To celebrate my youngest cousin’s high school graduation, Yeni and I headed to Albany to join the celebration. Instead of flying, we packed very lightly and took the Harley 650 miles east from Ann Arbor to Albany, mostly following I-90 (we were going to go through Canada, but that’s a different story).
The trip to Albany was amazing and covered parts of Michigan, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and New York. Cities included Toledo, Cleveland, Erie, Buffalo, Syracuse, and Albany. Normally, when traveling on the Interstate, you really don’t get to see much, and with this trip, we set that as our expectation. Gladly, we were wrong. I had never been West of Albany (yes, I’m one of those type of New Yorker’s) and You know you want to keep reading »
UPDATE — Monica Conyers has resigned from Detroit City Council effective July 6, 2009. Detroit News Article
This morning, in a Detroit Federal Court, Monica Conyers plead guilty to charges of Conspiracy to Commit Bribery. The presiding judge, Avern Cohn, advised the court that “the defendant now stands convicted.”
At this point, Conyers is still a councilwoman for the Detroit City Council. The Detroit city charter requires Conyers to resign “immediately” the minute she is convicted of a felony, but apparently, in Federal Court this is viewed as when the Defendant is sentenced.
Detroit Rock City shines again. The bottom line though…
Monica Conyers Pleads Guilty
She took bribes. She is married to US Congressman John Conyers (who had not commented as of yet).
Besides celebrating the birth of my sister, June 21st holds additional special meanings… such as the start of Summer, the Summer Solstice, and the longest “day” of the year. This year, it of course was also Father’s day — so all in all, this year, June 21st was a day of family.
The amount of daylight surprised me. This picture was taken at 9:30 pm:
DETROIT, MI — The Detroit News reports that my favorite politician, Monica Conyers, reportedly needs to consider a plea offer from the Federal Government regarding a corruption investigation of City Hall. Apparently, the feds want an answer from Conyers by the end of the day (June 16th).
The short story concerns Rayford W. Jackson’s recent guilty plea in Federal Court on Monday. Jackson pleaded guilty to a bribery conspiracy in which “Council Member A” was given more than six grand in bribes in connection with a 1.2 billion dollar contract. This same “Council Member A” had also been bribed by another person, James R. Rosendall, Jr. You know you want to keep reading »
Yeni and I just got back from a quick trip to Chicago… visiting her brother as well as celebrating our first month of married life.
It was a short drive (few hours) from Michigan to Chicago, and figuring the parking in Chicago would be interesting, we chose to take the Versa instead of the Expedition. Although, if we hadn’t have needed the trunk space, taking the Harley would have been much more fun. The more highway driving I do, the less I love Michigan roads. It’s funny too, as the second we hit Indiana, the road just smoothed out and we just smiled. Then, when you hit Chicago, well… welcome back “holes in the floor.”
Coming up this week… some Twitter coding, more Asterisk work, and if all goes well, a motorcycle ride up the east coast of Michigan with the wife (We have a new bluetooth headset to test as well as a trip to Albany to prepare for)
Back in 2007, I was floored by the University of Florida’s President (Bernie Machen) accepting more than $200,000 in bonuses. I was so floored, I sent him a letter (below) and asked him to decline the bonus. After all, he already receives in base salary more than 10 times the annual income for a Florida family sending their child to the University of Florida.
As expected, I did not receive a response and there was no mention of donations, declines, or anything else from Bernie Machen. You know you want to keep reading »
I’m still in Florida, but headed back to Michigan on Wednesday. I’ve been enjoying the warm weather, although it was 98 degrees yesterday in North Florida… much, much higher than Ann Arbor.
Anyway, this last weekend I:
Celebrated mom’s birthday with my family (including my sister and our spouses)
Had an AMAZING meal at Joe’s Stone Crabs (but, when do you not?)
Celebrated Mother’s day with the family
Worked a little in Boca Raton, FL
Enjoyed a nice afternoon on the beach with my wife.
As a boy, I loved going to the airport. I remember being fascinated by the TWA terminal at JFK, awed by the escalator down from LAX, and excited to see the ocean immediately after take off from Fort Lauderdale. Airports also meant seeing family, visiting new places, and let’s not forget all the cool planes. I associated air travel with very positive emotions.
Well, a funny thing happened on the way to Detroit…
Today’s world finds me loathing any experience with airports, airlines, or at this point just air travel. For the third time in a year, US Airways cancelled my flight. I like numbers, so let’s look at it this way… I’ve taken 3 trips on US Airways since April 2008. Each of the three have had a cancelled flight, and, two of the three delayed overnight; requiring a hotel stay. So, in percentage… 100% of trips on US Airways have a cancelled flight and 67% delay arrival by a day or more.
Update June 11, 2009: The Chief is now leaving in early July – 4 months earlier than he had advised.
Norman Botsford, the current Police Chief of Gainesville, Florida, announced that he would be retiring from his position. Although the following Gainesville Sun article highlights his history, they don’t mention how in recent years he has helmed a department who’s morale has dropped faster than, well insert your metaphor here… it’s way low.
On my way to Orange County, California (via Phoenix). It’s been a while since I had to fly and I am really hopeful my airport experience will be more positive than usual.
Yeni and I have had this one Bob Marley song stuck in our heads recently, so I leave you with:
Don’t worry about a thing,
’cause every little thing gonna be all right.
Don’t worry about a thing,
cause every little thing gonna be all right!
Rise up this morning,
Smiled with the rising sun,
Three little birds
Pitch by my doorstep
Singing sweet songs
Of melodies pure and true,
Saying this is my message to you.
Singing: don’t worry bout a thing,
’cause every little thing gonna be all right.
Singing: don’t worry about a thing,
’cause every little thing gonna be all right!
I attended Ann Arbor’s Cloud Camp yesterday at Google (in… Ann Arbor). Was a great “un-conference” about cloud computing and such. Took a few pictures and enjoyed the afternoon.
So, last night Michael and I caught up over a few Bourbon’s at a TGI Friday’s down the road. The last time Mike and I visited Friday’s together? 1989. Anyway… as the evening wore on, the window showed us something I thought I wouldn’t be seeing again for a while — snow. And we’re not talking “oh just a little white powder” here, we are talking big, huge, white flakes. Big ones. Coming down like the ground was Macy’s and it was a 90% off sale.
The snow continued throughout the night leaving 4 – 7 inches on the ground (depending on which paper you believe). All I know is that Yeni had to break out the winter boots (She said, “Oh, Winter Boots I thought I would not see you again… but here you are.”) and I got to de-snow the cars yet another time this year.
I will say this though… Looking at snow is nice. Dealing with it, not so much. There’s more pictures below… You know you want to keep reading »
Last night, after watching the ER finale, the news showed me something I could not believe. The President of the Detroit City Council, Monica Conyers, provided an interview to Fox News giving a statement which I would only expect to be heard on Jerry Springer. Monica Conyers stated:
No, I did not. I did not say she needs to get a man. But does she? And not be with everyone else’s man. Does she? I am just asking you. This is what her people say about her. I don’t know. (yes, there’s a video) You know you want to keep reading »
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