So as I mentioned in my last post, I had planned (and I use the word “planned” very loosely) to go see “The Vow” with my wife last weekend. As expected, the movie got me into trouble because according to the wife, I “don’t do anything that romantic.” True. In a theater full of roughly 150 people, about a tenth of them were guys who had also “planned” to be there and are now paying the price – I’m sure I wasn’t the only one of them in a lobby full of estrogen and teary eyes who was in deep trouble with their other, better looking half. Thanks for setting the bar a bit too high again, classic chick flick. Next time, I’m picking the movie.

Switching gears, I had a great time speaking with Sheila Marshman over the phone last week. Marshman will be speaking at the UN on March 1st, as I mentioned in today’s story. Before beginning work at The Evening Sun, the extent of my agricultural expertise covered only the basics; plants grow from the dirt and cows need to eat. But with each ag. related story I write, I’m learning more and more, and I’ve grown a great deal of respect for the agricultural market in the county. My perceptions of plants and cows have been made anew in the light of local agriculturists.

With talk of consolidation surfacing once again in today’s paper, I wonder about the future of Chenango County. 21 townships, (8 villages?), and one city in a county of 50,000 – seems like there should be some tightening of the belt someplace. I read a 30 sec. post that suggested we consolidate school districts because paying one superintendent would be more lucrative than paying for ten. There might be some truth to this, and if someone can figure out a financially sound way to do this without overcrowding classrooms and subjecting kids to a four-hour-one-way bus ride while still maintaining a reasonable student to teacher ratio in closely supervised educational environment, I will follow that someone like the Jews followed Moses in the desert for forty years – without question. Good luck with your idea, 30 seconds ranter.

After my last complaining rant about paying $30 for my wife and I to go to the movies (2 admissions, 1 large soda, 1 large popcorn) I specifically remember pledging that it would be a long time before returning – perhaps when pigs fly, hell freezes over or, the much less likely, when politicians agree on health reform. My resistance was mainly because it would take a long time to save up that kind of extra money again. Not to mention, it’s just not worth paying that much money to got to the movies. I usually get stuck near the front where my neck hurts by the end of the movie, no one around me chews with their mouth closed so I hear the rotten “smack-cruch-smack-crunch-smack-crunch” of 50 other people eating popcorn, and it’s too dark to ever see whatever it is that’s making the floor sticky.

But the wife seems to have enjoyed all of it.

Yes, not even a month after my last visit to the movie theater which left me with nothing in my wallet except a driver’s license, a fist full of IOUs and a few moths, my wife decided we should go again. Apparently, that was an easy decision for her to make – the more difficult decision will be what bill isn’t going to be paid on time this month.

“Fine, if we must go again, let’s pick a good movie. And by good, I mean something with a lot of explosions, or something with car chase or gun fight, or something that makes me rip the arms off my seat off in terror – you know, something worth seeing on the big screen. No? We aren’t going to see any of those? Well, how about a movie that we can agree on? A comedy? Adventure? No? Well… what should we see?”

Over the years, my wife and I have learned the process of compromise; We each have equal strength in the initial voting process when it comes to things like deciding which movie to see. And in the event of the all too common tie vote, we refer to a tie breaking re-vote, in which my wife happily assumes a two-thirds vote. So, given our movie dilemma, we “compromised” on seeing a romantic drama. Thank goodness for a compromising system that works for everyone, huh? Through the unwritten rule of democratic marriage, we voted to see “The Vow.”

“Well… that’ll be fun.”

Happy Valentine’s Day. If your not tired of seeing red, white and pink by now, you haven’t been outside or online much today.

Keeping my Valentine’s vigor alive, I decided to wait until last minute to buy my valentine a card. It’s OK though – I seem to work well under pressure. I didn’t panic at all while I sprinted down the sidewalk, darted in front of traffic and knocked over two people to get to Service Pharmacy to find a good Valentine’s Day card before they were gone. Work well under pressure, indeed.

