Christmas 2009 and the Economy

Went shopping today. Not nearly the crowds at Grand Prairie. Went out Northwoods Mall and ran into a good friend, was not as crowded as I would have expected. Went to Deals and Big Lots. That was a different story. These places were packed.

Did also go to UFS. Never know what you will find there. It was a very worthwhile trip.

Good Luck in your shopping endeavors.

The Smell of Bleach in the Morning

From the It's always Something Department...

The sewer pipe broke in the basement. What a mess to start a Friday Morning. The Plumber did a quick good job of replacing the pipes. The Cleanup goes on.

Elbow grease and the lingering smell of Chlorine Bleach is making the project come to a good conclusion.

On the positive side the garden is coming along great. Tomatoes on the vine, Marigolds and Zinnias are popping up. Rabbits munching on the Hostas.

An unusual site in Downtown Peoria

Tonight while heading Downtown to the Peoria Post Office I neared Oak Street and Washington. You know the spot, Every weekend and most weeknights Photographers are down there taking pictures against the older buildings. Many a wedding shot has been taken on Oak Street, Senior Pictures etc.

Today was not one of those days, there was a train coming up the tracks near What would be the start of Water street. I looked and saw a movement. No it was not Willie York. As I came up to the corner there it was standing at the Corner of Oak and Washington. It was a Deer. Maybe the Deer wanted its picture taken and was looking for a photographer.

This was my second sighting of deer along Washington. The other siting was two deer in the lot of Deluxe Limousine on morning at 4:45.

Watch out when you drive Downtown, you never know what will pop out of a side street.

The economy- an observation for a Saturday Night

After a day of Yardwork decided to go out for supper. Traveled to a dinin spot in Peoria and got in immediately. Normally on Saturday Night at 6:30 I would have expected a wait. Not last night. The place was half empty. Talking to the staff they inferred that it was dead all day. Had a good meal and left.

On the way home I stopped at a retailer. It was 7:45 and there was hardly anyone there. In checking out I was talking to the clerk. She said she came on in the afternoon and it was not busy all day.

With the county unemployment rate over 9% and the City above 10% the town was showing it last night. Groceries are on the agenda today. People shopping for staples will probably be a different look.

The River is finally falling- Some visitors to the area

The river is finally going down. We may get below flood stage for the first time in Three months.

If you have been watching the skies you may have seen a large population of large birds. The flooding seems to have brought in a lot of Vultures. While traveling along 474 and crossing the Shade Lohman bridge there was a large group of Vultures resting on top of the oil tanks along Wesley Road.

It also time to get out and visit some of the festivals and sights of the weekend. Strawberries in Elmwood, Titanic Exhibit at Grand Prairie and opening weekend for the new Peoria Zoo.

Enjoy the weekend, check the skies for those unusual visitors.

pedestrians wake up its 5:00 and your Jay walking on Knoxville

Today while driving up Knoxville at 5 tonight. I could not beleive the number of people standing in the turn lanes trying to cross the street. All within a block of a light.

Had one of the people been hit by a car we would not have heard the end of the driver not obeying the law....etc. When will the pedestrian learn the laws of the land. On of the pedestrians was 20 feet from a crosswalk at McClure.

Come on folks wake up.. use some common sense. Be Safe.

Food Network Triple D

I may have to attend a 12 step group, being addicted to the Food Network. When I travel out of town I search the food network site for places to visit.

It seems the mention on the Food Network has the same effect as being on the cover of Sport Illustrated. It sometime carries a jinx.

I guess I should get to my point, when are we going to get Guy to come check out the Diners and Dives of the Tri County. Sorry all you people waiting in line at Red Lobster, the Tri County has some great eating places that are locally owned. It not like we live in Bloomington or Litchfield the home of all the franchises.

Guy needs to come check out some of our great establishments. One of my Fave's is the Burger Barge in East Peoria. The place is great, come casual or they will think your selling insurance. The Burgers are fantastic, the atmosphere is very Illinois Riveresque. The Onion Rings, Chips, and fries are great, the fish and chips are worth the trip.

We have some great diners and dives. Over the summer we will give a shout out to other locations. Suggest one if you want!

