A Dream to Remember

It was a few nights ago when I had this weird, yet incredible dream. Well, I guess it wasn't THAT incredible, but just the same, it's amazing that I still remember a good majority of the experiences that occured in it. Most of the time whenever you have a good dream, you can't remember it by the next morning. But this one was different. Even yesterday, I still recalled a lot of the memories; enough of them for me to jot them down on a piece of paper just in case I ended up forgetting. I figured it would make for an interesting blog, and here we go!

I ended up being with this woman for most of the dream. I don't recall how I met her or our first encounter, but she was with me for awhile. She was very tall, thin, and seemed to be in her 30's. In fact, she looked a lot like the former Today Show weekend anchor Campbell Brown. Now why I was dreaming of her, I haven't a clue seeing she was never a huge favorite of mine. But as the dream progressed, she morphed into this younger woman I knew in college and had some of my English classes with. I considered her to be a very attractive woman whom I would've loved developing a relationship with (but never happened). Anyways, this woman and I were walking to a seemingly endless destination. We walked along desolate roads where tree-upon-tree lined the edges of these roads. Every now and again, a car would pass by but I can't recall any huge significance of these vehicles. However, I remember walking upon these caution lights (the two or four-way blinking kinds) that were randomly placed along the road, but there weren't any intersections or any hazards to mark their significance. They were basically just there in the middle of no where. We treked along and finally reached our "mysterious" destination.

Before the dream progressed too far ahead, another woman came up to me (while the other was away for a moment) and more or less warned me not to continue with this woman. She said she wouldn't wait for me anymore and went along her marry way. She was a blonde; a girl that I once knew in high school and whom I had a HUGE crush on. Eventually I met back with the mysterious girl and we turned around and started walking back in the other direction! I seem to recall us walking along the bike path along the Lake Superior shorline nearest to the highway as we headed northward to the city. And once again, we just kept walking. I don't think we ever got tired out by walking endlessly, either.

Finally, the dream progressed to the last segment (of what I remember, at least). I really had strong feelings for this woman and she felt the same of me. We were at a frat house of some kind (funny, since I've never set foot in one) where a party was going on. But it wasn't a wild, drinking kind of party, but was more low key and people were actually acting intellectual about things. I think people were still drinking, yet they were being responsible. Now when is a party ever like that? I really wanted to make love to this woman and she the same to me, so we snuck into a bedroom - but then I suddenly realized I wasn't ready and needed to go looking for something (the "something" being the item I didn't have in order to be passionate with her - if you get my drift). But, before I headed to the store, I started looking on this large shelving unit, remembering when we were once given these during our ninth grade health class. I couldn't find it and I absolutely could not remember where it was. But I kept looking and looking and looking. It seemed I was looking for hours. Finally, she got fed up of waiting and left me, but not without my anxious pleas for her to stop. She walked out the door and then I woke up.

So there you have it, the dream that still leaves a lasting impression on me. What exactly DOES it mean, to be honest? Is it a sign, a vision, or is it just some random dream? I'm thinking it's the latter. It's not normally something I would write about in a blog, but seeing as how I'd been in a drought for topics as of late, I figured why not. Heck, it would actually make for an interesting short story idea. I'd just have to develop some of the details more. So maybe it's not such a bad idea to remember this dream days after it happened.

Writer's Block / Being a Novelist

Wow. I am having a hard time trying to think of something to write in my blog. Its been this way since the last time I wrote and tonight isn't much better. But I will not let the month of August go by with writing only four blog entries for this month. I will type out something -- even if it makes absolutely no sense, just so that I can have five entries for this month. Five per month is usually pretty good for me. I think the most I've written in one month was about nine or ten, that was back in October of last year when my favorite Major League Baseball team, the Detroit Tigers, were in the midst of a pennant race. There are some people that write blogs every single day. How do they do it?! I always run out of things to say, and sometimes when I think I have a decent idea for a blog, I end up trashing it shortly thereafter. Either I'm too critical of my ideas or don't them enough of a chance to flourish.

And you will notice that my blogs are usually never short. I consider three paragraphs to be short for me. I've seen blogs where people write a short paragraph, basically explaining how they feel and how their day has gone. I'm usually not that way, unless something tramatic has happened in my life and I prefer to keep it short. In fact, I probably won't even write if I feel that way. Thankfully that hasn't happened too much since I started this blog over a year ago (the other one was at WordPress). Overall, I have received a few nice comments from people since I started this blog. Some people just happened to come upon it and said I wrote real well. Others I've known for some time and really enjoyed what I had to say. See, at least I'm using my writing degree in some way.

One thing I have not yet discussed in my blog and something that I probably should explain is why I decided to pursue writing as a degree in college. It all dates back to high school, when I took an English course my sophmore year. We had to do an extensive amount of writing in that class - which I believe consisted of us writing journals. Mrs. Mattson was our teacher; and even though she made us write a lot (and I mean, a lot! Her tests were nicknamed "arm-burners" by the students), she became an influential person for me. She's the one that motivated me by giving me compliments on my writing and made me feel like I could do something even by jotting some ideas on a piece of paper. And although I never won that scholarship for my writing skills in high school and despite the fact that I was mostly an outsider then, she made me feel important. In college, I knew it was either going to be computers or something to do with English that I would focus my degree on. When I knew the computer route wasn't going to work, I decided to just focus on my liberal arts classes until I really figured out what I wanted to do. Teaching entered my mind, but I found out my GPA was much too low for me to take any teaching classes (for those non-believers out there, yes, I did struggle with certain classes early on in my college career). I even considered a possible career in business but ultimately nixed that. Then I focused my attention on writing and possibly journalism. And thus the start of my post-college career with writing. Journalism is no longer an option for me, seeing that I refused to join the college newspaper and have very little interest in hounding people for quotes.

People still ask me what I plan to do with my degree, even though I am settled in with a good paying job. Those dreams of being a best-selling novelist are still in the back of my head. Although I haven't done a lick of serious writing in about two years, I am still serious about those dreams. But I will never be a best-selling novelist if I don't actually start work on it. I have tossed around some ideas in my head and there is one idea I have generally focused on for a premise of my novel. Last winter I kept telling my mom, who is really pushing me into writing a book, that I was going to start writing last winter. Well, I never even typed a single word! But this winter I have promised to focus on my writing career. These are my goals: #1 - to develop a complete outline of the story I plan to write and develop chapters based on the outline; #2 - to write at least ten chapters by the end of the winter of 2007-08. Those are two modest goals for myself; goals that I think are easily achievable if I focus on the task at hand and stay motivated on what I want to complete. Motivation is what kills me most of the time, or the lack thereof, really. Well, I am looking to change that once the cold weather moves in.

Hmm, for someone having great difficulties in thinking up ideas for my blog, I think I did pretty well tonight. At first I was writing some pretty random stuff, but then I focused on a topic that really got me motivated to write about. Too bad I am about to end it right here, too. It just goes to show you that sometimes you really need to dig deep down inside yourself to come up with something. But it's down there. Once you reach it, it flourishes into something much grander than what you expected. And then you reach a point where you can't stop! I hope that's one thing that occurs once I start writing my novel. Stay tuned on the progress of my book in the months and years ahead!

Drought

It's amazing how dry it is outside. These are conditions typically seen in the spring time, not during the middle of summer. We have not seen a significant rainfall since early July. To be exact, the last significant rainfall we picked up was during the hailstorm. And you can tell we haven't had much rain, because the grass is brown. It crunches when you walk on it. In the shady areas, it's still fairly green, but even that is starting to brown up as well. At least it will get people from having to mow their lawns much the rest of the season. To be honest, I think any amount of rain we receive between now and the first snowfall will not save the grass until next season. It's just too dry and we are quickly coming upon the end of summer.

The lack of rainfall is having a negative effect on recreation. Even prior to this drought, the lakes and streams around here were low. As of this spring, Lake Superior was eight inches above a previous record low water level reached years before. It is expected we will reach and surpass that mark this fall. Boats are having a hard time manuevering in and out of harbors. Communities are trying to apply for grants that will help them dredge their harbors; otherwise they will have to close. Money is tight in the state of Michigan and communities just can't afford to dredge harbors with the money coming out of their own pockets. Docks are having to be placed further out in the water in order for boats to safely moor. People that once had beautiful lakefront property are now beginning to see more and more land as the water retreats out further in the lakes. The big question is, when will the drought end?

