Thursday, November 27, 2008

Episode LV: The Great Kansan Fall

Autumn is one thing that I have really come to appreciate out here in the Midwest. Today’s Epic Ballade is dedicated to the Great Kansan Fall, in words and photographs:


Ahh, there is nothing like a home football game on a sunny fall day. The picture below was taken from my buddy’s apartment complex. You should take note of three white vehicles, each employed by a towing agency. They are at his complex to tow away non-residents who are parked there to go to the football game, and who do not have a permit. If you look closely you can see that my vehicle is also parked in this lot. Fortunately for me, my friend had already procured a parking pass for me, specifically for times like this.


The campus of the University of Kansas is known for being a remarkably beautiful campus, and this is particularly the case during autumn. It sits atop a hill, where one can see for miles off into the distance, and it is full of small hills and valleys covered with deciduous trees. I took the opening photograph, as well as the one shown below, on campus.


Of course, at some point, the leaves are all gone and all that is left are bare branches. Below is a photograph which I thought was creative, of just such a tree (as seen from a restaurant).


But just because the leaves are off the tree, doesn’t mean they’re useless! In this picture, I had just climbed up the tree to the left, and jumped off into a huge pile of leaves. Which, in many senses, was the encapsulation of a Great Fall.

Sunday, November 09, 2008

Episode LIV: Politics and the Economy

First off, for those of you who have contacted me about the family tree, I plan to get those invitations out ASAP after I add a couple of photos. For now, a post about politics and the economy (a la Epic Ballade).


Politics


As you may know, the United States just had a national election. In case you care, here are some of the things that happened on the local and state levels here in Douglas county, Kansas:


We re-elected an incumbent Republican senator (Pat Roberts), elected a Republican congresswoman (Lynn Jenkins) over the Democratic incumbent (Nancy Boyda), and elected a Democratic state senator (Tom Holland) over the Republican incumbent (in this race the Libertarian candidate [for whom I cast my vote] managed a respectable 5.4% of the votes!)



We also approved THREE SEPARATE local sales-tax increases. One for roads and infrastructure, and two to rescue our local bus system, which is unpopular, inconvenient, hemorrhaging money, operating at a huge loss, and is only afloat now because of large amounts of taxpayer money.


Also, contrary to what you might have guessed, the turnout in our fair county during this election was actually lower than it was four years ago.


The Economy


I am happy to report that the economy is doing just swimingly as far as I can tell. My evidence is this: the cheapest tank of gas I have filled in ages!