Repeat post on Houston Mall

<>Picture is of Houston Mall in 1976
Hello
I went to the Houston Mall again. I was rehab shopping for my mother. No, not THAT kind of rehab; she is becoming less and less mobile with her disease.

Even at 3:30 PM the mall is dead. Evelyn's, the dress shop that was too stubborn to leave, is no more. A third of the mall is rented by the Houston Medical Center. This is not a bad idea if the $/sqft sales are high even for spending money on medical procedures. But HMC isn't the Mayo Clinic or Cook County Hospital in Chicago.

The northeast entrance is no more. Home Decor resides in it, the small stores along the way, and in two or more old stores possibly carved out of WT Grant's. I remember when my sis and I went to Grant's and bought a small globe. This was on a Sunday. Eckerd's is a billing center for HMC and the southeast corridor has Warner Robins Municipal Court and a probation office. A nail place and beauty supply replaced stores near where the old record store and Burton's shoes once thrived. I forgot there was a southeast wing to the mall. It has a few of HMC's storefront facilities.

Were I HMC and if no expansion were already planned for the hospital I'd buy the mall and revamp it. Then I would rent it out. Hospitals likely find themselves hurting to make a profit and though Houston Medical Center doesn't have indigents bleeding them dry it remains a neat idea.

Management needs to market the mall as an office center and fill the hallway with another row of offices. Perhaps they can bulldoze all but the east and west anchors and make a strip mall. Westgate did this but their mistake was remaining commercial in a deteriorating neighborhood.

Cree

Hello
Christmas went ok other than Mom falling the previous Tuesday and having an eternal nosebleed. Her lip was lacerated in a few places. The nosebleed stopped enough for us to take her to the Coliseum Medical Centers ER. We had to go back on Christmas Eve since 12:45 saw her nose bleed again. We would stop it on and off and this went on until 7AM. We hustled her back to the ER again and the doctor had Afrin sprayed in it as a vasoconstrictor. I held Mom's nose for 15 minutes. It stopped. She coughed up a nice big blood clot on the way home. Mom's nose bled again Christmas morning but I sprayed Afrin and held it for 15 minutes. This did the trick and stopped the bleeding; she coughed up Clotzilla.

I felt like I was in a fog and felt a little discouraged and depressed. It seemed everything I was working for as far as work and pleasure was going down the drain. I knew the day would come for me to take care of Mom and Dad but I felt it came so soon- too soon for me to reach my goals. It can't be anyone's fault but mine that I didn't achieve them. I have no objection to taking care of Mom and Dad though the do things sometimes to make it hard on themselves. Mom doesn't want to make sacrifices and Dad is unwilling to straighten out his sleep cycle. I would be miserable if I moved too far from them that is for sure.

I learned a new word Thursday. My boss at the store had difficulty understanding a person on the phone. This is understandable as even in the past three months our demographic has deteriorated at the store. A rinky-dink Mexican grocery set up next to us and we have a new landlord.

Anyway one of the words my boss had trouble understanding was the word "cree". It is an African-American corruption of the word "three". This is common in rural areas. We had a good time with that one.

I am still coming in late for work more often than not but the delays are less. I want to be goal compliant by January 31 with my annual resolutions. I promised I'd do a regular job search, be punctual, and embark on a diet and exercise program. I promised that I would subject Mom to an exercise regimen. I am exercising two or three times per week and doing walking once every week. This is half the number of days per week I need to do this.

I dislike making and breaking promises and seeing my life deteriorate.

I forget what time of the night I was born but in the legal sense 12am today began my fortieth year. November 17 begins at 12AM so that settles that where the law is concerned.

I guess I overdid the sweets or didn't snack often enough yesterday when I said I felt rotten. My boss's dad brought in some cookies that are as decadent as a slice of birthday cake. Combine that with grape Kool-Aid (bought for 2.00 per jar at Big Lots) and you have me eating like a puny kid again. There is no doubt I am facing my parents' mortality in seeing them get sicker and more infirm.

I am having to make a few sacrifices in not going out and hitting the stores and restaurants whenever I please. Nor do I do much night fishing anymore. I am trying to find a job that affords me an hour or two travel distance between here and wherever the job is. I will have to find another place to live under this scenario.

Not that I haven't done fun things. I have been helping find airchecks for the producer at pawfilmworks.com so he can work on his website for a long-closed mall in Chicago. Some time ago I saw a web site for a recently closed mall and tried to revisit it. It was in New Jersey or a nearby state. That was when I bumped into Dixie Square Mall.

