These are the ramblings of a young married couple in the great City of Chicago.
Great News
John Stossel is moving into the co-anchor chair next to Barbara Walters as ABC’s 20/20.? Mr. Stossel is a great reporter, openly and friarly reporting government waste, inefficiency, and absurdity He also counters many ideas that we have been made to believe are correct but the science does not back them up. ?
Mail Call
Last weekend I received a couple pieces of interesting mail. Both of them were from the Heritage Foundation. One cam in a clear plastic bag with a large florescent orange sticker on it. The sticker is a warning that “Contents of this package are monitored. Any tampering will result in prosecution under Federal Postal regulations. $2,000.00 fine or 5 years imprisonment or both for any person who tampers or obstructs delivery; U.S. Code Title 18, Sec. 1701.” I hope that did not include me, because I opened it.
The second was a funding request from William Bennett. Rather untimely, it was probably produced and mailed just days before Mr. Bennett was indicted my the media for being worse that al-Queda for legally gambling his income.
What is this Canada?
I thought I woke up in America!
Back in NoVa
Today I arrived safely back at work, thanks to the friendly skies of United (is that Rhapsody In Blue I hear). I think that the cabin crew for this flight was the same as the crew of my Friday flight home to Chicago. This flight completed my 5301st mile with United, only 19699 more miles needed for Premier Status.
If I could make one plea to the flying public it would be: Check A Bag People! I know that I am probably the exception to the rule. I have never had a bag lost and I rarely have to wait on my bag long at the claim area. I do have to wait a little bit longer to check in because I am checking the bag, but I am not wasting time at the security checkpoint keeping track of my valuables, laptop, carry on, and then also my luggage while I am putting my shoes back on. When I board the plane, I find my seat and the little sliver of overhead bin space needed for my bag and sit down, quickly letting others find their seats. Today United Customer Service announced to the plane that the passengers were “taking way to long” to board.
If I could make a second plea it would be: Set yourself right back down! The plane lands and almost before the front wheel hits the ground you can hear the seat belts popping and even some cell phones turning on. When the plane begins to dock and the pilot turns off the seat belt the plane erupts with ever person standing straight up, pulling their belongings out of the bins, and racing to the aisle. The doors are not ever open yet people, set down and enjoy this little bit of calmness in your day while waiting a couple minutes for the people ahead of you to deplane. Of course I do not have much to pull out of the bins because I have just the one carryon. I am also in no hurry to deplane because I want my bags to be waiting on me not the other way around.
Su..what?
I am very surprised to learn that some of my feelings have been suppressed! I blame my Mother!
Youth of America: Pull up your pants!
Today at the ball game this group of punks sat in front of me. First I had to help them find their seats because I think that had primed their livers before the game and could not read the row numbers on the aisle seats. There were people setting in their seats. They asked them to move, and the people moved but I think the people in the seats gave the punks a little guff about it. Instead of taking the high ground or even the just slightly aggressive ground, the punks chose the route of being, well, punks and tried to start something. Thankful I did not have to put the smack down on the group because the people in the seats moved on without responding.
It was a group of all guys and only one girl. The girl was with one of the guys. They were a walking public display of affection. She was not the type of girl that helps promote the image of women. The only thought that seemed to be in her head was, “Like, For Sure!” running in loop.
The group looked just under 21, but all of them passed the carding at the field. Ever time a beer man would go by there was a stop at their row. I am not discouraging anyone from drinking at the ball game, I had two, but it was the middle of the afternoon and these kids had at least 5 beers each. It became a bit of a joke with the two rows behind them. The disturbing part was the drunkest guy said something in part “…No! I am a great drunk driver. Shit the Kennedy, I have never been stopped…” I was glad that my mode of transportation was my two feet down Clark Street. During the whole game there were many yells from the group that are inappropriate to repeat. And I would not have blamed someone from St. Louis of coming down and smacking them in the head, because I had to resist the urge.
A report came out Friday of a survey conducted by the U of C about what age Americans consider others adults. The survey said that 26 has become the age of adulthood. This is much higher than previous generations who were adults raising families and buying homes at 18 and 20. As a 23 year old (minus 17 days) there are benchmarks of adulthood that I have not obtained yet like a wife, kids, and house. I think it is possible to be an adult without these things and it is possible to be an adult at 23. I have a degree and have started a career with a stable job with a leading consulting firm. I make sound financial decisions, paying off my car and education loans quickly while also saving. I am involved politically in my community and trying to become more involved. People do treat me different though, either because I look young or because I have a large beautiful red spot on my head. These punks I sat behind are part of the reason that I am still 3 years away from being an adult. They live life as though there is not a care in the world. Which I am sure is great for them, and at times I have been envious of that lifestyle, but as we approach Mothers Day I am very thankful of the way my lovely mother and grandmothers raised me. I pray that I never made them worry that I would turn into a punk, because I knew that this type of behavior would have found punishment (and probably still would today somehow) but I never would have thought of acting like this because they instilled in me that this is simply not what young men do. It is interesting being raised almost completely by your mother; it seems to me that I learned how to be a better man than most of the men I know that had fathers at home. Thank You Mom!
Cubs Win! Cubs Win!
I spent the afternoon up at the Friendly Confines, watching the Cubbies battle against arch central division rival Cardinals. This Cubs won 3-2 after a walk off homer from Alex Gonzalez in the 10th inning. Although it did not look like it until about an hour before the game, it was a beautiful day for baseball. I bought a ticket in the Terrace Reserved. It was a great ticket about 25 rows up from the field and only 4 or 5 seats toward 1st from home plate! The problem was that the winds were blowing in off the Lake and the seats were in the shade. While the bleacher bums were getting tan or burned, I could have used a blanket.
After helping the Cubs win, I came home and took a well deserved 3 hour nap on the couch.
WOW
This is crazy. Between the praying and defecating I am not sure I would have had the resolve to do that. (From K-Lo in The Corner)
Memory Installed!
My new memory arrived yesterday and I installed it today! I was very surprised when I arrived home and there was already a package slip in my mailbox. The FedEx tracking system was predicting a delivery date of the 5th. I have not used FedEx much, and usually choose UPS as the cheapest option. Perhaps FedEx is able to deliver quicker because it has a less volume or it utilizes air transpiration more the UPS.
The memory installed firmly and it will be fun to test it out when I get the rest of the parts in. The schedule looks like this for the next few months: CPU (May), Video Card (June?), Hard Drive (July?), and OS (August). That means I would be able to have a working computer sort of at the end of this month, but not see anything. I could see something in June, but it would just say “Punk I find a drive to boot from!” I would have a disk to boot from in July, but nothing to boot. And then in August I would own Windows, but not a CD Drive to install from. I could use my current CD Drive but it is so sketchy I do not even want it to be near my new computer at all! SO, in September I would have the drive to install and run the machine with my current I/O Peripherals.
And suggestion or questions? Email me!
Ah Laundry Day. I have just one load today.