April Showers Bring May Flowers…………………..

I was going to title this post:

“HOW THE #@*&%! CAN IT RAIN SO MUCH?”

The red line is Chicago (close enough to where I live).

This map is from 07:00 am on 04/18/2013.  I wish I had taken a screen shot for yesterday.

It started raining about 3:00 pm on 04/17/2013 and hasn’t stopped yet !!!

Yes, there is again water in the basement.

We don’t have a flooding problem here except when we get these freak storms that last so long and then the backyard floods and then water comes up under the slab in the basement and seeps in through the cracks.  We live in an old house that was built around 1930 and the story goes that the backyards of our neighborhood used to be a creek bed.

We had the infamous “Great Flood of 96″ (in 1996) and besides the chance of water entering through the slab, we also had the problem of the storm/sewer lines backing up that flooded many basements throughout the town.

There are also times when the conditions are just right, we can get a line of storms similar to this one from the remnants of Gulf hurricanes.  I can’t remember which hurricane it was, but about five years ago we had the same kind of flooding and storms that we are currently having.

Congratulations Aurora, Illinois !!!

NO MURDERS !!!

http://chicago.cbslocal.com/2013/01/02/no-murders-in-aurora-in-2012/

Good news on the crime front in Illinois’ second largest city.

There were zero murders in Aurora in 2012. That hasn’t happened since 1946.

The last murder in Aurora was in December of 2011. In the 1990s, Aurora averaged one murder per month.

Police Chief Greg Thomas acknowledged he’s surprised there were no murders in Aurora last year. He said it’s the culmination of a long team effort, and the results have been dramatic.

In 1996, Aurora had 357 shootings and 26 murders; last year, there were only 61 shootings, and no murders.

Thomas credited a crackdown on gangs, assisted by federal authorities.

“If you look at about 2005 to 2007, we took about 150 high-ranking gang members, shooters off the streets in Aurora, with help from federal partnerships with the ATF and FBI. I think that was a big contributor,” Thomas said.

Treat the gang bangers like the crap they are, and good things happen.

Even without any gang related killings, I think it’s pretty darn amazing that weren’t any other murders.

New Year’s Eve

Happy New Year !!

I figured out early in life that every day is the beginning of a “new year” and that December 31st was just an arbitrary Western  starting point.

Oh well, many people do enjoy it anyway.

When I was a small boy growing up in the middle of a cornfield, my parents would often host a New Year”s Eve party for half a dozen or so of their friends at our house.  There would be drinking, smoking, playing cards, cute little hors d’oeuvres.  There would be a small crowd of kids all within a couple of years of me there too.  For the kids, it was exciting to to be able to stay up until midnight and blow horns and make all kinds of noise that would normally we would get in trouble making !!

One of the “traditions” for myself that came of these parties was that every year one of the six television channels we got would play Marx Brothers movies all night.  Oh, there were some remarkable New Year’s Eve events in my life.  30 some years ago I fell in love with the “love of my life” on a New Year’ Eve and there were a couple of parties with the best man at my wedding that are historic and epic.  But since I am the world’s least interesting person, I am usually home by 9 pm and I usually end up watching a classic movie.  I had a hankering to watch “Casablanca” but still have not bought the Blu Ray yet.  But I did buy a copy of “Papillon” earlier this year and it was one of those movies that I had seen a dozen or so times, but never from start to finish.

New Year’s Resolutions:

Always thought that they were silly to make but here are my two………………..

Spend less money

Lose weight

PS.

I am writing this as I am on my way to the Chinese buffet and then to Best Buy to get a new laptop.  The rest of the year will be so much easier with those silly resolutions out of the way.

Photo Potpourri

Just a bunch of photos that have no other  post to be in:

Went on a bike ride this summer and saw this television out at the curb.  I remember a few parties in college that ended up like this.  Is this “Party too much”, or “Party, just right”?

One morning at the office this summer, there was rabbit head on the ledge.  In retrospect, it may have been an omen.

One bitching cool hot rod !!!!

Simple pleasure of life.  I love artificial banana flavor.

The next time I have some surplus cash, “Nibbler” will be the next tattoo.

Major Legal Victory for Illinois Citizens (2nd Amendment)

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/breaking/chi-us-appeals-court-strikes-down-states-concealedcarry-ban-20121211,0,7034171.story

The state of Illinois would have to allow ordinary citizens to carry weapons under a federal appeals court ruling issued today, but the judges also gave lawmakers 180 days to put their own version of the law in place.

