Entries from May 2007 ↓

Abandoned house on my street

1906 Bequette Street

Just two houses down at 1906 Bequette Street is this house, evidently abandoned to the elements. The yard has been mowed once this year, a couple of months ago.

1906 Bequette Street I called Neighborhood Code today to send in a report. In general, I consider myself pretty lenient on keeping a yard in tiptop shape, but this was becoming a real concern in the neighborhood, and it looked as though it would only get worse.

The woman with the city said Neighborhood Code has been getting 300 calls a day for out-of-control weeds. But the city can place only about 100 signs a day. So, they’re about three weeks behind.

In any case, if we could figure out who actual owns the property now, I’m sure my boys would mow that yard for a reasonable fee.

Beautification on Broadway continues!

On Broadway

The city of Fort Wayne prepares for the arrival of the Greiders by paving the 1000 block of Broadway! (So far, they’ve just scraped the street in preparation for the asphalt.)

Kelty’s lawyer says Kelty did nothing wrong

I thought the news conference would be interesting. I was wrong.

Lawyer: Kelty did nothing wrong

And here’s Ryan Lengerich’s video of the news conference:


Kelty speaks about campaign from FWNS on Vimeo.

P.S. I have nothing against Kelty; I just thought it’d be fun to embed video into this blog for a change.

Stay tuned at noon

Matt Kelty, Republican nominee for mayor here in Fort Wayne, will have a news conference Thursday at noon about his campaign finance report:

Last week Kelty submitted paperwork to the Allen County Election Board identifying his campaign manager and one of his campaign advisers as the source of funds Kelty has called personal loans to his campaign.Filing a fraudulent campaign finance report is a Class D felony. Candidates can be removed from the November ballot for four reasons: a felony conviction, moving outside the jurisdiction, death or resigning voluntarily before July 15.

No matter what you think of Kelty, it should be an interesting news conference.

P.S.: Still nothing about the controversy on his web site.

Relaxing nighttime reading

I finally looked for, and found, a link to the PCA Study Report on the Federal Vision. It was turned in just before the deadline for the upcoming General Assembly in mid-June, but not in time for it to actually be in the packet all the attendees were mailed.

The folks at Reformed News (gotta keep an eye on that site) say some pastors have signed a letter saying, whoa there, General Assembly. And they have some good points, especially about the committee being “stacked,” as it were:

Several members of the committee had already pronounced their condemnation of FV (Federal Vision) teaching, prior to being named to the committee. However, no FV men were appointed. Robert

Moss roses

Moss roses

These moss roses, also called Portulaca grandiflora, do well where it’s hot and dry. So these are in a pot on our front porch, which has a southern exposure.

You can see in this photo that the leaves are succulent — that is, the leaves retain water, like an aloe plant. They’re also stupid easy to grow and keep alive. Moss roses are one of my favorite kinds of flowers.

Bowing to a superior blogger

Instead of me trying to come up with something witty and/or wise, I’m just gonna direct you to Brant Hansen’s blog down in Florida. He hosts the morning show on 88.1 WAY-FM in South Florida, one of those Christian rock stations. He also plays accordion.

Read the top post about KFC.  And about little kids. And Melinda Doolittle. And etc.

It’s all here:

Letters from Kamp Krusty

Enjoy.

One-word movie review: ‘The Terminal’

Eh.

The squeaky wheel

Because of Scott’s cranky constructive comment

Just noticed the stationary tree background. Kind of reminds me of mySpace pages. Are you sure about it?!?!

… I have changed the background to take away the trees, to see if I like it better.

MySpace. Hmph.

Fan from far away

Here’s a comment someone left on this blog that really puts the “world” in World Wide Web:

Love the music

Google’s design tells a story

Here is a typical error message that I get on the CCI system we use at The News-Sentinel:

Dba2.exe has generated errors and will be closed by Windows. You will need to restart the program. An error log is being created.

And then you have only one option: Click the OK button. Thanks, CCI.

GoogleBut Google is different. The folks at Google know people will ask for things that will make no sense in the real world. But instead of creating cryptic and useless error messages, Google creates solutions.

You’re likely familiar with the search engine’s spell check. Do a search for “pancke” and Google gives you the results, but also helpfully responds, “Did you mean: pancake.” That’s great design, and it keeps me going back to Google for searching.

But even better is the Google sense of humor. Its April Fool’s Day jokes are legendary, but Google builds a light-hearted approach in other areas.

  1. Go to maps.google.com.
  2. Click Get Directions.
  3. Type Chicago in the first blank, and London in the second one.

Now, scroll down to number 19, or maybe 20. Those Google guys really know how to be silly. And that makes working with Google more fun.

You’re poor grammar

You're poor grammar

As seen on East State Boulevard.

Always reforming (my blog design)

Ah, that’s getting better.

I decided to mimic my original web site pages in the redesign of my blog.

I still don’t like the header just yet, but I’m diggin’ the rest of it. For my next trick: bringing my Flickr photos back to this front page. That’s fun. And then maybe I’ll bring in my last.fm radio selections.

Technology is fun!

Experimental stage

I’ll be experimenting with some other themes for a while until I  settle on one that I can manipuate to do what I want. The cleaner, the better! I want people to see the content, not the design

If you have any comments at all, leave them here.

Suddenly, I hate the look of my web site

When my wife asked me how to find my music on my web site, I knew I had stopped listening to my own advice.

Think of the reader!

This blog is way too chock full of stuff and garbage. So, beware of sudden design lurches in the days ahead as I experiment with vastly simpler templates and designs.

No place to park

allspacesreserved.JPG

So, pretend you’re a guest, arriving at the Brighton Meadows apartment complex here in Fort Wayne to pick up something for your wife.

Where do you park? Read that sign carefully:

  • All spaces are reserved.
  • No curb parking.
  • Violators towed.

Which means what? Park on the grass?

I ended up parking in a space that was certainly meant for another resident, but i didn’t know what else to do.

Sure, apartment managers need to make sure residents have places to park. But it’s even more important that guests know where to park. Your residents will learn the rules and remember them, but guests will have no idea how to not offend the residents without well-placed parking signs.

Lunch is on me

Lunch is on me

Just a normal lunchtime at the Swerens household. (Micah put the cabbage on Hannah’s head.)

10 newspaper myths deconstructed

Somehow, I stumbled across this quick-hit post about what newspapers must do to survive and thrive in the 21st century.

Here’s an example of where these guys are coming from:

Myth 8: The web is just a trend. No need to panic.

Fact 8: Change or die

Yeah, and the telegraph will come back and ends the silly email trend.