Top Searches for 2008 according to MSN.COM

Happy New Year all!

As the year comes to a close I noticed on MSN web site an article about 2008 searches on the net. What were the most popular searches. One of those searches was for a "Death Calculator". So, for kicks and giggles I decided to try out a couple of these to see how much time I had left according to these "Death Calculators". Here are links to a couple of the ones I played with:
http://www.cyber-junkie.com/fun/death/
http://www.deathclock.com/

The idea here is for you to answer some questions and it will spit out an approximate death date for you. I went though and answered the questions. The good news for me is they think I will die around November 2037. Ok, I have a few years left yet. The bad news is the one indicated that I am considered obese (Yikes!). The questions they ask ranged from how much sleep do you get, how much exercise do you get, how is your nutrition, how often do you have sex, are you married.

Now, since I am unmarried sex isn’t an option at this point. But, for kicks and giggles I changed my answer to once a week and it said I would live five more years. I also changed my answer to married and it again gave me another five years. So all in all it claimed I would live 10 years more if I were married and had sex at least once a week. The problem I have with all this is that when I was married I never got sufficient sleep or rest and was completely miserable. I spent most of the last part of the marriage sleeping in a recliner. Everyone I know that is married is currently stressed out and miserable. I can’t see how being stressed out and miserable would make you have a longer life. I also wonder why we just couldn’t get some exercise in the form of a brisk walk or jogging or something. It was fun to change things around to see how the date would be affected. I think the bottom line is to eat right, get some exercise, and get your rest and sleep.

According to that article on MSN.COM here are the top 20 searches for 2008
Reborn baby dolls
Katy Perry
Death calculator
Camilla Parker-Bowles
Tiffany Shepis
Garden tips
Meghan McCain
Chinese hat
Too skinny
Princess Madeleine
Sarah Palin
Party pics
Alison Arngrim
Anderson Cooper gossip
Zara Phillips
Lourdes Ciccone
The Last Lecture
"Pirates" online game
John McCain biography
Priscilla Presley plastic surgery

Again, Happy 2009!

Twas The Night Before Christmas

'Twas the night before Christmas, when all through the house not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse. The stockings were hung on the partition with care, in hopes that a not so jolly fat man soon would be there. The children were nestled all snug in their beds, while visions of presents danced in their heads. I had just settled down for a short nap.

When out in the living room rose such a clatter, I sprang from the bed to see what was the matter. I threw open the bedrooms door and dashed into the room. When, what to my wondering eyes should I see, but three very guilty looking cats had destroyed the Christmas tree! There was garland and bulbs all over the floor and those dirty scoundrels were looking for more.

Not being so lively and quick I began to put the garland
and bulbs back on the tree rather quick. After I had restored the tree I began to scold the cats not one or two but all three! As I returned to bed shaking his my head I exclaimed "Next year we get to do this all over again!".

Merry Christmas!

Even Old Glory can't escape natures wrath

Today as I drove around town I started to notice some of the extent of the ice storm damage. Even Old Glory her self couldn’t withstand natures furry. Several flags were torn and tattered and very little of the large flag near Glennbrook Dodge remained. Yesterday I listened again to my Ham Radio and several of the conversations were related to the weather. One person indicated he had heard this was the worse ice storm we had ever had in this area. I can believe it. I drove over to the south side of town to help a friend and that side of town seems to have been hit harder than it was here. I would drive a few blocks and there would be a stop light out. I would drive a few more blocks and the power would be working. It was like that all over the south side of town.

A week or so ago I wrote that it looked like old man winter got an early start. At this point I am thinking we are in for a long hard winter. I am hoping this cold snap will pass, but I believe we are in for our first "real" Indiana winter in a long time. I am not really looking forward to two to three more months of snow, ice, sleet, freezing rain, and rain. Today at 4:56pm it was 0 degrees outside with the forecast for around 5 below (wind chill factors of up to 30 below). As of right now it is –2 degrees out there and when I was out today it was bitter cold. Oh Boy!

