Southern Sojourner

An Energy Crisis

I don't know what exactly is wrong with me.  I have had the most difficult time mustering any energy to write, which I actually enjoy even though no one reads.  There have been a lot of things I felt were worthy of my contemplation, but I like to validate my visceral reactions with some modicum of legitimacy and research, and that is were I lose all vitality for this endeavor. 

There are plenty of things going on:

• I continue to struggle to build a self sustaining business and this year has been particularly trying.
• I continue to adjust to constantly changing demands of fatherhood.
• I continue to attempt to be a loving husband, but struggle with my inability to provide, what I deem, to be sufficient or even equal wages to our marital endeavor. 
• I am excited about the return of football.
• I continue to battle weight, though I hope to be 200lbs by the time I turn 40, I am tired of constantly trying.
• I worry that my life is becoming nothing more than an example of mediocrity, amounting to little.
• I have reached a level of frustration with the state of my State (and even more so my county) than I have ever had before and it is breaking my heart. 
• I don't get to fish enough.
• I suck at poker, my other enjoyable hobby.
• I am not reading like I feel I should.
• I feel more isolated and alone than I have in a long time, yet I still meet from time to time people I find incredibly wonderful.  I wish I could invest more into those relationships but I can seem to do it.
• I am an introvert by temperament with a need to be public, so I have conflicting needs.  I go public and feel drained, but when I recharge I am lonely. 
• I am lamenting the lack of critical thought by groups of people that I want most to think critically.
• I am baffled by the stupidity and fear that I hear from people and find it sad that they have to live their lives in fear of progress when progress is inevitable.  And if it is not inevitable, I find that to be even more saddening.
• I am tired of getting my head bashed in by 14 year olds when I play Xbox Live.

Anyway, this probably sounds overly negative.  I guess I just needed to get it off my chest. Maybe the cathartic activity of writing will lead to more posts, a brighter demeanor and extra energy.  If I can just find enough to do it to begin with.

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Response and further comment on the Hub

    Commissioner Humphryes responded yesterday afternoon to my e-mail.  As you can see below he dodged all the questions for the most part, but at least he or someone in his office responded.  I am sure I wasn't the only one to hound him.  Here is his response:

I am aware that Norfolk Southern (NS) was interested in moving into the existing industrial park for their intermodal facility. The plan that I saw did not include any land on the south side of the railroad tracks except for enough land for them to build a private road for the trucks to use to load and unload the railcars.

 

We will see at the zoning hearing tomorrow what their plans are now. It seems they have options on property that goes way beyond that.

 

Commissioner Humphryes

    The zoning hearing today promises to be interesting.  I am not going but the local news reported that some expect 200-400 to show up.  I'd be surprised at that number but there will no doubt be a bunch. 
We will see how that goes.

    I looked up some locations of other hubs.  One is in Austell, GA, outside of Atlanta.  I had T call and speak with someone in the mayor's office.  The mayor was out of town, but I got his direct number and told to call him next week.  T asked about the hub and the community relations.  Basically, they told her that if the decision has been made (which we think has been) there is nothing you can do.  "You can fight it, but you will lose, the railroads just have too much money" is exactly what they told us.
     As far as communty impact, they said they were able to negotiate a $5,000,000 settlement with Norfolk Southern that was escrowed for communty projects.  Unfortunately for McCalla, we are unincorporated and do we really want Jefferson County having control of a settlement like that if we were to get one.  The only complaints they have received, according to this person in the Mayor's office is some noise complaints.  Interestingly she did not say anything about traffic.  The unofficial response from someone in the Austell, GA mayor's office has been that is has been good/bad. 

    I will try to talk with the Mayor next week and see if we can get more specifics.  So far, I haven't been able to determine how negative this hub would be for the whole community or jus some certain areas.  I may try and talk with someone in Harrisburg, PA as well.  They built a hub there in 2000, so perhaps they have a track record to see what the community impact will be. 

Open E-mail to Commissioner Humphreys

The news of Norfolk Southern looking at McCalla as a site for one of the inter-modal hubs has finally hit the news and as expected a group has arisen to resist the efforts.  I got wind of this a month ago when I was made privy to an e-mail that the Land Development Office of Jefferson County sent to County Commissioners. 

My initial response was resistant to the idea and while I probably continue to lean that way, I am undertaking some efforts as time permits to get both sides of the story.  The first step was to e-mail our area's county commissioner, Bobby Humphreys.  I will pass along any response, if I get one, but for the time being, here is the rather quick written e-mail I sent this morning. 

I have had communication with the city of Austell, GA which also have a hub outside of Atlanta, GA.  I will relay what I have found out in another post.  But for now, here is my communication with our Commissioner.

