Memnison Journal

Susan’s Mom, Connie, who lives with us, spent the holidays off at her son’s house in Sinai , South Dakota, and was going to come back today, but the icy roads are holding her off for a day.   She just called and asked how things were; ’sleeping’, I said.   Still no noise from upstairs.  I [...]

I wondered when this was coming along.  One of the hardest things for big Auto to deal with is all of theose contracts they made with dealerships that were becoming too hard to fulfill.
Dealers, employing more than 1.1 million salespeople, accountants and mechanics, are protected by state franchise laws. GM spent more than $1 billion [...]

This was a very odd Christmas for me; some really high points and low points. Some old traditions unexpectedly brought back, and some things mucked.  Julbord and full holiday report after the cut:

The last GM plant in Dayton / Moraine City shuts down, where my Dad, Mom and Granny worked (when it was a Frigidaire plant (they shifted to pickups and SUVs in 1979)).  The local officials are trying to figure out what to do next, and the workers are cut adrift.   As are the plant’s myriad [...]

Went out and got prescription reading glasses today; my prescription is +1.75, and they work very nicely.  Worst part was slipping and falling HARD on the slick tile floor just inside the Vision Works store; as I’ve said before, with my cruddy balance, I learned long ago to fall down the best way I can [...]

Craft stores and online stores that sell handmade stuff are doing well as cheap gift-things with the recession.  Me, I’m worthless at handmade gifts, unless you make ‘em on a computer.
People (and primates) will believe lies and deceive each other far more than dolphins will. I say we elect dolphins.
Yes, the non-US based [...]

Cops in a small town outside Dayton, Ohio, got a report of a strange man sitting in a running car that was stopped in a driveway.  Coming up to the car, they found that the passenger seat was filled with a full beer keg, and the drivers side was filled with a very drunk man [...]

Looks like the Ohio DOT is finally getting rid of the US-35 traffic lights in Greene County between Dayton and Xenia.
When I was little, there were two seriously weird expressways-with-traffic-lights situations in the area - on US-25 / I-75 north of the city in Northridge, not far from a home I had on North Dixie [...]

Ohio Department of Transportation has a whole bunch of map information online; some of them are in MrSid versions, and some in TIFF.  If you need help with those, ask, and I can recommend converters.

Their basic state (and localities) maps are here.  You can also request a printed map for free online.
The historical maps, in [...]

Various Illinois politicos are asking for a pardon for former Governor George Ryan, whose corruption in office led to a lot of people in jail and several deaths.  One paper wrote: “Instead of selling license plates, [Ryan] gets to make them.”
Otherwise, Ryan will stay in jail till 2013.
Good.  Let him rot there.

New Jersey town builds commuter station for $450 million - without a parking lot for commuters.
A parking facility, the agency claims, would simply draw more cars to an area already clogged with traffic. Then why did the New Jersey Turnpike Authority spend millions on a long exit ramp connecting the station to the turnpike? [...]

Beginning in 1992, a series of tax laws combine to create large tax credits for certain Hummer buyers. By 2002, the New York Times reports that, thanks to changes in the tax code during the Bush administration, an eligible buyer can deduct $34,912 of the $48,800 base price of the Hummer.
July 2002: The Hummer [...]

On Van Buren Street, a tan sedan attempted to drive around Obama’s motorcade.  “The SUV cut the car off immediately, and the security team aimed their weapons at the car,” the pool report said…
And always remember why the windows are open in the security vehicles leading and tailing the president’s car: To give the sharpshooters [...]

Susan reported about a week and a half ago that my van (we have two vehicles, Susan’s SUV and my van) was acting up, as if it was overheating and underheating the inside of the vehicle.  We’ve had heating-cooling problems for a while, and we were dreading this, on top of the big recent vet [...]

Probably of utterly no interest to most of you, but there’s been a recent series in Daytonology on the development of the east side of Dayton, which is my home town.  I spent - well, from 3rd grade till I graduated from college on that side of town, and it’s the Olde Home for me, [...]