Mardi Gras and Rebuilding New Orleans

Today is Fat Tuesday, or more commonly called "Mardi Gras". New Orleans has become the king of Mardi Gras celebrations in this world with millions of people visiting the city during this annual event. Food, parades, and the ever popular beads being handed-out, especially to the females who choose to expose themselves in public.
I just heard on tv that New Orleans spends about $2-3 Million on Mardi Gras every year, but in the past the city has made almost $1 Billion in return for its $2-3 Million investment! This year, the city is anticipating revenue of $250 Million, still not a bad return for a city that is recovering from Hurricane Katrina.
This brings me to a question that has been baffling me since Katrina first hit the city in August: should the government spend billions on rebuilding New Orleans when there is a distinct possibility that the city is going to be destroyed again?
For those of you who are not aware, the city is below sea level. The easiest way to describe how the city sits now is that it is in a bowl. The levees that we heard so much about during the hurricane were built to help relieve the city of any possible flooding that could occur. Imagine if you would sitting in a valley and watching a wall of water come tumbling over a hill on top of you. That is what happened to New Orleans and will happen again someday.
So should we spend all this time, money, etc. on rebuilding a city that is not architecturally designed to survive nasty storms when they come through? Yes, it is true that New Orleans has been hit before by hurricanes and has survived. But who is to say that another one isn't going to hit sometime soon, perhaps during the next hurricane season?!
I REALLY feel for all of the people that live in that area as well as for Mississippi and parts of Arkansas. I can only imagine what it would be like to see your house, pets, etc all washed-up and being left with nothing but the clothes on your back. Many people have not returned and said they will not return to those parts because they fear that it will happen again. These same people have spent years, perhaps their lifetimes, in this area and now can not go back to the places they call home.
At the same time, I think before we even begin spending tax money on rebuilding, I feel that we need to come up with a solution to the flooding problems. We need to take money and give the people of this area temporary housing. At the same time, we need to hire engineers to put their heads together and design some feat of mankind that will prevent the problems that destroyed this area from happening again. Once the problem has been addressed and we have not put a band-aid on a gashing cut, then we can focus our energies on rebuilding.
My prayers go out to all of our victims...may our leaders inspire these people and use their wisdom to bring prosperity back to this place of fun and memories.

Time for Spring

For those of you who do not know, I live here in the Midwest. Having lived here my whole life, I have learned how to live with hot summers and cold winters. As always, it is right around this time of year that I start getting an itching for Spring and can not wait for warmer weather to return.
Now I would never mindfully move to a warmer climate as I can not stand heat. At the same time, I could not move to arctic or someplace where it is cold year-round. If someone said which type of weather I prefer I would say without a doubt cold weather.
Why? Because when it gets cold, you can keep putting layers on until you are warm. You might be a little uncomfortable with so much weighing you down, but you would be warm. If it is hot, you can strip-down, be stark naked, and STILL be hot! Also, I sweat rather easy, so if I was in a hot climate I would be drenched in sweat everyday.
There is also the psychological component of weather. I know many people that have said that they would move to a hot climate in a second if they could. Wussies I say!!! They are wimps and weak. Can't handle a little cold? I always have felt that Midwest women are the best in the country because they are tougher and can handle everything from sauna summers to frigid winters. If people from warmer climates come to the Midwest, they are shocked at the cold and can not wait to get back to their sissy lifestyles.
Lastly, we have the change of seasons which is very nice. It is nice to have some white snow on the ground for a few months, then mother nature shifts and flowers start blooming in the Spring giving way to warmer months ahead. In the Summer, days are longer and the days of snow are gone. Fall enters with the leaves changing and hot days behind us. Thus the circle of seasons ends and starts again. If you are in stictly hot or cold climates, all you see is one season, with maybe a small hint of one or two others.
The true irony is that in the Midwest, we have such a dichotomy going: we can't wait for it to be cooler when it is Summer and are anxiously awaiting the warmth when it is Winter! Thus, back to one of my original thoughts that I prefer cold weather, but will always take a warm day over a cold day and a warm day over a hot day.
Alas, I live here and will not move....you figure it out!

Survey on Events

Here are some questions for you to ponder on recent events. Mull them around in your head and feel free to respond with your thoughts (there's a little something for everyone including Politics, Sports, and the Weather) :
1) Is the press making too big of a deal of Dick Cheney shooting his lawyer friend? Is this really something to make a political issue out of?
2) Is the US' Olympic Team failing to live up to the expectations the US has set for it? (i.e. have there been a lot of disappointments this year, so far?
3) When will the looting and riots stop as a result of the Muhammed cartoon?
4) Will the general warming trend continue for the country this Winter, or will it turn cold and stay cold for awhile to come?
5) Will you go see the new "DaVincci Code" movie that is coming out?
6) Did Tom and Katie really break-up?

Dick Cheney's Smoking Gun

Over the past three days, late-night hosts and comedians have taken their pot-shots at Vice-President Dick Cheney and his accidentally shooting one of his friends on a recent hunting trip. I am not going to chyme in on this as the jokes are too easy, but that leads me to my comment: if something is too easy to laugh at or make jokes about, does it really require ANY comments?
I think true comedians are funny because of their originality and because they do not make fun of the obvious, but reach deep and come up with original whit. To make fun of the VP was expected after the rediculousness of the circumstances, but comedians, listen up: start making us laugh at less obvious things and you will really increase your craft!!!

