Monday, March 30, 2009

Deployed to Iraq - My View - Picture Car Driver News

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www.FrontPorchColumbus Dot Com

Picture Car Driver News
I tracked down who the Picture Car Drivers should talk to if they are thinking of attending and driving in the Columbus 4th of July Parade.

Jim & Dot Heathman are co-chairman of the Columbus Fourth of July Parade. Anyone can contact them either at this e-mail or by the phone numbers below.

The parade starts at 1:00 on the fourth. There is an entry form that they would like to have filled out so they have all the valid information for their records. Line up for the parade starts around 12:30 and is down by Tempkin's Steel in Columbus. Please feel free to call or e-mail with any questions.

Work 920-484-4141 Jim is extension 148 and I am ext 114. You can probably reach us easier at work than home as Jim's usually there from 6:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.

As for the official Columbus celebration I'll be making phone calls to all Drivers on my list starting in the next week.
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Deployed to Iraq

It seems a lot of readers are going or have loved ones being deployed to Iraq in the next few weeks. I would love to offer help in some way. Perhaps messages through this blog? Or something?? Maybe have a special day like Friday where you could send a small message to me and I could post it? Then they would have all weekend to view it ???? Ideas?

Maybe I can also do this on the other website frontporchcolumbus.

In fact maybe I'll send a letter to the editor of the Columbus Journal (if they are still talking to me after this blog). Set up something for Fridays. BRILLIANT!!
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I watched the movie Juno this weekend and it was a pretty darn good movie. I recommend it to anybody. Juno ROCKS! It was nice to see good parents for a change. Not strange freaked out ones but parents portrayed as actually having a sense of humor and brains.

Not enough gun play and car chases though.

So since Juno was lacking in gun play and car chases and I did not see one explosion
I also watched Wanted with Angelina Jolie, James McAvoy and Morgan Freeman. This is an odd movie that if you are a special effects junkie it is just outstanding. It's The Matrix but done right!! (Matrix sort of sucked).

Just a lot of things I've never seen before. The plot is entertaining and I THINK I liked it. I almost want to watch it again but . . . . . do I?

Wesley Gibbon (James McAvoy) is just an ordinary guy, unaware that his long-lost father is one of the world's most notorious assassins. But when his father is killed, a mysterious associate named Sloan (Morgan Freeman) arrives, offering Wesley the chance to fill dad's shoes. Mentored by Sloan's deputy, Fox (Angelina Jolie), Wesley carries out the will of the mythological Fates, who see Wesley's targets in a magical loom.

Yea - you read that right a magical loom.

As Ebert says "Wanted” slams the pedal to the metal and never slows down. Here’s an action picture that’s exhausting in its relentless violence and its ingenuity in inventing new ways to attack, defend, ambush and annihilate. (like thousands of exploding mice - don't see THAT every day). Expanding on a technique I first saw in David O. Russell’s “Three Kings,” it follows individual bullets (as well as flying warriors) through implausible trajectories to pound down the kills.

I guess I liked the movie.
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Purely My View

It seems that the TICP cronies have won. Did you see how many people attended the Mayoral debate? Twenty Five (25). Seems TIIP has really energized the community with two candidates that tell you they have the same views. AWESOME! No one really cares. The only difference between the two seems to be that one wants you to be afraid at what might happen if we don't vote for him (sounds like some other candidate in the past doesn't it) an the other one that seems more friendly and likable.

Both were on the TICP "want" list. Did you know that TICP in a "fair and balanced" way made thousands of phone calls before the primaries a tell people to vote for ANYBODY but Nancy Osterhaus? Is that really what a "Truth" website should do? Then they went to on bash Osterhaus with half truths on their "Truth" in Columbus Politics website.

Then the Columbus Journal has 5% of the newspaper taken up with Shirly Hoffmen's (TICP-guru) writing this week - Gutter Gussie and TWO Letters to the Editor. t for TICP.

sigh!

