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| It's Not Me, It's Him, Right... |
| The random musings of Riverview High School's second-most famous non-football-coach alumnus, Mike Burger... (No longer most famous, not at least until I get on Oprah -- I'll get the log started.) |
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29 August 2007 It's been that dull a month... Here's a reminder about the 2007-08 The Alison LaPlaca 2007-08 Open Television Death Pool. Deadline is Friday. I would comment on something else, but there really isn't anything of any wackiness of note. |
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1 August 2007 It's The Most Wonderful Time of the Year... You may now enter the 2007-08 The Alison LaPlaca 2007-08 Open Television Death Pool |
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31 July 2007 And this is why New Jersey sucks...  I got over my problem of going to a movie theater and saw The Simpsons Movie. For those who want a quick review -- it's not great, but it's worth going to a theater to see it. One of the problems I had is that I tend to do a lot of pausing and rewinding when watching a normal Simpsons episodes to catch freeze frames. Can't really do that at a movie theater.Then I get back to my car and it dawns on me. I have become one of them. The type of people who have a personalized license plate based on a sports allegiance or god forbid, something like Star Trek. It was OK when it was a little TV show on some fourth-rate network when I got the plate in 1998, but now it's, gasp, a movie. I knew I should have gone in costume. And thanks to the fine people of the State of New Jersey, I blew an EZ-Pass toll line. It was very hard of me to get all of these to work right since you were asking for it every ten miles or so. And since I was borrowing the transponder (it's supposed to be a one car-one transponder relationship), I will have to pay the fine so it doesn't become the problem of the actual transponder owner, who was doing me a wonderful favor in letting me borrow it. I will just remember the following:
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21 July 2007 Your vote matters... |
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4 July 2007 I'm yellow...  If you've ever wondered what I looked like as a Simpsons character. While you ponder this or make your own, you can check out the latest road trip report here.
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21 June 2007 Let's test the internet... The 1959 one-year syndicated wonder Home Run Derby is coming to DVD next month in a strange system of releasing the first eight episodes, then the second nine and then the final nine in one month intervals. Since this show represents an overlap of two passions -- baseball and game shows -- I would be looking forward to this with great interest. However, in the times I've watched it, I found the show to be incredibly boring. Although home runs are nice, they only become great in the context of a game situation. Devoid of the game situation, it's like watching practice, only with the bonus of a stiff host and stilted player interviews. One of the things I did not know about the show was much about the previously mentioned host -- Mark Scott. Apparently he died shortly after filming the first season of 26 episodes, and his death was partially the reason there was not any more seasons. So I went to trusty NewspaperArchive.com to try to get additional information about his death. In there, I found a blurb about who the catcher and pitcher were. At this point, I figure I have an interesting experiment here. This is not information that is on the Internet. As far as I know, they were not in the credits of the show. However, it is mentioned in a published source, which means it's good enough for Wikipedia. So yesterday I added the names of the pitcher and catcher to the Home Run Derby Wikipedia page. I added the proper source. Now let's sit back and see how long before this is not a Googlewhack, keeping the names out of this page to not taint the results. Although at this point it's still a Googlenull, since it hasn't been harvested and indexed yet. |
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12 June 2007 I Like Making Maps... At the site Strange Maps they had a map with the U.S. states replaced with the equivalent country by basis of GDP. Interesting, and it inspired a few home grown ones: |
