And the "Fun" Continues...

Yes friends, the Indiana weather, which can often change by the minute has "socked it to us" again, with a snowfall that dumped about 9.6 inches onto our city.
This brings us to the 2nd SNOWIEST winter for the Summit City.
I would wager this is another record we're destined to break, because we've enough winter left to do it.
Today's weather for our part of the Hoosierland will see us with sub-freezing temps - we're only getting up to about TWELVE degrees with a wind-chill that will feel like minus ten degrees. We'll have some sun, but it's not going to help melt anything (unless you have a really BIG magnifying glass handy).

Tonight, expect temps to dip into SINGLE digits with a wind chill around MINUS TWENTY.
So, it would appear that those "six more weeks of winter" are not going anyplace soon. Guess groundhogs know something we don't.
Fill up that hot morning beverage and keep it close by...we're all going to need it today.
Let's try not to shiver as we look at what else has been going on...
*** First out of the luge repair shop today is the answer to yesterday's WHO SAID THAT? quite:
"Courtesies cannot be borrowed like snow shovels; you must have some of your own."
This was spoken by JOHN WANAMAKER ( 11 July 1836 - 12 December 1922) who was a merchant, religious leader, civic and political figure.

And here is his WIKI:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Wanamaker
He was (and still is) considered by many to be the father of modern advertising, and a pioneer in marketing.
And...like me, was a PHILLY GUY (he was born in the Grays Ferry area of south Philadelphia)
John's father was a brickmaker while his mother was of a wealthy merchant family from Alsace and Switzerland.

He opened his first store in 1861 at 6th and Market Sts in Philly, called "Oak Hall", which was adjacent to the site of George Washington's Presidential home. This store grew substantially, based on Wanamaker's principle "One price and returnable goods".
A second store was opened in 1869 at 818 Chestnut St., and renamed his business John Wanamaker and Co.
In 1875, he opened an abandoned railroad depot and named it "The Grand Depot", located at 13th and Market St.
After opening his first store in NYC (1896), Wanamaker continued to expand his business abroad with the European houses of Wanamaker in both London and Paris.
It was decided to design and build a larger store on the Grand Depot site, and by 1910, a new, 12-story building stood on the grounds, dubbed the Wanamaker Building.
Inside was installed a massive pipe organ and a 2,500  pound bronze eagle (hand-crafted in Germany and brought to Philly from the St. Louis World's Fair ) was placed in the court of the store.

Wanamaker was a strong opponent to unions, and gave his employees FREE health care, education, recreational facilities, pensions and profit-sharing plans long before such practices became standard .
In an 1887 organizing drive by the Knights of Labor, Wanamaker simply FIRED the first 12 union members discovered by detectives.
Wanamaker stores made early efforts to advance the welfare of both native and African Americans.
He also popularized the "money-back guarantee".and wrote his own copy  for his advertisements.
After his death in 1922, the estate was estimated to be around $100 MILLION dollar (then - well over a BILLION dollars in today's rate), divided between his three children.
As for the legacy of his stores?

They were sold several times to various entities, which in some fashion wound up insolvent...until in 2006, the "Wanamaker Building" store  was turned into a MACY'S...but the PIPE ORGAN and the EAGLE remain there to this day.
I have been to the store (when it was Wanamaker's) MANY rimes, the perhaps the best time to go there in those days was at Christmas time.

The entire store had a wonderful scent to it, and the organist played so many holiday favorites.
The store actually had it's OWN DINING ROOM, too...originally for only the employees, it was opened up later to the public.
Talk about some VERY high ceilings there.
And, it was one of the FIRST stores to have escalators (as well as elevators, personally manned by staff).
The escalators had WOODEN treadles on them, and were very quiet.
One could have made it an all-day affair back in the late 60s and early 70s, and to get something in a Wanamaker's bag ANY time of year used to mean something special.
Nothing but good memories about that store.
Here's some back-story to the Philly store, and some marvelous trivia from within it's walls:
http://www.wanamakerorgan.com/about.php
Moving on...
*** We FINALLY got a plow down our street  as in SINGULAR, rather than the twosome we USUALLY have.

