More Sadness

Love, True Love
Originally uploaded by kmevans

Well, Happy Valentine's Day, My sweetie got me the beautiful rose you see here (a dozen of them) along with a teddy bear, chocolates and a balloon.

My mom called me this evening to see if I had seen the news about the shootings at Northern Illinois University. I had heard it on the way home. She wanted me to reassure her that I was safe. You see, I work at a University myself and with all the school and college shootings lately she has become concerned. Well, I think she has a right to be. 32 at Virginia Tech, 2 in Louisiana last week, now 16 in Illinois, I wonder about safety myself. But as I told my mom there is not a lot we can do, it would be virtually impossible to secure every building on every campus from this type of attack. Its so damn random.

I work with college students everyday and I know how unstable they are, hell its the most traumatic time of their life for the most of them and they are not equipped to handle it. If I had a dollar for every college student that's cried in my office I'd be a bit closer to retirement. You never know what to expect from them from one day to the next.

One of my jobs is being the admin of our emergency text message system. The software that we put in place after Va.Tech so that if there is a shooter on campus we can send a text message out to anyone subscribed and tell them what to do. Its scary to have to think about this kind of thing on a regular basis, and not only think about it but plan for it. And most of all to know no matter how much you plan or how what systems you put in place that if something like this occurs, its never going to be enough.

My heart goes out to those at NIU.

School Shootings By State (data from Wikipedia)

Kirkwood

Kirkwood
Originally uploaded by kmevans

Kirkwood, Missouri is a beautiful little place. I worked there for several years and now live about 5 miles west and work about 3 miles east. There are quaint little shops such as "The Bug Store", great restaurants and a farmers market in the summer. Last Thursday evening, 2/7/08, an irate citizen entered the council meeting at city hall and killed 5 people and wounded 2 more before he was gunned down by police. The stories are all over the news so I won't rehash it here.

I just wanted to comment on how disturbed I am by our country right now, and by people in general.

According to the St. Louis Post-Dispatch "Ben Gordon, a black man from Webster Groves, said, "To me, Cookie Thornton is a hero. He was an athlete... He opened a business. He went to court, but the system failed him... We are sorry, we grieve, but (Kirkwood officials) share in this responsibility."

What??? Hero? How can someone possibly say that? How does killing innocent people make someone a hero? If I put away that logical part of my mind maybe these people think that he was defending his right to free speech. Okay, sure, you have a right to free speech, you don't have a right to kill someone if you don't think you got that right.

This man had managed to get himself banned from city council meetings for his behavior, then lost a lawsuit that he filed to be allowed back at the meetings. What is the next step? Go to the papers? File an appeal? No! Get your gun and SHOOT EVERYONE! Sure, that makes sense.

This is why it should be a hell of a lot more difficult to own a gun in this country.

2/8/08
Two women shot at Louisiana Technical College in Baton Rouge, La

2/7/08
5 people killed at city council meeting in Kirkwood, Mo

2/7/08
5 people dead in a LA shootout

2/3/08
5 women killed in a Chicago Lane Bryant clothing store

That's less than one week, and 17 people are shot and killed across the country.

I'm sad and I'm scared. I believe in the principles on which this country was founded, freedom, of religion, of speech, of the pursuit of happiness. I don't believe that this gives anyone a right to harm anyone else or have the free means to harm anyone else so easily.

Some statistics:
"In the U.S. for 2001, there were 29,573 deaths from firearms, distributed as follows by mode of death: Suicide 16,869; Homicide 11,348; Accident 802; Legal Intervention 323; Undetermined 231.(CDC, 2004)"

"The number of non-fatal injuries is considerable--over 200,000 per year in the U.S. Many of these injuries require hospitalization and trauma care. A 1994 study revealed the cost per injury requiring admission to a trauma center was over $14,000. The cumulative lifetime cost in 1985 for gunshot wounds was estimated to be $911 million, with $13.4 billion in lost productivity. (Mock et al, 1994)"

I don't believe in keeping a gun in your home for any reason. I don't believe in the society that we live in today that there is a need for guns. Media, video games, movies and music all sensationalize guns and violence rather than vilifying them.

