!

Trains

2007-04-03T12:41:00.000-04:00

I have been thinking about trains lately. That isn’t very unusual actually. I think about trains a lot. I think about trains partly because I live next to the train tracks so I see and hear trains several times a day. They come by at night and while they don’t wake me up, I suspect that I have more train dreams than your average person. I also think about trains because I like trains.

I happened to read on Mark Maynard’s blog the other day that Amtrak might consider a stop in Depot Town. I cant even begin to say how much I like that idea. There was also talk of adding a stop in Depot Town for some sort of Ann Arbor/Detroit commuter rail thing which might include a stop at the airport. Again I like that idea too. As it happens, I would use an Amtrak stop in Depot Town but probably not more than 2-3 times a year. I would use a train that goes to Detroit somewhat more frequently but even then, I wouldn’t be a regular user. Mark Maynard brought up some issues about the actual demand for a Depot Town train stop and I think, at least based on my own demand for either an Amtrak stop or a commuter train stop, that his concerns have some merit.

On the other hand, one thing people often forget is that the stop itself will create its own demand over time. For instance, if you put a stop for a commuter rail line in a nice walkable area like Depot Town and also provide parking and good connecting bus service, people will, over time, change where they live based on that stop being there. People who want to live walking distance from the stop for regular commuting will move into houses and apartments close to the stop. As housing prices rise around the stop because of that, people who don’t value the stop as much are more likely to move someplace else. Some people who want to use the train stop are willing to take a bus to the stop and those people will move to places walking distance from bus stops on routes that go to the train stop. And if there is parking, there will be some people who would be willing to drive from some location nearby and leave their cars at the stop. If a stop goes in, over a period of years, demand for the stop will increase.

A nice side benefit for folks like me who own houses near the stop, the real estate prices are likely to rise. I freely admit that is one reason I get giddy about the idea of a stop in Depot Town. NIMBY hardly ever applies to anything that raises property values. I guess one could call a train station stop, either for Amtrak or for some future commuter line as a PIIMBYP issue, ie “Put it in my backyard Puh-Leez!”

So, I have also been thinking a bit about Amtrak and long distance rail travel. I recently read an article in the paper about France’s high speed trains. I guess one of their trains broke some record by going faster than 350mph. And it got me thinking. In areas of this country like the NE corridor, high speed trains would be really neat. I know Amtrak has tried this with the Acela but that train isn’t really all that fast. But imagine a train that could go from Boston to Washington DC in three or four hours? It is the kind of thing that would be really neat and it is the kind of thing that would be very good for our country and the people in it. It would even be good for us in Michigan because trains produce less greenhouse gases than planes do. If there were a train that could get someone from Boston to Washington DC in three hours (and that is downtown Boston to downtown Washington DC), people would choose the train over the flying. All that train riding means cleaner air for the rest of us.

I was also thinking about how very cool a high speed cross country train could be. If one has a train with a top speed of 350mph, it would have an average speed that is pretty close to that over the plains states. I’ll bet a train like that could have an average speed of 200mph going from New York City to San Francisco which could mean a coast to coast train trip that takes around 15 hours. Oh I know it is a pipe dream and there are little things in the way (like the Rocky Mountains) that would make those kinds of speeds unlikely. It is just that there is more room on the train. And I really hate flying. I would rather spend 10 hours taking a train than 5 hours flying. But probably not enough people are with me on that which means that even if the technology were available for that sort of train, economic forces would keep it from happening. But what can I say, it is the sort of thing I daydream about.

I'm a Loser, Baby!

2007-03-30T21:04:00.000-04:00

It has been a week of failure here in my world this week.

I had a big test in my Biology class. And ok, I didnt fail it but I got a grade that is pretty...how shall we say??? Oh AVERAGE (translation: A ‘C’). I asked to see my answers on the test because I thought I would do better than that. It turned out that there were a couple of answers that I *knew* and still got wrong. Like something possessed me to mark the wrong answer down or something. It was weird and I know I had a thought that most college students would not have: Am I getting forgetful in my old age? Oh well, I am not too worried about it. I expect to pass this class with a C before the age related dementia really sets in. Maybe even before I need reading glasses

I applied for a job at work and I had my interview for it this week. Interviewing is not my strong suit and I *really* bombed this one. Then, later on I found out that this job which I had thought as being maybe one step up the ladder is actually way WAY up the food chain. It wasnt quite like the Janitor applying to be CEO but it was along those lines. In my defense though, I met all of the criteria that the HR people put in the job description except for the ‘business related degree’. I figured that I am about to have a degree in Economics so it wouldnt hurt to apply.

I just hope that no one there will hold that interview against me when I apply for some other job. And ok, I *did* apply for another job and one in a completely different department than the one I work in that happens to be the HR department.

So, cos I am such a failure...I will end this entry with a bit of a cliche. I do not really feel badly about this week. You see, there is one thing successful people almost all have in common. That one thing is FAILURE and sometimes a lot of it. Because you see, one thing you have to do to succeed is try. And the trying leads to failure a lot of the time. But I am no worse off for taking a Biology class (although I might be scarred by the fetal pig cutting up lab). I am no worse off for applying for a job that is out of my league. Well no worse off unless the HR person who interviewed me thinks I am crazy ass who wasted her time. But I probably wasnt THAT bad in the interview.

Fat Rant

2007-03-28T00:02:00.001-04:00

A kind reader shared the link to this charming video in my comments. I enjoyed it so much that I have decided to post it here. And what can I say. I agree with this woman and it is exactly how I feel. She really gets it.

I particularly like the beginning when she has the "friend" sitting in the car dissing fat people. I cant tell you how many times that has happened to me. And I sit there and wonder, "what the hell is wrong with this person?" I weigh over 300lbs. Do they think I want to sit here and listen to them tell me that so-and-so got fat or that the woman walking by shouldnt be wearing the clothes she is wearing because she "doesnt have the body for it"? I definitely do not want to hear endless monologues about how ugly and fat their ass is. I'll admit that I am always tempted to say, "Yes, your ass is ugly especially when compared to mine. BABY GOT BACK!"

And like the very beautiful woman in this video, I made a decision several years ago that I was not waiting around for my life to begin at some future point when I lost the weight. It wasnt going to happen. It still isnt going to happen. I am fat but the truth is that only one aspect of who I am and to let my body, my healthy body, stop me from living my life NOW would be a tragedy.

A harder thing in my life was accepting that being fat was NOT the cause of every problem. Is it why men dont want to date me? Probably for a lot of them but other fat women get dates all the time. I think there is just something else about me and even though I dont really know what it is, so what!? I like myself the way I am and that is what matters. Does being fat mean I get treated badly sometimes. Yes. Does that mean that there is something wrong with *me*? Hardly. And seriously, when I take an honest look at my faults, being fat is the least of them and there are plenty of people who dislike me who could back me up on that I am sure.

So watch the video. It is worth it, I promise!