Bragging on Sen. Mary Lazich

Blowing the dust off this place to share a story with any of you that might actually still read my ramblings about a recent experience with the DMV, and the action taken by my state senator, Mary Lazich, to make things right.

Yesterday (Monday), I went to get my most recently purchased car titled in my name and to have the plates transferred so they would track back to the car. Not trusting the DMV any farther than I can throw them (after having to deal with the aftermath of their ineptitude many times in the past), I decided it would be best to take care of all this in person, in spite of the $5 counter service fee. When my number was called, I went up to the window to conduct my business and get the car titled and registered. Now, here's where things get interesting. I live in the city of Franklin, but because of the way the USPS handles things, the mail goes through Milwaukee, and so when my address is standardized by their computers, it comes up as Milwaukee. As a result, when I went to the DMV's website to put in my change of address after moving, I tried putting in Franklin just to see what would happen, and the site kicked it back out, and would only accept my address when I put in Milwaukee as the city. No big deal, except that the city of Milwaukee charges a $20 wheel tax, which I have no intention of paying, as I don't owe it. All of that to say, on my title application, I put in my city as Milwaukee, but filled in the line on the form specifying that the car is kept in the city of Franklin (and therefore not subject to the wheel tax). The clerk at the counter called this into question, which would have been fine had he not been so rude about it, even after I tried to explain to him that if he put my application into his computer and put in Franklin for the city, it would be kicked back out. He didn't care about that, insisted that it had to be one or the other, and put the city in as Milwaukee without entering in the information about the car being kept in the city of Franklin, and accused me of trying to avoid paying the wheel tax. He was right about that, but he thought I was trying to do something illegal. Needless to say, seeing as he ultimately works for me, I wasn't pleased about the treatment I received. When I got home, I emailed the DMV as well as Mary Lazich's office to tell them about my experience. Fast forward to today (Tuesday). I got a call from the state Department of Transportation. Sen. Lazich (or someone from her office) got in touch with the DOT, told them what happened, and the DOT called to let me know that they had entered into their system that my car is in fact kept in Franklin, and therefore not subject to the wheel tax, which they tell me will not be added to my renewal next year.

Long story short, I'm still not pleased with the way I was treated by the DMV (although the DOT tells me that my complaint was forwarded to the supervisor at the office I went to), but I'm very pleased that Sen. Lazich's office took action on my behalf to make things right. She has definitely won my vote for re-election.

I've Always Wanted to Be a Spy!

Your International Spy Name is Viper Sparks

Your Code Name: Timberwolf You Reside in: Rome Why You're a Good Spy: You're good with gadgets

What's Your International Spy Name?

Hat tip Rustmeister

Obamamania Has Officially Gone Overboard

As evidenced by the Chia Obama. That is, of course, to say nothing of the Barack Obama Action Figure.

H/T marko

Weird News Today

Not sure if this will become a regular feature here at According to Coop, but I ran across a couple of stories on Fox News that I simply had to share.

First, a charity for sexual abuse victims in Alaska had a raffle recently, and the winner (no joke) was a convicted sex offender. I believe that is the definition of "irony."

Second, a couple in Normal, IL, had a wedding that was anything but when they said "I do" at Taco Bell.

You just can't make this stuff up.

40 Inspirational Speeches in 2 Minutes

Hat tip to ysmarko for the video and the transcript, to which I only added the first bit. The video below is inspirational speeches from 40 different movies, all edited together into one two-minute speech. See how many you can recognize! Transcript is below.



Shame on you. This could be the greatest night of our lives, but you’re going to let it be the worst. And I guarantee a week won’t go by in your life you won’t regret walking out, letting them get the best of you. Well, I’m not going home. We’ve come too far! And I’m going to stay right here and fight for this lost cause. A day may come when the courage of men fails… but it is not THIS day. The line must be drawn HERE. This far, no further! I’m not saying it’s going to be easy. You’re going to work harder than you ever worked before. But that’s fine, we’ll just get tougher with it! If a person grits his teeth and shows real determination, failure is not an option. That’s how winning is done! Believe me when I say we can break this army here, and win just one for the Gipper. But I say to you what every warrior has known since the beginning of time: you’ve got to get mad. I mean plum mad dog mean. If you would be free men, then you must fight to fulfill that promise! Let us cut out their living guts one inch at a time, and they will know what we can do! Let no man forget how menacing we are. We are lions! You’re like a big bear, man! This is YOUR time! Seize the day, never surrender, victory or death… that’s the Chicago Way! Who’s with me? Clap! Clap! Don’t let Tink die! Clap! Alright! Let’s fly! And gentlemen in England now abed shall know my name is the Lord when I tell our enemies that they may take our lives, but they’ll never take our Independence Day!

