The other day I was at work when an e-mail came through announcing that they were urgently seeking volunteers to donate blood. When you work around the military - especially here in San Antonio where we have both Wilford Hall Medical Center and Brooke Army Medical Center - these requests are fairly common.
I'm sure that I had given blood before I joined the military so many years ago, but I distinctly remember in basic training having them load us all up into a bus and taking us to some blood donation center so we could all learn the importance of donating blood, and for those that hadn't done so, doing it for the first time. And of course, for the first few years in the military, I would do my duty and donate (gladly, by the way) on a routine basis.
That all changed when they invented Mad Cow Disease.
My first overseas assignment was to England, and my next overseas assignment was to Italy. I guess based on the years that I was in both places, at the particular times I was there (All during the 1980's), I was branded (pun intended) as non-eligible to donate.
So the other day when I got this e-mail, I got the name of the point of contact and fired off an e-mail back to her. I gave the specific dates of my time overseas and asked that surely, after 20 years, I was safe to begin donating blood again, right?
The response I got back was a polite, "thanks for trying", but unfortunately, I still can't donate. Oh, and that includes my wife and kids who were with me in Italy.
Don't you think by now, after this much time, someone would come up with a test that could scan my blood and verify that I don't have Mad Cow? More importantly, should I be worried so long after the fact that I might just in fact be developing Mad Cow. I don't know the exact symptoms, but I have put on a little weight this year.
Moo.
Our area is doing that twice a year bulk garbage pick up this week; you know, where you can throw out all your old sofas and washing machines and other crap. Once the people finish their street shopping (my daughter's term for people who drive by in pick-up trucks picking up all the stuff they can use), then the city trucks come by and pick up your tree branches, old fence boards, and other unwanted crap.
And if you live in my 'hood, you can also get the Christmas tree out of the living room and set it out by the curb. Course, and this is just a suggestion, if you do go all out and take down the Christmas lights, you are only going to have to put them back up in 8 months. Is it really worth the hassle?
Do you recall the speculation we had going on here about the Pizza Hut located on Grissom at Timber Path and how at first, we thought they were mistakenly building a new one in the wrong parking lot and later we thought maybe they would tear down the Pizza Hut to put in a new bridge over the low water crossing? You 'member!
Well as I was checking messages on my way home from work today, I got a call from regular reader Anon E. Mouse, that there was some painting taking place at Pizza Hut. Of course I proceeded with caution, camera at the ready!
And now friends, who is hungry for some fish? The Pizza Hut has been given a fresh scrubbing, some new paint and a sign with a fish on it that says, "Coming Soon". Oh sure, I'd like it to be a catfish restaurant, but without a name, for all we know, it could be a place that sells fish for your aquarium. Either way, it's good eatin', right?
And in case you are nervous about the loss of Pizza Hut, the new one is almost ready...
Got any speculation on the name of the new fish place on Grissom? Can you get me some coupons for free samples? Tell me what you know or leave a comment here.
Just because of the fact that my wife and I are easily entertained, we made the short trip down to the Lodge of the Great Northwest to attend a Town Hall meeting presented by the GNWCIA.
The point of the meeting was two-fold; first we would all get to meet the two candidates running unopposed for the two open – or should I say, soon to be open seats on the board of directors for our association. The second item on the agenda was to receive a presentation on the proposed by-law amendments that will be on the ballot during our annual meeting.
Based on the less than capacity turnout for this Town Hall meeting, I’d say that we are in danger of not having a quorum for the annual HOA election. What this means is that, the vote for both directors and by-law amendments would be null and void, and the five remaining directors on the board would have to appoint two new directors to fill the vacancies. 
As a resident and voter, you should know that there is no guarantee that the remaining directors will automatically appoint the two candidates. This is especially true considering what I will politely call an underwhelming performance by the two candidates during their opportunity to address those people that were interested enough to show-up for the meeting. This is not to cast a stone at either of the candidates; the average person, myself included has a problem getting before a crowd and giving a political speech or oral resume before a mostly unknown crowd. But it was not as though it was a surprise. At minimum, I think both would have served themselves and the voters better had they at least had a few notes or even a statement to be read explaining who they are, their views on the association problems, and what they would do to help the board fix things. Instead, in the five minutes allotted for each to speak, we got a lot of uncertain jibber-jabber.
In fairness to both candidates, they interacted much better with the crowd after the formal presentation and I suspect they will do fine once elected (or appointed), and can be severed from the umbilical cord of a former board chairman who prompted their desire to be candidates in the first place.
Up next, Director Myrl Britten provided a solid presentation on the two proposed by law changes; the first would allow the assessment of fines for people who violate deed restrictions, the second would remove a cap of $300,000 for the association to have in reserve funds. I have discussed these by-laws in a previous post.
