i was 'tagged' on jill's blog to leave 7 random facts about myself. whether or not you wish to know these things, her they come, in no type of order other than what comes to mind...

1. i rock the grill
2. i love one of the four major food groups--maple syrup
3. i can cook better than my wife, but i suck at baking, which is her forte
4. i can fix almost anything i need to
5. my family is more important to me than anything else
6. i love going places i've never been
7. i am a patriot, i love our country, but i am not particularly fond of politics.

"All those who believe in psychokinesis, raise my hand. "

I saw this quote on someone's MySpace and I thought it was funny enough to share.

I saw this and thought it did not quite describe it as if the writer had not actually experienced the trip to the top of the arch via the cat food can shaped 'tram' as they call it. I think the tram they talk about means all of the cars because you couldn't fit 40 people in one of those cars...not even in college.

Mind you, I traveled to the top of the arch (I have the certificate to prove it, complete with date, time and disposition of my mother, who would not have gone under circumstances less than my dad making her and me wanting to go up there) with my 6'6" 375 lb father, my mother, and two very intimidated people we found out were from Michigan as well, sometime during the trip up. I don't remember them sharing the fun with us at the top...I think they were grateful to be alive still.

For size reference in the picture, the orange rail there is a standard rail height (3.5' according to my sources). I don't believe I could stand up in the elevator today. Clearly, my dad sat in the seat you can see,illuminated by the indirect lighting, as Captain James T Kirk would have, had it been an escape pod in an episode of Star Trek (Although it felt more like Spock's casket/tomb thing from the Star Trek movie).

Anyway, here's a picture of what they were stuck in and the story (which was not accompanied by a picture) following my monologue in order to give you more respect for the people who were trapped there because as I stated previously, I don't think the writer of this story has been there.

ST. LOUIS (AP) -- About 200 people were trapped inside the 630-foot Gateway Arch for about two hours after an apparent power outage, authorities said.
The power went out around 8:45 p.m. Saturday, stalling two trams filled with about 40 people each, said Mike Maris, deputy superintendent of the Gateway Arch.
About 100 other people were stranded at the top of the monument of stainless steel, Maris said. He said the evacuation of the south tram, where one of nine cables may have broken, took about two hours.
Power eventually was restored to the north tram, and stranded visitors no longer had to use the stairs to evacuate, said Capt. Steve Simpson, a spokesman for the St. Louis Fire Department.
He said officials do not know what happened to the equipment.
Simpson said rescue crews treated two people. One was given oxygen and the other was diabetic.
He did not elaborate on their treatment.
"Everybody else seemed to be in good spirits, glad and relieved to be coming down," he said.
Anxious relatives stood outside the popular tourist attraction as rescuers worked inside. Dozens of emergency vehicles surrounded the arch.
Maris said the Arch would be open Sunday with only the north tram running.
The 630-foot-tall structure is operated by the National Park Service and opened in 1966.
It is one of the region's most popular attractions.

A neighbor told 24 Hour News 8 she heard gunshots between 7-9 a.m.
"...Around here I hear them quite often, so I didn't pay no attention. We went away and I came back and we were sittin' at the table and we kept seeing cars go by, and then I seen cops go by, and then pretty soon my friend says, 'They're comin' here!' I said, 'Ahh.' But they were. They came in the driveway and asked me questions," said Delores Felver.

I totally understand the need to directly quote people but does anyone else think they should, at least in print, drop the apostrophes and add the g's for some of those words? There's really no need to make people sound like more of a hick than they already are. Also, I think they could just skip the vernacular and paraphrase the "and then I seen" part.
I bet whoever typed this story in is just having a blast at the expense of this poor lady's lack of verbal prowess.

Read first, my commentary to follow:

Benton Harbor - Southwestern Michigan authorities say tips led to the arrest of an ice cream truck operator who was selling marijuana along with his frozen desserts.A Berrien County sheriff's deputy "heard jingling bells" this afternoon and saw the truck entering a trailer park in Benton Township, about 70 miles southwest of Grand Rapids.The deputy stopped the truck, spoke with the driver and smelled marijuana.Authorities searched the van and found several packages of marijuana under the dashboard.The 36-year-old suspect was jailed on marijuana and child support charges.

Ok, so can you blame the guy for wanting to power up his sales and create a strong and dedicated customer base? Not me, this is Michigan and people need money they're not getting from the jobs they don't have and then they need drugs to get their minds off the child support they can't afford either. Job security.