Even though we've had very little rain, the weather this summer has been absolutely beautiful. We've had many days in the 80's and 90's and sunshine for most. Even on those cloudy days, the temperatures have been warm. But during those cloudy days, it hasn't rained. Rather unusual for this time of year. Typically when a cold front pushes through, we get thunderstorms to drop decent rains. But every front that has moved through, it's been dry. The only noticable difference in the weather has been cooler temps and drier humidites. But it has provided no rain and no relief from the drought. Most of the Upper Peninsula is classified as being in an "extreme drought." Wild fires continue to pop up in much of the region; although thankfully, the majority of them have remained fairly small. The biggest fire in the Upper Peninsula in the last 30 years has been the Sleeper Lake Fire in Luce County that has burned over 18,000 acres. It is now about 60% contained, but with the low humidies and strong Northerly wind of the past few days, it could quickly start up again. The thing we need the most right now is a nice, steady rain that lasts for a couple of days. At least it would provide for a nice, soaking rain.

There doesn't appear to be much relief in sight. Tuesday and Wednesday of next week are looking like days that could provide for some promising rains, although like much of the summer, they'll probably only bring scattered showers and produce a little over a few drops. What we need is a rainy period of weather this fall to help saturate things. Or, as much as I hate to say it, a cold and snowy winter that provides for significant ice cover over Lake Superior and lots of snow for the Northern Great Lakes. Ice cover would help prevent water from evaporating out of Lake Superior during the winter months. Then, all of the melting ice and snow would end up in area lakes and streams, bringing water levels back to where they should be. Let's hope for a change in weather patterns soon, otherwise it could be a destructive fall season around here (more fires).

School Buses

So today's blog topic is going to be unconventional and something not typically written about. But I can honestly admit that school buses have always been somewhat interesting to me. Don't get me why, but there's something about this motorized vehicle that I find cool. I remember riding the school bus when I was a kid for many, many years. It wasn't until I was a freshman in high school where I finally began to ditch riding the bus. And now that I am well beyond my school bus riding years, there's still something about them that I find fascinating.

My first experience riding a school bus was back when I was in kindergarten. I vaguely remember getting on the bus for the first time and it seeming so overwhelming. We were only in class for half the day as kindergarteners, so we boarded the bus quite early in the morning and left a lot earlier than the rest of the kids. The first bus I rode on was a Blue Bird 1984. It even had a special handicapped entrance for anyone that was wheelchair bound, although nobody on the bus needed it. It seemed like a shorter bus than typical, but it was perfect for the amount of kids that rode it for our class. We drove all around the school district picking up kids and then dropping them off for the day.

Once I graduated from the kindergarten level, I attended school for the full day once I started first grade. I began to ride the 1983 Blue Bird bus (and before I get too far ahead, Blue Bird is an actual school bus manufacturer -- quite possibly THE premiere school bus builder). Any student that was assigned a bus to ride on usually referred to the number printed on the bus. We rode on bus "83," which was also the year the bus was manufactured. It was probably by far the coolest bus of any that the school district owned because it had a radio! No other bus was equiped with a radio, so to and from school, we were able to listen to one of the local radio stations everyday and listen to our favorite songs. I remember the kids that rode the other buses being jealous just because our bus had a radio. This bus also had the coolest deceleration and acceleration sound whenever the transmission lowered or raised gears. There was just something about this bus that made it cool, and it was rather sad when it became retired.

After 10-11 years, a new school bus is purchased by the school district, replacing the "oldest" one that is actively being used. It is then downgraded to being a spare. Beginning in the fall of 1994, we started riding on the newest bus, bus "94." There was something unique about this one in that it had an emergency door in the middle of the bus on the driver's side. You could actually sit by the emergency door, and the seat in this spot would actually fold up in case the door needed to be accessed. However, our school district basically strapped the seat in an upward position so that no one could ever sit in this unique seat. Talk about a bunch of party poopers. But one thing that was sorely missing on this bus is a radio. We no longer had a radio to listen to and it was definitely missed. It just wasn't the same kind of riding experience without it. Yes, it was a nice, shiny new bus, but it never compared to bus "83."

A year or two later, the school district made some changes and started realigning the bus routes. We were assigned a new driver and the route changed a little bit. We no longer had the nicest, newest, cleanest bus anymore, but were relegated to the oldest and the noisiest bus - and no, it wasn't the radio that made it loud (it didn't even have a radio)! We now rode on bus "4." I honestly had no clue what year the bus was built since it had a weird numbering unlike the rest of buses the school district had (this was a bus used by one of the schools that eventually consolidated into another). But I have reason to believe it was the oldest the school owned. This bus had a standard transmission drive and the loudest windows you could imagine. Whenever the bus started accelerating above 35 mph, the windows started rattling. And this was on a pefectly smooth roadway, too! Many times if you wanted to talk to someone, you had to shout at them. I guess this bus wasn't "terrible" and it got us to and from school on many occasion (but I do remember one time where the bus actually broke down about 30 feet from my house). Eventually the school district retired this bus and we were designated bus "90" from that point on. But shortly thereafter, I stopped riding the school bus for good and instead drove to and from school. After all, that was the "cool" thing to do.

I can honestly list all of the buses that my school owned when I attended school. They were buses 4, 6, 77, 79, 81, 83, 84, 87, 88, 90, 91, 92, 93, 94, 97, 99, and 00. A lot of those are still in service, in fact, consindering the cuts to higher education in the state of Michigan in the past five to seven years. It was common for my school to buy new buses after a bus was used for over 10 years. But these days, they no longer can afford to buy brand new buses at that rate of frequency. They've even gone the route of buying used buses instead of buying brand new. My how things have changed. But the scary thing is that I actually keep track of this stuff. I hope I didn't bore you too much regarding my school bus memories. :-P

Minneapolis Bridge Collapse

I've been contemplating writing about this topic since the tragedy occured a few days ago. I wasn't sure if it was a topic I should tackle since normally I don't write about current events. But for a couple of reasons, I decided to write about it. Number one is that I don't live that far from Minneapolis. Number two is that I am partly a road-geek, meaning I enjoy most things that relate to roads. And number three, a major bridge collapsing in the United States is unthinkable and it's something that NEVER should have happened.

Recalling a family vacation about ten years ago, my parents, sister, and myself traveled to Minneapolis to see the Detroit Tigers play the Twins in the Metrodome. We also visited the Mall of America and stayed at a beautiful hotel in the Twin Cities (I can't remember whether it was in St. Paul or Minneapolis). We also visited the state capital in St. Paul and even took pictures of the structure. But believe it or not, I remember crossing the I-35W bridge in Minneapolis. I don't remember too many specific details about crossing the structure, but I do remember looking down upon the Mississippi River and seeing how wide the river was. I also recall seeing the 10th Avenue Arch bridge (the one that presently stands next to the rubble of the I-35W bridge). I was amazed at how wide this bridge was and it seemed to be quite lengthy, too. We were riding in our pick-up truck and I remember Tracy Chapman's "Give me One Reason" playing on the radio. In fact, that had to have been in 1997. Ten years later, that bridge collapses.

It's inconceivable to me how a bridge like this can fall down in a matter of seconds just because of a structural failure. If you've seen the video, it doesn't take long at all before much of the bridge is in the Mississippi River. This bridge was a major artery within the Twin Cities and without it, a major traffic headache exists. I still cannot understand why more wasn't done to prevent something like this from happening. A major bridge like this in a large U.S. city just suddenly collapses in a matter of moments. As early as 1990, this bridge was deemed as "structurally deficient," a term that's been used over and over again in the news since the bridge collapsed. Inspections of the bridge found there to be "fatigue cracks" in the trusses and structural steel of the bridge. But the Minnesota Department of Transportation never deemed the structure as being unsafe and continued to provide "preventive maintenance" of the structure. That's exactly what was occuring when the bridge collapsed; resurfacing of the bridge deck. In fact, they didn't plan on replacing the structure until at least 2020.

It will be interesting to see what the National Transportation and Safety Board finds as they investigate the cause of this incredible and tragic bridge collapse. It appears that one of the bridge's trusses gave way causing the entire structure to collapse. And what's bad about this bridge design is that when one section gives way, the entire structure collapses. The bridge was supported by two piers, both situated on the banks of the Mississippi River. That's a long section of bridge that's unsupported, which is where the truss system ties into all of this. It's supposed to withstand without having much support from piers. But either one of the fatigue cracks grew between August 1 and the last time the bridge was inspected or sections of the bridge were badly corroded and caused the failure. Some are saying the extreme weather conditions that occur in Minnesota could be to blame (the extreme heat in the summer to the extreme cold in winter) as well as the ongoing construction on the bridge at the time of the collapse. Whatever the case, this story will be one that many will not forget for a long time. And hopefully our country's crumbling infrastructure will begin to get much needed repairs in the wake of this tragedy. It's too bad something like this had to happen before our elected officials got the wake-up call.

