Humpday Happenings - New Year's Eve Edition...

Well, here we are at last...or again, depending on how YOU viewed this past year.
Either way - the END of another set of calendars...lol.
We'll take a look back at some of the "stuff" we encountered in a little bit, but first, let's see how the weather is treating us.
-- Baby, it's COLD outside...as in Winter is HERE.
The Hoosierland is starting the day off in the teens (and wind chills BELOW zero), with temps rising ALL the way into the twenties IF we're lucky.
At least there's no REAL chance of snowfall...(that comes NEXT year...lol)
So, go grab a nice HOT cup of your favorite morning beverage and together we'll see how well this year has treated some of us.
*** First out of the ice cube tray today is our WHO SAID THAT? quote (and the last one this year):
"Hope smiles from the threshold of the year to come, whispering 'it will be happier.'"
So, as we say farewell to 2014, WHO said that anyway?
The answer will be at the top of the first post of NEXT year...lol.
Meanwhile, back in the library (and NO, not THAT library) classical stacks...
*** Next up, it's time for our final "What the hell happens today, Bob?" feature for this year:
December 31 - 
---Well, it IS NEW YEAR'S EVE...sorta self explanatory, right?
---And it's also NATIONAL CHAMPAGNE DAY...hey, you DO have a reason to raise a "toast", right?

"You'll put yer eye out, Ralphie."

---It's LEAP SECOND TIME ADJUSTMENT DAY...like every one of us is going to muck about with our watches and clocks...right.

Just HOW the hell do you adjust THIS, then?

---And, it's UNIVERSAL HOUR OF PEACE DAY..thing is, they didn't say WHICH hour...
---It's also WORLD PEACE MEDITATION DAY, so we know where the hippies will be.

Play that "funky" music...

Break out the Sitar, Ravi.
---And, it's NO INTERRUPTIONS DAY...at the end of the bloody year?

And we MEAN it, too!

Are you serious? You wait until NOW?
---It's also MAKE UP YOUR MIND DAY...like we haven't been doing that the OTHER 364 days in 2014...sheesh.

How do they think we GOT this far?
By making up our minds, that's how.
*** Next, an update to the (hopefully) last homicide of this year.
(#16, if you're still keeping the deadpool list)

Here's the story link:
http://www.journalgazette.net/news/local/police-fire/Shooting-victim-identified-4237000

When they released the victim's ID yesterday, I said to Wifey that it sounded like a store owner in the area...seems I made a good call, because it WAS the owner of one Big Al's Convenience Store, located at the corner of Monroe and McKinnie...(and that's pretty much a spit and a slide from our "Fortress" - less than a quarter mile, in fact.
The name of the victim  was listed as Moath SaidSaleh Yassir, so unless he was a black Muslim, I;m thnking he was from the Middle East or India...someplace over there.
Moving on...
*** In a related story, WANE had a good spot about something I have mentioned here for YEARS - CELEBRATORY GUNFIRE on New Year's Eve.
Here's the story link:
http://wane.com/2014/12/30/police-issue-new-years-eve-gunfire-warning/

This follows up the spot that Adam Widener did when he interviewed me at our "Fortress" :LAST year this same time...
(I love the video they used - they use a fake airsoft pistol as a "demo"...lol)
I DID like the fact that Kari Huston interviewed Bob Aldridge, who I feature here from time to time regarding gun safety (he's an NRA-licensed instructor in our area).
--- And, as a sidebar, I missed an email from Kari Huston at WANE - she wanted to do a followup for the story that ran last night (with me). I apologized to her...perhaps nest year?.
I do have a feeling that not many of the aboriginal "locals" around here will bother to comply
They never do, and the sad part is that they never get caught and arrested for it, because the police (so they say) have to SEE it themselves.

This is NOT the way to celebrate a NEW year...

Somehow, having a person TELL them isn't enough to make a collar stick, unless there is obvious damage and it can be corroborated...sorry, folks. That's the way the cookie crumbles.
*** Another story at WANE had me smiling, because this is ALSO something I said that was TRUE...imagine that.
Here's the link:
http://wane.com/2014/12/30/homicides-down-shootings-up-in-2014/

Naturally homicides WOULD be DOWN in the Summit City...because a lot of the thugs shot ONE ANOTHER last year, and a few have been tossed in the slammer, so that's an obvious given.
But, as I have shown you here, SHOOTINGS were ON THE RISE...the only reason we did NOT have a high homicide rate was easy to determine - LOUSY MARKSMANSHIP...period!
In fact, we had the HIGHEST number of "shootings" here since 1997 - the SAME year we once had a record number of homicides prior to LAST year, according to Adam Widener, who wrote this story.
It all comes down to the difference between just HITTING what you''re aiming at...and KILLING what you're aiming at.
I suppose we're fortunate that any "training" these street punks and thugs ever received  came from the Playstation GRAND THEFT AUTO games...lol.