Actually picking out a good Valentine’s Day card on the other hand… well, that’s different. Over the years, I’ve learned that picking out the perfect card is an integral part of Valentine’s Day – it’s like guessing which wire to cut in order to disable a ticking time bomb. If I get the wrong card, I might as well not go home at all. I would think it wouldn’t be too difficult, since it seems that so many Valentine’s Day cards say the same thing in different words, but I still can’t seem to escape the risk of grabbing the wrong one.

The trick is to narrow down the options to just a few: Do I want the Snoopy and Woodstock card? Do I want the card with the cheap fart joke that leaves a slight feeling or remorse for having read it? Or, do I want the card that says “You are my everything…Love you so much….Blah…Happy Valentine’s Day?” Right away, I knew that one of those cards is just silliness and wasn’t going to work at all in my favor, so I put it back, which left me with two – the mushy-gushy sentimental one and the one with the fart joke. After another ten minutes of deliberation, I went with the lovey-dovey card. Bomb, deactivated – and with plenty of the day left to spare. I look forward to doing it again next year.

There’s something about Fridays that makes time seem to stand still, regardless of how busy I try to be.

I had a good day in McDonough today – a place that I’ve kind of neglected since beginning here at the paper. My apologies. A big thanks to everyone I’ve met out that way so far. You have been more than welcoming and it’s changing some of my biased opinions of hill folk, though I’m still on the lookout for the Clampett truck.

Valentine’s Day is quickly approaching, which means I have to think of something to do for my significant other. Excuse me, I have to think of something outstanding to do on a very tight budget for my significant other. Why must saying “I love you” be so expensive (and the jewelry commercials on TV aren’t helping any). Maybe I’ll be spending the weekend making paper mache flowers and a macaroni necklace (and perhaps I’ll get a really cool pair of toilet paper tube binoculars). Stupid Valentine’s Day.

So Apple is unveiling its new iPad 3 soon. And just in time, as I’m sure so many people are sick of the iPad 2 they got for Christmas. Money spent on technology seems useless if whatever I buy is outdated in less than a year. I want something I’m going to get a return of investment on, not something I need to replace before taking it out of the box. Oh, how grand to read an entire iPad 3 user manual only to find an advertisement for the latest Apple product on the back cover: “iPad 4 now available.” It might be a better idea to buy another week’s groceries instead.

I saw an interesting news report earlier today about Facebook and it’s addicting appeal. Apparently, new studies show that Facebook is as addicting, if not more addicting than tobacco and alcohol. Researchers are pointing to the fact that unlike tobacco and booze, Facebook is free, available almost anyplace at anytime and doesn’t come with the same governmental restrictions and social taboos as other addictive substances.

This brings interesting new questions to the table. What’s the cut-off for Facebookers and how much status updating is too much? What constitutes as Facebook withdrawal? Should there be a Facebook support group (I would say Facebook anonymous if it weren’t an oxymoron it itself)? And my favorite, is this a real problem?

The funny thing about Facebook addiction is that it’s only my generation, generation Y, that’s ever going to make claim to such a dumb addiction. Generation X – now there’s a generation that had real addictions: Sex, drugs and rock and roll – status updates were written in graffiti. Their parents never had to listen to lectures on the seriousness of cyberbullying, though if they did, I’m sure they would have had a blunt solution. “What? Cyber wha… Shut the computer off and go mow the lawn … go chop some firewood!”

As far as whether or not there really is such a thing as a Facebook addict (like big-foot, you don’t really believe in it but don’t want to say it doesn’t exist either), the idea of Facebook addiction easily meets 3 of the 4 symptoms of substance abuse criteria outlined in the DSM IV. Scary, huh? Even our Guru News Crew friends at CNN felt it was worth the time to highlight the seriousness of Facebook addiction in past stories and of course, they have a list of symptoms to convince people that they’re addicted; I’m still waiting for the prescription drug that cures the ailment (and if there really is a market for that, please let me know; I’ll happily invest or be the spokesman).

So, off my Facebook-I-got-a-problem-but-it’s-not-a-real-problem rant, today is the 77th anniversary of the board game Monopoly – a game that maintains a nail-biting excitement matched only by other rousing capitalist board games like The Landlord’s Game and Inflation. In celebration of the milestone, I’m going to start brainstorming ways to actually make the game fun.

