Just My Imagination?

Here is the headline from an article in the Tampa paper: "Bold carjackers strike West Shore." And the headline for the continued article is "Brazen carjackers on prowl in West Short." Pretty upsetting if you are going to the mall. The article details how this has been going on for a month! What? They are just getting around to telling the public about this now? These criminals have guns and are attacking families, college age people and older people. Pretty much a cross section of those in the area. This morning on our local news station, they also did a piece on the same topic. Really? This has been going on for about a month and on the same day the tv station and the newspaper run similar articles? Who is controlling our news? I can't believe both independent news agencies decided on the same day to cover this story. Who decides what news we get to hear and when we get to hear it?

American Idol

OK. I feel like I won last night! I'll get to see the maximum number of songs from Adam Lambert. Did you notice that the hometown visits went to Milwaukee, San Diego and Arkansas?

On A More Serious Subject

At the hearing by the NTSB yesterday on the crash of a Colgan Air plane (Continental Commuter) in upstate NY some disturbing facts were publicly revealed. The failed flight tests and non-reporting by the pilot Marvin Renslow are bad enough, but the commuting distances of the pilot and co-pilot are just absurd. Renslow commuted to NJ from his home in Lutz, Fl. and the co-pilot commuted from her home in Seattle, Wa. to NJ. I mean really by the time they got to work they had to be almost dead! Try getting to the airport, going through security, waiting and waiting, flying hours in a cramped tiny little seat and then starting your work day! It is against the rules to sleep in the pilot's lounge. The reason given for the long commutes? They couldn't afford to live in NY or NJ!!! WTF! Renslow started at Colgan Air in 2005 as a first officer at $19,000 a year. WHAT? Your pilot on a commuter airline is about 43 years old with a wife and kids and is making less than $20K a year? The co-pilot, Rebecca Shaw, lived with her parents in Seattle and commuted to work in Newark, NJ. She earned $16,000 a year! How can that be? I think I will never fly a commuter airline again. The lives of the passengers and those on the ground are being entrusted to two people who collectively make less than $35,000 a year and commute more than 6,700 miles before they start work! Better to rent a car, ride a bike, walk or make a phone call.

Live Stock Manager

An ad in the Professional section of our Classified section for Help Wanted is looking for a full time person with a degree in aquaculture to run a sea horse farm. Who ever heard of a sea horse farm! How big is this farm? Is it a 50 gal. aquarium or a swimming pool? I think you can fit thousands of sea horses in a gallon of water. What do they do with the horses? Hire little little jockeys? Ok. I do know it has to be a serious job and they must do all sorts of exciting things with sea horses, but really an ad in the Bradenton paper to hire someone to "feed marine livestock"?

New Stove

I found a new type of stove at Home Depot on Sunday. I don't know where to purchase the pots to use with it though.

Want? Ads

Reading the classifieds this morning provided some chuckles. Here are some Super Deals:
Bread Maker - (the person?)
Cabinet / chest small - (the same person?)
Dresser - (the person?)
Dressers - (more than one?)
End Table - (of what?)
Front Mask - (I have nothing for this one)
Golf Training Putter - (I can't train on a real one?)
Hair Straightened - (Not the service?)
Head Set - (For that straightened hair)
Two Hitches and One Hutch
Make Up Mirror - (You've been bad!)
Mini Chopper - (Have you chopped big lately?)
Miter Saw - (I miter saw a mini chopper)
Satellite Finder - (A sky map isn't good enough?)
Saw DeWalt - (Why would you do that?)
Shoe Coach - (I usually just take a friend)
Sleeper Couch - (I just want to sit)
Speed Boat - (As opposed to my slow row boat)
Straight Iron - (Is this a golf iron clad guarantee?)
Surgery Shoe - (Hmmm just think about this one)
Swing Set - (Just too many things to think about with this one)
Trip Points - (Uneven pavement does just fine)
Trolling Motor - (Mystery would need this)
Trunk Lift - (What?)
Walker - (And I will run from this blog!)

County Commissioners

For some reason I was watching the County Commissioners meeting on tv. They were discussing a discount on county contracts for local companies. A pretty complicated issue when you consider a business may open an office in Manatee County just for the duration of the contract and then close shop, a company from out of state may bid and then hire all local workers to perform the work, a company non-local may not require county services and therefore put no strain on a financially strapped school system and many other issues to be discussed. One of the county commissioners decided the issued had been discussed long enough and requested the speaker to take into account all the discussions and rewrite law and then bring it back "not before lunch or at the end of the day when we are all cranky." Since I tuned in about an hour before lunch she must have meant first thing in the morning. Wonder if they should take a snack break. Now I know what happened when I went before the Commission to discuss the unfettered development springing up in my area. It was late in the afternoon and everyone must have been cranky.