ONE path...for a two-way street???

And I told Wifey that we'd get a half-ass job done...
Glad to know I was right...again.
The plow came down the street, then when it came back UP the street, plowed in the EXACT SAME PATH it did when it went the opposite way...
((...WTF???...))

Yep, that's a first here.
The plow ALWAYS plows one side of the snow in the street against the curb, then when it comes back the other way, runs on the OTHER side of the street, plowing THAT snow to THAT curb...so we get more than a ONE CAR path along the street.
Not THIS time...
And yet, we'll hear the city "claim" it's been plowing residential streets...well THAT much IS true...they're just doing a sh*t JOB of it.
The intersections are the worst, as the snow has frozen and created "speed bumps", which although slow down vehicles (except those that don't look and just drive), can cause a vehicle to bottom out or get stuck,...as we had several do yesterday AFTER the plow came through.
MY feeling is - If you're going to do a job, then do a GOOD job, or don't bother doing it AT ALL...kapeesh?
I mean, I got a picture of the plow running NORTH on our street, and there's NO SNOW on his plow being moved anywhere...WTH is up with that?

You're plowing the SAME path, moron!

The blade's not ON THE GROUND? Can't plow much THAT way, can you?
Our side of the street still have over 6 feet of snow NOT removed from the street to the curb.

THIS is how it's SUPPOSED to be done - TWO plows!

And ALL the culverts are BLOCKED solid...more ice on the streets, creating more RUTS to try and drive between...really not fun.
Gotta give Frank Suarez and the Dept of Public Works a D MINUS on this one...poorly executed.
Then again, this IS the SE side of town...we always get the shaft while everyone else gets the gold mine, right?
*** Next up, a police-action shooting is FINALLY called justifiable by the prosecutor's department.
And here is the story link:
http://www.journalgazette.net/article/20140206/LOCAL03/302069979
Only took from April LAST year to make this call...
And 19-year old Tavonte Haney is STILL deceased, and won't ever try to point a firearm at ANY officer ever again.
At least there's a good amount of CERTAINTY attached to that, hmm?
I keep saying that the BEST way to stop a bad guy with a gun...is with a GOOD GUY with a gun.
And in SIX instances from last year's record-setting number of homicides, JUSTICE, however final in it's presentation, prevailed.
*** Last back to the igloo today...what makes one person become an altruistic entrepreneur, and another person a statistic on a police spreadsheet?
BOTH have the exact SAME OPPORTUNITY...the SAME chance to make something of themselves.
But perhaps what both men HAVE is not as important an issue as to what they both HAVE NOT?
One man was raised by hard-working parents, while the other is from a household (notice I don't say a "home"?) with perhaps ONE parent (and not even a "full-time" one at that; a parent that is still a relative neophyte when it comes to being an ADULT.
One was brought up with a strict sense of right and wrong, while the other was left to his own "devices" all too often.
One man was determined to make something OF himself, while the other could claim to be a victim of society.
One man was a lot more SELF-reliant, while the other wanted everything to come to him...ir he would just take it from someone else.
You see where I'm going with this, right?
I believe we are all "given" everything we NEED to get by in life...the "building blocks" if you will.
What WE "choose" (there's THAT word again) to do with that is up to US.
And HOW we decide on where to place those building blocks often determines the outcome of a situation.
Remember as a child playing with blocks, or watching a toddler play with them?
All the time, they build something, only to knock it down...and start over.

It's SUPPOSED to be the WHITE HOUSE, Daddy...

We can learn a LOT just from that, but all too frequently, many people just don't bother to TRY AGAIN...
(better to let the government try FOR me instead).
That will diminish people in ways even they can't comprehend.
Now, I'm not saying we can ALL build a store empire...but we ALL can TRY to achieve something in life.
We should measure our achievements NOT by the accomplishments of OTHERS, but by what WE manage to make for OURSELVES.
There are many great people that even history doesn't know about.
That does not, nor should not take away from such people.
It only should reinforce our desire to become LIKE them.
And that should suffice under any condition.

Be well, make a difference to someone, and...
Stay SAFE out there, America.