This mall near Chicago opened in November 1966 and closed that month in 1978. Months later it was used by Universal to film the mall chase in "The Blues Brothers." It seems the mall's closure in a rapidly-deteriorating town had a silver lining for John Landis, the movie's producer. The video snippits and pictures of the abandoned mall are a surrealistic view of something similar to ancient catacombs.

I did one call-canvassing session and a letter to the editor for Mac Collins, who ran for Congress. He may or may not pay for a recount but the state's secretary of state gave the election to his opponent, Jim Marshall. I saw my party ruin their chances to retain power nationally. Not that Iraq would have been a flash in the pan but Americans want to see tangible progress. A war kept Lyndon Johnson out of the White House although Johnson exhibited much more ineptitude than Bush.

These days I have gone to bed early though I have still been a little more tardy at work than I should be. Why don't I get quality sleep and why do I feel tired even after nine or ten hours?

I will ask my doctor about Cymbalta or a higher dosage of Zoloft. I don't want to monkey around with the Buspar. I only occasionally take the morning dose of Buspar. My head feels like it is in a fog when I am on Zoloft and the Buspar seems to be making it a little more noticeable. I haven't had the reality of turning 40 sink in quite yet.

Last day that I am 39

11/16/06
Today is the last day I am 39. Tomorrow I turn 40. I have mixed feelings about becoming 40. For much of my life I haven't achieved what I want and I think I have wasted too much time in my life.

This week I have been stuck at home for two evenings while we work with Mom and Dad. Sometimes neither one wants to listen to me or my sisters, especially Mom.

I feel depressed today. I work with the half wit crew this weekend again.

Dad's second ablation session

11/09/06
Last Friday Dad had to go to the hospital via ambulance because his implanted defibrillator went off five times. It went off four of those times when he walked to the house for help. He was planting pansies. I think I beat the ambulance there since I was around the corner and up the road at my shop.

I waited in the ER and my uncle dropped by. We waited then he was brought into the Chest Pain center partly because the ER was jammed with the runny nose club. It's a shame a flex space isn't available for peak ER visits. The electrophysiologist was there and paced Dad back into normal rhythm and dropped his heart rate to 70. Medications including morphine and lidocaine went into Dad. I had to go home and help Mom and give Dad some rest.

I was furious in a sense that Dad could not have been fixed earlier this year. I thought about sending him to Emory as an option but Dad felt the care from the Macon doctor quite sufficient.

My dad got a room on the 8th floor and was spared the laggards who worked in the cardiac ICU. That Saturday he found that he would get an ablation and they weaned him off the lidocaine that Sunday. The doctor ablated his heart to burn off nodes generating short circuits. He wanted to do more ablating but could not. I hope that Dad won't have to make a return trip to the hospital.

I know my Dad won't last forever and that long-term care of some form is in the near future for both of my parents. I just feel I haven't done enough for them or to make myself a successful person. I dislike being so cynical, so angry, so quiet, so grumpy. I have another side to me that is nice and as honest as the day is long. I guess the word for me is scared. I've been scared and now that forty years close in on me I am tired of being scared of this, that, and the other.

KAT

Hello
I got back from a weekend at Lake Sinclair Campground. It was okay though I didn't catch any fish. The deep spots along the lake had campers and I snagged my line on overhead branches near the empty and shallow spots. I did have one fishy nibble at my bait but he was too smart for my own good.

I had to listen to a group of Girl Scouts/family members from Cobb County (a tag on one of the vehicles near their pad said such). Three redneck-looking guys and three fat ladies supervised the 9-12 year old females. One woman looked like Harpo Marx. A dog looking like her would not be eaten by starving Koreans. Speaking of which one Amerasian brat in a tent across from my fishing hole talked loud enough to wake the dead.

I preferred the mean-looking redneck in the van next to my tent. He at least played classic country when he was not talking half the day on his cell phone. He was bellyaching about this and that on the cell phone and talking about how the doctors could not figure out why he had high blood pressure. Maybe it's a mind thing. I want to go by the record store or on Itunes and buy some early George Jones/Tammy Wynette and some Conway Twitty/Loretta Lynn. We're talking about early Seventies- at least before 1974.

This will teach me not to go to Lake Sinclair Campground-National Forest Service during the weekend. I also froze in my tent and underinflating an air mattress made me no happier. I will definitely get a low-weight low temperature bag if I can get such for less than 75.00. The mattress was too big for the hiker's tent and I needed to get a single-sized air mattress-or a swimming bed.