Songs I Dig - 2

Last month I debuted a new feature here on my blog, featuring songs that I enjoy listening to very much. You may be thinking "that wasn't long ago," and you'd be right. However, I have found five more songs in which to write about, making this part two of "The Songs I Dig." Most of the songs I'll feature here are adult contemporary/modern rock songs. So if you are a fan of this type of music, then I'm sure you've heard some of the songs I am about to write about and just may enjoy them as much as I.

"Dig" by Incubus - I was thinking about saving the best for last, but decided not to. Right now, of all the recent songs on the air, this one is the most enjoyable for me. I thoroughly enjoy the melody of this song, and it's not often you hear a song titled, "Dig." That right there is a reason to check it out. But seriously, though, this song has a compelling message and if you've seen the official video by Incubus, that message hits home. Incubus is proving that they are not a one-album wonder with their latest hit song.

"Undeniable" by Mat Kearney - You probably remember Mat from his first hit song, "Nothing Left to Lose." He's back with a newly released song, one that is really catchy and particulary unique. To the common folk that might listen to this song for the first time, it may sound like Mat is rapping most of the lyrics except for the chorus. But he doesn't refer it as rapping. I read an article that said he refers to call it "speaking the lyrics." Whatever the case, the song has lyrics you can understand and the chorus is particularly easy to sing along to.

"All at Once" by The Fray - This group has enjoyed remarkable success with its debut album, and their latest song "All at Once" is sure to be another hit. Their first two releases, "Over my Head (Cable Car)," and "How to Save a Life" were huge hits, while their third song, "Look after You" did marginally well. "All at Once" looks to join their first two songs as it's pleasant to listen to and holds a special message within the lyrics ("...sometimes the hardest thing and the right thing are the same"). Be sure to listen to it when it comes on the radio again.

"If You're Gonna Leave" by Emerson Hart - I'll be honest, up until I heard this song on the radio, I never even heard of Emerson Hart before. But for those familiar with the band "Tonic," Emerson originally formed that band. He released a solo album this year and "If You're Gonna Leave" has received a decent amount of airplay around here. Personally I think it has a slight country sound to it, whether it was intended to sound that way or not. All in all, I really like listening to this song and I think you will to (if you haven't yet heard it).

"Do You Know? (The Ping Pong Song)" by Enrique Iglesias - Alright, so you may think I'm a little crazy for including this one on my "Songs I Dig" blog, but since it's been on the radio, I've really enjoyed listening to it. It's certainly not a typical song you'd heard from Enrique. I would consider myself a fan of his music, especially some of his earlier songs such as "Bailamos" and "Hero." "Do You Know?" is a different song for Enrique yet it's quite enjoyable. And even though it's been on the air for much of the summer, I still find myself enjoying it.

That does it for this month's "Songs I Dig" blog. Hopefully in September, I'll be able to come up with five more songs that I find enjoyable and can write about. I hope you enjoy these songs just as much as I.

Trying to Enjoy the Water

I'll be honest; I am not a big fan of water. Never have been and probably never will. Even when I was little, I had no desire to learn how to swim, even though practically everyone else I knew was swimming and having the time of their lives. I guess I could never get over my fear of drowning. To me (and I am sure many people will agree with me), drowning and being burned to death are two of the worst ways to die. We went to the Wisconsin Dells water park when I was around eight years old and remember going into the wave pool and being sucked under a wave. It caught me off guard and freaked me out pretty badly. A few years later, I went into a deep area of the lake at my uncle's camp and started panicing; thrashing around in the water trying to stay afloat. Luckily a cousin pulled me into a shallow area. Needless to say, I've had scary moments with water that I will probably never get over. Most of the time on a hot day, people will head to the beach. I'd rather head into a place with air conditioning.

Visiting my uncle's camp and spending time with my cousins was probably one of the best moments I remember in the summer time when I was little. But I must admit, I'd always get annoyed at their persistence in getting me to learn how to water ski. For many summers, I'd always put it off, coming up with some sort of an excuse. Finally, when they had other people trying to learn how to water ski, I succumbed to their pressure. I gave it the old college try and struck out on my first adventure. And wouldn't you know, that was my only attempt since. I ended up losing my balance and diving face first into the water. I remember dropping down into the water and eventually bobbing up to the surface. It was the weirdest feeling and it pretty much freaked me out. There were many times when I'd ride in the back of the boat and watched my cousins on water skis and was awed at their talents. And it wasn't just skis, but wake boards as well. But I was never envious at what they were able to do behind that boat. It simply did not interest me in learning how to water ski. And the thought of suddenly losing my balance and falling out in the middle of the lake where the water is 50 or more feet deep was not too pleasant of a thought, either.

I never really got a big kick out of riding Sea Doos, either. I really don't understand the fascination behind them. This was another water toy that my uncle owned. I took a few rides with my cousin on a Sea Doo and ended up flipping the thing - not once, but twice. And even though in all of these experiences I had life jackets on, it was still not good enough for me. Just the thought of going overboard and dropping into the water was enough to scare the living daylights out of me. An enjoyable day at the lake for me is to simply wade in a shallow end of the lake, maybe ride an innertube, and just relax. I'm not into the watercraft, high-speed fun. What can I say, I'm kind of boring when it comes to that stuff.

And even though I have a fear of the water (yes, I have come to this conclusion some time ago), I still enjoy heading out to the beach every once in awhile to cool off. It's been incredibly hot the past few days and the thought of taking a dip in Lake Superior seems so refreshing this evening. I think that's where I am going to head right now.

A Life Lost

I was half asleep; in the beginning stages of my afternoon nap, when my dad walks into my room and hands me today's paper. I was thinking to myself, "what now?" But when I read the headline and the first sentence of the story, I immediately got up. A co-worker of mine had gone missing. He was last seen on Wednesday afternoon and hadn't been discovered as of Friday morning. He is on the same crew as I and although he has been with us for a relatively short time, I got to know him pretty well. He was always willing to help out, even if he didn't know certain areas of the plant. He, I, and the rest of our crew got off of midnight shift Wednesday morning. Sometime that afternoon, he went on a motorcycle ride and never came back.

How could you not think of the worst when someone goes missing? Certainly it was in the back of my mind, but I was more confident that he had gotten lost and perhaps his motorcycle broke down. It happens, especially in the thick forests of the Upper Peninsula. I expected him to be alive. I waited to watch the local news at 6:00 that evening to see if there were any updates. When the story came up, my heart sank...

"The search for a missing Ishpeming township man has ended after his body is found," the story started. I knew right then it wasn't good. Details on the accident are still under investigation, but it appears he failed to turn with a curve in the road he was driving on and went down an 80 foot embankment. He was found in a heavily wooded area where it was difficult to find him until today. Needless to say, I was shocked by the news. It's never something you expect to hear. It took my awhile for the news to register, but eventually did. Then I realized I would never see him at work again.

He was a heck of a nice guy, always friendly and helped out wherever he was needed. He was a stand-up person, not afraid to learn or to get dirty. One of the last things he and I talked about before our long weekend started was his plans to paint his house this weekend. He had actually planned to go camping down near Wisconsin Dells but changed his plans because he needed to get his house painted. We had discussed that Thursday was going to be a perfect day for it - since it was going to be in the 60's and the paint wouldn't dry as fast. He even talked about an accident his wife had been in previously and how angry at the treatment she received by the city's police department. Fate would have it that he would get into his own accident the next day.

So I am not in the best of moods considering the news of the past day. He is an individual that will be missed and hard to replace. It just goes to show you that life can be way too short. You just never know when it'll be your time to go.

Songs I Dig - 1

There are certain songs on the radio that are pretty enjoyable right now, which is why I thought I'd start a new monthly feature on my blog highlighting some of those songs that I like. So here are some of them!

Avril Lavigne: "I Miss You" - Did I ever mention how big of a fan I am of Avril Lavigne? She's an incredible singer and nine times out of ten, her songs end up being hits. Her latest, "I Miss You" started airing around here for a week or two, but it's quickly becoming one of my favorites. It has a soft, sweet sound and such a profound message. This one is clearly different sounding than her last, that being "Girlfriend." That one was completely the opposite in that it was uptempo and satrical. "I Miss You" is definitely more serious, but still a very good song.

