Big News on Campus

Well as you know I work for Concordia University here in Mequon Wisconsin, and over the past months their has been some big stir around two main events that came and are coming to Concordia's campus;

1. Henry "Hank" Aaron was awarded an Honorary Doctor of Laws this past weekend where he gave the Commencement Address.
2. The St.Louis Rams have decided to declare our campus as their Summer Training facility from late July into late August.

As a baseball fan, it was quite the honor to be associated with having MLB's all time home run leader (minus Bonds with 762) on our campus. Mr. Aaron's role on, and more so off the field spoke to his character and the leader he is. You have to be very humble in your life success to address graduates with these statements:

"This is advice from an old man who has been a lot of places, seen a lot of things," "Be careful before you make choices. Avoid shortcuts. They are quick fixes and unrewarding."

You can see why there are few professional athletes across the board that I hold in the same high esteem as him.

(picture) Ernie Banks congratulating Hank on the Lou Gehrig Memorial Award in 1970 before Cubs-Braves game (two class act guys)

As for St. Louis coming to campus this is neat because it increases the exposure for our small Lutheran campus on Lake Michigan. I'll probably be seeing a lot of them in the halls and roaming around campus. Although Belichick has called me to request videotape, I had the moral intelligence to say no...unlike Matt Walsh (I couldn't resist...kidding)

Well 2008 is turning out to be an exciting year on campus and come fall I'll be teaching too!!!

Rationing

This day in history (1942) is known as the day in which the United States placed an official restriction as to how much each individual person could purchase in a number of different goods areas . So why did this come about? It came about after we entered into WWII and the Japanese had strategically taking control of the Dutch East Indies. Perhaps the most dramatic impact this had was that it rationed the amount of gasoline you could purchase, maxing most drivers out at 4 gallons per week, and a maximum national speed limit was set at 35. Yep, that picture below is for real and the funniest thing about it all was that it was due to a fear of the loss of rubber...not gasoline!

I guess that probably wasn't so bad because for the 3 years that went on, we probably gained back a little of our ozone...but that's a whole new debate.

Bike to Work!

It's only fitting that we have seen gas prices blast through the roof this week, which also happens to be "Bike to Work Week". Thought this picture was fitting...



With oil price above $125 per barrel we shouldn't expect prices to drop anytime soon. Oh and by the way stamps went up to $.42. This is why I am so glad I work less than 5 miles from home....ahh!

Ho, ho, ho!

Step back in time to when you had your junior or senior prom. Did this look like a typical prom dress? Now most girls I knew liked playing hard to get, but clearly "Marche" just laid it all out there for the taking. Hmm...what potential future industry might she be getting into???

Reading between the Lines

Well, believe it or not the Democratic race is still going. Why? Despite recommendations for Hillary to throw in the towel, her stubbornness or competitiveness pushes it on. Would you have thrown in the towel if you were her? Consider these facts before answering...

1. Obama has 1,846.5 delegates to 1,696 for Clinton in The Associated Press tally. It takes 2,025 delegates to win the nomination in Denver this summer.
2. Clinton disclosed that she had loaned her campaign an additional $6.4 million in recent weeks; her original loan was for $5 million.
3. Your husbands friends support your competition. Just look at these three Bill Clinton chums/cabinet members who now back Obama; Greg Craig, Anthony Lake, Robert Reich
4. The irony of her comment this past week about betting on the filly Eight Belles at the Kentucky Derby (the only female in the group of males), and while the horse finished second she collapsed breaking two ankles only to be euthanized, and then considering the winner was Big Brown...odd?

So would you still be in? It is getting to the point where she is hurting her party, yet she doesn't seem to care. Why? Ponder this theory by one of my friends...

1st - In 1870, the 15th Amendment was ratified which gave all males over 21, regardless of race or color, the right to vote. The problem was that a segregated America at the time did not enforce this so then the Voting Rights Act of 1965, which essentially followed the 15th Amendment but provided the power to be enforced. This is typically viewed as the first time all African Americans were allowed to vote.
2nd - The first movement of women voting rights dated back to the 1820's with some small state successes, but no national recognition. That is until in 1920, when the 19th Amendment was ratified and it gave women the right to vote.
3rd - In addition in the 40's and 50's society had painted the image of the happy stay at home housewife doing everything for the family and their husband (FYI..that job is 10 times more difficult than what you do). Even today there are still reports that women are paid less than men for performing the same job.

The theory concludes that Hillary continues to fight because our founders and society has viewed women as the lowest possible ranking individual. Which then begs the question that despite her obstacles is she pushing on to prove a rank of race and/or gender? (I'm not touching that one with a 9 1/2 foot pole.)

Thoughts???

Meteorologist Flop

Perhaps you may have heard that a deadly cyclone hit Myanmar killing an estimated 15,000 people thus far, and the death toll continues to climb. What you maybe have not heard was the serious miscalculation on the part of their local meteorologists and the government. These quotes come from the World News on MSNBC;

-----"The government misled people. They could have warned us about the severity of the coming cyclone so we could be better prepared," said Thin Thin, a grocery store owner.

-----"Before the cyclone hit, the government had only put out “storm news,” saying the cyclone would travel at about 30 miles an hour, whereas it struck with winds of almost four times that speed"

In an area that has seen many of these natural diasters (tsunami's, tidal waves, cyclones/hurricanes) strike over the past few years no mild storm should every be assumed.

From insanity to humor...2 days

So to bring you up to speed on my United lost luggage issue, I now have my bag. What a nightmare of events to get me to the actual point of getting it though. Through this process I spoke with five baggage claim agents (located in India via the phone), all of which ran through the same scripted garbage with me, and then to top it off the moron behind the counter in MKE clearly echoed the same dumbfoundedness of his colleagues on the phone. Clearly United has serious customer service training issues...correction, no customer service!
---In the great words of Clark Griswold I'd like to tell United "what a cheap, lying, no-good, rotten, four-flushing, low-life, snake-licking, dirt-eating, inbred, overstuffed, ignorant, blood-sucking, dog-kissing, brainless, dickless, hopeless, heartless, fat-ass, bug-eyed, stiff-legged, spotty-lipped, worm-headed sack of monkey shit they are. Hallelujah. Holy shit. Where's the Tylenol?"---

Now that I have my luggage back I truly do have to laugh at the ignorance and stupidity of one of the world's largest airlines...no wonder they are looking to merge with any other airline willing Perhaps this is what the discussion went like at corporate...