What I'm Reading 4.22; Farewell to Fr. John, Earth Day, Wal-Mart, Beer and Potato Chips

Earth day is upon us and ironically enough, we are on the earth...on this day.

Anyway, I've done my part, in not adding to the green house gas emissions by walking everywhere today. I walk places everyday but I still have not been driving a car consistently since January when my car broke down.

Today I awoke and went to mass in the library; a farewell of sorts for Fr. John who will be leaving St. Francis and Muncie tomorrow at 6 a.m. So, bittersweet as I've come to really admire the man who has inspired me further to be a vegetarian.

I'm covering an event this afternoon in New Castle, so this will be a short and probably less-entertaining post.

In honor of Earth Day and the disposal of household hazardous waste and other items here is a project from my days at Ball State I was a part of. And, here is a list for the surrounding counties of Delaware, of where to get rid of your waste.

A day in Wal-Mart in 2 minutes. This is a time lapse video of a Wal-Mart store in New Brunswick, N.J. Thanks to Mr. Roysdon for this one.

Revolutionizing American Beer from the WSJ; a great story and another peak into the growing nature of craft beers and their appreciators. Like me.

While on the subject of beer, and a great beer at that; from what I hear. Dark Lord Day 2010 is this Saturday at 3 Floyds Brewery in Munster, Ind. It's the only day of the year you can get the famous Russian Imperial Stout.

The Stealers are hinting at the possibility of trading Worth-lis-berger. (fingers crossed)

Lay's is changing the shape of the salt crystals on their potato chips to make them healthier.

What I'm Reading 4.21; Bear Affair, iPhone 4, Franny Boyle and Lady Gaga, $100s, Alf

Never before have I thought about the thought of wondering how and where carnivals come from.

Today, as I made my daily trek to the stop to catch the MITS bus, a system that has been running as consistently as well, I have, trailers carrying 'Bear Affair' and part of a Ferris wheel passed me by. It was as if the 10' tall bears were waving at me as they passed by in their blue cover-alls and red caps.

I then thought the occurrence and why it occurred and where carnivals come from. It's not that I doubt the existence of carnival-equipment-storage facilities but I surely had never thought about it. The bears passed and with them, my angst for riding the bears that were built to spin, and spin they will - without me inside of them, of course.

I like to keep my greasy-sugared pastry and lemon shake-up inside my stomach.

And that's the thing I hate about carnivals anyway. Most of the rides go round-and-round, rather than up and down, which now sounds like a sexual inuendo or that stupid song by Dead or Alive. I am also terrified of carnies; circus/carnival folk. Like modern-day gypsy's they load up rides, get drunk, put together rides, and travel city-to-city - not necessarily in that order, but come on really, ever met a carnie you weren't a little frightened of?

And back to bear affair, now pictured above, I'm scared to death of any animal that is supposed to be fierce and wild but doesn't look to be fierce and wild. Where does that wildness go, as I load into 'bear affair' for the, now defined, last time, full-bellied and ready for fun.

No fun, however; just remnants of carnie-made-deep-fried-overpriced and heart attack-causing food - now on my chucks.

Go away carnivals, hide in the abyss of wonderment I'll now dive into, on a regular basis.


What I'm reading!:

An Apple employee - Gray Powell - apparently had a few too many and left the next-generation iPhone (4g) at a bar only to have a 'random drunk guy' pick it up, eventually figure out it wasn't a regular iPhone and Gizmodo got ahold of it. So here is a page dedicated to the next iPhone and the continuing saga, as Apple has formally asked for it back. And now, more accusations.

The NFL schedules are out and Worth-lis-berger is out 6 games. WOO HOO!

One young lady I had the chance to meet on a recent mission trip I attended made CNN for her choice to choose chastity in college. Excellent story. Check out the headline of the huffington post's blog: Lady Gaga, Franny Boyle (my friend) Choose Chastity! Awesome.

A new $100 bill. Who cares; it's not like I ever see one of those.

Quadruplets from New York have chosen to go to the same college.

ALF outtakes.

What I'm Reading 4.14; Stealers, Rec Services, Bishop Blogs, Hot Dogs and Speeding Tickets

I'm looking into training more consistently. And now that I'm in Muncie more, I thought, why not just use the facilities offered by the university, of which I should be granted access considering my completion of degree and several-thousand dollar debt to the school I pay, on time.