My dad was shot and killed by a "bad guy" for doing no more than being a friendly guy when I was five years old. Does that color my opinion of this subject? Of course it does. But I think it also underscores my point. For every gun death in this country there is a ripple effect that never stops. It does not have to be a Virginia Tech or a Columbine for it to make an impact, the impact is there you just have to open your eyes to it

Rock the vote

So after much debating with myself and telling myself that I was basing my decision on the reality of who could actually get elected in this country, a black man or a woman, I went out and cast my vote for Hillary this morning. I, unlike many of my relatives and those I grew up with am NOT a racist. However, I am southern, born and raised. I once received a threat from the local KKK in the late 90's for dating a black man. Based on this I do not think that Obama has a snowball's chance in hell of actually getting elected in this country, and even if he did, I don't see it turning out well, this country is still to backwards for that. Does a woman have a much better chance? Unfortunately no. But if I'm being completely honest, and why not, because no one actually reads this, I voted for Hillary partly because she is a woman dammit, its damn hard being a powerful woman, lets give her our support when we can. What about the issues you ask? Well, Clinton and Obama are so close in my book on the important stuff that it cames down to other stuff for me. Right now, I care about getting the devil out of the office and not putting another warmonger in there. So we'll see what happens in a few months, it could be interesting.

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On other notes, the weather here is typically weird. It snowed 6 inches on Thursday/Friday, was 70 by Monday, thunderstorms and tornado warnings today and snow again by morning. Gotta love St. Louis.

Still battling some sinus/ear/throat congestion that drives me crazy if I don't take large doses of decongestant every few hours. The prednisone I am taking for my asthma is depriving me of lots of sleep, and I want to eat everything I can get my hands on. Which reminds me, had my very first slice of king cake today and got the baby, apparently I am king for the day and will have good luck this year!

Travel Woes

Here is how my day has gone so far

4am get out of bed
5am arrive at the airport
5:10am find a line for northwest checkin 100 people long
6:00am go through security
6:30am board flight
8:10am arrive minneapolis
8:10-8:25am run 3 concourses
8:30am board flight for san diego
10:50am (pacific time) arrive san diego
11:00am-11:30am wait for luggage
11:30am get shuttle to UCSD
12:00pm leave camera bag on shuttle, freak out
12:15pm checkin for conference
1:15pm get camera bag back
1:20-2:00pm get lost trying to find afternoon session
2:00pm give up, go to room
2:00pm-3:00pm freak out some more because its a sucky day and traveling gives me anxiety and I am in a dorm room and having college flashback (not the good kind)
3:30 now...not so freaked out, well I am but I figure not much I can do but deal,next thing is at 5:30, two hours, I think its too far to walk to the beach. I need caffeine. more later.

black friday

Yes, I did black friday. Got up at 4am, got to Best Buy at 4:32. Was probably at least 300th in line. (see graphic below) The Best Buy staff were very helpful, they were handing out line tickets for the hot items and keeping us informed of how it was going to go, even after the doors opened.

Doors opened at 5am, I got in the door at 5:20, had my purchase and was back in the car at 5:40, back in bed by 6am. It was not terribly cold and the people in the line were very friendly. Except the two guys behind me were sick and having been battling a cold myself for several days I don't think I am feeling the better for this today.

I was the envy of the line for having gotten a PS3 and Wii without standing in line (well Matthew got them without standing in line)

I got for my troubles at 20" tv/dvd combo for $89.99. Merry Christmas. Oh and I got
an alien lighter when I stopped to get coffee. Woohoo!

recovered

I think I am finally recovered from the trip, takes awhile to catch up on sleep. St. Louis is supposed to get its first snow of the season tonight, but I won't hold my breath.

Check out the pictures of my dwarf hamster Lola http://www.nocturnal.org/~kevans/lola/lola.html

Edmonton Wednesday

Today was the last day of the conference and it was over at lunch time. I did some shopping then went to see Borat with a couple other people, very funny movie, totally offensive to every group! Then I packed then went and had dinner and hung out with Terri from Webster and Geoffry from Wayne State in Michigan.

We come back to St Louis tomorrow, here are todays pictures

November 8, 2006

Tuesday in Edmonton

Today my focus was on student worker training and management, I had lunch with a great group of people who shared some great ideas, then after the session I talked with some other people and got more great ideas and shared some of our own information. Tonight was the conference gala at the Jubilations dinner theater. It was an interesting show and a nice dinner. Not a lot of pictures from today, but a few.

