30 Day Challenge Day - 25: Reality and the Next Generation

Now this is going to make me sound like an old man, but it made me laugh out loud. So as a young person growing up, who were your role models? A sports star perhaps? An actor/actress? Maybe a parent or relative? I know for me it was Steve Yzerman. A hard working, dedicated leader who let his actions speak louder than his words. He selflessly led my Red Wings to three Stanley Cups in his tenure and was probably the last real mega sports star we might ever see to spend his entire career with one team, loyal to the end.

He embodied everything a father or mother would want their son to be. Humble, selfless, a great father and husband. I always admired him because he always did the right thing, even when it meant he got no notariety for it. Later on getting to meet the man and see him work in a professional setting confirmed all my beliefs about him. He has no DUI's, no spousal abuse, no drug/alcohol problems or run-ins with the law. Your average man using common sense to guide his daily decisions and actions.

While I have long known the people that are looked up to by "young people" these days were going down the tubes, teaching opened my eyes to it even more. Say the words "Jersey Shore" in a high school hallway and watch what happens. It's funny, sad and frightening at the same time. Girls want to act like "Snooki" and some hormone ridden high school boy wants to act like "the situation". Both cocky, full of self entitlement and vanity. They were given fame and fortune with no elbow grease required, and put out there seemingly as what the cool social standard is. They were given a bubble in which to behave un-realistically and rewarded for it. Hell, remember the days when MTV actually played music!? If our parents thought it was racey then...

Gee you say, that sounds mighty familiar. We seem to hear a lot about this kind of thing. Paris Hilton anyone? Lidsay "rehab" Lohan? How about Gilbert Arenas or Tiger Woods? Hell, Enron or Haliburton anyone!?! Fame and fortune creates a bubble and parallel reality for super stars. They feel that they are above any law and can simply get away with it. Contempt for authority and society's laws. Sadly the reality is such. If you've got the money, you can get the lawyers. If you've got the lawyers, you can either beat the charge or get away with a lesser sentence.

Middle school and high school students are fed this everyday through the media they engage in. Some obviously take it with a grain of salt, but others use it as their gospel of how to behave in life and what is expected of them. "If I act like a tool I'll get money, women and fame." Trust me, more kids than you think see this as what to aspire to. Why do you think the casting sessions for reality tv shows are so huge? Fame can be had by acting irresponsibly.

Don't believe me? MTV has another show out there called "Sixteen and pregnant". If you want to be dumbfounded, tune in. I sacrificed a few IQ points the other say to see what the big deal was. While it's always been true some people get pregnant at way to young of an age, it's never been glamorized...until now. A 15 year old girl who has no self esteem sees that show. A lot of times that individuals mind will work much differently than a normal person's. The simple thought process is one of "if I get pregnant, I can get attention and my 15 minutes." School administrators have been speaking out against the show, as it has shown teen pregnancy to be a glamorous thing. A few years back administrators in a New England high school noticed teen pregnancies at their school were skyrocketing. They discovered what they called a "pregnancy pact" between groups of girls in the school. Essentially, girls promising each other that they would get pregnant by the end of that school year.

Now I need to cut this short, as I have made my ranting point I think. As a society we need to work on this. I don't mean pull the Christian "moral-majority" bullshit, rather go ahead with a bit more common sense. I'll leave you with some reading material:

http://www.woodtv.com/dpps/entertainment/celebrities/lindsay-lohans-future-on-hold-until-jail-rehab-are-done-nt10-jgr_3470185

30 Day Challenge Day - 24: Selling a Bridge

This has been one very heated debate and I can surely see both sides.
Detroit's Ambassador bridge has been in disrepair for a while now, and is in desperate need of updating. Canada now wants to lend the cash-strapped state of Michigan a half-billion dollars to kick start the building of a new bridge just up-river from the Ambassador.

This has created a firestorm and rightly so. Lots of people are very concerned about whether jobs will go to Canadians or Michiganders, private influences and government takeovers.

Do yourself a favor and dig into the issue. We are afterall discussing one of the busiest border crossing points along the entire US/Canadian border.

http://finance.yahoo.com/news/Ambassador-Bridge-future-cnnm-795528376.html?x=0

30 Day Challenge Day - 23: The Great Lakes and The Oil Spill

So yesterday I spent the day in Grand Haven, MI for the national holiday. It was a beautiful, hot and sunny day. The beaches and streets were packed with people and there were thousands of boats of all shapes and sizes in the channels and on the lake. The water was a very tolerable 71 degrees, and despite a red-flag warning for high rip-currents everyone still swam. Welcome to summer in a Pure Michigan beach town, it's picture perfect no matter where you are from in the country.

So with all the drama over the oil spill in the Gulf, why hasn't the state tourism agency taken advantage of that situation? Well I'm sure they want to take the high road and just leave it alone. With everyone in the media bashing Michigan for something or another in recent years I think they could spin it as a positive. Fresh water and no drilling; "Pure". The campaign has been the most succesful tourism campaign the state has conducted in modern history if I am correct, and it's a shame they do not have a better budget to work with this year.

If they had a budget, the use of tv ad spots would be perfect for the situation. Stay away from anything SE Michigan and focus on the Lake Michigan beachtowns; South Haven, Saugatuk, Holland, Grand Haven, Muskegon, Ludington/Silver Laker, Sleeping Bear Dunes and Leelenau County, Traverse City, Charlevoix and Petosky, culminating with Mackinaw and some of the Huron beach towns. Try a little reverse advertising to the people of Florida and the Gulf. Come up and try something different.