My First Attempt at Spiced Cider

I bought cider and mulling spices at Woodman's, thinking it would be something I'd like to try.

Not bad, really. I tried to use my coffee pot (built into my microwave), but for some reason the reservoir is leaking horribly. So, I had to scratch that idea. With that idea out, I opted for simmering on the stove, simply putting the mulling spices right in. Not bad, until it came time to take them out so I could drink the cider. I had a skimmer, which helped, but I ended up simply ladling the cider out and pouring it through the skimmer into a mug, which made for quite a mess. Next time I try this, I think I'll invest in a french press first. It works for coffee, why not for cider? I'm also wondering if I should start with a different sort of cider, or maybe apple juice. Anybody else out there done this before? Any advice to offer?

A Red, White and Blue Christmas

The White House Website is featuring the ornaments sent in by all 50 states to adorn the 2008 White House Christmas Tree. The link above will take you to the list by state, where you can click through to view each state's contribution. I particularly like the eagle ornament sent in from Wisconsin's 8th district.

Hat tip Rightyblog.

A Unique Christmas Experience

Remember the classic movie A Christmas Story? Well, if you've got a few thousand dollars lying around not doing anything, you can spend Christmas Eve and Day in the house where the movie was shot. The package includes airfare to Cleveland, a Christmas Eve Chinese dinner, a stay at the Renaissance Cleveland hotel, two BB guns, and more. I wish I had the money for this.

Cat Sleeps On Turnstile

Video from an unmanned train station in Hiroshima, Japan, where there is a cat that lives at the station, and is often found sleeping on the turnstile. Even as the train was coming in and leaving, and people were putting tickets in and scanning passes... the cat just sleeps through it all. My cats are nowhere near this calm.

OK, I'll Bite

Elliot at From Where I Sit made an interesting offer that I decided I had to take him up on, so, here goes.

If you're not reading From Where I Sit, you really should. It's a well-written blog, and since he posts far more often than I do, it's worth your time to add him to your feed reader. Yes, I know, I should blog more. It's just that I'm busy with work, school, and volunteer stuff, although there's no shortage of stories in the news that irk me to the point that I have a few things (or a lot of things) to say about them.

So what are you waiting for? Get over there already!

Twitter, anyone?

If you're on twitter, and would like to follow me (even though I don't update often), my name on twitter is wannabenewsboy.

UPDATE: You can now see my latest tweets on the sidebar.

Understatement of the Week Award

In the Student Center at MATC, relaxing and surfing between classes while watching MSNBC. They had on a newscaster from Anchorage, who said that Joe Biden has a "tendency" toward gaffes.

Understatement of the week? That might be the understatement of the campaign so far...

Fri... er, Saturday Funny

Hat tip to ysmarko, here's a mashup of Home Alone and I Am Legend. If you've seen the latter and remember the former, hopefully you'll find this as funny as I did.

Church on the Move! No, seriously...

Hat tip to ysmarko.

Random Thought

I find it funny that Al Gore has written a book called The Assault on Reason.

If you have heart trouble of any kind...

I beg of you, DO NOT CLICK THIS LINK! Viewing this article may cause a heart attack or heart failure.

I'm pretty sure this burger would kill me on the spot, but what a way to go...

H/T: Air1 Radio

Winter Wonderland WHERE???

In Iraq, of all places.

Any bets on how long it'll be before Al blames this on Gorebal Warming?

H/T: Still Unreal

Laundry's Done!

A message similar to that one could be popping up on the cell phones of students of Dickinson College in Pennsylvania, according to a story from Fox News. The system allows students to pay for loads of laundry with their ID cards, and the system will notify them via text message when their laundry is done. They can also find out where any available machines are on campus, and can receive a message to let them know when and where a machine is available. I almost wish I had something like this at home.

My new fitness goal...

is to be able to do this.

HT: ysmarko via While Rome Burns