Tuesday, November 7

edmonton Monday

It's late and its been a long day, but a good one, I learned a lot at the sessions today, stuff I plan on using soon. Outside the sessions talked with some great people about relevant topics such as illegal download, student employee management and retention and beer :)

Saw one of the theme rooms and hung out in the Sherlock Holmes bar where there was some interesting music http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7E8sx6I8efs

There was more snow overnight but I haven't been outside today. Weird thing, at dinner I had a sandwich and fries, the waitress asked if I would like gravy with my fries. Yes, its real gravy, like beef gravy, served on the side, surprisingly good! I took a picture.

Overall a good day.

Pictures are updated

Saturday, November 4
Sunday, November 5
Monday, November 6

Edmonton Update (day 2)

Yesterday was a fun day. Terri and I did some sightseeing and shopping. Then we had a digital scavenger hunt for the conference. After that we had the opening event at the waterpark here in the mall. Terri and I both spent a lot of time in the huge wave pool but then we both braved the HUGE water slides! ) Yes, we both did, I don't think there are any pictures of that (thank goodness). That was pretty much the end of day two. Today starts the technical sessions where we learn lovely things! :)yesterdays pictures are up. More later!

Edmonton

I arrived in Canada yesterday, Edmonton Alberta. My first time out of the country. It was a long day of traveling, got to the airport in St. Louis just before 7am, arrived in Edmonton around 5pm I think.

Terri and I got lost only once on the way to the hotel so we're doing better than usual. We are staying at the Fantasyland Hotel in the West Edmonton Mall, its fabulous! There is a waterpark which we will be going to) a sea lion show, 21 movie theaters and everything else you can think of! We didn't see much last night, we were too tired, we had dinner then crashed.

The conference starts this afternoon but we are going to get some sight seeing in before that.

I am going to try to post pictures at least one a day, they can be found here http://lenzfamily.us/gallery2/main.php?g2_itemId=46671

how ironic is it that animal crackers and bacos are vegan?

shutup and hangup

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My first blues game

Went to my first hockey game Friday night. It was fun, we won! no fights but two players crashed into the glass and knocked a peice out.

take your screaming kids outside

I was in wal-mart today and almost from the moment I walked in the door I heard this kid screaming bloody murder. At first I thought that he must have gotten hurt, such was the volume of his cries. When the screaming went on for 5 minutes, then 10, then continued for the entire 45 minutes I was in the store, I was ready to harm the kid myself, and the adult in charge of him/her. You could hear this kid throughout the entire store, it took every ounce of willpower I posses to not follow those screams and tell the mother/father/guardian to shut the kid up or take him outside.
Back when I was a kid, we knew better than to make a scene in public. If we started to act up, and by this I mean the beginnings of a whine, we were asked "do you want to go outside?" the answer was no. We didn't want to go outside, because outside was a nice spanking. You behaved in public, you did not embarrass your parents by making a scene, whether it be in the grocery store, church or another adults house.
Now I don't think the parents are embarrassed, they will get pissy if you confront them about their misbehaving child, get indignant and angry.
Now given, I don't expect Wal-Mart to be a peaceful place, but damn, that was ridiculous.

These are the times that try men's souls

• These are the times that try men's souls. The summer soldier and the sunshine patriot will, in this crisis, shrink from the service of their country; but he that stands by it now, deserves the love and thanks of man and woman. --Thomas Paine
• Ask not what your country can do for you, but what you can do for your country. -JFK
• Now is the time for all good men to come to the aid of their country --???

These are patriotic quotes meant for wartime, I think they are appropriate in our time of crisis.

What are you doing to help?

Proud American?

Throughout this Katrina disaster I am swinging back and forth between being disgusted with America with the violence, chaos and lack of response in NOLA and being proud of the mother who swims 30 minutes through floodwaters while in labor to get help for her sick son. Today, I am humbled. Countries that are still struggling to recover from the Tsunami in December are sending aid to the US.
Help started to come to NOLA today, and with the arrival of the calvalry its easy to say "yeah, look how we take care of our people, we rock." Let us not forget though, that many of the people there have been waiting on this help with NOTHING for 5 days now. 5 days may not seem like a long time, however, think about this, you are thirsty, you go get a drink. You are hungry, you grab a snack or get dinner. I grew up poor and I know others have as well, more so than I did. But I cannot even begin to grasp not having water to drink. Watching my baby scream from hunger and thirst and know there is nothing I can do about it.
Airlifts of supplies should have started on Monday as soon as the winds were safe for flying. National guard should have been on the streets as well. FEMA and Army Corps of Engineers should have been at the levies fixing them, reinforcing them BEFORE they broke.
Of course, I sit here, in my nice quite, safe home, full of the dinner I just ate, self righteous in my indignation with the response. What have I done? Little. I blog my rants, I have contacted the Red Cross to volunteer my time, I have organized information on resources and sent them to my colleagues and friends. I wish I could go and personally help each person find their way back to some degree of normalcy. I also wish I could bitchslap those who are shooting at the rescurers and taking police away from search and rescue because of their violence and greed.
So, am I proud to be an American? In general yes, I couldn't imagine being anything else. I am however, disappointed in the American government and some Americans.

