16 posts tagged “michigan”
Michigan weather is simply amazing. Yesterday saw a heat wave reaching 40 degrees that melted much of the several inches of snow on the ground, but 40+ mph winds this morning will plummet the thermometer below 20 degrees later today. The weatherman called it a "flash freeze", which I guess means that we had a "flash thaw" over the weekend?
Recently we picked up Jan, our 54th foster dog, and she's been such a great dog that Amanda keeps saying stuff like "if we ever want 3 dogs, Jan should be the 3rd one". :)
To me she's not a "Jan" - she's too sweet and spunky for that calm-sounding name, so I've been calling her JJ. Not "J.J." but "JJ" because there's no initials - that second "J" doesn't stand for anything.
Taking advantage of the balmy weather yesterday, I loaded the entire pack - Haven, Beacon, JJ - into the car and all 14 of our feet embarked on a hike in warm, wet snow along the Flat River. JJ has been good enough that I let her run off leash; she's only the 3rd or 4th foster dog to earn such freedom! She wasn't perfect and tended to ignore my whistles occasionally, but she kept us in sight. Of course to her, "us" can mean just Haven and Beacon so sometimes the three of them were a few hundred yards away chasing some intriguing scent!
Eventually we slipped and slid our way up and over the steep hill that leads to "Beacon's Landing" - his favorite fetching spot on the river, a small sandy delta where a foot-wide stream drains into the 200-foot wide river. Immediately downstream of Beacon's Landing is "Haven's Cove", a backwater area of eddy flow caused by the delta. Lots of flotsam and other debris collects here and Haven loves to explore it at low water levels in hopes of finding a stinky fish carcass to eather eat or roll in.
In the winter Haven's Cove freezes over due to the still water and during this hike the ice was 2 inches thick, extending 15 feet into the river and running 60 feet along the shore. Standing at Beacon's Landing and waiting for JJ to catch up to us, Beacon began insisting that I throw him something to retrieve. I was scanning the ground for a stick when I heard a splash...
Looking up I saw JJ had fallen through the ice! She was at the far end of the ice shelf on Haven's Cove - she had walked too close to the edge and a 2-foot hemicircle of ice had broken away. JJ was in that hemicircle trying to climb back on to the ice with no success. Her front paws were hanging on with her rear in the water; occassionally a hind paw would appear on the ice edge but the river was about 3 feet deep there, so she had nothing to push off of.
At first I tried to coax JJ to exit the hemicircle and swim upstream around the ice shelf - there's almost zero current in Haven's Cove - but JJ apparently doesn't have enough labrador retriever in her genes to give her such instincts. She wasn't panicked but she was intent on climbing out, which she couldn't do without help.
Haven seemed to realize this - as soon as we saw JJ in the water, Haven went running out onto the ice right up to JJ, putting her nose right next to JJ's. How kind! If only Haven had thought to grab JJ's collar and haul her out, but Haven apparently was only intending to provide moral support. :)
JJ was about 12 feet from shore, a shoreline that's steep and covered in woody shrubs so I wasn't going to reach her from dry land. I also didn't want to wade through a waist-deep, ice-cold river along the entire 60-foot ice shelf to get there. I decided to press my luck by walking out onto the ice shelf.
It was pretty solid, but obviously thinning out toward it's edge. Beacon joined me when I set foot onto the ice, and Haven got excited and ran over to Beacon... and slid right past him! Yes Haven, ice is slippery. The two of them must've figured I had things under control as they ran back to Beacon's Landing.
I managed to get about 6 feet away from JJ before my weight pushed the outer edge of the ice just below the surface and water began to flow onto the ice. Rats, I couldn't get any closer! How was I going to help JJ out of the water? I pulled the leash out of my pocket - I could make a "lasso" and toss it over her head, giving enough of a pull that her back paws could push her out.
As I was preparing to toss the leash, Haven and Beacon came running out onto the ice to see what I was up to, coming all the way out right next to me. I weigh almost 200 lbs and the ice barely supported me, but add in 140 pounds of pooch and guess what? The ice breaks!