Collective Soul: "Hollywood" - I love the opening guitar riff of this song, which was probably why I became hooked with it right away. Collective Soul has been around for awhile and one of their earlier songs, "The World I Know" is one of my all-time favorites from them. It's good to see them back on the adult contemporary charts and I think this song has the potential to bring them up. "Hollywood" is such a fun, enjoyable song and you can't help but to sing it. I really enjoy the sound that this song has.

Plain White T's: "Hey there Delilah" - How could you not enjoy this song? It has such a unique sound and quite a compelling message. I think one of the reasons why I became hooked to this song is because of its soft tone and it's especially easy to sing along to. It's not hard to figure out why this song is #1 on billboard's top 100 this week. It's catchy and enjoyable to listen to. I know I never end up turning flipping the station when this one comes on.

Elliot Yamin: "Wait for You" - This one has actually been out for awhile now, but I don't believe it has gotten the recognition it deserved until recently. Elliot has always been one of my favorites from season five of American Idol which proved he definitely can sing (he is turning out to be a heck of a lot more profitable than Taylor Hicks). "Wait for You" proves he can sing and I think he will have a hit record with his recent album release. He has a lot of promise and "Wait for You" is one of those songs that you can't get enough of!

Fall Out Boy: "Thanks for the Memories" - I must admit, when I first heard this song, I thought it was pretty weird coming from Fall Out Boy. All of the previous songs they released, you could barely understand what half the lyrics were! This one has slowly grown on me, and now I think it is a pretty decent song. It's nice to finally be able to understand what they are singing about when they take a slower approach to singing a song. I will say this, Fall Out Boy has a pretty bright future in the years to come. I think they gained a lot of fans from their latest album.

That will do for this month's look at the songs I dig. Be sure to check back some time next month for the latest installment. We'll see which ones tickle my fancy then.

First Encounter

I must say, even though there are times when I like being single and having independence, there are times that I wish for companionship. It's not my goal to remain dateless for the rest of my life and I've gone about dating people pretty slowly. The thought of dying alone is scary. But I want to find the right girl for me. I'm definitely not into looking at the first choice and being with that person the rest of my life. If I see that her and I don't click and have different personalities or social lives, then I'm not going to waste my time and try to make things work. I want someone who will understand who I am and why I do the things I do. That's not asking too much, is it?

I think I may have finally met someone that I just might be a match with. Her and I have been communicating through e-mails since about March and just last month, we started talking on the phone. At the time when we first started e-mailing each other, she lived roughly 30 miles away. True, 30 miles is not a long distance, but it was just a bit too far to see her. I just didn't think the travel was worth it. After awhile, we stopped e-mailing and I didn't think I'd be hearing from her again. But a few months later, she e-mails me back saying that she moved closer and if we wanted to meet, she'd be up for it. This piqued my interest immensely. She looked like a very pretty girl on her profile and I figured, what do I have to lose? So we continued e-mailing, and eventually we started calling each other (she called me first). The thing with on-line dating is whether you can actually trust the person enough to believe that they are telling you the truth and if the picture is "doctored up." You hear these horror stories from the news about internet encounters and it's something that nearly prevents you from trying it out. I've had a couple of experiences with people having an "old" picture or lying about their appearance and when I met them, I was turned off almost immediately. In fact, it happened about three or four weeks ago. But this recent case is a different story.

We scheduled to meet for the first time last Thursday at her place. I was looking forward to our encounter and meeting her. She was supposed to give me a call sometime after 3:30 PM once I had awoken from sleep, but I never got the call. So I called her just to see what was up and when she didn't answer, I left a message. Not long after, she called and explained that I couldn't come over because she was up all morning and was just now sleeping. I was a bit concerned and thought maybe I was scaring her away. But that wasn't the case at all. We rescheduled to have our first meeting to today. I don't care who it is, but I always feel a tad bit nervous whenever I'm about to meet someone in person for the first time, even though we may have e-mailed or talked on the telephone for months or even years for the matter. I'm just a nervous person in general. So yes, I was a bit nervous today, but it comes with the territory. I was also kind of afraid that I'd get lost finding her apartment, but I found it right away. I was doing great and then I knocked on her door...

Like I said earlier, you never know what you're gonna expect when you first officially meet someone for the first time. But when I saw her open the door, I was not disappointed. I'm always kind of shy at first and don't really say much, but once I get comfortable with someone, I can go on and on. And I'm also a good listener and act like I care what the other person was talking about. We talked for nearly three hours about a variety of different stuff and just trying to get to know each other. She made cookies for my visit so I was eating some of them along with some pop. I know it was just a first meeting, but I honestly could feel a connection there between us. And I don't want to jinx anything by saying that it's going to work because you just never know. It was the first meeting after all. However, I really want to see her again and get to know her better. She is super nice and overall sweet. If there's one relationship I'd really like to work, it's this one.

Even after I had left her place and headed back home, I felt completely at ease and in peace. She took every once of worry and anxiety I had out of my mind. She said that I can always call her and we can meet up and do something. That leads me to believe that she is interested in me too. Let's just say I feel real good about things and maybe, just maybe I have finally found my soul mate. I'm sure I'll be writing about it if things go one way or the other in the future. ;-)

Summer Half-Way Over

A disappointing thing this time of year is the realization that summer is half-way over. Yes, there is plenty of summer to enjoy, but today is July 14 which means we are on the down side of summer. The days will start to get shorter and the temperatures begin to cool down. Such a depressing thought. I always thought that once we reach the 4th of July (and I've heard many other people make similar comments), summer flies by. For me, after the first weekend in August, there's not much left of summer to look forward to. The first weekend in August is when my hometown's community celebration is held and even though I likely won't be able to attend this year, it's still an important set of days on my calendar. By then I come to realize that summer really IS almost over.

Lately our weather has been rather fall-like, which is putting me in this sentimental mood for summer. In fact today, it is only in the middle-50's and it looks dark and gloomy out - as if it's about to rain. We've had out fair share of rain this past week, not that we didn't need it. But it sure puts a damper on your spirits when you go through a stretch like this and it's supposed to be at least 70 degrees and not a cloud in the sky. I guess we were due for a stretch like this. So far in the summer of 2007, we've had pretty nice weather - with even a few hot days mixed in. Hopefully the remainder of the month turns out to be nice and more summer-like.

I have already noticed a few true signs of late-summer around here. Hollyhocks are beginning to bloom; seems to be a bit early this year, but nontheless, still a late-summer flower already starting to blossom. Another kind of flower is starting to bloom as well and is another late summer/early fall flower. I don't know it's name, but it's a wildflower and it grows these little round yellow flowers. It has a pretty strong smell to it as well. Every time I begin to see these flowers grow, I know that we're heading into the later part of summer. Another sure sign of late-summer is the cicadas and the loud noise they produce. I don't know if you're aware of this creature, but they are the insect that creates the buzzing noise up in the trees on warm days. I never seem to hear them in the early part of the summer, however, late summer is when they're most prominent. The cicadas kind of split their summer with the June Bug, as the June Bug is more of an early-summer insect.

About a month or so back, I had the pleasure of sitting outside on the back deck at home on a warm evening and listen to the night sounds of summer. There's absolutely nothing like it. I even saw a bright flash in the air, which continued to blink on and off. A Firefly. Nothing brings home memories of youth more than seeing fireflies blinking through the night sky. It was a perfect night to set up a tent and sleep outside, in fact. But it was too late and our tent at home is so klunky and old, it would've taken me a good two hours of set-up. Plus, I'm rather weary of wild creatures roaming the backyard, so I just enjoyed the solitude and peacefulness of a beautiful summer night sitting on the back deck. Truly an enjoyable and wonderful time of the year. Make sure you get out and enjoy it before we're all stuck inside during a blinding snowstorm. It's not that far off, ya know. ;-)

Independence

Ah the Fourth of July. It's one of my all-time favorite holidays and it always holds a special place in my heart. Even though I am an adult now - the holiday is still extra special for me. The fireworks have always been my favorite aspect of the holiday, but the parades aren't bad either. Today, I witnessed a spectacular parade here in Marquette, MI - one that lasted well over an hour. If we weren't worried about being boxed into a dead-end street for a couple of hours, we would've stayed for the whole thing. So we exited a little bit early to avoid the traffic jams. Still, what we witnessed was superb and hopefully next year I'll be lucky enough to have the day off again.