I chose to spend the second night in my SUV. I let the small seat down in the rear row and sandwiched myself in my bag. I didn't like not having a bedroll or an inflatable bed but 18 inches didn't allow me much room. I was warmer and when the rain came I was glad I made the choice.

When I woke up at 11:00 and did the rest of the packing I left. I accidentally went to Monroe County instead of Covington. Not to worry; I made another turn and went to Fresh Air Barbecue and headed to Covington. I took pictures of the town square which was depicted in the "Dukes of Hazzard" pilot show.

On the way I saw where the south end of Newton County has a few developments but is turning ghetto closer to Covington. A new grocery store advertised that it was accepting EBT. I had heard that small towns where farming was the primary industry lost their higher-income citizens to the areas bordering Atlanta as the farms died out. Some towns have good homes being built nearby. There was a nice "Scoops" coffee shop and ice-cream parlor on Church Street. Then again I saw "Lee's Fashions" which hosted black fashions and black mannequins".

I felt so good to get home. I will definitely resolve to do SOMETHING about a job although I want a career or other worthy obsession to bury myself in. I need to get out on my own and make real money. As for a direction I don't want just something "fun"; I want a career interest that is long-term. I'll post whatever answer I find later on.

I read that State House District 140 Candidate Lauren Benedict's people, in a September 27 posting of the Peach Pundit, wanted to show that Allen Freeman was on the prowl for girls. Someone put the word that Allen's Myspace account did not mention a family and said he didn't want kids. Not the Allen Freeman I know. I tried to set up an account and had little better luck finding how to update my information. Now one of her alledged cronies has filed an ethics complaint which holds little water.

Just keep on, Ms. Benedict; you're making people mad. Oh and welcome to District 140 where you just moved to. Don't unpack your things yet. You won't need to be here long.

http://www.selfforsuperiorcourt.com

Hello
I am calling the race for Superior Court for Tillman "Tripp" Self. Tons of people in the legal community and elsewhere are endorsing him and he has had extensive experience handling civil and criminal cases. Ed Ennis has been a federal prosecutor for quite a while. He has more gray hairs and more importantly does not wear a bowtie.

Many who style themselves ultra classy wear bowties. This is to say "I'm different and thus I am better than you so I can wear this retro-Fifties goofball neckwear". But we have dealt with Tripp's family and find them wonderful people.

Pam White-Colbert will likely cater to the militants in the African-American community- but that is all. She has reportedly antagonized the staff in the DA's office wherein she works. Charles Jones and Cedric Leslie don't stand a chance as both are unknowns.

If I had gobs of money you would not catch me dead in a bowtie except in a tuxedo. I might be dead by the time I wear a tuxedo as most certainly the only occasion for wearing such might be my own wedding. This doesn't seem to be something that will happen soon.

Of Malls and Marshall

Hello
I went to the Houston Mall again. I was rehab shopping for my mother. No, not THAT kind of rehab; she is becoming less and less mobile with her disease.

Even at 3:30 PM the mall is dead. Evelyn's, the dress shop that was too stubborn to leave, is no more. A third of the mall is rented by the Houston Medical Center. This is not a bad idea if the $/sqft sales are high even for spending money on medical procedures. But HMC isn't the Mayo Clinic or Cook County Hospital in Chicago.

The northeast entrance is no more. Home Decor resides in it, the small stores along the way, and in two or more old stores possibly carved out of WT Grant's. I remember when my sis and I went to Grant's and bought a small globe. This was on a Sunday. Eckerd's is a billing center for HMC and the southeast corridor has Warner Robins Municipal Court and a probation office. A nail place and beauty supply replaced stores near where the old record store and Burton's shoes once thrived. I forgot there was a southeast wing to the mall. It has a few of HMC's storefront facilities.

Were I HMC and if no expansion were already planned for the hospital I'd buy the mall and revamp it. Then I would rent it out. Hospitals likely find themselves hurting to make a profit and though Houston Medical Center doesn't have indigents bleeding them dry it remains a neat idea.

Management needs to market the mall as an office center and fill the hallway with another row of offices. Perhaps they can bulldoze all but the east and west anchors and make a strip mall. Westgate did this but their mistake was remaining commercial in a deteriorating neighborhood.

I heard Jim Marshall this and that today on WDEN and WMAC. I am firing off a letter to Mac Collins' staffer to tell the campaign to hurry up and get some ads on the air yesterday. There is no reason for a last-minute full court press to be delayed. Collins needs to counter the liars lying about his lying and get the word out. The other GOP related groups do much better at putting out the facts on Marshall.

