You get there by.....

I've noticed a consistent way of giving directions here in the South. It's not so easy to follow if you haven't been born and never left. Directions commonly sound something like this. "Oh, it's easy, you take a left where Hawkin's grocery used to be and then a left where the old Chevrolet dealership used to be and it is right behind what used to be Picken's butcher shop." Now how would I know any of this? It's always amusing and I guess that I already know where some businesses used to be.....although I never have had any experience with them.

Looking at the horizon

I've been thinking about the impression that Alabama has around the country....it's not usually a positive one. I think about that impression rather often.

I want to say that like several other states that are normally denigrated (usually due to social conditions), most notably West Virginia, Alabama is incredibly beautiful. I've only seen a small portion of the state and not through every season, but there are so many things that are pleasing to the eye. Alabama has a wide variety of environments including mountains, beaches, plateaus, and many valley and ridge settings. I'm happy to be back to somewhere that has a fall. The change in colors is something, that if you grow up with it, it always means something special.

That got the scenery, now here are some thoughts on the inner workings.....Alabama (and possibly other parts of the South) really are lagging behind much of the rest of the country. In some ways it feels that things that have come and gone as what was "in" are just rounding the corner and finding a home in Alabama. It has become very clear that the North did what it set out to do with the vast destruction of the South at the end of the Civil War. Many towns and cities were sacked and agriculture and industry was stunted. There is a saying-The South shall rise again.....Well, the North kept that from happening because they knew that they didn't want to fight another Civil War and they may not have had the resources to win it. The South hasn't risen again and I don't know if the feeling of the South being behind can go all the way back to the Civil War. I think a lot of it is social attitudes. Things are done a certain way....that hasn't changed as much in the South as other parts of the country and I see it in, among many other things, politics, customer service, and trying out something new. These are gross over generalizations but it has happened enough that I clearly notice it. One aspect of daily life that I think about a lot has only begun taking hold here and that is the idea of eating a more healthy diet. It seems to me that the Southern diet has two food groups, meat and fried items. The Southern states have done very well in the competition to see who can stay in the top 5 or 10 most obese states. Alabama is definitely coming around as fresh vegetables and organic foods are very much on the rise. Many more restaurants are offering a wider array of items. I'm certainly not saying I want to rid the area of Southern food (the ribs here are spectacular) but it's also great to be able to be able to choose different types of restaurants, not just choose between 5 BBQ places.

This isn't only about food (maybe I'll elaborate on some other things later) but sometimes change tastes so good.

TakeZone

I'm glad this is getting some national press. Real estate in Tuscaloosa is already kind of weird and there is a condo craze going on right now, but when I first heard about Tuscaloosa County getting hardship funding from Hurricane Katrina I was pretty shocked. There was not comparable damage this far north and the word is that the reason Tuscaloosa got funding was because one of Alabama's senators (Richard Shelby) is a University of Alabama alumnus and it was a chance to get some money for one of his pet projects. I know that this money could have been better used by many people who are still without housing, money, or are still waiting for insurance claims to go through down on the coasts of Alabama, Mississippi, and certainly Louisiana. The guilt of taking this money would be too much for me.....

A positive to being an Orioles fan.

I listened to Cal Ripken give his "send off" speech at Camden Yards the other night before he headed off to Cooperstown to be inducted into the baseball Hall of Fame. I started to feel that twinge (in a good way) that comes when thinking about something rather meaningful from my childhood. Cal was the O's when I was growing up. His name was in every box score from the time that I started following baseball. Funny thing though, I kind of thought he was a bit boring when I was younger but now there isn't really a better person for kids to idolize....especially considering the current news coming out of sports today (dog fighting and violent crime in the NFL, steroids in baseball, doping ruining the Tour de France, etc). Cal Ripken was not just an amazing ballplayer but also someone who cares about community and education of children. Those are some very impressive qualities. I no longer think Cal Ripken is boring, in fact, he's a model citizen and a great representative for Baltimore, the O's, and Maryland.

So for this time anyway, it doesn't get any better than being an O's fan.....however, you may want to wait a bit before checking that current box score.

out the door with cup in hand

It's been awhile since I've written about something that was the impetus for starting this blog-my adjustment and education of the South, more specifically, Alabama.....so here is a tidbit.

