Category: Observation

The News Not Worth Reporting

So yesterday I was getting ready to take on the day with hopes of getting a good 15K run in along with some badly needed yard work.  By basic routine these days, I flipped on the TV as some background noise and a final check of the weather.  To lazy to worry about changing the channel, I left it on CNN Headline news which I interpreted to be “headline news” or “news I should care about”.   Here are the first three stories I was subjected to:

  1.  101 year old is still driving around her Cadillac
  2.  A pressing concern because Scott McClellan will not say whether he is still a Republican or not.  … yeah, the guy who waits till election year to claim “it’s not my fault” and try to make a few bucks off an election year drama
  3. Wife of San Francisco guy who hired a naked maid off of Craig’s List (and surprisingly stole $40 grand or so) believes the trust is gone in their relationship – complete with shadowed room interview.

 That was three leading stories which means there were at least 6 commercials for tax resolution lawyers, 3 commercials for ambulance chasing lawyers, 4 commercials for how to get a free mobility chair from the MediCare, 2 head ache commercials and the garden cultivator which consists of sticking a paint mixing bit on a drill and then sticking it in pre-tilled potting soil.  All that for three stories… correction.. three HEADLINE stories.  … Find Remote, Click Remote…. I can get better written stories, more pertinent to the real issues I care about and not be inundated with stupid *ss commercials by simply logging into my computer and checking my RSS Feeds. 

I will not be wasting my time with Robin anymore I’m no longer buying their fabricated drama.  Ironically, I was reading the paper waiting for my dogs to take their agility runs today and there was the answer in black and white… Iraq violence is at a near low… they apparently have nothing to talk about since that is contrary to their drama, conflicting with their agenda.  So instead of reporting the successes, we get the naked maid and resulting infidelity concerns.

sad.

Slacker Retribution

I feel like I’ve been slacking a little bit on my regular posts.  I do have a number of additional bird entries to make, but figured I would step back and summarize some observations that I have made over the last week or so.  Hopefully, this will hold you over until I get through the pending feathered posts. 

 For starters, I was the recipient of outstanding service at a downtown establishment last week.  Around 9:00am, a coworker and I had a serious craving for some dark chocolate.  Typically this is a result of a need to relieve some work stress – nothing like taking a stroll downtown to clear the head and come up with a new approach to a vexing problem.  Our destination was a tiny little confectionary shop called the Nut House nestled in between the towering skyscrapers of Peoria IL (okay, if you are familiar with Peoria, you just laughed).  So off we went to ruin our teeth.  Disappointment soon took over as the shop did not open until 9:30 – Denied!  Like kids we were gawking in the window at the chocolate we desired.   A lady’s voice startled us from behind and asked if we were looking for something.  I recognized her immediately (guilty of chocolate addiction) as the store owner.  We mentioned we just came down for some candy, but noticed we were early.  Having sat out on Black Fridays before, I’ve been conditioned to be at the mercy of posted hours so I was totally shocked with her response.

Continue reading Slacker Retribution

A house is on fire … somewhere

I was going through my digital pictures I’ve been taking for a future blog subject when I came across an image I forgot I had taken.  In complete coincidence, I happened to be holding my camera when a news broadcast came on the television from our local news station.  There were working on a breaking story about a house that was on fire.  I had actually seen this from the highway on my way home and was wondering where the fire.  I was in luck!  News 25 was gracious enough to give me a graphic showing exactly er…. hmmm .

Peoria House Fire

well it appears to be burning somewhere in the heart of Illinois.  The good thing is they actually know what state it was in unlike my previous post about ESPN

“Mill-e-wah-que” which is Algonquin for “The good land.”

I get to check off another city in my Travel Log.  Yesterday I drove up to Milwaukee, Wisconsin to attend an Architecture Best Practices Forum at a large company headquartered in the area.  Ironically living only 4 hours away, I have actually never been here before.  I am not sure if there is a connection or not, but first off, it is COLD up here.  Get this, it is the end of April and I had to drag out a heavier coat to come up here because it is 38 degrees out.  This clearly must be a figment of my imagination since we are currently in a death spiral brought on by Global Warming. 