Also, what does the "heard jingling bells" thing have to do with anything? If you look at it, that statement has nothing to do with the subject. Was the deputy under the influence of a hallucinogen at the time? It says tips lead to the arrest, but then it says the deputy heard the bells and then pulled him over.

Stickin' it to the workin' man. I'm sure all the guy was trying to do is make enough money to take care of his child support that is apparently in arrears. Evil conniving scheming woman, he has.

Well, what is going to do now? He'll be put in the hoosgow, lose credibility and his job. What was he hurting? I would guess he wasn't selling weed to little kids...perhaps he was, we'll likely never know but in the scheme of things, the guy was a saint. Seriously we need some adjustments to the rules in this country, meaning we need to get back to the basics instead of making more rules to cover the loopholes and trying to find ways to make things illegal and punishable. I think it's a waste.

Once again with my .02...So when are we going to figure out that when someone calls in a bomb threat, there is not a bomb? Did anyone call in any bomb threats to any of the major bombings we know of? I am totally fed up with airports and schools being shut down, sealed up and searched in the name of a bomb threat. If they call in a bomb threat, ask them where did they put it...?

I think the guys who called in the bomb threat to Hesperia High School and then robbed the bank were geniouses...everybody went nuts worrying about the school...and then...awesome. Those dudes understand how idiocracy works.

Can we address this before I get held up at an airport or sporting event because some pimple-faced teenager gets bored while they're under the influence and calls in a ridiculous threat so they can be on the news?

If there has been an actual threat and follow through, will someone let me know? I know of none so let's get it together and quit wasting people's time. Can you imagine if someone called in a fake (like there's any other kind) threat and the person just yawned and/or hung up? That'd be one call I'd pay to hear..."umm, no, we're not accepting threats at this time. Please call back when someone stupid is here."

Peace and happy Independence Day to all of you. Seriously.

KENT COUNTY -- Some West Michigan schools are offering students a chance to prove how skillful they are to employers.
Michigan's economic slump is prompting some area school districts to find ways to make sure students have necessary job skills for the real world.
Employers have voiced concerns on how prepared students are for the workforce. In fact, Ron Koehler, the Assistant Superintendent of the Kent ISD, states, "We did find that there were kids we were sending out of our high schools without the basic skills they needed to perform 30% of jobs across the community."
What's the solution?
Two West Michigan Intermediate School Districts say they have the answer in something called a "career readiness certificate."
"They want to know that you have a bit of common sense. That you can do basic things not just book smarts," said Sarah Pickart, a high school senior.
High schoolers like Sarah in Kent and Ottawa Counties will son take a basic skills test administered A.C.T. The test would assure employers that the candidate has the skills necessary to do the job, without having to go through a lot of training.
Koehler states, "It helps to very clearly define the skills that are required for the job and matches the people that have those skills with those jobs."
Some officials say it's as much a workforce development tool as an educational one, especially important right now as state leaders try to get Michigan working again.
Some say the certification would bring businesses here because they'll be able to quantify just how qualified our residents are.
Right now, no other counties are offering these national career readiness certificates. Twelve other states are also doing it, but A.C.T. claims the local programs are more expansive.


--So the writer was absent the day they taught the proper spelling of "soon". Spelling would be a skill necessary for something like, say, writing a story.

MURRAY, Ky. It's a tough lesson for a Kentucky middle school teacher. State police say she sent text messages looking for marijuana to a state trooper instead of a drug dealer.The trooper was at a birthday dinner when his phone started buzzing with messages about a pot purchase. Police spokesman Barry Meadows says the trooper thought it was a joke at first, but realized it wasn't after a few phone calls. So he set up a meeting with Ann Greenfield.
Law enforcement officers were waiting for her when she arrived at the meeting point.
Says police spokesman Meadows: "She learned her lesson. Program your dealers into your phone."
Greenfield, who's 34, has been suspended with pay pending results of an investigation.