It is common practice when at a restaurant, to take the cup along home with you. For this reason, many restaurants use Styrofoam cups. I've heard several utterances of "Can I get a to-go cup". In this case the restaurant is using plastic or glass cups and people ask for a paper/Styrofoam cup to be on their way.

The other funny thing about cups at restaurants is that some of them are so large (think 64oz) that make more than a few adults consider using two hands to lift them to their mouths. I guess this is done so they don't have to worry about refills but some servers have come by and asked if I need a refill. Are you kidding me, if anything I may need an empty cup so that I don't pee myself.

I'll try to keep with the idiosyncrasies of the South......till then, could I get a to-go cup?

Boy Colors

A few days ago I was stuck in a training course and I was speaking with the girl next to me and she was trying to describe the instructor who we had seen earlier at a different location. She said "you remember she was the one wearing the "Coral" dress. "Coral?....what the hell is that?" I responded. She said "Oh, I'm sorry, I forgot to speak in boy colors. She was wearing the orange dress." Of course, this entire exchange could have been avoided by using "orange" to describe the dress. I mean....coral??? Who describes things in those terms, besides Gap, Banana Republic, and the Home Depot paint department?

It is a confusing world in which we live.

Something in the Air??

A truck just drove by the house, making a loud noise, so I looked out the window. It was a pickup truck with a device on the back that was spewing out some kind of mist. The conspiracy theorist in me immediately came up with several possibilities.....1. it is a sedative based spray to keep the population from getting too out of hand, it has been getting hot here and I think statistics show (or at least movies say) that more crimes are committed when people are strained by heat. 2. There has been a toxic spill in the area and they are just spraying an anecdote that will heal all of us and then "they" don't have to say anything to the public. 3. it is a slow killer because "they" know that social security is going to run out.

Actually, it was suggested that it might be a mosquito spray. I guess it could be something helpful, but even if it is for the mosquitoes I don't really trust a random truck driving around spraying crap into the air in front of the house.

Creationism museum opening in Kentucky

This week the Creation Museum opened in Kentucky, you can read about it here. As a geoscientist this news may have affected me more than others, and I believe this is an abhorrent event. Of course, I had heard about the museum before it opened, knew it was going to open, and knew that people would go. The worst thing about the museum is that it uses continuous faulty evidence in trying to explain it's case, and if the teachings at the museum are correct, my entire educational background would be completely wrong. Obviously, I wouldn't have studied for many years if I felt it was a waste of time and therefore think that this museum is an enormous step backwards for American society. There is room in society for religion & science to coexist and I don't believe, in this case, that science is trying to undermine Christianity.

The museum's premise is taken from a mostly Christian fundamentalist literal translation of the Bible (specifically the book of Genesis) where God created the world in seven days and humans were created in their current form at that time and that the Earth is less than 10,000 years old. There are several variations of this and all are grouped under some form of creationism. The museum's main objective is to undermine the theory of evolution. Creationism's central tenet is that all living things were created at the same time and in their current form and the classic example is that humans were living at the same time as the dinosaurs. Apparently one of the exhibits even shows that during that time the dinosaurs were vegetarians and therefore did not eat humans.....A truly amazing (and ridiculous) idea!

Creationists have a response for every example I could give but they are ignoring many scientific aspects of how rocks have been and are being deposited. If you wanted you could go sit on a riverbank (of a river that has not been dammed by humans) and see how sand, and gravel, and dead organisms are deposited. It takes a long time....and even if you brought a cooler full of food you'd die there waiting for things to significantly change because it happens so slowly and in spurts (of course, if you were there for a flood you may see a large change, but then you might become a deposit as well). Using observation of the deposition of modern materials (sand, gravel, dirt, etc.) and several radiometric dating techniques geoscientists have determined the earth to be several billion years old and it is rather obvious that not all living organisms were living together at the same time, because of an intensely studied fossil record. Fossils from all over the world show that different organisms lived at different times. It's not a conspiracy.

I don't subscribe to a literal translation of the Bible and I do believe in the theory of evolution. And please, don't say "It's just a theory"......so is the "theory" of gravity....and I don't think too many people question gravity. The "evidence" used in the Creation Museum does not adhere to the scientific method. Science is always revising its results as new evidence is discovered and creationism is always revising any of this newly discovered evidence to fit one result. I encourage you to think about these things, ask questions, and don't just believe what anyone tells you.....creationist, scientist, or worse a creationist who calls them self a scientist.