Allen Freeman a shoe-in but....

Allen Freeman of Georgia House District 140 faces Lauren Benedict in a reelection fight for the state house. Peachpundit.com has more details but it seems that Ms. Benedict has rented a house so she can live in the district. She is reported to be a trial lawyer and a full-blown liberal. Anyone with further skinny on her political leanings and affiliations please post comments here.

As for Mr. Freeman his parents have lived near South Bibb for years. His wife's grandfather fixed the telephones in South Bibb in the earliest days of telephony.

More on Dead Malls

Hello

Speaking of dead malls we have one in Middle Georgia. Houston Mall in Warner Robins (off Watson Boulevard across from Suntrust) was built in 1972. On the north end was Grant's and Belk's anchored the west end. Sears was on the Watson Boulevard side. In 1994 its anchors left it a nearly empty hulk. Manager Laverne Norris and the owners struggle to keep it alive.
I swung by Houston Mall two days ago. The facility is trying to fill up empty holes but I do not see this as meaningful. I saw a doctor's office, an outpatient annex for the hospital up the road, a Primerica office, a used office furniture dealer, a beauty supply place, a furniture store, a softlines/home decor outlet, and a billing office for the hospital mentioned above. I whirled around back and saw the old Belk's entrance which is the front door for the Air Force Reserve Band's offices.

Last year I saw an Asian-made junk store and an art gallery. At the old Grant's end was a clothing store whose owner is too stubborn to give up. Where the bookstore was at the north court is Municipal Court.

The Telegraph article from July has management gloating at its 85% occupancy. Sad to say but these will not stay for long. The mall's owner is unable to grasp one rule of marketing; have a goal for what you want for your business. He seems to want to fill space with whatever comes his way.

The best that the Houston Mall can hope for is to become an office mall or a government center. Forget about being a power center near a slum area. I would advise ripping down the center section and leaving the old Grant's and the adjacent strips as well as the old Sears building. There is no reason to air-condition five or six people walking around in in thousands of square feet of space in the common area. A patched parking lot looks horrible as does an old road sign that is more of a tombstone.

Belk's is talking with the owners of the Bass Road power center and Dillard's has all but committed itself as an anchor. This will suck Macon Mall dry if both choose to move away. It would make sense as I have heard there is lower occupancy of the mall and people tell each other not to visit MM at night. The ghetto has surrounded almost all of the mall.

More on this and other malls in days to come.

Dead and Dying Malls

Hello
I've been looking at dead and dying malls on the Web.
Your homework; visit
http://mallsofamerica.blogspot.com/2005/12/macon-mall.html There I have posted words on the Macon Mall and Westgate Mall. Below is a picture of the back end of Westgate dating to 1971

http://www.deadmalls.com
http://georgiaretailmemories.blogspot.com
Google for "Dixie Square Mall Harvey Illinois" which is a still-standing dead mall.
Also google for "Houston Mall Warner Robins" and see the Telegraph article

Enjoy while I go to bed.
KT

Dead Malls

Hello
I have been reading websites about dead malls and dying malls. I will fill you in on this later but here's some homework to do.

Visit the above link as per Macon Mall. I made a comment on this and Westgate Mall. Here is an external, from 1971, of the rear of Westgate.


Also see below:

http://www.deadmalls.com
http://georgiaretailmemories.blogspot.com


Also Google for Dixie Square Mall in Harvey, Illinois. It is a mall in which the car chase in "The Blues Brothers" was filmed. Not to worry; almost all of the mall is still standing. Empty. For over 25 years. Someone has done videos of the abandoned mall.

Finally look for an article on Houston Mall in Warner Robins. Read it then drive by for a few laughs.

We tend to wrinkle our noses at recent history but those who forget the past are condemned to my ire.

Been out for a few days

Hello
I've been off the blog for a few days. I have been trying a medicine for my sleep issue and the first one I tried made my heart beat too strongly. The next one seems to be causing me to stay in a sleepy state. I just want it to alleviate my issue of falling asleep after work.

I'll give the Strattera another chance before I give up. I like the idea of an SSRI but not if it will make me sleep like a bear- and at the wrong time.

Visit this link; deadmalls.com

What did I do the morning of 9/11/01

I don't know if I've written down what I did on 9/11/01 but it cannot be too much of a good thing to write it down again. The big thought I had was to make sure our leaders and our country would not pull any punches. We haven't done all we can but we are surely safer.

