Land of Oz

Michigan the Leader Again

Story from Forbes about "America's Most Miserable Cities":

Detroit in the top spot, with its sister city Flint ranked third, is probably not a great shock.

Once again Michigan hits the top of a list and once again the list sucks. Actually, if you're one of those with a fairly decent job and don't live in one of the big cities, Michigan is a pretty cool state to live in. The scenery is great with lots of green big trees and blue water all over and the climate isn't actually that bad. Sure you can live in the Upper Peninsula you can wade through several feet of snow at a time or see regular below zero temps, but all-in-all, it's not bad.

The Flint area really has great weather. We get snow, but not usually a lot. It gets hot and humid in the summer, but not really for long. And it's cold in the winter, but again, the serious cold doesn't last. I don't know about you, but having four seasons is pretty neat. And no earthquakes, mud slides or forest fires around here to worry about either. We do have wild fires now and then, but honestly nothing to really worry about.

If we could just get the kids from killing themselves off and manage to move a few more jobs into the area, it would be pretty close to a perfect place to live.

Labels: gripes, michigan

Driving and Lights

Or rather the lack of. Last night I was heading for home and it was dark and rainy/sleety and I work out in the boonies with little or no street lamps. There's a row of cars coming and two out of the first four have a burned-out headlight. One of the car's remaining lights wasn't all that great either. My first thought was what is the problem with these idiots driving around with half-a-light/brain on such a nasty day. So I wait for a couple more cars to go on by and then pull out.

Whoosh, some idiot with no lights at all breezes by just missing me. Had I been just a bit slower, I would've been t-boned in the drivers door at 45MPH. What on earth was that cretin thinking? It's not like it was just past dusk and hard to tell it was dark. Maybe he was wearing night-vision goggles or something, but I sure couldn't figure out that one.

Slow Drivers on the Left

I take a new route home now and instead of local neighborhood backroads, I drive a four-lane almost highway home. I can't figure out what is going on. Going to work (eastbound), I'm usually being passed by most vehicles as I putter along at allegedly just over 55MPH. On the same road, but heading home (westbound), I usually get trapped behind cars doing about 50MPH - one in each lane. I don't understand the difference. Does a bit of darkness scare people than much? I'd think people would be in more of a hurry to get home instead of speeding to work. This road is straight with few driveways and fewer crossroads. And it's not like it's a busy road either. And this road behavior has been consistent now for the month or so I've been driving it. Strange.

Right Turn on Red

Come on folks, this is a law for a reason. Why sit there when no one is coming from the left? There's no sign that says, no right on red . Why wait? However, when you do decide to pull out, why do you wait until there is a car almost in the intersection? Yes, I do realize it's only a matter of several seconds, but yes, I'm impatient. If there's traffic coming, by all means wait, but if it's clear, GO. What really bugs me is being behind someone waiting to turn right on red and there's two or three cars that making a left turn from the direction we're waiting to go. Hey, if they can make a left turn across the traffic, you surely can make your right.

Sigh... Ok, that off my chest for a few moments.

Labels: driving, gripes

G1G1

I don't know how many of heard of this, but there's a movement out trying to set up a new paradigm (hate that word) for teaching kids. This particular one is known as OLPC (One Laptop Per Child). A pretty cool idea of coming up with a simple, yet robust and inexpensive laptop that could be purchased by third world governments for use in educating their kids. As part of that, they also had a program back in November called G1G1 (Give 1 Get 1). This is where you could pay for two computers, get one of them and the other would be donated as part of the program. Sounds good, but boy, did they screw it up.

There are several wikis and web sites around full of folks complaining and other folks who are complaining about the complainers. Miscommunications abound, no communications is the rule, and in my experience so far, this thing is currently FUBARed beyond belief (but there is a bit of light at the end of the tunnel - maybe).

I was an early participant. I put my order in the first day and as it turns out, I was in the first 10,000 orders. Supposedly, this meant (and the shipping info web site still states) that I would more than likely get my computer by December 24. I waited until the end of December before making a email inquiry about the order and was rewarded with an autoresponse saying they'd get back to me in 3-5 working days. And today (Jan 17) I finally got that response which asked for the same information I sent them in the first email so many days ago.

I did find the 800 number to call and tried that a week or so ago. The first call I made I found out that they couldn't send it because I had used a PO Box. When I told them I'd already given them a change of address (discovered the non-delivery to PO Boxes buried in the terms and conditions which I finally discovered Nov 18) they said, yes they'd gotten that and I would get my laptop by Jan 15.