I really liked this article. Particularly the part where the police spokesperson gives people the idea to program your dealer into your phone. Is that so we won't have this problem anymore? Or was it that the officer doesn't want to be interrupted at birthday parties? I don't understand. I would think they'd want more people to make that mistake, but maybe things are taking a turn for the better. The more the police tell people how to avoid getting caught, the better, I say. Who better to learn about avoiding jail time than from police spokespeople? And the lesson she learned wasn't to stop buying and smoking weed, it was actually to program her dealer's number into her phone so she doesn't accidentally call a cop again. What bad luck. What a total let down once she realized she was busted rather than stoned. And suspended with pay pending an investigation? What investigation? The AP is obviously printing it as fact so...the hard part's done folks, can her! Not for being involved in narcotics trafficking, no, I wouldn't say that. I would say for just having the right sombination of stupidity and poor luck. I wouldn't trust her with a room full of kids. Again, not due to the narcotics, but for the...well, you get it. But the police did handle it well:

"Ladies and gentlemen of the press, we would like to put out a statement to all folks out there today in the process of, or who are considering using a cellular telephone to order their drugs. Uhhh...go ahead and program your dealer's number or numbers into your phone. For information on how to do this, feel free to call our 800 numer at the bottom of your screen or go to our website where we offer downloads of owner'smanuals for nearly every cellular telephone model with instructions on how to program numbers so we can avoid the situation we saw here today. Officer Stadenko was torn from his family function at 4:20 this evening for no good reason. Please don't let this happen again when it doesn't have to. Thank you and good day."

Count down 3 weeks until Emerson is scheduled to arrive. We think he won't wait that long (sorry) so we're expecting an early arrival. Keep your eyes open for some pictures when that happens...

Yeah...it's been a long time yada yada yada...bust me out a little...go ahead, a lot of stuff is going on here. I'm gonna be a dad again in March for one thing which most of you already know...but I saw this and thought it was blogworthy (our dictionary is definitely getting thicker by the year, is it not? I wonder what a conversation like this would be with Neil Courtwright...I bet he is just livid what with the music scene and where gov't in general is heading...ha ha ha)
anyhow:

SACRAMENTO, Calif. Two people in California have been arrested after about 400-thousand dollars worth of stolen almonds was discovered in a Sacramento warehouse.

Investigators say the stash may be linked to a rash of nut thefts from orchards across California's Central Valley.

Is that not just amusing?? How much is $400,000 worth of almonds? Well, $4.89 per oz at one store (sans shell)...that's roughly 5112.5 lbs. Not even close to a truck load. That's right around 102 fifty lb bags. Not a bunch, I would say...although I couldn't eat that many in a year (but I should, they're VERY good for you) You and I watch and read the news of the day (you do at least try to keep up, don't you?), seeing all that is going on not just globally but locally for crying out loud, horrible stuff right here in West Michigan (check out woodtv.com for those of you from other places, and read the headlines...) and there are actually people staking out a warehouse somewhere, doing paperwork, and completely devoted to cracking th case of the stolen nuts (no pun intended). Money is money...yes I see that and you do have a valid point. It is a good one. But on paper...any way you say it, it's extremely amusing to me, thank you very much and enjoy your day...

Free fun here

This is one of my favorites:

A man walks into a bar after a day at the office, sits down and orders a beer.

He grabs a handful of peanuts from a bowl on the bar while he's waiting for his beer, and as he starts to chew he hears a voice say, "That's a beautiful tie, is that silk? Very NICE choice!"

Wondering who would make such a strange comment, he looks around and doesn't see anyone near him who could've been speaking to him. With a shrug, he pops a few more peanuts into his mouth.

Next he hears a voice, "Those shoes are stylin', my man. Are they Italian leather? They look GRRREAT!"

He whirls around to again but sees no one near him. He glances nervously around and then at his shoes, which he tucks self-consciously under the stool.

A little wierded out, he grabs another handful of peanuts. This time the voice continues with, "That suit looks FANTASTIC! Is it an Armani? Very nice!"

He immediately calls the bartender over and says, "Look, I keep hearing these voices telling me how great my tie, my shoes, and my suit look -- What's up with that? Am I GOING CRAZY??"

"Oh," the bartender nonchalantly replies, "those are just the peanuts."

"The PEANUTS?!?" the astonished man asks, staring at the bowl beside him.

"Yes," replies the bartender, ". . . they're complimentary!!"

A couple of things...

Don't forget to check out the harvest moon this Friday night.

Pictures are coming, I promise. We are going up north this weekend so...

My brother John is getting married soon(October 21st to be exact).

I'm gonna hike a long long long hike in a couple of weeks so I'll either be dead or medivac'd for treatment...either way, there'll be pictures of it.