Wrong.

For the second time in as many days my Ball State ID was denied as I swam at Lewellen. The lifeguard pulled me aside and I did what I always do in intense pressure situations; improvise.

"Yeah, I thought it might," I told her. "But it's okay I'll just talk to them about it."

Who is them? I guess I was talking about the imaginary people who will wave a magic wand over my now-1.5-year-past-worthy ID.

But anyway, I called recreation services and asked how much it would cost for an alumni to use the 'facilities'. She said for alumni with alumni ID's (issued at the alumni center; last time I'm going to use the word alumni for a while) for $155 per year. Not bad I thought and what a great break for all those people, who spent years of their life studying and passing on the good word of Ball State.

Then I asked, after assessing how great of a deal alumni got, how much do people who aren't alumni have to pay?

"One-hundred-fifty-five dollars," she said.

So much for appreciation.

After all's said and done, as my Econ247 teacher always said right before I passed out unconscious from talks about the stock market and liquidity, I'm thinking about getting that alumni card and pass, if for nothing else, the satisfaction that they university still cares about me and wants me to be fit.

Well, maybe.

Anyway; what I'm reading:

Big Ben isn't so big anymore. I don't want to say I-told-you so, but I believe it's in order.

Pittsburgh is rooted in class; DUI's, marijuana and two sexual assault charges. Not bad for the team the league likes to root for and who, on numerous occasions added to their 'winning' tradition through the misfortune of others.

REDS WIN! 5-3 and it looks like they're just getting started!

Another 'terrible' earthquake. This time in China. As of this hour, 400 are dead.

Archbishop Timothy Dolan's blog. Good stuff.

(Sorry this post is so sporadic; it's reflective of my mind, today)

Driving cars all the time it's easy to see that American-made cars are junk compared to anything, any other country makes. Perhaps the market does figure out what is best; American made cars top list of worst-built.

A beautifully-written story on a terrible, terrible occurrence these days. I mean, I can't understand how people forget their kids in their cars but, I just keep in mind that caring for your children is your first priority - always. Sad.

Speeding tickets are up. My experiences are evidence of that.

So, Conan is going to TBS. Good news for them.

Record Store Day is this saturday. I'm sure a store deserves my patronage after years of piracy. Here's one great record store, I've been to.

Hot dogs at all the stadiums.

And, lastly I went to Dallas last weekend but missed this.

24th annual A Taste of Muncie is here! Read the preview and profile of one of the participating restaurants!

What I'm Reading 3.31; Easter, Kidney(s) and Steeler stupidity

Quickly approaching is Easter, a holiday once known for Jesus' resurrection but now known for plastic-imitation-chicken eggs and over-sized rabbits.

Funny how Easter - like Christmas, Thanksgiving, etc. - is celebrated in varying ways by different families. For instance, I don't hunt eggs anymore, some older people do.

And on fasting; how did it go for you? I gave up meat and I stuck to it. And, I even liked giving up beef, chicken, lamb, weasel, etc. so much, I might not go back.

In Easter news: The Easter bunny may save your life, critics say avoid giving rabbits, chicks as gifts and a list of the largest egg hunts in the U.S.

Away from Easter, a new study finds that many people (including me) would give a kidney for a quick buck.

Airbags on airplanes?

Before you eat from McDonald's again AND more importantly before you buy another 'happy meal' for your kids, take a look at this. This guy is celebrating the one-year anniversary of a happy meal he bought, set out and watched NOT decompose over the course of the past year.

A history maker in our midst, despite what you or I think of him.

Another attack in Russia.

The Obama overhaul of the student loan system could come at a huge benefit to interested parties.

A new version could mean the end of a iPhone-less Verizon wireless network. Good news for me!

Remember all the talk of earmarks? Here is a state-by-state map of earmark allotment.

SPORTS

Things are looking good for the Steelers; first Big Ben, now smokin' Santonio, again.

The University of Conn. women's basketball team has won 76 games in-a-row and are headed to another Final Four.

Aroldis Chapman set to begin season in minors for the Reds. No big surprise.

If you haven't heard about Pat Venditte, check him out. Venditte is an ambidextrous pitcher in the NY Yankees farm system. He got his first spring action yesterday.

Reaching into the vault, Sports Illustrated has the story that proceeded the 1975 World Series.