Autumn is ending

I hear the weather hitting the window in a sickening way. It is that wet, tinny sound of freezing rain. The precurser of harried mornings prying the ice from the car in an attempt to get the door open. Ew!!! I am not looking forward to the trip to work tomorrow. It would be the first true inclement weather that we have had to drive in yet this year. I fear the amatuers will be out and the rest of us maneuvering around them. Thank goodness I only have to travel within the city. Sometimes, however, that merely means more obstacles... Sigh... I can only hope that the power lines won't be compromised. But, that is nature... Mother nature lets us know that she is still in charge and our insignificant little lives are at her mercy. Now we will have to play by her rules.

My morning began well. I was happy to wake up to a strong cup of coffee and a little debate brewing on the blog. That is great!! I finally put together all my work and created a paper that I am supposed to be typing at this moment. I will have it done by 7:00 - I have determined - so I can spend the rest of the evening studying for one of the two tests I have this week. It sure gets busy at the end of the semester. More and more I find myself creating a stack of the things that I would really love to do, had I the time. At the top of the stack is the book, "Denial and Deception: An Insider's View of the CIA" by Melissa Boyle Mahle. I must say, so far she is quite a bland writer, but I hope it picks up speed soon. It didn't make it too difficult to put down. The behind the scenes facts are quite interesting. The garland is piled up in the corner and the wreath is on the wall. Perhaps it will be like the year before last when I just don't care and tell the children to decorate. That works fine, until my OCD gets the best of me and I am undecorating and redecorating. The lights are mostly up, in a harried attempt to beat the weather to the punch. If that is all that will be up - so be it!! I have them on embarrassingly so they won't get stolen. If that doesn't sound funny, listen to Loren McManus's police report.

This Just In

A white Crown Victoria (actually a former SFPD car) sped past the house late this afternoon. It was one that had driven by on several occasions, vibrating the windows with its heavy bass. (The usual suspects) Shortly after, a black-and-white sped past with lights and siren. He was only a few car lengths behind. Hearing more sirens that stopped close by, we investigated. The above photo is the result of this high speed chase. The white car (with "DIAL 911 blaring through the paint), attempted to turn the corner and apparently met with more police cars. It ran into a gold van parked in front of the antique store, that apparently ran into the Aztec in front, before running up the curb of the little mall on 18th and Minnesota. They cuffed the guy (a very tall african-american male) and put him in the car right away. The SFPD SUV with the drug-sniffing dog came after this photo was taken. However, they instead employed a flat-bed truck, that I am assuming they will use to transport the vehicle downtown for inspection. Stay tuned to the news or Loren McManus' complete update to follow.

interesting debate

Shaking dog face



Waking up this morning, before the coffee set in, I was channel surfing and found a most interesting debate on Book TV (CSPAN2). The National Press Club had a forum to discuss Google's desire to scan books onto the internet.

An author, David Robbins, stated that he felt that it was infringing on both his copyright as well as his profits, as people would be more apt to pull it up on the internet, than go purchase his book.

The library director from Harvard, discussed equitable information. Currently, if you would like to find a book, for one, you must have access to a database that stores information on that book. Then, if you would like more than a description and a few lines from the book, you would need to find a library that has the book. One of our disadvantages here in Sioux Falls and South Dakota as a whole, is the Siouxland Libraries' limited selection. If, as the director said, the Harvard Library in its entirety would be scanned by Google, this would give South Dakota an equitable advantage. Otherwise, a number of these publications could only be obtained by traveling to Harvard in Cambridge, Massachussets and only if you were a visiting scholar. (By the way, I do, in fact, recommend traveling there anyway...)

Another advantage the director stated would be the digital preservation of these literary works. Harvard is committed to doing so, and would be given digital copies of them.

However, when asked, the director stated that Harvard would be paid for its use of the contents of the library for the scanning...

If these works are available only to people in the general geographical area, then why not? They are free to the public in the libraries there. I cannot express enough my frustration, traveling from library to library, only to find out that they a)don't have the item and don't have access to any library that has the publications for an interlibrary loan or photocopy of the excerpt I am requesting; b)have access to interlibrary loan the material, but won't because that is a service provided ONLY to their tuition-paying students-even though I am an alumni of that college (Great community service and information sharing AUGIE!!); and c) have access to the abstract on their database, but are not subscribed to the publication, so I would have to pay for the use of it if only to find out the information that I would like has been skewed in the abstract to appear that it is of major context in the text itself, but is not.