Did we really win?

Something happened yesterday that probably didn't get much press outside of Alabama and Louisiana but it is quite a big deal here. The German steel company ThyssenKrupp AG "picked" Mobile, Alabama as the site for it's new steel plant. The two finalists were Mobile, AL and a site in Louisiana. You can read a little more here. The financial packages offered by the two states were astronomical. It was all about getting the jobs to come rather than collecting the taxes. It could be an honorable idea to get more jobs in Alabama but I feel the offsetting consequences are going to do more harm than good. You'll have to indulge me in a little naivete and "save the world" ideals for this blog entry.

I gues I take issue with the entire concept. Essentially most manufacturing is moving out of the northeast and Midwest because it's becoming too expensive (to have the desired profits). Detroit has been in a free fall for several years. So, if the manufacturing jobs are staying within the U.S. (which many are not) the Southeast seems to be the "in" area. This is mostly because its cheaper here and (what really bothers me) is that the environmental regulations here are either nonexistent or very minimal. There are already several Superfund sites in Alabama. It is not that I'm against jobs and on top of that, America is hemorrhaging manufacturing jobs that will most likely affect our position in the world in the future. However, this situation has played out so many times in the past. Large company comes into area, pollutes land & water, many people living around area experience much higher than normal rates of cancer, plant & animal populations suffer, company closes up and leaves without having to remediate the site, taxpayers pay to clean up site. I can't really see how this one is going to be any different. Crazy idea....how about holding those companies accountable?.....o wait, that will affect their profits.....we can't have that now, can we? However, those companies will pay lawyers millions of dollars to stave off any lawsuits brought against them by the families who are experiencing all types of odd sicknesses and that they should not be held accountable for gross environmental affects. They will pay the lawyers to prove that it wasn't the company who caused the sicknesses or the environmental hazards. Yeah right.

The other thing that I feel is unfortunate is that this will not increase the need for a higher level education in Alabama. It would be great if Alabama could get some high-tech companies to come into the state who may provide the jobs but not the pollution, but that doesn't seem to be what will happen. It is a chicken or the egg syndrome. You need a lot of educated people to have a company come, but you need to have the jobs to provide a basis for the education.

There are many things to think about in this situation but to me it comes back to: Is it safe to drink the water or plant vegetables in the ground? How many people are going to have to get treatment for cancer and other diseases? Is it worth the "cost"?

House Buying

Becoming a homeowner was a recent and new experience....I'm sure many people have similar stories out there and I really can't add anything to the process but here are a few of my tidbits.

I don't know if it's normal for people to leave things in the house when they sell it, or at least not mentioning that they are going to leave "stuff", but that happened. At first, I felt like I had just gotten a bunch of new goodies. Then, reality set in and I realized that there was probably a reason that most of this stuff had not been thrown onto the moving truck with everything else. Oh well.

It is a slight insight into the life or personality of that person though.....these people were not friends of the penny. In fact, I think they hated the penny....poor little fella, here it is, the only coin of a different color, being mistreated because of its low standing in society....just thrown about with no regard. Maybe this could be a study of society, using coins as a pretext for social classes. That's another day. So I picked up pennies all over the place. My grandmother always said "Save your pennies, and the dollars will take care of themselves."....I think that was how it went.

The other thing is trying to figure out all the little things about the house. I think I know where at least sixty percent of the light switches are at the moment. It's the worst time to not know where the lights are located....there are boxes and the like stacked everywhere so it's not uncommon to be either checking to see if that toe still works that got caught on a corner or picking up the stack of things that I smacked over while looking for a light switch.

It's all fun though and its still at the point where I can say (in all seriousness) "It wouldn't be that big of a deal to take out that wall"....I'm sure that the naivete will wear off quickly.

A lot of news this week....

Some of it was the norm, other stories were interesting, but the one that I've thought about most is the passing of author Kurt Vonnegut. He was quite an influential soul and remained an active voice until his death. You can see that the story of his life provided ample material for his work. His books inspired many, including me, and I find it necessary to mark his death with a tribute. If you've never had a chance to hear him give an interview or to speak I encourage you do a quick search on the web (NPR has several clips and interviews available-there are a few here). And, of course, if you've never read a book by him, I encourage you to do that as well. He is most well-known for Slaughterhouse Five, but he has written many other incredible books and stories.

