David Archuleta

Alright, so I didn't plan on creating any blog postings yet on American Idol until we reached the top 12, which is when I'll start my review of each singer's performances like I did last year. However, there is one singer that I just couldn't pass up the opportunity to comment on because this individual is blowing the rest of the competition out of the water thus far. His name is David Archuleta and he is only 17 years old (like Jordin Sparks was last year). He has an incredible voice and has such amazing control for a person as young as he. I believe that at this point in the competition, he is the front runner, as he has been the most consistent and best singer thus far. I am sure he'll have an off-week once in a great while, but seeing the fan support he has so far in this, I'd be shocked if he didn't make it to the final. I know we have a long ways to go in this year's competition and lots can change, but at this point, I am finding it very difficult for anyone else to pass him up as the favorite. Even Simon thinks so.

David has been a singer for awhile. In fact, he competed in CBS's revival of "Star Search" back in 2002-2003 where he was crowed the junior singing champion. During David's audition interview, he revealed that he even experienced vocal paralysis that had given him some difficulty singing and even speaking. But it appears he is doing quite fine now. Randy Jackson, one of the judges of American Idol has commented on how mature he seems for someone of his age. And it's really true because he seems to take every ounce of criticism (even though there hasn't really been a lot of criticism of him yet) with a grain of salt. His smile is infectious, he's very vibrant, and he seems like he's enjoying his Idol experience very well. It seems like in previous years once the top 24 begins, there have been a couple people that really stand out and you could make a case that either one of them could wind up as the Idol winners. And I know we've heard many different things about this season's contestants being "the best ever," but I must say that only one individual stands out for me so far, and that's David. I guess you could say I am a fan.

The first time we saw David this season during his audition, he sang John Mayer's "Waiting on the World to Change." He did a good job with it and even had Randy singing background vocals. I think the judges were quite impressed with David, especially considering he was 16 at that time. Simon even commented how great of a song choice it was for him. Here's David's rendition of "Waiting on the World to Change":



Seeing the high praise Daivd received from the judges, he picked up his golden ticket and made his way to Hollywood. He sang a couple of different times - including a song written and performed by Bryan Adams called "Heaven." The judges were thoroughly impressed with Randy even saying it was the best vocal performance of Hollywood Week thus far. How could you disagree with that - especially considering how well David sung it. Check out the song "Heaven" sung by Mr. Archuleta:



By the way, the very first song that David sang during his first audition at Hollywood week was Gnarls Barkley's "Crazy." With Paula commenting "you are awesome," and Simon saying "it was incredible," it appeared that David didn't have anything stopping him from joining the American Idol top 24. And just as a note, due to "Crazy" not being officially cleared by one of the members that make up the group Gnarls Barkley, David's rendition of the song could not be aired. Rather tragic, especially considering the reaction he got from Simon after singing the song. And it appeared that David was playing the keyboard and singing the song, too! Such a shame... But whatever the case, David moves on to the Idol top 24.

So the top 12 boys were the first to perform during the week of February 18 and David was #6 of the night. The judges were once again quite impressed with his rendition of a 1960's classic "Shop Around" by The Miracles. It was a much more upbeat song that David took on; a pretty big challenge considering the previous songs tended to be more softer, slower, and the ballad-type. Nevertheless, he continued to wow the judges and had the crowd up on their feet. Listen to David sing "Shop Around":



David made it through to the top 20 with flying colors (in my opinion). Next up were the 70's classics this week and David took on John Lennon's legendary song "Imagine." It was a huge risk for David but one that paid off extremely well. It's a performance that had many people talking and it really helped gain some attention for himself. Paula was inspired to tears (which I pretty much predicted she would) and Randy saying it was one of the best performances he's ever heard on the show. Simon paved the way for David to reach the finale by saying he's the one to beat (which I certainly don't disagree with). Listen to the preformance that had many people talking this week:



So there you have it, we haven't even reached the top 12 yet and I'm already talking about one of the contestants. Like I said, I didn't plan on it yet, but he's such a good singer that I couldn't pass up this opporunity. But you certainly can't disagree that he's the clear cut favorite to this year's competition. He has the voice, the looks, his youth, and fan support that can keep him going for a very long time. Season seven is David's to win; so when the month of May comes around and you see him on the stage of the Kodak theater singing the final song of the American Idol competition; don't say I didn't warn you.