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6 June 2007 Fun on the homeownership front... When I first moved into my abode in 2002, I had my roof replaced pretty quickly. When I did that, I had gutter guards installed. Any advertisement will tell you that you don't need to ever clean your gutters again with gutter guards. I had noticed, however, that during a heavy rain water was not flowing out of the spouts like they were supposed to. Instead, they were bypassing the gutter entirely and crashing directly from the roof to the ground in some spots. So, about six weeks ago, up with a ladder I go. I notice the obstruction of a combination of dirt, leaves and needles, clear it, chalk it up to a one time thing, and hope that I would have to not do this for another four years. No such luck. It rained hard on Sunday. I look up, I notice the same problem. Open up the gutter again. Same obstruction. Same place. Bonus smell of animal droppings. Remove it, water flows fine. There is no longer a gutter guard on that portion of the gutter, since it looks like cleaning it will be a monthly chore. The 3,000 mile drive on short notice would have been difficult, but I would have like to have gone to the Fresno Grizzlies' Price is Right night last Saturday. It's a stadium I haven't hit, and it is quite the unique uniforms. Image 1 Image 2 Image 3 |
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15 May 2007 It's Been a Month... Hola, amigos, I know it's been a long time since I rapped at 'ya. Nothing much to discuss, nothing really exiciting is going on unless you want excruiating details of my upcoming doctor's appointments. You can contact me privately for that. I guess I can give a little news from the ironic football world, where Craig, Kevin and I visited "our" Tree Town Spitfire as they took on the Fort Wayne Flash in "exciting" NWFA "action". Sorry, we've been use to our women's football team wins by a whole lot, not manage to get two first downs in an entire game. But it was not without its charms:
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16 April 2007 Invoking My License to Vociferate... Everybody had that one teacher who was very influential on you in high school. I had one, and he was Paul Menard, a history teacher I had for three years. Mr. Menard, the pride of Escanaba, passed away one week ago today at the age of 72. I went to a small-to-medium sized high school, graduating class in the mid-100s, and as I went out into the world, I learned it was a mediocre one. That wasn't Mr. Menard's fault. He didn't simply teach a whole bunch of facts and expect you to regurgitate them back on a test. Evey test was decievingly simple. Three essays and 55 minutes to do them. Each essay had to be at least five paragraphs long. No method taught me more how to quickly organize and disseminate my thoughts succinctly. And he could be a very difficult teacher at times, but you appreciated him for that, because you knew he wanted you to do your best. If it wasn't for him, I don't think I would have survived going to U of M, because the only thing that saved myself from doing poorly were writing classes. He was also the sponsor of our basketball band when nobody else would do it. And even though I lost touch with him when he had his stroke in the 90s and moved to be with his sister in Wisconsin, I will miss him. There's a memorial service for him on Saturday, 21 April. I nearly cancelled my trip to Trashinals this week to go to the service, but I know that he would prefer that I play in that tournament. After all, I wouldn't want to upset my Escanaba-born teammate. |
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13 April 2007 Just Wondering... What do AlphaBits look like in China or Japan? April can be a very busy time if you are a local sports channel, trying to slam in the NHL, NBA and baseball. In years past, it was easy for Fox Sports Detroit if two or all three were playing at once, you gave the Tigers the shaft. However, the Tigers are popular now, you can't do that anymore. So, FSD has set up 'FSD-Plus' to show a few April Tiger games. Since this would only air a few hours a day for a couple of weeks, it doesn't get a full-time channel. Instead, it will take over a rarely-viewed or used channel, such as the program guide channel. Since this will vary by market, the Fox Sports Detroit people put up a web page to help you find it. So let's check it out:
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10 April 2007 Many, Many Apologies to Bob Newhart... Hello, Southwest Airlines? Yes, I would like to register a complaint. I was on the first St. Louis-to-Detroit flight on Easter morning, and there was a problem with the flight attendants. What was the specific problem? This will take a few minutes to explain. It's not that they specifically did anything agregious, but they definitely failed to understand the passengers on this flight. Yes, I understand they're not psychologists. But if they want to entertain, you have to know your audience. This was a strange case where the flight pretty much had a collective hangover and really wanted quiet. Well, in St. Louis this weekend there was this little thing called the Frozen Four. It's like the final four, except they play hockey. And Michigan State won. Now as a former CCHA employee I am thrilled that the league snapped their nine-year title drought, but I wish it could have been any of the other teams in the league. Oh, sorry to digress there. Well, about half the flight was made up of MSU fans, parents, etc. And