07 December 2006

Things That Make You Go..."Hmm..."

OK, so we had a snowfall today in the Summit City, and I noticed this morning that NOT ONE set of footprints were up or down the sidewalks... Now what exactly is "up" with that?
Our street has TWO (count 'em...two) perfectly good, functionable, relatively straight sidewalks between the curbs and the lawns. And they were provided by our tax money to the citizenry of the city to USE whenever the mood strikes them....I GUESS that was supposed to be the plan, anyway...
What I'm wondering is WHY all this fascination (apparently) with walking down the FRIGGING MIDDLE OF THE STREET when you already have those aforementioned sidewalks staring you in your primate faces? It's not like there has been a BAN on walking THERE (yet). And it's not like people set up "roadblocks" to keep people OFF the sidewalks. And the last time I checked, your chances of getting struck by a vehicle were considerably less on a sidewalk than in a damn street. SO why make yourself a potential target for automobiles?

Well, I tried to do some checking online, and although the *N* word came up quite a few times (make that a LOT), I still could not find any definitive evidence for this supposed "need" for this activity. I'm damn close to seeing about getting a government GRANT to pay for my "research"...LOL!

In the meantime, I've come up with some suppositional data that may (or may not) support my conclusions, based solely on my observations (and photographic abilities).

1) Sidewalks are like drugs...they're just bad....M' Kay? (Mr Mackey would like this)
2) Sidewalks are the invention of the "white man", and therefore will be ignored by every other race.
3) Sidewalks are only there to FORCE ethnic people to NOT walk in the street, and since ANY type of "authority" is anathema to most of them anyway, the middle of the street is preferred (kind of like doing THEIR own "thang"...)
4) Sidewalks won't produce (fake) lawsuits nearly as quickly as getting hit by a car (when you didn't have the common sense to get out of it's way) will.
5) Sidewalks are for dumping cans, bottles, and wrappers onto (that is NOT what they mean by "keep our STREETS clean".....idiots)
6) Sidewalks get too easily crowded when TEN people gather to "shoot the shit" (streets have a lot more room for cars to "try" to get by)
7) Sidewalks are for people NOT "in touch" with their ethnicity (Hey, Everyone in AFRICA walks down the middle of the street...they're just getting back to their "roots")
8) Sidewalks are lighter than the streets (and although they WILL walk all over anyONE who may be lighter than them, they won't walk on anyTHING that is....)
9) Sidewalks are only there to keep all the lawns from fraying at the edges

Now I will (again) admit that this is based entirely on WHAT I SEE, and might differ from anything YOU could have seen (but I'm thinking not).

I happen to be one of those people that CLEANS the damn snow off of the sidewalk (why I don't know) early enough to meet the city ordinance (that states it should be free of snow by 10AM)...unlike EVERYONE else who is home ALL DAMN DAY, but can't move a little snow from a damn sidewalk). I used to beat my neighbor (who moved since) with his snowblower at cleaning off the walkways. When I see some third world nation on TV, their people toting loads of *whatever* on their backs walking along DIRT ROADS (and this IS the 21st century...no excuse not to have something better to walk on)...I always exclaim: "Oh, another story about the SOUTH side of town?" Sorry, but it's just *my* observations....

Used to be a time when walking down the street and negating the sidewalks would get your ass beat royally (as a child). Come to think of it...in ANY major city with a helluva lot more people than we have HERE, you NEVER see folks ambling down the middle of a street. And why is that? Well, with all the cars, buses, trucks, SUVs and motorcycles about...it can get you hurt, if not killed...REALLY fast. They even have laws for "jaywalking"...crossing anywhere BUT at the corners of some intersections (especially in NYC and L.A.).

Here in Fort Wayne...as usual...ANYTHING GOES.....walk wherever the hell you want...screw those motorists who rightly BELONG in the street...walk right down the damn middle, and don't budge a damn INCH when a car wants to "get past" your stupid ass....and kick their car if they have the balls to HONK at you (for being where you don't belong in the first place)...shame on THEM. Toss some racial slur at them too, because YOU own the city...that's why YOU don't use the sidewalks....(assholes)!

Personally, whenever I see people walking down the middle of ANY street, with sidewalks well within reach, I can't help but assist them in finding their way back to them by directing my car TOWARDS them, revving the engine as I approach. Remember, that's NOT a "hood ornament" on your vehicle...it's a "targeting device".

Maybe if more people did this, those old neglected sidewalks might once again become noted for what they were designed for....like PEOPLE!