As you can imagine, Jan 15 came and went and when I was able to call them again, I was told it would be delivered Jan 20 - which of course is a Sunday. Today I finally got an email from them and it asked for order information all over again. Unlike some others, I'm not going to cancel - it's too late anyway to do that - but I'm really unhappy with the whole experience.

OK, now let me answer those who think I'm too judgmental about the process. Yes, I do realize it's a non-profit run by a lot of volunteers and their first priority should be the kids for whom the whole program is about. However, they still should have some responsibility to their supporters. I don't need much, just a mass-email once in awhile (they have my (and others) email address) saying, "oops, we mucked it up big time and you really need to wait until we get it all straightened out hopefully by December, January, February, March..." Instead, it's been almost a month of silence on their part. That's what ticks me off.

Oh, by the way. I just got a response back from them. My computer should be here by January 15^th. Sigh...

Update - Jan 23A couple of days ago there was an email posted on various OLPC forums saying how the G1G1 program had just found out there were many unfilled orders. To fix that, they'd put aside 5000 computers to be shipped on Jan 21 and would email people their Fedex number. Guess what I haven't seen.

Yesterday I once more called to check on my laptop. This time I was told it would be delivered late February - no reason, just late February. Guess what? This morning I get an email (at least I got an email, that's an improvement) saying they have no record of me for shipping!!#@#%@#! and they give me another number to call. So I call it, and good heavens, no wait -- the lady answering the phone takes my shipping address -- once again -- and now says the laptop will be delivered in 7-10 days. Needless to say, I'm not holding my breath.

Update - Jan 28There's been a veritable flurry of info flying around about the G1G0 problems. The latest news seems to say not to expect a computer until later in February sometime. Thank goodness it's a leap year, that gives them one more day. They have also updated the shipping status page where you can enter your order number and see the status. In my case it states, "Your donation is at our warehouse and your laptop is in the process of being shipped." Which means who knows what. I also entered the order numbers one before and one after mine. The one before got their computer Dec 19^th and the one after mine got theirs Dec 18^th.

And I have to honestly admit, I didn't get into this only to give some kid in some third-world country a computer - although that did enter into the offer. I really want one of those little green things, which I guess makes me a selfish, greedy techie capitalist, unlike all those who gave for the express purpose of giving.

Labels: computers, gripes

3931

Just in Case You've Forgotten. There isn't really anything too special about the following name, just that the poor guy happens to be the 3931 death in Iraq. I picked him since he's the latest death when I looked at an Iraqi Casualties web site.

The Department of Defense announced today the death of a soldier who was supporting Operation Iraqi Freedom. Sgt. Michael R. Sturdivant, 20, of Conway, Ark., died Jan. 22 in Kirkuk, Iraq, of injuries sustained in a vehicle accident during convoy operations. He was assigned to the 431st Civil Affairs Battalion, U.S. Army Civil Affairs & Psychological Operations Command (Airborne), Fort Bragg, N.C.

It'd be nice if there was someway to really aknowledge what he gave up. Dying in some anonymous attack thousands of miles from home isn't the best way to go. But you know what? People killing people happens anyplace anytime, all the time. Last month some 14 month old kid was killed in a driveby shooting in our less-than-fair city. The kids doing the shooting were driving a civilian Hummer. I suppose there's some kind of subtle irony there someplace. Stacy, the fourteen month old, was sitting in a child protection seat in his mom's car when 5 men (these animals shouldn't be dignified by the term men, by the way) fired ten shots into the car. On a related note, the police chief of the Tittabawassee Township police force just resigned because there wasn't enough crime happening in that township - he's going back to become a beat cop in the area where the 14 month old was murdered. Good luck to him. I hope he has a chance to stop another kid from getting shot.

Labels: government, military

Homeowners

Here's a term you see constantly in the news lately - homeowner. As in, "homeowners losing homes to foreclosures" or "homeowner's adjustable rate mortgage payments skyrocket." The problem is that if they (or me) were truly homeowners, we wouldn't have that problem. The problem is that very few homeowners actually own the home in question.

At best, we're partial homeowners, which is just the same as not being a homeowner at all. Most homes are owned by some sort of financial organization. And you know what? If you stop paying them for the house you lose it all. You don't just the lose the 20%, or 50%, or even 98% that you've paid for, you lose it all. It'd be nice if you could just whack off a bedroom, bath and dining room and return that while keeping the 60% you already paid for.

I wish the news would use the correct terminology. How about homebuyer ? Usually you're considered a homebuyer until you sign the mortgage; but actually you've just started to be a homebuyer. Until that point you were looking at homes - a house hunter, or house seeker maybe. Not until you've signed the paper, do you become a homebuyer, and then not for another 30 years or so, unless you're lucky, will you become a real homeowner.