they had a very fun Saturday night. But it's now 9 AM on a Sunday, and they are a little partied out. They just want a nice, quiet flight home because they'll have a long drive after the flight. The remainder of the plane consisted of the Michigan lacrosse and roller hockey teams. What's that again? Yes, I was unaware Michigan had a roller hockey team either. Apparently it's a club sport and even a few schools give out scholarships. If you were going to have a hockey program and give out scholarships, I don't understand why you just wouldn't play ice hockey and get some NCAA equity money, but that's just me. Anyway, both of these teams had played games in consecutive days, and in the case of the roller hockey team, five games in three days, and being college students they also did a lot of partying. Anyway, the whole plane was a little tired, a little edgy, and wanted it to be quiet. And where do the flight attendants come in? Well, about halfway through the 75 minute flight, the people who were want to asleep were asleep, and the plane was very quiet. However, Ms. Perky Flight Attendant wants to hold a "Easter Trivia Contest" with everybody in the plane. So, her announcement wakes the people who were asleep and distracts the rest of the people who were enjoying an unusually peaceful flight with the instructions "ring your call bell if you know the answer." So she asks her first question, and nobody answers. Not a soul. She doesn't get the hint and continues to ask more questions. This was not pleasant. Was I one of the people who was awoken? Well, not really, but I was a little tired. It was not the weekend I had envisioned. This was the first frozen four I volunteered to be on staff. I've been working as an official scorer for 11 years now, I figured I would get some primo job. But nobody told the Blues people that they didn't need to be there, especially since some of us flew here out of our own pocket. So they had to be part of the crew, meaning some of us, including some SID's, had to be shuttled off to the 'B' crew, meaning you spent the game trying to think of clever notes to be given to TV or in the postgame packet. I hadn't done this in a long time, and you are no longer having to watch the game intently, so your mind begins to wander, and you begin to play on the internet and find out that Baylor gives space in their equestrian media guide to the horses and then you begin to wonder if horses lose their NCAA eligibility after four years. And when you just think you've thought of every neat thing to put in there, you go back to the hotel and see the ESPN ticker, and in a sport they barely cover, had a neat piece of trivia you and the others didn't think of. I'm rambling? Sorry, I think I got my point across. Basically, if half the plane doesn't give a drink order or nobody orders alcohol, that should be a pretty good hint that people are trying to have peace and quiet. Something you may just want to pass on. Good night. |
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4 April 2007 Well, it has been 20 years... As blogs slowly descend into posting of YouTube clips, here's one. It's a montage made for the Michigan Marching Band in 1987, my freshman year. If you look real close, you can see my arm in one of the practice shots. This was played at both our indoor concerts as part of a larger piece, but this only has the video of the parts relevant to the band (the shots of campus and Ann Arbor life were excised), so the song is choppy in parts and I also believe out of sync with the video played in other spots. You will also notice synths, especially in the beginning. When this was performed, two synths were added for some unknown reason. And the ones used were pure 80s cheese. And in other local news, long time Detroit Free Press publisher Neal Shine died yesterday at 79. And recently, for some reason, when a local icon passes, I do have a brush with that person. My senior year in high school (1986-87), our student newspaper was published at the Detroit Free Press. They were trying this deal where eight student newspapers were published as a section, and then distributed with a complete newspaper to those eight schools. As part of that deal, three other students and I would go down to the Free Press building once a month to do the layout back in the day when this had to be done on paper (I still have my composing ruler with both inches and picas). On one particular Friday we were going down to the building, the Detroit area was abuzz when Chuck Forrest, a local boy, could potentially win the Jeopardy! Tournament of Champions. Except the buzz was killed by the Free Press, which published on the front page in that day's paper that Chuck had won before it had even aired. Being the geek that I was then and still am today, I was incensed. When we got into the building and into the composing room, I mock demanded to the Free Press rep "I want to see Neal Shine right now." She looked at me and said sure, let's go. And up to Mr. Shine's office we went and he explained to me why the paper did it, they were not the first to divulge it (a few radio stations had) and they were reporting that fact. I still didn't like his answer (spoiler space was not yet a concept in 1986), but had to admire that the publisher of one of the top 20 newspapers in the country took the time out to talk to some punk 16 year old. |