Today's Icy Weather

Today I had the day off as part of my vacation. At this moment I am counting my blessings again. I am home and my power has been on all day long. Early this morning I turned on my Ham Radio to listen in and the first thing I hear is reports of people with out power. One person said it might be Sunday before they get their power back. Around an hour later I heard what I thought was thunder. It was later confirmed that it was indeed thunder as another discussion on the radio about how weird this weather is.

At one point today there were conflicting reports of how many people were without power. On report said 80,000 people in the area were with out power. Another report said 68,000. Let’s just say there was a lot at that moment. One guy on the radio works for the Huntington Count Sheriffs department was giving reports of power outages, which were spotty, on his way to work. One person indicated that the Red Cross had established a shelter at the memorial coliseum. There were reports of trees down and power lines down all day long. I was reading my email tonight and I am in several railroad yahoo groups and there were reports of trains hitting downed trees. Tonight I am thinking about those people who had to go to the coliseum to stay. I counting my blessings to be sitting here with power and enjoying an evening at home. I hope those people who are without power have their power is restored soon!

Over the hill and picking up speed!

Ok, so it is official "I am old"! The person who said life begins at 50 was a liar. I am only 43 and you know the thing I miss the most is my mind. My eyesight is right there behind that. Today I picked up my first set of bifocal eyeglasses. Yes, I said bifocals! I am officially over-the-hill and picking up speed.

For about 20 years I worked with computers for a living. At 37 I got my first pair of reading glasses. The doctor said that I was really lucky to have gone that long without glasses considering what I did for a living. It was a shock to the system, but I got over it. Then came the daily dose of Mountain Dew, multi vitamin, and Tylenol Arthritis to get things going in the morning. Some days around 9am I have to do what I call an Ibuprofen chaser to get over the pain. Now, e-gad I am getting the fathers families hairline to go with those bifocals. Did I mention that when I go to tell someone something at times it takes longer for the information to come out of the data storage device called the brain?

I think we need to sit our kids down and tell them this: "Getting old is hell! First here is a couple coke bottle bottoms to look through. That is the way things will look when you get old with out glasses. Next let’s strap some 2X4’s to your leg’s so that you will can’t move around as well as you used to. And, for good measure we will shave part of your head! Oh yea, empty your wallet as the doctor visits and the cost of glasses will drain it, because insurance won’t cover enough of the cost to leave you anything left over. The bottom line is it’s going to hurt in more than one way!"

The good news for me is I get to wear my eyeglasses full time. I guess I can’t forget them somewhere. That is unless they are stuck in my hand or I am taking a picture of something and forget they are on my head (yes I have done this and worse. I nearly ran them over after leaving them on top of the car and having them fly off). I can actually read the text on my phone for the first time in a long time. I can actually see the text on my laptop screen again. Everything no longer looks slightly fuzzy.

I think Toby Keith summed it up in his country music hit "As good as I once was" Toby says:

"I ain’t as good as I once was. I got a few years on me now. But there was a time back in my prime…. My how the years have flown… I ain’t as good as I once was. That’s just the cold hard truth!!"

Centennial Wireless Christmas Display

On Saturday night after my kids and I did our yearly visit to the AWS Fantisy of lights I decided we would go out and see one of my colleges light display out off Covington road. On the way down State Street we were going past the head quarters for Centennial Wireless. Each and every year Centennial Wireless has a large Christmas display on their front lawn. This year was no exception. My daughter wanted to stop and walk through. My son at first didn't want to do it. We finally stopped and walked through the display.

This was our first year to walk through this display. This may also be the last year for us to walk through the display. AT&T is currently waiting on approval for their acquisition of Centennial Wireless The approval is expected to come through in the first quarter of next year. Even though this may be the last year they have the display at that location it was nice walking through the display with the kids. The good news for AT&T customers is their call quality will most likely go up if AT&T uses Centennial's network. In my opinion Centennial Wireless has the 2nd best cell phone service in the area. I have had cell phones with AT&T, Cingular, Centennial, and Verizon. In my opinion Verizon has the best service in the area. I have not tried US Cellular or T-mobile. Of all the places I have been Verizon service has very rarely failed. When I had AT&T I couldn't get or make calls in certain places in New Haven for instance. And when I was with Cingular I had a stretch of road were the calls dropped all the time.

