Media police cap off a case of Eagles Fever

There really isn’t much I can say about this article that could make it more funny. I’ve thought of some alternative headlines, though. You can add more using the post comments link below.

Media police bleed green
Media police hope for no bloodletting this week
Media police follow their leader
Medians ignore police fashion
Media police envy of law community
Media police fashion causes jealousy from law enforcement
Media police more than clothing
Media police are human
Media police bleed green, also human
Media police ready for anything

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Media police cap off a case of Eagles Fever
By SUSAN L. SERBIN, Times Correspondent
01/31/2005
MEDIA - Police Chief Marty Wusinich dates his Eagles fandom to the day he was born. He has a blown-up photo of the 1960 championship game with the Packers at Franklin Field and he swears he's in the crowd on his father's lap.

What has this lifelong affection for the Birds hatched? His entire staff of officers, dispatchers and meter attendants have donned Eagles ball caps "until further notice.''

"Usually we bleed red like the rest of society, but for the next two weeks we bleed green,'' said Wusinich, sporting an Eagles tie under his sweater.

Hopefully there will be no bloodletting at all, but the message is clear. The staff seems happy to follow their leader, especially since the department has a sports tradition, including sponsorship of a Little League team.

"We've been wearing the caps a couple of days, but I haven't gotten any response from the public,'' said Lt. Richard Johnson.

Could it be the cap isn't the first thing that comes to mind when approached by a police? "Gee officer, I didn't see that stop sign. Oh, nice hat.''

Officer Matt Egan said he did positive, and maybe envious, comments from fellow officers in a neighboring community. "We want to show we're human. We're not just a uniform,'' said Wusinich.

The caps, helmet magnets affixed to the front fenders of patrol cars and in-house posters are all part of the frenzy that has blanketed the entire region. But the officers are already focused on Super Bowl Sunday.

With nearly a dozen bars and restaurants likely to be gathering places for fans, the game's outcome is bound to have an impact on the borough.

"The bars will be expecting big crowds. We don't anticipate any trouble, but we will be ready to handle whatever happens in town. Everybody can celebrate,'' Johnson said, projecting the best possible outcome, "but it will be within the law.''

©The Daily Times 2005

Fox News

I heard this on NPR today, “at a press conference for journalists and Fox News yesterday.” In your face Fox.

Reserved parking

I am truly becoming a local. This is a quirk that even locals are annoyed by, but I couldn’t care less. I guess because I don’t drive, but still I think it is great.

Anyway, when it snows in Philadelphia (and Upper Darby) you have the right to reserve your parking space for a period of time by placing a household item in the spot. I think this is the idea that you did the hard work of shoveling a spot and now you get to keep that spot. There is a debate as to how long you get to reserve the spot. In Upper Darby it seems to be until the snow melts, though in other areas different rules apply.

The think that interests me about it the most are the items used to reserve the spot. I think kitchen chairs are a standard. Construction cones are also quite popular if you have them available. There is a fine line because you want something substantial enough where people don’t just think it is trash, but expendable enough where you don’t mind if someone steals it. It should also be able to put up with the elements. Some of the items that I’ve seen on my walk home include doors on folding chairs (just to be sure it takes up the full spot I guess), giant tubs that used to have electrosol dish washing detergent (this seemed a little chintzy to me, but it seems to work for them),and indoor garbage cans (though not outdoor garbage cans, though I can’t imagine why).

There is a great blog where people are heavily debating this topic. Does this happen in your town? Please comment.

Late

Ahhh, so snow came and conquered, just like those E-A-G-L-E-S eagles. My trolleys seemed to be running on time, but then one stopped causing problems for the whole line. I guess I was an hour late, but I mostly slept through it. It was a good nap actually. I was curled up sideways on the seat. And when I got here there were very few people, none of whom were keeping track of my time. So I guess it doesn’t matter. I wish it snowed everyday.

