Dear Washington

Dear Washington politicians dealing with the national debt,
I do not care which side of the aisle you are but STOP TH E POLITICAL THEATER! The average household has to balance their books are a regular basis. It is about time you did too. I've got an easy solution for you. Just cut 10-20% every year out of the budget until the budget balances. Don't like the reduction of revenue- tough crap! All the people who are unemployed or had to take a pay cut in the last few years do give a crap how hard that is for you. At least for my household, we have to learn to do more on less to get our finiancial house on a better footing. The least you morons in Washington could do is the same. And for the love of god, do not think of raising taxes. The people and businesses have been taxed enough. We are not a never ending source of money. The more you tax us, the more we will look for ways to do things in a non taxable way. I will delay making purchases. I will do things that I use to pay others to do. I will trade and barter for as much as I can. That will ripple through the economy as people and businesses who use to get my money no longer do or at least not at much. Others will be cutting back regardless of what I do.

Get the federal government affordable then get about to getting the hell out of people's lives. I do not want the government to coddle me from cradle to grave. I do want the government to make it possible for the nation's biggest asset, the people of this nation, to let her people succeed on their own. If left to their own and not having things in their way, the people of this nation will prosper and take everyone else with them.

Saint Paul's Evangeical Lutheran Church

I needed to go downtown Fort Wayne and decided to waymark on of the local historical churches in Fort Wayne. It is on the National Historic Registry and has a history sign out front. It is waymarked HERE.

S.S City of Milwaukee, Manistee, Mi

One neat place neat my in laws is the USS Milwaukee. It is a retired train ferry turned museum. Their website is HERE. Joey!

Batmobile... on a stick!

I was out running errands and waymarking (just trying to get the most out of the gas money) when I stopped off at the local military museum to waymark batmobile on a pole.I thought it was cool and the waymark is HERE. Enjoy!

DIY Ethic

With the economy being the way it is, I have become more and more of a DIYer and adopting the DIY ethic. What gets me, is the DIY ethic is on wikipedia and the article about it is HERE.I generally agree with the DIY ethic as stated in the article except a couple of things. the main exception is when it talks about the Punk ethic is against consumerism. There will always consumerism of some sort or another. I can not see how anyone can provide themselves so well with all their food, all their clothes, all the products they need that come all forms of manufacturing. You would have be be farmer, doctor, miner, manufacturer and all sorts of things or get those services from someone.
However, having said that, I think people would be far better off if they learned to do more for themselves and learn to do more with less. How much better people would be if they learned to do at least basic car maintenance, did most or all of their own cooking and learn to sew or knit? I can not do it all and it is a challenge to learn all the skills and have the time to do stuff yourself but I am the better for what I can do for myself. Saving money on what I can do myself frees up money for the stuff I can not do for myself. Maybe I should not say this but I dare Washington to try to tax the worth added by my DIY projects. (watch them try now that I said something) It may not avoid taxes completely but whenever my money does not go into the government coffers, it makes my little heart shine a bit brighter. For that matter, whenever I get to keep more of my money period it is a victory won.

I guess that is my soap box for the day.

Far Out Shirts

I was looking for some Cuthulhu pictures for wallpaper for my computer when I found this image. I followed the link to find the website it came from and found far out shirt website. I was hooked and since the presidential election is starting to turn on, i thought I would get the political satire going early this time. Guess what shirt I will be proudly wearing through the end of this year and next?

Matheny Family Mausoleum

As part of my going about and waymarking, I sometimes wind up in a cemetery and finding a mausoleum. Maybe it is because I love a good gothic horror story or it could just be I think they are a neat and sometimes very beautiful buildings. In any case, they fascinate me and through waymarking I can help share my love of them and see more of them at least virtually online.

This one is waymarked HERE.

Mad Anthony Wayne

This is a statue and historical sign in downtown Fort Wayne. the sign reads as follows:
Major general Anthony Wayne

In the early 1790's, the United States suffered two serious defeats at the hands of the Indians under the leadership of Little Turtle, war chief of the Miami nation. In response, President George Washington sent Revolutionary War hero Gen. “Mad” Anthony Wayne into the western frontier. He had earned the nickname “Mad” for his reckless daring in a spectacular attack on the British at Stoney Point, New York, during the Revolution.

A stern disciplinarian, Wayne rigorously trained his troops before he took his “Legion of the United States” into Miami territory in 1794. His forces defeated the Indian confederacy at the battle of Fort Recovery (July 2,1794) and then again at the battle of Fallen Timbers, near Toledo (August 20,1794).

Wayne moved his “Legion” up the Maumee River to the large Native American settlement of Kekionga at the confluence of Three Rivers. He choose a site across the Maumee River from Kekionga to build the first American fort and then handed command over to Col. John Hamtramck. On October 22,1794, the fourth anniversary of the defeat of the United States at Kekionga, Hamtramck called a parade together of the garrison, fired 15 rounds of the cannon, (in honor of each of the fifteen states of the union) and formally announce that henceforth to be called Fort Wayne.

Anthony Wayne left four days later never to return. After inspecting the other U.S. Garrisons and successfully negotiating the treaty of Greenville in 1795 with the Indians of the regions, Wayne returned to Pennsylvania where he died in 1796. "

The waymark I did for this is HERE.