Finally, I think it would be of great advantage to the authors, as a potential author myself, to have one's name out there in the "WORLD WIDE WEB" to promote my works. I don't fancy myself reading an entire book on this digital screen - it would ruin my eyeballs!!! I would likely BUY the book if it looked interesting enough!!! I understand that Google intends to have a button on the page indicating libraries by distance from your zip code where you could obtain the material. I would hope as well, knowing that 99% of the books that I desire are NOT in the Siouxland Library collection, that they would also have Amazon, Barnes & Noble as well as other book sellers where I could obtain the book, listed as purchase options. Win Google, Win bookseller, Win publisher, Win author, Win consumer...

Any thoughts???

Thanks Giving

Okay, what is wrong with me? I love to spend the holidays with my family. There is too little time to spend with them all. Conversations scattered room to room. Good food...hot coffee...cool dialogue and love oozing all around. I always seem to go back to work and listen to all the fights and drama that adorned everyone else's holiday, thankful that ours have never been that way.

I think one Thanksgiving after Mel came into the family, she thought that I was criticizing her silk pie. In fact, I was complimenting it... I had recently had a piece of silk pie from Perkins and I didn't know why they labelled it "Silk" when it was in fact grainy. After I had a piece of her scrumptious pie, I noted that now I know why it is called silk pie, because hers was silky. She went outside, upset, thinking I had put down her pie. I hope we got this cleared up and she is more comfortable with our family, knowing that it is all love and we are not the feuding holiday types. Absolutely the opposite!!! She is a great sis-in-law that fits well in our nutty brood! (That is a compliment, Mel:) but you may not want to fit in with the likes of us!!)

I posted a few new links. Two of them are from JibJab and I hope all enjoy!!! Big Box Mart is an ode to the Walmart culture, and 2-0-5 sings the "praises" of our great leader...NO SARCASM INTENDED THERE, W!!!! I love JibJab and can't wait for their next project!!!

Egads

I give up. I need a break. I am so stressed out. What a weekend!! Where to start?? Just here I guess. Thursday a.m. or was it Friday, got an e-mail from my dad about my mom. She has Graves Disease and her eyeball is protruding. I called in the morning and found out that she is trying to get in to Mayo to get the surgery to get the eye back to normal. For one thing, although the invention of e-mail is wonderful, I still prefer in person or by phone for this sort of thing. I was supposed to be working on my paper and didn't think it would be a problem, but Ben had his friends over Saturday so they could get up at the blessed crack of dawn to go get the Nintendo Wii. I know how long he has been looking forward to this, but for heaven's sakes, the rest of us have lives, too. So, no one got any sleep that night - they were too excited and kept playing video games and shouting. They didn't leave until 5 last night. I went to bed early, too tired to study and ending up choking on my stomach acid and having to sleep sitting up. This morning I had to go to work early because I had to take time off for my root canal that I had at 11:00 and was looking forward to more than going to work. It went well, despite the fact that I am some freak and have an extra nerve and the tooth broke when he took the clamp off after the root canal. But, hey, that's par for the course today. Then had to go to Ben's Oral Interp Open House, even though he isn't in Oral Interp anymore, we have to help raise dinero for the others. While there, my 17 year-old took off for god-knows-where-but-not-home and I haven't seen him since. He needs to go to bed early because he is having ACL surgery tomorrow. Now I am home and the stereo is blaring, also par for the course when I want to try to get my thoughts together and chill out. I think I will now find out the true benefits of Darvocet... Good night...

The Vegas/Poker Channel

Okay. It has been bothering me for eons!! I recall the day that I found out that Midcontinent was getting The Travel Channel!!! I got excited as I dreamt of days of leisure watching them explore the world. What a let down!!!! We might as well call it The Poker Channel or the Vegas Channel!!! I am sure that Vegas is glorious for some people - particularly the type sitting in their ripped up Barcoloungers in their trailers wearing their wife-beaters and slugging back a few Old Mil's. To me, I have not seen much yet to convince me that Vegas is no more than well-lit cultural toilet. (Oooooooh.....Shiny!) And poker???!!!! Pul-leeeeez!!! Like that is travelling!!! Oh, sure, they go to differnet places around the world and sit INSIDE playing poker!!!! Where is the travel??? If you wake up early and turn it to The Travel Channel, you will more than likely find infomercials. After the infomercials have finished, they do have a couple of shows on about travel, before they switch to the poker, Vegas thing!!!!

So, after getting the needed funding, I fully intend to create my own Channel and perhaps call it "The Travel Channel - No, Seriously". We will travel to real places far away. Places where the financially strapped intellectual, or culture-seeking-geographically-challenged individual would like to see. We will also have shows like, "Where Not to Go" and "The Impatient Traveler". I thought "The Impatient Traveler" would be fun to see for those folks that hate waiting in lines and travelling the most travelled spots. Perhaps we could even offer tips on what to do while waiting in line and how to handle the screaming baby situation. "Where Not to Go" would be fun as well!!! There are places where the service, despite the reputation, sucks! I would also have shows that would follow a historical traveler like Hemingway or Ben Franklin...or perhaps one that would trace the steps of a common citizen centuries ago. That would be interesting!!! Best of all, "The Crabby Traveler" - would be a show where the host would over-analyze "happy" or "fun" and rip it apart in Disneyland or Seaworld or Vegas (Ooooooh.....Shiny!).

