Category: Observation

A Mansion on the Hill

We ended up pulling into a small tourist town called Keystone looking for a place to stay after taking in the sights at Mount Rushmore.  While we were looking for a place to stay, we notice a large mansion sitting pretty high above the tiny town.  There were no signs anywhere around it other than a large cross embedded high into the side of the forward facing walls.  Based on that small amount of detail, we figured it was some form of monastery, but it looked a little out of place since it was clearly visible from anywhere in the city and was markedly upscaled to the rest of the surroundings.  The monasteries and abbeys around where I currently live are tucked pretty deep into the countryside and do not generally take on a high frill styling. 

After finding a location to stay (a definite upcoming blog entry based on the perceived fleecing that occurred), we found a small little pizza place to settle our hunger.  Note, although the food and service ended up being pretty darn good, we were a little annoyed that each table had a plastic cup on the table begging for tips.  I personally can’t stand this – if you want to raise the price to give the help a little more pocket money, then do it, don’t put up a price and then panhandle to subsidize inadequate wages.)  But I digress from the current topic.  A motorcycle couple come in all decked out in the standard garb – leather jackets, Harley branded dew rags, leather chaps, flame sleeved shirts and Harley boots (see previous post 8^)  They apparently also noticed the mansion and questioned the waitress on what it was.  She actually replied that they didn’t know who it belonged too, had never seen the people and that it was built just a few years back.  This apparently appalled the customers who proceeded to complain how awful it was to flaunt wealth like that and how it was apparently the most evil thing they had ever witnessed.  For the next 30 minutes, that is all they talked about – how could anyone do that, that’s sickening, wasting money to show everyone how much money they had yada yada yada.  When their pizza arrived, the waitress updated them that she was informed the owners of the mansion are the owners of just about everything in the town – most of the stores and restaurants targeting every tourist that came their way (likely on the way to the presidential carvings).  This resulted in having to sit through 20 more minutes of how horrible it was and how they must have done that to look down on everyone to make them feel bad. 

During this whole time, I could think of only one thing… Why do they care how an individual spends their wealth?  They probably made a number of companies’ bottom lines to create that home (carpenters, brick layers, roofers, concrete workers, drywallers… the list goes on).   I on the other hand was curious as to whether the owners were Catholic (based on the large cross built into the external decor) – if so, then the recent Pope announcement that obscene wealth is a sin probably sparked a lively breakfast conversation…. probably starting with “Hey honey, I wonder if the Vatican will every announce how much wealth they have stored in their treasure vaults”

With A Rebel Yell, She Cried Yuppie Yuppie Yuppie

Due to the flooding occurring in Davenport Iowa, a motorcycle event was moved from the river up to the Missouri Valley Fairgrounds.  We ended up driving by that area on our way out of town and witnessed a huge number of bikers converging on the area.   I didn’t find this too ironic until we started getting close to the Black Hills and you probably guessed it… Sturgis.  So our trip (from the very start to our return trip) allowed me to observe the biker community.  I do not ride myself, but always intrigued by those who do.  When I was growing up there was really two camps – those that rode the Harley lifestyle and those who preferred the laid back luxury of the Honda Goldwings.  To be honest, I really didn’t see these two groups mixing much which probably led to my surprise at the number of “mixed” groups I was seeing on the road – The standard Harley crowd, mixed with the Honda crowd, interspersed with the Victory and Indian owners with a few crotch rocket riders.  (ironically the Dark Custom Harley commercial just came on the television)… one thing that stuck out, was the impression that none of these bikes were the low end machines.  As I was looking at the chrome and huge amount of accessories it occurred to me that motorcycle marketing must have transformed themselves.  Somehow they are winning over high bread makers who want to either live the weekend lifestyle or the biker lifestyle is transforming themselves into corporate management.  I’m not sure which way the change is happening, but what I do know from looking at the Harley website, some of these bikes are costing more than SUVs. 

I also had another observation that help drive this home while out in South Dakota.  We had stopped in Custer State Park to have a little picnic lunch when an individual rode up to the wayside on a nice looking Harley Davidson – chrome all over the place and decked out in all sorts of sidebags and lights.  The guy was dressed in a leather vest, leather chaps and a skull themed dew rag.  He steps off the bike and turns off his docked iPod, pulls out his GPS and flips open his iPhone.  I then looked on his passenger seat and noticed a laptop cased strapped into the rear bar.  No tattoos, no earrings – a quick wardrobe change and he could’ve been my CIO.  Hats off to the Harley marketing arm.

Taking “Green” to New Heights

I am sooo far behind on this month’s blogs!  I actually recently came back from a vacation out in the Black Hills of South Dakota which had its good points and bad points, but the difficult part was the Verizon Air Card would not work in a number of places we were at.  As a result, I had to capture a bunch of notes in hopes of making posts upon my return… well, I’m back and time to get down to work.

On our way out we headed through Davenport as we trekked up northwards to get around the massive flooding throughout Iowa.  So much flooding, in fact, that they shut down US80 – our planned main route out West.  As we drove through Davenport we started seeing an extremely odd scene.   Granted there has been a lot of rain pouring down up there, but I never expected to see weeds and grass growing out of house gutters.  At first, I figured it was just an abandoned house or something, but a block down I noticed it again, another couple of blocks and there it was again.  I can’t really figure out how this really happens.  Based on the type of shingle there may be some grit building up in the bottom of the gutter and in some situations I could see  a leaf buildup, but I’m entirely sure this is sufficient for plant growth…. and then a mass of seeds needs to be sprinkled on the area to produce the plants/weeds.  I am currently fighting with my new lawn to maintain last year’s seeding – apparently I need to lay down a covering of asphalt and leaves first based on the height of the gutter foliage. 

Then again, it could be another victim of Global Warming propaganda and the homeowners are actually planting grass on their rooftops in order to become GREENER.  Oh, and this just in.. Al Gore’s energy use went up 10% this year.

No Pain, No Checkmark

So I may have mentioned previously, I have a “Life List”… I use that name because it sounds a little more positive than “Bucket List” or “Death List” or any number of other names that people refer to their set of things they want to accomplish during their lifetime.  My list usually refers to physical challenges or achievements I use to challenge myself.  I generally do not give a timeframe for them, but often the activity requires a certain age level, preparation or sequence of events to complete the task.  Without a doubt, there are few moments I cherish as much as when I get to take that spreadsheet out and place a little checkmark and date next to an entry.  two weekends ago I had the opportunity to make such a check – so alongside the black belts in martial arts, completion of the Bix 7 mile race and learning to Snowboard (to name a few) I now get to add the following:

Steamboat IL Toughest 15K

I started running sometime back in order to complete the Bix 7 entry.  I’ve been pretty much running ever since with the sole purpose of being ready compete in every Bix since then.  In the meantime I would catch the various 5Ks and would catch the Peoria SteamBoat 4 Mile (IL’s Fastest 4 Mile) in preparation for the treacherous 7 Miles of hills at the Davenport IA Bix.  At the halfway point of the Steamboat 4M, I would make the turn and head back to the start while all of the 15Kers started their trek up into the hills.  For some reason, I convinced myself on the way back that I needed to complete the 15K so I could prove Continue reading No Pain, No Checkmark

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