It was ten minutes after 9 and I was in bed getting ready to go to work. I lay there to get primed for the work day at the computer store. I was listening to WMAC-AM and Kenny Bee told us to stand by for a report on a terrorist attack- or an airplane crash, or both. I wish I had his words written down earlier. I didn't know if it were an airliner or a small craft. I remembered the B-25 that crashed into the Empire State Building during WWII. Reports from ABC initially indicated there was a plane crash. Later it seemed the reports talked of terrorism. I made my way to the store.

Our store was in a bigger facility at Mercer Crossing and I had a back room almost to myself for doing service work. I did almost nothing but service work. We had more manpower back then. We didn't have "same day next day" service yet but I took my job seriously.

I had a television tuned to Fox as we had cable internet run to the store. I got to see the pictures run over and over again of the planes crashing into the towers. I got to see an almost live picture of the towers crash. I say these pictures were almost live because the Fox staff indicated no surprise and said "here's some video of the tower crashing". Later the Pentagon fell prey and a plane crashed in a Pennsylvania field.

News wasn't entirely instantaneous though some live video showed us what was going on. Much of the video was looped and from other sources. Journalists have to confirm and reconfirm their stories before going public. It is still faster than having to wait for days or weeks as many in our nation did after the Declaration was signed.

Only a token few customers came into the store and the phone was relatively quiet. The nation seemed to stop; there was almost no activity in the shopping center. I heard that the Colonial Mall (later called Macon Mall) was evacuated in the wake of a bomb threat. My sister, who travels to many places in her job, called Mom and Dad later that night to tell us everyone was doing fine and that people were sent home from work due to having nothing to do.

I had heard stories of Pearl Harbor and the Kennedy Assasination. I wondered if we in our dumbed-down generation would trivialize this event and worse, insist on political correctness and forget what kind of stuff we as Americans were and are supposed to be.

I would be more infuriated with American attitudes than our goverment if nobody did anything about the terrorists. The generation after ours knew less about history or government and fell prey to the media and those who want to throw oru nation's principles out the window. I think the new adults very well have a chance to redeem themselves.

Been out due to boss' baby

Hello
I've been out because of my boss' wife giving birth but my mind has still been active.

I updated the Nike Hercules page at http://home.earthlink.net/~kturnerga/robinsnike. I am too cheap to buy a domain name so this long-drawn-out URL will have to do. Someone from the Byron Area Historical Society sent a picture of a sign that adorned the Byron Nike Hercules Base in the Sixties. The present property is now a restaurant fixture business and a pyrotechnics facility. Hopefully I can jazz up the web page to make it a showpiece but I am learning more about networking and not so much about web authoring.

The mayor of Macon wants nobody but his spokesperson, Ron Wildman, to respond to any press inquiries. Likely the public safety staff will be able to answer questions on events dealing in breaches of safety but everything else is under Mayor Ellis' lid. It's that simple: we in unincorporated Bibb must consolidate or break off ties with the City of Macon. The big fear is taking on the city's debt and having North and South Bibb become rich uncle to the rest of the county.

Now I did finally get the General Tso's brakes to behave. Or Kubia's Auto Center did. I got the rear brake shoes replaced a few months ago but the brakes were still spongy. I tried bleeding them with the 5.00 gizmo that allows one person to bleed them. I did more harm than good and there was air in the line. Next I propped the pedal with a sawn board and bled the lines in the back. I saw improved results but was not happy. The rear brakes were adjusted at Kubia's. At first the brakes would intermittently require me to hit metal to get to a complete stop at slow speeds. I tried backing up and hitting the brakes several times and voila they work fine.

The next task on the General is to change the oil and shampoo the rug on the driver's side. It still smells of manure when I first start it and the blower kicks in. I will insert some room deodorizer pads in an attempt to alleviate the smell. Should this fail I want to get a Haynes book and go further into the blower intake to make the machine smell better.

We have two window air conditioners in the living room. The big A/C (13000BTU) died so my uncle had one A/C that he didn't need. He and my sister bought another one. Each unit is 5000BTU and 8000BTU respectively. As the big A/C window unit is under warranty we will actually gain two instead of losing one A/C. I just wish that years ago the family had acquired high-velocity ducting and central air. This is if we had known that six window A/C's were to cool 1500 SQFT of space. Some of the units are unused but most tick along all the time. I may be wrong about the square feet of house; I will check with the Board of Tax Assessor's web site (so I read the headlines on Macon-Bibb's BOTA; big deal!).