I guess it wouldn’t be an appropriate blog without mentioning the Patriots / Giants game on Super Bowl Sunday. Since I’m not a big football fan myself, that’s enough said for me.

Anyone without day-long Super Bowl plans should consider checking out the Northeast Classic Car Museum this Sunday when they have a two-for-one special. They have some amazing things in that building and as a heads up, it’s much, much bigger than it looks on the outside. It’s a fun attraction and a good chance to get out of the house.

After taking a tour of Unison Industries yesterday, I’m still trying to wrap my head around some of the things they do. I watched employees assemble components no bigger than my finger nail but still a crucial piece of a larger temperature sensor that’s essential to keeping a plane in the air… that’s something to consider next time a see a plane flying overhead.

Temperatures are supposed to be back into the mid 30s this weekend, bidding this week’s 50 degree days a fond memory and we all have the groundhog to blame for it (but thank you weather, for once again being the topic of choice when I have nothing good in mind to write about). And speaking Groundhog Day, I didn’t get a chance yesterday to watch the Bill Murray movie and I’ll have to watch it tonight. You know the one I’m talking about – I just don’t know if I’m going to watch Ghostbusters one or two…

Every now and then, I like to skim the 30 seconds page on the Evening Sun website to find a good blogging topic. To my dismay, not many people have commented on the President’s proposal to make it a federal law that students stay in school until the age of 18 or until they graduate. People resort to 30 seconds to vent about everything from politics to the weather to the pedestrian in the crosswalk that didn’t give the courtesy wave after a car stopped to let them by. I was sure that this new step toward education reform would draw more attention.

Which brings me to my rant. I was a little disappointed when I heard the President’s proposal. And for those who think it’s a plus that at least he recognizes education as an issue, of course he does; he’s a politician. Every politician is pro education (I hear it’s good for their careers to not want dumb kids). Realistically, such a law isn’t doing any favors for students or for education in general. It’s great to suggest, encourage, inspire, motivate students to stay in school, but forcing them to attend isn’t going to have a positive impact for a number of reasons and I hope that’s something legislators will see.

Instead, wouldn’t it be great for educators to embellish learning according to students’ interests to hamper the drop-out rate? Good teachers already make this a priority but federal and state mandates – along with budget cuts and increasing class sizes – are making it increasingly difficult to follow through. If government wants to keep dabbling with new mandates in education, why not give educators a little more free reign instead of backing them into a corner so they have to (as I’ve heard so many teachers say) teach to the test? Rather than making it illegal for students to drop out of school, maybe more attention should be directed toward restoring some of the resources and flexibility for doing what most teachers want to do: Educate and inspire.

That being said, how about the weather? It’s a gorgeous day and I’m sure it’s putting all the 2012 apocalypse and Mayan-calendar-end-of-days believers in a spin. Hang in there for another 11 months.

Wow, am I glad it’s Friday. I have nothing to really complain about from the last week but each day seemed defy the laws of time and space, lasting much longer than the day before.

Speaking of things lasting much longer than they should, another republican primary aired last night. In case you’re wondering, I believe that was debate number 25. There have been seven debates in January alone. That’s right, there have been more debates in the last few weeks than there have been new episodes of “How I Met Your Mother.” Then again, maybe we needed to see another debate last night; after all, it had been a whopping four days since the last one.

As part of my own agenda, my graduate courses begin again next week, just when I worried that I was getting too much free time after my Progress Chenango adventure.

Progress Chenango, by the way, was well worth the work put into it – not just for readers, but for me too. It was a great experience and an eye opener to see that while local businesses have their share of successes from the past year, state funding continues to hinder local non profits. All in all, to me anyway, it hardly seems fair that some larger corporations like Norwich Pharmaceuticals can plan to invest more money into the company than it has in the last ten years while places like the Norwich City School District and Opportunities for Chenango are forced to tweak their budget and brace for another year of hard fiscal cuts in the state’s budget.

But that’s not to say that this year’s growth in the private sector hasn’t been great news for the county. After all, the expansion of local industries brings the need for more employees and the need for new employees leads to a healthier local economy. Frontier Communications, in particular, has had a tremendous year and their growth led to hiring more than 130 people in the area and that really is good news so all is not doom an gloom in the area. Chenango County really is making its mark.