I fell through the ice and verified that the water was indeed waist deep. Yow, was it cold! Haven fell in right next to me but Beacon was on the safe side of the crack, still standing up on the ice. JJ was now in front of me in the water so I picked her up and placed her on the ice and she ran for shore. Then I turned and helped Haven climb back onto the shelf - she's a pretty good swimmer and comfortable in the river, but she wasn't too thrilled to be dog-paddling in icy water!
As I helped Haven I heard a splash behind me... Beacon! The silly boy had jumped into the river and was swimming back to me with a large chunk of ice in his mouth! He saw pieces of ice from my fall-through floating in the river and he leapt in to retrieve them. However, he couldn't climb out so I then had to help him back onto the ice shelf but he never let go of his prize.
Naturally if I fall through the ice with three dogs, I'm the last one out! They're back on shore at Beacon's Landing, shaking off some of the chilly water while I'm forced to make that trek that I opted against earlier - a long wade in chilling, waist-deep water to circumnavigate the ice shelf at Haven's Cove.
Back near shore I stepped on the ice edge trying to break off a chunk, but lo and behold nearly the entire shelf cracked free! A huge 10x50 foot island of ice floated out into the river, but rather than heading downstream is simply spun. The backwater eddys were evident as the upstream end of the ice floe rotated out into the river and downstream, while the downstream end actually moved upstream. It did this twice before I left, so who knows if it ever drifted downstream or just kept spinning there! Pretty cool stuff for a nature and science geek.
By the time I stepped on to dry land my feet were almost numb, but otherwise I felt pretty good. The dogs were noticeably cold from their bouncy behavior, but they weren't shivering or stressed out; in fact they were already exploring the woods while awaiting my return. Once I arrived, however, Beacon began trying to lead us back to the car - he was ready to go home. He was right, of course - we'd been out for half an hour and had a 15 minute hike back to the parking area so no need to hang around in wet clothes (or fur) when there's snow on the ground, even in a Michigan heat wave.
I wish I'd thought to get some photos of the ice shelf, but perhaps it was all the best that I had the camera and my cell phone stashed away in double ziploc bags. They both survived the dunking - luckily I took such precautions despite no intention of getting wet. Running in the woods with three dogs? Anything can happen! What a blast.
Everyone knows why there's this $700 billion elephant tiptoeing around our economy, but nobody seems to know what to do with it. Lately folks are getting alarmed that the Big Three automakers - GM, Ford, Chrysler - are just a few months away from bankruptcy and begging for their hunk of elephant hide.
What really irks me are the calls for "economic darwinism" i.e. letting the car companies go bankrupt because they failed to adapt to a changing market.
While I'm quick to agree that the Big Three have been slogging around their in own graveyard for years, at least they didn't dig their own graves and dare others to push them into it. Who would be so crazy as to dance on the edge of burial? How about the "Failing Five": Bear Sterns, Merrill Lynch, Lehman Brothers, AIG, Washington Mutual...
Why would we be so quick to bail out financial companies on Wall Street but allow Motor City to collapse? Consider this: General Motors employs as many people as all five of the above financial companies combined. Add Ford and Chrysler to the mix and it's nearly double. An auto industry expert on NPR last week estimated that including suppliers, the bankruptcy of the Big Three could cost an even bigger "three": 3 million jobs.
I've been critical of the Big Three since the early 1990s when it was clear to me that they were playing follow the leader with Honda and Toyota, banking on marketing campaigns and "buy American" sentiment to maintain an appearance of competitiveness.
However, the auto companies deserve some credit for remaining solvent in an economy that hits their products harder than just about anyone's, a financial crisis that happened after fuel prices hit record highs. Despite those two huge hammers to the grills of the Big Three, they're telling us that they won't go bankrupt for a few more months if things don't improve.
Meanwhile those Failing Five financial companies couldn't even survive a few days when things began to turn sour. They were recklessly living on the edge of their self-dug graves, boasting of their talent until they fell in, screaming for help all the way. In a flash Congress was there to bail them out.
The automakers could've pushed themselves closer to the limit with last-ditch marketing campaigns or sales incentives, but they didn't. While the Big Three blamed labor unions for some of their problems, they also fought those unions whenever possible, knowing that long-term survival was at stake.
Meanwhile, the Failing Five blamed over-zealous home buyers and builders yet continued to cater to their mortgage-hungry wallets.
