Monday Musings...

And...we're back to the weekdays, boys and girls.
School is (mainly) out for the summer, and it's another beautiful sunrise out here in the Heartland.
That was a welcome bout of rain we had over the weekend...personally, our garden loved it.
The weather today will see mostly sunny skies, with temps reaching the upper 70s, and mild breezes..a great day to drive that boomcar around the SE side and annoy the snot out of the few decent people.
So, take a minute or two, pour a nice cup of YOUR favorite morning beverage and let's get busy with all the OTHER "stuff".
*** First out of the footlocker today is an "editorial" in today's J-G paper.
Here's the link to it:
http://www.journalgazette.net/article/20140609/EDIT07/306099999/1021/EDIT

Now, before we get into the "meat and potatoes" of this, you need to realize that this IS from a left-leaning newspaper...just so you're aware.
The editorial starts out innocently enough, making the case for last year's homicide rate and how THIS year, we're nowhere close to the numbers seen in 2013...much the same can be said for 1998, when the homicide rate ALSO dropped from the previous (record) year of 1997.
But, that's not to say that everything "just went away"...far from that.
We STILL have multiple incidents of SHOOTINGS...it's just that no one's been practicing enough to shoot anyone DEAD (can't hit a bull in the ass with a bass-fiddle syndrome, no doubt)...rather, they're all just getting wounded, some seriously or critically.
Keeps the surgeons on their toes.

Lots of this on the SOUTHEAST SIDE.

And all of this is still an aside from the fact that EVERY single day, in that 3-mile radius of OUR house ("Fortress"), we have at least ONE incident of the infamous SIGNAL 113 (shots fired). Now, we can also add FIREWORKS to this mess, because we're at THAT time of year again, so we may have those who can't tell the difference, but that doesn't discount those shot by BULLETS and not "Roman candles".
After this, the editorial goes into the typical liberal stance about 2nd Amendment rights and says everything but the phrase "gun-control".
What is sad is when you invoke the sympathy vote by stating that ..."But how does an innocent sleeping child defend herself from random bullets?"
Granted, it's very effective (and true), but to hint that GUNS are (still) the problem here, and not the f$cking idiots WIELDING them, with absolutely NO regard for human life...is incorrect.

I have said for ages that it's a PEOPLE problem.
And it always WILL be.
If memory serves, we ALSO had numerous STABBINGS around the city since the start of 2014, and not ONE word about the KNIVES used in those attacks...just guns.
Sure makes you wonder.

More people need to get off THEIR ass...AND off MINE.

The editorial ends with a bit of a warning - "But our complacency is not an option when violence - most of it involving guns - is still a part of our lives in this community."
This (referring to the SE side no doubt) is NOT what normal folks would call "a community"...it's more like a loose rabble of individuals with more personal agendas than the current administration out in D.C. They only come together for parties...and tragedies.
And even then, it's never for long enough to create any sense of community.
Not enough people give a damn down here (much like those in City Hall with a similar mindset)...it's THAT simple.
And what few of us DO still care, are never supported or even encouraged by those in authority to continue to do what we do.
We can't all be "lone wolves", either.
We follow the law, even if it does "get in the way" from time to time, and trips over it's own bureaucracy.
Perhaps the editors of the paper might want to consider the PEOPLE that cause the homicides...the weapon are ONLY a tool; a means to an end, as it were.
And that makes better sense that saying the FLIES cause GARBAGE, doesn't it?
Moving on...
*** Wifey is "technically" finished for the school year, as far as students go, but she has to go to (read "endure") two days of teacher workshops at different schools in the FWCS realm...learning how best to teach to state testing, in essence. Yes, you can call it a waste of time...I already have.

They're also changing up the school year as far as start and stop dates...AGAIN.
We never really had these issues when we used to attend high school from after Labor Day to near the end of June...every year, with 45 minute periods each and every day.
Then again, we never had the TRUANCY rates, the in-school pregnancies, the problem kids that should not be mainstreamed, and all those wonderful free lunches (at the taxpayers' expense).
Well, after this crap is done, we get to do those things we used to relegate to weekends, and that manes a definite stop to Azar's down in Waynedale for the breakfast buffet...SOON (during the week, when it should be LESS crowded).
First, though...Wifey has to get the Wifeymobile into the shop to get that window regulator fixed, so we can put the passenger window up and down again.
After that...(like the song says)..."anything goes".
*** The weekend was not without it's little "foibles", shall we say?
I found out Saturday, that for some strange (and unexplained) reason, I can no longer post comments to the WANE site...it says I have been "blocked"...

Why the hell that happened I have no idea...there are others there that say a LOT worse things than I even have, PLUS, I have OVER 1600 "up-votes", so that means someone out there thinks what I had to say was relevant.
I've sent them several emails suggesting they UNblock my account (never did like DISQUS), and we'll see where it goes from there.
Then, yesterday, we got the Sunday paper...minus the MAIN front sections...
((...WTF???...))

And it wasn't EVEN Monday yet...

That's what I said, too...a LOT.
How the hell can you screw something like delivering a damn NEWSPAPER the hell up?
That's like lousing up a damn ONE-CAR PARADE!
Kids can do it better than these adults...it's that easy (and explains why we don't have kids doing it)
The FRONT PAGE section, SPORTS and METRO were missing, so I called it in, and about FOUR hours later, the route manager delivered a new paper with his apologies.

At least HE used to get it RIGHT.

I told him "Hey, it wasn't YOUR fault...it was your carrier's".
On the "up" side...at least our basement was BONE-DRY...lol.
(and should remain that way for some time at the price we paid)
Also, I'm trying to contact ZIPPO to see if I can send them my Dad's lighter casing back to them for repair (they have a LIFETIME REPAIR WARRANTY...sweet).

My Zippo is MUCH smaller and has no whitewalls.

The lid hinge finally broke this weekend, and it needs a new one, so if things work out, I'll be sending the lighter back to Bradford, PA and 4-5 weeks later...fixed like new again.
It does have sentimental value (and does a good job lighting my cigars).
*** Last back to the barracks today...there are days that go well, and other days that suck worse than sour lemons in battery acid (don't try that at home), and I'm not the best candidate to wind up on the receiving end of life's crap sandwiches.

Hey, I ain't the one tossing the rocks.

I tend to sweat a lot of the "small stuff", because I'm used to that Broken Window Theory - leave the small stuff slip on by, and soon, it becomes the BIG stuff.
And none of us like that big stuff coming at us all the time, right?
Then again, if we deal WITH that small stuff, most of that is usually and typically EASIER to find solid solutions for, rather than have us ignore it until it becomes part of some BIG stuff thing.

You deal with enough small stuff often enough, you do find ways to work through them, but you never dismiss them.
My Dad used to joke that whenever he heard a noise under the car's hood, he'd "turn up the radio" and when the noise got louder than the radio could be played, then, it was time to fix it... naturally, Dad NEVER did that. He got things done as soon as he noticed them, and as a result, never had any major issues with his cars.
Life in and of itself has it's own "preventive" maintenance schedule, if we're willing to listen for it. When those little things come calling, get up and answer the door (except on the SE side of Ft. Wayne, where you get shot for doing so)...you know what I mean from a metaphorical standpoint, right?
Never let the small things grow into the big things...that's best left to those items in the garden, and not for life's problems.

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