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NO!

I was hoping to wake up at 7am and begin working on a test I need to update for a faculty member. My hopes were dashed, and I ended up not really getting out of bed until about 10am.

I then began my morning routine of going through all of the emails I had received overnight. When I was almost finished with that task, another email hit my inbox, from The Bloomingtonian. The City of Bloomington is beginning a retry at annexation. Sigh.

The green, purple, red, pink, yellow and orange areas are to be annexed.

Surprisingly, I guess I did not write anything on my blog about it when this originally popped up in 2017. The map above was originally a much larger area to be annexed.

I can’t say that it was due to my input, but all of the “1” areas were originally a singular area. I kept telling a friend who is on the city council that those areas needed split up, as they differ greatly. The next map produced was wildly similar than the one shown here.

During that time, he would provide me with information in confidence and I would spew it out and about, frustrating him to the point where he almost ended our friendship.

This is one area where he and I are diametrically opposed, and I failed to consider our relationship in the grand scheme of things with the words I said. I failed him, and for that I will not pester him and then blab my mouth in the clear on social media.

BUT I WILL WRITE MY OPINIONS

A button I received at the first “informational session” during the original annexation push in 2017

I feel that I must provide some history on this since I did not write about it previously.

In 2017, seemingly out of the blue the mayor of Bloomington, John Hamilton unleashed this wide plan to annex over 10,000 acres of “fringe” area into the city of Bloomington. The city hadn’t annexed anything for a period of almost 20 years, and there are certain areas that quite obviously need to be. Over that period of time the city has changed significantly, and the population has increased as well.

There were several township meetings held so the residents of these areas would have an opportunity to redress the elected officials about this. The one for Van Buren township (where I live) was quite lively. With many boos, etc, etc. It was there where I was first introduced to Geoff McKim, a county council member. I call him the “numbers guy”. He broke down what would happen fiscally if annexation went through. It wasn’t pretty.

I do not live in an area that will be annexed, but per what he said in 2017 my taxes would increase by 26% due to the loss of others on the tax roll for the county and my township.

The only play against annexation in Indiana is remonstrance, where I believe it is 63% of the property owners officially state they do not want to be annexed, it will be stopped.

Back in 2017, the city also stated that many of our township fire departments services would be essentially gutted; and people including me would have to rely upon the Bloomington Fire Department. Their closest station is almost 5 miles away. My township fire department has a station less than 2 miles away, and they have been here in under 2 minutes.

The city pulled some blows that were quite frankly below the belt back then too, as the issue of remonstrance waivers became a major issue. Many new subdivisions outside of city limits would connect to city utilities, and the city would provide it given waivers were signed for these properties. This gave the homeowners no say in the process. It essentially silenced them. This angered me, greatly.

Then it was announced that Cook would pay the city $100,000 per year in order to not be included in the area to be annexed. This made it very clear to us poor working stiffs that this was clearly about money, and a pay to play system was in place locally.

My buddy Steve was right, “All Politics is Local.”

Then, something came out of left field that shocked us all. The state added language into a bill that killed the annexation. Bloomington quickly filed suit stating the bill violated the state’s prohibition on special legislation. The city eventually won that case in the Indiana Supreme Court.

I was happy to see that play out, and work it’s way through the court system. I am no scholar on our states constitution and do not understand many of the rules and mechanisms in play for situations like these. I may be against the annexation; but I am not against our judicial system for these decisions.

So, here we are again. Four years later, a whole lot of arguing in person, online and before the highest court in the state. I don’t know what will happen, but I am still against this massive annexation plan.

The city has went on a wild spending spree, built a $25 million dollar park but still seems to need more money.

By contrast, my township recently completed construction on a new fire station at it’s secondary location. No bonds were issued, no taxes were raised. It was done through fiscal responsibility and saving funds for the expense.

I’m going to end post I’ve been working on all day long with something short, but sweet. This is an image of me in 2017, at the first informational session the city held on annexation. It was promised to be almost like a round table discussion; but it ended up being just a lot of poster boards around city hall. It felt like they were just trying to hide from those who they wanted to bring into the city to me. I proudly held that sign then, and I feel the same today.