Warning….. quick tangent… speaking of Global Warming, I was eating dinner in the hotel last night and an add came on with Nancy Pelosi and Newt Gingrich whining about the political vogue topic of global warming.  Since I didn’t really have the opportunity to change the channel like I usually do, I had to sit through the stupid commercial which as expected ended up disgusting me (This is exactly why I try to avoid commercials whenever possible).  Turns out, that the two politicians were communicating their concern for the environment and how they are going to do something about it.  So, here’s a start Nancy – how about NOT flying to SYRIA in a provate jet with your personal entourage in order to talk to the head of a country considered to support terrorism – oh, and this environment damaging trip … is considered AGAINST U.S. LAW.  In fact, how about not flying in a personal jet to visit the Dalia Lama and since you were not authorized to speak on behalf of U.S., stating it was a personal visit. 

Now with that off my mind, I just wanted to comment that Milwaukee appears to be a surprisingly nice place to visit (although it would better if it was not so cold).   Driving downtown was a little interesting since my Garmin GPS was totally confused and kept wanting me to turn left for apparently no reason – there was a lot of construction around the downtown area which may have changed traffic patterns from those in my GPS (purchased only last November).  I was a little disturbed about how high some of the new highway overpasses are going to be – it looked to be about 4 – 5 stacked lanes high.  As it turns out we simply drove through downtown and eventually arrived at the Radisson on North Shore.  Fairly nice hotel, but clearly a former Holidome.  I am going to cut them some slack since they had fresh cookies, but the two ladies checking in myself and coworker need to pay a little more attention to their directions.  My coworker was given a room number and told to go out and around the outside of the building to an entrance in the back.  Not wanting to make him walk that far with luggage, I drove him around there and then drove all the way back to the front in order to get to the elevators for my room.  After walking through the lobby, making the appropriate lefts and rights I came to the indicated elevators, took it to the third floor and walked down two hallways to room 357.  Get this, my coworkers room number turned out to be…. 356 (right across the hall and straight up from the location I dropped him off at earlier.)  Good thing I didn’t have a 357 at that time. 

Anyway, pretty impressed with this area of Milwaukee –  local parks (lots of joggers out), above average homes nestled in the trees and an incredibly nice outdoor mall (good thing my wife didn’t come 8^) .  Among all of this was the company HQ I was up here to visit.  Definitely a place I would like to come back to and spend some more time exploring.  Van Halen was playing the Bradley Center yesterday, but I found out too late to hunt down some tickets.

 Well, off to find out how to turn up the heat in my room – oh, bonus points for naming the movie the title of this post comes from.

The Winning Purse

Today I bring you an interesting scan from our local Peoria Journal Star.  Admittedly, I have an addiction to reading the local crime page to keep up to date on any hot spots to avoid in the area and to bring closure on 6 months of work on a Grand Jury assignment.  Okay, and to do some research on a future topic for the blog, but more on that when I get closer to publishing it.  Anyway, I came across an entry that made me chuckle out loud.  Among all the drugs and weapons violations was a blurb about a purse being stolen in a local bar.  Reading through it seemed pretty mundane until I came upon a particular line — I’ll let you see if anything peaks your interest:

Purse Snatcher

$8,000 in the purse.  So either the drinks in the place are on the high side, the money was earned there or the pull of a stiff drink was soooo great that she didn’t have time to go to the bank or put it under the mattress. I would love to read the actual story she gave to the police on why that amount of money was in the purse. 

Sniped

I have had an article on my desk since December 21st, 2007 just waiting for me to get time to actually comment on it.  Based on recent follow on stories, this turns out to be a perfect time to do just that.  The subject of the Entertainment Weekly article was Wesley Snipes and his pending fall from grace due to alleged (at the time) legal issues with the Internal Revenue Service.  So with Wesley all dolled up in his heritage clothes he agrees to meet with the article’s author in his “huge stucco estate with postcard views and endless lawns… identical to every other million-dollar house.”  The article points out his fall from $10M/film status down to ONLY $2M, his staff bringing them fresh fruit and the pending trial on eight counts of tax fraud that could net him 16 years in prison.  Apparently he was trying to defraud the IRS of >$11M (or a little more than one of his earlier movies) and get this… not filing a return at all from 99-04 – later in the article he blames his advisors – apparently he never expected this may be wrong – but admits “the [$11M] refunds may have been a bit aggressive” but based on a premise that income from U.S. citizens wasn’t taxable (WHAT?).

