Constitutional Amendment anyone?

Independence Minnesota (our big 3rd party) is soliciting opinions regarding a proposal: reduce the state legislature to one house. Unicameral legislature? Talk about changing the way gov't runs!

You can go home

[written a week ago ...]

"you can never go home" is a rather overly-sentimental statement. You can. Just don't expect it to still be there.

I'm in Lansing for the weekend to try to get some house-related stuff taken care of. Want to do property management for me? Taking bids until 10 p.m. Sunday night.

The house is not exactly left in idea condition. Ignoring the fact the yard crew didn't remove the clipping from 2 months' growth, there's stuff that I'm annoyed the last tenants didn't ask me to fix. Or rather, that they didn't fix themselves. Like some serious pruning on the shrubs. I stood looking at the back of the side yard and wondering where the forest came from. That is the result of four years of unfettered growth? Mankind's traces will disappear from the Earth pretty damn quick, apparently.

Most of my closest friends aren't here any more. The Speths moved to MO, Diane is in MA, the Denommes are somewhere else in MI, the Bradys are just out of town. And, apparently no one bothered to return my email that I was coming into town. I'll probably stop by St. Johns and find the choir on vacation.

I've never tried to hire a professional firm for a long-term contracted relationship before. Other than the yard service fellow who conveniently lived down the street. Mowing my lawn just doesn't seem quite as important as handing someone the keys to my house and telling her to find tennants and rent it for me. Apparently these firms either
a) refuse to modify their standard contract because they are lazy
b) refuse to modify their standard contract because they're really out to screw you
c) have never had anyone suggest modifying their standard contract
or
d) have no idea that you could do it and don't want to anyway


There's even more sprawl on the north side of Lake Lansing Road. What in the world for? Even four years ago, it wasn't like Lansing's economy was rosy. Firms were already threatening to pack up. The state bent over to keep GM from moving some of its operations elsewhere.

The GM plant at the intersection of MLK and 496 is a total wasteland. I practically expected to see dust dervishes and tumbleweeds coming across the empty acres of parking lots. And, yes, I really do mean acres, probably 2.

Construction hasn't changed - it's just moved.

It was 10 hr 6 min of driving time (not total, just behind-the-wheel) to get to Lansing. Apparently everyone in Indiana saw the sign I-80 and thought it was the speed limit. It made the trip much shorter to be able to set the cruise control at 80 and not be the fastest car on the highway. And, afterall, doing 80 in a 70 zone in Michigan is not a remarkable event.

People here [in Michigan] really don't use their turn signals. Maybe American models don't have them? I've only ever owned one American car, and it was a '53 model. In the first 50 miles into Michigan, only one car used its signals ... and it had Indiana plates.

Don't even vaguely get me going about the Right-Wing Retards in Indiana, whose response to the Loony Leftists objecting to public display on public property of the 10 Commandments-We-Selectively-Obey: putting In God We Trust on their friggin' license plates.

Please, mommy ...... but I waaaaaaant it!

Despite what I might or might not thing of Pawlenty, or the DNC, I completely fail to believe - as stated in this DNC press release - that the governor has any obligation, where he "failed to take adequate action to help Americans in jeopardy of losing their homes".

I thought I was supposed to be a responsible adult? I didn't take out a debt I couldn't pay. Do you want to fix the housing crisis...? Let the housing crisis fix itself. Sit back and watch the homes foreclose.

What else is going to convince people to be better stewards of their own money? This Interventionist attitude treats us like we're 6 years old and can just rely on Mommy to bail us out, after choosing a toy we can't really afford.

Like the Governor is supposed to be responsible for holding my hand to make sure my mortgage is paid?

Enjoying our new home

We can sit in our front yard, watch the boys play, and the dogs & cats & bunnies stroll down the sidewalk, listen to the neighbors chatting, and enjoy life on a warm summer evening.



don't know why the front image doesn't show up ... this one has more Gregor.

Why can't it just be simple?

Got the key.
Got the house (almost) packed.
Got the furniture.
....
Got no elevator?!

Our building's elevator went on the fritz on Monday night. Are hoping it will be fixed Thursday (tomorrow) or Friday. We have no way to get our large furniture out of the building. And everything else will be a total pain. Had a little chat with the management to explain that we will not be out of the apartment by the 31st. And we don't plan on paying rent for the extra week.

God! Peter took a week off of work to help with this. We hired a rental truck. I scheduled my job start to accommodate this. Aaargh!

More pictures:


Street view. We're the right half of the duplex; car isn't mine; man is.














This is going to be the dining room. Same style for the bedrooms. The boys will continue their indoctrination of sharing.










Kitchen. Rather 60s. Big enough for 2! If I can't have the really cool ceramic stove top, at least I'll be cooking with gas.









Laundry room / boiler room / work room / storage room.















Whatever you want to call it: den, playroom, basement. It's carpeted and containable.