Don’t make me bring the crazy eyes back out!

A Touch of Normalcy

Yesterday I did something I haven’t in over a year. I spent some quality time with my youngest daughter during the week. Pre-pandemic, I would get her every Wednesday. We would have a bit of a date night, and then go back to my house. It was short, but always sweet. Time I loved and appreciated.

We went to a place we used to go all the time, Steak N Shake. We both wanted to see the changes they announced. It sadly all was true. I have hundreds of photos of her at Steak N Shake over the years. I called them “Still life at Steak N Shake.” Often times showing a happy girl wearing the infamous paper hat. After yesterday, that experience is and has died.

We then went to the Hawaiian Shaved Ice place just down the road. A place I remember fondly when it was just a temporary “shack” on a trailer, a place where I first asked a girl out.

We then just drove around the big city of Bedford while waiting on her Volleyball game. She was going to play the sport last year, after her first practice everything was cancelled, it broke her heart – but she understood.

I’ve been telling and teasing her for years that her great-great grandparents are buried right next to her school and the Limestone Boys & Girls Club. Due to the family photos I’ve been going through, I was able to somewhat triangulate the exact location. I don’t even recall going to it, so I had no memory either.

Ever since her move, 30 miles away from the only place she knew of as home it’s been important to me to show her that she has roots in her new hometown. My great-grandparents are the core of our roots in Bedford, as they moved our family there in 1920, when my grandma was a baby and the last time our world was experiencing a pandemic.

The building in the upper left is the gym of the Boys & Girls club.

We then kept just driving around, experiencing things I had not seen before. Amelia was calling me a stalker, as I drove 20mph down city streets taking in the variety of home types and styles.

We then headed back to the Boys & Girls club, as she had photos to take and two games to play. This is where the stark contrast between our communities showed themselves.

Monroe county still has a mask mandate, Lawrence county however does not. When entering this secondary gym, there was a sign that said masks had to be worn inside the building – with a box of masks available. Some wore them, myself included. The vast majority did not however.

The gym where the games were played was packed, with the stands not having any room to spare. There was also a line just to get into the gym.

I was able to find a chair to sit in, off by myself. I stuck around for her first game but decided to leave at the end of it. I’m not sure if I have mask anxiety or what. What I do know however is that until we as a country are ~70% vaccinated, I will be nervous when I do not see masks outside of my own family bubble.

Oklahoma, How I Miss Thee

It’s a Monday morning, and a weird one at that. For some reason the subject of Elohim City came up. I did what I do, I started reading. I came across this post from almost 10 years ago about the place, but it did something none other have done. It explained in great detail what I love about Adair county Oklahoma.

“The western edge of the Ozarks begins here in Adair County, a sparsely populated spread of bucolic communities with a mere 22,000 residents (43 percent of whom claim Native American blood) over 577 square miles. The pastoral beauty of the majestic, unpredictable terrain stands in stark contrast to the rural poverty that plagues much of its population. Roadsides are often littered with garbage—discarded, empty cans of Busch beer, cast-off plastic grocery bags, cigarette butts—and road signs are peppered with bullet holes. Gutted shotgun shacks and ramshackle houses with landfill front yards rest precariously next to forests of resilient pines and dead, twisted post oaks. Multitudes of modest white churches adorned with hand-painted signage offer a point of communion for residents to congregate and socialize.

Underneath the surface malaise and natural wonder of Adair lies an explosive history, one that informs Elohim’s existence. This is the heart of the Cherokee Nation, the last stop on the Trail of Tears where 11,000 Cherokee Indians were forcibly relocated. The area’s history is America’s history, fraught with instances of revolt and rebellion, of fierce individualism repeatedly clashing with a government status quo. This is the territory where Cherokee general Stand Watie held out against Union troops, making him the last Confederate general to surrender at the end of the Civil War, thus ending the South’s campaign for secession. It’s the home of Ned Christie, a Keetowah Cherokee traditionalist falsely accused of killing a federal marshal. When he wouldn’t surrender, a posse of hired guns from Fort Smith pushed a burning wagon into Christie’s fortified home.