Commissioner Humphreys,

 

As you are aware the recruitment of and the apparent shared interest by, Norfolk Southern, to build an inter-modal hub has now come to light.  As is usually the case in such situations, a lot of emotionally charged rhetoric is being tossed about.  As a resident of the area, I am simply trying to understand the facts and your prompt response is appreciated.  I have the following questions.

 

1)  As commissioner of roads and transportation, how can such a project be sustainable in the area without vast upgrades and support for new and existing roads in the area.  The current roads will be barely sufficient enough for the continued projected residential growth and it is my understanding that there are no plans on improvement to Eastern Valley or other road in the area.   Please comment.

 

 

2)  I have a copy of a memo that Dan Voketz of Land Development e-mailed to you and other commissioners on June 19th, expressing concern and admitting to being unaware of the situation.  Yet, news reports claim that the MDB has been working on the project for 3 years.  I find this amazing.  So my question is how long have you known about this project in your district, if you haven't known for three years why not, why has the resident that comprise this community not been made aware, why is land development unaware of such a massive project and why is the approved comprehensive plan being disregarded.

 

3)  I would like an response to each of the claims by the group No Hub 4 McCalla, which I am sure you are aware of, which include this charges:

·        The hub would deteriorate property values due to 1) noise, 2) 24 hour lighting, 3) smoke from engine and trucks operations.

·        The hub would increase noise and pollution in the area

·        Would increase 18 wheeler traffic by  300,000 per year in the area

·        Would jeopardize wetlands?

·        Would burden the county, which I might add, runs out of money in a couple of weeks, significant costs?

·        And finally and perhaps the charge that garners the most emotional response is that the railroad has the power of eminent domain and will exercise that power to purchase property against the will of the property owner.

 

4)  What do you know about the community impact of area in and around other like Norfolk Southern hubs such as Rutherford in Harrisburg, PA or Austell, GA? Perhaps finding out could dispel growing myths.  I don't mean impact such as a job number, I mean how did it affect the residents, the property values, the quality of life. 

 

This is an excellent opportunity to demonstrate leadership and responsiveness to your constituents.  I look forward to your reply.

Keeping it real

Un-Broke: The Seth Green Cribs Edition - watch more funny videos

Funny how...

There was a time when I was have just thought this was funny, but with little "E" getting close to two, I find it disconcertingly realistic.   It is still incredibly funny though.

Name that Year

Let's play name that year.  Below is a quote from a popular news magazine, can you name the year?

“‘Whining’ hardly captures the extent of the gloom Americans feel as the current downturn enters its 18th month. The slump is the longest, if not the deepest, since the Great Depression. Traumatized by layoffs that have cost more than 1.2 million jobs during the slump, U.S. consumers have fallen into their deepest funk in years…In one of history’s most painful paradoxes, U.S. consumers seem suddenly disillusioned with the American Dream of rising prosperity even as capitalism and democracy have consigned the Soviet Union to history’s trash heap.”

(ht Russ)

Steve Job's Button Phobia Solved

I own an iPhone and yes, I love it, but the Apple owners cult is ultra annoying.  I know that it is being reported that Steve Job's weight loss is due some hormone imbalance but we also know that he hates buttons.  Perhaps they have solved that fear and hopefully his condition with their latest innovation.  After all they are genius (so they say).

Apple Introduces Revolutionary New Laptop With No Keyboard

On the ironic 'inclusion' of the left

Well it is official, I am the world's worst blogger.  I go through periods where I just can make myself sit down and type.  When I do I either have nothing to say or there are too many things to mention that it would take too much text to keep a reader's attention. 

To be honest, I am forcing myself to make this entry. The girls are asleep and I should be since technically I am working tomorrow. 

I thought about commenting about the aubs new coach, but there has been enough said about that already. My fishing has been non-existence of late and my poker exploits have not noteworthy. 

The big news of the week has been either the corruption in Illinois or Obama offering the invocation to Rick Warren.  I don't have much to say about Blagovich other than the accusations are disgusting.  With regard to Warren, I have to say that the hoopla just goes to show that narrow mindedness is not the exclusive domain of the right.  There is a fundamentalism on the left that is just as guilty of intolerance.  Oh the irony. 

Look I have my issues with Warren, no doubt.  His spiritualized consumeristic brand of Christianity doesn't wash well with me.  But, if you are going to bandy about inclusion as your agenda, then my friend, that means you have to include those that you disagree with.  Apparently, the GLBT community doesn't apply inclusion to anything other than that which promotes there own agenda. 

I don't know if Obama should have given that profile to Warren or not, I don't really care to be honest.  I agree with what someone said on the AM news shows this morning, that by the time Aretha Franklin finished her song, no one will even remember Warren's prayer.  I do know that Obama should be credited with continuing to demonstrate that he will govern the whole country and not be cow tied to one flank of the ideological spectrum.  He still has alot to prove, but his demeanor and actions in the interim have done nothing but continue to give me hope that he is the right person for the job. 

