how 'bout this weather?!??

wow. just a few measly snowflakes here in valpo. mostly RAIN. drenching, soaking rain. a few degrees cooler towards chicago, they got 3ish inches. north of chicago got 6-12 and some places in wisconsin were lucky enuf to get 20. and we don't even have a dusting. i'm not sad or depressed due to the fact that at this point in time, we've only had eleven minutes of sunlight for the past six days (all of february) but becuz we have no snow. they keep talking about how we're getting more snow than we have in a long time but aren't acknowledging the fact that even though that may be true, it melts so fast that we don't even know it was here! i still haven't gone skiing OR sledding yet this year.

then there's those tornadoes. i'm not sure about the new fujita scale though, with the "enhanced" numbers. i'll need to take some meteorology classes or attend a lecture or something. i don't know if mr. fujita (the inventor) would appreciate this. but anyway, the "EF4" tornado must've been huge. i can't imagine a tornado or any other such natural disaster blowing away my college. that would suck. but i wonder where these poor kids will go for two weeks. (why are they only closing union university or whatever it's called for two weeks when the entire campus was destroyed?) wow.

now FEMA and the joke that it is can actually try to make a difference. and restore our hope in our own lousy government. if they can provide for the needs of these students and these towns, my faith will be marginally renewed. but whatever. i'll have to see it to believe it.

okay, i suppose that's about it. oh, and if you live around here, watch out for the potholes. they're everywhere. especially on route 6. your whole car might fall into a pothole. and no one would be able to find you.

YIKES!

cheaters never prosper...giants deserved it

not sure why the giants won other than the fact that eli manning is AMAZING. the last two minutes of the game were fabulous. and it's fitting that new england LOST. how ridiculous of a coach they have!!! how can he sleep at night living/coaching the way he is? and trying to cheat as much as he is? i mean, i know he's getting paid a ton, (relative to me) but these are men throwing and catching a ball on a field. if you can't coach fairly and be a good sport, even if your season & post-season records are perfect, you do not deserve to win. too bad for you. wonder how many other times you taped the signals and didn't get caught.

you go eli. manning bros rock! thanks for making the patriots send all their super bowl championship garb (hats, shirts, etc.) to a third world country.

buh-bye.

GOOD GRIEF, MAN!

well...this afternoon's open gym was rather interesting...

a bunch of guys came to play this afternoon. some of them are on our men's league but i don't believe all of them are. anyway, they brought in the sorriest looking basketball i've ever seen. the one dude asked if he could use our ball pump and we inflated his sorry ball so that he and his friends could use it. we explained that they could go full-court until 4pm and then again from 5-6pm. i explained that we had to cut them down to half-court from 4-5pm since another team would be practicing on the other half of the court at that time.

they were cool with that.

well, another dude shows up and pretty much refuses to use the sorry-looking basketball and offers his driver's license to me to borrow one of our wilson evolution balls. i politely declined, explaining that we have had 46 of our nice basketballs already ripped off and the only way he could borrow one of our balls is if he leaves us $50 to hold for him to use the ball. he provided me with two twentys and i went back and gave him a ball.

around time for him to leave, he came back up to the desk and asked for his money back. i told him to bring back his ball. we switched goods and he left. next thing, i turn around and this one stoopid-looking dude is asking me why i took our wilson evolution back. i explained that his friend who had to leave took his money back and so we needed to put the ball away. he started to get all crazy and began to say, "what, are you serious? UGH! you must be..." and i cut him off with, "EXCUSE ME???"

he stormed off all mad. i reminded him that he brought a ball and that he should use that one.

next thing, a bunch of other guys come up and demand to see a written list of rules, guidelines, and procedures. i asked them if there was anything i could help them with and the one goes on and on and on about how he paid to get into open gym and we should provide him with a ball. my response was, "we've got everything posted online about our guidelines for open gym and it is also posted that we no longer--SINCE LAST MAY--provide basketballs. we've had 46 ripped off already and just don't lend out balls anymore. sorry."

he was floored. began talking about how he was being degraded. and freaked out on why i made that other poor guy fork over forty bucks to use one of our balls that we should be otherwise lending him as it is. i tried to explain to him that this was the other guy's business. if he wanted to fork over the dough, i was more comfortable lending a ball. furthermore, (smiling), i explained that i was being NICE in letting the dude borrow a ball. i told him i shouldn't have even let him use a ball PERIOD.