So you say it wouldn't work? As far as I know, I don't think the state tourism board has tried it before so why not?

30 Day Challenge Day - 22: Happy Fourth of July!!

Good morning my fellow Americans.

Today is a day for us to give thanks to those who fought 234 years ago for what we have today. We aren't under the control of a king or queen who sit idly by on the other side of the world. We have control over our own destiny and lives. We are not indentured servants to another people who deem us a lower form of life. We make our own rules and laws, and have our own say in world affairs. A person's potential in life is not determined by their last name and who your family is.

The worst thing that can happen is that we fail to fulfill the potential of those rights secured us by our founding fathers.

How do you not fail history you may ask? Make a difference in the world. No matter what you do, make a difference for good and progression in the world.

I'll be spending my day on the Lake Michigan shore. How will you spend yous??

30 Day Challenge Day - 21: Why Short People Hate Clothes Shopping

So, I'm 5'3", you know that by now I'd think. So today it was time for me to get a new swimsuit. While I am short, my body is very proportionate for my size. That however means that items like feet, arms and legs are shorter/smaller than your average 5'10"-6' male. See where the problem is coming in here??

Now swimsuit sizes aren't waist sizes, they're simply small, medium, large, XXL as they have a waist drawstring to adjust. Having a 30" waist I have no problem with that. First off, the store has no "small" sizes so I am without choice there. However, to me I would think a medium would be perfect. That's the size t-shirt that fits me perfectly, and my torso is smaller than someone 5'10" or taller.
However a medium swimsuit comes down to the bottom of my kneecaps.

FAIL.

This is eternally frustrating as it always looks like I'm literally swimming in my swimsuit. GGRRRRR. I mean I can find regular shorts that work just fine and fit appropriatly, why not swim shorts?!? The math doesn't work here and I don't know why this is some weird exception to fashion rationality.

This is the one thing about being a shorter individual that is the most difficult and gives me the most headaches. I love who I am, so why can't clothing manufacturers?!?

So I though I would get that off my chest as it's going to be a little search to find something that works acceptably.

30 Day Challenge Day - 20: "Fireworks Guy"

The topic of today's blog post is "fireworks guy". We all know him, and there's one in every neighborhood. He's around in the summer, and sometimes in warmer climates he's a year-round fixture on the landscape. I bring this up now because this is the weekend he is most prominent.

Now, don't get me wrong. I love going down to Ohio and Indiana and loading up on lots of the good stuff this time of the year. I enjoy them as much as the next red-blooded American male. There is however this thing called "life" and "reality" that the majority of us exist in. Thus, fireworks are a fun thing we do once a year. For "fireworks guy", this is life.

So back to the man in question. You know the guy who always has the "stash" at his house? You know the tool who for the week leading up to the Fourth of July is out testing all his fireworks from the stash he has continually amassed all year long for this one weekend. He tests to make sure he has "good" batch, you know, this stuff is for real son. On the actual weekend you can find "fireworks guy" bumping around with roman candles strapped around him like plastic explosives. He's rocking a backpack loaded down with M-80's and 1/2 sticks of dynomite. Ironically, he's also lugging around a first aid pack so he can immediatly rush to the first person who injures themselves to remind them "just how dangerous and serious these things are!"

So now you are seeing the picture, and you're going through your mental roladex of people you know and are finding a few who fit the profile. So let me narrow it down more. "Fireworks guy" usually always rocks a beater or a ratty cut-off. Now to examine the dude's lettuce (hair). You can count on him to have sport a rat-tail with red, white and blue hairties holding it together. "Fireworks guy" has taken the whole week of the Fourth off from his job...driving the ice cream truck around town.

Happy Fourth!!

30 Day Challenge Day - 19: July and a divorce settlement.

So welcome to July my friends! I hope you all have a HUUUUGE holiday weekend planned coming up. For those of you in places where it will rain, I am sorry for your luck. Western Mitten is looking more than perfect. Clear, sunny and warm/hot weather from now to Monday morning. Epic win for America's High Five on America's special weekend.

Okay, now on to Tiger's baby-momma-drama. We all know Tiger has an unimaginable amount of money. However, he is soon to part with most of it acording to a new phantom report. While listening to Jim Rome earlier, he cited a fuzzy report speculating that Tiger's settlement payment may range from $750-$830 MILLION dollars!!! ZZiiinnggg....walk that off son.

Now, this may be news to a lot of us but I wasn't aware he even had that much stashed away. Why is the amount so high?! I'll tell you why it might be so high.
Elin may know something we all don't. In fact, she DOES know something we all don't. In fact, she knows a lot we don't. You want to know why that number may be as high as it is? because Tiger wants to KEEP the fact that Elin knows a lot and we don't that way.

That right there is a hush payment right there kiddo's. He's paying her to keep her quiet. He needs her to keep quiet because those two are the only two (besides maybe a few lawyers) people that know what reeeaallllyy happened that night TW hurled his suv into that tree. That's a hell of a lot of money, maybe ALL of Tiger's money. However I have a feeling that Tiger and Elin know a bit more than the rest of us.

By the way, Elin will get total custody as well all know.
TMZ has nothing on me.
Go do something productive for society now.
Out.