It’s Called A Turning Lane For A Reason!

August 14th, 2008

My biggest pet peeve when driving around Sioux Falls — and anywhere else for that matter — is when people looking for a quick way to turn left out of a parking lot or side street onto a busy street jump first into the turning lane and use it to merge into the flow of traffic. Gah! I hate it!

It’s called a TURNING LANE you ignorant lump of human debris, not a merging lane, so use it for TURNING, not merging!

Thanks. I needed to get that off my chest.

But then, while looking for info on this topic, I find that in some states it is legal to merge into traffic using the center lane. Go figure. At this point, I’m not even sure if South Dakota is one of those state; the codified laws are less than clear on that point (or most any other point for that matter.) So I guess I’ll do a little digging and report back. Even if it is legal here, it still bugs the heck outta me when people do it; you just can’t tell if they’re going to go barreling into the flow of traffic or if they’re going to wait, so every time someone does it I have to brace for impact.

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Posted in Cars!, Just Stuff | Comments Closed

The Return Of The Weatherball?

August 13th, 2008

The Argus Leader ran a story today about a Sioux Falls guy — Greg Allis — who is leading the charge to resurrect one of the weatherballs that used to operate in town.

When the weatherball is red,
Warmer weather is ahead.

When the weatherball is white,
colder weather is in sight.

When the weatherball is green,
No change is forseen.

When it blinks in agitation,
There’s going to be precipitation.


There are only two weatherballs left in Sioux Falls; a 5-foot ball at 33rd and Minnesota and a 10-foot ball at 9t Street and Main Avenue. Neither one works. Apparently there is no desire on the part of the banks to get them working again, so Allis wants the city to pick up the project and place one of the balls in a city park, in the name of historic preservation. But the city is balking because they aren’t really old enough to qualify for the “historic” designation.

I love the idea of putting a weatherball back in action, but I don’t necessarily like the idea of it becoming a city government thing. I’m surprised though that one of the local news & weather stations hasn’t grabbed the idea and used it for promotion. KELO-TV was one of the original sponsors; wouldn’t it be great for them to put a weatherball on top of their tower in the downtown area? Just think of the mileage they’d get out of that thing. Or if KSFY picked up on the idea and placed one on a prominent billboard with reference to their weather forecasting…

That would be pure genius. At least I think so. Read the rest of this entry »

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Splattered Dreams

August 10th, 2008

It seems that for some people, dreams are fragile things, like a glass figurine. They are very solid and tangible, but can be easily broken and destroyed — shattered. I don’t know if I’m weird or what, but I find that to be really hard to comprehend dreams like that, and there are times when I feel envious of someone who does have dreams and ambitions that are solid and tangible.

I guess people can be categorized in two groups according to their dreams & ambitions; those for whom dreams are solid & tangible, and those for whom dreams are more fluid and resilient. I would fall into the second group; my dreams would be better described as “fluid”.

I talked with an old friend a while back who is having a tough time because he’s been hurt in the process of chasing a dream he has had since childhood. He worked hard for a very long time to do what he felt he was called to do, and in the end, with the fulfillment of that dream within reach, he’s now doing something totally unrelated, and continues to nurse his wounds. I look at his situation and have a tough time putting myself in his shoes; I just can’t understand that kind of attachment to a goal, and that kind of hurt when things don’t go well.

For me, there are just so many little things I enjoy that I can’t fathom chasing after one thing in particular and banking everything the fulfillment of that one thing. Having more fluid or diversified ambitions has served me well in some respects, but in others I’d be better off with the other. To some I’m sure it appears that I lack ambition and drive — I know my boss sees it that way — and to a degree that’s probably true.

The difference comes in when bad things happen; to someone with dreams that are concrete and tangible, bad things can come along and shatter them all to bits. And those bits have sharp edges that can wound. But for me, with dreams that are more fluid and resilient, bad things can shake up my bucket of dreams, causing some to splash out, but I won’t be hurt by any of it.

Is it something of a protection mechanism to avoid being hurt? Or is it a manifestation of ADD? Or maybe something that’s come about as part of a fear of success? I don’t know, but I sometimes feel a yearning for that sense of drive… That kind of dedication.

Posted in Personal Growth, The Deep | Comments Closed

The NObama Network

August 7th, 2008

I just bumped into another great site, nobamanetwork.com

Americans are feeling angry, appalled, defeated, and invisible. Often we hear our neighbors and friends remark they are not going to vote because their vote does not count. If you are feeling disenfranchised by your party, the DNC, or by the news media it is time for you to take a stand. On this site you will find numerous Grass Root Movements of people like yourself fighting for change. Find one that speaks to you, spend some time posting to Blogs, and talk to your neighbors and friends. Every vote counts and each voice will be heard. Get involved America. No one has the right to tell you what candidate to support or how to vote.

So far they have no less than 485 sites linked on the front page that focus on defeating Barack Obama in November. And it appears to be mostly Democrats leading the charge. I wonder if there’s ever been a political candidate with so much animosity directed at him, from his own party no less.

So maybe George has only a short time longer to live with his ignominy.

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The Convective Heat Burst

August 3rd, 2008

Last night we experienced a rather weird and rare weather phenomenon. It’s called a Convective Heat Burst.

About 4 a.m. this morning I woke to the sound of shrieking winds and tree branches falling on the roof. I looked outside & saw that a good-sized branch had fallen from the maple tree, so I went outside to check & see if there was any damage. One step outside the back door and I knew something was up; it was like walking into a sauna — hot!

The wind was still howling and it was beginning to rain, but thankfully, there wasn’t any damage to the house & the large branch had fallen between our house and the neighbor’s garage on the fence & but small branches were scattered everywhere. The wind died down shortly afterward, and I could feel the temperature dropping while I was out there. It was strange; really strange.