Here's to you, Mr. Vonnegut, for fighting the good fight.

Death and Taxes?

Maybe we've always been misreading that quote....

I'm beginning to think that it meant that if you kept doing your own taxes it will cause death by slowly confusing the blood flowing through one's veins causing it to flow only to one big toe and the left buttock. All of a sudden the brain is getting nothing...that is what I think is happening. Of course, its another case of our society setting up go-betweens and the government being all for it because its gets a crapload of accountants rich. It has to be a full-time job to actually know and keep up with the tax code. The government and their gaggle of tax cronies should be utterly ashamed...and I know that many will only laugh at me. However, in my mind, anyone in America, no matter what level of education, should be able to sit down and figure out their taxes. Don't get me wrong, I don't mind paying taxes, I just think it's ridiculous how difficult it is to figure out what amount I'm supposed to put on line 48 after filling out forms 6790, 8320, 2558, and multiplying the several of those by .26. Ah, the smell of bureaucracy stoking the fire with money while its trying to make money.

Excuse me while I go massage my big toe and left buttock in hopes of squeezing some of that blood back up into my brain.

Why aren't the primaries secondary?

I'm already tired of the exhaustive coverage on the race to the presidential primary elections in 2008. I grasp the significance of the fact that the country has not had a situation like this since the 20's but I can't help but feel like a used entity for the media circus that has begun and will, most certainly, get worse. I think it is a great opportunity for the country to move into a new direction and begin to repair America's reputation but I just don't care to have the back and forth negative banter this early in the election cycle. Then, to think of all the money that will be spent on ads, dinners, events, and hookers, it just makes me sick. Also, all of the resources wasted on little pieces of crap with logos and slogans makes me wish some grand perspective could be injected into the situation. No, instead, every outlet will be clamoring to find the new piece of dirt and the cycle will continue.

Too bad that money couldn't be used to educate the children of this country to see the importance of government rather than the mud-slinging they will have pushed in their face.


On a lighter note.....why is it when you go to a grocery store, pay with a credit card, press the button that says credit, do the cashiers ask you if it's debit or credit?.....I mean why did I push the button in the first place? In my mind I clearly stated, with my finger actively pressing the credit button, that the question would be unnecessary. I think the button should be removed from the keypad....of course, that is only my opinion.

Druid City

I've been wondering for a few weeks now, why there are so many businesses in Tuscaloosa that have the word Druid in their name?....then, as I was pondering this, other people were calling Tuscaloosa, Druid City. After trying to imagine what may be the source of such a cool nickname I remembered to look it up. Though slightly disappointing (to me, anyway. I guess I conjured some scene out in the woods of these cloaked beings congregating for some mystical reasons.....after reading that back to myself, it just sounds like I'm describing a bunch of KKK wackos getting together) the story behind the name is that in the late 1800's, the people in charge of Tuscaloosa planted oak trees along the downtown streets. Tuscaloosa became known as Oak City and/or Druid City because the Druids worshipped oaks. Now that I think about it, I guess it's a pretty good reason for a pretty cool name.
Many of those trees have gone by the wayside just as much of downtown Tuscaloosa. It's sad, really, Tuscaloosa went the way of so many cities where the downtown area was totally neglected. Today it is full of vacant, slightly vacant, and probably should be vacant buildings. Interestingly though, there is a complete revitalization effort that seems to be in its infant stages. I hope to see this turn out to be a project that completely transforms the area into a vibrant downtown. Not many people in Tuscaloosa have grasped the enjoyment of a multi-dimensional downtown (that's a post for another day), but there seem to be enough that have and are working towards some type of effective downtown. Several blocks have already been demolished and more are scheduled for demolition. Don't worry, none of the demolished buildings were architecturally stimulating....most were the bland 60's style. Hopefully, I'll be able to report many new wonderful places opening in the next few years. Sadly, all I can report now is that my favorite bakery closed. It was an incredible German bakery that was a highlight of moving into town...people were always coming in....I felt real sadness when I walked to the door and the sign said "All fixtures for sale".
That certainly turned into a rambling episode.

