An inspiring woman, an inspired choice

the list of women who have really inspired me is short.  my mom for sure, my wonderful girlfriend of a year Abbie, and thats probably it.  certainly there hasn’t been anyone outside of people i knew personally.  but today that changed.

in a total shocker move, John McCain announced Sarah Palin as his running mate.  I hadn’t heard of her either.  at first i was worried, because frankly I wasn’t fired up for McCain as a conservative leader and was sure he would screw this up.  But that was definitely not the case. 

Sarah Palin, governor of Alaska the past few years, absolutely floored me after I heard her speak and found out what she believed in.  Completely unlike the typical thought of woman in politics (angry manhating butch femi-nazi) her political ideals actually match mine perfectly (pro life, tax cutter/spending cutter, for drilling/oil exploration , against same sex marriage, ect).  She’s a lifelong member of the NRA, has a son in the military who is actually deploying to Iraq next month,  and played point guard on her high school basketball team.

Mother of 5, married 20 years, a tremendous story of going from PTA member, city council member, mayor of her hometown, to running for governor, she is the perfect inspiration for not just women but for anyone.  This has totally pumped me up for the election.  no longer am i voting against obama, but now i’m voting FOR McCain-Palin.  way to go McCain!

whats funny is she actually has more experience than obama–as the VEEP!.  unlike the former community agitator and state senator, she’s actually RUN a government.  a real leadership position.  She wasn’t the product of some corrupt chicago political machine or friends with extremists and radicals.  nope, just a regular person who had stuck to her principles. 

hey she ain’t too bad looking either

Fantasy Football draft came and went

currently watching: South Park-Season 11

Had the league that i’m commissioner for’s draft on tuesday night and here’s my team:

QB McNabb, Favre

RB Addai, Graham, K. Smith, Norwood, Bradshaw

WR Colston, Houshmanzadeh, Bowe

TE Heap, H. Miller

K Vinatieri

Def Titans

i think its certainly playoff material!  root for these players if you happen to be watching an nfl game anytime soon.  thanks.

so as not to let down my adoring public…

KU freshman charged with battery

http://cjonline.com/stories/082008/bre_kumorris.shtml

The Capital-Journal

Published Wednesday, August 20, 2008 at 3:41 p.m. CDT

 

LAWRENCE — Markieff Morris, an incoming freshman basketball player at Kansas, has been charged with battery after firing a BB gun and hitting a woman with a plastic BB on Aug. 16.

Morris, 18, was suspected of using alcohol, according to a police report. He has a hearing at 1 p.m. Sept. 10 in Lawrence Municipal Court.

A forward from Pennsauken, New Jersey, Morris and his twin brother Marcus, are scheduled to join the Kansas basketball team this fall, although neither has yet cleared the NCAA Clearinghouse. Originally from Philadeplphia, the twins moved to New Jersey to attend prep school and play basketball last season.

A police report indicates Morris used a three-foot BB gun worth $100. Police also found a medium-sized bag of BBs.

Morris is the third KU basketball player in the last year to find himself in the court system. Brandon Rush was arrested in December for failure to appear and Sherron Collins is currently facing a lawsuit.

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couple things.  LOL obviously.  2nd, i can now see why self recruited this dude. to be able to hit a woman from a window with a bb gun while drunk is very impressive marksmanship and probably should translate to excellent long range shooting on the court.  if he qualifies…which should only take a couple of convenient grade changes i’m sure.

it didn’t take long to understand the need for a union at the RR…

currently watching: Seinfeld-Season 5

currently listening to: The Microphones-It was hot we stayed in the water

currently playing: NCAA Football 2004 (gamecube)

so i lost out on half of my most recent paycheck and am having to go through the union to appeal the decision the company made in taking my money.  See if you can follow this, its pretty rediculous.

on the railroad there are a number of jobs where you get paid a “guarantee” based on your on-call availability.  if you layoff a day, you lose a days worth of that guarantee for the payperiod.  well, near the end of july i had been available/worked about 9 days or so in a row and laid off a day.   totally normal.  after my 24 hours off, i was available again but before i got called again i found out i won a bid (i didn’t expect to win this) to another job.  again, nothing unusual here.  but the new job i was going to is a job that rarely works (its lower paying but i didnt want to work a bunch outside during the hottest part of the year–yes i’m a wuss).