Yesterday when I was on my way back home tromping through the snow, there were roving packs of spelling bee rejects all over town. Screaming E at the top of their lungs in my ear trying to get a chant started. I just wanted to get some movies to continue the hibernation. There were some surfing drunken eagles fans on the train and those of us who regularly take the train got to give a little snicker to each other about the thought of these people taking the train regularly. I heard someone say this game would cause more excitement than the superbowl, lets hope, because I can never remember what comes after L.

Not One Damn Dime Day Results

Well no money spent and the world has ground to a halt… well not really. It is much easier to do that on an average Thursday than it is the day after Thanksgiving, when everyone is in a buying frenzy. Oh well. I still consider my efforts to be something of a success, because my republican mother did it too. See, dislike of Bush crosses party lines too. I’ve been looking at pictures of the inauguration on yahoo pictures. I’m becoming numb to politics again. I guess that makes me a good American. Now that I’m not full of fear I can become apathetic again. I’ve resigned myself to the inevitable. It’s easier this way… Bush just doesn’t seem as sinister any more after I saw him talking with Barbara Walters. (Just kidding, I hate that smug spoiled boy voice he gets when he answers a difficult question).

Unfortunate Dream

I had this dream last night that was loosely based on the Series of Unfortunate Events books by Lemony Snicket. Well actually the movie, I suppose, because stupid Jim Carrey was playing Count Olaf. Anyway. Count Olaf had a dastardly plan to take over the city and my friends and I (I was younger and so were they) needed to stop it.

We went to tell my mom, played by Julianne Moore in the dream, but Count Olaf had hypnotized her through the latest hit fad exercise tape, which was his dastardly plan, I suppose. She needed to work out more and more until she became a thoughtless zombie.

There were other failed attempts to try to warn people, which I don’t really remember clearly. We were wandering around looking for help and hiding from Count Olaf’s quickly growing number of minions all through this depressing fog filled industrial town.

There was a scene where young kids were tied to strings which pulled them out of bed every morning at six to go to work. Apparently a year had passed, according to what one of the kids said. They didn’t want to work anymore, but had to anyway, because of hypnotism and violence.

Eventually I found out that Count Olaf was leaving town with my mom (Julianne Moore), Violet, and Sunny. I snuck into the garage to try to save Violet and Sunny, but by this point it was clear that this wasn’t going to have a happy ending. He had hypnotized the town with workout videos and made children do slave labor for over a year. There was no chance of foiling his plans… stupid Jim Carrey.

So when I was in the garage Count Olaf came in and I his quickly, but could still see what was happening based on the fact that it was similar to watching a movie (as most of my dreams are). Anyway, he handed Julianne Moore a brochure of their vacation destination. The front showed one of those 50’s style McDonald’s. She disappointedly said, “I thought it would be different.” It was clear that she had no memory of life before the exercise video, but had a vague notion life could be better.

Count Olaf/Jim Carrey responded, “Why would you want to go anywhere different, when we have the best of everything right here?” He started passing out McDonald’s snacks to everyone in the car. I was wondering why McDonald’s would agree to a product placement in the movie that was so depressing and made fun of their product. Then I noticed everything was spelled MacDonald’s.

That is when it became clear to me the movie was actually a satirical critique of the American Commercial/Industrial Complex. This is when I woke up, with a great sense of revelation. I’ve always sort of felt that I was cheating myself by dreaming in the form of Movies TV or Plays. But I had a great sense of revelation at having a plot twist in the end of my dream that was very movie like. It is the first time anything like that has happened. And it was pretty consistent through the dream from the exercise tape/propaganda to the child slave labor to the car vacation to MacDonald’s. I thought it was pretty neat, but dreams are never as interesting to other people.

Homeownership?

So I’m thinking about buying a house in my neighborhood. They are just so cheap and I could use the space. I don’t know what exactly goes into it, though. People are offering lots of advice, and I think I may stop by the bank and see what they have to say. I’m still thinking of going to school overseas in the fall of ’06, but I’ve heard that I can get a property manager to rent the place to cover the mortgage. I want to make sure I take as much into account as possible including, taxes, a leaky roof, broken heaters, etc. What should I save money for? What other hidden costs are there?

