Humpday Happenings...

Here we are, halfway home...it's the middle of the week.
And, are we ever going to dry out? Seems everything outside has been either damp or frozen since the start of the year.
I know the sun's out there someplace, because I almost saw it come out from behind the overcast yesterday.
The Hoosierland forecast for today finds us with mostly cloudy skies (again?), but no precipitation, and a high into the low 40s. Well, it's not great, but at last it's not wet.
Tonight we drop (barely) below freezing.
Guess we can work with that.

Now, let's get a nice hot cup of coffee, tea, or cocoa so we can chase the morning chill away, and take a look at what else has been going on, okay?
*** First out of the darkness is our WHO SAID THAT? quote for the week:
"What is the essence of America? Finding and maintaining that perfect, delicate balance between freedom 'to' and freedom 'from.'"

I feel this is much of what ails our nation these days. We have blurred the lines between the two. And when we do this to anything that is truthful, we manage to obtain many falsehoods.
So, WHO said that? The answer at the top of tomorrow's post.
Meanwhile, back at the Stanford-Binet testing facility...
*** Next up, it's time for our "What the hell happens today, Bob?" feature:
JANUARY 18 -
---Today is National Peking Duck Day

(do they have Washington Duck in China?)
---And, it's National Winnie the Pooh Day

(Pooh on you for not knowing it)
*** Next up., our "king" (mayor Henry)  held a joint presser yesterday with the FWPD chief and sights are being set on how to address the public safety issue in Fort Wayne.
Here's the story link:
http://wane.com/2017/01/17/city-to-hire-officers-add-street-crimes-unit-to-address-public-safety/

The efforts mentioned are to be a proactive stance against rising crime (seems I said something to that effect YEARS ago).
I will say that Chief Reed is perhaps the MOST proactive chief I've seen in this city since moving here.
The mayor states that "we face challenges with violence, guns, gangs, and drugs". He STILL hasn't put that list in the correct order. Violence will come without guns, drugs or gangs. That's just human nature. Time to take off the kid gloves and start prosecuting offenders harshly.
Gangs (of which, at last count, we had about 30 active ones in this city) need to be BROKEN...period.
And those associated with gangs need to be held accountable as accessories to any mayhem these street thugs have caused along the way.

Po-po be comin' fo YO ass!

The drug problem has been with us for ages, and with technology comes greater potency, meaning more ODs.
Now,while decreasing the "surplus population" of drug users might sound like a good idea, decriminalizing any controlled substance is the wrong path to travel.

The dealers have to be taken off our streets, and the supply trains broken.
As for guns, well, anything that places them in the hands of the GOOD guys works for me. If that means repealing CCP laws and associated fees, then so be it.

It's about time the law-abiding citizen was placed on the SAME level as the BAD guys, and by that I mean having the (2nd Amendment) ability to freely carry a firearm to PROTECT themselves, family, property, and others, rather than to prey upon innocents and cause chaos.
As to the other items mentioned in the presser, I agree with them all.
My only question is "WTF took you people SO damn long?"
(gonna be hard getting this camel out of the damn tent after years of denial)
*** Next up, another chapter in the Frontier Fios story at our "Fortress"...

So, I was expecting the service tech to come out between 8-10 AM) yesterday, but all the systems came back on about 20 minutes AFTER I called. I thought about cancelling the call, but Frontier took care of that - they called ME around 10 AM and asked if service was restored, to which I replied it had.

Everything A-OK here.

I chose to stop the call because I can find no issue with anything on OUR end, and having a tech come out just to tell me what I already know is kinda dumb, right?
Now, should this happen again, I WILL have a tech come out JUST to prove to Frontier that OUR gear is working as it should. Seems reasonable enough to me. Plus, if it does manage to be something intermittent on our end, we can have it fixed.
Either way - problem solved.
*** Next, more grant money coming to town (sorta like Santa Claus), and this is something I mentioned not that long ago. Here's the story link:
http://www.journalgazette.net/news/local/3-projects-earn-grants-17326466

Now, if you want to see where the next waste of funds will be, look no further than what will soon be the former McMillen Apartments in the SE. The new name will be Posterity Scholar House (see my post from 13 December 2016), and it's "designed" for low-income single parents. (well, it SOUNDS good)
This is the place with energy-saving tech and electric cars for those living there.
Costs to residents are based on ONLY 45% of the family "income". Imagine that.
The Landing is another place the grant money will go, along with the Clyde Theater.
(I can hardly control my laughter)
*** Next up, let's take a stop over to "Kitten Corner"...
Slowly but surely, both cats are finding their voices.

Gallifrey is the vocal one, and in the lead with sounding off most of the time. Violet is more "laid-back" and only barely mews when it's dinner time.
Trying to get either of them up with you when you're on the sofa can be a mixed blessing.
When he decides to get up with me, he can't seem to sit still. All he wants to do is roam all over me, rubbing and purring. He gets so clumsy that he almost falls off the couch...lol.
She, on the other hand doesn't stay long when she gets up, but she will stay in one spot and let you stroke her fur. It's much different when sitting in a chair.

Those times, they will stay put for well over 15 minutes at a time.
That's when they're bored with playing, or chasing one another through the house.
Hey, kitties, send some of that energy my way, will 'ya?
*** Last back to the light...I often wonder why things take so long to get started, like this initiative on violent crime in Fort Wayne.

I mean, it's not like anything "new" on the SE side. We've enjoyed (?) such things and the animals committing these chronic acts of stupidity since Wifey and I moved here in 1997. The only difference between THEN and NOW, is that back then, it was never AS CLOSE or as CONSTANT as it has become since the turn of the century.
With our neighborhood changing over time, it has allowed the riff-raff to move in, and that creates more problems, as what passes for humanity brings it's own special brand of "living" with it.
Where we once had nice houses, we now have rental-hovels.

Where we had good property values, we now have a lot LESS worth, and with it less taxes for the city (you'd think those downtown would pick up on the loss of such revenue by now).
We have disheveled houses with disheveled excuses for people infesting them.

Get OUTTA the damn street, idiot!

We have unbridled groups of children roaming about, adults that can't figure WTF a SIDEWALK is supposed to be used for, loud car stereos out the ass, and assorted other annoyances that help to make our neighborhood part of the increasingly larger ghettohood.

Get rid of THIS for starters.

Problem is, it's SPREADING out farther across the city, and NOW those downtown are becoming concerned.
After all the horses have gotten away and stampeded to other parts of town, they now want to fix the damn corral gate.
Some might say better late than never.
I would say that at this point in time,  it's going to be harder to even get the horses corralled, than to fix that damn gate, not that it shouldn't have been done AGES ago, before they all got loose.
Plus, all that horseshit (mayhem) from the escapees has got to wind up somewhere (else).
Just try not to step in it in other parts of the city.
Maybe City Hall can get it right THIS time around? We shall see.

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