The James Gang hid out here, as did Belle Starr and her bunch, the Dalton Boys, and Charles “Pretty Boy” Floyd. In 1977, Gene Leroy Hart, a Cherokee, was accused of the brutal rape and murder of three girl scouts in Mayes County. Hart was a violent local fugitive who’d previously been convicted of raping two Tulsa women. Despite the public outcry, a Mayes County jury acquitted Hart.

Today, the Cherokee Nation is humble home to small-town Oklahomans, many of whom are largely untouched by 21st century development. The landscape is wild and primitive, and self-governance is necessary for day-to-day survival. And the area’s legacy of isolationism and individualism continues, carried on in large part by Elohim City.”

I asked my aunts about the place the last time I was out, just as this pandemic was starting. I got different answers from each of them. One said that they were “Survivalists” while the other told me “Don’t even go around there or you’ll get shot.” I cannot remember what my 3rd aunt said.

I’m still coming to grips with the fact that there is a community like this so close to the area I’ve grown up loving, the area that makes me feel free as a bird. I’m not trying to start a conversation about these issues however. I understand the separatist lifestyle, that could have been me and my family at Ruby Ridge. I guess finding out about this place was the day I that I officially grew up.

Mr. President

Something I’ve always been critical of, primarily because I’ve never felt comfortable with is leadership. I’m more of a get to work and get things done sort of guy. Handing out tasks, and delegating aren’t tools in my toolbox.

Professionally, I’m an army of one. A lone wolf in a world that praises teamwork and cooperative efforts. It’s just in my bones, and in my nature. I can only blame it on my growing up as an only child. I didn’t have others to rely upon, I just had myself.

A few months ago, I was unanimously voted to be the president of the Janeway Collective. I think primarily because I took a situation that was in free fall and brought some order to it. I officially incorporated us, and we are currently in the middle of applying for 501c3 status.

Moi, when the statue was unveiled to the world – 10/24/2020

For me, it’s not the issue of the doing, it’s the “being a leader” end. It’s my place to set goals, direct our meetings and set agendas. To me, those things are minutia of minutia.

The Collective, and the people within it are near and dear to my heart. It’s a cause I’ve always been for. I’m extremely proud to have been a part of the group that finally got it done. I’m humbled beyond belief that they all trust me to lead our starship on the journey afterwards, or to give Star Trek speak, “The Continuing Mission.”

Our little statue has become an inspiration around the world. With a group working to build one in New Orleans for Sisko, and calls for one in France for Picard.

It feels so odd to just be a part of a rag tag bunch from a “small town” in Indiana that has caused quite the global stir.

Silence, but reasons

I haven’t wrote here for a while, and it’s been highly frustrating. But there have been many reasons as to why. Something happened with my word press installation, making posting all but impossible.

Spring has brought upon me the urge to do the projects I have put off for too long. The first of which, my kitchen faucet. My girlfriend and my daughter were the loudest voices in their disdain for it. I won’t lie, it should have been replaced years ago. It leaked each time the water was turned on and the sprayer hose leaked as well.

I’m not a fan of how kitchen faucets are designed now, so I found one with the qualities I liked, bought it and installed it within a day. Boom, done. Or I thought. I got some comments from my girlfriends father, and her on how I should add a filtration system under the sink so I could get rid of my on sink Pur filter. I’ve never found an issue with the water quality, but the girlfriend and youngest daughter do. So I then ordered a 3 stage system, and am waiting on it to be delivered.

Then, I decided to use my 2021 Stimulus payment in a smart way. I purchased a hybrid water heater. It’s Energy Star certified, uses 1/3 of the energy my former one does, will net me a $500 rebate from my electric company, and net me a $300 tax credit next year! The rebate and tax credit pay for half of it alone.

Richmond Encore Series Hybrid Electric Water Heater

Plumbing isn’t one of my strong suits, but I can get the job done. The manual actually stated not to use plastic or copper hard line to connect and instead recommended PEX. A combination of me being stubborn and unwilling to buy the special tool required for PEX left me doing it this way.

I had the lines blow apart on me three times, flooding my basement. That however isn’t my first rodeo.