Or we could always go the "other" route...and start DRIVING ON THE SIDEWALKS...after all, there sure as hell ain't anyone there to get in our way, right?

06 December 2006

Odds And Ends...

Dana to Bone Over Retirees in Bid to Stay Afloat:
Tell me someone ELSE didn't see THIS coming about THREE years ago, please! The unions should have started bargaining back THEN, instead of watching the guys that put "their time in" get hosed in this manner. Dana has had ongoing problems for at least five years, and now, the "company" wants to do something about it. Personally, unless something drastic happens to halt this debasing practice, I can see Dana going "bye-bye" real soon. Of course, there *might* be another ;arger company that could ride to the rescue. And it's not about the quality of workmanship...that's not been the issue. It was about OUTSOURCING (cheap labor, cheap parts...you get the idea).
Once again, those CEOs will get the gold mine...and the (retired) workers will get...the SHAFT.

* * *
All Day Kindergarden Comes With A Price:
Da "Gov" wants to ramrod this down the peoples throats, and the cost to impliment this is a cool $250 MILLON DOLLARS (Dr. Evil imitation)... The "plan" is to make sure the MOST NEEDY people benefit from this. OK, so describe what constitutes the "most needy", because all I'm seeing is the MOST LAZY (as in please babysit my chillun whilest I take another hit)... IF these children managed to LEARN SOMETHING at home (other than cuss words, anti-everything else rhetoric, and finding the alpha male's illegal GUN in 'da house) maybe we wouldn't even be thinking of basically WASTING all this money...money that could BETTER be spent maintaining the schools we already have. But that means these "parents" would have to FOCUS on something (other than that next welfare check and nickel bag). We've got two choices like I've said before. Either YOU raise your children, or let the "state" raise them. I kind of lean toward the former myself.

* * *
Large Aircraft Coming Into FWIA:
The local news touted the arrival of 747s at the airport (Kittyhawk Air Cargo). One man even stated that it would be a "thrill" for aircraft buffs. I include myself among those, as I have always loved planes and flying, BUT....

Let me tell you a little story......
FWIA used to have a device known as a LOCALIZER....but it hasn't worked for over 5 years (obsolete-can't get parts or replacement). When it WAS working, planes overflew our houses at 1100+ feet (at about 4 miles out when taking off OR landing). Not any longer. Since 2002, these planes have gotten LOWER...a LOT lower. They come over low enough to illuminate my patio at night. Planes are coming over at about 700 feet (or lower). Now I don't worry (that) much about small civil aircraft...they can't do much damage, but when a HUGE honking DC10, MD11 or 747 buzzes my house SO damn low I can read the numbers UNAIDED on the fuselage...well, either that's TOO low, or I MUST be AT THE DAMN AIRPORT itself. Out on Ferguson Road, you CAN read the numbers, but the runway is only a few hundred feet away.


I've tried numerous times (and even met with the board) to get the FWIA to address this issue...nothing. I notified the FAA about the NOISE and SAFETY issues...again, nothing. All I get is the usual "everyone's in compliance" (however that is defined these days). Now I don't know about YOU, but should anything "happen" to one of these jumbo planes, the LAST thing I want to do is be dodging aircraft parts on my property (big ones at that)...! At 700 feet (or less) there is not a helluva lot of room to do anything but try and get out of the way should one of these planes declare an "emergency". We below will most likely receive NO warning at all if this were to occur (nice, huh?).


Interestingly, I had to nose around to find out the CARGO CARRIERS involved in a lot of these low altitude approaches....two in question are CENTURION and ARROW (and they ONLY have the large aircraft...no puddle-jumpers here). Interestingly enough, BOTH of these freight carriers fly to and from CENTRAL and SOUTH AMERICA via Miami (home of the drug lords). Maybe THAT's how a lot of that crap is getting here? Cheaper to "ship in bulk"? ((wink, wink...nudge, nudge...say no more))
On the TV news, NOTHING was mentoned about EITHER airline, and if you search the FWIA website...NOTHING is available for arrivals or departures FOR ANY cargo carrier....curiouser and curiouser. What if I want to ship a horse somewhere for no particular reason? Still, we ALL know what the major 20 year "plan" is for the FWIA...a new tower (already in place), a PARALLEL runway to the current one (2-3)...you didn't KNOW about that? Shame on you. I guess the subsequent REDUCTIONS in our PROPERTY values thanks to all this (future) air traffic has absolutely NO basis in the fact that THIS part of the city wil remain "distressed", then...will it? There is a HUGE mountain hiding under this "mole hill"...believe me, and no one wants to fess up, or even admit to certain practices. Once again, this entity (which our property taxes fund in no small way) runs slipshod over the taxpaying public, blighting parts of the city further, simply because they CAN.