Marquette wasn't always our home to view the parade. Back when I was just a young boy, we'd always venture out to the small town of Trenary which was only 15 miles away from our hometown. This community's population is roughly about 300 people, but on the Fourth of July, it swelled to over ten times that. Crowds would like the streets of Trenary anxious for the parade to begin. It's one of the things I enjoyed most about summer was the Fourth of July and witnessing the parade and getting a bagful of candy. One of the neat aspects about attending a Fourth of July parade in Trenary is that the floats actually go around the parade route twice. So once you saw the very first float come back for a second time, you knew you'd get to see everything again one last time - just in case you didn't get a good enough glimpse the first time around. The parades weren't extremely flashy or for that matter very long, either. Usually they'd display the township's fire trucks, the township ambulance, school and family reunion floats, horses, the school's band, kids on bikes, a float advertising for the next outhouse classic race during the next upcoming winter, so on and so forth. When you're a kid, it doesn't matter what the floats are - just that they have candy to hand out! But the last time I attended the Trenary Fourth of July parade (back in 2003, I'd say), I couldn't help but feel a bit disappointed (please, don't kill me for saying so!!). It just seemed so short and uninspiring to me - and maybe I didn't have that small-town spirit going on that day. But it just didn't seem the same to me as it did when I was little. It's not like I could stick around on that day either, because I had to go in for afternoon shift a couple of hours later. Maybe that diminished my enthusiasm quite a bit. But I must say, the parade here in Marquette is fantastic. A countless number of fire trucks, police cars, ambulances, civic organizations, military groups marching, etc. Since I had the day off, I could enjoy what was going on and I didn't feel like I had to rush off to be somewhere.

For as small as Trenary is - the fireworks have always seemed adequate. They were what you'd expect a small-town fireworks display to be. But during the last few times I've seen the fireworks in Trenary, they were much improved from what I remembered when I was a kid. In fact, last year I viewed both Marquette's and Trenary's fireworks displays and Trenary's was the best, hands-down. Marquette's Fourth of July Committee was hurting for money during last year's celebration and weren't able to come up with the funds to put on a spectacular fireworks show. That is why they seemed to disappointing compared to previous years and why Trenary's was probably much better. However, I have heard that the Fourth of July Committee here in Marquette raised more than enough money to put on a spectacular fireworks display - so that is excellent news for those that live here (oddly enough, the fireworks will be shot off tomorrow and not on the 4th). I am not able to view the fireworks display in Trenary this year (due to me having to work at 5:30 AM tomorrow!!), but I know that they will be better than ever! And I will always have the memories of attending the fireworks there with my family for many years. It will always be my first home to Fourth of July celebrations and I will never forget them.

Here's hoping all of my blog readers out there enjoyed their Fourth of July and to get out and enjoy the fireworks!! Celebrate our nation's birthday and be thankful for all that we have.

Odd Crimes

One of the newest features that the local newspaper has been printing is a daily log of all the police activity occuring within the city. I was surprised to see so much police activity occur in just one day, as well as reading the kinds of things that the local police force gets called on. In a city with a population of 20,000 located in the Upper Peninsula, it's not the typical kinds of criminal activity you would find in a bigger city. Yes, some of those "typical" crimes do exist from time to time, but usually they are few and far between. Here are some of the more interesting crimes listed in the police log and some that'll make you chuckle.

"Request for a Skunk Trap" - Hmm, okay. I didn't think police departments had any kind of live traps on hand. Isn't this something for the Department of Natural Resources (DNR) to handle? Then again, maybe this individual didn't know who to call for. Skunks are nasty critters (I've come across a few in my time) and once you see more than one start hanging out together, you know it's time to take action. In fact, my grandmother at her farm has three or four "pet" skunks! I don't know if I'd be so trusting as to call them pets.

"Dead squirrel for removal" - Okay, this one made me chuckle. So there's a dead squirrel lying on the street and instead of this individual handling it themselves, they call the police to get rid of it? Now I've heard of everything. Then again, where do you put a dead squirrel carcass in a city? I don't know that I'd call the police for that. Why not dig a hole in the ground and bury the thing. Either that, or put it in the freezer and have squirrel meat for later. :-D

"Car lock-out assistance" - The last few days I've been reading the city police log, I've come across quite a few of these. At least I know I'm not the only one that this has happened to. I used to own a car in which I either locked the keys in the car or forgot to shut the headlights off and drained the battery. I'm so glad I have a newer car with better technology. But it just goes to show you that locking your keys in a car does happen on occasion, especially when you're distracted.

"Person sleeping on steps" - Another one that made me chuckle. Obviously the person sleeping on the steps was passed out from drinking too much (isn't that safe to say?). I can't imagine if I were the person calling the police to report that someone was sleeping on my front steps. How foolish and unbelievable would that sound? But you want the person off your steps - I mean, why else would he/she be there? Personally, I think I'd try waking them up myself and telling them to shoo.

The rest of the incidents are pretty typical activities for this city, including reported drunkenness, thefts, civil disturbances, and driving complaints. In a city that seems fairly quiet and nice, where you can go about your business without feeling like someone's chasing you (I won't say that you can leave your doors unlocked, because that's gone out the window a long time ago), there's much more activity that involves the police than I would've thought. Most of it is minor, yet it goes to show you that the police aren't sitting around in their station twittling their thumbs. There is LOTS that goes on, even in a U.P. city.

Oh Hail!

I woke up around 2:00 PM today after getting off from my last midnight shift. There were a couple of messages on my answering machine; one from my mom and the other from my dad, about an hour or so apart, saying that they would be in town and to not head home. Seeing that I had just gotten up, I was in no rush to go anywhere, so I stayed and waited. They arrived shortly around 2:20 PM, and we all agreed to go out to eat. Just then, a severe thunderstorm warning flashed on the TV screen. I thought, "well, it's probably not for our area." Wrong I was - and the storm was predicted to move through our area. I wasn't really all that concerned with it because it did not look like anything major on the radar and most of the time the warnings for our area end up being minor. My parents had picked up a "new" sewing table for my mom (it is actually a secondhand table) and were concerned with the impending rain. My dad had the truck, so there was nothing to protect it from getting wet. So my dad and I carried it into my apartment until the rain had passed. Then we headed out.

The skies looked very ominous to the north and west. Dark, menacing skies creeped closer to the city - and we were stuck in five mile-an-hour traffic in the middle of a construction zone. It started to sprinkle, but the heavy stuff had yet to reach us. We finally reached our destination - out favorite restaurant Applebees. We were inside the restaurant for roughly ten minutes before the brunt of the storm hit us. First it started to rain, then it picked up a little more, then it was a heavy downpour. Then it started to hail. It was small hail at first but it didn't take long before it got bigger and bigger. Eventually it became golf ball-size and was pounding on the roof of the restaurant and the cars parked outside. The lights flickered inside the restaurant and the power briefly went out. The wind picked up - gusting up to 60 mph blowing the construction barrels on the highway across the road surface. Cars were swerving around to avoid them. Light poles in the parking lot shook with the strong gust of the wind and the hail started to strip the leaves off the trees surrounding the parking lot. The hail started accumulating on the ground - looking almost like a wintery scene. It was absolutely surreal - and all of the customers in the restaurant received a front row seat to this amazing spectacle of nature. The hail kept falling and the rains kept pouring down.

The men working on the highway huddled in their vehicles, waiting for the storm to pass. Eventually, all traffic on the highway stopped, as it was just too dangerous to even drive - drivers waiting until the worst had passed. For awhile, it didn't seem like it would ever quit; the hail lasting for at least 10 minutes. The parking lot was even starting to flood out, with pools of hail swirling along in the mini rapids. Customers in the restaurant were taking pictures of the scene with their cell phones and exclaimed to themselves how incredible this looked. And finally, the storm eventually let up. The hail stopped and the rains became much lighter. The lightning was vivid for awhile, but that too had soon passed.

The TV's in the restaurant broadcast a snowy picture, signaling that the cable had been knocked out by the storm. Within ten minutes, it was back on. One of the TV's in the far back of the restaurant was broadcasting The Weather Channel and I happened to catch the warning being scrawled on the bottom of the screen. A Tornado Warning was issued for the county my parents lived and I grew up, and the cell was moving right towards our town! We became even more concerned to the prospect that this storm could do damage at home as well. All we could do is hope that it would weaken and provide nothing but beneficial rains.