Cars, Vegetables, and Tips

You know, there are crazy drivers everywhere. However, it seems like there are always local aspects of what laws or recommendations are ignored. In Alabama it appears that most of the cars are not equipped with blinkers. It's amazing, but I'm pretty sure that most cars don't even have them. They're like the stock cars of NASCAR, where they paint headlights on the race cars but they don't actually have headlights. I'm convinced it's the same with blinkers here.

The other thing I've noticed is that people here seem to hate vegetables....what do I mean by this? Well, in most restaurants it seems like no one has met a vegetable that can't be boiled to death. It must be a mission to boil all taste out of these wretched greens. Maybe they're just all British descendants.

While I'm bitching about things.....customer service in America has gone done the drain. I know this may not be a surprise to most of you but I feel like I've experienced a new low. I expect credit cards, banks, and telephone companies to tell me that they can't help me, it's my problem and to just put a sock in my own mouth and deal with it. However, it seems to me that in Alabama small businesses and restaurants haven't gotten the manual on how to impress their customers....maybe I'm just being absurd but why is every request met with a reaction like I had asked "Excuse me, could you run over to the next town, milk a cow, churn some butter and come back and spread it on my whole wheat muffin?"

It's not really that bad if I get to hike around through scenes like this:

Fruit Salad

Who puts marshmallows in fruit salad? That was the thought as I sat down for my first "meat and three" meal at a local joint. Of course, the fruit salad was also a mayo (or some white sauce) based item that I was left to conjure up a potential taste. It was tasty but I'm pretty sure that any nutritional value that I had hoped for was long gone as was any taste in the long overboiled peas that I got as one of my other "3" sides for my meat. I've had plenty of tasty meals here and I've already become rather partial to collard greens but the availability of vegetables cooked in a way to preserve their natural goodness is sorely lacking....on the flip side I'm sure I could more easily find these vegetables fried in one way or another. I may be embellishing a bit here but fried is certainly the weapon of choice on many meals.

Oh, and by the way, boiled peanuts....awesome.

202 14 35 17

That was the number that flashed across the screen as I exited a local establishment. "What are those numbers" I was thinking. Above the digital screen was a chalk board with some words including "Roll Tide". Now "Roll Tide" is the most common phrase uttered around this town....the Univ of Alabama are the Crimson Tide for those of you who may not have known and the saying is rally cry for the sports teams....and when I say sports teams, that is 95% football. So the numbers you may ask?....202 days 14 hours 35 minutes and 17 seconds....until the next game. This town is obsessed with the team and shuts down when the team plays a game. Someone asked me what was the most shocking thing about moving to the deep south and Tuscaloosa and I must say that the cult following of the football team is easily at the top. I know this goes on at many other schools, but I've never experienced it. It's slightly overwhelming when I got into a football conversation and should have known something about the assistant coaches. Who the f cares about assistant coaches? They're just these nameless guys with wires sticking out of them on the sidelines.

New favorite word

There is quite an array of accents here in town.....some are much stronger than others but for some reason I can get enough of people saying July. I don't even know why it's come up so much since it's not even close to July....but it's pronounced Joo-lie....the "Joo" rhyming with the sound a cow makes..."MOO".

Oh man, it's crazy.....but I'm certainly hoping that I can find some radio station or something in July....excuse me....JOOOO-lie, that tells the day, every day.

In fact, now that I think about it, I believe that a character (Charlie, the pugilist) was pronouncing it that way in the movie Young Guns.....maybe I can dig through the movies and play that scene a few times.

My history lesson

A few days ago I strolled around the campus of the University of Alabama. It is a very attractive campus with a great quad. I wandered and read a lot of the historical markers outside of buildings or areas including the president's mansion which in appearance is a stark contrast from the rest of the campus and is one of the few buildings that was not destroyed by Union troops in the Civil War. However, the one spot that was the most powerful was the entryway to Foster Auditorium. This was the site where in 1963 Governor George Wallace stood and gave a speech to stop desegregation of the school and was forced, by the Alabama National Guard troops (among others) to allow two African-American students to register for classes. For those too young to remember the actual event, you probably remember the scene in the movie Forest Gump depicting the event. Also, NPR did a program on the 4oth anniversary of the event and you can see that there was a lot of behind the scenes action.