If we see fit to bail out Wall Street, then it has to also be correct to bail out Motor City as well. If our economy can't withstand the complete atrophy of our credit system, neither can it survive the complete atophy of our manufacturing knowledge base.
While I believe that manufacturing is "old tech" as a core business model, there's still room for "high tech" applications on the process and research side that could be exported to countries that still rely on manufacturing. If the Big Three go belly up, that's 3 million workers with nowhere else to go - it could create a permanent increase in unemployment rate. We need those people to remain employed so that they may adapt and evolve as their companies also need to do.
If we don't bail out the auto industry, we might as well keep that $700 billion in the Treasury and simply let economic depression run its course. Let's not reward the financial industry for being the least responsible component of our national economy by limiting our bailout money exclusively to them.
Of course if we send that elephant marching to Detroit, then I'm sure Boeing will be next in line begging to do the elephant walk... Anyone else want to join in?
The top two stories on the local west Michigan news Monday evening were these:
2) United Solar Ovonic announced that they will open a new plant near Battle Creek, adding 700 jobs.
Why is this so symbolic?
-- Both GM and Uni-Solar are based in southeast Michigan.
-- It takes many small companies to replace the economic impact of a few large corporations.
-- The GM plant is a major source of truck parts. Trucks don't sell like they used to.
-- Uni-Solar makes commercial and residential solar panels, which have a nice sales trend.
-- Metal stamping is low-tech no matter how many "robot" contraptions do the work.
-- Solar cell manufacturing, while still manufacturing, is high tech.
-- The average wage of the new Uni-Solar jobs will be $14-15 per hour.
-- The average worker at the GM plant is 50 years old. I couldn't find wage info there but surely it tops $15/hr.
-- WOOD-TV devoted the first 5-10 minutes of their evening broadcast to the GM plant closing.
-- WOOD-TV devoted about 30 seconds of the same newscast to cover the Uni-Solar plant opening.
What does this mean for the future of Michigan? I can see it now...
By 2050 Uni-Solar will be one of the "big three" solar energy companies and Michigan is the solar capital of the world. It's not ironic because global warming has moved the "sun belt" to the Great Lakes region and we don't get much snow anymore. Amanda and I will have long since moved to one of the many condo retirement communities in Vancouver after selling our house a few years prior for $1M, kicking ourselves because it's now worth $10M. People in Silicon Valley can't believe that their houses are worth the same as what they paid for them in 2005.
By 2090 there will be settlements in Earth orbit as well as on the surface of the moon and Mars, where solar is much more efficient; the space transport industry is booming. Michigan lawmakers, under pressure from the solar industry, fight to keep spaceports out of the state. College grads flock to Wasilla, Alaska (population 20 million - the mayor is a regular presidential candidate) to find work in the extra-terrestrial construction industry. 95% of Michigan's 11,000 inland lakes are privately owned by retirees from the USW (United Solar Workers).
By 2130 scientists discover weather-altering technology and in their efforts to "fix" global warming they mis-calculated and Michigan gets snow or rain 340 days a year. Coupled with the development of cold fusion, solar energy is obselete and Michigan's economy begins to crumble. USW workers near retirement are bankrupt; the national bank (private banks never did survive that bailout that we teach schoolkids about) forecloses on those private lakes and sells all of the water in them to Alaska. Because global warming never existed in Alaska the weather fixes weren't funded for them, so the state is now the world's largest desert.
By 2170 Amanda and I are long gone, but we willed our estate to our dogs - by this time dogs and cats are recognized as sentient beings and are given rights of citizenship. One of them decides to start a blog on the TelePathWay - people say it's the biggest thing since the WorldWideWeb - and writes about how Michigan closed one of its last solar factories but opened a new hub for the TPW...
Discussing the Donkeys - Evaluating the Elephants
I had never realized that there's such a strong disparity between Democrats and Republicans when it comes to concern for the rights of animals. If the Republicans ever want to associate with the term "progress", they had better improve their animal welfare track record. The general public is certainly heading in the direction of improved humane treatment and I'm glad to see the Democrats trying to keep pace.
Here in Michigan, however, I was denied the opportunity to vote for my candidate of choice. You may have heard in the news how our state moved up its primary in order to gain more political traction in the national arena. In a way, it worked - Michigan got some extra campaigning and news coverage that otherwise would've been drowned out.
