Christmas Shopping

Man.... I just got home from some serious Christmas shopping. I always have a couple of things that I need to get right before Christmas, so inevitably I am running around close to the holiday. My trip after work today consisted of a few stores and then the dreaded final stop....Briarwood Mall. Just to give you a reference here is an aerial view of what getting into the mall was like today.

All of this was in the supposed crappy economy around here. I know that we have a higher unemployment rate here in MI then the rest of the country, but there are still 93% of us who want to work and have a job. And if the mall parking lot was any judge, its not like money is scarce around here. Let's just say that JD is glad to be done shopping.

The Dilema of Christmas Cards

Christmas cards should not be this hard. Not only do you have to go out and purchase the cards, you also have to come up with a list of people to send them to and take time to fill them out. Then there is the postage and the mailing. Quite a process just to spread some holiday cheer.

Unfortunately for JD, the process of figuring out who to send cards to is a bit byzantine. JD and Wife sit down and go through the address book, then there are deletions, additions, maybes. The whole process kind of reminds me of when we were figuring out who to invite to our wedding. I imagine it is much the same as the way the Congress hashes out a budget. I am lobbying for a distant uncle and for someone we have not seen in 2.5 years, but who gave us the couch in out living room; and my wife is capitulating but making my promise to cut down the cards by at least 5 next year. Definitely some back-room dealings going on. Strange, but absolutely true.

The sad thing is that I imagine that we are completely normal in this regard. I think most people struggle with Christmas cards like we do. I wonder if there is a better way to do this? Maybe we can all exchange holiday E-cards....seems very 21st Century. Or maybe I could just post a card on Facebook and call it a day. Alas, there is still something special, at least to me, about putting that giant pile of cards in the mail , knowing they are going to people we care about from San Francisco to Boston. So I for one plan on to keep sending out piles of cards to people, I guess I am just like that.

Why Ron Paul Gets My Respect, But Not My Vote

Ron Paul is the kind of guy you want to cheer for. He is the proverbial underdog who has caught a huge wave of young energetic support. He is the Howard Dean of the 2008 campaign. In fact I sincerely admire the man and the fact that he has stuck to his convictions over his 20+ years in public service.

For those of you who don't know who this Ron Paul guy is, he is running for a the Republican nomination for President. He has run in the past under the Libertarian banner. He is a strict constitutionalist, favors no income taxes, getting out of Iraq and a return to the gold standard. Now you may ask why the traditionally liberal JD has any interest in the man. The reason is simple, he is a man of honor. This is something that is seriously missing from the capital these days, no matter what side of the isle you look.

His views may not be the same as mine, but he has had the same views for 20 years and has ALWAYS voted that way. He opposed the Iraq war from the beginning, and still does. He voted against the Patriot Act, and still opposes it. He has always said that the government is too large. This is such a rare quality in and of itself it deserves note. Besides that I like him because like me, he takes seemingly opposing viewpoints on issues and explains them as common sense. This is refreshing. I still cannot support the man, but I respect him more then anyone I plan on voting for.

I encourage anyone who finds his views attractive to go to his website and support him and find out more about him.

Thanks for listening. JD

Another Senseless Product: Odor Alert Cat Litter

So one of my goals in this blog is to point out the amazing variety of useless products that get presented to the American public every year. I pointed out a great product called Colonblow in a blog a while ago. Now I bring you the latest and greatest to hit our store shelves: Odor Alert Cat Litter.



Yes, that is correct, this is cat littler the alerts you to the fact that there is an odor by turning color. Now pardon me if I just don't see the point, but one would think that the fact that there is an odor would be readily discernible by the odor itself. Maybe this product will be marketed to those who have lost their sense of smell, but that seems like a very small market. So apparently, Arm & Hammer has come to the conclusion that what America really needs is a cat littler that tells us it is smelly by turning colors. Until next time...happy smelling/seeing.

Canadian Dollar Parity...oh my!

Well folks, the Canadian Dollar is worth the exact same as the US dollar. Is this scary or what? For all of us Michiganders, we used to make fun of our neighbors to the north for having such a laughingly cheap dollar. When I was in high school, you could routinely get $1.50 Cn for $1 US. So this idea that it is all the same is quite strange.