Any way, we enjoyed our stop to walk though Centennial’s display and I hope there is a display to walk through again next year. Merry Christmas All!

Review of Off the Air Digital TV (DTV)

On December 3, 2008 I made the switch to off the air TV or digital TV. I have had cable or satellite TV for over 30 years, but due to financial conditions at my house I made the choice to unplug my Dish Network TV in favor of having free tv. I wasn’t sure what this would mean to me, but I already owned 3 of the converter boxes two of which were connected to my kids TV’s and the other two TV’s had dish. Until December 3, 2008 I had a spare converter box.

So far I can say the picture quality is excellent! Even though the signal strength is on low power I receive the signals of 4 out of the 5 stations in Fort Wayne (15, 21, 33, 39, and 55). I do not currently get channel 55 as they must be running on ultra low power. The information I have shows they are on the air on channel 36 (to be explained later) and that if you are further than a few miles from the station you may not get their signal. When they go full power early next year that is to change. If you are familiar with satellite TV when the weather is bad I get some wavering and outages so that feels somewhat familiar. The wavering is not nearly as bad as it was with analog TV. Will be interesting to see what happens when they go full power on February 17, 2009.

The Channel lineup for Fort Wayne and surrounding area is as follows. We have a total of twelve channels.
15.1 WANE CBS
15.2 WANE National Weather Service Radar
21.1 WPTA ABC
21.2 WPTA CW
21.3 WPTA Viper Radar
33.1 WKJG NBC
33.2 WKJG My Network TV
33.3 WKJG INC Now 24/7 New Channel
39.1 WFWA PBS39 A simulcast of PBS39’s traditional analog broadcast
39.2 WFWA Kids39 24/7 award-winning educational public television children’s programming
39.3 WFWA CreateTV 24/7 award-winning programs for do-it-yourselfers
39.4 WFWA 39-4You News, information documentaries and more, 'round the clock.

WFFT-TV Channel 55
The Super station WFFT-TV channel 55 on January 1, 2008 became Fox Fort Wayne. WFFT-TV will be broadcasting on channel 36 for their digital TV broadcast. I have wondered what possessed them to be on channel 36 for their digital broadcast. Well, MediaFlo will be using channel 55 on a nationwide basis for one way data transmission. Mystery solved. Mediaflo will be broadcasting for delivery to guess what? Cell phones! The company’s mission is mobile entertainment. Currently the WFFT must be broadcasting on ultra low power as the information I found on the Internet says that their signal will be only viewable from a few miles or less from the station. I hope we don’t get the same crappy picture they had under the analog world. Let’s see I live about ten miles from the station, it would be nice if their signal was strong enough to cover all of Fort Wayne at a minimum. As of today digitally they might as well not be on the air except for testing purposes.

Converting to DTV
If you have a TV that is more than Two Years old you will have to buy a converter box. The federal government has developed a coupon program to allow you to purchase these boxes at a big discount. To apply for the coupons go to this website https://www.dtv2009.gov/ . These coupons come in the form of a credit card type thing. You go down to the local store, pick out a converter box, take it to the check out, then the coupon is applied. Take it home, plug it in to your TV, connect your antenna, then allow the box to program it’s self. It is really easy to setup. Depending on what you want from your converter box you can walk out of the store for around $15 tax and all and be all set.


Summary
All in all I am really impressed with Digital TV. The signal quality is the same as I received with DISH Network. If I had a HDTV TV I would be getting high definition tv for free. Unfortunately HDTV isn’t high on my list of things I want at the moment.