This afternoon I went digging around on the Internet to see what I could find out about what went on this morning; KELO-TV had a blurb on their website and their blog about it which provided me with its name, and of course Wikipedia has a page on it, which was even updated with this morning’s event; how about that! I posted a question to the KELO blog about it and Tony Barlow responded with a little more information on it and a link to another website describing the phenomena. The graph below (click on the image for a slightly larger version) also came from Tony and the KELO blog.

Turns out that meteorologists don’t know for sure what causes a heat burst but they always happen when a thunderstorm cell is dying. It’s theorized that it starts when rain hits a pocket of dry air at about 10-20,000 feet and quickly evaporates. The evaporating moisture causes the air to become more dense than the surrounding air, which causes it to descend rapidly. During the rapid descent the air mass is compressed, which causes its temperature to rise sharply. When that mass of air hits the ground, you get high winds and hot, dry air. The link provided by Tony mentions that the hot dry air is capable of killing vegetation by quickly pulling the moisture out of it, and in some cases the heat can stick around for quite some time.

According to the chart above the temperature was about 73° prior to the event. Within a very short time period the temp jumped to the 101° high, then drifted back down to about 72°. According to the Wikipedia entry, a heat burst occurred in Brazil in 1949 causing the temp to jump from 100°F to 158°F in two minutes!

I had never even heard of a heat burst before, much less experienced one, so in a way I’m glad for the large downed branch laying in my yard, in spite of the extra work it means… If it weren’t for that I wouldn’t have been outside at 4a.m. to experience the heat; and if it weren’t for that I wouldn’t have been curious enough to go looking for the reason behind that and the wind accompanying it.

Update: Read the rest of this entry »

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Parenting Advice

August 1st, 2008

“The best piece of parenting advice I’ve heard came from flight attendants; in case of emergency, put on your own oxygen mask first.”
Randy Pausch

Randy said that during an interview with Diane Sawyer that was broadcast earlier this week. Makes sense to me; if a parent isn’t taking care of himself/herself, they’re not doing the kids any favors.

Good advice.

I’ve heard that Randy’s Last Lecture is a must-see for everyone. I haven’t seen it myself (yet), but I have it on good authority…

Posted in Personal Growth, The Kids | Comments Closed

Thank God For Barack Obama!

August 1st, 2008

nobama08.jpg

Kyle-Anne Shiver has written another brilliant piece about Barack Obama over at American Thinker; in her morning prayers she thanks “God for the emergence of Barack Obama. Not because my hope is in Obama, but because my hope is always, unequivocally in God.”

While I can’t say that I’ve thanked God for BHO any time lately (like, never), and only hope for his defeat this November, I can see the logic and wisdom in Kyle-Anne’s words. It’s so clear that Obama isn’t fit for the Presidency — and becoming clearer every day — that there really isn’t any choice to be made come election day. He is not just an empty suit, he is The Empty Suit with an empty resume. And that’s one reason to be thankful for him — that the choice will be so easy for so many Americans.

Unfortunately, there is a sizable number who cannot see past his flowery yet empty speeches to the shallowness of the doomed promises he makes, and will cast their votes for him anyway. That’s too bad.

I could go on about this, but will just encourage you to just read Kyle-Anne’s column. Another good one to read is from last month, where she asserts that the coming election could be a landslide, with Obama on the losing end. (Link) I happen to think that might come true. And so does George McGovern. How else can you explain McGovern’s early support of Obama unless he secretly hopes that Obama will take away his shame by losing even bigger than he did back in 1972.

Posted in Personal Growth, Politics, The World | Comments Closed

Best Laid Plans

July 28th, 2008

tiny.jpg

The movie “Meet the Robinsons” has some great lines in it, but one that comes up two or three times is, “I’m just not sure how well this plan was thought through.” The best delivery of that line is from the T-Rex, all mumbled (with subtitles, of course) with his big head, little arms comment; funny stuff.


YouTube link

What’s really noteworthy is how often this line comes to mind in everyday life… Something doesn’t go exactly as it was planned, and my first thought is “I’m just not sure how well this plan was thought through.” Though usually when I think of it, I hear it with the T-Rex’s mumbled voice. And if I’m with family, that’s how it comes out, and they know exactly what I’m talking about!

Posted in Family, Fun!, Movies | Comments Closed

Daniel’s Big Trip

July 28th, 2008

Jalopnik linked to a great blog a while back; I had Really Good Intentions of posting about it, but apparently ADD took hold and the brain went on to other things as quickly as it usually does.

I’ve decided that since I gave 11.5 years of my life to this country, and even lost body parts fighting for it, I want to SEE it, and the people who live in it. My plan is to drive basically a big circle around the USA from TN to Maine, then Oregon, down Cali and off to Key West. I have a beat up 1984 Suburban I’ve been preparing for the trip, and my plan is to live in it, along with my mildly retarded Boxer. I hope to see a lot of sites, stay off the interstates, and meet a lot of interesting people along the way…

The blogger, Daniel, is a retired Army chopper pilot who lost his right arm in a crash in is making a cross country trip. Doesn’t sound so special, but

Now that he’s finished his trip, he’s posted a Google Map with placemarks showing places he stopped along the way. I invited him to stop over in Sioux Falls for a meal and a visit, but I never heard back from him.

From the map it looks like he stopped at the Palisades near Garretson, then hit I-90 and headed west, stopping at the Badlands. That’s a little disappointing because he missed a lot of sights and historic sites along the way. So much for his wanting to stay off interstate highways… Oh well, his loss I guess.

His blog is still an interesting read. He writes well, and shares some pretty entertaining stories.

Link.

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