Keep checking and please feel free to comment (speaking to those who are lurking...sometimes even called cyber-stalking. Yes, I know you're there, you might as well comment and come out of hiding, you'll feel better and I will too, you know that creepy uneasy feeling you get just before you fall asleep and you just know someone's looking at your blog and not commenting...you don't? oh...)

jim

I really never gave any thought to space travel for myself...I figured until they give me a really good reason to go, I can just watch it on TV and look at the pictures.

Then I saw this:

http://www.earthsky.org/shows/show.php?date=20060807

Now I want to go there.

Also, if you're into this sort of thing, here is some information on our upcoming Harvest Moon:

http://blogearthsky.blogspot.com/2006/09/in-2006-what-direction-do-i-look-for.html

Have a great day,
Jim

Check this out http://phoenix.craigslist.org/zip/212408812.html

What?? No description? Heart? Liver? Kidney? And in storage? That can't be safe. And what blood type, etc? And of course, who did they belong to? See? you can get ANYTHING on Craigslist. Even for free...

ST. IGNACE, Mich. There's one thing missing at a new Indian casino in Michigan's Upper Peninsula: gambling.

It was mistakenly built in an area where gambling is illegal.

The 36 (m) million-dollar casino and hotel complex opened in June. It has restaurants, a lounge and an indoor pool, overlooking Lake Huron's Horseshoe Bay north of the Mackinac (MAK'-ih-naw) Bridge.

But its 29-thousand-square-foot casino with 800 slot machines and 26 gambling tables has been unable to operate. The U-S government says part of the casino was built on land where Indian gambling is not allowed.

Members of the Sault Ste. (soo saynt) Marie Tribe of Chippewa Indians are debating who was responsible for the mistake, with the tribe's current and former chairmen blaming each other.

**I thought this was humorous, especially because they're debating who's responsible. Who cares? It doesn't matter, they can't help you change the rules, I bet. Ha, I said bet.

Back Yard Friends

I was out in the back yard harassing Gus the other day when I noticed not one, not two and not even three, but four Garden Spiders. They are really a lovely creature with their distinct and detailed markings on their backs and their perfect looking webs. I took Sage out to show them to her (no, I didn’t do it to scare her, she actually asked to go see them!) and we had walked out under our gazebo where the most obvious and largest one was. She was on my shoulders for a good view. She was looking for them as I was pointing to them and I knew the very second she saw one because she squeezed me and started trembling like crazy. She wasn’t crying or all freaked out per se but she definitely was not comfortable being that close up. I could tell she wanted to be so brave though. She wanted to see them and she still asks about them. Mom won’t take her out there for some reason though…

Can you spot the one in the tree? I saw him and he was ten feet up there...look closely and remember, you never know who's watching you from up above...

Finally…hiking in Michigan. This morning, my brother Dave and I hike a small section of the North Country Trail. The whole trail starts in New York somewhere and ends up in North Dakota. We didn’t get that far, but we did travel about 11 or 12 miles along the trail. It was from M-20 (some of you Hesperians may know the parking area on the south side of M-20 between Stone Rd and M-37…see my map) down to 40th st. south of White cloud. Directly from M-20 to 40th st. is 6+ miles. The trail, by our best estimates, ended up being somewhere between 10 and 12 miles; nothing in comparison to the 4588 miles to the east and west of where we went today.

The coolest thing I saw today which unfortunately went unphotographed by me, was a bald eagle that Dave spotted from way out as we were headed to the M-20 trailhead. We were watching it as we drove closer and it flew down in front of us and grabbed a black squirrel out of the middle of the road, then proceeded to fly into a tree next to the road and began feasting. It was absolutely huge. It looked like it was 3 or 4 feet tall. It was just cool seeing a bald eagle in the wild and particularly here in Michigan.

So back to the trail…it is beautiful. We walked from about 9am until about 2 I think if I remember correctly, so that’s 5 hours straight walking. We actually only rested about 15 minutes total throughout the whole trip too. So, needless to say, I am rather sore tonight. Dave? Not even affected. He said no pain at all. I can hardly walk to the bathroom. Kudos to Mr. I’m in shape—Dave!

The photo of the random items is all the trash I picked up along the way.Dave had his pockets full as well and we likely could have filled up a large trash bag with more stuff we saw and could not handle ourselves. Don't do that if you go there or anywhere. Be responsible with our mother...