Yet this attention may have come at a steep cost - both the Democratic and Republican national parties are threatening to penalize Michigan by limiting or even eliminating the number of delegates we send to the party conventions. Our state has placed its bet and is calling the parties' bluff - Michigan is counting on its value as a swing state to prevent the parties from alienating our voters when the conventions finally take place. We're hoping that in the end, the political party committees will forgive us for breaking their rules and allow Michigan the use of all its delegates.
While one doesn't have to register with either party to vote in a Michigan primary, you do have to declare which ballot you'd like to receive upon arrival at the polls. This choice is public knowledge; therefore whichever party's ballot is chosen will result in a deluge of campaign propaganda for that poor voter.
Because the Republican party only threatened to halve their Michigan delegates, there was still value for the candidates to run and campaign here. The Democratic party was a bit more extreme and has threatened to ban all of our state's delegates from the convention. Trying to show party solidarity, Obama and Edwards pulled their names off of the Michigan ballot. Ever the political machine, however, Clinton hedged her bets by staying on the ballot - by being the only major name on the Democratic side she was virtually guaranteed a win. If the party isn't bluffing, then her win is meaningless. If not, then she won a key state without having to campaign.
This no-win situation for Democratic Michigan voters unless you already liked Clinton. Those who preferred someone other than the former First Lady were stuck with picking from the candidate scrapheap, guys so well known that I can't recall their names. Write-in votes are not valid and are thrown out. The only remaining option is to vote "uncommitted". You'd think that voting "uncommitted" would represent a vote for either Obama or Edwards, but that is not true.
Choosing "uncommitted" simply allocates your vote to a delegate, more or less allowing them to vote by proxy on your behalf at the convention. The "uncommitted" delegates can place their support behind any Democratic candidate they choose, which might be Obama or Edwards or it might be Clinton or even one of the other also-rans. The only message that an "uncommitted" vote sends would be to indicate support of Democrats in general.
This is why two days ago during the Michigan primary, I did not go to the polls. Why vote when I've already been disenfranchised? I couldn't vote for Obama, my candidate of choice, and had I voted "uncommitted" there would still be the chance that my vote ends supporting my least-favorite candidate, Clinton. Maybe I should've voted for McCain, my "least of all evils" Republican preference, but do I really want the attention of a party that has so little interest in animal welfare? No way.
Despite being a registered and interested voter, the 2008 presidential candidates will be chosen without my input. My vote has gone to the dogs.
Trail runner Paul Charteris wrote a meme-type blog entry (discovered via Scott Dunlap) to recap 2007. I'll play along; however since I'm simply a "runner" and not a die-hard "trail runner" I'm going to be liberal in my interpretation of the term "trails".
1. Most memorable moment on the trails…
When Haven and Beacon encountered a fawn! They chased it to a standoff; Beacon got head-butted and ran away while Haven tried to make friends with Bambi.
2. Best new trail I discovered in 2007…
Sleeping Bear Dunes bluff - perhaps the highest torture:distance ratio of any trail!
3. My best performance of the year was…
...thanks to Haven pulling me at the Doggie Dash. However, "fastest" does not equal "best" since I allowed Haven to do too much work in the second mile, causing her to fade badly in the last mile while I still had some energy. Not only was that unfair to her, it also cost us a shot at a sub-20 time. My best strategic performance was at the Harvest Hustle when I launched my "kick" with a half mile to go, risking total blowup to set a 5K PR.
4. I do not know how I previously survived without…
A canicross-style leash setup that includes a bungee cord:
5. The person I would most like to meet on a trail in 2008...
The meeting would last but a split second as Matt Carpenter zooms past my plodding, gasping self.
6. The race I am most excited/scared about in 2008 is…
The Wild West 100K. Excited because it would be my longest race ever and it takes place in my hometown. Scared because I need to recover from my hamstring injury before I can even start building up a base.
I'd like to tag any runners who feel like answering these six quick questions whether you prefer trails or roads.
Like everyone else I was shocked to learn that Ryan Shay had died during the U.S. Olympic Marathon Trials. I had been thrilled that two runners with Michigan ties (Dathan Ritzenhein and Brian Sell) had made the team, only to learn that Ryan Shay was also a Michigan runner. A bittersweet day for my home state.