Last Nights full moon

What is it about a full moon that makes people cranky. Last night was the brightest full moon of the year. The moon was at it’s closest to the earth at approximately 221,560 miles. The average distance is 238,855 miles. As I was pulling into my driveway the moon had just risen and my son made a comment about how big it was. According to the claims on the Internet the moon was to look about 30 percent bigger last night and it was at the closest to the earth in 15 years.

There is no definite proof that a full moon affects people’s behavior. However, a few years ago I delivered pizza for a living for a while to make ends meet after being laid off from my job. I can tell you from experience that I never liked the nights that the moon was full. People seemed to be crankier, nastier, and tips were always less. Last night I can say my kids were in rare form. They seemed more restless than most Friday nights. Nights when the moon is full it puts on a spectacular display. Last night was no exception. The view as I pulled into my driveway was breath taking indeed.

AWS Fantasy of Lights

From now until December 31, 2008 the AWS Fantasy of Lights display will be open to the public at Franke Park in Fort Wayne Indiana. As you drive your vehicle through the park you can enjoy the sights and sounds of Christmas. The cost of the event is $5 for cars, $10 for passenger vehicles and $25 for a bus or trolley. Hours are 6pm-10pm Friday and Saturday, 6pm-9pm Sunday-Thursday. Carriage rides are available call 260-744-6145 ext 2230 for information or

260-691-3780 for carriage rides.

Let it snow, Let it snow, Let it snow!

It’s official! I hate winter! I hate snow, cold, and ice. Is it spring yet? According to all the weather predictions for this winter we are to have our first bad winter in a number of years. I believe Mother Nature has allowed Old Man Winter an early start. Oh boy! Considering that it has hardly done nothing but snow on and off for over a week I am betting all the predictions are correct. The good news for me is I work outside and the worse the weather is the more work I will have. I just hope it doesn't get bitterly cold but, let it snow, let it snow, let it snow!

Science Central - Festival of Trains

Science Central will again this year be hosting it's Festival of Trains. Each year around Thanksgiving they invite model railroad clubs from all over the area to participate in this three day event. The event will run Friday November 28, 2008 to Sunday November 30, 2008. The hours will be 10am-5:00pm on Friday and Saturday and 12pm-5:00pm on Sunday.

The cost for kids 3-12 is $7. Kids under 3 are Free. Adults are also $7. For more information see the Science Central web site at http://www.sciencecentral.org/.

No good deed goes unpunished

Why does it seem like when you do something nice it seems to end up causing you grief? This past weekend I took my kids to Crazy Pinz to play in the ball pit. I didn’t think either of them getting hurt. We had been there several times before and they enjoy playing there. My kids had been really good the last weekend I had them and they had been really good on this weekend. I wanted to reward them for being good.

We arrived at Crazy Pinz and around 5:30pm and stayed until around 8:00pm. Everything seemed to be going ok as it normally would. Then my son and daughter came back to where I was and my daughter was crying. Inside the ball pit they have these large balls suspended from the top of the cage. They swing back and forth. They also have these cannons that you can put the foam rubber balls in and shoot at the people in the lower level. Some kid had pushed the large ball into my daughter causing her to fall against the metal handle of the cannon. The result I thought was a black eye for my daughter.

Today we took her to the doctor and he ran all his tests. The last test was an eye test to check her vision. The doctor indicated that she has less vision in the left eye than in the right eye. I am hoping that it is just swelling that is causing the problem. The doctor wants my daughter to see a specialist tomorrow. Now, This all started because I wanted to do something nice for my children. Seems to me that I cause my self-a lot of grief doing nice things for people. Seems like no good deed goes unpunished.

Fort Wayne Hamfest and Computer Expo

The Fort Wayne Hamfest is this weekend. One of my hobbies is Ham radio. Ham radio operators from all over the area will gather at this event. There will be computer, ham radio, and miscellanous items for sale. The event will be held at the Memorial Coliseum at the corner of Coliseum Blvd and Parnell ave. Times are Saturday 9am-4pm and Sunday 9am-3pm. Admission is $6 on Saturday and is good for both days. Admission for Sunday only is $4. For more information see the link below for more information.

http://www.fortwaynehamfest.com/images/MainFlyer08.pdf

The Great Zoo Halloween - a Spooktacular event

On friday October 17, 2008 the Fort Wayne Childrens Zoo opened their Great Zoo Halloween. Five years ago on this date I was at the Zoo with my 2 year old son wondering what my unborn baby girl might look like. I thought it only fitting to take my kids to the Zoo on this date as the next day (October 18) was my daughters birthday. This was a great addition to her birthday celebration.

