Wordless Wednesday

Wisconsin does not have a "unique" "drinking culture"

I've been critical here and elsewhere when people hyperventilate about how the "drinking culture" of Wisconsin is the worst in the world. As if no where else on Earth does anyone ever drink to excess at a bar or sporting event, or fail to learn the lesson after the first DUI. I know we all want to think we're special, but we're not. Spending any time at all outside of Wisconsin should clear that right up, unless you're spending it with practicing Mormons.

A 33-year-old college professor was arrested on drunken driving charges twice in the same night following separate traffic stops in the city, authorities said.

Madison? LaCrosse? Must be Platteville, right?

Utica.

The problem is not the culture of Wisconsin. The problem is stupid people. And they live everywhere.

Wordless Wednesday

Moose River, which I can't mention without crooning made-up lyrics a la Mark Steyn. Don't judge me!

This weekend's adventure...

This weekend is Peak Foliage for parts of the Central Adirondacks, so off I was to Bald Mountain, near Old Forge. In August, I learned that Adirondack trails described as "easy" may include any or all of the following: ladders of tree roots, sheer faces of rocks, peat bogs, rotting logs, and quicksand.

No quicksand today, but does THIS look like a trail to you?



I stood there for a good 20 minutes trying to scrounge up the guts to climb over the granite (20-ft drop to either side before the first row of trees...). During this time, I was passed by seasoned citizens, parents carrying toddlers, Japanese students yapping on their cell phones, frat boys drinking Heineken out of bottles, and a group of mentally disabled adults on an outing from a group home. Everyone's just skipping along like they can't slip and die, except the residents of the group home--they were picking their way across holding the hands of their aides (note to self: next time bring hand to hold). Hi, I'm from Iowa--quiet, flat, SAFE.

Eventually my fat flatlander butt made it all the way to the firetower at the summit (Ranger Gord not included), clinging to my hiking stick like it was guns or religion.

Learn how the firetower was built here. See vintage photos here.

See MY photos HERE, dammit, since I thought I was going to get myself killed making them. :P I think I've identified the Fulton Chain of Lakes properly in the photos...

Wish there would have been more places to pull off and take photos from the road; I have never seen so much red in the foliage. Moose River, on the way home, wasn't nearly as red.

I also saw a black squirrel in Old Forge. According to the lavishly illustrated "Squirrels of New York" pamphlet I picked up at the state fair from the New York State Department of Environmental Convservation ("George Pataki, Governor"--hey, kudos to someone for not wasting money on needless reprints), black squirrels are grey squirrels.

Bizarro World.

Wordless Wednesday

Watkins Glen.

I question the timing...

Friday, David Paterson ordered a "review"* of New York's contracts with ACORN.

Saturday night, the NY Times reports Obama wants Paterson to refrain from running for election. Cites Deval Patrick-esque approval numbers, without mentioning either Deval Patrick's fail or Obama's own plummeting approval.

Timing aside, I wonder who Good King Barack was planning on appointing to the governorship**? And why hasn't anyone told him that's not how it works in this country?


* My assumption was that he asked for someone to generate some paperwork to wave at TV cameras so it looks like he's doing something, with no intention of an actual investigation, because that would be political suicide for a Democrat governor of any race.

** No way it's Hillary, not after exiling her to Africa and appointing commissars to do work traditionally under the Sec. of State's purview.

Wordless Wednesday

(The water at Green Lake really is that color...as is Round Lake, which feeds into it.)

Wordless Wednesday

(I was in the Adirondacks over the weekend; still working on a post from my first trip to the region in August. Heh.)

Wordless Wednesday

Attention Wisconsin State Fair

This is how you do it, people:



New York State Fair wasn't bad; I'd give it an 7 on a scale where the Iowa State Fair is a ten. Particularly enjoyed the agricultural history museum. The Mohawk Valley used to supply 80% of the nation's hops...

Wordless Wednesday

I've figured out why I'm always confused here.

We may actually have been going west.

Altogether now: "I can't WAIT for these people to decide which medical treatment I can and should have!"

Boldt Castle

So last weekend I went to Canada, and Saturday's adventure was returning to the U.S. *heh* to see Boldt Castle. (I had to show my passport and explain where I met the foreign national...not sure why in 2009 it's hard to believe an Iowa-based corporation could have a Munich branch office...)

It's marketed as a "love story"--hotel magnate George Boldt started building a replica Rhineland castle for his wife, then abandoned construction when she died--but the more interesting story is that George Boldt(pdf) got to be a multimillionaire in the first place.