I'm all for Truth in Politics and NOW, for the most part they seem to be posting slightly more valid information but they obviously HAD another agenda before the primaries.

Speaking of the candidates. I have a couple thoughts.

First of all Bob Link keeps telling us he is a lifetime resident of Columbus which is NOT something I feel is a good thing for a mayoral candidate. Hiring from within is not something I believe is good for business practice. Look at the Milwaukee Brewers, they have been hiring Managers from within for years with no results.

When a company is not going well do you really want someone who has been doing things the same way?

I believe people that are lifetime residents no longer are in tune with the outside world. For instance, he said "I care about my community, that has taken a lot of bashing". This is Bush Cheney style talk. Trust me, Columbus is NOT taking a lot of bashing from anybody. In fact no one really knows where Columbus is. That's the real problem.

Being an "outsider" that recently moved here I can tell you that there is no bashing of Columbus going on. People like to pretend there is but the only things I hear are small random comments like "I hear their politics is messed up". That is not really bashing of Columbus. That is a random comment. I hear worse things about Madison. Of course with websites constantly broadcasting how BAD it is you have to again wonder what the real goal of TICP is. Again - sounds a lot like a administration we just got rid of. Promoting all the bad for personal gain.

Another thing I don't like about Link is he is ALREADY bashing Kaland - you can tell he is a long time resident - fights dirty and carry's a grudge. Yea - he wants to change things by getting angry and threatening you with what might happen if he is not elected.

And "beholden"? who really says that word. "I'm not beholden?" I think he is going for the blue hair vote.

I've never met Mr. Link and I'm sure he is a nice guy - I just do not like the way he does business at all. One huge flaw he even mentioned is his lack of ability to think outside the box. He mentioned that you won't see any yard signs (called advertising) saying he does not like to spend money on useless things. Wow - I guess Columbus will continue to be unheard of if he is Mayor. Let's not spread the word or anything. Let's not do any advertising. IF you can not advertise HIMSELF, do you think he will advertise Columbus?

I've been told he also does not think Public Enemies did Columbus any good. WOW - let's just stick our head in the sand shall we?

OK - enough Link bashing (someone has to - Kaland is to nice and is actually trying to get people to work together NATURALLY, not forcing people to work together).

As for the Auditorium. You all know I am 100% pro Auditorium. But I also think the city spending huge amounts of money on this will just never happen. I hate saying this but it's going to take private donations. ON THE OTHER HAND. The talk about long range plans about building Police and Fire Stations? Ummmm - we HAVE a Police Station in City Hall (sits below the Auditorium). I hope to God they do not decide to spend half a million dollars on a nice square brick building and NOT fix what they already have. THAT would be stupid.

The North Dickason Boulevard canopy thingy. I have to agree with the two Candidates. At this time I can't see it. I'm sorry Todd - I agree with you on almost everything and it would be GREAT. I see this happening once the downtown is more vibrant. And it will be vibrant in the future. It's a "we can build it once they come" thing. Right now all it would do is to make a nice place for people in one of our many dive bars to hang out in. (Don't get me started on the dive bar situation). It seems the city bows down to whatever the bars want. If we want a band at night on the Boulevard we can only have it with permission of the bars because we might take buisness from them.

That is a crock of BS.

OK - speaking of dive bars. I feel that once Columbus becomes a non-smoking community (that will happen - I guarantee it) the diveieness will be a little less. I know now there are beer cans and garbage all over the city parking lot from bars. Drunks have walked into Jenny an Josh's yard more then once and they were forced to put up a huge fence to keep the drunks out.

My view is we must get the City Council to be stronger with better people. I'm liking Bomkamp and Brun. The only big thing Bomkamp and I have a difference in opinion on is with the Udey Dam but that is fine. Difference in opinion is a good thing as long as it is not a stubborn difference. If people can actually LISTEN to the other side and change opinions THEN the community can grow. Lord knows I change my opinion on many things. It's a sign of strength, not weakness.