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19 March 2007 Give me a break... The weekend that roughly falls around St. Patrick's Day for me is a very busy one. I work as an off-ice official for the CCHA championships and help out with Michigan's Water Polo tournament. Two things from this weekend, one hilarious and one disturbing, and entirely up to you to decided which is which. If you've attended sporting events over the last few years, you may have noticed the trend of having 'in-game hosts', some overcaffinated DJ (or DJ wannabe) who handles contests and raffles during the breaks in play. This works OK in baseball and to a lesser extent football where the actual game play is lulls puncuated with short bursts of excitement, so these two-minute assaults on the senses are just another short burst of excitement, and can be tolerated. However, basketball and hockey tend to be much more of a steady stream of excitement and these contests tend to overstimulate and then tire the audience. With the Red Wings now pretty much unaffordable for the average fan, and the terrible local economy meaning less seats and boxes purchased by businesses, they are starting to experience trouble in the attendance business. It's not dire, there's not thousands of empty seats for every game like some other NHL cities are experiences, but the games only tend to now sell out day of game, so there is no longer a season ticket wait list, and therefore no incentive for people who are on a season-ticket wait list to keep buying non-Red Wings events like college hockey to keep their position on the wait list. So the college hockey attendance is suffering a little bit when it is played at Joe Louis. One of the things the Joe Louis people did was pressure the CCHA to knock two games out of the playoffs, putting the number of college games held at the Joe each year from 12 to 10, hoping a lessening of the supply curve would help. That didn't happen, so they decided to pull a trick out of their 1980s playbook -- LET'S GIVE AWAY A CAR! AND OTHER THINGS! Because, of course, marketing solves everything. That's why Joe Louis had practical sellouts from the late 80s through now. It had nothing to do with the economy not being in the tank or, more shockingly, the team was really, really good for a long period of time. Just like I'm real sure that the Tigers season-ticket base going up exponentially was all the "Who's Your Tiger" campaign and had nothing to do with, I don't know, the team going to the World Series. So, to make a long story longer, the CCHA tournament this week had an 'in-game host'. Unfamiliar with how a microphone works, she screamed everything, making it pretty much impossible to use that break to, well, I don't know, carry on a conversation with somebody. And if you go to multiple games, it is the same script, with the same music, everytime. I could live a full life if I never had to hear Cha Cha Slide or Zombie Dance again. It's like being stuck in some demented Disney ride. Plus, for at least me and my stat crew, this intruded on our ability to do our job. The consolation game was not televised, so these little pledge breaks had to be squeezed in over game action, meaning the video display occasionally didn't show the game. We were recording the video display on a TiVo just in case we needed to watch it for a replay. And sure enough, a goal was scored maybe off a tip that we were unable to replay because some shlub in section 115 just won an off-off-off-off-brand MP3 player, and that information was on my replay rather than the actual game action. Please, Joe Louis, stop.  Over at Water Polo, they would probably be thrilled to have any fans. But be careful of what you wish for. These hearty gentlemen decided to show up for the 11 AM game on Saturday. You know, St. Patrick's day. And being college students on St. Patrick's day, they came to the event pre-drunk. And they decided to import the hockey tradition of making their most noise (including cowbells) during the opposition's timeouts (in this case, Wagner). The Wagner parents, who probably are not use to the concept of 'fans' at games, went over to confront the students. We actually had to send someone over to broker a peace before a fight breaks out, and it was about one minute away from that. Having fans, and rowdy ones at that, at water polo is pretty common in the western schools, but we're lucky to get 400. And if they get a little rowdy once in awhile, it's a price worth paying. However, they were nowhere to be found at the 9 AM Sunday-the-day-after-St.-Patrick's match. I wonder why.