The usual suspect was prepared to debate both by-law changes (and any associated punctuation they might incur), and he came armed with a folder full of spreadsheets, old reports, hand-written notes, and one might presume, the dead sea scrolls. I could give you great entertainment in relaying the various arguments but A) you should really make an effort to see these things first hand, and 2) it was all the usual jibber-jabber we have heard time and time again. In the end, and I don’t wish to put words in the mouth of my friend, Joe Martinez, it would appear that he doesn’t necessarily oppose the changes to the by-laws, but the method by which the board is pursuing them.
Reasonable folks can disagree and there is always more than one way to skin a cat, provided it is legal. Mr. Martinez would like the approach of having people who want to change the association covenants go out door to door and gather support for changes by having people sign petitions. I say the reason you have an elected board is to let them represent the residents, and if they screw up, you vote them off the board, or I suppose, you remove them from the board, ahem.
More important to this discussion is the suggestion by Mr. Martinez that the board isn’t providing the residents with enough information. I laugh at this on two fronts: First, he makes this statement in a well publicized town hall meeting that is open to all the residents and frankly, anyone who felt like wandering in. There is no price of admission or checking of IDs etc. Nobody was discouraged admittance, yet, we had roughly more than a handful of people – most of who are the regulars at all the board meetings.
Secondly, the information is delivered to homes in the form of Passages, the local newspaper, and every homeowner receives a mailing containing the ballot. How much more information could be made available?
The truth of the matter is; I find that people are not interested. They aren’t interested because either they are tired of the constant bellyaching by a few people who aren’t so much against what the board does, but just how the board does it. And for the people who aren't tired of the bickering, I submit they must otherwise be happy enough with their lives in the GNW, because apparently attending town hall meetings or board meetings simply aren’t worth the hour or two that it takes to move away from the TV. And I can’t blame them.
I can tell you that I have never been to a City Council meeting downtown (though I have watched many, many times on TV). I can also tell you that I did not attend my first GNWCIA Board meeting until about two years ago, even though I have lived here for 10 years. In other words, I acknowledge to an extent being the pot calling the kettle "black"; I recognize that we have many people who did their time serving on committees, being involved and trying to participate, but they have lost the motivation. Likewise, I submit that some of you reading this (or not) will get the urge to one day come out and join the fun. Everyone in their own time.
So there you have it. Get involved if you want, vote if you want, move away if you want. I’m not going to second guess the interests of my fellow residents or attempt to tell them how they should proceed. But I will tell you this: I doubt we will have a quorum for the second year in a row, and frankly, that is pretty sad.
We have lived in our neighborhood for a decade now, but had never found cause to witness the Annual Easter Egg hunt put on by the Great Northwest Recreation Department. Saturday the 11th of April, my wife and I decided to head down to the soccer fields and see what all the excitement was about. Now we know!
Prior to the start, the staff and volunteers marked off several parts of the field so that age groups could be separated. This insures that some 2 year-old doesn’t get trampled by a herd of 8 year-olds! With the areas clearly marked, the staff assisted the Easter Bunny in covering the field with plastic eggs filled with goodies and tickets. Enough eggs were put out to make sure each of the participants would get a share of the take!
As the noon hour approached, little excited residents and their almost as excited parents lined the starting point as Recreation Director Jose outlined the rules of the event. It was all the little ankle biters could do to wait for the final minute before the strike of noon and the start of the mad scramble for plastic eggs.
In the little baby section, most of the kids were carried by helpful parents so they could get to an open space to allow the collecting of eggs and photographing of the moment. Honestly, there were a hundred cameras capturing the event from every possible angle. If any overzealous kid took a chance on grabbing an egg from another kid’s basket, surely there would be multiple pictures depicting the heist from every possible direction!
In all, there were over 3,500 eggs to be scooped up by the youngsters and in less than two or three minutes, there was not a single egg left on the field. It was like watching an army of Kirby Vacuum Cleaner salesmen in an all out assault on dirt, only these were little kids sucking up the plastic eggs. A note to parents: If you want your youngsters to quickly clean their rooms, why not put little tickets inside socks, shoes, backpacks and toys; they will magically be off the floor, lickety split!
And speaking of tickets, thanks to the fine folks at Silver Creek Manor, the plastic eggs were filled with candies and tickets and a few had special silver coins, and one had the grand prize, a gold coin. When the mad dash was over and all the eggs had been collected, the kids formed a line to get to the prize table where the Gold coin was exchanged for a large Easter basket, the silver coins were turned in for smaller baskets, and anyone with at least 15 eggs received other prizes.
Even if your kids are no longer of Easter Egg hunting age, the event was quick and fun to watch. So many activities like the annual 4th of July Parade, Veterans Day events and the New Years Polar Bear swim make the Great Northwest a great place to live.
Residents to Speak: Are you kidding me? No residents to speak!