Labels: gripes

Race

Our company recently had us fill out a race survey. Supposedly, it had something to do with a demand by the Feds. According to the survey, you could opt to not respond with a specific race. Anyway, I wonder about the racial segregations. The one which probably should apply to me is:

White (Not Hispanic or Latino) – A person having origins in any of the original peoples of Europe, North Africa or the Middle East.

Now supposedly, my grandparents all came from Poland around the turn of the century. That leaves, I'm guessing, someone from about 500,000 years ago or so to pick from. It does say original peoples. There was an ice age that ended about 8,000 years ago which probably would've kept people out of the Poland area, but I'm not sure. I'm guessing there were probably a few folks there (my great-several-hundred-times-removed grandfather I suppose) but I don't know for sure. I guess I should have declined the survey, since I'm not exactly sure who were the exact original peoples of Europe.

Labels: government, gripes

My Hero

One of the rooms (our computer room) in our new house has some strange acoustics. For whatever reason sounds from certain areas outside are much louder in this room that anywhere else, including outside. For example, when they are plowing snow on the highway (about .6 miles away) it often sounds like the plow is right outside the window. Same with a local dog. You can't hear it bark from any other room and can hardly hear it from outside the house, yet it comes in clear in the computer room. I think part of if may be the way the gable vent is situated and another might be the fact that there is an almost completely clear corridor from the computer room window to the highway (tracing it out on Google earth).

Anyway, the important thing in this story is that the other day my wife was in the computer room when she heard someone yelling for help. She first looked to see if it was the radio or TV, then looked out all the windows around our house. She thought it was kids playing. Finally she put her coat on (it was about 24F yesterday) and went outside to see what was going on. It turned out that the grandmother of the neighbors across the street had fallen on the ice and couldn't get up. She had been yelling for help for almost a half-hour. My wife managed to help them out getting her up and on her feet, by contacting the daughter and another neighbor. I'm not saying someone wouldn't have heard her sooner or later, but my wife sure helped shorten the time and get things helped out.

Her daughter in the house the grandmother was just outside of couldn't hear her and neither could the neighbor right next door who was home; but my wife across the street in the house sitting in front of computer with a fan running could. These aren't cheek-by-jowl city houses either. There are two large lawns and vehicles and a street between our two houses.

My wife doesn't think she did too much, but she easily could have saved the lady from getting frostbite or even freezing to death. An older woman on the ground in sub-freezing weather doesn't really have a lot of time.

Labels: michigan, rave

Lucky Me! #1

And to the .001% of guillible souls who respond to these kinds of things, please stop. To save yourself time and effort, just take a blank check, sign it and tape it to the window of a 7/11 downtown someplace. At least you'll save the international postage and phone charges. Yes, it is fake, trust me.

---

VITTORIO FONDAZIONE.
Corso Ercole I d'Este 44,
Ferrara 44100 - Italy.

IMPORTANT NOTICE

Foundation's Officer,
Fondazion Di Vittorio, ITALY
http://www.fondazionedivittorio.it

CONCERN

The Foundazion di Vittorio, would like to notify you that you have been chosen by the board of trustees as one of the final recipients of a cash Grant/Donation for your personal, educational, and business development. The Fondazione Di Vittorio, established 1977 by the Multi-Million groups and now supported by the Economic Community for West African States (ECOWAS), United Nations Organization (UNO) and the European Union (EU) was conceived with the objective of human growth, educational, and community development.

To celebrate the 30th anniversary program, The Vittorio Foundation in conjunction with the ECOWAS, (UNO) and the (EU) is giving out a yearly donation of US $100,000,000.00 (One Hundred Million United States Dollars)to 100 lucky recipients.

Based on the random selection exercise of internet websites and millions of supermarket cash invoices worldwide, you were selected among the lucky recipients to receive the award sum of US$1,000,000.00 (One Million United States Dollars) as charity donations/aid from the Vittorio Foundation, ECOWAS, EU and the UNO in accordance with the enabling act of Parliament.

You are required to fill the form below and email it to our Executive Secretary below for qualification, documentation and processing of your claims. After contacting our office with the requested data, you will be given your identification pin number, which you will use in collecting the funds. Please endeavor to quote your Qualification numbers (N-222-6747,E-900-56) in all discussions.