Do I have any potential viewers???

Sweet 16

Ben, where did the years go? My baby is now 16. I called him Sweet Benjaboo but was recently informed that it is fine to continue doing so - but not around his friends!!! So, I sneak it in here and there, but truth be told, this taller-than-me "little mister" just isn't resembling a little boy any more. Honestly, I may be a couple years older, but he has grown up fast. It seems that the older they get the faster it goes, and then true to cliche, you wonder what happened to your child.

Zandbroz

Today I indulged myself with a visit to Zandbroz!!! I enjoy that store so much. They have something for everyone!!

The floor squeaks as you walk through and although the food/coffee scents greet you at the door, there is still a hint of musty yesteryear drifting down from the tin ceiling tiles. My favorites are the journals, cards, Freud items, containers. (Why do I like containers so much? They hold things, yes, but nothing is so wonderful as a new container!! Why? A satin covered box, an intricately carved wooden one, a clear plastic square box, a glass jar... These are all awesome! I want them all!!! Zandbroz has them!!!) They have really expanded their line of magnetic poetry!! I bought a Magnetic Poetry stand and the Creative package!!! I also bought a fake alligator-skin sketchbook. Perhaps I will begin sketching soon. I enjoy all their coffee and tea accessories!!! They have a huge collection of french presses!

Wierdest of all...I bought a grotesque Christmas card. It has the most gruesome looking elf pushing a cart full of coal for the "Naughty Boys and Girls". This would fit with my Pin Cushion Queen figure and the rest of the Burton collection:

life isn't easy
for the pin cushion queen,
when she sits on her throne
pins push through her spleen

Gotta love it!

When I was a child, walking wide-eyed through shopping malls knowing that I couldn't get anything except, at best, some of Dad's chocolate stars (but not Mom's JuJu B's!!!) I would fantasize about being locked in the mall overnight!!! -or if there were some huge disaster and we had to live confined in there!!! I thought about the fun I would have!!! Anyway, I got off the subject there! Zandbroz is now the store I would love to be locked in overnight or for a long time!!!! Good coffee...good ice cream...many, many pens and journals (with so many different textures!!!) and a choice collection of cool books. Oh, and a bathroom!

Yes, I had a pretty good day!

Yesterday's Birthday Boy

My little brother has aged one more year. I think he is catching up to me. When I got married, he was sitting on the side of the hill moping. I was so worried about him. Today, he is all grown up with a wife and chillin grabbing at his pantleg. He smiles more and we certainly appreciate each other more. I am glad that he is still here in Sioux Falls with me. But, I still miss him. Happy Birthday Bro!!

I Just Had To Share...

This is really gross. I have my sister-in-law to thank, in a way, for my discovery of this. She had a link to a site showing a Barbie dog doing his duty. This was on the same page, apparently also of interest to similar types of peoople. Enjoy! I know my dad will love it!!!

ick

A

Making the lists

Well, another tumultuous weekend. I certainly can't wait until the election is over. I can't wait until the week is over. I need time without children...They are with their dad next weekend. Hopefully I can get my paper completed. Hopefully I can find more material.

Looks like we eliminated the dealers on the corner. It was the first weekend after the first of the month and no activity. Either they are gone or they went back to Chi-town for refills. I think they are renting their vehicles instead of driving them here. I think it would be worth checking out. It would be quite beneficial to have some sort of indicator on the plate or on the car indicating that it is a rental. Winter is here and I am not outside as much gathering plate numbers.

A girl at work has her sister staying with her after hearing gunshots close to her window on the west side of town. It is strange that all the gunfire happens over there and this is supposed to be the dangerous neighborhood.

The Dimensions of B

Last night I spoke with B. We came up with a new word (new, that is, if nobody else has come up with it). The word is "blink" Blink is a blog link. I am going to post her blink soon.

We have so many controversial discussions. I could never speak with anyone on the topics that I discuss with her. Last night it was about open marriage. She thinks I am a prude and I think she is naive. We agree to disagree. I was pondering all of our topics of discussion today...

One came up of a boyfriend that she dated in the '80's. His name was Hal Kosiba. She said that he was really paranoid and didn't like her walking alone through the ISU campus. He got her a tazer gun. I don't believe that those were readily available or widely used at that time. She googled him and found out that he died in 1999. She said that he was working on his doctorate at the time she dated him and also spent time in DC as well as Germany, Russia, etc. I asked her if he was a spy and she laughed and told me that my imagination was overly active... I did some research and decided that he was in fact a spy. That is my opinion, since of course, they don't list espionage on a person's public information. When I talked to her again, reiterating my research, she felt it could explain why she was introduced to several foreign officials that visited him and why he slept with a gun under his pillow and answered the door with a gun behind his back. Hmmm.... But really, I still don't think that she believes it.

