I guess you can't go home

Yesterday was an interesting day, to say the least. No, I am not injured or no one I know died. It was just kinda depressing.

It began when I went along to get my friend Cory's new car looked at. We went to Osseo, MN, where he purchased the car. After getting it checked out and realizing we were just mere miles from my hometown, we decided to visit Anoka.

I lived in or around this small town for my first 18 years of life. I would come home for holidays and the summer until 1998 when my parents moved to Minneapolis. In these years I knew most every major part of this town.

That said, it was heartbreaking to visit. The first part was driving to one of my favorite spots: Hans' Bakery. This small German bakery has been a fixture of Anoka for the better part of four decades. I had been going there for 30 years, off and on. As a child my father would take us there for a raised glazed donut. Awesome! And that was just one kind of donut. The bakery has bee hives and the "Texas" donut, which is the size of a Frisbee! Then there were the donut holes and the apple fritters. I could go on and on but it is too depressing because, upon entering, it was the stark reality that mismanagement after the death of Hans left the bakery in a sad state.

After eating our donuts we drove along Coon Rapids Blvd. where the reality of a changing economy has left barren a once sprawling shopping area. The old Target shell continued a decline that left the additional mall area vacant. Only a Big Lots! remains in what used to be a Rainbow Foods. The sad part is that there is still a neighborhood there, just that the businesses all left.

Cruising farther down I pointed out things that used to be. Most things were gone or changed. Empty business after empty business lay on a once busy thoroughfare. It was severely depressing because it wasn't like there were vacant houses, just vacant businesses.

I realize that times change and things change but it is ultimately sad that you can't go back to where you were from. Nothing is there. Your memories are just that and that which you associate with it has been passed by. Thankfully it is people that live on but all those dead dreams.

How depressing...

I'm dreaming of a nice spring?

The weather is almost depressing. I was, however, very cheerful today, albeit at work and running my ass off.

But now I am done with work and would like to go shopping. I have saved my pennies and can go to Target and Trader Joe's and buy some groceries. That, to me, is awesome.

I just hope I can ride my bicycle tomorrow...

Why do only rich people get to live on lakes/rivers?

I was positing yesterday, as I made my way around the small lakes near my apartment, that all of the houses that are on lakes are more than likely more expensive and, thus, unaffordable to the folks like me. However, when I turned on the television and was watching the news, I watched as a dam burst at Lake Denton and million-dollar vacation (vacation!!!) homes were caught up in the rush of water and were torn asunder.

Now, don't get me wrong. I am not against people making an honest living, investing and spending their money. But is it fair that I work just as many hours, went to just as much schooling and keep just as much to a budget and can't even afford the house a mile from the lake?

I think one thing that is inspired in our country is class envy. It is one of the main reasons that conservative voters don't like to raise taxes, even if it is to their benefit and mostly affects the wealthiest of us. I have heard it said that many conservatives still believe that, one day, they will be rich and thus would not want to face the tax burden they had voted for when they were poor.

The reality is that most of us will end up just remaining in an average holding pattern, never achieving the millionaire status, unless, of course, millionaire is the new minimum wage earner and the rich are all trillionaires.

Yes, I do feel sorry for those that lost their homes that used to be on a lake and are now on a river. After hearing the news that most of these homes had no insurance to cover that type of damage, it makes me even feel sad that all was lost.

But it still doesn't excuse the fact that I have to drive to a lake and can't afford to live there. I guess I am just envious, accept for the fact that, in my backyard, I have a pond...

Peace.

Kids and their Cell Phones... Golly Gee!

I just read an article about teens across the country using their cell phones to take nude pictures of themselves and then send them to their significant other, only to have them posted on the internet.

Tell me: What's wrong with this picture? I know, I know, kids will be kids but do parents just not talk their kids anymore?

"Hey Timmy, I sure hope that my absence as a parent won't have lasting affects."

Kids rule the world, I swear. This "Me" generation is going to mess it up, hard. And they are supposed to be our future?

That's it, I'm moving to space...

The farmer and his Dell

Pardon the strange beginning but it is appropriate to the story.

You see, one has to wonder, at which point in history, that the world became so disposable. Was it at the beginning of the industrial era or has it only been over the past century? Any way you slice it, the world is a pretty much made of wastefulness.

I want to take you on a journey to well over a hundred years ago, to a made up place in America where we can only suppose the characters did what I hope they did.

Back then, let's say his name is Sam, and his family were resourceful. They bought what they needed, grew what they ate and made due with what they had. Sam is a farmer and he has tools, buildings, animals and the human will to make a life for he and his family.

I can only imagine the wife making clothes for all of them. I can see Sam making tools and maintaining them to use for years. Say Sam had a hammer. Let's say Sam used it all the time until, one day, the handle split. What can Sam do? Well, he finds a piece of wood and makes a new handle. If his work pants get a hole in the knee, they get a patch.

The point is that, at one point in history, people didn't worry if they had the latest, greatest new toy. They had what they had and used it until, well, it wasn't useable anymore.

I am a victim of this modern trend just as well as everyone around me. I think about this because I took on a project the other day that seems less worth it monetarily than it would be to just give it away and buy something new.

And that is with most things I run into. Everything seems so temporary, other than people. We are all consumed with this sick idea that we need more and more to make up for... What?

So I am working toward using up what I have. I figure I have enough invested in what I have and need not invest in what I don't. I would not like to, years from now, be reading the book I bought ten years prior or finally getting around to using what I bought. I want to be active with what I have and I think everyone should take a good look around and see just what they have and ask themselves what is so important about having more.

In this modern age, with thrift stores, giveaway Web sites and craigslist, we should be more than capable of not only consuming less but shedding that which has become such an anchor around our necks.

Who knows? Maybe we could even force industry to slow down and make products that last longer or work better rather than being rushed out and failing all the time.

Peace.