he hit the roof. asking "didn't he pay the same amount to get in as everyone else," yadda yadda yadda. i then had to explain further that the kids on the other courts with their rack of balls were there in PRACTICES and we provided them with our balls because this is our way of operating and YES, because they rent the court and they actually DO pay more. once you get to the front counter of our facility, you've already passed THREE SIGNS explaining that "YOU ARE TO BRING YOUR OWN BALL TO OPEN GYM."

this guy's logic was WHACK. yup. i said whack. i went inner-city on ya! and i had to keep explaining to this poor man (and i use the term "man" loosely) how we operate and that he would have to bring his own ball next time. he continued to ask me the same question over and over. and i continued to repeat, "sir, just bring your own ball! it's that simple!" wow. idiots.

i'm surrounded by people like this most of the time i'm at the courts. everyone complains to ME. (i usually don't mind the logical complaints, though. but it is still a downer.) but stuff like this gets tiring. and draining. i hate dealing with people who are just like my little kids from the projects but are in grown-up bodies--acting like i OWE THEM SOMETHING.

please.

i hope this guy only ever comes back when i'm there. i'd love to discuss the topic more. or do i mean talk myself in circles with him? what a turd. so as for my title to this post, "GOOD GRIEF, MAN!" this is the reason i write. i spoke to a brainless creature today. someone with a lack of reason. maybe none. ignorant. no sense. hard-headed. whatever you wanna call it. listen dude, maybe you should ask your mommy or granma for a basketball for your next birthday. or next christmas. heavens knows you'll prolly never buy your own ball so you can come and complain to me. about how we owe it to you. or about how you're entitled.

GOOD GRIEF, MAN!

sometimes you have to be told no; someone's always gotta lose

i am sick to death of the way we're babying our youth and young adults of this nation. are we already not screwed with a dysfunctional government? and this two-party political system? our society is going down the tube fast. good thing most people live less than 100 years...so we all don't have to put up with too much of this.

my reason for writing today: check the title. when people play a basketball game or any other game for that matter, someone wins and someone loses. there's hardly ever a draw. but no doubt, those who lose complain. the reffing was one-sided. my kid didn't get to play enuf. so-and-so played for too long. we didn't get all our fouls called.

and what about the whole "social promotion" thing? good grief. well of course! we wouldn't want some poor lazy kid to have hurt feelings! everyone regardless of capability, motivation and progress must be moved to the next grade each year so they don't get left behind and feel sad their friends moved on without them. never mind the kid named diante who missed 98.5 days of school. he must move on to the next grade so that he can stay with his friends! (what the heck? he dropped out of sixth grade anyway!)
and what about that kid tony who made no effort at all? he turned in ONE-HALF OF AN ASSIGNMENT ALL YEAR! but even after the fit that i threw in the principal's office, he was of course moved up to the sixth grade as well.

we're not teaching anyone ANYTHING important. i believe old school is the way to go. you must WORK and take INITIATIVE. you must have some sort of motivation and be DRIVEN in order to move up in any aspect of life. these kids are not dumb. (well...) they know they don't have to do a dang thing in school in order to progress up through the ranks. is anyone aware that the city of chicago is graduating seniors from high school who can't even read? not that they're NOT CAPABLE, but they're unwilling. and since we are rewarding their indifference and whiney attitudes, this'll continue.

the message is: we need to keep everything moving without causing a blip. a bump. a disturbance. we need to try to keep everyone happy. and i for one don't think that ANYONE is benefitting in the end. the children involved nor the society we're graduating them into.

i wonder what will happen when the presidential candidates are told they haven't won and that so-and-so has taken the majority of votes. maybe in the not so far away future we'll have a "joint-presidency" because some of these children who were never told "no" as children won't be able to accept "no" as adults.

and this whole post began because of parents complaining at my place of employment. it got me to thinking.

any thoughts?

getting sleepy...

i'll be off to bed soon but i had to include this pic before i turned in. one day during our international houseparty, (during new year's week when we were in michigan) we had a hayride for the students. when all was said and done and the students had left the area to go back to mariner's cove, i drove back over to old mill point to check on the sauna. as i turned into the old mill point drive, i saw several deer scatter--but one stayed. it just stared at me. i hit the brakes and just watched. i saw that the deer had all been munching on the hay that had fallen off the haywagon. but i guess the one was so hungry it didn't care if i stayed or not. so it continued to munch a bit before wandering slowly off. and i definitely shot it. (with my CAMERA!)