The reported reasons for this vary from the recent interest rate cut here, to the value of Canada's oil and gas reserves. I am going to go out on a limb and say that it is because they maintain a crack team of Canadian Mounties ready to invade the Us unless we make our currency weaker. See the picture below for verification of this theory.

Scary...Huh.

On the serious side of this debate is the current global climate tand the way in which the US and our currency plays a role. Needless to say, we could be on the brink of a serious recession, if China and Japan stop investing in Billions of dollars as a hard reserve and instead go to Euros. If our currency continues to fall, we could see a run away form the dollar and the chaos would ensue. Now, none of this would be a problem if we could just contain out federal spending to what we bring in. Something that me and you have to do every month (unless you live off credit cards and follow our governments example. So shame on us, maybe this is something that we deserve. I guess I could always move to Windsor.

JD

Buy American Fruit

Quite a while ago, I watched a movie about an apple farmer in Washington titled "Broken Limbs: Apples, Agriculture and the new American Farmer." This was an excellent documentary that pointed out the plight that many apple farmers face from new stiff overseas competition. It also dove a little into agribusiness, and how hard it is for these guys who have 20-200 acres to even get their fruit to market. They have to go through packer, who then goes through wholesaler, who then sells it to the supermarket chains who then sells it to you. Think of that 25 cents apple and how much of that gets back to the actual farmer.

So I would encourage all of you out there to see this movie, and also to purchase American fruit whenever possible. People might laugh and say this is the natural evolution of the market, but I say it is a literal matter of national security. We must produce our own food. If we lose that then we lose all ability to be self-sustaining and self-reliant. Lets not let what has happened with oil also happen with our food. So check those labels, and if you can get American, please do so.

Midsummer Blogging Blues

I have to admit, I have been unmotivated to blog as of late. It is not for lack of interesting or weird things taking place in these United States of ours. It is strictly the same thing felt by many American's this time of year... a midsummer lull. It has been so very hot up here in MI (take that global warming skeptics), that all you feel like doing after work is coming home and laying around on the couch. The flip side is that when it is nice outside you want to be...outside! So there has been a severe lack of blogging going on around here the past few weeks. Hopefully I will remedy that when I come back from vacation recharged and refreshed. The Wife and I are heading to Jewell Lake National Forest Campground for some good ole' fashioned rustic camping.

For all those out there looking for a good inspirational story to help get you through the day, check out this article from the Detroit Free Press about a kid with a disability and his triumph at baseball. That should make just about anyone feel better about America!

The C.H.I.P. Program, What America Needs

On the 19th of July, the Senate Finance Committee voted 17-4 to reauthorize and expand the CHIP Program. This is a program that allocates monies to help low income working families get health care for their children. It now heads to the full Senate for debate. A similar bill was vetoed by President Bush last year.

This is exactly the kind of work that the Congress needs to be doing for the people. What kind of country is this, the richest in the world, where a low income WORKING family cannot get health care coverage for their children. This program, much like Head Start, has been hailed by the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office as one of the most efficient programs the government runs. It was co-sponsored by two republicans and two democrats.

The bill brought forth to the floor of the Senate would increase the funding from 25 to 35 billion over 5 years. Keep in mind that the entire cost to federal government to pay for this program is less then 5 months operations in Iraq. This amount would provide health care for 6.6 million kids whose parents are working and trying to obtain the American Dream. Here is the Finance Committee's press release. I don't know if anyone out there is as fried up about this as I am, but you can pick your senator out on this site, and write them an email encouraging them to support this bill in the full senate.

JD.

Sweet Cherry Pie

Well talk about a evolution of an idea or concept. I was over my brothers apartment last week and we were playing Guitar Hero 2 for Xbox 360. Now I had never played this game before, but let me tell you... it is a blast. I am not the best fake guitar player out there, and I still had a great time and made my left hand nice and sore. Anyway, one of the songs on this game was Cherry Pie by Warrant. I had head this song before, but after attempting to master in on Guitar Hero, I had to download if from Itunes.