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15 March 2007 I'm late, I know... Your 336-team NCAA bracket. |
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9 March 2007 Hurry Hard (and Wait)...  My chances to see top-flight live curling will be low the next couple of years. The good Canadian tournaments tend to be in Western Canada and the American tournaments tend to be in Minnesota or Wisconsin, not exactly one tank trips from here. So, I took a day off to see two days of the Brier in Hamilton, the top tournament for Canadian men. Before I left for Hamilton, I asked fellow curling junkie Greg if he wanted anything. He said no, but said that I was "lucky". As we'll see later, I was very lucky.The arena for this tournament is Copps Coliseum, which was built in the early 80s. Like most other hockey-specific areans built during that time such as the Riverfront Coliseum in Cincinnati and Joe Louis Arena in Detroit, its architecture style can best be described as neo-dump. Notice the lovely seats which for no apparent reason don't all have the same color and have really no pattern to why they have a different color, either. They were having problems with the ice in the first few days in the tournament, so the lighting was not at full power and the scoreboard was raised to help keep the temperature down. Also, with the small upper deck curtained off and a definite lack of attendance, it had all the feel of a Devil Rays-Royals game. Also in the picture to the right is "Brier Bear", the official mascot of the tournament.  Copps Coliseum is attached to a mall, which would normally be a nice way to kill time. However, after the closure of Eaton's (Canada's at one time largest department store chain) in 1999, the mall has fallen on hard times. When half of your stores are either of the dollar or the grey-market variety, it's not looking good. The movie theatre inside wasn't opened during the weekday hours and the large indoor farmer's market was closed on Mondays. The mall also has a Sheraton Hotel and a major branch of the Hamilton Library attached, which may be great, but you really can't buy anything there.There was some fine curling, considering that the top four of the teams competing are probably also the top four in the world. Each draw featured a team doing the deflect-off-a-random-guard-to-get-into-the-house trick (a similar shot can be seen here), including red-mohawked Jamie Korab of Calgary having to sweep from the between-sheet carpet since the rock was so close to the edge. I wish I had a hundredth of their skill. One of the more intriguing stories of the Monday I was there had nothing to do with the curling. The Toronto area had a significant rain-snow mix on Thursday and then a quick freeze, which caused the CN Tower to essentially become a big popsicle. And on Monday, that popsicle began to thaw, with 60 km/hr winds causing chunks to fly and come crashing down on the Gardiner Expressway, the major East-West highway in downtown Toronto. And this would seem to become a theme, since apparently March 5 is "Let's Close Down Every Freeway in Ontario Day". The driving escapades began after I left Hamilton at 5:50, hoping to be home by 10:00:
Back on the road and making it through another near white-out, I got to the U.S. border, which was practically deserted of non-truck traffic. The guard kept me for five minutes, mostly because I think he was lonely. I eventually got home at 1:30 AM. Yes, Greg, I was lucky. Because I didn't get hit and I didn't get stranded in another country and my car came out intact. |
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23 February 2007 Sorry I don't have a grinder girl... |
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20 February 2007 Breaking Up Is Hard to Do... Not that I've really had many relationships in my life, but there was much more mutual understanding and much less hysterics involved in the break-up than I experienced trying to cancel my insurance from John Avery, State Farm Insurance, 3060 Packard Road, Ann Arbor, Michigan. For a quick recap, I was telemarketed by them two weeks ago, which I told them back when I first bought their insurance that any telemarketing efforts would result in me moving my business elsewhere. Since this was the first time I had to deal with this agent (my previous one had retired), I was going to cut him some slack if he simply said "Sorry, won't happen again." It didn't, and he went on like some sort of insurance savant for 15 minutes on how this was not a sales call. By enraging me only further by not respecting my wishes, I decided to take my business elsewhere. The original