Winter of Discontent

Last week I was able to jog without winter wear. Today I am worried about the possibility of having to shovel out the parking lot at work. The forecast today (as per Michigan Radio) calls for 3 to 6 inches of accumulation and something called "freezing fog!"

Sounds like a D&D spell.

Outside the Snow is Falling, and Friends are Calling "You Rock!"

If I were the kind of blogger up who was up on all the latest technology I might do such high tech things as own a cell phone, utilize that devices camera function to capture images of all the flippin' snow engulfing my town, and then post the resultant files to this space. To do less would be a dereliction of sacred duty!

Surly Luddite though I am, I rest easy in the warm confines of my office, confident that despite the carnage of cutbacks engulfing ink-and-paper outlets statewide the Snooze will deploy some kind of robotic freelance photographer to snap the necessary pics. Then they will employ either a rosy cheeked intern or an outsourced Indian telejournalist with an American holiday cliché style guide to appropriately caption the image above the fold.

Shoveling the parking lot of my place of employment earlier this morning, I noticed that people were spinning out at the intersection of Washtenaw and Summit. The city plow trucks hadn't been out yet so I scooped two out. The first was a sedan with EMU decals, driven by a young woman who told me how muched I rocked as she finally pulled off. The second was a minivan, that depite my earlier efforts and front wheel drive, couldn't make it off without my actively pushing. The dude driving turned out to be Rois Savvides, proprieter of the Tower Inn Cafe.

He offered me free lunch!

Things I Miss About the Ypsi

Well, I must say, the 40 degree weather makes it a hard thing to regret....

I do miss Michigan!

There are a lot of good things going on here. And there are jobs. But we don't have the following:

Middle Eastern Food
Greek Food
Anything but seafood
Drive through anything
Shadow Art Fair...
My friends
My family

What are things that you would miss about Michigan if you left?

The H D- or "Miz Morris"

Payback

Let's assume that you are like me.

You live in Hipsitucky, where you are often approached by strangers asking for money. These seekers offer a variety of reasons for exactly why they need this money (they need bus fare, they need gas money, they have a flat tire) but you assume that the real reason remains unstated: they want money to buy drugs or alcohol.

If you're like me you used to help out people but after years of being approached again and again with the same reasons (sometimes by the same people!) you stopped giving people the benefit of the doubt.

Imagine your surprise this morning when a gentleman who bears much resemblance to those seekers enters your place of employment. He goes right past you and hands your boss a $5 dollar bill. "Here's the money you lent my last week," he says. "I'm sorry I didn't make it in on Friday like I said I would but I didn't didn't have it then."

Once the man leaves you ask what that was all about. "He said he ran out of gas," your boss says.

How does this make you feel?

If only . . .

Local Politics in a Landlord Town

I was surprised when Paul Schreiber was elected mayor. Not just because he was the only candidate for the city income tax, but because I didn't even realize he was running until the debates.

From the signs in peoples yards it seemed like it was just Steve Pierce versus Lois Richardson, Pierce being the favorite north of Michigan Ave and Richardson more popular south but with Pierce the clear winner.

At the debates I was put off by Pierce's naivete and disappointed by Richardson's lack of direction, especially since I had admired her during the few city council meetings I've attended. Schreiber made a solid case for the income tax so I ended up voting for it and him. I figured it was a waste on both counts, even if it was the right thing to do. I don't remember seeing any Schreiber signs until a few days just before the election, but lo and behold he won!---even if the income tax lost.

I assumed that if people bother to put a sign in their yard that they would bother to vote for that candidate so I was a bit surprised, if pleased, by the results. Maybe it was silent majority thing, with the "unsigned" yards being secretly pro-tax and thus pro-Schreiber but now I realize it was clearly the landlords.

At the time of the last mayoral election (two years ago now, really?) I was living in a flat above Michigan Ave (not far from Steve Pierce actually), so no yard. Now I reside in a quiet studio in a quiet house on a quiet street. I came home one day to see a sign in the front yard reminding me to re-elect Sherrif Dan Minzey. Walking around town I noticed that all the properties owned by this management company had Minzey signs in their front yards. I was reminded again of the debates when I noticed another, much less prominent landlord wearing a Pierce shirt to match the Pierce sign in his front yard.

I rented a house with some friends during my time at EMU but doubt I'll do it again. I should like to think that if I did I would have the rights to put a sign for whoever I wanted in the front yard.

This election I didn't know what to think. The council seat was open in my ward and even though this guy said he was running, it really only boiled down to this guy and this guy.
This guy even hosted a forum between the two on his blog.

There were an awful lot of signs for the second guy in my neighborhood*, even though the first guy lived on my street. I was for the third guy and hadn't noticed a lot of signs for him, but given the above described Landlord Factor I wasn't sure what to expect.

If I were a more research oriented blogger I would look up exact how many properties in Ypsi are rentals. Or at least on my street. That way I could predict the future!

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(Photo Credit: Kitty Cutts)