During our stay we saw all sorts of scary things. Gouls, goblins, witches, etc. I think I saw a good witch at this event. I also saw many copies of the guy from "Scary Movie". There were pumpkins of every shape and size. Displays dipicting some of your favorite movies or tv shows. Even Casey the Cash cow from K105 radio station was there. There was a train ride through the haunted forest.

The kids and I had a great time progressing through the event from candy station to candy stations. This event represents a safe way for kids to trick-or-treat. The cost for this event is $6 per child and $4 per adult. It is on now through October 31, 2008. Check the Fort Wayne Childrens Zoo website for hours.

Contemplating life

Sometimes in life you got to ask "WHY?". Today I am home contemplating life. Why did my life turn out the way it did? What was it did for it to be this way? I thought would never write about my divorce, but sometimes you just got to get it out. My sister says writing like this is therapeutic. I guess it is. Please feel free to read the rest of the post if you like. If don’t want to read any further thanks for stopping by.

On February 14, 2007 (ok, I know it is Valentines Day – bad choice on my part) I filed for a divorce from my wife. It was the hardest thing I ever did. I believe there are only two reasons to get divorced (Marital infidelity and death). I worried back then and still now about what would happen to my kids. Would they be taken care of? By July 23, 2007 I was officially divorced. My ex is really lucky in the respect that I didn’t fight with her over custody of the kids and over how we split things. I don’t think she understands how lucky she was. I wanted what was best for my kids and a long drawn out ugly divorce would not have been good for them.

Was I the perfect husband? No. I don’t think you can use perfect and anything in the same sentence, because nothing is perfect. Was I a good attentive husband? Yes, for a long time in the marriage I believe I was. I loved my ex-wife. When the divorce was final and we finally were split it was worse than if she died. The last couple of year’s marriage I was hoping my ex would leave me and do what I didn’t want to do. After a couple of years and a really ugly fight I left. I figured she never would as she was getting what she wanted from the relationship. I was around for one or two reasons and that was it. There was no "love" returned on her part.

I had a friend from Texas (was my manager at the time) and she described me as a simple man with simple needs. This is true. What I wanted from my marriage was simple. I wanted someone who loved me for who I am and who wasn’t looking for Brad Pitt, George Cloney, on Tom Cruz. I wanted a partner in life and mother for my children. Someone who is honest, trustworthy, faithful, kind, and caring, who didn’t smoke or drink. Someone to work with me through the ups and downs of life. Someone who would work with me on the family finances, in raising the children, and at keeping our house clean and neat. Someone who would be concerned about my well being (mentally, physically, and emotionally). Someone who could enjoy quite times together and simple things in life like siting on a park bench talking and wouldn’t be bored. Someone who is willing to admit they are wrong and say I am sorry at times. Someone who understands that we can’t talk all the time and doesn’t need constant attention or that needs to be in constant contact. Someone who would allow me to be me and go out by my self and take a ride or train pictures for a while so that I can commune with God or just clear my head (hear my self think). I think it is ok to have our own interests and personal time as long as it is done in moderation. We would need to be fairly close on the religious issues as well and if they were old fashioned that wold be great. I am a big believer in you have to be willing to give back what you are asking for. Now, I blame my self for not seeing my ex for what she was. I will plead guilty to being stupid!