Then on Friday, the Wife comes home from Kroger telling me about how there were cherries on sale and she is going to make a cherry pie for some company that was coming over on Saturday. Wife has made all kinds of pies and crisps, but never cherry, and I looooooove cherry pie, so I was excited. Here is the picture of the final result:

So, I don't really know if all these things are really related, but if they are I sure am glad that playing Guitar Hero got me a nice Cherry Pie.

Giant Spiders are Cool

I was over helping my parents pack for their big move to Arkansas. Now why they are moving to Arkansas could possibly fill a novel the size of War and Peace, but I am not here to write about that. I am here to write about a giant spider that we found in the garage while moving some stuff. Now some people who read this might be from down south where this size spider is commonplace, but not up here in Michigan. This has to be the largest spider I have ever seen here. I don;w know what kind of spider it is, so if anyone out there does, let me know. Here is the pic:

Pretty Cool...huh??
Yup, I am definitely male.

America's Global Imperative....MIA

America has lost it's global imperative. It is not hiding around the corner, or on vacation, it is completely MIA. It went on permanent leave when the Communist bloc fell, and suddenly we were the sole superpower in a world accustomed to two ideologies going toe to toe all over the world. The problem with this is that America likes to have the moral high ground, and this we did when were leading the world to freedom and democracy against those dirty commies. But afterwards all we had was our economy, which sounds great, but it is not something that you always feel proud about.

The current political leadership has tried it's darnedest to regain America's global imperative by substituting terrorism for communism. The problem is that it is not working. I agree terrorism is a threat, but it does not rank up with communism. We cannot look on a map and point to a big old huge mass that is the "enemy." Our kids cannot shake in fear of a mass nuclear attack. While terrorism is a threat, it is not the threat that communism is. For much of us in the "Flyover" part of the country, terrorism is a remote distant thing that only happens to those people on the coasts. I am in no way saying that terrorism should be ignored, but we cannot use it as the national rallying cry, it's just not going to work.

My suggestion is that we focus our national efforts on something that is positive, and will help American reclaim the high moral authority we used to have. Instead of being the proverbial big bully, lets pick an issue and lead globally on this issue. For example, we could embrace facing global warming head on, China be damned. We could invest trillions in new technologies and lead the world in deploying these HOMEGROWN technologies. Not only could we brag to the rest of the world while they scramble to catch up, but American companies would be able to export this knowledge and technology across the globe, thus helping our economy as well. I know some out there don't give a crap about global warming, but the rest of the world does. If we are going to gain back our moral and global imperative, it would be a great issue to lead on. If not global warming, pick something...global hunger, water access or literacy. This would restore us to a place of leadership in the world, and give the average American something to believe in again.

Just a thought...JD

Homemade Veggie Pizza, Who Knew It Could Be This Good

Let's just say that JD was always raised as a meat and potatoes kind of guy. There is Polish in my blood, so there was always a steak or sausage at our dinner table. In the spirit of branching out to try new things, and in the quest to get back down to the college fighting weight, JD has agreed with the Wife to try some vegetarian dishes. Now of course I laid down some ground rules:

1. No fake meat - If we are going to have soyburgers, lets just have a burger. There is no reason to try and fake something that God has already perfected in the fleshy counterpart.

2. Veggie dishes must stand on their own - I have no problem eating vegetables as long as they are good as vegetables. This means that I will not compromise good taste just for the sake of eating vegetarian. There are plenty of veggies I like, so lets find a way to work around those.

3. No Tofu....Ever - I think this one is self-explanatory.

Anyway, so we have been eating 1-2 vegetarian meals a week, which has been pretty good. Sometimes it approaches a "hot and ready" night. This is when the meal fails and we go get a pizza. Thankfully there have been none that fully meat this criteria. so tonight it was time to try some homemade squash and sage pizza. Let me tell you, this was delicious. I am going to post some pictures, but unfortunately that does not do it justice. The aroma was amazing and the taste was so good I burned the top of my mouth shoveling it in so fast. Major kudos goes to Wife, for making an excellent dinner that was also pretty healthy (note: blue cheese is not a healthy ingredient, but it's damn good) If anyone out there wants the recipe, just leave a comment and I will type it in. Also, as a side comment, this is partly to show off to our good friend Rosiecat over on Life, Love and Food. On to the pics:

This is Wife showing off her HOMEMADE pizza crust
(She was painting earlier in the day, hence the clothes)

The finished product......yummy

Instasnuggle

I wanted to write a little blog tonight about the romantic power of water. The wife and I were Downtown for the Detroit River Days (see last blog), and it seemed to me that every time we took a second to walk up to the river and pause, my arm just naturally went around my wife. We were instantly drawn together so we could look out over the dancing water at the ships going past. so we came up with a term for this "instasnuggle." Basically there are things that can bring upon this state of being, for example, giving your wife flowers :). But the amazing part about this is that whenever we stopped by the water, instasnuggle kicked in. So here is to the almighty instasnuggle power of the riverfront. JD.

