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Wednesday, August 3, 2011

Make lemonade

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I still have some minor problems using Firefox (my preferred browser) and logging into the Victoria Advocate forum but if you are dealt lemons make lemonade. I had to use Explorer to post my last blog, but some strange things happened. When I hit the submit button, I received an error message, and I couldn't find it on the site. About a minute or two later it showed up on the back page, and then it mysteriously moved to the front. Some interesting screens that I have not seen before showed up. They could've been there all along but all I do is post blogs and comments. I found a menu that showed all the bloggers and the amount of blogs they have submitted. I also found a neat add- on application called " Apture" that will allow the readers of this blog to scroll over a word and get a definition or a description of what I'm writing about. That's another advantage of reading books on my iPad. I can hold my finger or stylus over a word, and it will pull up the definition of the word.

It looks like the traffic on our online forum is starting to pick up or some old posters are coming back with new identities. Correct me if I'm wrong but I think every poster has a unique characteristic trait which they can't or want to conceal. I'm not all that great at spotting the ones that are using multiple identities, but some old posters are. I remember a banned poster that went by the name of "holly “just posted a few words. A blogger recognized the style and in a matter of just a few minutes, holly was caught and made to serve the rest of his sentence. Again, the monitors of a forum have a never-ending job that I don't relish.

I think vet43 stumbled onto something when he posted "I have noticed that with some folks as their mind grows narrower they become convinced the they are the center of the universe, and because they are "Keepers of the truth" all must revolve around them." I have a nephew who fits that description but I've tamed him with my at- ready iPad. Some are so opposed to joint projects with the city or county that they won't listen to logic. For instance, John Stockbauer ,is probably the most-used road in Victoria. Wait just a minute, sure it seems like Navarro or the Houston Highway might get that distinction but John Stockbauer is used by the plant workers early in the morning when no one is monitoring. I remember when not enough consideration was given to home construction, the mall, and routine traffic in that area. All of us can remember the standing water. The large trucks do a lot of damage to a road that was once a farm- to- market road. Preventive dollars will go a long way but saying that the city is catering to Caterpillar is just another baseless charge. I don't know a lot about City Council matters, but I have talked to a lot of friends who reside in that area, one being a civil engineer. City, State, and Federal government will always be questioned, but it's like I used to tell my baseball players," there are several ways to play the game, and everyone in those stands will question my moves at some time or another. That's fine, but I will not go into the stands to ask for permission to make a move, and if I was in the stands, I would probably be doing the same thing."

I'm going to download a few books about being tactful because I'm lacking in that department. I like having discussions where the truth has not been settled. Economics' and politics fall into that category, but we don't come in with an open mind. It's more about mocking the opponent than anything else. I've enjoyed the few civil discussions I've had, but I need to correct my bad habits, if I expect to have any in the future. It’s  a thought and now I've put together a plan.

15 comments:

Mike said...

I posted a reply to Newcowboyintown's post @ 4:30 PM but it has yet to posted on my blog it's 4:44PM......I'm still trying to figure this out..Yesterday my wife emailed some information using Yahoo mail.....She emailed me that info @ 3:30 PM,I got that email 7 hours later...Amazing.

Mike said...

My wife and I just got a call to attend Obama's birthday party @ 905 S Bridge ,Saturday,free food and drinks..That's the first time I've ever heard of celebrating a prez's birthday here in Victoria....Hmmm,I wonder if they expect a campaign donation ?....:-)

Edith Ann said...

No, they don't expect a donation. It's because it is his 50th. An excuse to gather if you will, intstead of a July club meeting. No charge.

Stipulating to the fact that you and I will probably never see eye to eye on CAT, I would have absoluutely NO problem fixing up John Stockbauer IF WE HAD NOT ALREADY GIVEN CAT A GAZILLION DOLLAR KEY TO OUR CITY!

I know you say incentives are alway part of one of these deals, but we will never know if CAT would have come anyway, will we?

I would rather know we spent our money making our city attractive to business BEFORE they come, instead of giving big business every break available AND then fixing ourselves up for them when they here.

But, that just my opinion.

Mike said...

EA
I can't remember disagreeing with you that much on Caterpillar. I can remember disagreeing as to whether they would actually open shop in Victoria, but that's about it.

My view on the John Stockbauer upgrade was in response to Dale Zuck's post at the VA forum. I understood from the story that they talked about upgrading the road so it could withhold 100,000 pounds. I've seen the damage the trucks have done to the Mission Valley road, and yesterday I was talking about unforeseen problems by not upgrading the north part of John Stockbauer, before they allowed for the increased construction in residential areas. If they don't upgrade now, it will be have to be done in the future when interest rates and materials might be higher. Dale did have a good point about why now, since existing businesses didn't warrant an upgrade. It might be a goodwill gesture. I don't know.