Warm and Fuzzy time...anyone?
If It's Not ONE Thing....It's, Well...You Know...

In my wonderfully "blighted" part of Fort Wayne (thanks in NO small part to all the rentals with deadbeat landlords shipping tenants in by the crack-filled boomcar full), we have one of "those" people on our block. You might remember him from a previous post Meet My "Neighbors"). This loser is a chronic "stoner", has been known to deal guns for drugs, OWNS a high velocity rifle (probably couldn't hit a bull in the ass with a bass fiddle), has real long hair, drives a truck with several different colored parts on it (green truck, yellow hood, black fenders), and basically is one helluva nuisance...period. He gives HILLJACKS a bad name! He used to work for GM, until he drank his way OUT of that job...and as my Dad would say: "What a LOAD". And yet year after year, he manages to get UNDER the law-enforcement radar...simply astounding!

He *used* to have HUGE bonfires (pep-rally sized) out back near his garage (which we will address directly), with flames OVER EIGHT feet tall. City Ordinance states that you CANNOT have ANY fire (that's not solely for cooking) within 25 feet of any structure. Well, he lost that case BIG-TIME. So, I called the FWFD on his ass TWICE last month. It was funny to see the firemen drag a hose in the yard to put it out. All that because this moron was...well, a MORON.

Now about his garage...a study in disrepair if EVER there was one. The paint was scraped off, and NEVER repainted, the door is broken and OFF of the tracks (in pieces), and it's full of crap...LOTSA crap....LOTSA, LOTSA crap. So I call NCE (neighborhood code enforcement) to have them come out and take a look-see.

The District Officer (older guy) comes out, takes some pics of HIS garage...THEN stops in front of MY house and takes more pictures. He's been through here NUMEROUS times and NEVER, I repeat NEVER stopped here once! I went out and asked what was wrong. He told me the barbed wire I had going around my trees had to come down. Well, since it's been UP for a few years, I was curious as to why. It did come in handy one night about 2AM when an officer chased a perp around my house, and that wire slowed the perp up long enough for the officer to tackle his ass on my side lawn. I was told it poses a "hazard" (a hazard to what? burglars trying to make a fast getaway?). As if TRESPASSING isn't a huge problem (it WILL be a hazard for those I CATCH taking a shortcut). The idiots around here live by their own axiom: "What's yours is MINE...and what's MINE is MY OWN". I have tried for the past several YEARS to get something to grow on the DIRT I have that USED to be a front lawn. I'm almost there.

I found out by talking with the captain of the NCE department (we're closer than most people) that someone called this into NCE as a trip wire, and how would these people know that unless they were close enough TO my house, or got caught by it (oops, trespassing). Maybe they shouldn't be so damn nosy and get up on my property...'ya think?

I asked the NCE officer if the city would BUY me a NEW LAWN so I don't need to have the wires up. He bluntly said NO (buttwipe). End of subject. I told the guy (old fart) I'd have it down right away, if he wanted to stick around and "watch"...to make sure. He didn't (go take your meds). Hey, at least I CAN follow rules (when I have to), unlike the other mooks around here that ignore every damn one of them (and keep getting away with it).

I read the ordinance (chapter 157 of the city codes), and it DOES say there is to be NO barbed wire...OK, I'm fine with that. I'm made some white picket sections (no higher than three feet to comply with code for an "ornamental" fence, instead of a "property" fence which requires a permit) to put up..34 INCHES feet in height (once they're placed in the ground and secured).

So....my "Plan B" is in full swing...let's see someone bitch about THAT. I should be able to get the "ornamental-gardening-boundary-border-decorative fencing" up by this weekend.
One interesting thing to note....although broken glass, nails, spikes and barbed wire are NOT allowed (along with chicken wire, mesh and welded wire), not ONE DAMN THING is mentioned about FISHING LINE (at least 50 lb test), or plain old WIRE (hold the barbs). Hell, nothing is mentioned there about ROPES or CHAINS either....(that give me even MORE ideas...heh, heh, heh)...
I have a damn good idea who dimed on ME...not a problem. I saw one person near the NCE guy when he was down the street....It's easier to get *him* tossed back IN jail than for them to even get *me* NEAR jail. Amazing what hoops you have to jump through JUST to keep YOUR property from looking like most everyone else's...isn't it?