I really appreciate the opportunity to talk to everyone during my first experience with Progress. Yeah, it meant extra time spent staring at my computer screen at night and less time doing something… you know… fun, but it was well worth it. Check out the last two sections of Progress in today’s paper.

After a day of feeling a little under the weather, I’m ready to get some 40 degree fresh air. Days like this just make me wish a little bit harder for spring.

It was a good weekend for me, filled with no plans and no particular place to be – a nice change of pace for a weekend. The wife and I went to a move and $30 later (admit two for the movie, one small soda and one small popcorn), I can say that I if we start saving now, we’ll be able to do it again by the year 2015… as long as we don’t really need groceries that week too. When did the movies get so expensive? (Side note: We saw “Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close.” I thought it was OK but I set the bar pretty high and it didn’t quite live up to my expectations).

Speaking of high expectations (nice segue, right?), the first two sections of Progress Chenango came out in today’s paper. The next two will be in tomorrow’s paper, sections five and six in Wednesday’s and… well you see where this is going. Anyhow, if you’re curious to see what some of the county’s biggest for profit and non profit organizations are up to, it’s worth checking out ( and it’s some of the finest writing out there, if I do say so myself).

It’s Superbowl season and as one who isn’t really a football fan, I just thought it was worth mentioning since Superbowl Sunday is an unofficial holiday in this country. I don’t care about the game (or the commercials) but I think I’ll order a pizza that night anyway – just so I don’t feel left out. GO GIANTS… or Patriots… Whatever, I don’t care.

Like most readers, I was a little surprised to see that the city voted down a proposed zoning change earlier this week. And, like most readers, it didn’t really affect me one way or the other because I didn’t really have a dog in that fight. However, unlike most readers, I commend the council on their decision not to follow through with the zoning change.

I guess I just put myself in the shoes of those opposing the change. If I bought a house in a residential neighborhood, I wouldn’t expect the city to pull the rug out from underneath my feet because my neighbor wanted to open a garage/disco/barbacue joint/laundromat/hair care center/air port next to me. (In this case, it’s not so much the proposed auto repair business that bothered me as it was the potentially adverse effects of changing mandated zones to allow one business to do what it wants).

I admit that some arguments made opposing the change were… well… they were pretty weak (after all, neighborly disputes have nothing to do with the issue that was at hand and a zone change wouldn’t make a neighbor vanish into thin air). But I also saw a lot of merit to some of the arguments that hit more close to home.

Strongest argument in my book? Several people own houses within that zone and a zoning change gives potential for other businesses to more easily take advantage of that area. That’s good for the local economy, right. But then again, so isn’t filling vacant storefronts along main street. The only difference is that a focus on those storefronts doesn’t impact local residents the way this zoning change would have. Altering city zones to accommodate one business only opens the flood gates for more to happen (which is bad news for the people that live on that entire block). What I learned from a popular children’s book, “if you give a mouse a cookie, he’s going to ask for a glass of milk.”

Hey, let’s talk about the morals in all this. (I know you’re thinking “what do teeth have to do with it?”). Should the law be changed upon the request of one individual? Here’s a kick in the head… If my apartment building doesn’t allow cats because my neighbors are all allergic but as a cat lover, I ask that my lease be changed so that only my apartment allows my cuddly, lovable feline companions. Should it be allowed? Feel free to draw your own conclusions.

On top of all this, I really don’t think that the proposed location would have been the best spot for a garage to begin with. But we need jobs, you say? How many jobs could be provided by a garage that can’t take in more than two cars at a time? But we need businesses you say? OK, the zoning change would have allowed for one more business – at least temporarily. In such a tight, somewhat hidden location, how long would it have really lasted? Yeah, the city should be “business friendly” but allowing any business to go anyplace isn’t being business friendly more than it is being reckless. Anyone familiar with the game of chess knows a game can’t be won by randomly moving pieces. There’s a certain strategy involved. If someone wants to open a repair garage, I’m all on board (after all, I don’t trust my Pontiac any further than I can throw it) but even from a business stand point, there are much, much better places to do it.