Detroit Riverfest 07'

So on Saturday afternoon the wife and I decided to head Downtown to check out the inaugural Detroit International River Days. We arrived about 6pm, and parked just East of the Rencen. First I want to say kudos to the people who put this on. It was well run and there was tons to do. We first watched the Airdogs display, which featured dogs jumping for height and distance. Then we headed over to check out the Ste. Clair (Boblo Boat). After taking a break in Tri-Centennial State Park we headed back to the RenCen and settled in to watch the Parade of Lights.

The whole event was pretty packed and it was nice to see all the peoples of Metro Detroit our enjoying a nice summer day on the reclaimed waterfront. For those of you who don't know, Detroit's waterfront used to consist mainly of factories and docks, and is now in the midst of a major overhaul. There is now a 3.5 mile Riverwalk in place and all the pieces will be connected once a few condo developments, the Watermark and @water, are built. Overall we were very impressed by the quality of the walk and how in just a five minute stroll you could be in a secluded park with waves lapping at your feet. Very impressive. We will definitely be back in future years.

Here are some pictures from the events:

Airdogs - Flying American Pitt Bull:

The Old Boblo Boat - S.S. Ste. Clair:

Globe Trading Company - Soon to be redeveloped into lofts:

Parade of Lights - Boats that were covered in lights:

The Chrysler 300C, the Ultimate Grandma Car

Yes, I am talking about that Chrysler 300-C. The ones that you see in all the rap videos and in all the movies. This car has been a huge success for Chrysler, but it has often been pigeonholed as appealing to the urban crowd. Well Chrysler's marketing team should be proud, because there I was cruising down I-94 on my way to wrk when I see a silver 300C up ahead. It looked a lot like the one below.

So here is me, at 6:45am, thinking to myself: Self... I wonder who is driving this car. I bet it is someone cool and interesting. So I passed the car on the left, and took a gander over to see who was piloting this Detroit behemoth. This is who I saw:

With appolgies to the actress Frances Bay (Happy Gilmore's Grandmother), this is exactly what I saw. It scared the crap out of me. Here I was expecting some young hip individual in thier 20's and I got Grandma rolling along at 75MPH. So cudos to the marketing people at Chrysler, you have expanded your demographic waaaay past what I would have though possible.

I Have Heard No Paris Hilton News Today...Oh What a Glorious Day!

This is going to be a short and sweet entry today. I heard no Paris Hilton news today. No mention of it on the morning radio show, no one walking by me desk with the proverbial "You hear about Paris today?" I am sooo tired of getting dragged into this news story even when I hate the very idea of having to listen to any of it. There are plenty of important things going on in the world, and this is what I have to discuss with my coworkers? So apparently the Lord has smiled on me and removed Paris from my life. Amen!

The Deadliest Catch....best show on TV.

p>For those our there who do not know what the "Deadliest Catch" is, let me give you a description. This is a show that is on the Discovery Channel. It follows the working life of several Alaskan crab boats as they work to recieve your future dinner on the Bering Sea. Here is the blurb that the Discovery Channel says about the show...

"Each year, hundreds of fishermen converge on Dutch Harbor, Alaska, for the beginning of the Alaskan king crab season. While at sea, they face nearly 24-hour shifts for days at a time, in less than optimal conditions: 40-foot waves, 80-mph winds, subfreezing weather and 700-pound crab pots slamming against the deck — not to mention a nearly 100 percent injury rate.

But the payoff can be huge: Well-placed pots can collect millions of dollars worth of highly prized king crabs ... or just enough crabs to cover the boat's operating expenses. Whatever the take, the men and their families will feel the effects the rest of the year."