The story rambles on a bit but eventually comes to Snipes’ stardom downfall on claims of “color of his skin”, “[s]ystematic racism”, “so few guys who do action and do it well … even fewer who are African-American”, “black man is usually the culprit”.  This from the actor who was star of the movie White Man Can’t Jump and in Passenger 57 had no problem referencing race with “Always bet on black”.  Oh the hardships of a multi-millionaire, mansion living, staff serving actor who doesn’t feel he should pay as much (as in none) taxes as 99% of the rest of the American citizens. 

… but recent jury decisions has brought this into a whole new perspective.  I now have the “rest of the story” thanks to a recent AP article stating that he will serve 3 (hmmm seems someone may have benefited from his fame since it was suppose to be up to 16 years). 

Continue reading Sniped

Thought or No Thought

So I was watching the Deal or No Deal show last week when it became clear to me that someone associated with that show can’t think through a situation very well.  For those who didn’t waste the 1.5 hours that night (yes, I did get sucked into it, but mainly because I was absolutely too lazy to stand up, walk three feet and pickup the remote to change the channel – I’ll blame it on the 4 mile run that night), An Iraqi War veteran was the contestant – actually I’ll describe as he is – an American Hero – three tours of duty (2 voluntary), purple heart and two bronze stars so I can live a safe life in the States – Thank You.  Anyway, he was doing the case picking thingy and getting the various offers from the banker when the show decided to have some fun with the soldier.  Out come the Robert Palmer video ladies carrying a round box about 18″ high with a lid on it.  As they approach the contestant they open the box to reveal….. a wig sitting atop the standard human bust which they also take out of the box.  So after a a night of talking about Iraq and making jokes about insurgents, they bring out a head.  I was taken completely back and stared intently at the crowd and contestant to see their reaction.  Clearly it was subdued and if not a bit stand-offish, but the contestant did make a quick deflected comment about it probably being for Howie but beyond that it was not taken that well.  Did the creative genius that thought this one up ponder, even for a minute, that a severed head image would be a humorous gag in this situation?

 Next time, I’ll leave a little in the tank to make that extra three feet after the nightly run.

A Sense of Accomplishment

The most observing I have done for the last week is the amount of phlegm that one can cough up at any one moment.  It is staggering, but I will go out on a limb here and state that you probably couldn’t care less about the biproducts of my nasty virus. 

However, I was well enough to make it over to our local Panera Bread to pick up some sinus relieving soup.  I had finished ordering and was waiting for my pickup when I glanced over at the soda fountains.   There was a little girl trying to fill up her cup.  This looked like a tremendous hardship because she could barely see over the counter ledge, much less be able to reach up to the dispensers.  Before I had assessed the situation, one of the employees came by and asked her if she needed some assistance.  With confirmation, the employee helped her put the cup in the proper place, asked what flavor and pressed the button.  She then asked the girl to tell her when to stop.  At first I thought this was odd, but as it played out it it became more interesting.  After a little while, the child informed the employee to stop – I thought it was a little premature since there was clearly a good .5 inch left to the top (I don’t generally steal sips, but I make sure I get what I paid for), but the employee stop dispensing and helped the girl take it down from the counter.  The employee asked her if she wanted a lid and then helped her over to the lid area and pointed to the right size for the girl to take.  As the employee watched, the girl struggled for a bit but actually go the lid on herself and then grabbed a straw for herself.  Showing solid parenting, the little girl thanked the employee and walked back to what appeared to be her father with a wide grin on her face.  The she said “Look Daddy, I got my own drink!”  with a very proud expression on her face. 