FULL NAMES:__________________________________
ADDRESS: ____________________________________
CITY:_________________________
STATE:_______________________ZIP: ___________
COUNTRY_______________________
SEX:______________
AGE:__________________
MARITAL STATUS:_________________
OCCUPATION:________________________
E-MAIL ADDRESS:_______________________
TELEPHONE NUMBER:_____________________

SEND ALL YOUR CLAIMS AND INQUIRIES TO THE
Executive Secretary - Claudio Giovanni
Email:foundationsecoffice01@yahoo.it
foundationclaim_dept@hotmail.com

All information is strictly confidential and will only be used for the purpose to which it is been requested. Please note that these donations/Grants are strictly administered by (ECOWAS), and (EU), under delegated powers from the United Nations Organization (UNO). This means that your qualification number will be raffled to know the organisation (ECOWAS or EU) that will handle your payment.

Finally, all funds should be claimed by their respective beneficiaries, no later than 14 days after notification. Failure to do so will mean cancellation of that beneficiary and its donation will then be reserved for next year's recipients.

On behalf of the Board, kindly accept our warmest congratulations.

SEND ALL YOUR CLAIMS AND INQUIRIES TO THE
Executive Secretary - Claudio Giovanni
Email:foundationsecoffice01@yahoo.it
foundationclaim_dept@hotmail.com


Regards.
Mr. Sparo Malcom
(Foundation officer)

Labels: crime, scams

Papa Vinos

I have mentioned this restaurant several times before, but it bears mentioning again. Papa Vinos, in Mishawaka (the only one I've eaten in), is a great place to eat. We've been there several times now, usually as a family dinner around Christmas, and without fail the food and more importantly, the service has been great. In our case, we usually need a last minute reservation with wheelchair access, all on a weekend. And without fail, this place has managed to take care of our needs. Even better, the food, Italian style, has been very, very good. My wife usually orders a dish with mussels in it and I'll order some sort of pasta dish and they have yet to mess it up.

They start out with hot bread with an olive oil/baked garlic dip. We added MUSSELS IN SAFFRON for an appetizer and a house salad to be shared. This time my order was SHRIMP RAVIOLI, tasty and hot and the portion size was just right. Not so big as you'd feel stuffed, yet not so small as you'd feel cheated. My wife had LINGUINI PESCATORE, a shrimp and mussel dish that she enjoyed just as well. Other people in our party had different pasta dishes and no one had a bad one. We had a range of desserts including lemon tango cake, apple crumble sundae and tiramisu none of which had any leftovers. Even my beer was crisp, cold and tasty.

If you are ever in the Mishawaka/South Bend area and get a hankering for some Italian food, you ought to try and get into Papa Vinos. You're probably going to have to wait for a table, but you'll find the wait worthwhile.

Labels: food, rave

Michigan's Primary

Politics is so full of crap. It's very unfortunate that politicians are needed -- in all their backstabbing, lying, two-faced ways. Politicians have to lie - it's the way they work. Unfortunately, that means you can't trust them any further than you can through a railway car full of crap. You have to wonder if any of them even know what they themselves actually think after a campaign. Almost all of them promise to decrease taxes and increase services - bullshit - it can't be done. Somewhere the money has to be found to pay for stuff. You may not pay it in a tax next time, but rest assured, you will pay for it. Want your house tax to decrease? No problem, but be prepared to pay more for trash pickup and water delivery. Want cheaper taxes on gasoline? No problem, but look for higher tolls on bridges and more expenses to fix your car after hitting a pothole.

I do find it interesting that the Democrats have basically written off Michigan from their slate. It seems there's some powerplay among the Democratic party that has effectively cancelled the Democratic presidential primary from the state's elections. It's as if they've decided that Michigan is so screwed up now, they don't even what to appear to try to fix it.

My letter to the local newspaper:

I used to tend to vote for Democratic candidates. But now that Michigan is among the top states in crime, foreclosures, unemployment and other problems, it seems the Democrats have decided that the opinions of Michigan in the upcoming presidential election aren't worth bothering with. Well, I can think of other things that aren't worth bothering with as well, like the Democratic candidates.

From a story about the Michigan primary in the BBC World News: "Michigan and its main city Detroit used to be famous for making cars. But it now has the highest unemployment rate in the US." It's nice to know how the world now thinks of us.

Labels: government, gripes, michigan

Misleading Ads

Why do companies seem to appear that they try to mislead customers? They send you offers via email or newspapers and then when you want to use them, the store says, oops, that isn't any good for that. A good example happened today at lunch. I drove to the local Woodcraft store in Saginaw to buy an air filtration device. Last night I had gotten a %20 off coupon via email. Like all coupons designed to mislead, it has a pretty extensive caveat printed on it. This one excludes, "Power tools , Sawstop, Leigh Jig, Steel City, FESTOOL and gift certificates, etc...."

