Well, not really an ode, but more like - KUDOS!
President Bush came to Loudoun County last week and spoke for about an hour and a half. The White House chose Loudoun because of its super low unemployment rate (less than 2%, which is typically considered a "worker shortage"), great economy, and fiscal strength. During the Q&A session, my boss asked a question about broadband and telework.
Check out the Press Release here (note it's the entire transcript, so it's really long).
At least I have one faithful reader- my wonderful little sister A. (name withheld to protect the young)
Here's to you, sis! ("Aunt AED")
It's been a good, full weekend. Now, I just need another weekend to recover...
Friday:
I ended up working until 5:30pm (ugh!)
PM- Angela cooked homemade Tomato Basil Soup- YUM! Then we took a trip to Bed, Beth, & Beyond for a shower gift and Nordstrom Rack for good deals (found a couple). Then, just took it easy.
Saturday:
AM- We had a PHC Alumni Association Board meeting. Angela was voted Secretary, I'm now chair of the Tech Committee (mainly to work out issues with getting a newsletter sent out and the website a bit more user friendly).
Noon- Went to friends' for a brunch, a precursor to a birthday party later that evening for PHC friends in town from North Carolina.
PM- Said birthday party. Until Angela started feeling bad (no solid food all day, which doesn't bode well with a second person inside you), so we went home around 7:30.
PPM (?)- Ate dinner at home and watched Erin Brokovich on TBS. Not really a great movie, but it's a feel-good, woman-power movie.
Sunday:
AM- Angela woke up not feeling well (chest cough, etc), so she stayed home while I went to teach Sunday School and church. SS went well, and church was very good (message: Jesus is "the door"- the only way to heaven)
Noon- Came home with "Chicken Out Rotisserie" for lunch. Watched football while Ang sewed (?).
PM- So Ang could get out of the house, we went to the mall. It's too cold outside for a walk, since she has a cold/cough. The mall was nice. BIG FIND OF THE DAY- Maternity clothes at Old Navy- 1/2 price on clearance items- two pair of maternity jeans for $20- all RIGHT!
PPM (?)- Watched Kate and Leopold- then watched end of the Seattle/Carolina game.
Now, off to bed, for an exciting week of the people's work. Land Use Committee, Economic Development Committee, and numerous meetings. It's going to be a busy one....
The latest craze in the Davis household is Sudoku. I didn't understand the interest in this "puzzle" until Ang bought me a book for Christmas. Every puzzle is a challenge, and it suits my math/logic-minded mind quite well. To see an online puzzle, check out here.
Apparently the original name of this exercise in logic was "Suuji wa dokushin ni kagiru" which means "it is best for the number to be single." Obviously, this doesn't make for a good name to just toss around during lunch break, so it was shortened to Sudoku, su meaning "number" and doku meaning "single."*
Try it out- you may like it.
*Info taken from The Original Sudoku
Thank goodness for hand-me-downs. Especially when it comes to maternity clothes (have you ever seen the prices for a shirt with an extra bump in the tummy???).
Granted, it's a bit odd that my wife is wearing my boss' hand-me-downs (she just had a baby 4 months ago), but if it saves me money, you'll hear no complaints.
Now, let's see about those baby clothes....
So I (actually Angela) received a special offer in the mail the other day. For only ten dollars, we can try out Gevalia coffe via mail, and oh by the way they'll throw in a coffee maker. A ONE HUNDRED DOLLAR coffee maker!!!
After reading the fine print multiple times, I decided it was worth 10 bucks for a bit of coffee and the free coffee maker. I just have to remember to cancel my "account" within a month, or they'll send me more coffee (and a bill). Regardless, I get to keep the coffee maker.
If it turns into a scam, you'll be the last to know. (but at least you'll know) =)
DcD
Okay, so I'm tired of American Idol already. It was fun while it lasted (about 60 minutes). Maybe the last few weeks will be worthwhile.
One funny note- a timely dog from next door started howling when one of the horrible singers was in their audition- couldn't have been planned better.
State Senate, that is, not U.S. Senate.
Mick Staton, member of the Loudoun County Board of Supervisors, won the Republican "firehouse" primary today quite handily, beating his closest opponent by almost double the votes. He will now face Democrat attorney and former Supervisor from Leesburg- Mark Herring- for the State Senate seat in the 33rd District of Virginia.
