I have been anti-blogger lately. I don't know what is happening, but every time I try to save a post, it somehow disappears after I get most of it finished. That is kind of pissing me off. Seems I have been in a pissy mood lately anyway. No use blogging out negative crap when you don't have to I guess. It might be nice to vent, but it really seems a waste of time to blog a bunch of negative crap when your just hating life at the moment.

Please take note:

Dear people of Cedar Rapids,

If you insist on driving on Northwest on 19th Street and turning right on to first Ave SE, please take note:

1) When turning right you enter a turning lane that is clearly marked ONLY with an arrow pointing to your right. That means that lane is for turning right on to First Avenue.

2) There is NO... let me repeat this, NO stop sign or yield sign of any kind! Stop coming to a complete stop!

3) First Avenue has 3 lanes of traffic for 2 blocks from 19th street to Cottage Grove Ave. This gives you plenty of time to merge over to the other lane if you so desire. There is solid white line in fact to let you know that you shouldn't merge over at the point you first turn into the lane.

4) If you insist on stopping in the turning lane and backing up traffic, I have no choice but to act like prick and lay down on my horn until you start moving! It is not something I normally do, but you people are really starting to piss me off!

5) I encourage all pedestrian to point at you and make you feel like an idiot should feel.


Thank you for letting me vent. Having someone do this every day is really wearing me down.

Driving Directions from [200-299] 19th St Se, Cedar Rapids, IA to 1920 1st Ave Ne, Cedar Rapids, IA

call it what you may, just give me the same rights

This was staring me in the face this morning as I read the Opinion page in this Sundays Cedar Rapids Gazette newspaper. It's under the headline Your View (for some reason View wouldn't copy).

I would have actually expected the number for NO to be much higher in this conservative community.

It just goes to show that we have a long way to go for equal rights.

My personal opinion is that The State has no right giving anyone a license to get married. I believe that it is a religious commitment between two people and the state has no business being involved.

Because of past history, The State of Iowa and every other state in the union decided to take peoples money and issue them a license that meant nothing. As time when by the license did become very important and meaningful because it was given value to claiming property and other government entitlements and rights in court proceedings.

I honesty wonder how people can really believe that a society can discriminate against a group of people and deny them the rights that others have?

People confuse the the religious aspect to marriage with the legal rights of marriage. If you want to be involved in a church that doesn't except gay marriage, so be it. But, don't deny gay people the right to the same benefits that straight people have!

Instead of making laws to restrict marriage between a man and a women. Why not change the whole marriage license to a Domestic Partnership license or what every you want to call it for everyone? I know some of you may think that it is a cop-out and we should be entitled to the same marriage license as everyone else has now. I say let the churches deal with God and who is married and who is going to hell. Church and state should be separated. That way I don't have to be subjected to that religious dogma. I can feel like I have the same value as every straight person in this society as far as my government is concerned!

Water Feature

Friends of ours, Jeff and Kerry have their pond showcased on the Eastern Iowa Pond Society web page. We love going over to their house to hang out on their deck next to the pond and listen to the water and watch the fish.

We decided to a add a water feature to our patio area. I'm not sure what we are going to do with the fish and plants when it starts to get cold.

I love sitting out back and reading a book with the sound of water running in the background. It's really peaceful. I'm loving this weather right now!

Michael moving out

Michael moved into his new apartment last night. The apartment was furnished with a Murphy bed, dresser and a chair. I guess you can't ask for much when the rent is only $280 a month with heat and water paid. The apartment is located on 4th Ave SE in an older home that has been divided into 4 apartments. We have the house to ourselves again now!

After moving Michael we went out to eat at Al's Red Frog with Michael and Jeremy. There is nothing like good American bar food! I had the Frog burger and an order of Jalapeno Poppers. I only ended up eating one popper, because everyone else seemed to gobble them down before I had time to get another. The bill only came to $42 with a round of drinks for four people! The bartender didn't charge us for the last round because he said we waited too long to get the poppers. We always seem to have a good time every time we stop down at Al's.

On the way home we stopped by for a martini at Daniel Arthurs's on 3rd Ave. I had the nuts and berries martini. YUM, YUM! They have an outdoor area off the bar and almost every night they have live music. It's a great place to go and unwind after a long day or on the way home as we did.

Below are a few pictures I took of the Rotary Gardens in Janesville, Wisconsin. Last weekend we went to see the Dave Matthews Band at Alpine Valley. We thought we would check out this garden since we were in town and had a few hours to kill. It turned out to be a wonderful surprise! It is a very beautiful place and my pictures don't do it justice. I wish Cedar Rapids had a public garden like this.