We exited the restaurant and checked to see what kind of damage had been done to my dad's truck. Sure enough, the hood and roof the truck were peppered with small dents from the golf ball-sized hail. Later on, we noticed that both side-view mirrors had been chipped and broken by the onslaught of hail. A drive through the parking lot of the restaurant and the mall nearby also revealed that all of the other cars received similar damage. There were going to be a lot of insurance claims made by this storm. A drive around the area found a ton of leaves covering roads, all stripped off from the hail. An amazing pile of hail accumulated in low-lying areas and around drains, and a low layer of fog slowly rose from the chilly hail that was beginning to melt. As much as two inches of hail accumulated in some parts of the city, and even a report of three inch hail was recorded. Now that's incredible stuff! However, after hearing reports that the next street up from me experienced damage from hail, I grew quite concerned that my car was in bad shape.

We first made a stop at the local big box hardware store and as my dad lingered in there, the more antsy I got to leave. Finally, we did leave and we continued to see hail on our way back to my apartment as it slowly began to melt. As I reached my apartment, I grew uneasy and pretty concerned that my car was a wreck. But as we surveyed the other cars in the lot, it didn't seem to be as bad as I had imagined. My dad's truck faired much worse, but the hood of my car was peppered with small dents. There were a few hail dents on the roof of my car and on the truck, but it really wasn't that bad. If it was that bad, I was considering trading in my car - but I may just hold onto it for awhile longer now. There is definitely some dents from the hail, but like I said, not nearly as bad as my dad's truck. I think it helped that my car was sheltered a bit by my apartment building. Otherwise I think the damage might've been a lot worse.

So needless to say, it was a very interesting weather day in Marquette, MI - something unlike I had ever seen before. I had seen very small hail fall before, but nothing to that extent. The sheer power of the hail, along with the ferocity of the winds and the rains were something I will never forget. And for a storm that didn't seem like it could produce much, it sure turned out to be one for the record books.

Confidence Pays

This past Thursday, my mom and I went to eat at the new Perkin's Restaurant here in town. Perkin's has always been one of my favorite restaurants to go to, but usually the only time we've been to one is when we were on our way to Wisconsin, because there had never been one here. I know I used to love their pies and a few times, I even begged my parents to buy one of their pies to take home on our way back. And finally, we have one here.

I am sure everyone has felt uncomfortable in a new setting at one time or another. Whether it's being a student at a new school and not knowing anyone, or being a new hire at an established employer and not knowing anyone there. I know I've experienced those same feelings many different times and it takes getting adjusted to your surroundings and feeling comfortable where you're at. I could tell the waiter we had at Perkin's was pretty nervous at what he was doing. He was pretty young, and it wouldn't surprise me if he was still in high school and was just working there for the summer. He probably has only been at being a waiter for a week if not less than that. My mom and I could detect that he felt uneasy at what he was doing; how he talked to us, how he walked around the restaurant looking lost and trying to find something to do, how he didn't really communicate much with the other waiters and waitresses on the floor. Maybe he wasn't like this at all and it could be just how we perceived it, but to us, that is how it looked.

He even screwed up my order. I had asked for a chicken BBQ supreme sandwhich and I ended up getting a hamburger patty instead of a chicken patty. Everything else about the order was right except for getting the hamburger. I guess the clue that I was getting a hamburger was when after I gave my order he asked, "the burger?" And not thinking twice about it, I replied, "yes." Well geez, I DID say the chicken BBQ supreme sandwhich. Unless you could substitute the chicken for hamburger - I don't really know. But, my mom and I didn't want to make him feel any more embarassed than he already looked, so we just let it slide. I thought it was a pretty good sandwhich regardless of the mix-up.

He even asked my mom if she wanted another iced tea, which she did. Wouldn't you know, a waitress just happened to come along with a pitcher of iced tea and asked my mom if she wanted a refill. My mom said sure, but after the waitress was gone, she said, "I hope he doesn't come with the refill." Well sure enough, he did. So he had to bring it back and my mom and I were left to feeling pretty badly for this kid. We wanted him to be confident in his job and he just did not seem like that confident of a person. We had hoped that leaving him a generous tip would lift up his spirits and make him become more confident in his abilities. We sure hope it worked.

As I said, he couldn't have been on the job for very long and I am sure he will improve and gain some confidence the more he works. But starting out, it can be frustrating for anyone. I remember when I first learned how to operate a cash register at a grocery store, whenever fruits or vegetables came through, you had to look through a book if you didn't happen to know the code that you could punch in. Plus, there were countless ways in which a customer could pay for their groceries and it was so easy hitting a wrong button on the machine. During the first week, one evening I worked, I was $30.00 off on my drawer. I can't remember the exact details anymore, but I know I did something that I shouldn't have done. I think I charged up an extra $30.00 that I shouldn't have and it came up unaccounted for. Nothing was ever stolen from me, but it was just an error on my part. And you know what? I was never that much off on my drawer ever again. See, just like me, it took some confidence in my abilities and soon after, I excelled as a cashiere at that grocery store. It can happen to anyone, as well.

The End of an Era

I've been on a bit of a vacation from my blog for the past three weeks (hey, it happens every now and again). But I believe I have become rejuvinated and you will see a lot more activity here in the coming weeks ahead. I took a break right before the finale week of American Idol and never did a recap for the two finalist. At that point in the competition, both have to be pretty good to get to that point, which is why I felt a recap wasn't all that significant. I was happy to see my favorite to win it, Jordin Sparks, crowed as the next American Idol. I don't have anything against Blake, because he is a fabulous entertainer. But Jordin's voice was really amazing to me and I felt that way for awhile. Hopefully within the next few days, I'll be able to recap some of my favorite performances from the top 10 singers in a special end-of-the-season blog for you. But the topic of this blog is not about American Idol, but about another significant event that just happened over this past weekend. It was the ending of an era for me personally as well as for a good on-line friend of mine, as we closed down a message board called the "Three Amigos Internet Cafe," that we had spent a lot of time working on during the past 4+ years. During the past year, this board had been relatively inactive and not many new people were joining. We felt the time was right to shut it down now rather than let it just sit there and do nothing (well, it'll still sit there and do nothing, but it'll basically sit as a living memory of what we discussed over a couple years-time). There had been many significant events that occured since we formed this message board, and this blog will recount some of those.

The Three Amigos Internet Cafe (TAIC) was not its original name. In fact, it was originally called "Game Shows from A to Z." Myself and two others decided to form our own message board. The three of us were already members of a popular game show message board hosted by the Game Show Network. That message board was beginning to become overcrowded with new people and it no longer felt like the intimate home we once knew. So we branched out on our own and invited people from the GSN boards who were like family to us. Our new board became a hit right away and new people continued to join daily (0f course we advertised it on the GSN Boards). We were doing quite well and it was a joy to see the success that the new message board was drawing. But over time, things behind the scenes started to unravel, mainly between myself and one other administrators of this message board. I originally created this message board for her - it was to be her forum and I was helping her out. I created it and made the necessary changes for her until she felt comfortable running the place herself. Plus, she didn't have constant internet access which made it hard for her to administer the board all of the time. I was in college and had time on my hands to monitor the board on a frequent basis. Eventually her and I began to bicker about the arrangement of the board as well as the changes we wanted to make. We didn't see eye to eye on some of the changes and eventually it reached a boiling point. To make a long story short, she left the message board and formed her own forum. Myself and one other individual remained as administrators, but many of the members of this forum soon drifted over to hers, deleting their accounts from mine along the way. It was a huge misunderstanding between her and I that caused tremendous turbulance, not only between the message board we jointly created, but also at the GSN Boards. Many people turned on me, faulting me for the events that occured. It was an ugly time that unfairly ruined my reputation, but I moved on. I needed to recruit a new administrator to take over her role and someone in whom I could trust. I ended up choosing my best on-line friend, Tom, to become the third administrator.

Changes quickly took place as soon as she left, including implementing a new "skin" for the message board and renaming it. The new name would soon become "The Three Amigos Internet Cafe." Names for message boards never come easy to me, but this one ended up being pretty decent as it fit what our board was all about. Three male administrators lead the charge at the board, which is why the three amigos was so suited for us. We continued to lose members to the former administrator's message board, which we tagged as "competition." But yet, we recruited some new people. There were also members loyal to both places - which was a nice gesture by them. Eventually, though, we would end up losing our third administrator "Bryan" who suddenly disappeared from the internet completed. Over time, it was just Tom and I running the show. Bryan would pop in occasionally, but never consistently like Tom and I.