Staton may not be the most formidable opponent for the Republicans, considering that his father-in-law, Dick Black, was easily defeated mere months ago in his reelection bid for state House. Democrats are almost giddy as they prepare to attack Staton with the same vigor that they applied to Mr. Black.
Nonetheless, there are two very interesting aspects to this election:
1) Mr. Staton has been on the Board of Supervisors for only 2 years and has quickly mastered how things get done, especially when it comes to transportation issues. This will serve him very well in the election and will allow him to propose positive reforms for VDOT.
2) A win for Mr. Staton will show that the Republican party in Loudoun County is not disillusioned and fading. With the beating that Republicans took in November, nothing would be more important than a solid victory by Mr. Staton- underscoring the fact that many other factors played into the losses a few months ago. The Republican party needs a boost and an assurance that it can still reach the voters in Loudoun. Mr. Staton must make sure he addresses the issues most important to the people and doesn't get sidetracked on the peripheral topics.
We'll see what happens in the next 3+ weeks, but for now, Mr. Staton's got a lot of work ahead of him.
I'm hooked. "24" is an intense and totally captivating show. I see why people loved the first 4 seasons, and I'm going to have to start watching reruns of Days 1-4....
FOX had it right to start the 2 hour season premiere of "24" right after NFL Playoffs, otherwise I may have never turned the TV on....somebody deserves a bonus.
I received a "Statement of Claim" in the mail today for stock I used to own. I started thinking it may be worth it for me to try to join this class-action suit and receive my dues.
Then I realized, I had only owned 2 shares, and I would only receive 13.22 cents per share that I had owned. Not even worth the stamp it would take to send it in. Bummer.
It's a girl!! Woohoo!!! Angela is sooooo excited, and I can already feel that I'm becoming a softy...
Half the time we were doing the ultrasound, she had her arm over her face, just like Angela does when she sleeps. Like mother, like daughter. She was a very good girl during the entire ultrasound and cooperated really well. We got more pictures than we were supposed to ;) .
Here's one, and to see more, e-mail me and I'll "invite" you to view the album on the KodakGallery website.
DcD
So, it's been a healthy six months since I actually "blogged".
We are still alive, and in fact have contributed to the living population in this world. Angela is 20 weeks pregnant, and we will have our first ultrasound/sonogram on Wednesday (I get the two confused)!!
More later-
DcD
So, as much as I've been derided by my friends for buying a Dell handheld and a Dell laptop (both which run *gasp* Microsoft), I now have a tick mark in my column....
Mike H. (German last name withheld to protect the guilty) just went out and bought an iPod Shuffle. Wait, he actually bought....TWO! (one for his wife, too- smart move, dude).
Anyway, I'm happy he's seen the light. Join us, it's inevitable....
DcD
Wow! We're all blessed, but this guy sure has been through the ringer...
ESPN.com- Indians Pitcher Hit in Head
Danny has sent you an article from The Washington Times.
Danny's comments:
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A WIN FOR BIG GOVERNMENT
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Cities may now seize homes and businesses and hand them over to private developers to raise tax revenue. That's what the Supreme Court decided yesterday in Kelo v. New London, a 5-4 ruling that strips Connecticut homeowner Susette Kelo and several others of their homes and land. By siding with New London, the court drastically expands traditional eminent-domain powers beyond highways and fighting urban blight. This is a resounding defeat for ordinary landowners and a threat to property rights. Homeowners now own their homes only if the government wants them to.
From the start, Kelo v. New London was "Robin Hood" in reverse, pitting a constellation of business and government interests including the unelected New London Development Corporation, drug giant Pfizer, private developers and the seven-member city council against a handful of residents in New London's Fort Trumbull neighborhood. Fort Trumbull, modest but unblighted, is where the old U.S. Naval Undersea Warfare Center stands. City officials sought to lure Pfizer there to build a $300 million research facility with the understanding that the surrounding parcels of land could be developed into an upscale complex of residences along with a marina, hotel and conference center. When Miss Kelo and others refused to sell, the case went to the courts. A year ago it landed in the Connecticut Supreme Court, which sided with New London in a 4-3 ruling.
The novel element in this case is New London's rationale, which avoids traditional public-use and blight-reduction arguments and relies on a naked revenue-and-jobs-enhancement logic. The city argues that because Pfizer can pay more taxes, and because it can provide more jobs, it will make better use of the Ft. Trumbull properties than the ordinary people who currently own them.