so, if you are still with me, i am now available on the new job but don’t get called for a week.  again, normal for this job.  well, at the end of that week i automatically go on my scheduled week-long vacation.  its a vacation set at the beginning of the year based on seniority–we bid on what weeks we want.  ok so now what has happened is i didn’t work between “layoffs” and therefore, according to rules setup to prevent guys from PURPOSELY cheating the pay-system, lose all guarantee between those layoffs. 

clearly the company is mis-applying the pay-rules here because everything that happened was purely coincidental.  when i laid off the first time, i fully expected to work again before my vacation.  BUT, i unexpectantly won that bid to another job.  i was available for work for a full week before my vacation and its not my fault i didnt get called during that time.  and lastly, i didn’t request my 2nd layoff, the system just puts you in vacation automatically.  heck, i dont know if i can even choose to NOT take a vacation, which i would have done if i knew i’d lose a week’s pay. 

SOOOOOOO………thank goodness for the union.  the appeals process can take many months but its worth it for a weeks pay.  i guess this kind of thing probably happens to everyone in their railroad career and all we can do is stand together so things like this come to a stop.  very very frustrating though!!!

ukansas: bad for the environment

EPA says University of Kansas is a Repeat Offender

http://www.nbcactionnews.com/content/news/kansas/story.aspx?content_id=b109c2e6-c9a6-47a1-9654-578eb0ec4a79

LAWRENCE, Kan. (AP) – The University of Kansas has violated Environmental Protection Agency regulations for the second time in three years, the federal agency says. Now, the EPA says it may fine the university.  (the epa should know by now vague threats/weak penalties won’t put ukansas back in line…after all, compliance doesn’t sell tickets) “When you find the same things, it shows there is a pattern,” said David Bryan, a spokesman for the EPA’s regional office serving Iowa, Kansas, Missouri and Nebraska. “It shows there really haven’t been institutional things done to correct the problem.” (lack of institutional control? seems to be a theme at this school) According to a 321-page report obtained by the Lawrence Journal-World through an open-records request, multiple possible violations were found at various university labs during a Dec. 12, 2007, inspection. The potential violations include failing to determine if some wastes produced by the school were hazardous; allowing incompatible chemicals to be stored on the same shelf; and operating as a hazardous waste treatment facility without a permit. The report says that an EPA inspector found several open jugs of improperly labeled waste in a science building at the Lawrence campus. Inspectors also found chemicals being stored near each other that, if mixed, could lead to a fires and explosions, and a professor disposing of a couple of liters of 50 percent methanol cleaning solution into the city sewers. Methanol can be toxic to humans if ingested, according to the EPA.   (people should probably steer clear of all lakes/rives…who knows what might be living down there…) University spokeswoman Lynn Bretz said university officials took the report seriously and were working with the EPA to fix any problems. However, Bretz said that the school would not comment on the specifics of the 2007 inspection report or the EPA’s charge that the university is a repeat offender. Although the EPA has notified the university of 24 observed violations during the 2007 inspection, a final, official report has not been issued and no fines have been levied. “It wouldn’t be responsible to discuss these issues at this point in time,” Bretz told the Journal-World. The university was cited in 1994, 2000 and 2005 for failing to determine if some wastes were hazardous, something that was also cited in the 2007 inspection. In its response to the EPA after the 2005 citation, university officials tested the waste and everything was proven to be nonhazardous. Bryan said the university needs to test and label items immediately to avoid confusion or harm. Bryan said university officials were negotiating with the EPA on the extent of penalties the school will face. He said the EPA’s main concern is that the university fix the problems. Mike Russell, director of Environment, Health and Safety for the university called the inspection and negotiations fairly common. No timeline has been set for negotiations and an official filing of violations.©2008 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. ——————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————— this can’t be good news for all the enviro left wing loons that live/attend school in lawrence.  UKANSAS: once again proving to be a huge detriment to the state of Kansas.

wow the day seems a lot longer when you get up by noon

currently listening to: Ted Leo-The Tyranny of Distance

currently playing: Mario Sunshine (Gamecube)  

just saw: X-files-I want to believe

uh so i’m on vacation this week but really i can’t tell the difference because i doubt i’d be working anyway.  i can’t change what week i use my vacation because we bid on what weeks we get before the year starts so i’m stuck. 

this past weekend i helped Abbie move from lawrence to here in Shawnee, she’s gonna rent a house with another girl from a couple that is going to china for a year.  i’m just happy she’s out of lawrence and closer to her work and of course me. 

mostly been playing a lot of video games and watching dvds amidst going to the gym and waiting for football to begin.  k thats it this week.  yawn.