To show a comparison of energy consumption between the models, here’s a image of my old unit’s yellow tag:

Here is the yellow tag of the new one:

Large difference isn’t it? With my girlfriend and her kids now staying with my full time, keeping us comfortable while also keeping my bills as low as I can have been paramount. This has a bit of IOT built into it, with an app that lets you schedule and control which mode it uses. There are five modes that can be used, Energy Saver, Heat Pump, High Demand, Electric and Vacation.

Hey Look Ma, We Made it!

For almost two years, I have been on a journey with other Bloomingtonians to complete something others had tried, but never completed. Over the weekend, we did the thing, and completed it.

Three disconnected groups of Bloomington area residents joined forces, doing what they say couldn’t be done. I take no credit for anything major here, but I was involved as much as I could be.

For those reading this who aren’t familiar with the Star Trek universe, Kathryn Janeway was the first Captain of a Star Trek series, Voyager. Her character was born in Bloomington, Indiana. This immediately became a source of pride for trekkies in the area.

The monument and event took place on the B-Line trail, with an immense crowd of fans. So many that it made social distancing almost impossible. I played my typical role of jack of all trades, giving a hand to make sure what needed to be done, was. I’m not fond of the limelight, and prefer to stay out of it as much as possible.

The monument is a bronze bust on a limestone base with an inset stainless steel plate. Beside it is a informational table, that has my name on it twice.

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, we had to lean on live streaming harder than we originally planned for the event. We had some difficulties with the microphones causing echo on the videos we played but otherwise it went well. Later on that day I had checked the stats for the live video, and 16.1k people had viewed it!

Kate Mulgrew has such an infectious smile

We were fortunate that Kate Mulgrew agreed to join us virtually. The event was at 11am but she was in California, where it was 8am. I was so happy to be behind the scenes, where I got these excellent photos of her reactions to this monument of a character she played and is reprising in the new series Prodigy.

The press photographing the sculptor Aaron Eby

The Herald-Times was there, The Bloomingtonian was there and so was our local PBS station, WTIU. That night, I started to see the information spread across the internet on trek centric sites and a TV station in Iowa, that covers the area where Mulgrew is from.

If you look closely, you will see my name – twice!

The informational table tells the story of Janeway, and her creator Jeri Taylor who spent her childhood in Bloomington and graduated from Indiana University. The papers in which the Janeway character was created are housed at the Lilly Library. A display of these papers was in the original plan for the unveiling event.

I’m not a fan of pictures of myself, but here I am.

I began the day at 7am, and it was full go until everything ended roughly at 2pm. I was tired, I was exhausted but I was also immensely humbled and fulfilled by the days events. My youngest daughter was there with me to be witness to the event. My eldest joined the live stream, as did one of my aunts in Oklahoma. The next day was my 40th birthday, and this is the best present a guy could have.

We produced a booklet for the unveiling. I’m unsure of how many were produced exactly, but we ran out of them before the unveiling actually happened. I grabbed four of them because I knew they would go quickly. One of them I gave to Jeremy Hogan, who runs The Bloomingtonian, I gave my girlfriend another. One of them I saved for Steve Volan, who without his connection I would have never been involved in this. I made sure he would be added to the special thanks portion. Leaving one for myself.

We haven’t discussed our long term goals or plans as of yet, I am currently working on a Wikipedia page for the monument, which is currently just a section on the main Janeway page.

The Aussies Have Invaded

Yesterday, the Holden Owners of Indiana put on a cruise called the Fall Foliage Cruise. I had Amelia with me and wanted to take her on a proper ride in her papaw’s car.

The route began in Nashville, IN with a destination of Bo-Mac’s Drive-In located in Shoals, IN. We then took a separate route towards the starting point, which literally took me home, ending the cruise for us.

The route was far more twisty than Google wanted to show.

Me and the Camaro, surrounded by some amazing cars from all around Indiana

When I took this picture, the guy in the Ute said, “That’ll be $3.” I <3 these Aussie cars.

We all hung around for about an hour, talked to each other and then took off. Shockingly I has the most conversation with a guy in a Mustang. I was the only Camaro on the cruise.

The Geo Metro driver took this photo and I love it.