It was nice to read this article sharing some memories of Alicia Shay, Ryan's wife. Sometimes it helps to remember that the important thing wasn't the loss of an elite runner in a premier event; it was the loss of a nice young man - friendly, humorous, romantic - who happened to run really fast. The stories in that article are priceless.
My favorite is when Alicia first met Ryan; she said: "You're that guy who got lost on a run and ran for four hours. You were so hungry when you came back that when you found a used Jolly Rancher on the doorstep, you ate it."
Amanda and I had some fun today, spending most of the day at the Grand Rapids Marathon working as volunteers. It was still dark when we showed up around 7am. It took us about 20 minutes to find a job to do; unfortunately the volunteer coordination was a bit lacking. Finally we got the job of unrolling the mass-fabricated space blankets, folding them, and stacking them into piles so that they're ready to hand out to finishers.
The job took two solid hours, during which time I more or less took charge of the volunteers since nobody was around giving direction. Two thirds of the volunteers were standing around doing nothing at one point so I got them all working a "production line" on the space blankets. If we hadn't done that then the blankets wouldn't have been done before the half marathon runners started finishing.
Another frustration was that volunteers were given zero information such as a FAQ to read beforehand. With our bright green shirts runners kept targeting us (rightfully) for questions; luckily I'd run the race in the two previous years so I was able to answer most of the questions. Many non-runner volunteers were simply unable to provide any help, which was rather sad.
Once the finishers were coming in I was one of the folks putting medals around their necks while Amanda was one of the ones wrapping runners in the recently-folded space blankets. It was a perfect view of the action as we could see the entire last half-mile of straightaway while listening to mostly 80's music over the loudspeakers.
Having been in a marathoner's shoes before, I recognized those who were simply tired versus those who were barely holding it together. Medical staff were right behind us so on a few occasions I would alert one of them to keep an eye on certain runners who were pale or cramping or just staring blankly.
One of the coolest aspects of this event is that the race director, "Marathon" Don Kern, stands at the finish line and personally greets EVERY finisher once they cross the line.
Right behind Don were Amanda, myself and the other volunteers. I was lucky enough to recognize a few coworkers and was able to personally congratulate them; one guy when I shook his hand it was ICE cold. Another co-worker ran a very fast half-marathon despite having not slept all weekend due to some partying. Both of them are going to sleep like logs tonight. :)
One runner that I recognized was someone I'd never met before: Simba's Mom blogs about her running and I recognized the outfit that she posted to her Princess Runner blog. I wonder if any other Voxers ran the marathon that I'm unaware of?
Amanda and I stayed long enough that we saw one of the very last finishers cross the line: Neil Sauter, who set a world record by walking the entire marathon ON STILTS in about 7.5 hours! I think I was the only person who could give him a high five without him having to bend over very far. The poor guy had to remain on his stilts for about half an hour after finishing to complete dozens of photo ops.
Finally Amanda and I were done and after 8 long hours on our feet, our legs were feeling rather sore! Oddly enough my favorite aspect was being able to help out other runners; there's simply something enjoyable about doing that. Seeing the race winners was great, enjoying the perfect weather was great, but seeing the look of relief in a marathoner's eyes when I wrapped them in a space blanket or put a medal around their neck topped it all. Especially the one gal who was bawling her eyes out for finishing her first ever marathon and as I put the space blanket around her shoulders she says to me "Yay, I get to be wrapped up in tin foil!"
A few days ago we had some amazing foggy air during sunrise, so I hopped out into the yard with a camera to grab some of the scenery. Needless to say I was pretty happy with how some of the shots turned out.
Another weekend, another 5K! This time I took part in the Michigan Apple Run 5K - follow the link for my race report. Once again Amanda was on hand to take a video of my kick at the finish. I'm amazed at how slow I look! Those long legs don't need to take many steps - compare the girl in pink next to me at the beginning of the video and despite her very fast turnover, I easily pull away.
Yesterday Amanda and I spent the day at a cottage at Sleeping Bear Dunes! Totally awesome. Amanda has the all the photos, while I told the story of climbing an incredibly steep 450-foot sand dune.