GOOD night.

sickened with sikkens

note to self: next time i use a wood stain or anything of the like, i'll be sure to do it in warmer weather where i can stain it OUTDOORS. i was interestingly sickened on wednesday and i traced it back to breathing amazing fumes from staining my new fun adirondack chair on tues. night that my friend chad made. my chair looks awesome but my roomie & i were not the healthiest of people on wednesday. (and kinda right now...) still not feeling 100 percent. i had the sliding glass door open the entire time with fans on but apparently it wasn't enuf. but i STILL love bringing furniture down from the U.P. that is made out of white CEDAR! (i also have a log bed made of cedar...)

oh, and i hit a deer tuesday night! it was lying in the road--i'm thinking it was already dead--but i was on a two-lane highway (on my way back from the thomae's in laporte on route 2) and there was traffic coming the other direction so i couldn't swerve to avoid it. it was a large deer and my car sorta jumped and skidded into the other lane anyway, but thankfully the oncoming cars i had been trying to initially avoid had just passed.

car's all right. me too.

oh yeah, and "sikkens" is the brand of stain that was recommended to me. it's good quality and my chair looks awesome! i will just need more ventilation next time.

back home again

i'm back and i'm sleepy. AND i'm dogsitting in laporte till january 8th. whew. can't wait to go to bed tonite! more pictures will be coming soon but for now, i'll just add one more from the end of my time up north. we're standing on beaver pond, across m134 from camp. beaver pond is usually a better option for ice skating/hockey. prentiss bay hardly ever freezes enuf to skate on anymore. even the inner bay. sigh. anyway, in this pic from left to right is: andy, abby, me, and chad.

see you again soon with some more pics.

happy new year!

we've been celebrating now for about half-an-hour. (remember, my computer has no idea yet that i'm in michigan and on michigan time. it still thinks it's in indiana.) poor thing. so happy new year! whee!

anyway, today we went to drummond island--take m-134 as far east as it goes and it leads to a car ferry dock. we crossed over to the island on the 11:40am ferry. we then drove around the island, had lunch there, went shopping, and came back. it was cool. the pictures here are mostly of the trip to drummond island. there's a pic of our car waiting to get on the ferry, (the one behind the fedex truck), and a pic of "the northwood," the restaurant we ate at today. oh, and that's a picture of us on the ferry. unfortunately, the deckhands were nowhere to be found when we wanted a group picture. but the captain TRIED to find one. (he even announced it on the loudspeaker!) there were 5 of us that went today: me, marge, farouk, chrysta, and greg.

happy new year...STILL HOPING FOR MORE SNOW! i think valpo is supposed to get 2-4 inches, my friend erica said, and hopefully we'll get even more up here tomorrow. the ski trails could use another dose of white. but i actually heard that it's supposed to be up to 49 degrees here in the U.P. this weekend. YUCK.

yeah, i've been busy outside!

hence the couple of days with no post! two nights ago i was too busy to come into town to blog and last night i had been invited to mike & sue vaal's to hang out (which was hugely awesome) and so now, being that it's sunday morning, i can write while everyone's either at church or sleepin in back at camp.

anyway, yesterday i spent most of my time outside playing and getting video/pics for the dvd at the end of the week. we got about 6 inches of snow two nights ago which was really great. it's actually been snowing CONSTANTLY since we've been here but some flakes are fewer and farther between and others are ginormous and pile up fast. yesterday everyone went skiing (cross country), ice skating on beaver pond, and to the sauna. thankfully there's a huge square hole cut into the ice so that people could actually jump into the water instead of just wading in. it's more fun and dramatic that way. i'll see what i can do to post a video; i don't have any stills of the people at the sauna.

here's what you're seeing: a sign to the skating rink and the path through the woods to beaver pond, which is where we are ice skating this year. lake huron needs more severe weather and frigid cold in order to freeze over solid enuf to skate on. (even the inner bay...) so beaver pond is a great alternative. there's a pic of andy's dog piper and her shadow, me and my fire, (i had just started it so YES, it got bigger!), and a few pics of the skis and skates we have been using. we don't have ski racks outside so we do it old school--pile up a bunch of snow and stick the skis in! seems to work out.