Katrina Help

I found out today one of my co-wokers family is in New Orleans and he has not been able to get in touch with them. I founds some sites for him and thought I might as well post them here as well. When I find out what area his family is in I'll post that and their names as well, just in case.

• http://littlecoop.100megsfree5.com/katrina/
• http://katrinahelp.info/wiki/index.php/Main_Page
• http://www.nola.com/
• http://www.hurricanekatrinasurvivors.com/

Other tips I've found online:

• The Sun Herald is setting up an “IÂ’m OK Line” for folks who left the area to phone in and let their relatives know where they evacuated to. ItÂ’s a toll free number and the information will be printed in the paper and posted online. You can call (866) 453-1925.

• People can also try amateur (ham) radio to send messages inquiring about loved ones into the areas. To find a local (to you) ham who can pass these messages, contact a club near you ( http://www.arrl.org/FandES/field/club/clubsearch.phtml). You can also locate nearby hams by searching by city name or zipcode, at (http://www.qrz.com/i/names.html). Hams often have a lot of backup power (huge batteries, generators), so they can transmit during power outages.

• I read several places that sending text messages to cell phones is working even when incoming and outgoing calls do not work.

Katrina

I can't figure out my fascination with natural disasters and the destruction they cause. There is not enough detail or pictures of this hurricane to please me.

Desiderata

If you have never read a poem by Max Ehrmann called, Desiderata, I feel that you must do so now, I have copied the text of the poem below.

This poem has special meaning to me, a line, near the end of this poem, is engraved on my father's tombstone. "Therefore, be at peace with God, whatever you perceive him to be". As a child, when my father died, I did not know what this meant, only that it came from a poem my mother told me was my father's favorite. I have read the Desiderata many times over the year, in whole, and in part and feel that in some ways it has guided my life and gave me a greater insight into the father I barely knew. I grew up in the South, very Baptist south, the quote my mother had place on my father's tombstone, created somewhat of a scandal, but as in all things my mother stood her ground, saying it was what needed to be done. I rarely get the chance to visit my father's grave as I live several hundred miles away now, but everytime I do, I see this quote and feel a little bit better about the path I have taken in my life. I feel at once, sad, inspired and closer to my father when I read the Desiderata, I think I will hang it on my office wall now though, so it can be that beacon of light to guide me through my days. And perhaps, one day, it will watch over me in eternity as well.

Desiderata

Go placidly amid the noise and haste,
and remember what peace there may be in silence.
As far as possible without surrender
be on good terms with all persons.
Speak your truth quietly and clearly;
and listen to others,
even the dull and the ignorant;
they too have their story.

Avoid loud and aggressive persons,
they are vexations to the spirit.
If you compare yourself with others,
you may become vain and bitter;
for always there will be greater and lesser persons than yourself.
Enjoy your achievements as well as your plans.

Keep interested in your own career, however humble;
it is a real possession in the changing fortunes of time.
Exercise caution in your business affairs;
for the world is full of trickery.
But let this not blind you to what virtue there is;
many persons strive for high ideals;
and everywhere life is full of heroism.

Be yourself.
Especially, do not feign affection.
Neither be cynical about love;
for in the face of all aridity and disenchantment
it is as perennial as the grass.

Take kindly the counsel of the years,
gracefully surrendering the things of youth.
Nurture strength of spirit to shield you in sudden misfortune.
But do not distress yourself with dark imaginings.
Many fears are born of fatigue and loneliness.
Beyond a wholesome discipline,
be gentle with yourself.

You are a child of the universe,
no less than the trees and the stars;
you have a right to be here.
And whether or not it is clear to you,
no doubt the universe is unfolding as it should.

Therefore be at peace with God,
whatever you conceive Him to be,
and whatever your labors and aspirations,
in the noisy confusion of life keep peace with your soul.

With all its sham, drudgery, and broken dreams,
it is still a beautiful world.
Be cheerful.
Strive to be happy.

Max Ehrmann, Desiderata, Copyright 1952.