Let's pray it is so, even if you don't agree with me.

SEC Reflections

Congratulations to the Florida Gators on winning the SEC Championship.  The best team won, although, I think Alabama had a great chance to bring home the trophy if not for the facemask penalty that gave them a new set of downs on their go ahead drive.  But if they play 10 times, Florida wins six of them, so I have no problem with how things played out.  It was a great game.

Tim Tebow is almost indefensible when you surround him with great athletes which Florida has.  He is a fantastic college player, but he will not be an NFL star, not at quarterback at least.  NOTE TO ALL RECRUITS:  Urban's offense will do nothing but harm your NFL aspirations as QB. 

Florida is the cream of the crop and I hope they smack the Big 12 representative in the mouth in the Championship game.  I am so sick of the media fawning overing Big 12 teams. I foresee several SEC Championship rematches between these two teams over the near term. 

Now to the rest of the league.

The team that did the most with the least:  Alabama-  Clear winner here.  Saban demonstrated that he is one of, if not the best coach in college football.  Only 9 scholarship seniors, tied for playing the most true freshmen in the country.  Not "star" power.  It continues to amaze me how well coached they are.  This team is the rising star in the conference if not the country.  They will be good for many years when the talent catches up with the coaching.  A number 1 recruiting class last year and an almost certain top five class this year should cause fear in many conference teams. 

RUNNER UP:  Ole Miss.  Nutt did a great job and could have had an even better record.  They have a legit star QB coupled with Nutt's grittiness and scheming turned in a great performance.  Can they recruit enough to continue to move up is the big question.

The team that did the least with the most:  Georgia takes this auspicious award in my opinion. Pre-season number 1 and they came no where close to living up to their hype.  How long before Richt is in trouble?  He continually under performs in my estimation.  He is a great guy and I think he has a decent football mind and I don't know what the problem is. Maybe he is not tough enough.  Mark, my advice to you, speak with Mike Shula.  Being a great guy is worthy of admiration but you don't get paid that paycheck to be a great guy. 

RUNNER UP:  I am going to call it a tie between auburn and lsu.  Both struggled with QB play and that is big.  Alabama will struggle a little replacing an adequate but experienced QB, but the play on the Plains and in Red Stick was more than just bad QB play.  LSU fans seem to have embraced Miles, but I am still not convinced.  He is just baffling to me.  I addressed this last year and nothing has dissuaded my opinion.  He apparently can recruit (it is easy to do at LSU since they have not natural competition in their own state) so that may mask the inadequacies but pressure from Tuscaloosa will continue irritate the impatiences of modern day lsu fans.  The aubs are in trouble in my opinion.  The tigers will have to reckon with a recruiting base that drying up on them.  It is going to be hard for them to compete when Florida, Bama and Georgia are top of their game.  History has shown that their success comes when those teams struggle.  I don't see that anytime soon assuming Georgia gets their act together.  Firing Tuberville was stupid and the aubs think they are a national power.  They are not. 

The team with the murkiest future:  Happy to give this award to Tennessee.  Lane Kiffin is largely unknown to me.  It is a huge gamble.  It could turn out okay for them and if so, they will be Florida's competition in the East, but I have a feeling Kiffin is over his head in this league.  This is not the Pac-10 and he was a bust at Oakland. 

Runner Up:  I guess I will give this to South Carolina.  Not that they have any tradition of success, but Spurrier had made them mildly competitive, but Spurrier's tenure is closer to being over than anything and South Carolina has to compete with Clemson in a very small recruiting pool.  Doesn't appear to look good to me. 

The rest of the league: Nothing much to say here expect in the East Vandy and Kentucky will probably continue to compete for the bottom of the standing.  In the West, Miss. St. is done.  The worst place in the conference to recruit to, little to zero tradition and if you have ever been to Starkville you will know why.  Arkansas is a wild card.  Petrino can coach and they have a pretty good tradition there.  Can they keep Petrino long enough?  Hard to say, but they could be a good odd year challenger in the days ahead, but they have some work to do and some talent to get. 

All that to say, that after watching a great championship game between two powerhouses, I have the feeling that the conference is finally starting to shake out like it should be.  I love Alabama's discipline and style of football.  Meyer is as good as the QB.  Florida's recruiting base in huge and it is easy to recruit to Gainesville.  Spurrier awoke a sleeping giant and Meyer carries on the tradition.  Florida will be good for a long time, but Tebow's are once in a generation college players.  He will get some good QBs (cf. Alex Smith) but if I had to invest in the conference, I would be buying Alabama, shorting auburn, buying some options on Arkansas, be trading Ole Miss on term, and hold my position in Florida. 

Good luck gators! Thank you Bama for a great year and putting the conference back to rights and bring on the Big 12.