One of the staples of our message board was holding forum parties. This is where we would try and gather as many people as possible and hold an on-line party which took place within a topic on the board. One forum party took place to celebrate our first anniversary. By then, we had appointed a new "third amigo" named John, although he just served as a moderator for our board. Needless to say, our first anniversary forum party was not exactly nice to the members who had left our forum to join their own. We went all out, insulting, name-calling, and telling off those people we felt betrayed us. We knew what we were doing probably would cause a good deal amount of controversy, but we didn't care. We had a chip on our shoulders and felt we needed to give some paybacks. Eventually that thread got us into trouble. In fact, our board would eventually get deleted by Proboards, who ran our board. Despite what happened, we held no regrets for what we did. But the Three Amigos was now gone along with everything we created. Tom and I didn't really discuss it too much as soon as it happened, but eventually we talked about it. We felt we needed a break from the board and we decided not to rebuild at that time.

It must've been six to eight months until we started over, but not without some nudging by a new person I met who was a member at my All Grown Up forum. I had told him about our history and everything that involved the Three Amigos. He was a persistent young fellow and took "no" for an answer. So Tom and I, along with this young kid, re-started the Three Amigos Internet Cafe for a second time. Things started off pretty well for us, as we got some of the old members to re-join as well as some people from my AGU board to become members. But I don't believe it ever held the same amount of success as what we had when "Game Shows from A to Z" first started. Still, it wasn't a bad start and seemed like good fun to us. We held forum parties on occasion - usually celebrating our anniversaries and holidays - but they weren't nearly as controversial as our first anniversary party. In time, we booted the young fella who was our third "amigo," mainly due to a lack of trust, and we recruited John to become our moderator at the board, once again. The last couple of years in the life of the board, things gradually slowed down to nothing. And that is where we end up to this day. A message board lacking in any kind of activity and basically just sat there doing nothing. The perfect time for it to shut down.

And that's the story regarding the four years of The Three Amigos Internet Cafe. We had our tumultuous moments and our enjoyable moments. And now, they are just memories as the board is closed down once and for all. Tom and I haven't ruled out opening the board again sometime in the future - but for now, we need a break. The end had to come sooner or later, and now seemed like the best time to do it.

American Idol Top 3

Well, it must be getting near the end of the season for American Idol when I start slacking off on my recaps. We are about an hour away from the start of the elimination show tonight and next week is the huge finale. I'm running into some motivation problems in completing tonight's blog (I run into this problem from time to time), so it if ends up being shorter than my usual recaps, blame it on that. This week, the contestants had three songs to sing. One was chosen by one of the judges, another was chosen by the producers of American Idol, and the last was chosen by the contestant themselves. Here's the recap from the top 3...

I completely forgot about American Idol and totally missed Jordin's first performance. By the time I turned it on, Ryan was telling Jordin that she would be back in just a short amount of time singing her next song. Drat. It was a song that Simon chose Jordin to sing, and from what I understood, Jordin did a good job with the song but did not blow anyone away by it. Pretty consistent for Jordin the past few weeks, I must say. So, we'll move onto Blake going next.

Paula chose the song "Roxanne" originally covered by The Police for Blake. I didn't really understand Paula for choosing this song for Blake - but he handled it pretty well. I must say, though, that he did sound awkward singing it at times, as if he was singing it with an accent like Sting has. Overall, I thought Blake performed it quite solidly and stayed away from the beat boxing which was a good decision on his part.

Randy had the pleasure of picking a Whitney Houston song for Melinda, "I Believe in You and Me." Randy always chides a contestant for picking Whitney songs, especially if they don't sing them very well. He wanted to throw out a difficult song for Melinda to sing, and it doesn't get very easy singing a Whitney song. I wasn't blown away by it, but it was another near-flawless performance from Melinda. I think she had a few pitch problems, especially in the beginning, and the song wasn't exactly upbeat for me. But, Melinda still did well with it.

Now I get to see Jordin perform for the first time tonight. It's time for the producers to choose songs for the contestants (where is Clive Davis, anyways?), and I think they chose a real odd-ball for Jordin to sing. It's the Donna Summer classic, "She Works Hard for her Money." It's actually a great, upbeat song for her and I think she does a good job with it. I enjoy listening to her sing it and these kind of songs do well for her.

The producers picked an absolute perfect song for Blake, as he sang Maroon 5's "This Love." Maroon 5 is one of my favorite bands so of course I'm gonna love this. I thought it was a very fun song and it's also very recognizable; something that has been released within the past five years. Blake does well when he stays current, so the producers didn't hurt Blake here. And the little bit of beat boxing that he did worked very well.

Throughout the competition, Melinda has sung songs that made her sound like Tina Turner - at least that is what the judges have commented from time to time. One such example was when Melinda sang Bon Jovi's "Have a Nice Day." So the producers followed up on that when they selected an Ike and Tina Turner Song, "Nutbush City Limits." Nutbush? Okay, I have never heard of this song myself and it seems like another goofy choice. Certainly there's a lot better Tina Turner songs they could've picked. It's a very upbeat, rock 'n roll kind of song and I enjoy it when Melinda rocks out. I don't necessarily believe the producers did any favors to Melinda when they chose this song for her, but she did not flail and it ended up being a good performance.

Now it's time for the contestants to pick their own songs and Jordin sang "I Who Have Nothing." I wasn't sure if I had heard this song by Jordin before (how quickly I forget), but then I did some research and sure enough, she sung it during the British Invasion week. An interesting choice, considering she had a couple other songs that she blew wide open throughout the competition, but this wasn't bad. She sang it exceptionally well and included a lot of power and emotion to her voice. It was nicely controlled and who cares if it's an old song, as Simon pointed out. You've gotta have some variety.

Blake chooses a Robin Thicke song, "When I Get You Alone." Blake stays contemporary going with a current song and that doesn't hurt him the least bit. It will definitely attract the younger voters. Personally, I didn't know the song, so I cannot compare it to the original, but I thought he did a fine job with it. Once again, he used the beat boxing in limited fashion which was perfectly executed. Last week I think he went a bit overboard with it and he learned a lesson. Blake did a nice job this week.

Finally, Melinda wraps things up doing the same as Jordin did, choosing a song she had success with earlier in the competition, "Woman." The first time she performed this, I was blown away by it; it was that good. This time around, even though it was on a larger stage, I just didn't like it as much. Yes, it was still good and consistent like Melinda has been throughout the competition, but it didn't live up to her earlier rendition.

And now the all important pick as to who goes home this week. I think this season is about as wide open as ever as to who will end up being in the final three. I think Melinda is a definite shoo-in for the finale, and Jordin will also make her way through to next week. That means Blake ends up being the odd man out. I really like Blake and I hate to see him go, but at this stage of the competition, there are a lot of good performers. I think the two ladies are just a small notch ahead of him.

Soon enough, we will know for sure who the final two will be. Enjoy the results show!

New Development

Even though I knew it was coming before the official announcement was made yesterday - you never what ends up being a rumor and what becomes true. Lowe's, the major home improvement retail store, will be building an outlet here in Marquette. It will be built across the highway from our other home improvement retailer, Menards. The building itself will be 139,000 square feet large, and I have no idea if that includes a lumber yard or garden center (but I don't believe it does - those will be separate). Needless to say, this will provide a major shot in the arm for the area as it will provide for new jobs and an increase to the tax base. In my opinion, Menards really is not doing an adequate job providing affordable buidling supplies to the area. I also believe their customer service is very poor. With a major competitor just across the road from them, I think this will help them to be more competent and they won't take advantage and over price their materials like they can now. Otherwise you know what people will do then. Head across the highway to Lowe's.

Over the years as I've lived here in Marquette or nearby, I've heard many different rumors regarding retail stores and restaurants potentially locating here. Five or six years ago, Home Depot was supposed to build a store right where Lowe's will be building. Even our local newspaper included a big write-up on the front page. But that never materialized. In today's paper in the article that mentions the new Lowe's store, Home Depot was brought up again as having interest in the past at building a store behind the Westwood Mall. Since it seems that Lowe's will definitely be locating here, Home Depot seems to be the odd man out. I just can't imagine having all three major home improvement retailers here in a town of 20,000 people. But then again, we did have a K-Mart, Target, and Wal-Mart for awhile before K-Mart closed.

About three years ago, I heard the rumor about Costco buying Super One (a grocery store) and the Superior Lanes (a bowling alley) and building a store on that parcel of land. That never materialized. Another rumor involved the popular restaurant the Olive Garden locating in Negaunee Township across from the old airport where the new casino will be built eventually (they've been saying that for the past five years now, though). There's also been talk about a Dairy Queen (which would be awesome), Old Navy, and an Arby's coming to town over the years, but those have never materialized. And yes, even a Sam's Club was mentioned as possibly locating here at one time. But the problem with a Sam's is that they are usually located directly next to Wal-Mart. Our Wal-Mart (which is always crazy busy) is land-locked on both sides of it. Menards happens to sit next to Wal-Mart and if it should happen to close, you better believe that Wal-Mart will look very closely at building a Sam's there.