I considered the possibility of trying again. Putting my feet back into the dating pool to see if the water is absolutely ice cold or not. If I were to try again today the main concern would be would the person be good to my children. Would they treat them like they were one of their own. Could I trust this person to be alone with my children if needed. I wouldn’t want to be pressured in any way. This means to do things I don’t want to do (wink, wink). Or to be rushed to get to the alter. If I connected with someone and we talked and had enough in common and went out for the first time and I was blatantly honest with them about my situation and accepted a second date would that be a good test of character for that person? What I mean by this is tell them some details of life so far and that I have no money to date today. Dates for me would need to be really low key maybe Mc Donalds for dinner, a walk in the part to talk, or diet coke and conversation somewhere. I guess I would be asking for a lot.

If I did decide to date again, I would fully want my family’s opinion on it. The stakes would be way too high. I read on the Internet that it is usually a bad sign if the family doesn’t like the person you are with. If your family likes the person then you have probably made a good choice. I think this is true. One member of my family had my ex pegged before we were married. I should have listened. Hopefully today I would be older and wiser (not a guarantee as I still do stupid things). I have a friend that I call "Spidey" that I would ask to meet the person and if their "Spider Senses" tingle they are under orders to hit me with a frying pan if I won’t listen to them. The other thought is would this just be a selfish act on my part and how traumatic would it be for the kids?

On final thought before I stop rambling along here. I feel sorry for my ex-wife. I don’t believe she will ever understand what was lost. I don’t think she will understand what it is to be a good parent. I am not the world’s greatest parent, but if the kids look back and can say that daddy was there for us then I succeeded at something. I hope, for her sake, and the kid’s sake, that she understands some day. If she finally understands it will be the greatest day of the kid’s lives. We are over and I don’t want her back. On Friday she is leaving for a week to be in Tennessee with her new found significant other. The kids are going to be with baby sitters for a week. I just made arrangements to go see them on Wednesday night next week. My ex called and said she appreciated the fact that I was coming to see them. I said I didn’t want them going a week without contact with a parent. She said I would be talking with them on a regular basis. I said, "It’s not the same". I refused to comment further as it wouldn’t have done me any good.

If you are still reading this please feel free to comment. Be blunt if you want. Thank you!!

The things we do for our children

I will never understand what makes some people tick. Now, I don’t consider my self-the worlds greatest parent. I try to be a good dad. With that said I believe you make sacrifices for your children. On Friday around 1:15pm I was off work. A friend of mine called and said "the Rio’s are in town". Now, I am a rail fan and this meant that two locomotives painted in the Rio Grande paint scheme were in town. Rio Grande is a railroad that doesn’t exist anymore. To see two locomotives in this paint scheme would be rare anywhere. To have two locomotives in that paint scheme in Fort Wayne, Indiana even more rare. I told him I had to pick up my daughter and I would try to catch up with him if my daughter fell asleep. She wasn’t feeling well and I expected she would sleep for a while in the back seat of the car.

When I picked her up we stopped at Walgreen’s to pick up her prescription. She asked if we could go to the zoo. Now, I figured that Sunday October 5, 2008 would be my last trip to the zoo for this year. I was wrong. I had planned to take her to the park and let her play or to Chuckie Cheeses. She maintained that she wanted to go to the zoo. We got in the car and headed for the zoo. I had to stop at the bank and get some money and while I was there my friend called again. I told him I had received "the request". I told him that I would not be finding him as my daughter had asked to go to the zoo and I was taking her to the zoo. My daughter and I ended our day at the zoo park.

Today I am sitting here at home with the day off. I am expecting a gift that I ordered for my son for Christmas to be delivered. I wasn’t offered any delivery options on this package, as I would have chosen something different than the way it is being delivered given options. I had intended to drive by the rail yard to see if those locomotives were in town, but if I leave he house I may not be here when the gift arrives. Maybe I will go out later after it is delivered and see if they are in town.

There are people that have a "me" mind set. Some of my rail fan friends don’t understand why I don’t plan my time with my family around my hobby. My hobby is just that a hobby. My hobby will be there as long as I live. I know other people who put what they want ahead of other people’s feelings and well being. My family is most important to me and spending time with them is the most important thing in life. We don’t know what each day holds. There are no promises of tomorrow. Tomorrow we may not all be here together in this life. Some of us may pass on. It is important to live each day like it is the last one and spend time with our loved ones.