My thoughts went directly back to the employee.  I would guess that in just about every other scenario I have witnessed (including my own experience) the approach was to take the cup from the child fill it up, put the lid on, stab the straw and hand it back to the kid.  In contrast, the person helped the girl to get “her own drink” and in turn not only did the girl acquire her drink, but also lefther with a sense of accomplishment.  That employee needs to be in our school system where she can use this special trait on more subjects.  Hats off to Panera and their apparent quality applicant review process.  (yes, I am assuming it has improved since my previous post on a Panera observation)

A Day of Irony

Today was a little odd in the sense there were at least two visuals which made me stop and hesitate for a moment to provide time to verify what I was really seeing.  The first of these happened on my way to work.  On the highway ramp next to where I work, there is a huge billboard sign with a picture of a cute little blonde girl on it.  There is a bold caption at the top that states “When smoker’s are nearby, I smoke too”  I actually do not understand the attraction to smoking myself and as long as an individual can read, there is little excuse for not accepting the outcomes that result from that addiction.  However, the visual that caught me offguard as I rounded the ramp, was a small red truck at the bottom with two men and a small blonde girl sitting between them.  As he was yielding for the oncoming traffic, the driver pulls out a pack of cigarettes and starts beating it on his palm to get his cig out.  I find it hard to believe that he didn’t take notice of the billboard as he passed by and if he did, apparently the message didn’t sink in. 

The other image occurred at the exact same intersection where I was almost hit a few posts ago.  As I came upon the location I looked to my right and noticed there was 2 seconds left on that corresponding walk light.  This brought a tad bit of satisfaction since that meant I would not have to wait to cross the street ahead.  I then noticed a police car nearing the intersection from the right – glancing at the walk light, took note the time was up, shifted over to the left to look at the traffic lights and it was turning yellow… but the police car was not slowing down (I am a little more cautious on this per the last incident there).  Sure enough the police car enters into the intersection and begins the turn left at the same time the light goes red.  I stopped in my tracks and stared the the cop as he accelerated past me – no flashing lights, no urgent call… just plain blew the light.    What really made it interesting to me is the fact there was an article in the paper two days ago about how the police department has been cracking down on people who run the red lights downtown.  This enforcement initiative was requiring two officers that they felt could be re-deployed to more important areas if the city installed cameras ….. say cheese 8^)

The Mellow Years

While walking to my car in downtown Peoria today I was nearly ran over by a car.   To provide context, I came to a crosswalk downtown and initiated my crossing under the white lighted stick figure representing all clear.  As I made it one car length across the 4 lane (2 per direction) intersection Mr. Sticky changed to a flashing hand and began couting down from roughly 17 seconds.  I was in a leisurely stroll for a change and made it past the second lane in another 3-4 seconds leaving plenty of time to complete the traversal before the blinking hand turned to the forbidding solid talk to the hand gesture.  3 steps into the 3rd land I noticed out of of the corner of my right eye a silver/white quarter panel nearly hit the ground right next to the back of my right leg.  I completed the turn to see a vehicle essentially slamming on the brakes to keep from taking me out as he turned left through the intersection.  I turned around and started walking backwards while staring back at the car’s driver and taking note I still had 10 seconds to go on the countdown.

I continued walking backward in order to continue observing the driver of the vehicle yelling at me and pointing to the sign.  As soon as I was just clear enough away, he revs the car past me all the time yelling at me and pointing to the sign – now at 7 seconds.  As I completed the rest of the crossing I glanced at the license place but it was partially obscured, mentally checked off the distance to the next intersection, new from walking that intersection that the wait is at least 30 seconds, and took note that the light was going to turn before he made it there and then….. turned away and headed the opposite direction towards my car.  I must say, this was a little startling to me.  Not because of the physical danger that had passed, but my expected reaction to the situation had changed – absolutely no alarm, no change in facial expression, no increase in heartbeat and no adrenaline rush resulting from the plausible run to the other intersection to address the situation further.  I have changed, I mentally assessed the situation in the same manner, but for some reason I chose a different course of action – I decided it wasn’t worth it and instead spent my energy enjoying a nice spring day. 

I still know there is a silver/white vehicle out there with an Illiniois license plate beginning with MRF that owes me an apology, but I don’t really care.  Actually, I do care a little in a curious life observation manner.  I would speculate that being downtown at that specific location around that specific time is a common occurance for that invididual.  I see the same people every night heading to my car and have started noticing the same types of vehicles passing by around the same time. We humans are creatures of habit and it is amazing how common our weekday to weekday lives are.  I’ll keep my eyes open for MRF to see if I can validate this theory -if nothing else, because the idiot can’t drive and apparently doesn’t know anything about pedestrian law. 

Clearly I have mellowed to a degree based on similar events and outcomes experienced previously in my life.  It is somewhat alarming, but to be honest, the rest of the walk to my car was extremely relaxing.