Some Things are Hard to Avoid

Have you ever experienced an incident that you wish never happened, something that was embarassing, lacked judgement, and something that you could go back in time to fix? Well such an incident happened within the past few days at work. Now before I get into the details, no, I did not go off the deep end and murder a bunch of my co-workers (which seems to happen more and more frequently these days). In fact, it's something so minor in comparison that many of you will probably think it's no big deal. Well, it's a fairly big deal to me, particularly if I've done it twice now within the past three months. The thing that I did was; I lost my keys!!

Now these aren't your ordinary keys. I have different lockers located within the plant at work that include important tools, gear, and other essentials that I need from time to time. My dad and I share one such cabinet where I need to access daily to retrieve my wireless radio, flashlight, and toolbelt. In total I think I might have about 5 different cabinets/lockers at the mine (and I really don't need them all, really). But I guess it's one of those things where the more you have, the better off you feel. About three months ago (I'm guessing how long ago it was), I lost the set to all of my lockers/cabinets. And now, two nights ago, I lost the latest set of keys. Needless to say, my dad was not very happy to hear that I had lost them AGAIN (he had to arrange to get new locks for two of the cabinets we share). I used this key caddy that had a nylon string and doesn't really hold up for very long because the string wears out particulary fast. They have the metalic string key caddies, but I didn't find it necessary to change it out the one I had. Boy, was I wrong.

These kind of things tend to go in phases for me. I used to have all sorts of problems with my old 1990 Oldsmobile Ninety-Eight car in which I'd either drain the battery or lock the keys out of my car on countless occasions. I would either accidentally leave the headlights on my car and forget to turn them off once I got out (the beeper that alerted you that your lights were still on when you turned the engine off never worked - which certainly didn't help my cause) or I'd forget to bring my car keys along with me (due to my mind being elsewhere) and when I'd go to lock all the doors, my keys would be stuck inside. I never did have the handy keyless remote lock/unlock option with that car and boy, I really could've used it. I remember one such incident where I locked the keys inside the car while it was still running during one of my trips home! So there the car sat running until my uncle came over to get the vehicle opened up, but not without using up a bunch of gas in the process. That was the time where my parents had just bought a new computer and I guess my mind was on putting that thing together and using it for the first time. I've only had one such unfortunate incident with my current car, where I locked the keys inside the vehicle while it was still running at work. Thankfully my dad happened to be there (I was just getting off midnight shift). So I had my brother-in-law call a tow-truck to help me out. That bill ended up being $30, but it was money well spent.

So tonight I went out and bought some new locks for work (locks that all use the same key so I can eliminate some keys) and a new key carrying device. I am hoping there will never be another incident of losing my keys for a very long time to come. Having to replace every single lock gets very old quite fast!


UPDATE!!! I am happy to announce that I ended up finding my keys at work after all! So I didn't end up replacing all of the locks that I had dreaded doing. I still used the new locks I bought that just used the one key - so that still came in handy. But the happy ending to this story is that I found those keys that I thought were burried in a big pile of dirt in the messy basement of an iron ore mine.

Dogsled Season

Well, it is that time of the year here in the Upper Peninsula. The dogsled season has kicked into high gear in preparation for the big races this weekend. I know I've blogged about this before and my experiences watching the sport of dogsled races since I was a little boy. It's hard to believe the races have been going on for that long. Seems just like yesterday when I'd get all bundled up and take the short walk down the highway up to the fairgrounds where the start of the Midnight Run would take off. That's no longer possible since the race organizers changed the route of the trail. But no matter, I still enjoy the races in my own way.