Well, we talked it over while we traveled and, even though I barely made it to the end of the 11 mile hike, we planned to hike the section north of M-20 to Nichols Lake which is right around 18 miles total. Yes, we can and will do it, too. Even if we can’t, we will.

It’s supposedly open to mountain bike and equestrian traffic to the north of M-20 (not so, to the south) and I want to see what it’s like as I would like to ride my bike (a mountain bike) off road, where it has never been. If it’s like the south part, it will be fun and it starting to looks like something I could enjoy.

So if anyone reading this wants to go on a good hike or wants more info on how to get there, etc. feel free to contact me. If you want to go on the hike and need or want someone to go with, I’m up for it again, as soon as my feet feel better…which will likely be shortly after my wonderful wife massages them for me tonight…

We found out recently that we are pregnant again. That is WAY cool. I was worried about my daughter growing up without any siblings. Yes, she has plenty of cousins and other various friends and relatives, but there's nothing like a good ole' sibling to make life more interesting, don't you think? Ask any of mine. I'm sure they would agree that, if not for their siblings (not any one in particular, but it would be any of or a combination of all of us) life would be a bore. Need more proof? Ask my mom, she'll tell you.

Life is good. I don't get out there and jump up and down but I am extremely excited that we are bringing another baby into the world. I can't wait to hold it and have a little tiny baby in the house again, finding out how little sleep you can get by on, taking naps because you got by on not enough and perhaps best of all, seeing Sage's response to the whole thing. She is going to be an outstanding big sister, I can tell.

Last night we got a swing set for Sage. I guess her new sibling will want to get in on the action too, eventually, but last night we were thinking of Sage when we risked being stung by yellow-jackets while tearing down the swingset that we set back up in our back yard. I think it's way cool. Thanks to Donny B for your cheap but skilled union labor.

That's an update for now. I'm just kind of soaking it all in, we're gonna be a "family" instead of a young married couple with a baby. What will we do with two of them? The same thing we do now only it will be twice as fun.

By the way, am I the only one that wishes they sold the Oreo cream filling by itself in a jar?

Wow. Did you hear about the lady who drove her motorhome for the first time to a ball game and on the way home, she set the cruise to 70 mph, got up and went to the back to make herself a sandwich? True story. When she crashed and was injured, she sued Winnebago and won $1,750,000. Also true. There must be something I'm missing because a jury of her peers...wait, her peers...now it makes sense. Oh well, anyway, she cashed in on her stupidity, or did she? Was this her plan all along? Hmmm...a lawyer or attorney had to gain some of this...33% of 1.75 mil is approiximately $577,500. Well now it really makes sense. The owner's manual doesn't say you can't do that. In fact, Winnebago adjusted the text in their manuals due to this. Crazy world we live in.

I love this world we live in. It IS crazy but it is so interesting. You never sit around thinking nothing's going on or that you're so bored because there's nothing to do. We have iPods, laptops, cable TV, jets, cars, you name it. We can go anywhere at any time and do nearly anything, be it legal or illegal, moral or immoral, depending on which country you go to to do it. All you need is money...which I don't have a lot of, so I guess I don't know for sure that you can go anywhere at any time to do anything, but I think you can. I bet Jack Johnson can. He must have a ton of money. I know he's got whatever percentage he gets from me buying like three of his CDs which is more than I've got in my pocket right now. But I've got enough.

I love life. I used to always wonder what it would be like to be a grown up and I used to think that it would be freakin' sweet because noone could tell you what to do. It is. If you're a kid reading this, (I hope no kids read this, please!) you will love your adulthood...or you should anyways. Even if everyone tries to tell you that you shouldn't, I remember bein a kid and I am happy with how much fun I have. I play in my yard with my daughter and have friends over and grill...noone tells me to be careful because the grill's hot, noone tells me it's late and I gotta go to bed on a Friday night. I am happy. Over all.

If your life sucks, or if you think it does, take stock. Think about what you used to dream about when you were a kid. What did you think your perfect grow up life would be? Forget about your goals and expectations for yourself for the moment. Think about what it used to be like and see if it doesn't weigh out on the side of satisfied. If it doesn't, do something different because this is your life and it's only so long here on erth and in those last years, days or moments, you don't want to be regretting or worrying about what you did, didn't or should have done. Like I said before, you can buy the old cartoons you used to watch and watch them any time. You can travel anywhere your wallet will allow you. You are in charge and you can do what you want to do. So do it and live the life you've always dreamed. (yes that's totally stolen from Emerson)