On the first leg, not too far out of Story, IN we ran into a group of 4 bicyclists. We were all running pretty hot, warming up the road and our tires. The car in front of me, a Geo Metro Convertible locked his brakes up and went in the other lane. That was when my own brake light came on and I lost a lot of my own braking power. For the rest of that first leg, I had to press the brake pedal about 3/4 of the way before the brakes began to work. We drove by Bedford North Lawrence High School, which is right by where my daughter now lives. It would have been nice if her mom and stepbrothers would have came out and waved in support.

Thankfully we were at a gas station for the first pit stop.

The next leg took us to Shoals, IN and the drive-in. Getting there was a bit of a battle though, as our group of 60 cars was split by a stranger and a tanker truck on US50. This road isn’t exactly “friendly” for safe passing of vehicles. One by one, the guy in the Mustang I mentioned previously, an AMG Mercedes and I passed them both however. Amelia loved it.

When we arrived at the drive-in, Amelia ranted and raved about the place. As a friend of hers had three t-shirts from there. Later in the day, she found out this friend’s grandfather owns it.

We all ate, rested and chilled for a while. Then a group of us, mostly driven by members of the BAC, decided to leave early to do some more “spirited” driving. We of course, went with the group. This became the hardest, fastest section. We took a county road the hardest I’ve done since I was a teenager. At some points my tires were telling me I was pushing the limits. I was proud of the IROC’s performance however, beating anyone was not what I was trying to do, keeping up with the pack is all I needed to smile.

Then we had another “incident.” We had moved from the county road to US450, a proper two lane highway. We turned a corner and were on a bridge when everyone just began braking, hard. It took everything I had to not hit the car in front of me. The 4th Generation WS6 Trans Am behind me almost hit me, but he later said he was under control. Then to my left, a white Fiesta went flying down the oncoming lane, hard. He later said he was going to make that oncoming truck stop, and he did! A couple of minutes later, we ended up on US50 at a gas station with a large parking lot. Upon arriving we all got out of our cars in a collective WTF just happened?

As we were there a Bedford cop showed up, I said well we’ve been made.

In all the years dad owned this car, he never really tried to see what it would do except for the few times we took it to Indianapolis Raceway Park to drag race it. Those who know IROC-Z’s know they aren’t a drag car in stock format. They are killer in the corners however, and can keep up with brand new sport cars in that regard.

I talked to Amelia about this, and how I hoped we were making him proud from wherever he is. It’s all I want to do, make him proud.

October VCCA Meeting

The October meeting of the Indiana region of the VCCA happened yesterday, and I have to say it was a great meeting to me. We had the largest turnout I’ve seen, and two new members joined.

One of those members brought his 57 Chevy Belair. He said it’s his 11th, and he has eyes on the 12th. With my father having one in his youth, this car has always been special to me.

Our October meetings are held at Jim & Holly’s house, and they have a glorious estate. I knew when I made it because I saw his Corvette and Camaro out front. We lined all of our cars up, and I saw an opportunity for a picture. I should have taken another photo however, as more people came afterwards.

Left to Right: 87 Camaro IROC-Z Convertible, 1971 Chevelle SS, 1972 Chevelle Convertible, 1988 Camaro IROC-Z, 1964 Malibu Convertible, 1957 Belair 2 door hardtop

We also had these beautiful automobiles:

We sat around a fire and roasted hot dogs and had our meeting. On the agenda was next months meeting, the upcoming anniversary meet and the Facebook group we agreed to make last month in order to bring our region into the modern world.

After our official business was done, the men kind of split from the women. We actually talked about our cars and had conversations about the automotive world. Something I haven’t seen much of in the group unfortunately.

This journey of coming back into the fold of dad’s car club is really starting to set in for me, and I embrace everything the club embodies. I have much to learn from those I share membership with, and I try to take every moment and every detail of it in.

Next month, we plan to meet in Morocco, IN. We have a couple of people who are interested in joining the club and have been invited to take a tour of a Snowmobile museum. It’s a big trip for me, but I am genuinely excited about the museum.

I’m waiting on some business cards to come in the mail so I can design some for our own club to be used to give away to others to use as materials to reach out and say nice car!

Workin’ in a Coin Mine

My girlfriends son, primarily through the influence of his friends decided to get into cryptocurrency, and more succinctly mining it.