I've always had a slight bit of ambition to try riding on a dogsled one time. Heck, I bet it would be so fun that I'd like to do it time and time again. But as for building my own team to run in races for a living (or for a hobby), I just don't think I'd be up for that part of it. Taking care of one dog can be hard enough. Imagine eight to 12? You have to buy lots of food, give the dogs proper care and take them to the vet, and train them to be an elite team of dogsleds. I don't know that I'd have that much patience. I've never spent time with a musher just to see what all is involved in the training process, but I have heard plenty of stories. In fact, I work with someone on my crew who's a musher. I lived in a community growing up where dogsled racing became embraced by the individuals who lived there (except when it was feeding time when you could hear the dogs howling from across the valley). No, it's definitely not easy. But when persistence pays off and your team begins to win some races, then it's all worth it.

I remember when the start for the Midnight Run was still in my hometown. They'd plow out a huge area just west of the ball fields for the mushers and their teams to stage until the start of the race. During some years, there wasn't even enough parking for all of the dog teams to rest as they'd cram into every possible plowed space up there. It was always interesting to look at the teams just prior to the start of the race and see what the mushers were doing to care for their dogs. Certain dogs tend to lay around and not get overly excited, while others are just rarin' to get started. I guess it all depends on the breed. I even thought I saw a dogs that looked similar to the breed that my dog was. I always thought what kind of sled dog Spike would make. In his healthiest condition, probably not very good. But alas, that is where the training would come in.

You know, I miss the community spirit that existed when the dogsled races was in my hometown. During the very early years of the event, we'd help decorate grocery bags with dogsled themes and those bags would get distributed to the customers at the local grocery stores. It was an attempt to get the rest of the community in the dogsledding spirit. Our school would always "sponsor" a musher to come to our school and talk to us about the sport and the trials and tribulations they experienced during a race. And then on race night, the community was abuzz with activity. I really sensed a large amount of community pride and excitement during the years the races were in town. There'd even be a schedule of events leading up the dogsled races that would allow the kids to have a good time and stay warm. Heck, there even used to be a snow sculpture contest throughout the community; one in which my class participated in one year (although I don't think we won it). During the last few years that the event went through town, it just didn't seem like there was all that much enthusiasm for the event anymore. Less people were showing up and there were less events planned around it. Now, all of that has ceased to exist once the races pulled out of town once and for all. But then again, I can't really blame the race organizers if they can't gather up enough volunteers to help run the races more smoothly in my community.

So the start of the local dogsled races begins this Friday and lasts through Sunday. The start of the 12-dog race takes place right here in Marquette and begins around 7:00 PM. Depending on the weather conditions, I just might head towards downtown to watch a team or two. It might just help to bring back good memories of the races gone-by in my hometown.

A Memorable Excursion

It's a freezing cold day outside with temperatures near zero and the wind whipping out of the northwest at 25 to 35 mph with higher gusts. Thankfully it's not really snowing here, although just off to our east it has to be snowing quite heavily. In those areas where it is snowing, blizzard conditions are prevalent. It's one of those days you definitely don't want to venture out in unless you have layers upon layers of clothes on. The nice thing is, this cold blast is only supposed to be shortlived. Tomorrow already the temperatures will be up into the teens and by the time Tuesday rolls around, we'll be in the 20's. This kind of cold weather really makes a person long for the warmer season.

Back when I was in high school, one of the activities I'd do during the winter time to stay active and to beat away the winter blues was to go cross country skiing. We have this big field in our backyard where we could go quite far to the south, but mainly I'd always make a trail to the township fairgrounds which are right next door. I'd make a few loops around the ball fields and depending on the depth of the snow, I'd get quite the workout. You see, I'd be making my own trails because we never had a snowmobile that could help to groom the trails. So on the warmest of days, I'd definitely work up a sweat. But in general, the trails that I made were always flat and following the same trail day after day did get rather boring after awhile. Eventually I'd try doing something different and create a new trail, but even that would get boring. So on those days when my sister would be over (on her days off from school or work - seeing that she liked cross country skiing, too), we'd head over to the local ski hill which had cross country ski trails located there.

I can't tell you how many times we'd make a visit there to do some cross country skiing. The local ski area is a small resort, operated by the township and it requires volunteers to help run it. The cross country ski trails were seldom ever taken care of. In fact, they were rarely groomed. Many times when we'd make our first trips out to these ski trails, we'd have to traverse around and over fallen trees or overgrown shrubs. Eventually someone would come through with a chain saw or the snow would get deep enough where we could finally just ski over a lot of the fallen trees that laid in the midst of the trail. But regardless of the obstacles, we always had fun. We even brought along our dog who loved to follow us behind our tracks. He really got a good workout following us.