I come to find out that Woodcraft considers anything with a cord a power tool. Maybe it's just me, but I would never have guessed that an air filter is a power tool. Routers, lathes, band saws and circular saws, I can understand, but not an air filter. I guess they also consider lights and heaters to be power tools. (I just did a search on their web site for "POWER TOOLS." It seems they also consider things like lathe stands, vacuum tube connectors, PROXXON Micromot Collets And Three-Jawed Chuck, Woodcraft Biscuit Joining Set, FLEXEEL 25' Polyurethane Hose and more to be power tools.)

By the same token, after my disappointing stop at Woodcraft, I stopped to pick up a couple Whopper Juniors at Burger King. I was at the payment window in the drive-through and noticed two different signs posted. Several say that Burger King wants to sell you a gift card. Right next to these were more posters saying they aren't honoring any gift cards. In other words, buy it here, but don't use it here.

And what really ticks me off about all this is that the employee is the one who ends up taking the grief from the pissed off customer when in actuality it's the damn company who is making their life miserable.

Labels: food, gripes

Within your Means

These are the kinds of folks that make me wonder just how much of an effort there should be to protect from foreclosure. They bought a $412,000 house. I don't know what kind of down payment they had (5% would be $20,600), but I'm just guessing it wasn't all that much. I just looked at a web page mortgage calculator and plugged in $391,400 at 7% for 30 years with no insurance or tax included. The monthly payment is $2600. The folks in this article are only making $3250 a month - with six kids to boot! That leaves them $650 every month to feed and cloth six kids as well as ouse taxes and utilities, and any other expenses they might have. How did they ever figure on buying a house that expensive ($412,000) on their wages? I make more than them, have no kids, and have been worried about buying a house under $200,000.

Agnes Kallon and Bai Turay, a Staten Island couple, are among the people that Ibrahim is trying to help. Kallon, a nursing assistant at Richmond University Hospital, and Turay, who receives disability allowance, have a combined income of $39,000 and six children to support.

In 2005 they took out a mortgage for a $412,000 house with a low introductory rate, based on their mortgage broker's assurance that they would easily be able to refinance when the rate went up. But when their mortgage payment reset to $3,000 a month, far beyond what they can afford, that assurance didn't hold up.

Labels: government, gripes

Vick and his dogs

I kind of hate to revisit this, but I can't help it. People can't understand why a guy like him would mistreat dogs (or allow their mistreatment). For whatever reason, parents have quit teaching their kids right from wrong. And I don't mean in a religious way. You don't have to believe in some god to know the difference.

Down the block aways, lives a group of kids - probably in their twenties like Vick - who beat their dogs. I've called Animal Control twice and I know one of my other neighbors has called as well. On more than one evening I've listened to the sickening thuds as one of the kids wailed on their dog.

Over in the other direction lives a family with kids who I consider practically feral. They will stand outside their neighbor's fence yelling and screaming at the poor dog inside. But, coming from a family who lets them jump up and down on there own car and wouldn't pick up trash in their yard if you paid them, I guess it's only to be expected.

And just thirty miles to the south of here, two teenagers were arrested and one of their dogs shot during a dogfighting investigation. The news also says, they weren't involved in organized dog fighting - as if that makes it better.

Why can't you parents teach your kids right from wrong? You stupid people deserve the world you're going to get.

Labels: crime, gripes

US Auto Makers

I don't have the best economic mind in the world. In fact, my economic sense is pretty crappy. I can buy an old truck for $600, put a couple of hundred bucks worth of parts in it and then sell it for $100. My housing sense isn't a lot better. However, compared to Ford, I'm a wimp in the buy high - sell low market. Check out this story from CNN.

Basically it goes like this. For bought Jag and Land Rover for $5.2 billion (with a B) and now they're getting ready to sell them for $2 billion (at least it's still a b. Is it any wonder that Ford lost $12.6 billion last year.

"Ford bought Jaguar for $2.5 billion in 1989 and Land Rover for $2.7 billion in 2000, which with Aston Martin and Volvo, made up its Premier Automotive Group.

Last month people close to the negotiations told The Associated Press the potential suitors had submitted bids that ranged from $1.5 billion to $2 billion."

For those who may have missed my earlier article, I still think that Jaguar used to make the most beautiful cars in the world.

Labels: driving, michigan

Happy New Year

To Snoopies and crickets and old grumpy guys, booklovers and friends from Taiwan and even those others I don't know about - have a great upcoming year.

Labels: rave