thought was just to take the business to a different State Farm agent. However, in doing a little research I found that I could get the insurance from AAA a little cheaper since I belong to the University of Michigan Credit Union. I also found out I could save 10% on my cell phone and 15% on my lawn care. Thanks, John Avery, State Farm Insurance, 3060 Packard Road, Ann Arbor, Michigan, I couldn't have done it without you. So once I finished all of the AAA bindings, I had to call to get the old insurance cancelled. I called the number and I hoped, nay prayed I could do this with whoever answers the phone. No such luck. I had to do it directly with John Avery, State Farm Insurance, 3060 Packard Road, Ann Arbor, Michigan. And again, he repeated the same spiel, how he couldn't understand why I construed the call from two weeks ago as sales, how he was losing sleep because he couldn't bear the fact I was under-insured, yada, yada, yada. And since I wanted this call to be over as quickly as possible, most of my responses were "have you cancelled my insurance yet?" A ten minute call for something that should have taken one. So, John Avery, State Farm Insurance, 3060 Packard Road, Ann Arbor, Michigan, if you are reading this, a few tips:
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8 February 2007 John Avery, State Farm Insurance, 3060 Packard Road, Ann Arbor, Michigan... I have not joined the world of not having a land-line phone yet. A few reasons for this, one is the TiVo, one is just to have a phone that can work even if the power goes out and a third is I don't want people who have the 'sales' gene being able to call me on the cell phone. I do not like the sales process. There is just something that bothers me that you somehow need a third party to purchase something. I can go to the grocery store and somehow complete all of my purchases without the aid of someone trying to sell me rustproofing on the bananas. And so begins my tale of woe. I received a call on Monday on the land-line phone from the agency where both my homeowners' and automobile insurance is presently purchased from. Since I was not home, they left a message. Normally, I would not tell you the name of the agent or the company, but since now I really, really hate them and I hope this page will supplant their own page as the top web search the name is John Avery, State Farm Insurance, 3060 Packard Road, Ann Arbor, Michigan. I was told this call is "not urgent, but important". I had made it abundantly clear back in 1994 when I started this "relationship" that I was to never, ever to be called for anything sales-related. Ever. One time when I stopped in to the office I had them show me that in my file, since I wanted to make sure it was still there. When my agent retired in 2006, my account was assigned to John Avery, State Farm Insurance, 3060 Packard Road, Ann Arbor, Michigan. And now he was calling. So I called back the next day. He then starts in on this spiel about how I was due for my "insurance checkup" and began to explain this procedure. Funny, in my 15 years of purchasing State Farm insurance I never had an "insurance checkup". I interrupted him, politely told him that I wished not to be called about sales issues, and wished to hang up the call. Apparently I set something off, like he has some sort of deluded belief that what he does is not sales-oriented. I was told how this was for my own good, that my coverage may be inadequate*, and on, and on, and on. Some of the highlights:
So now I'm shopping for new insurance. Sad, really, because I had no desire to do this 24 hours ago. I've been with State Farm since 1991 and haven't had an issue with them. I'm most likely just going to move it to a one of the other 12 State Farm agents in town, because I still believe you should try to buy local whenever possible. I hope that I don't have to involve a caveman, the state of Ohio or some Kim Possible rip-off, but call me at home again, and you leave me no other choice. *I would like to know what could have changed or what the previous agent could have done wrong. Forget to insure the bathroom? |
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21 January 2007 Warning: This Story Rambles and Has No Payoff...  I had three goals on Saturday:
On the way from Ann Arbor to hopsital #1, I found out that the patient there I was to visit was being transferred, and visiting would be difficult if not impossible. So, I cut that short and went straight to Hospital #2. It's always fun trying to navigate Detroit without a map, it's even more fun when your 19th century forebearers had an incredible since of humor and decided to name two of the major streets in Detroit "Grand Boulevard" (roughly making a tangent with the Detroit/Windsor border) and "Grand River Drive" (roughly following the path of I-96 if it went straight). I get to the hopsital. Mother's a bit irritable and very drugged up. It's halfway funny and halfway sad to see someone in diminshed capacity operate a television remote. After watching 15 minutes of this, my mother after about seven rounds through the channels decides to land on this. Just after this cinematic-tour-de-force ended, Nurse Clinique (yes, that's her real name) came in for the bath. If there was any time to exit, it was then. I then head over to the local (or at least closest to Ann Arbor) Guitar Center to purchase any one of these fine products. I try out some of the floor models, and decide on the one in the upper-left, because I thought the price was $1,500 (according to the sign). Unfortunately, one of the digits was off, namely, the '1'. It was actually $5,500. So I settle on the one in the lower-left, which was truly the one for $1,500. Sales guy Geoff (I have yet to meet someone named Geoff who is not a great guy, must be something about the unusual spelling that forces that extra effort) says that all they have left is the floor model, and you don't want that. However, he believes the Allen Park (lower center) store has one. Nope. The inventory system says Southfield (upper center) has one. Nope. Let's try Roseville (upper right). They have one, but it was promised to a customer. So, he then proceeds to call the following locations, in no particular order:
So I take the what should be 50 minute trek up to Roseville. Right before I get off I-696 to go to Roseville, my mother calls. Which I think, great, she's lucid enough to dial a phone, so she won't be rambling. And yes, she sounds so much better than she did just 3 hours earlier. She wants the phone number of a friend of hers, could I go get it. OK, a few problems here:
And I now have the thing I have wanted since I was 10. I have also learned that I really, really suck. I even think Meg White could outplay me at the moment. Not playing on a set consistently since high school is really showing. And the headline on this story is all wrong. The proper headline should be: 'Traffic and property values to plummet in my neighborhood'. |
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15 January 2007 First one is up... If you like 24, the first stolen from the CTU E-Mail Server is up. If you don't like 24, at least I'm not forcing you to read it this time. |
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22 December 2006 One of these things is not like the other... I was driving through a new subdivision the other day. The entrance into the subdivision was Eisenhower Street, followed by its first diversion, Reagan Lane. After taken aback seeing a street named for Reagan, I began to worry if this would be a one-way subdivision. Nope, next street was Jefferson, and there was also a Truman and a Roosevelt. The final street was -- Pierce. Franklin Freakin' Pierce -- so loved by his party they decided not to renominate him for a second term. You could have had Washington, or Madison, or Monroe, or Kennedy, or Lincoln, but you choose Pierce. Also seen on the same trip, the vanity license plate PWNNOOB. |
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14 December 2006 Reminder to myself come election day... Susan Baskett will always get my vote to be re-elected to the Ann Arbor school board. Anyone else (Helen Gates-Bryant, Karen Cross, Randy Friedman, Deb Mexicotte, Irene Patalan and Glenn Nelson) will not get my vote. Petty? Absolutely. It's my right. It's better than having our high school named for chili you can only get in Ohio. |
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7 December 2006 Wanna buy a duck... On the windshield of my car was this note (click to see full-size):  Before the more animal sensitive get mad at me, yes, while driving to downtown Ann Arbor last night, I did hit a duck. It was either hit the duck or cause a multiple-car accident. It was flying one foot above the ground, looked disoriented. Plus, I think it was selling drugs to kids. But usually when you hit an animal, the animal does not attach itself to the vehicle. So I didn't think anything of it. And when I got back to my car, there was this note. But, there was no duck. So, in the course of 3 hours:
And, for the next year, I am reserved for radio astronomy purposes by the FCC. |
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5 December 2006 Funny to me...
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