There are only three main cross country ski trails at the ski hill and we'd always try to break things up a bit by trying a combination of two of the three or just one of the trails. It really depended on how we felt physically and the conditions of the snow that day. Trail "A" was the shortest of the three but was definitely more advanced with a variety of different hills to ski down or climb up. Trail "B" was the longest of the three and definitely the most challenging of all. One of the hills at the mid-point of the trail is extremely scary to ski down because it has an incredibly quick drop. We almost always side-stepped down this particular hill unless the snow happened to be extremely sticky that day. And trail "D" was probably the most boring because it's just a plain, flat trail. However, it is probably the second longest of the three. My sister and I always chose trail A the most because it was the quickest of the three. If we felt that going down that particular trail was never enough, we'd always go a second time. Whatever the case was, we always enjoyed ourselves there. Our goal was never to fall - which often was difficult to do because the conditions always varied. One such time we went and it was extremely warm out - probably in the mid 30's. We had just started skiing and I always went first. I skiied down a short hill and at the bottom of this hill was a surprise puddle. The water was up to the top of my boots and my feet were soaked. Needless to say, my day was done.

You may have caught on to the fact of the odd labeling of trails at the ski hill. There's a trail A, B, and D. But where's C? That was the exact same question my sister and I had pondered for a long while. We knew there had to have been a trail "C" at some point in time. But we just didn't know where it was. All of the trail maps located at the ski hill only had the three trails listed. That is until we took a journey down trail "D" one day. Most of the trail maps out there were copied onto a piece of paper and laminated. But there was one trail map on trail D that was a hard-covered plastic copy. On it was the fabled C trail. My sister and I were thrilled. We had finally found the location of the fourth trail. The only trouble was seeing if we could actually follow the route the entire way and finish the course.

So during one day when the weather was half-way decent, we decided to see if we could find trail C. It actually followed along trail A, then trail B, and then finally broke off on it's own. We were having a good time and were actually able to follow the trail quite easily since most of the blue diamonds marking the trail were still in place. Eventually, though, we hit a dead end and found ourselves out in the middle of nowhere. No matter which direction we headed, it proved to be wrong. We couldn't find a single blue diamond any longer. Simply put, we were lost. We were rather disappointed, but the only logical thing to do was follow our old trail and head back to where we started. I think at one point we were standing ontop of a small frozen lake because we were suddenly amongst this wide-open space in the middle of nowhere. It had to have been a lake, otherwise I think we would've encountered some brush. So we doubled-back and followed our tracks. We met back up with trail A and followed that to its conclusion. After that, we were wore out. That tired us out for the rest of the day. And we never did try to find the finish of that famed trail C ever again.

Cross country skiing is one of those activities that can really be fun once you get the hang of it. I had always downhill skied when I was younger. But when you cross country ski, it really gives you a good workout. Skiing is something I haven't done much at all the past three winters. It's one of those sports I miss doing and hopefully soon I'll be able to get back into. I just mainly do it for the fun and not the competition anyway - so don't worry, I won't be entering any races anytime soon.

Hospital Visits

I think for many people, hospitals are not the most pleasant places to visit. You have sick and dying people being treated and not all of them are able to live, sadly. Luckily for me, I haven't had to enter our area hospital all that much. I've made a couple of visits there to see my grandma, who has been through numerous surgeries and procedures. My sister works at the hospital here in town as a nurse and one time when I went to see my grandma, she happened to be working, too. She was working on the pediatric floor and I happened to see a young child laying in a bed, being carted to a closed-off area. It was such a sad sight, seeing someone that young having to endure the misery of being sick. Not only do hospitals have that sterile smell, but it also has that sense of illness and pain about them. I know it leaves me uneasy everytime I enter the place.