In a 2-1 decision that is a major victory for the National Rifle Association, the U.S. Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals said the state’s ban on carrying a weapon in public is unconstitutional.

No, this is not a victory for the NRA, this is a victory for all of the citizens of Illinois that need to protect themselves from the criminals that Liberal judges let loose on us.

“We are disinclined to engage in another round of historical analysis to determine whether eighteenth-century America understood the Second Amendment to include a right to bear guns outside the home. The Supreme Court has decided that the amendment confers a right to bear arms for self-defense, which is as important outside the home as inside,” the judges ruled.

Good call !!

Amazing how smart those guys were way back when.

David Sigale, an attorney who represented the Second Amendment Foundation in the lawsuit, called the decision by the appeals court in Chicago “historic.”

“What we are most pleased about is how the court has recognized that the Second Amendment is just as, if not at times more, important in public as it is in the home,” he said. “The right of self-defense doesn’t end at your front door.”

“The right of self-defense doesn’t end at your front door.”

Amen to that brother !!!

Personal Hygiene Tip Du Jour:

If you have a mustache
And
Drink heavily,

Don’t try to trim the mustache.

So endth the lesson.

CBO: “Electric Cars Are A Complete Waste”

OK, my paraphrase.

http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/09/20/autos-electriccars-idUSL1E8KKM1L20120920

U.S. federal policies to promote electric vehicles will cost $7.5 billion through 2019 and have “little to no impact” on overall national gasoline consumption over the next several years, the Congressional Budget Office said in a report issued on Thursday.

Consumer tax credits for buying electric vehicles, which can run as high as $7,500 per vehicle, will account for about 25 percent of the $7.5 billion cost, the CBO said.

The rest of the cost comprises of $2.4 billion in grants to battery makers and projects to promote electric vehicles as well as $3.1 billion in loans to auto companies designed to spur production of fuel-efficient vehicles.

Many of these initiatives were initiated in 2009 under President Barack Obama, but the loan program was authorized in 2007 under the Bush administration.

(Gratuitous “Blame Bush” reference included)

U.S. government standards mandate that by 2025, automakers to show corporate average fuel economy (CAFE) of 54.5 miles per gallon or about 39 miles per gallon in real world driving.

The tax credits will increase sales of EVs, hybrids and more fuel-efficient gas-powered models and help boost the average fuel economy of automakers’ fleets, the CBO said. The federal tax credits apply to the first 200,000 electric vehicles sold by each manufacturer.

But these sales will leave room for automakers to continue to sell models with low fuel economy, the CBO said.

“The more electric and other high-fuel-economy vehicles that are sold because of the tax credits, the more low-fuel-economy vehicles that automakers can sell and still meet the standards,” according to the report.

AHA !!
So the government knows that we (the consumers) still want big, gas guzzling (and VERY SAFE) vehicles and the only way under the EPA’s incredulous, fantasy driven CAFE standards is to use taxpayer monies to REDISTRIBUTE to the suckers purchasers of the go carts.

The real “money” quote:

As a result, tax credits will have “little or no impact on the total gasoline use and greenhouse gas emissions of the nation’s vehicle fleet over the next several years.”

In other car news.
If you drive a clown car and have an accident, you are more likely to be hurt:
http://www.contracostatimes.com/news/ci_21595442/insurance-industry-report-names-cars-highest-injury-rates

http://articles.chicagotribune.com/2006-12-21/business/0612210100_1_crash-tests-mini-cars-rear-crashes

One of the Greatest Movie Lines…………. EVER !!!

“They Live” was a terrific “B” Sci-Fi movie: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0096256/

First Bike Ride of 2012

I am a fair weather rider.
If it is too cold, no ride.
If it is too wet, no ride.
If it is too windy, no ride.
I prefer hot weather, up to and including as hot as the surface of the sun. (Much better than cold)

I stopped filming at this point because just ahead of me were two young lady runners that were stretching in the middle of the trail and they were completely oblivious to the fact that I was about to run into them.

Normally my first ride of the year ends up being real bad. For some reason, I always seem to forget that I am no longer 20 years old and able to jump on and ride 60 miles with no lingering consequences. Fortunately this year I was in much better shape from going to the gym 4-6 days a week since January.

Since I am a crotchety old man, here are things that I don’t like:
People that walk their dogs on the trail and don’t control them.
People that ride two abreast. (DON’T DO THAT !!!!)
Runners that wear mp3 players and can’t hear when I ring my bell trying to pass them.

My Sharona…Best Album Cover, EVER !!!!

Ahhhhhhhh, great memories !!!!!