Pretty amazing stuff just so we can all go to Red Lobster. I am completely addicted to this show. I think this is because this is reality TV. I know that they edit a lot of things, and of course show the most interesting stuff, but it is so intriguing. An average of 4 men per year die fishing for crab, making this the deadliest job per year percentage wise. You stand a greater chance of dying on the Bering Sea then being a fire fighter, or a soldier in Iraq. Pretty admirable stuff, you can see why these men have captured my imagination. I know that although there is a part of me that would love it, the rational side of me slaps that idea around and tells me to stay behind my desk.

So next time you wonder why King Crab legs are so expensive, think of the men plying the Bering Sea in January, with the highest death rate of any job in America. These are the guys who make that dinner possible. Thanks...JD

Wheelchair stuck to a semi...you can't make crap like this up!

In Grand Rapids, Michigan today, a man in a wheelchair got stuck to the grill of a semi-truck, and was driven 2-3 miles down the highway at 50mph. I am not making this up. Now, I don't want everyone to think I am making fun of people in a wheelchair, that would be incorrect, I am really just truly confused. Here is the link to the article in the Detroit Free Press.

Apparently the man was crossing an intersection when the truck driver got the wheelchair lodged into his grill. He apparently did not notice this. Now call me stupid, but five hundred pounds impacting your grill might cause me to take notice. I mean does that mean you can strike a deer in a truck and not even know it?? I am pretty sure an old Asian lady in a Honda Civic weighs about 500 pounds. That seems highly unlikely that he would not notice something.  Anyway, the truck proceeded to go 3 miles at 50 MPH before a police officer pulled the truck over and alerted the driver. The man was freed from the grill shaken, but otherwise unharmed.

My personal favorite quote from the article is someone calling 911. They told the police dispatcher "A semi-truck just came by and he does not know it but he has a gentleman on the front of his truck that's in a wheelchair and he's pushing him down the road." That is an incredibly eloquent way of freaking out, which is what I would have had I seen this  happing on my local freeway.

My last question is what kind of tires the guy had on this wheelchair. Apparently they were able to handle three miles of 50 MPH. Must have been some heavy duty rubber on those things. I guess wheelchairs are better built then I thought. Apparently the chair, which was motorized, still worked after being untangled from the grill. If I were the manufacturer of that model you can bet this claim would be in my next adrvertising campaign: "Tough enough to take on a MAC Truck." I guess I'll just have to file this away under the heading "will never happen again in my lifetime."

Later---JD

Stupid Inefficiencies...

   My time was thoroughly and intensely wasted today. This I can say with absolute certainty. In fact, I can point to a specific group as someone who helped further the advance of global warming by making me drive around for 30 minutes looking for a stinking drop box.
    OK, here is the situation...JD wants to enter the Ann Arbor City Tennis Tournament. On the website for the tournament it says a drop box is located at an address that does not exist. Mapquest or Streets and Trips cannot find it, and the closest I came was the back of a condo complex.
    Here is my problem... so little information is given, no cross streets, no indication that it might be difficult to find. They knew this was going to be a problem, and ignored it, hoping people would also just ignore it. They knowingly caused many many people to waste their free time, and I value my free time. I called the Tournament Director (yes I am one of those people), and she told me how many people had called or emailed her because they could not find the dropbox. I guess it is on an extension to a road, where you are at one of those intersections where both roads are named the same. In this case at the corner of Eisenhower and Eisenhower.
    So now i have to drive over to her office to register because there is no way for me to get over to the box before 5pm tomorrow when the building closes. Creating more work for me and her, or the website could have just had accurate information. GRRRRRRR, sometimes stupid inefficiencies really get to me.

BTW: Here is the site, click on Adult Entry Form

Colonblow...are you serious/the downfall of America?

One of my coworkers, who shall remain nameless said that he heard an ad on the radio for a product called "Colonblow." Lets just say that a rousing round of man humor followed in the discussion of the product, and all the fun that you could have with practical jokes. I have to admit that I honestly did not think that this was serious. But no, JD is wrong, a little googling and wham...there is the website for a actual product called "Colonblow." Motto: Poopin' is Cool!

