On the way to work today, in a foot of snow, I passed a Honda insight that couldn’t make it up a hill.

I stopped at the base of the hill, 50 feet back, waiting for the hybrid to cautiously back down. Then the fart sniffer did something grand. He cut the wheel. Backed into a ditch. Got the whole thing stuck. How long have you been driving, sir?

I laughed as I drove past in my Jeep Wrangler with 33″ tires. If he was in any other non-hybrid vehicle, I would have stopped and pulled him out. But those hybrids don’t come with tow hooks…

I laughed all the way to work.

Then I ran out of gas.

Also known as, Red Dawn 2: The birth of incentives

Back in October they were filming parts of Red Dawn 2 in Detroit.  It was funny because I was down there visiting a client and had troubles getting into the parking garage.  When I turned off of Jefferson onto Griswold, I looked up and saw a strange sight.  I hadn’t remembered that my client was so close to the police station.  Additionally, I was surprised that the police department was throwing a gala event… at 3 in the afternoon??

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A recent issue of Time goes into the sorry state of affairs in Michigan in the context of the election season:

http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1828307,00.html

It is interesting to hear from a national source on how bad things are here in Michigan. You talk to people here about jobs and the economy and its as if the world is ending (or pretty darn close). Outside of this state, people respond as if the economy is just plain fine. It was confusing until you look at the numbers outside… Michigan has the highest unemployment rate and 1 in 20 houses are in or near foreclosure!

Anecdotal evidence… I can’t tell you how many local resumes I have looked at in the past year looking for programmers that are experienced in the tech we use. Not a single one gets a thumbs up. The only candidates we found were outside of the state. So our search has to be centered around “willing to relocate.” We found two perfect matches recently. One from South Carolina and one from Oklahoma. Both were willing to relocate. However, when they asked, “where to?” and found it was Michigan, they suddenly weren’t willing to relocate any more.

Crazy.

Only one choice left…

One of the reasons I am still kickin is because I have something to live for. I recently got married to the love of my life, Kelly Wright. I didn’t write much about it because it is hard to express in words how happy I am. A few words on a screen could never do it justice.

Like every one before us, our wedding went by so fast that it was hard to do everything you wanted to do. It was the best time of my life and I know that it is only going to get better.

Kelly is my reason for living, my reason for rolling out of bed and into the coal mines every day. She drives me to excel and do what I can do to make our lives better. She is my inspiration, she is my air.

I love her to death and I am so happy to be with her.

She is at it again!

Our glorious Governor and the state legislature are seriously considering putting a $100 million a year tax on every ticket to professional sporting events, shows, concerts, museums, zoos and movie tickets in Michigan. They are calling it a “luxury tax.”

Luxury tax?!?!

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