I'll get off my soap box now.

HEY - if anybody is connected with the Fire Department I would love to talk to somebody in the Dept about a project. It's been in my head for over a year now - seriously my head might explode if another summer goes by.

You don't want to see

"The Columbus Fire Department responded to an exploding head on Vista Circle" do you?

Have a wonderful Monday - and remember - Mondays are the #1 day for heart attacks, be careful out there.

Rod





13 comments:

  1. Grinder-
    You may want to check the time on the 4th of July Parade it has always been at noon on the 4th. You don't want the car drivers showing up behind the horses- if you know what I mean :)

    ReplyDelete
  2. I don't know that it's a good idea to post phone numbers on the interwebs....just a heads up...you never know who the stalkers are.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Just going by what I was told by the organizers.

    I'll ask them to make sure.

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  4. The Columbus Fourth of July has a website it is:
    clmbs4thjulycommittee.freeservers.com
    they have a schedule for the celebration which is July 1-5th this year! They have the parade posted as starting at noon on their website.
    We want to give out the correct info, so it would be nice to know if it's a noon start time or 1:00!

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  5. Rod,

    I'm not necessarily hell bent on Dickason Square either. There are way bigger priorities downtown right now. I think that area is a very good festival space. It's not very attractive for that right now but some minor improvements would help. I do feel having a festival space downtown is important to the long term viability of the downtown. It needs to look better than it does but it doesn't need to be the Taj Mahal either. I certainly agree that the tent thing will just be a roof for drunks. The overall thought of Dickason Square being a comprehensive space that includes the whole boulevard all the way down to the train station makes quite a bit of sense to me. It's a long range project for sure. The concept of people being able to come to Columbus on Amtrak and walk out of the train station into an attractive grounds at the station would be great. That space leads to the boulevard which is consistently attractive all the way downtown or to the festival on the boulevard. The Amtrak is so wasted right now and that makes me sick. The sad part is we will probably loose it before anyone figures that out.

    TF

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  6. "Juno ROCKS! It was nice to see good parents for a change...Not enough gun play and car chases though."

    LMAO! Rod, good parents tend not to be invovled in gun play and car chases! At least, most of the good parents I've met.

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  7. "The Amtrak is so wasted right now" - yea - it's a gold mine that goes untapped.

    I didn't realize Dickason Square would go all the way to the station. that would be sweet.

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  8. It is a great potential situation if it were attractive and there were festivals, art shows, farm markets, etc. It could be a draw to the community and in a perfect location. When you thing about hopping on the train in Chicago or Minneapolis to come up to an event in Columbus, walk off the train and you are there... sweet.

    If we could just get the leaves picked up out of the gutter we could maybe start thinking about something bigger.

    Good blog today btw. Too much for me to react to in one day though.

    T

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  9. Someone told me that the CPD has been monitoring a giant head in your area.

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  10. Great Blog !!
    Lot's to read.

    I hope all the picture cars will be able to attend the Parade and the Celebration! Or at least most of them.
    Are we doing a Float for the Parade?
    Just thinking!

    Have not seen the movie, but heard Juno was a good one.

    Amtrak look's better this year then it did last year.~

    Have a good day all!

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  11. Confirmed - Noon for the Parade with the last tractor passing by about 7:30.

    float - yes if er can get our butts in gear at some point. I think 50,000 fresh flowers should do it unless we have a giant Todd waving his giant arm at people or giving a giant finger LOL

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  12. Please try to keep all tributes to me to a minimum on the 4th of July. That holiday is really a celebration of our American Independence.

    Let's pick a day in April for Todd Day. I see the 1st is still open...

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  13. Deployed to Iraq - My View - Picture Car Driver News>>>>>>>>>>>
    ___________________
    Julie
    "BEST PRICE for the BEST ENTERTAINMENT"

    ReplyDelete

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