I'll be going to see my mom at the hospital in about an hour or so. Now, it's nothing major, but she needed to have surgery to correct a hiatal hernia. It had been bothering her for some time and the doctor said she may have had it for up to ten years. She's a strong woman and puts up with many of her aches and pains. We all believe that this may have been a contributing factor to her not feeling very well for awhile. And although she was nervous about the procedure as anyone would be when facing surgery, she knew it needed to be done so that she would ultimately feel as well as she has in a long time. The good part about the procedure was that it was done laprascopically and she didn't need to be cut open as severely, so the recovery should be quicker. Still, she will be sore for a few weeks and will need to take it easy in the meantime.

You know, my mom has never been through any kind of major surgery. Back when I was about five years old, she had one of her knees scoped and was off her feet for a time. I can't even remember much about it anymore, just that she was on crutches for a time. Other than that, she has been relatively healthy. One time she was with my dad in a restaurant and instantly passed out onto the table. He brought her into the nearby hospital where they did a few tests on her, but didn't really find a conclusive cause to her just randomly passing out. Then about a year ago or so, she was on medication that was making her very sick. Whenever she'd take the pills, she'd come down with a flu-like illness. I know it really concerned everyone, especially knowing that they really couldn't find anything wrong with her, no matter what tests they did. Eventually they found out that the medication was causing her to be sick all of the time and that she was allergic to it. Only a very small percentage of the U.S. population is allergic to this medication and she was one of them. So needless to say, she's never been back on that certain medication since.

So the hernia procedure was something corrective to take care of an ongoing problem and it will really help her overall health. I know she was thinking about warmer weather to come before going in for this procedure, but now is better than later. As soon as she heals up, she will feel as good as new. She'll have to stay off her feet for awhile as the incisions heal, but it will all be worth it in the end.

Roundabouts

A new kind of traffic control device is gradually being implemented across the nation as a means of alleviating intersections where accidents and congestion are prone. In fact, roundabouts may already be in place in your location. The modern roundabout is gaining popularity throughout the United States and whenever there is new construction or re-construction road projects, roundabouts are getting serious consideration. Here in Upper Michigan, not a single roundabout is in existence, but that may eventually change. As far as I know, two such high impact intersections where I live are planned to be re-constructed within the next five years and the state department of transportation has recommended that they be turned into roundabouts.

Traffic approaching a roundabout should slow down. Yield signs are present so that vehicles already within the roundabout have the right away. When it appears that there is an opening to enter the roundabout, you may do so. Recommended speeds within a roundabout are between 15 and 20 mph. If you intend on making a right turn, stay in the right lane and make your turn. If you wish to continue straight through a roundabout, either stay in the right or left lane (whichever lane is appropriate for the type of roundabout you are in) and maneuver through the roundabout. Lastly, if you intend to make a left turn within the roundabout, stay in the far left lane and when your turn approaches, make your left turn. Remember that speeds within a roundabout are pretty slow and traffic within these intersections are generally one-laned.

When I first heard the concept of a roundabout, it seemed confusing as heck to me. I honestly didn't think it could possibly work. But once I studied and understood them a little better, they seem to be a decent choice for traffic control. Now they do not work well at every intersection which is why traffic studies are conducted to see whether they really work or not at a particular location. Apparently it has been determined that they work well in the two locations that MDOT has conducted studies at. I am willing to give them a chance, but usually most people are either for or against them. And people are hesitant to change, even if it is for the better (which I think it is). One thing that I am particularly interested in seeing is how they will do in wintery climates. From a video clip I watched from the New York Department of Transportation's website, the plows seem to be able to clear them fairly easily. But with the way the road commission is around here, I have my doubts. It could end up being a nightmare in that regard.

MDOT has a preliminary timetable to reconstruct these intersections in 2011, so there is definitely time to get used to the idea of driving within a roundabout. And for an area where traffic patterns have not changed in some 30 to 40 years, this will be a big change. Who's to say the plans won't get changed again and we'll be in store for another intersection with signal lights. Like I said earlier, I am willing to give them a chance, but you can be sure I will be a bit hesitant driving through them once they are officially opened - which I am sure a lot of people will be. And if anyone else out there happens to come across this blog and drives through roundabouts from time to time, please leave a comment regarding your reactions of these traffic control devices. I'd love to hear them!