Software Upgrade
I’m upgrading the software that runs this blog so you might notice some differences and if this happens I’d appreciate it if you’d leave a comment here letting me know.
I’ll also be adding some new features and I’ll have a post about those when they come out but right now things should be about the same to the end-user…
Welfare Helps Pay For Boob Job
Regular readers know I don’t blog much about my personal life except for a rare baby picture or something like that. However, I just have to vent about this. My brother-in-law’s girlfriend is on welfare yet she informed my wife tonight that she’s getting a boob job. She has a job but evidently doesn’t make enough to support her two kids so she receives assistance.
I can’t tell you how pissed this kind of crap makes me. I grew up in a family that respected the role welfare could play in helping needy families get through tough times and create new taxpayers. My Dad and his 6 siblings are a shining example of how welfare can help children become productive members of society.
I obviously think my brother-in-law’s girlfriend is making an idiotic decision and I’m sure I’ll get the opportunity to tell her that next time I see her. Or maybe she’ll just read this post…
Bicycling on the north side of Fort Wayne
I purchased a bicycle a couple of months ago. I purchased the bicycle for several reasons:
1. My son Graydon (age 5) and daughter Kayla (age 7) both love to ride their bicycles and this allows me to take them for bike rides. I took them on short bike rides in my neighborhood and in the neighborhood across the street 2-3 times per week this summer.
2. I am trying to lose weight (again). I started a diet on April 13th, 2008 and my goal is to lose one pound per week for fifty two consecutive weeks. So far I am one and a half pounds ahead of schedule. I also need to get into better physical condition and most of my exercise comes from walking or biking at this point.
3. I can be somewhat “cheap.” I hate spending $60 to fill up my mid-sized Toyota Camry. By having a bicycle it has allowed me to cut out 3 short trips I otherwise would have made in my car.
4. I believe in a certain amount of conservation. For example I have recycled since I got out of the USN in 1995; as my light bulbs burn out in my home I have been replacing the burned out bulbs with Compact Fluorescent Light Bulbs, etc.
Now we get to the real reason behind this post.
Enjoy The 4th
I hope everybody is enjoying their 4th of July. Earlier today I went down to the rifle range at Huntington and celebrated my 2nd Amendment rights. Tonight, like most people, I will shoot off a few fireworks and watch the IPFW show. Whatever you do, don’t end up like I did a few years ago. After years of shooting fireworks without incident I had a whole string of knockoff blackcats blow up in my hand.
It hurt like hell, and my hand was blistered something fierce, but I refused to go to the emergency room to be counted as a statistic in the July 5th paper. So just remember to set those suckers on the ground before lighting them off…
Happy Father’s Day
This is the first year I get to celebrate Father’s Day. I’m not usually a big fan holidays in general as they seem to be overrun with commercialization that fails to capture the essence of what the day should be about. Instead of going into a rant I’ll simply say that I really did enjoy this one - at least until I had to watch my baby get on an airplane. Oh well, there will be many more opportunities in the future.
Happy Father’s Day to all you dad’s out there - including my own.
Now back to our regular scheduled programming of contempt, outrage and cynicism…
Tornado Tears Through Kansas State
This evening I received the news that my alma mater was struck by an EF4 tornado last night. The storm tore through the city of Manhattan and caused $20 Million in damages at the university. Many of the buildings that were damaged were ones I spent a significant amount of time in when I was there. Most of the time these stories seem so far away but this one struck a little closer to home and I’m thankful that there appears to be no serious injuries at the university. Unfortunately two people were killed in town just outside of Manhattan. You can see photos (like the one below) from the storm at the Manhattan Mercury’s website…
Amherst Storage
Citizens Allowed to Speak On Citilink Resolution… Eventually (video)
At last night’s meeting councilman Harper attempted to have the citizens that showed up to support the Citilink resolution speak before council. However, councilman Didier and clerk Kennedy tried to shut it down by saying that it wasn’t a legal public hearing. Harper pointed out that citizens can speak any time as long as the council allows it - legal public hearings are simply those times in which the council must allow citizens to speak.
Didier eventually came around and his argument really seemed to be that there wasn’t any reason to have the public speak since the resolution already had the support of the full council. Harper and Karen Goldner then rightfully pointed out that several citizens had waited nearly two hours to speak and they should be given the opportunity.
Clerk Sandy Kennedy was also opposed to allowing the citizens to speak because they didn’t follow the appropriate process of calling her or Didier before the meeting. She felt it would be unfair to allow these citizens to speak when previous individuals had been turned down for not following the proper procedure.
The quote of the night came from Harper:
Frickin DVR
For some reason my DVR didn’t record tonight’s city council meeting despite the fact that it’s recorded the last umpteen meetings. So there won’t be any video in the posts tonight but I’m attempting to record the 7am replay so hopefully I’ll have video up Wed evening. Sorry for the technical difficulties…
Kudos To Mayor Henry & SACS Students
I don’t think any traditional media outlet covered this story but I think it shows what kind of person Mayor Tom Henry is. On May 1st the Fort Wayne Jewish Federation observed Yom HaShoah (Holocaust Remembrance Day). For those that might not have heard of this day here’s how the FWJF described it in their May newsletter:
Let us take time to pause and remember those who died and those who survived, yet suffered through this unprecedented time in history. We must remember…and we must remind people everywhere–that evil happens because of intolerance and indifference. As citizens of a great democracy, we must understand the importance of seeing that high moral standards prevail. As the years pass and the eyewitnesses to that terrible time are gone…we are faced with the question: Who will remember?
The Service of Remembrance commemorates the memory of the nearly six million Jewish men, women and children who were murdered on the whim of an ideology and the simmering anti-Semitism of Europe.
Mayor Henry was the first mayor of Fort Wayne to have ever attended the event. He did it with no fan fare, publicity or press release. So I tip my hat to Mayor Henry and may future mayors follow his example in observing this day of commemoration.
Also, several students from Southwest Allen Community Schools won the sixth annual “We Must Remember” essay and poetry contests associated with the event:
HIGH SCHOOL ESSAY CONTEST
1st Place – David Greco, Homestead High School
1stPlace – Molly Zweig, Homestead High SchoolMIDDLE SCHOOL POETRY CONTEST
1st Place – Hanita Epstein, Woodside Middle School
2nd Place –Nicholas Litchin, Summit Middle School
3rd Place – Christopher Busack, Summit Middle School
Congratulations to these students for their outstanding essays and poems.
H/T - Charles Langley
City Pools Open For Memorial Day Weekend
From the city’s press release:
McMillen and Northside Pool to Open - Fort Wayne, IN: McMillen Pool will open Sunday, May 25 at 1:30pm and Northside Pool will open Saturday, May 24 at 12:30pm. The pools will be open for Memorial Day weekend with $1 admission each day.
It also notes that all pools will open on May 31st. Seems like it might be a little chilly for swimming tomorrow but what do I know…
