Baby's First Blog

WOW!
Here I am, hitting the big time...

I've been posting on MySpace for a while, with limited success. OK, I admit, I think 3 people have read my heart wrenching tales of living in Tampa. Let's see if I can bump that number up to 4, shall we?

Stupidity? Or is Someone else to blame?

This is something that I don't recall seeing nearly as much living most of my life in Chicago. I find this odd, as you will soon see...

In the past 60 days there have been 3 fatal accidents in the Tampa area involving moving trains and people driving AROUND the gates to try and save a few minutes. Now, Chicago still has probably more active train lines than any other metropolitan area (just a hunch... hell, it used to take me an hour to run down the block for beer)... Tampa has like 1 I think... All of these accidents occurred in a town about 30 minutes east of Tampa, and in 2 of the cases people went around the gates as the train approached and were basically wiped out.

Now, this is where it gets crazy as the newspaper headlines all talk about the tragedy. I agree it's tragic when lives are lost for no reason, or at least in such a way that could have been avoided. In one of the accidents, the driver went around not only the gates, but also another vehicle that was stopped at the tracks! Where is the common sense? Fortunately, the residents of Tampa were not convinced that CSX or Amtrak were to blame... here's a quote from a reader in the Tampa Tribune today:

Never attribute to ignorance that which is adequately explained by stupidity.

I'm sure they found that in a quote book somewhere, but it sums up my feelings. For a week straight, the media was running in circles talking about how fast these trains were going! Oh My, they should slow down!!! As if it matters whether the train is going 65 or 45 miles per hour, as is pointed out by another reader.

I think we are at a stage in society where we no longer fear the predators of milennia past... I find it refreshing to know that SOME people still have some common sense to see around the issue as the media is presenting it and get to the bottom of what REALLY is the issue.

Let's Talk Some Baseball

With NFL Pre-season right around the corner, this is normally about the time of year I stash the Cubbie Blue in the back of the closet and get ready for another season of Chicago Bear dominance. Of course, the Cubs are hanging around their division race still, just BEGGING me to keep watching.

Not gonna do it!

Thank you Dana Carvey for those words of wisdom... The last time the Cubs hung around this late in the season, I got roped into watching as they imploded thanks to a little assistance from Mr. Steve Bartman (you'll rue the day, Bartman!!!) and a LOT of assistance from their pitching staff. I'm now prepared t totally tune them out once the 2-a-days begin and just wait for Sportscenter to tell me what happens in October. As a long suffering Cubs fan, I can almost hear the tendons popping in Kerry Wood's shoulder. I really can't go through all that again.

And ya know, the way I see it, there will be a whole lot of energy to expend for the Bears this season to get back to the Super Bowl I really can't start the NFL season off on a sour not because I am wrapped up in the Cubs.

Just walk away, Heitz... Stay... away...

Back to work, folks... more to come...

Peace...