Little did his friends know that I’m a bit of an OG when it comes to such things. So I gave Tyler my old Block Erupters and Antminer U1. Set him up with the next to latest release of cgminer, and let him go to town.

There’s another hub full of the block erupters and the non pictured Antminer U1.

Something about the excitement did something to me, because I did something pretty crazy, I decided to buy an Antminer S9. This thing is insanity when compared to the mining equipment of my younger days, which was the first equipment specifically designed for the task. ASICS, short for application specific integrated circuit. Aka, they only do 1 thing but they do it extremely well. At my highest level, I was mining bitcoin at a rate of 26 GH/s but this S9 mines at a rate of 15 TH/s. GH means gigahash, TH means terahash which is 1000 times greater.

As you can tell from the design alone, this means business.

That said, it comes at a cost. You see, with great power comes great need. I’ve been doing some calculating. This miner will probably use more electricity than I use in a month in my home.

My last two days of electricity usage are showing as 53kwh and 49kwh. By doing the math on the lesser of the two days, that brings me to 1470kwh a month. Which is often more than double what I use.

The other factors are the noise and heat. This machine makes somewhere in the neighborhood of 90 db of noise alone. I have seen youtube videos and pictures of people putting them in coolers. There are people selling pieces to put on the fans to “quiet” them. This brings me back to way back when, all of the “accessories” you could purchase for your gear.

The heat this machine emits is kind of nice seeing as we are coming to a cool part of the year. I had placed it in my utility room, with the door closed and could still hear the fans winding away at 4000 rpm. The exhaust blows at roughly 10mph. When I opened the door, the room was at least 20 degrees warmer than it had been.

I’m unsure if I am going to move it to a location where I can have it running without paying for energy, or resell it. I’m currently mining on the pools I used to use to get the small amounts I could not withdraw out.

So right now, it’s fate is unclear. But it certainly has been fun.

Well That’s Great

To quote my father, who said that after we had a car accident.

A week ago, a condition I’ve been dealing with reared it’s ugly head. It’s embarrassing to talk about, but I think those are the things that NEED to be discussed. That event brought on a concatenation of events that I’m still trying to heal from, both mentally and physically.

Well what is it? The condition, diagnosed through one of my own staff doctors at the school of medicine is called proctalgia fugax. I started having flares of this condition after going to a concert last year. I didn’t seek any treatment, as there are no real treatment options specifically for it.

While on the way home it started to increasingly become difficult to sit, as a burning pain seemed to become more and more intense in the area of my tailbone. It came to a point where I was forced to stop. I got out on an off ramp of the interstate to try to walk it off, but it was of no help. I then tried to lay down, no change. My girlfriend claims I passed out between walking it off and laying down, but I have no recollection of this.

From that point forward, this intense amount of pain would happen unexpectedly and at any location. I began to get this urge in my mind when these attacks would happen. As if it was one of those built in instructions from when we were neanderthals. It told me to use my muscles to try to have a bowel movement. That doing it would make the pain go away. This became my immediate reaction when the pain would start to happen.

Over time, the pain and effects of this condition lessened. To the point where I barely felt it the last time it happened. I thought I was over this, but I thought wrong.

I was woken up from the pain coming on last Sunday, and did what I normally do. But this time it came on stronger than it ever had. What happened to me is up for interpretation. To my memory I went from sitting on the toilet to waking up on the floor, face down. I had no visual memory of moving from point a to b. I did however have audible memory of crashing sounds.

With my history of seizures, I was very concerned that I had just had a seizure. When I got off the floor I received a couple other surprises. My back was red in an area on my shoulder, full of scratches and gouges. Then came the pain. I had some severe pain coming from my right rib area, directly under my breast.

My MD faculty at the school of medicine urged me to go to the emergency room, but the stubbornness in me refused. There isn’t much that can be done for broken ribs anyway. Why go? The next day I went, as I woke up with more intense pain than I had been feeling. They confirmed what I had though, diagnosing a “rib contusion / minor fracture.”

I’ve taken the week off of work, and the pain has slowly gotten less sharp in intensity, but it does remain.