A Year after taking Finiancial Peace University

It has been a bit over a year since my wife and I finished taking the Dave Ramsey Financial peace University Course. There are several upsides and a couple of downsides. The two big downsides is that it has not been easy and we are not done with debt yet. Mathematically we knew both to be true but there is a difference between seeing the numbers and then living it out. The big upsides are that we are still doing what Dave teaches (more or less because who is perfect) and we are doing that because we have rid ourselves of debt in the thousands of dollars. We are not done with that but we are well on the way. Other upsides is that we are not only able to get some nice things for ourselves but for better prices than we use to but we are paying cash for it instead of charging it. There is some frustration in this since we have to put things on hold either until we have the money or we or we can find things at the price we want to spend even if we have the money. the one upside of a down economy is that there are deals to be had if you are willing to be patient. I think there has always been deals if you are patient but some are more low hanging now. We are getting better at finding deals and taking advantage of when there are good prices on things. Learning to do more do it yourself projects are also helping. Never ever stop learning and trying.

Arch

This week's webness is Arch. Their website is HERE. I found about them as I was waymarking and saw a sign about the Lincoln Building that they put out. Check it out. It is another way to learn about the area. I am always on the look out for stuff to learn. Enjoy!

Lincoln Bank Tower

The Lincoln Bank building is another interesting site in Fort Wayne. It is a NGS Benchmark, it was the tallest building in Fort Wayne at one point in history. There is a sign across the street from the bulding telling of it history. It states:
"The Lincoln Tower
Construction of the Lincoln Tower started less than a month before the stock market crash of October 1929 that signaled the beginning of the Great Depression. Completed in November 1930, the 312-foot Tower was for many years Indiana's tallest building. Its design, developed by the Cleveland firm of Walker and Weeks, was based on the Tribune Tower in Chicago.
The Lincoln Tower is a monument to the German Immigrant in Fort Wayne.the project was conceived and directed by Charles Bueching, a first generation German immigrant who was president of the Lincoln National Bank and Trust Co. from 1929 to 1962.A. M. Strauss, a German Immigrant,was the local architect. The construction Firm of Bueching and Hagermann, a partnership of German Immigrants, built the Tower. The Lincoln Bank and Trust, which funded the project, was the direct descendant of the German-American Bank of Fort Wayne founded in 1905. In the face of anti-German sentiment during World War 1, the bank changed its name in 1918 to the Lincoln National Bank, which operated until 1993. The Lincoln Tower continues as an office building."

Two of the waymarks covering this building is HERE and HERE.

So You Want to see the Whole World

I love going to libraries and the main branch of the Allen County Public Libraries is a stellar library. It has one of the best genealogy sections in the nation as well as a really cool, large globe that rotates. It has been waymarked HERE.

First Police Station

I was wandering around downtown Fort Wayne and I came across this sign on the Allen County Courthouse's grounds. I waymarked it HERE. There are a couple of other neat spots downtown that I came across while I was going around. I waymarked those as well and will reporting on those over the next couple of days or so.

You Shall Not Pass

It is springtime and it is time for it to do the annual spring flooding. The pictures are from this location (HERE). The charts are from this website (HERE). The river gauge is locate HERE. It is only minor flooding but it is something to be aware of here in North East Indiana.

Memorial

I like going hiking and I like waymarking. I also like it when I can do them both at the same time. My wife and I have taken to exploring the local Acres trails so i thought I would waymark them at least under the hiking trail trail head categories. I was not expecting to get to find anything extra. I noticed these memorial markers and being the shameless waymarker I am, put them into the citizen memorial category.

Every so often i get a bit down because we do not go on vacations because the economy and the price of gas has made that harder to do, but then again, since I am taking to explore things closer to home, I am noticing neat thing close to home.

Cool!

I go walking with my dog. A LOT! Sometimes I like going down the allies just to mix up the route we walk. We both get bored walking the same old way all the dang time. You really get to see a different view of the neighborhood going the back allies. I am just glad I have the dog along so people are not as much wondering what you are up to. It is not much of a concern to me but there are some longer people who do are not always up to their best behavior walking the allies and that can get people watching. I never did like playing freak the norm.
Anyway, I got to see this hearse this time. Kinda cool if you ask me but for some reason i like hearses and would like one to get around in if money was not an issue kind of car. Guess I am just weird that way.

Spoiled Dog

Apparently, Jeremy the dog thinks the new to us coach was gotten for him. I do not think he is entirely wrong.

Fort Wayne Philharmonic

For those of you who love classical music in the Fort Wayne area probably know about the Philharmonic already. For those not in the Fort Wayne area or for whatever reason have not heard of them yet, their website is HERE. Enjoy!!

Trailer for Atlas Shrugged

I think the fact this movie is being made says a lot about the state of the country. I really hope people watch the movie, read the book, understand it and then make choices about where this country is going.

Candidates should not be allowed to office until they answer the question, "Who is John Galt?"

Gypsy Dance

This song is done by a Fort Wayne Celtic Rock Band called the Mimi burns band. the music truly rocks so enjoy!!