He started out as a 13-year-old immigrant dishwasher in New York. He learned English. He saved his wages, bought some land in Texas, failed at chicken farming, and returned to upstate NY to wash more dishes at a small hotel. He worked his way up to steward, met a guy who needed a steward at a businessman's club in Philadelphia, moved to the better job, impressed some patrons who invested in a hotel of his own, made it successful, caught the attention of William Waldolf Astor, became a manager of the Waldorf in NYC, revolutionized the hospitality industry, started investing his compensation in real estate, and took off from there.

Much more interesting than "rich guy loses wife, gives up."

It's a classic American story--hard work, a little luck meeting the right people, the willingness to take risks on better opportunity--and except for "investing in real estate" it seems really anachronistic now. Learning English? Moving to a new city to take advantage of an opportunity? (some degreed professionals still do this, but lesser-skilled workers collect government checks to stay put and unemployed...) Going back to washing dishes instead of expecting the government to bail out your failed venture and support your lifestyle?

Not to mention anyone who does these things in the 21st century is going to get kneecapped right around "became a manager of the Waldorf" as local, state, and federal governments combine to confiscate over half his compensation.

So much for feeling inspired.

I got a kick out of the unrestored rooms as much as anything. I love to see how stuff is put together.

Unrelated, spent the weekend drinking Steamwhistle, which is not available in the U.S. Claiming that their use of hops, malt, and yeast "save(s) the planet" strikes me as a ridiculous marketing conceit, but it was tasty.

Wordless Wednesday

Wordless Wednesday

Government blues

Was going to go downtown to take pictures this morning, stopped to see if there was anything interesting going on...turns out there is:

The mission of the New York State Rhythm & Blues Festival, Inc. is to preserve, protect and promote blues music and culture. This is achieved through education in school programs, community events, and workshops, culminating with the production of an outdoor festival uniting our diverse citizenry in a celebration of American blues-based music. The Syracuse, New York based festival entertains while educating on the role of the blues in the development of popular music in the United States and around the world.

Can't just "play some kickass music and have a good time downtown"--have to "educate" "diverse citizenry" blah blah buzzword gimme a grant!

(I'm also cranky I missed the craft beer festival last night, 'cause I didn't know about it--but that's probably just as well because I don't have my designated driver out here this weekend.)

Holy !*#&$(!

I finally get offline/no media (except SportsCenter this morning...) for 30 hours or so, and all hell breaks loose.

I figure Steyn is right, as usual, and I just feel sick and sad. And I hope it's not because of something about Trig's health.

Sigh.

My first NY wedding was lovely and fun. Friend's bride is a total sweetheart, wedding was sweet, resort and meal were fabulous. The fire alarm went off during the cocktail hour and the hotel had to be evacuated--so they just had their picture taken with the fire truck (false alarm, thank God). *grin* And my best moved-from-Milwaukee friends were there, we had a great time.

Still homesick, but less depressed. Onward.

Wordless** Wednesday*

* I stole the concept of Wordless Wednesday from the textile arts blogs. I stopped reading them altogether when I realized there were only two on my list that didn't feature cartoony stitched shrines to Obama every entry...who needs that garbage?

**These words don't count.

Yet Another Porkulus Fail

The waste, the fraud, the whole un-thought-through-ness of signing a bill no one even read...it's been obvious for months now that the stated purpose of the "stimulus" bill as creating jobs was at best a joke and more likely a lie, but another data point to hammer it home...

New York state expects to spend 84 percent of its $26 billion in federal money on Medicaid, unemployment benefits, school aid, nutrition, public health programs, one-time Social Security payments, Head Start, college grants, and other social and school support.

I'm not sure whether to call it a "wealth transfer" or "welfare bloat"--it's waste AND fraud!--but it looks like the only jobs created will be in the bureaucracy and social-work industries.

I mention this because it's borrowed federal dollars--aka, the money they'll be taking from me for the rest of my working life, no matter where I live. And you, too, if you're stupid enough to be working and/or have retirement investments instead of collecting government checks...

Well, I'm useless in a Revolution...

Went to Fort Ontario today. When greeted at the entrance by an English sentry with a bayonet and informed the fort was under the control and protection of the King and all who enter it declare their loyalty to His Majesty by doing so, first thing out of my mouth was, "Uh...sure..." Hey, I'd just paid four New York-issued dollars to the guy at the ticket table...I did not, at least, sign a paper pledging my loyalty to the crown, despite being offered a photocopy of a schilling for doing so.

The laugh of the day came right before the "demonstration of battle" (not a re-enactment of a specific battle). When a member of the British 24th Regiment was exhorting the crowd gathered on the ramparts to cheer for the "good guys" shouted--"We're here to protect you! We're trying to save you from that Congress!" a older guy in a red-white-and-blue tie-dyed shirt with five-pointed stars yelled back "You're too late!" Cheering all around.

I will upload pictures later, but this is too good not to share immediately:



Heh!