How NOT to hold a firearm...(typical for them)

(they ever go against me, they'll learn what it means to PRACTICE firearms training)
Nuff said there...
*** And now, for my "take" on this past year...
(strap yourselves in...could be a bumpy ride)
-- Well, the BAD news is that it hasn't gotten any BETTER down here in the ghettohood.
The GOOD news is that it hasn't gotten any WORSE...yet.
(helluva lifestyle, folks - not for the squeamish)
-- Wifey and I got to play OUR version of NOAH, and long before Russell Crowe did HIS version earlier this year...

Sorry, not into "indoor water-features".

(thankfully, this is resolved for the foreseeable future)
-- We got to make some "new friends"...

Mr HAWK stopped by ...several times.

And Mr WOODPECKER...

And of course, our SQUIRREL friends...

"Hi, Bob...where's the grub?"

"Yo...time to eat yet?"

And "Clover", who's been MIA since late October.

-- We also lost some old friends...like those mentioned HERE:
http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2014/obituaries/notable-deaths-2014.html
Pretty impressive list, hmm?
-- We said hello to a new incarnation of "The Doctor" and get an all-day marathon to send this year out in style. Thank you for some quality TV, BBC America.

-- We also saw the SECOND COLDEST YEAR in Fort Wayne since...(drum roll, please)...1912...!!!
Take THAT, you global warming whiners...HA!!

Make it STOP with the global warming...

-- We also saw a racial divide created by the left in a little town in Missouri that wouldn't have gotten a second look, but has resulted in rioting, looting, and wholesale mayhem (the lieks of which rival parts of the 1960s) by mostly low-informational ethnic communities, which culminated in the assassination (last week) of TWO officers in the NYPD, with multiple other attacks on LEOs across America since - thanks Al Sharpton for ALL you've done to bring down America and set your people back race relations a couple hundred years.

Never the SMARTEST way to get a point across.

We have not seen this many attacks on police officers since the 1970s, and since just LAST year, such attacks have risen 56% on GUN-related violence against law-enforcement.

Here's the "4-1-1" on THIS sad statistic:
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-12-30/u-s-police-deaths-escalate-led-by-56-rise-in-gun-fatalities.html
-- Fort Wayne saw an increase in heroin distribution, with a majority of the hauls coming up from Mexico (no surprise there, gringos)
-- Allen County says goodbye to Sheriff Ken Fries, who has done an exemplary job of running his department and hello to our new sheriff, Dave Gladieux.

Sorry to see you leave...

-- On the down side, we're STILL stuck with prosecutor Karen Richards, who got tongue-tied taking her oath yesterday.Maybe it's time to RETIRE and do some gardening, toots?
-- We had two major airline crashes, both in the south Asia area, one in the Indian Ocean, the other in the Java Sea. Batting .500 on finding them.
-- As I mentioned earlier, we had one COLD-ASS WINTER, with temps dropping into the -20 degree range, and for more than a few days - all but shut down this city (closed the schools, too).That tends to be a big deal.

T'was TOO damn cold.

Much of the country saw similar winter events.
*** SO, there you go...some of the things I thought were noteworthy enough to make the news to me, anyway.
What can I expect for 2015?
Well, the short answer would be "MORE OF THE SAME", especially when it comes to where we live and how City Hall operates.

I expect a year with probably 20+ homicides, unless the foot REALLY comes down on the ethnics causing the majority OF the shootings, which would be an epiphany if that would occur, knowing the way the FWPD has been run of late.
We can be assured that the black (or Latino) community would NOT held to such accountability...not with the dems running some of the shows around here.
I will draw the line with all this New Year's resolution thing...not into it, EXCEPT to resolve that I will NOT make a resolution...that kinda covers all the bases for me.
Don't have to worry about breaking it, either...LOL.
I pretty much plan to keep on doing what I have been, and going in the direction I'm headed
Seems God has charted a decent course of late,  and who am I to argue?
Here's to the new year...may it find us all in better spirits, more prosperous, with us better able to discern truth from falsehood, also, let's hope and pray that those who need to get on the right path in life, FIND the way to accomplish that.
We'll see all of you right here...NEXT year.
In the meantime...

Be well, make a difference to someone, and...
Stay SAFE out there,America.
DO have a Happy New Year.