Not One Damn Dime Day

Below is an attachment of a little election protest sort of thing. It would be nice if it caught on, but I doubt anything like this will get press. I really enjoy these postmodern anti-consumer culture holidays. It is fun trying to not buy anything for a day, you’d be amazed how simultaneously easy and difficult it can be. Easy to do physically and mentally, but hard to do things socially. It is really almost impossible to find a friend who wants to do an activity that doesn’t cost money. The same goes for TV turnoff week. Some people consider it cheating that I tape everything and watch it the next week. It probably is, but it is sweeps week damnit.

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Since our religious leaders will not speak out against the war in Iraq, since our political leaders don't have the moral courage to oppose it, Inauguration Day, Thursday, January 20th, 2005 is "Not One Damn Dime Day" in America.On "Not One Damn Dime Day" those who oppose what is happening in our name in Iraq can speak up with a 24-hour national boycott of all forms of consumer spending.During "Not One Damn Dime Day" please don't spend money. No one damn dime for gasoline. Not one damn dime for necessities or for impulse purchases. Not one damn dime for nothing for 24 hours.On "Not One Damn Dime Day," please boycott Wal-Mart, Kmart and Target.Please don't go to the mall or the local convenience store. Please don't buy any fast food (or any groceries at all for that matter).For 24 hours, please do what you can to shut the retail economy down.The object is simple. Remind the people in power that the war in Iraq is immoral and illegal; that they are responsible for starting it and that it is their responsibility to stop it."Not One Damn Dime Day" is to remind them, too, that they work for the people of the United States of America, not for the international corporations and K Street lobbyists who represent the corporations and funnel cash into American politics."Not One Damn Dime Day" is about supporting the troops. The politicians put the troops in harm's way. Now 1,200 brave young Americans and (some estimate) 100,000 Iraqis have died. The politicians owe our troops a plan - a way to come home.There's no rally to attend. No marching to do. No left or right wing agenda to rant about. On "Not One Damn Dime Day" you take action by doing nothing.You open your mouth by keeping your wallet closed. For 24 hours, nothing gets spent, not one damn dime, to remind our religious leaders and our politicians of their moral responsibility to end the war in Iraq and give America back to the people.Please share this email with as many people as possible

This is going to be the best year ever

I hope everyone had a happy holiday time. I received many of the presents on my list, with one notable exception. I didn’t get a scrapbook or whatever people use to affix things to a scrapbook. So if anyone knows where to get these things via the internet or in the greater Philadelphia area, give me an e-mail. If anyone is looking for last minute gifts, these items would still be greatly appreciated.

Your love and affection
Milk Crates (preferably Wawa orange)
Pants storage racks (I like the ones that hold the pants on both sides)
Scrapbooks
Netflix
A new cell phone
Internet service
Airplane tickets to exotic destinations
Flat screen TV

Again, I can’t wait for that TV that costs more than all my other possessions combined. You can be the one to bring me that joy! I still have some gifts to give out too.

Anyway, with the new year upon us, I got to wrap up one project from last year. The Bridge Database. Below is my exciting unvailing e-mail to the office, which I really enjoyed writing… especially because no one else will use this… ever. That doesn’t bother me in the slightest, either.

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Happy New Year everyone!

The new year brings a newly designed and hopefully more useful Bridge Database. The new database has a switchboard for easier navigation, a place to put photos of your favorite Delaware County Bridges, and more detailed information about County-owned bridges.

But don't worry the database still has your favorite information relating to bridge age, ownership, and features crossed and carried. Now these items are more readily searchable either in report format or using the forms you are already familiar with.

We still need your help identifying the municipality in which the bridge is located, but it couldn't be easier. As you use the database, simply enter this information can be added into the Municipal Interface section of the form. Just type the first few letters of the municipality and the Bridge Database will do the rest!

That's all there is to it! Let me know if you have any questions, suggestions, or comments.

The Bridge Database is located in the Shared Drive at J:\TransportationShared\Bridge Database\Bridges.

In the coming months look to see this database connected with transportation construction project information such as that seen in the Transportation Improvement Program.