okay, well i have to make sure bob zeeb did ok firing the sauna; it needs to be between 150-180 degrees for this afternoon. i may need to stir the fire a bit and toss in some more logs. see ya later! (just as i wrote "see ya later," a couple of snowmobiles buzzed by me on the main road here in town.) I COULD SO LIVE HERE!!! sigh.

finally up NORTH!

okay. we're here; driving was not too bad. but the entire trip took 9 hours which is kinda disappointing when i've been known to do it in 6.5 hours. oh well. the snow wasn't too bad; i tried to learn how to work my new camera as i drove so here are a few pics of the road conditions. and the EVER-SLOW salt truck that was ahead of me as soon as i got east of spring hill (camp) on route 10. ugh. hopefully HOPEFULLY HOPEFULLY we'll get snow tomorrow. a LOT. that's part of the reason i dragged my cold self out of my warm cabin to check the weather online. i'm hoping for a true blizzard! btw, did i mention that someone else is here mooching off the little log library's wireless? first time i've been here and have had company! some guys in a pickup truck in front of me...

and didja see what shirt ANDY is wearing? i had to get a pic of him in it. i wonder if he did that on purpose. anyway, he's heading to a wedding tomorrow in grand haven. the rest of us are all going to the soo (sault ste. marie) to go ice skating, check out the soo locks, and hang out in the town. it's always a good time.

this is the first time that our winter gathering has been on the "mariner's cove" side of camp. usually it's on the side called "old mill point." anyhoo, i kinda like it better here at cove side. here's a wreath on the taylor lodge sign. well, i'm gonna sign off and check out the weather.

p.s. i HATE that benezir bhutto (sp?) was assassinated. i think we're really screwed now. but it was bound to happen; with all her protests and gatherings and such. ah well, time shall tell exactly how screwed we are!

leaving in an hour or two

i see we had freezing rain last night. poo. oh well. we (dad and i) tried to get a suburban (or other LARGE suv) to rent to go up north but instead got two smaller 4-wheel drive vehicles. we're considering shoving everybody and all their luggage in one, however. we can return one to enterprise this morning @ 7:30 if it ends up we don't need it. but we'll see. i guess it's better to have two and need ONE than to have one and need TWO.

i'll try to post regularly while i'm gone. blogging is no fun unless you have something fun to write about. i'm hoping for a major MAJOR MAJOR snowstorm once we're there. it's about 7.5-9 hours north of here. (about 45 minutes northeast of the mackinac bridge.)

happy trails to me!

heading north soon

well...sorry i took such a hiatus from my blog. i've been insanely busy and with two break-ins at my place of business and a ton of other things going on, (holidays too) i've not had much time to be on the computer at all. anyway, this is just a random update and to alert my avid blog readers that i actually AM still on the planet. (it can also be hard blogging when nothing exciting is going on.)

if i get into town while in the U.P. in the middle of the night, i may blog then--and post some pictures. let me explain that last statement: while in cedarville, michigan, the place we're staying at doesn't have great internet access. in fact, there's none. it's kinda hard in the middle of nowhere to get a signal or even dial-up. so late at night after everyone's gone to bed, i often drive into town and park next to the library and mooch off of the wireless there. usually works great. hopefully they haven't put passwords on it yet or anything. i've been doing this for two years now. usually i like to go during the day and sign in, because that way this new little log library can show that its grant is being used. (they're more likely to be able to keep their wireless internet that way--they got a grant from the state or something.) but since i'm crew this time around (working at cedar campus), i won't have much time during the day to disappear into town for any length of time. oh, and besides that, this little library has rather limited hours anyway.

this little log library is rather new and very cute. i think it was built 2003 or 4ish. after all, it's a small town. yup. a small harbor town. across the street, the marina sells boats & jetskis in summer and snowmobiles all winter. sigh. i could SO LIVE THERE!!!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY BILLY GRAHAM!