Last Nights Presidential Debate - In my humble opinion

As I watched last nights Presidential debate the issue that was on my mind was "Who will fix the economy?". I work for the U.S. Postal Service. In Sundays Fort Wayne Journal Gazette page 19A there was an article that stated the U.S. Postal Service is considering for the first time in its history layoffs. According to the date that I found the U.S. Postal Service has been around since July 26, 1775. This would indeed be a historic event.


The Economy:
Each candidate presented his arguments for what should be done. John McCain proposed that we must fix the housing market to fix the economy and invest in clean coal technology. He says we need to buy back bad mortgage loans. Barack Obama says that we need to get people back to work. We need to put more money in the pockets of the working people. He says we need to invest in fuel alternatives such as solar, wind, and electric. We need to tax relief for everyone who makes under $250,000. He also says that we need lower insurance premiums and no pre-existing conditions. He also says we need to end deregulation.


I think we all are cutting back our spending at this time. I have cut my spending due to an uncertain work future. These cutbacks continue to affect the economy. Barack Obama has said what I have been saying. We need to get people working again. This just makes basic economic sense. It doesn’t matter if you rescue me from a bad mortgage loan if I can’t pay for basic needs like utilities and food due to being unemployed. I don’t have a mortgage so this wouldn’t affect me, but if I did what little unemployment insurance payments I would get wouldn’t cover my expenses for food, rent, utilities, and basic needs. Getting people back to work puts money in their hands to spend on basic needs. It will create demands for products and start a chain reaction in the economy. The question they will need to answer is what will we put people back to work doing? I think that is were the alternative to oil dependence comes in. I think creating jobs to eliminate our dependence on oil could drive our economy for quite some time. And YES this will cost us some taxpayer dollars. The rewards will be worth it. Ask yourself what happens if the U.S. economy fails? Does the world economy fail too?


I think the worst of it is yet to come. It will get worse before it gets better. It will take at least two years of the next president’s term before we see a difference in our economy. I don’t expect it to be fixed overnight. Then I believe it will be a full term (4 years) before the real benefits of the changes are felt.


International Affairs
In the area of international affairs Barack Obama does lack some experience. I also think that is were Joe Biden comes in. Joe Biden has been in Washington a long time and has the experience needed in the area of international affairs. Smart men like John McCain and Barack Obama realize what their weaknesses are. I have always said that they will surround themselves with people who know those areas that they don’t and they are willing to listen to the advice they are given and they learn from it.

Conclusion:
My choice for president is Barack Obama. If he can do ½ of the things he says he wants to then he will make a great president. He will get my vote. Let’s all remember, he can propose the changes, but he can’t pass them. It is up to the house and the senate to pass any legislation though. I was listening to my HAM radio today and a couple of people were discussing the election. The one guy says "I think we should vote the opposite of the party that is in office now in every election in the land. We should just clean house and put all new people in". Maybe, this person was right. As Barack Obama said "There is no one with out blame". I found a lot of what Barack Obama said to be very "honest". When asked if he could fix social security and medicare with in the first two years he said "We will work on it, but it can’t be done in the first two years". This is just my humble opinion, but the bigger issue is the economy.

The Fort Wayne Children's Zoo

Today my son, daughter, and I made our final trip to the Fort Wayne Children's Zoo. This has been a nearly bi-weekly event ever since the Zoo opened on April 19th of this year. I purchase the yearly pass each year and we end up going as often as the kids want to. Usually I am there on Sunday ever other week. The Zoo is open 9am-5pm until Sunday October 12, 2008. This is the end of the regular season.

The zoo is currently setting up for "The Great Zoo Halloween". This will run October 17-31, 2008. Hours are 6:00pm-8:30pm weeknights and 5:00pm-8:30pm Saturday and Sunday. Admission is $4 per adult and $6 per child. For more information see the zoo web site (http://www.kidszoo.org/events/halloween.htm).