So remember....to EVERY plan...ALWAYS have a letter "B" in the mix....you never know.

((I usually have C through F too....LMAO)

04 December 2006

Your Favorite Christmas Movie/Show...

OK, so we're well into the Christmas season, and we ALL know that with this time of the "rolling year", we're bombarded with ALL those yuletide cinematic presentations.

Now I have to admit that I have my favorites. I wish I could say I have ONE special movie, but since there are SO many to choose from, I've had to narrow the field down a lot...

My two favorites would have to be SCROOGE (1951-Alistair Sim version) and WHITE CHRISTMAS (1954-Bing Crosby/Danny Kaye). I don't think it could EVER be Christmas without THOSE two flicks (imho).

In SCROOGE, (the late) Mr.Sim does the quintessential job of portraying the dastardly Ebenezer Scrooge...and he does it with such VERVE, it's downright annoying in the beginning. Just as forceful is his "conversion"...he becomes so much MORE the person he should have been (and once was, as a youth). There are 2 other actors that have done the role proud over the years that come to mind. George C. Scott did a remarkable performance, and most recently, Patrick Stewart breathed new life into the character But MY favorite will always be Alistair Sim, and if you happen across a rare "colorized" version of this movie, all the better.

The movie WHITE CHRISTMAS (in it's essence) is what Christmas is all about...doing something GOOD for someone else simply because it's the RIGHT thing to do...period. Taking aside the song & dance numbers (all very well written and performed), the basic storyline has people being the messengers of good tidings, whether it's helping a fellow soldier in WW2, or someone you looked up to once, or even a kind-hearted person that could use a smile and some good cheer.

As to other shows that are noteworthy....

Of course we have the 41 year old perennial favorite...A CHARLIE BROWN CHRISTMAS (has it been THAT many years already?), as well as the M.I.A. GARFIELD'S CHRISTMAS (which never airs any longer, even in INDIANA...the birthplace of his creator, JIM DAVIS...go figure). There's also MICKEY'S CHRISTMAS CAROL for the Disney fans out there (get a copy of this one).

We also have A CHRISTMAS STORY (Ralphie and the Red Ryder BB rifle), and all the other versions of Dickens' A Christmas Carol. We have A MIRACLE ON 34TH STREET (and it's clones), and all those chick-flick Christmas stories from Lifetime...lol!

One movie sorely neglected is AN AMERICAN CHRISTMAS CAROL with Henry Winkler....this is a damn good TV movie version of the telling of the "Scrooge Saga", but goes missed by many year after year. I wish they'd bring that movie back.

We also have Rudolph, Frosty, and the Grinch for the animated lovers out there, as well as the live-action GRINCH (with Jim Carrey...nice job). We have the three SANTA CLAUSE movies with Tim Allen as well as SANTA CLAUSE - THE MOVIE (Dave Huddleston & Dudley Moore), and even SANTA CLAUSE CONQUERS THE MARTIANS. We have JINGLE ALL THE WAY (Schwarzenegger), and ELF (Will Ferrell) and my personal *next* favorite movie...CHRISTMAS VACATION (Chevy Chase)! Lots of viewing for all ages, it seems.

SO have at it, fire up the VCR, DVD, TiVo or whatever you have....and share YOUR favorites. It's about QUALITY viewing (for a change).

...and that's ALWAYS a good thing, right?
How Ridiculous Can Things Get?


Over the weekend, it was reported that GWYNETH PALTROW "slammed" the USA. Such could not be farther from the truth. She was said to have bashed the United States, when IN FACT, she was merely PRAISING the UNITED KINGDOM. She said such (horrific) things as: "I love the English lifestyle, it's not as capitalistic as America. People don't talk about work and money, they talk about interesting things at dinner". And by God, you know what? She's freaking CORRECT in that assessment! She went on to say: "I like living here because I don't fit into the bad side of American psychology. The British are much more intelligent and civilized than the Americans".

Now I have to admit we have OUR share of MORONS in this nation....heaven KNOWS that. But we DO have our share of very intelligent people, it's just that THEY are not "pushing all the buttons" in this nation, unfortunately. And in some extreme cases, I'm glad that a few of them may never get that chance. And we ALL know the REST of the world has IT'S share of IDIOTS and IMBECILES, right?

But back to Gwyneth....poor girl has been misread by the media once again. They have taken her praise of the UK and turned it back around to "reflect" (think fun-house mirror type reflection) "their" concept of what they "think" she really meant. And that was a blatant bashing of our nation....WRONG!