Now here are the wise words of the founder of the Colonblow company:

"I was an ordinary guy who was tired of battling allergies. I started noticing how what I ate affected how I felt. Both reason and research told me the body's threshold of tolerance could be lowered if we could get the waste of of there. My buddies and I started colon cleansing, and we felt better... with more energy. My allergies became less of a problem. So I started developing this product, quit my day job, and today Colonblow is used by thousands around the world. We have tons of repeat customers."

Matthew A. Gardner, Colonblow Founder

I have to ask myself...is this serious/is this the downfall of America? Well apparently this is serious, and someone is making a whole lot of money making other people drop a kid off at the pond. I also firmly believe that this is the downfall of American ingenuity. WE have tons of problems that could use the American innovative spirit... fuel economy...world hunger...AIDS, take your pick. We have been reduced to blowing out our colons. I thought Viagra was the limit, but apparently not... Well everyone, happy poopin'!

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The Decline of Black Baseball

Here is the statistic: 8.4% of Major League Baseball players are currently African American, as opposed to over 15% just 10 years ago. This has quite a few people in the baseball world rightfully upset and worried. So what are the causes for this decline?



Many people cite economics or college scholarships as the reason. They say that blacks are more likely to get a scholarship for football, and therefore that is where they invest their time and talent. Also, with more scholarships given in football then in baseball ,the sheer odds are better that they will receive a football scholarship.



Then there is the race card. Detroit's own Gary Sheffield, who I actually think is a rather standup guy, had to throw it out recently. He claims that African American's are passed up over Latinos because they are "harder to control." He states "I called it years ago," Sheffield said, "What I called is that you're going to see more black faces, but there ain't no English going to be coming out." Sheffield went on to say that MLB picks Latin players over equally talented African-Americans because they're easier to control. I personally think that is a load of crap. There are many upstanding young black players coming into the league. The great thing about sports has always been that talent trumps color. THat is what Jackie Robinson was all about. Sport has always been the great equalizer. If you can play ball better then everyone else, no one cares if you are Japanese, Samoan or Canadian.



I think that a columnist for CNNMoney hit the answer on the head in this column. I encourage you to read it, but he basically says that the rise of the Latin player is simply due to economics. Because players from other countries are not affected by the draft, good scouting replaces lottery chances. It is simply a better return on invested capital to look outside the US. I have not been able to find the percentage of MLB players who are Caucasian, but i bet that had dropped almost in step with African-Americans. This once again would not be racism, but rather strict economics.

So what is needed is not a huge investment in urban baseball fields, although is is great in it's own right. What is needed is a comprehensive look at the MLB draft and the way that talent is brought through the system to the major league level. Because baseball, more than any other major sport, draws international talent, this must be addressed. Until it is, the owners have only their own best interests in part and MLB will not move forward on this issue.

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Grandma got runover by a Hummer

Let me preface this by stating a couple of facts:

1) Hummers cost more then the average income of a family of four in the United States. Average MSRP, just over $50,000

2) The average Hummer can...according to the GM website, ford 2 feet of water, has 17 inch wheels, and has a gas tank that hold 32 gallons.

3) My 1994 Chevy Cavalier can ford about 3 inches of water, has tiny ass wheels, and has a gas tank that holds 12 gallons.

4)The average Hummer can run over my Cavalier and the driver can wonder...was that a racoon, or a Cavalier...and keep right on driving.

My point here people is that I am being punished for not being wealthy. My life is being put in danger because I am not wealthy. I agree with the long tradition in the country of rewarding people economically for their effort, but part of their reward does not have to be my detriment. There have been numerous times that I have feared for my life because some person was driving a Hummer. Either I cannot see the road ahead because they are taking up my entire range of vision, or the driver seems to think (rightfully so) that I will just get out of his (or her) way because I am in a Cavalier and they are in a Hummer.

What we should do is require someone to have a special license to drive on of those behemoths. You should have to go through advanced training on how to park, turn and drive without killing other people. Semi drivers have to do this. It would at least make the people aware of what they are driving (a tank).

Better yet we should draw the line and say that regular citizens have no right to own something of this nature. There is no reason, none. Just like no regular citizen should be able to own a RPG, the sole result of people having either one of these devices is that someone else is put at risk.

Thoughts and comments please.....