YOU ROCK. have a wonderful 89th birthday. you deserve the best.

the dictionary changes for idiots???

this is news to me! there are three words that were highlighted recently that people don't know the proper spelling of (and i'm not sure which dictionary or dictionaries...) but the dictionary is adding extra spellings. so people who are confused and don't know how to spell still are right. I HATE HATE HATE THE POLITICALLY CORRECT WORLD WE LIVE IN SO MUCH. hate it. our society is in the biggest downward spiral! but i don't think we'll die of stupidity like originally suspected; i think we'll finish ourselves off in world war III the way pakistan has recently been ending up. and bush is trying to say that musharraf is undermining democracy? the "president" of pakistan is a freaking dictator! he was never voted in! he just took power! our president is so full of double standards! maybe some of the dictionary "revisions" are for his benefit too.

back to the subject at hand: for example, "vocal cord" shall also now be spelled "vocal chord." some people never did apparently learn to spell the word correctly and they just imagined it as a cHord as in a tone. or a tune. or part of a song.

then there's a "shoe-in." a "shoe-in" means for example, that a candidate will have no trouble winning an election. but i suppose there are so many flies in our country that this spelling has now been added: "shoo-in."

lastly, there's "free reign." example: she has free reign of the house while her parents are away. but now we are including the spelling, "free rein" as in REINS on a horse! how does that even work? REIGN is when you dominate something. you rule. having FREE REIGN makes sense. free REIN is IDIOTIC.

is there anyone else in our english speaking country who has an issue with this? i'm telling you. we've gone from worse to worser.

4 times in less than 4 months....

bank very nearby my apartment got robbed today around 10am. in broad daylight. this mexican dude is the same dude who keeps hittin it. he never brings a gun; just hands the tellers a note. then he gets away on foot; never has a getaway car.

here's another fun twist. (read on; it's related) my place of business, the courts, has decided to see what kind of numbers a new method of marketing would bring in. we've tried placing yard signs all over the place at busy intersections. sweet. we've actually had a LOT of calls from those signs. it's been crazy. but anyhoo, we've had a few TOO many calls and our one program is full and can't accept any more registrants. so today on my day off, i decided to go ahead and take down the second of two signs i had put up near my apt. i wandered out about 10:30 and watched an unmarked cop car parusing our parking lot. i figured he had just decided to take a break. or something. but then as i approached the sign and got out of my car to uproot the sign and throw it in the back seat, i see three fbi guys and an ADORABLE bloodhound walking down the middle of route 2. (or laporte ave. whichever u wanna call it.) so i stood there and watched them. apparently the robber had run right by where i was standing cuz the little bloodhound came up to me, sniffed my jeans and my shoes, and then kept going. i knew i couldn't pet the pup--as much as i had wanted to, i knew one of the three fbi guys would have prolly shot ME cuz they were so pissed for looking so DUMB. so i just stood there and watched the floppy-eared fellow sniff my shoes and continue on with his guys.

so anyway, i am supposing that my position on this whole thing is that this little dude DESERVES the $$$ if our little law enforcement in valpo/porter county is too SLOW to catch this guy. good grief. he's making monthly withdrawals! maybe i should try making withdrawals the same way he is doing it! i mean, it IS actually my own bank, anyway!

HOW EMBARRASSING. way to get on the map, valpo. oh yes, there is one more thing...why is it the DNR showed up? was it a deer, no wait...a SQUIRREL who ran off with the money? ahhh, maybe it was a raccoon or an opossum. their eyes look sorta shifty sometimes. i can understand why the DNR would want to get involved.

i luv VAN HALEN!

never saw them before but loved their music growing up. saw them for the first time thursday night at the united center. they were AWESOME. eddie van halen makes me want to go out and buy a guitar. i just wanna learn to play it! he's so amazing. these guys are still pretty hot (despite the fact that they're in their mid FIFTIES now...)

they are clean cut and clean shaven. mostly. and michael anthony is out as bassist and eddie van halen's boy wolfgang is IN. he's a 16-year-old kid and he's pretty musically talented. wolfgang van halen is called "wolf" for short and was named after wolfgang amadeus mozart. (eddie and alex were born in amsterdam and lived there for nearly the first ten years of their lives.) they were both trained as classical pianists when they were young.

apparently when they were young, eddie wanted to learn drums so he started a paper route so that he could pay for his new drum set. alex started out playing guitar. meanwhile, alex (AS EDDIE WAS DELIVERING THE NEWSPAPERS) was practicing on eddie's new drum set and got really good REALLY fast. eddie decided to not do drums anymore and went ahead learning guitar.