What the media needs to start doing is letting "We the people" decide what is actually being said (by anyone of note), instead of feeding us pablum-laced, "pundicratic" rhetoric from the fringes of either the ultra left OR right. We're not ALL lemmings...(yet).

All she did for Christ's sake was PRAISE another damn country...what the hell is wrong with that? I do that all the time. There are aspects of MANY countries that DO deserve praise, America notwithstanding. There are JUST as many that deserve our scorn...that's the way life works!

I can see all this uber-sensitivity spilling over into most every part of our lives REALLY soon....

Take the classroom for example: "Johnny got the highest mark in our class" quickly becomes: "The other 34 of you morons don't desrve to even hold a damn pencil".

Or what about on the job? "Linda is being promoted to senior sale representative" now becomes "The rest of you worthless scum might as well chain yourselves to those filing cabinets".

Even the sanctity of the home is not above reproach...." Honey, I LOVE this pot roast" will be considered to mean: "I wouldn't give the REST of your crappy meals to a starving bum on the street, it's THAT pathetic".

It's all about "SPIN", people.....and as long as we just let it happen, it WILL continue. And those that refuse to get involved to chabnge it will forever be led around by their collective noses, privy to whatever way "the wind blows" in the media. Let's not turn praise into undeserved hate, when it's not warranted. We have enough OTHER problems to worry about.

There used to be TRUTH in journalism......not so much anymore. We have to SEARCH for it, discern it from the headlines, do our own research into the "real" meanings, and separate the "wheat" from all the "chaff", as it were.

But I'll refrain from praising those who already DO that...that would be "bashing" all those who DON'T...!

And we certainly don't want THAT...or do we?

01 December 2006

The Christmas Tree....A Study In Engineering And Cost...

Anyone recall when a Christmas tree was ...well, a TREE? You know....the old trot on down to the local corner lot where some half-frozen guy was eeking out a holiday living by selling REAL TREES (used to be about $5 for a 6 ft one way back when). And you and Dad would drag the dang thing home (usually on a sled because it always seemed to snow ON the day YOU went for a tree). Then there were the "tree farms" where you could CUT YER OWN....(yes, pine needles WILL scratch a paint job, btw).

Recently, I was strolling through some big-box stores, and when I got to the Christmas area...a veritable FOREST of artificial trees blinked longingly back at me. And these weren't just the plain old plastic needle ones that YOU had to assemble and light up yourself...oh, no. These were all PRE-LIT with LED lights...in various colors, such as an ALL-PURPLE lit tree.

Of course anyone MY age will recall those horrendous SILVER FOIL trees (that mom added the COLOR WHEEL to, so it would change hues every 5 seconds)...in retrospect...totally hideous! And the static electricity coming off that tree could light the whole HOUSE for a month! I know our dog HATED going near it...(ZZZAAAPPP!)...! Now granted...at my age (54) anything that will save me both time AND angst would only go to serve me well. Take the "Chirstmas light gremlins" who every year, after you've CHECKED to make sure ALL the lights work BEFORE putting them away until NEXT year, seem to screw with those lights and make them inoperable. Happens every damn year. A perfectly good set of bulbs 11 months earlier now do NOT work...and they've not been touched since 11 months ago. Go figure.

But now, all you have to do is take the tree out, spread the branches a bit, and plug it the heck IN....simple, huh? Well, they DO cost a lot more (base models start at around $70...geez, sounds like I'm describing a damn CAR now). But the result seems pretty clear...they look DAMN nice, and the LEDs use a helluva lot less electricity that the standard minibulbs, and won't shatter if you step on them (always fun when THAT happens...NOT).

Still, there is something to be said for the "traditional" aspect of putting up a REAL tree...and trimming it out proper with the family. They DO have just the LED bulb sets, and that's going to take a LOT of hassle out of OUR yearly tryst of tree-trimming. But I suppose that the pine scent really makes the holiday season. And a REAL tree gives you just that. Let's face it...artificial trees give off nothing but non-flammable scents, and none of them are PINE. Yeah, you could do it up like the trailerpark folks and buy a CAN of PINE SCENT, spray it on everything, then sneeze your butt off for an hour because of the aerosol propellant...! Or you can do the "60s" gig and burn PINE-SCENTED INCENSE....way cool, man....(all I need is some Hendrix and a black light...LOL).
So there ARE more choices at Christmas when it comes to tree selection....all you have to do is pick, the height, the type, the price, and the color.

Happy Hunting