The latest "rumor" flying around involves Walgreen's building a store here. But that one will pay a price if it goes where it's been rumored to go. Shunk's Furniture and JT's Shaft would be bulldozed in favor of a Walgreen's. Those two businesses are long time establishments of the area and it would be a shame to see them go. Walgreen's is a very popular drug store (in case you're unaware) and would also affect Shopko quite heavily because their pharmacy is very popular. Shopko would be directly next to the new Walgreen's, if it should happen to go there. It could very well be the final nail in the coffin for Shopko which has been hurt by Wal-Mart and Target here. And that would truly be a shame for me, because Shopko is probably the store I shop at the most, and I know I'll really miss it (and it happens to be two blocks away!!!).

The one thing I am truly happy to know is that Perkin's will finally be here in town. It's probably one of my favorite sit-down style restaurants and it's going in where Timbercreek used to be (actually, the Timbercreek building is being completely renovated into a Perkin's). Perkin's is a restaurant we always seemed to go to on our family vacations and trips to Wisconsin. They always have great food and finally we'll have one in Marquette.

Meaningful Songs

I am sure we all have certain songs that elicit memories from our past and present. They may provoke pleasant and happy memories or those that are sad, maddening, or depressing. Here are a few that are "classics" in my mind and ones that I never get tired listening to.

Everything but the Girl - Missing

This is a song that brings me back to the mid-1990's (and seeing Chris Kattan butcher it on "Saturday Night Live" certainly didn't help it's popularity with me). My older sister had just graduated from NMU with a degree in Biology and was headed to Marshfield, WI to attend the histology program at St. Joseph's Hospital. My family helped move her into this very old, musty smelling building that was actually a dorm on the hospital campus where she was to stay. It was the least bit modern and didn't even have cable TV! I felt bad that she had to live in such a dump and the worst part, being five hours away from her immediate family. She was crying as we parted ways and the rest of us piled into the car and drove off. Tears started streaming down my face as I realized how far away my sister would be. I could see my mom in the seat in front of me blotting her eyes with a kleenex and I'm pretty sure my other sister in the seat next to me was crying, too. This song played as we drove through Marshfield and on our way out of town. I listened to the words of the song and it had such a profound effect on me and I always makes me feel connected to that time.

Merril Bainbridge - Mouth

This song absolutely makes me smile everytime I think of it. If you've ever really listened to the lyrics of the song, you know it'll make you chuckle. My dad was always a "fan" of it even though it seemed to be an odd choice for a favorite song. Hearing him try to sing this song being just him and me driving through the old homestead really brings back a good memory for me. That's not the only memory I associate with this song. This song happened to play on the radio when me and my two sisters were all in the car heading to one of our favorite local scenic points; the Laughing Whitefish Falls in Sundell. I remember one of my sisters swerving out of the way of a raccoon as we drove towards the falls. I think we were even singing along to certain parts of it.

The Proclaimers - 500 Miles (I'm Gonna Be)

This is such a classic 80's song for me and one that I adore. Probably the one specific memory for me is listening to this song along the AuTrain-Forest Lake Road on our way back home after doing some swimming at the AuTrain Recreation Area. It's such a catchy tune and you can't help but sing bits and pieces of it whenever you may hear it. Also, since we're discussing it, another memory I associate this song with is from high school. I was part of this science group that won many awards during the regional competition which earned us a trip downstate to Lansing. One of the songs we listened to as we made the long treck to Lansing on the school bus was this song. And yes, many people were singing along. Seems that it had a significant effect not only on me, but others as well.

These are just a few of the songs that bring back good memories for me. As I think of more, I'll post them and the reasons why they are so special.

American Idol Top 4

So, were you wondering where my American Idol recap was last night? Yep, it's a bit later than usual due to traveling back to Marquette after spending the weekend at my parents once the show concluded last night. So I didn't have any time to write the recap until I got home from work this afternoon. But enough about that (and I'm sure you're all bored to tears), let's get to the recap!

Ahh, I absolutely love this week's theme. The Bee Gees are one of my all-time favorite bands. I know many of their songs, including all from their most recent album several years ago. My mom got me hooked on listening to them and they've produced an amazing amount of music during the past 50 years. Probably one of the saddest days was when Maurice Gibb, one of the three Bee Gees passed away a few years ago. I knew then that the Bee Gees would never be the same. They haven't even produced a new album since - and I don't think they ever will under the name "Bee Gees." However, they have nothing to be ashamed of, considering the critical success they've endured over all these years.

The evening starts off with Melinda singing "Inside Out," a song very unfamiliar to me (why pick a song that's completely obscure). Gosh, I wasn't even paying attention to it much as I was looking at pictures from my parents trip to Las Vegas that my dad was showing me. I caught the tail end and I thought the performance was boring and lacked any sort of originality. She could've picked a much better song from the Bee Gees and really brought it home, but instead performed a very safe song.

Blake steps to the mic next and sings "You Should be Dancing." Blake did such an amazing job last week making Bon Jovi's song sound contemporary and new that I was hoping he'd blow me away again. But this week didn't live up to those expectations and I was left disappointed. He sang the song in falsetto like the Bee Gees sang it and I did not like it at all. The falsetto just sounded so awkward coming from Blake. It probably wasn't the best song for him, and then you add the beatboxing which really didn't work well this week. Blake just wasn't up to par on this song.

Going third was Lakisha, and she sings "Stayin' Alive," the 70's classic from the Bee Gees. I am just not impressed with Lakisha anymore. It seemed to me that Barry Gibb wanted Lakisha to sing the song at a higher octave than what she wanted, yet she did not follow his advice. I think it might've worked better for her if she would've listened to him. I didn't think it was a very good performance. She did tend to shriek at times, especially during the runs of the song. She went backwards this week (compared to last).

Jordin is up next singing, "To Love Somebody." Definitely the best performance of the night, thus far. In fact, she was in a league of her own compared to the other singers. Barry Gibb gave Jordin amazing praise for her performance of this song in rehearsals, saying it was the best he'd ever heard from the countless numbers of singers that have covered it. I don't know if it was necessarily as good as he said, but Jordin definitely did a nice job with it. The one thing I love about Jordin is that she sings a song the way it's supposed to be sung, and she proved that with this song.

Oh were not done folks, as all of the singers come back again and try to redeem themselves with a second song. Melinda steps to the plate and performs "How Can You Mend a Broken Heart." I thought it was much better than her first song of the night and wasn't nearly as boring (maybe because it's one of the Bee Gees more recongnizable songs prior to the disco era). It's such a great song and Melinda did a nice job with it. I think she does better with more up-tempo songs rather than the ballads. I enjoy it when she really blasts a song with her amazing vocals.

Going next was Blake singing, "This is Where I Came In." I am overjoyed when I hear he picked this song. I know it well and it's one of my favorites from the Bee Gees most recent album. That's probably why nobody is all that familiar with it, because their last album did not do as well. It's the cover song from that album and the Bee Gees did such a great job with it. As for Blake's rendition, I didn't care for it as much. I think he deviated from the original melody way too much and made it sound awkward. I thought the arrangement was excellent, though, and he made it sound edgier, up-beat, and more current. The judges didn't seem to think that highly of it, however.

Lakisha is next singing "Run to Me." Another song I am not that familiar with and I end up being bored by her. I think she puts herself in a very vulnerable position this week - something to which she may not recover from. Not including last week, Lakisha has really taken a slide ever since the very start of season six. She has gone from good, mediocre, bad, and now to worse. The little run at the end of the song was nice, but that is about all I can compliment her on with this performance.

Last but not least, Jordin Sparks. She sings "Woman in Love." Yet another song I really do not know all that well. Despite that, I thought she did a nice job with it. Probably not quite as good as her previous song, but she proved to be the most consistent performer of the night. She definitely belongs this far into the competition and should have very little trouble reaching the finale. And make it two weeks in a row that Randy did not mention Jordin's age. I think he's finally over it!

Now I bet you all want to know who I think will be voted off this week. Alright, here goes. I think it's going to be really close between Blake and Lakisha. Judging the performances from these two last night, I'll say Blake goes home tonight. Neither one of his songs really "wowed" the judges and they at least had some good things to say about Lakisha's second song. I would much prefer that Lakisha goes first before Blake and that very well may happen. But I have a gut feeling Blake will be given the axe tonight. He had a nice ride, I must say.