Michelle Kwan

My wife and I had the pleasure back in February of 2002 to attend the Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City. My sister lives there with her family and we enjoyed a fantastis week with her family, not to mention the fact that we attended several events including Louge, Women's Ice Hockey, Downhill Skiing, Speed-skating, and Snowboard racing. Having had the chance to see the competition up-close and in person, we really appreciated even more these fine athletes that represent the best in the world and have a chance to compete on such a grand scale.
Lisa is a huge figure skating fan and has Scott Hamilton's autograph. I follow it more when it comes to the Olympics, but she follows it throughout the year and is familiar with all the up and coming skaters. Needless to say, we both a bit disappointed by Michelle Kwan's bid to become part of the 2006 US Team this year. After having been World Champ a couple of times, US Champ 9 times, and getting both a Silver and Bronze at the two Olympics she participated in, we felt that her time had come and gone and it was time for her to let the young-ins step-up and represent our country.
But low and behold, Michelle had to chase after that illustrious gold medal that has elluded her for two Olympics. The favorite going into each Olympics, it was disappointing to many people that she did nto live up to the expectation that were placed on her. One aspect that bothered me about this is that she missed the Olympic try-outs because of an injury, then petitioned to be put on the team, having to prove that she could still skate at her best. Who is she, or anyone for that matter, to miss the tryouts and feel that they are still a better skater, or good enough that they do not have to compete to earn a spot on the team? Some might say that she earned her spot because of her years of experience, but who is to say that she is in the same condition now that she was in before? Also, there could always be someone, or several people, that are better than her at the trials.
By all means I am not here to discredit Miss Kwan for all of her years of hardwork, experience, and success. Up to this point, she has been a good romodel for young women and a great icon for women skaters. Even in her defeats, she took her silver and bronze medals with grace and sportsmanship.
As of Sunday morning, she has now had to withdraw from the competition for re-injuring her groin muscle, the same injury that kept her from the trials. Now I will definitely give it to her that she was not so ego driven that she didn't withdraw. She had enough courage to accept that she was not going to be 100% for the competition, she gave Sarah Hughes' sister her spot, and bowed down gracefully.
As the news has already shown us the past 24 hours, she has been made to be a hero for giving up her spot. This upsets me because she should not have been on the team in the first place. It was her ego and seeking glory that made her go for this olympics. Now that she is injured, she is giving-up the spot that was rightfully held for someone else from the start. Heros do not go after self-gain, as Michelle did. Heros know when their moments have ended and let go of their egos to let other shine in the spotlight.

How much did you eat?

Quick question: how much did you eat while watching the Super Bowl?
Below is my list of things I ate (not neccesarily in any particular order). Are any of these on your list? How many calories did you consume? I couldn't even BEGIN to count my caloric intake...
1) Cupcake
2) Crackers and artichoke dip
3) Chile and white rice
4) Mexican wraps (2)
5) Corn wrap thing (hard to describe, but good!)
6) Raisins and nuts mix
7) Brownies (that I made and my wife frosted)
8) Tortilla chips and dip
9) One cornbread muffin
This is what I can remember. I am sure there were 1 0r 2 other things, but I think you get the idea.
***Sidenote: I also had three alcoholic beverages: 2 Mikes lemonade and Berry drinks and a Watermelon Smirnoff.

Read, Read, Read

I have not picked-up a book in almost 3 months! I am so behind in reading. The last book I read was the 6th book in the Harry Potter series: "Harry Potter and 1/2 Blood Prince". A great book, as most of the books in the series have been, but alas I have been so out of the habit of reading lately.
When I was travelling, I finally started getting caught-up on my Mens Health magazines. As of today, I am up to the December 2005 issue. That puts me about 3 issues behind. Not bad considering I have had about 5 issues sitting in my car for several months.
I have a list on my dressor of books I would like to read including "The Purpose Driven Life".
I think I have to blame myself for letting too much tv get in the way of my reading! During any given week, I can watch Gray's Anatomy (something I did not start watching until a month ago), parts of Desperate Housewives (I have a weekly Sunday evening meeting I go to that gets me home around 8:30pm), 24, WWW Wrestling, Survivor, The Amazing Race, Wife Swap, CSI: New York, MASH, Alias, What Not to Wear ( I know, that is more of a chick show, but I guess I am exposing part of my femist side), and I am sure there are a few other shows I catch a few minutes of here and there.
For years I got away from watching tv. When I was in college, I was so busy with activities and studying that I had no time to watch tv, including movies on the movie channels we got in our apartments. After I graduated, I was still very busy with work, lifting weights, martial arts, and getting together with friends. Then I got married and I started watching a few shows that my wife got me hooked on. Then we had a baby and now I find myself watching parts of shows in-between moments of playing with our daughter. After chasing her around, I am often times too tired to do anyting, include pick up a book and concentrate on the words.
It felts great to get caught-up on the Harry Potter books and started feeling good when I was reading some of my back issues of Mens Health. I think when I am behind on something it weighs on me until I get caught-up. It's like housework: you hate to do it, but once it is done, you feel good about doing it.
One last point, I do read the Chicago Tribune everyday. I only read the Tempo Section and the Sports. It is reading, but it is not intense reading nor do I do it for any long lengths of time (about 15 minutes a day). Yes, it is something to exercise my brain, but nothing huge.
So I hope that somewhere, somehow I manage to get back into my good habit of reading again. I do enjoy it and do not just do it because I should. My great-grandmother read everyday, getting books mailed to her, and she died at 104!!! If I get started with reading everyday, I could see 95!
***One side note to this post is that I have picked-up a book since Harry Potter: it was a book my wife got me called: A Father's Guide to Toddler Years. I read the chapter I am suppose to read for this segment of my daughter's life, so I am caught-up, but it was only maybe 15 pages and I have to wait until my daugher hits 15 months old to read the next section.