The building is currently in a deteriorating state and is slated to be restored but is not at the top of the University's list. Eventually this important piece of American history will be given a proper face lift. All in all, it was incredible to stand on the spot and think about what a turning point it was for the country.

Oh, the Joy of Public Radio

Last night I went to an evening celebrating the 25th anniversary of Alabama Public Radio. For those NPR listeners out there you'll think this was a treat. For those of you who have yet to embrace the world of public radio I certainly recommend it to you....you can find your local affiliate here. It was an evening where the interviewers became the interviewees....Robert Siegel and Debbie Elliot from the program "All Things Considered" spoke about their experiences and memories of how NPR has changed and changed their lives. I must say that as Robert Siegel talked about interviewing countless politicians who never gave a straight answer, he couldn't have been more clear with his answers. It was really impressive to hear them speak and to have them come to Tuscaloosa. Apparently Debbie Elliot got her start at the University of Alabama so it was sort of a homecoming for her.
The only downside was that I thought there was an outside shot for some cake. I was wrong.

As an aside I couldn't stop thinking about this poor little fella.

Science for everyone

I've just finished reading Bill Bryson's book A Short History of Nearly Everything and I just wanted to recommend the book to everyone. It might take awhile to read the entire book, but his way of explaining some basic, but not always easy to understand, scientific aspects of life on earth and life as a human being are incredibly helpful. I think everyone would get something out of this book and I especially recommend it if you are a teacher of science, from 1st grade through college. There are many useful tidbits on possibly helping someone see the science from a different direction than a textbook. I know that you all might not be interested in all aspects of science but the planet Earth is an amazing place and it's well worth learning about its history.

On a separate note, I stumbled onto a site which made me laugh. www.readytofix.com is a site where you could log in (I didn't) and try to find a high end vehicle that has been damaged in some way. You can view a sample of their vehicles, but what really got me was the common usage of the phrase "readily repairable damage", obviously my definition of readily repairable is quite different than this site. My favorite was this 54 Corvette.

SUNDAY SUNDAY SUNDAY!!

Well, I just returned from watching the Colts-Patriots game at a local sports bar. Remind me to reconsider that activity the next time it pops into my mind. On the way to the sports bar (which serves a full complement of food, mind you) I was reminded that it was Sunday. For those of you who didn't make the immediate connection....there is no sale of alcohol in the state of Alabama at any point on Sunday at any locality. Instead of a refreshing beer I had endless refills of Coca-cola.....so now I'm all amped up on caffeine and probably will have sugar crystals dancing in my head through the night. Now, I've lived in a few states that have archaic liquor laws but it's been awhile...apparently too long since it took an extended period of time (2.5 glasses of Coke) to get over my dashed hopes of a cold beer (or two) while watching the game.

At least I don't live in a dry county.

Well I just found out that there are some extra holidays here in the state of Alabama. Try these on for size.

Confederate Memorial Day-April 24th
Jefferson Davis Birthday-June 5th

These are official state holidays....I'll let you know if there is any observance or celebration of these when they roll around.

Also, Martin Luther King Jr. Day is a dual holiday here and is formally recognized as "Martin Luther King Jr./Robert E. Lee's Birthday". I don't know how well that is accepted here but I didn't hear or read anything about Robert E. Lee on the holiday. However, it seems insulting to include Lee , a representative of African American repression (at least, to many who do not not reside in the south) on the same holiday for Martin Luther King Jr. who strove to eradicate that exact issue.

I know that the Confederacy does not represent slavery as much here in the South as it does in other parts of the country but it is still foreign to me. I did read an interesting book called "Confederates in the Attic" which familiarized me somewhat with what the Civil War meant to people here. Still, there is a lot that I don't fully understand about the South and that has never been more obvious than right now.

Appropiate Exercises

Martin Luther King Jr. was and continues to be a hero for many people who needed to have their voice heard. His words still echo today.

In times of change, eyes are opened

....and I hope also, the mind. I'm trying to learn about Alabama and Tuscaloosa in anyway possible. The first major success was understanding the definition of "garbage comes two days a week and trash pickup is another day." I believe I've got it, albeit after much head-scratching.
And in case you were wondering....here's the lowdown on Tuscaloosa from good old wikipedia.