This stands the Fifth Amendment's takings clause on its head. Interpretations of that clause ("Nor shall private property be taken for public use without just compensation") have varied, but it's a novelty for the Supreme Court to condone the government's forcible transfer of private property from a party that hasn't broken the law to another private party so that city coffers can be filled with additional revenue. This is a far cry from railroad and highway building -- traditionally seen as legitimate reasons for use of eminent-domain powers.
Justice Sandra Day O'Connor put it well in her dissent: "Any property may now be taken for the benefit of another private party." The founders cannot have intended this, she wrote in apparent frustration, quoting James Madison: "[T]hat alone is a just government which impartially secures to every man, whatever is his own." Justice Clarence Thomas agreed. "No compensation is possible for the subjective value of these lands to the individuals displaced and the indignity inflicted by uprooting them from their homes," he wrote.
The dissenters were careful to point out that wealthy developers are now likely to exploit the precedent at the expense of the poor and those without political influence. "Allowing the government to take property solely for public purposes is bad enough, but extending the concept of public purpose to encompass any economically beneficial goal guarantees that these losses will fall disproportionately on poor communities," Justice Thomas wrote. "Those communities are not only systematically less likely to put their lands to the highest and best social use, but are also the least politically powerful."
Most disturbingly, the majority was comfortable with New London's argument. "The city has carefully formulated an economic development [plan] that it believes will provide appreciable benefits to the community, including -- but not limited to -- new jobs and increased tax revenue," Justice John Paul Stevens wrote in the majority opinion joined by Justices Anthony Kennedy, David Souter, Ruth Bader Ginsburg and Stephen Breyer.
This decision will prompt glee among developers, lobbyists and big-government enthusiasts. A wave of property seizures may well take place in its wake. Cities may now take land from ordinary people and hand it to preferred customers to build shopping malls, hotels or other richly taxable properties. The only thing cities will have to do to justify their actions will be to argue that revenues and tonier neighborhoods will result. So much for property rights.
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This article was mailed from The Washington Times (http://www.washingtontimes.com/op-ed/20050623-084200-4178r.htm)
For more great articles, visit us at http://www.washingtontimes.com
Copyright (c) 2005 News World Communications, Inc. All rights reserved.
I don't think the previous Snapfish Link worked.
Try this.... Click the link below. If you haven't created a Snapfish account, create a new account. Then, click on the link below again, and it should take you to the pictures...
Niagara Pics
If it doesn't work, e-mail me, and I'll send you an invite directly.
DcD
I like reading about myself. Well, I should clarify. I like reading articles for which I was interviewed to see 1) how well I spoke and 2) how fairly the reporter did his job.
So, if you'd like to see an example of 1) me speaking well and 2) a reporter doing a good job, check this out: =)
1st Page and
2nd Page
Article title: "County Supervisor Taps Teleconferencing"
Ain't I purrrdy??
DcD
So, I've been rather skeptical when Leah kept asking for picutres to put up on the Snapfish site. But, now that I took over 100 pictures on our trip to Niagara Falls, I decided it was time to give the service a try.
Crazily enough, I just zipped 108 pictures and uploaded them with one touch of a button. Amazing.
I'm hoping this link remains permanent, but try it out to see the pictures: Niagara Pics
More later,
DcD
Since my last post (only two months ago, mind you), I've been to Atlanta, Niagara Falls, and a Maroon 5 concert.
Atlanta was to visit my folks and investigate a possible investment opportunity.
Niagara Falls was a trip with my in-laws, my mum-in-law's parents, and my in-laws' best friends. Also along was my bro-in-law and his girlfriend. Eleven of us in total. We all actually fit in our house, and had a great time in Niagara Falls (three days there is long enough, it's kinda touristy after a while).
Maroon 5 just kicked. I've not been to many concerts (secular, especially) in my wee lifetime, but I know enough to know this was good. They were pumped, the crowd was excited without being too crazy, and the music was great. As with pretty much all live events, the additional gigs thrown into each song are well worth the effort of driving up to Columbia, MD.
Finally, on an interesting note, a house across the street from us just sold for $40,000 more than we paid for ours only 5 months ago. EQUITY, BABY!
I'll throw up some pics from Niagara soon.
DcD
So, we joined about 20 of our friends, including thousands of our not-so-closest-friends, at the Cherry Blossom Festival this past Sunday. Here is a link to some of the best pictures (there are two pages of pictures).
Cherry Blossom Festival '05
DcD