i also learned a few things about the band over the past week: did you know eddie had hip replacement surgery in 1999? he also is missing half of his tongue due to cancer. but he still smokes. david lee roth is an EMT in new york. alex van halen has a son named aric who is in high school and runs cross country at oakwood high.

i love van halen!

sing it, say it, shout it. but no one believes you, larry.

anyone else watch the matt lauer interview with larry craig (and suzanne craig)? holy cow. poor idaho. they are SO the country's laughing stock. what the heck? larry craig is the biggest freaking liar i've ever watched on t.v. to my knowledge. matt lauer is asking good and fair questions. i appreciate his finesse. but i just wanna smack larry. or something.

he pleaded guilty because he knew he was wrong. he followed a very orchestrated set of movements set in place to solicit gay sex that i firmly believe he couldn't have done without knowing the movements and the order of the gestures. just come on out of the closet already. and your poor wife...she is trusting your lies and is looking like the biggest naive fool ever. put everyone out of their misery. and tell the truth. WHY IN HEAVEN'S NAME WOULD YOU PLEAD GUILTY IF YOU WERE INNOCENT? you've implicated yourself. please be truthful to yourself. and be truthful to your family. you're perceived as a punk and don't have the credibility any longer to represent your state. step down.

and for anyone who's interested...go to youtube and enter in the search box "if larry craig were gay." it's quite amusing.

but also, to be quite honest, since i've been away from all my gay friends in philly and on the east coast, i'm becoming a bit of a homophobe again. and i'm not liking that. but whatever. my issue is with larry craig LYING LIKE A RUG. for all that he stands for, he's the biggest hypocrite ever. he needs to tell the truth. and only then can he really get on with his life. because otherwise, this will haunt him until he dies.

geez. how can you even live with yourself?????

V.U. Basketball

i am so glad homer drew and his coaching staff are so organized. love that. it made my life a LOT easier when they came to run a basketball camp for kids grades 1-5 yesterday. it was from 9:30-11am and the kids loved it. i will say, however, that the V.U. team is prolly (HIGHLY LIKELY) gonna have to work on their 3-point shots at practice this week. good grief. maybe it was cuz they weren't warmed up. but anyway, good times. here's a pic of me and homer, head coach at Valparaiso University.

who's the dumb one?

well...

got a lady into the courts today who lied about the premise of her even being there. nevermind that she came with her 22-year-old son who must have been too much of a wuss to take care of himself. apparently, there's a guy out of texas who had wanted to have a men's tournament at the courts. okay, fine. he called us to see if we would rent him the building. again, fine. but these people (the 22-year-old and his mommy) were dumb enuf to wire $250 cash to this guy in texas. the tournament was cancelled. so either he's running a scam out of texas or its legit. but she wants her $250 back and expects us to coff it up.

EXCUSE ME?

we didn't take her money. and we're certainly not giving her $250 of ours. ew. so she said she's going to the papers. mark, (the owner) said fine. she asked for someone more higher-up than him. he mentioned to her that he owned the place and she was already at the top. she was befuddled and disgruntled.

about the newspaper thingy...the nwi times published an ad about the tournament that was to take place at our facility. she is trying to say that we are at fault because we are connected to them. yeah, we wrote about it on our website but clearly left the texas man's phone number so they would know he is the contact. and next, it is rather irresponsible to publish something in the newspaper about a local business without that business' approval.

THE NWI TIMES SUCKS. repeatedly for years the grammar in this so-called newspaper is such that my inner-city 5th graders could have written a better paper easily. the articles sometimes are incomplete and that is just the beginning of it all. good grief. nevermind all the incorrect information and lack of responsible reporting. ugh.

no wonder jerry davich has moved on to the post tribune. TIMES, YOU SUCK!

tired of it!

i have a gift. a SPECIAL gift. something that i'm very good at. or at least this past week, anyway. wanna know what it is? i'm good at conversing with people when they're stressed out. i've just picked random BAD times to chitchat with people and have had them blow up and freak out on me. for no apparent reason. not sure why this has been happening this week, but it's stressing me out. and pissing me off. but such is life and i will need to get over it.

this is also why i joined the most recent group that i did on facebook....