Guy needs to come and check out our great Triple D locations.

June is Busting out all over!!!

That song from Oklahoma is true tonight with the arrival of Thunder, Lightning, Hail and water. Plenty of water.

Living not far from the Illinois River and the Kickapoo Creek this latest downpour will have a big effect on these waterways. Look out down stream this water will be headed your way.

Hope this latest outpouring from the sky will not affect the planned festivities with the Chiefs and the Riverfront events in the coming days.

This will help the garden, and make the mowing more frequesnt the next few weeks. With this rain do I really need rain barrels for the Garden?

This is Central Illinois, like they say wait a minute and the weather will change.

New Month- New Economy

It is a new Month, February, the shortest month of the year.

I noticed this week that there are ads on TV promoting a 3D show. Instead of putting on those 3D glasses lets put on the Rose Colored glasses.

What can we do at an individual level to help our economy?

Do we run for office in the local elections. Campaign for a candidate in those elections. What can we do to make a difference.

Let me know, if you are reading any of the blogs I know you have an opinion. Make that on the local level. Let us see what we can come up with to make a difference.

INFRASTRUCTURE

Infrastructure- How do we pay for the changes needed.

Look around the city and you will see the need for more infrastructure improvement. The roads are filled with potholes.

We are short on salt for the basic street use this winter.

Driving from the Southside of Peoria downtown you will find 3 watermain breaks.

Now the feds want the city to come up with a huge amount of money for storm water diversion.

We have all seen the requests for new and improved items. Fancy new Hotel Downtown- Great Idea!
Build the Block- Another Great Idea!
New Childrens Hospital Addition- Great Idea!
Addition on Methodist Medical Center- Great Idea!
This is just a partial list of the Great New Ideas and Opportunities.

These are great things, would like to see all come to fruition. But, (You knew it was coming) how can we fix the basic services and infrasrtucture in order to get to and enjoy these Great new ideas.

Lets come up with some plans to solve the mundane daily problems that abound. Then we can enjoy these New Opportunities.

The Digital TV conversion

The Digital TV Conversion, is it a boondoggle of major proportion?

This is from PC Magazine website.
"Demand for digital TV converter box coupons is up, and while that signals an increased awareness of the impending DTV conversion, the surge might require an additional $330 million in government funds, according to the Commerce Department.
The National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA), which is housed within Commerce, projects that it will receive 6.5 million requests for DTV converter box coupons in December – a significant jump from previous months.

With this increase cost of 330 Million over the already allocated $1.34 billion to cover the cost of the coupons, plus $160 million for administrative costs that Congress has already spent. "

This is the public money. Now we have old tv's headed to the landfill or recyclers to be recycled? or at least disposed of properly.

The original idea of the change was to free up the telecommunication band that the current TV signals are on. There is a planned auction of these airwaves for increasing bandwidth for WIFI Access. With the current economy it is now predicted those auctions will be will be a bust.

The roll out of new HDTV's were not a real help to the US Economy. As we have seen many retailers deep discounting HDTV's and some Electronic chains on the throats of bankruptcy.

Do we need additional airwave space for our Blackberries and other portable computing and telecommunication devices, sure we do as we become more mobile. But what is the true cost. An additional $330 Million is chickenfeed when we do not even notice a headline unless it is is Billions and Billions of Dollars.

How could the government have been 30% wrong in their estimates of converter needs?

How has American industry benefited from this large outlay of funds. Labor for the infrastructure, some retail, and the rest is with the major telecommunication companies. The majority of the equipment is produced in foreign countries and imported. Making our Balance of trade at a bigger deficit. Why can not Congress pass legislation that will help the U.S,

Lets see what the new Administration will do as it creates stimulus projects.

New Year

The New Year has arrived.

It should be an interesting year.
In the Early hours of the New Year we have seen action by Isreal into the Gaza Strip.

We will see a new President and Administration.

What will happen to the price of Oil and the Economy have all the prognosticators giving there best guess.

Everyone has there New Years Resolutions, many are the same year after year. Many are new. Hope all can be sucessful.

It will be an interesting year at home and abroad.

Wish you all well in the New Year.