Another topic of discussion we don't agree on is pornography. The question is basically, Pornography: Good, bad or neutral. I think that it objectifies and victimizes women and she says that she thinks that it is only a natural harmless fantasy thing for men.

Toomuchgoingonnotenoughtime

What a week! "Cut!"

"Okay, maid, you get the house clean before my OCD personality disorder explodes!

"Stuntmom get in here and take care of the kids while I watch Bill Maher in peace tonight! It should be a good one with that self-rightous evangelist making the news!"

If only...

I can't wait until this election is over. I don't watch much tv, but when I do, the last thing I want to see is another political ad! I'll bet the mail carriers can't wait either. They must be tired of the pounds and pounds of political propaganda that they deliver to our door only for us to toss away. Why don't we just skip the step in the middle and have a mail truck go to the recycling plant?! This is ridiculous.

Where do I start this week? I had an abnormal psyche test over mood and eating disorders. I never knew that infants as young as 3 months have been found to have depression and eating disorders. Very interesting. Each page I turn in the book I wonder why the courts in custody cases don't consider the psychological well-being of children. Perhaps this is further apparent to me thanks to my Crimonology class that delves into criminal behavior. BTW, I am learning that crime is directly related to concentrations of people in certain areas. Therefore housing projects are not a solution to a housing problem, but also directly related to the cause of it and criminal behavior around it. After all these studies, they still fence the bad in. Now the news states that St. Louis is the most dangerous city. I recall going there as children and seeing how pristine the "Gateway to the Midwest" was. When I was there a few years ago they had complete neighborhoods fenced in and condemned. I couldn't believe it. It was as if they gave up, accepted it and enclosed the problem. Nice... (Escape From New Yorkish)

My Criminology teacher keeps wishing me luck with the neighborhood and states that once crime and blight set in, it is nearly impossible to turn it around. We have too many beautiful old homes to do that!!! (Note to self, contact Sorenson at City Hall) We really need to get going on the neighborhood association before folks start bailing.

The most recent drug house appears to have settled down. Last weekend only one transaction seen. Also, another busted and in the news with the dealers trying to flush down the evidence. It must have clogged the toilet, because he had his arm down there trying to get it down before the police nabbed him. All for naught. I wonder how many sewer rats are using? (Sorry, I couldn't help myself!)

The tooth dragon came and left me needing a root canal and crown. Fun! They can't get me in until the 27th, so this should be fun. Why don't they install a tooth-breaking division at Weight Watchers? It works. Even with Tylenol 3!!

Nick had his first accident on Monday. He was lucky. He rear-ended some guy on 41st street. Thank goodness Nick's vehicle had all the damage. They didn't report it to the police so Nick's insurance won't go up. This led to a discussion of "driving like your dad". Nick knows his dad follows too closely. Ben said his dad drives safely, so I informed him that he won't be getting his license until he changes his mind on that one. Nick agreed.

Anyway, Wednesday Nick ran out of gas dropping Ben off at Lincoln. He would have only been late had he not decided to go home and lounge through the morning. I told him that I was clipping his wings, and (why don't they think before they open their mouths?) he replied, "It's not like that's the first time I ever skipped!". So, I told him I was only going to ground him for 2 weeks but now he is grounded indefinitely. I am expecting him to be one well-behaved child for awhile.

Halloween came and I had my test. It only took me around 15 minutes to do. When I got home, both boys were gone and the lights were all off. They aren't getting this trust thing. I think I will bring my point home this weekend. They can clean the house and do outside chores.

I think tonight will be busy in the 'hood. On the way home, I encountered a vehicle pulled over - probably a DUI by angle of the car when it was pulled over - and there was a fire at a rental property down the street. I also noticed "18" in adhesive numbers on a metal pole on the corner of 14th and Summit. I suppose more of the 18th Street Gang's work. Did I mention that I need to get going on the N.A. (Neighborhood Association)? I think that I will call some folks that have volunteered to do anything to help and see if I can't rev up their noggins on this.

I had better work on my Histrionic Personality Disorder paper due in 17 days. I wish we had a decent library here. Which reminds me... The last time we went to the library we saw a creepy guy walking around with this shoulder-length hair in his face - no, not like you had it when your mother told you to get your hair out of your face, but more like Cousin It's 'do. I know I must have looked really freaked out. When he walked by he said something to the effect of "Leave the hair alone, assholes". I hate going there. I might go to Augie's library, since I still have my ID from '85 and see if I can't locate some info there. At least I don't think I will gag on the collective b.o. there.