You're absolutely right. We don't know if incentives needed to be part of the deal. Only the representatives of Caterpillar know the answer to that.

Your "CAPS ON" indicates a little hostility toward me, my opinions, and the City of Victoria. I will always post my opinions, but I don't expect complete agreement from anyone. I routinely admit that I don't know much about local matters, but I have discussed the John Stockbauer situation several times throughout the last 15 years. My friends brought up the subject, and we discussed it thoroughly. I remember after 10-inch rain, several of my work mates couldn't get to work on time because of drainage, traffic, and poor road conditions on John Stockbauer. I know that's not the part of John Stockbauer in question, but the upgrade problem is the same.

Edith Ann said...

No. The CAPS are for those who are giving it all away--the City, Dale Fowler, etc.--not you!

I do recall you telling me though that this is how these deals work--companies like CAT get the big incentives. Kind of 'that's just how it is' thing. Other than that, we haven't had much disagreement.

Again, I am all for sprucing up the city, making the roads better, and stuff. I'd rather we spent our money THERE than on freebies for a multi-million dollar corporation. That's all.

As to the we will never know comment--of course we will never know. But doesn't it irk you just a bit when an action is taken and the reasoning is "because we HAD to" when the truth is "we will really never know"? I find it insulting.

Mike said...

EA
Now we will have some disagreement...:-)

I was not aware of the comment(because we HAD to) but even if I had known; I would have just shrugged it off. I like to pick the battles I fight and that is not one of them. You have more inside information than I ever want.

I become immune to special privileges but I remember when I was just a young student with a summer job at the Highway Department. I remember a couple of old men who refused to be involved in paving a driveway for Zac Lentz. We paved it ,but I thought it was rather odd because we had refused to make special entrance ways for several businesses. Welcome to Victoria County.

One of those, "it comes with the territory" or "money talks." On the other hand, I think Caterpillar will more than pay for that stretch of road. Enabling that stretch of road to handle 100,000 pounds is a good thing but as I said previously, I'm not discounting a goodwill gesture move.

I know I'm one of those old complacent, uninformed taxpayers, you keep moaning about...:-)

Mike said...

EA
I am finally back with IceRocket BlogTracker; how long did it take to get things back to normal? I've been back on it for about 3 hours but there's hardly any information.... I'm not even ranked anymore.

BTW did you see where Bob Beckel of Fox News admitted he wouldn't say anything bad about Sarah Palin because he feared he would get reprimanded by Fox... I knew he was wasn't a real democrat.... The lady is upset because the vice president said that the tea party acted like terrorist.... She's got a lot a room to talk..lol

Legion said...

Sorry about the double post on your VicAd blog, I posted the first one, it went *poof*, posted the second and then the first one was there.

I do believe changes are being attempted on the VicAd site and the changes are causing more problems than they are suppose to fix.

A new website administrator must have been hired. lol

Mike said...

I 've been doing that all day long.....I still get the hurricane map using Firefox.

Edith Ann said...

8^)

I try to stay away from FOX News as much as I can, but while I waited on my car at Killebrew this morning, did I see Chris Matthews sitting on the couch with tht blond gal and the guy on the mornign show?

Ice Rocket is still screwed up. It is showing what I think are Suddenlink folks as all being from Tyler, Texas. The is one IP address that comes up frequently, and it will show 'unknown' or one of a half dozen cities, not all in Texas. I don't know what the problem is.

Mike said...

Ouch, it took me over 30 seconds to load the Advocate forum page and another 30 seconds to get from the comments section back to the main. Anyone else having these difficulties?

Legion said...

I had another comment go poof, on the ladys letter to the editor thread, so I will post it here...

MasterCard posts 33 percent profit increase

NEW YORK — U.S. shoppers kept on using their MasterCards in July even as uncertainty about the economy increased.

Spending with credit and debit cards bearing the company's logo rose about 12 percent in the U.S. compared with July 2010, Chief Financial Officer Martina Hund-Mejean of Mastercard Inc. said Wednesday.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/44001231/ns/business-personal_finance/t/mastercard-posts-percent-profit-increase/#.Tjx5iGG9VlQ

So it appears that a lot of consumers are in fact spending more.

Just saying that just maybe the government produce reports don't exactly reflect what is actually happening.

Legion said...

Arrgah!

D@mn VicAd site, WTH is their problem? None according to them, right.

Mike said...

I read that this morning and I have to agree but I have an app where our governments tracks inventory .You are right,they are not matching unless they are going to Las Vegas and gambling...:-)something to watch.

Mike said...

S&P has lowered our credit rating to AA+ down from AAA
We keep our AAA with the our two other rating agencies...Too early to see what this will do.