I have lost a little weight just from judging by the girth I have. Some Tommy Hilfiger pants I got for a song and a dance manage to fit. My belly protrudes less. I attribute this to a small breakfast every morning and sometimes missing a meal. It wreaks havoc with my mood and my sleep cycle is going to pot. I wake up still sleepy at 9:15 and have a small snack. At 3:00 I have lunch and at 8:00 or 9:00 I take a nap. I wake up come 12:00 and shortly thereafter I will have dinner.

I am not getting richer nor am I doing a good job search to build up my piggy bank. I sleep and do a little playing and lots of housework. I want to take Brainbench's Windows 2003 Server exam (free) come October. I don't care if I am seeking a non-computer related career; I want to stay on track and do something with my life.

Dad is getting better and is doing more around the house thank goodness. His sleep cycle is slowly improving. Everyone's thoughts and prayers have been greatly appreciated.

South Bibb Development near Hartley Bridge

08/14/06

I read about a Moon Properties development at Hartley Bridge Road and Interstate 75. I praise this form of growth for South Bibb. The houses coming after the commercialization phase include multiple-family structures. If there are any houses built they must be middle-to-upper market. We do not need cheap rental property this close to Crawford and Peach Counties. With the ghetto being a few miles up Interstate 75 we most definitely need Moon's development to be relatively upscale- not snooty but upscale. This is being billed as an alternative to living in Atlanta. Of course we do need the jobs and decent schools to draw in people.

I am very excited with what I see going on in the next few years. Moon, according to the Telegraph, mentions a theater, elementary school, home improvement place, and supermarket.

Just think; when I grew up (an example; 1973)we had to travel to Rocky Creek Road to go to a real grocery store. Back then we had two superettes (Bryant's and the Red and White), one pharmacist (McCook's), four convenience stores, a few smaller country stores, a handful of churches, six full-fledged service stations (most on the Interstate), a few smaller "filling" stations, and two restaurants (Stuckey's and Shane's).

This development means a big push to get more goodies. Who knows; a tire store, a lube shop, more major fast-food outlets (A Hardee's I hope)and a multitude of doctor's offices. I really do not think a Wal-Mart is needed in our community for the next ten years at the earliest.

KAT

City phone bill being paid?

08/14/06

Question:
Is it true that the City of Macon has not been paying its telephone bills and that some of the phone numbers are dead?

Carelessness, neglect, and even worse can kill

http://www.wmaz.com/news/local_headlines.aspx?storyid=28777 details a woman who is smoking in bed- and she is on oxygen, by the way- and causes a fatal fire.

What part of "Oxygen: No Smoking Within 50 Feet" do some of us not understand?

General Tso actually gets brakes fixed

08/06/06

The General Tso got its brakes fixed. Yes, it does need its rotors ground but for 280.00 that can wait. The danger aspect of the brakes is gone thanks to the Mad Machinist. I had replaced the front pads but the rear shoes needed replacement. Try this; take a glass jar and rotate it as you would when taking off the lid. Put your thumb on the inside of the jar and force the twirling to stop. This is how brake shoes work on a drum on the rear of a car.

Of course it isn't that simple due to the springs and brake adjustment screw so I took it to the Mad Machinist. Yes there is lots of travel space on the pedal but much of that is normal. I do have to finish with the smell issue and the fuel feed being stubborn but these aren't that critical. Nor is having to feed the thing a quart of oil once every few weeks. A head job is more costly than feeding it oil until it smokes all the time.

I read about Leslie Elliot, who I grew up with. She worked in advertising- like I wanted to. I was an intern for her back in college. But she now has chosen to teach for Heard Elementary. Leslie is going to hang an angel in her room just as her deceased mother, Marian Hamlin, did when she taught a previous generation at Heard.

I do have one question; when is the ACLU going to yank out the angel due to church-state separation issues? Oh and one more question; why are so many promising people like Leslie and myself, when leaving college, forced to teach school, work for the federal government, do telephone insurance sales, or work in health care? This is what is happening in the Macon area. My family needs me here but I can't move forward in my career as long as I'm in Macon or the surrounding area.

I do have a plea for everyone while on the subject; vote for Allen Peake if he is running in your district. I trust a businessman over a lawyer who's father was just another politician at the State House. Read the Peach Pundit. Stebin's father gave to a Democratic candidate this year. So much for his dad being a closet Republican.

Stebin at one time refused to restrict the mayor's powers. I do not know what the issue was but it was in 2005. Someone please clue us in on this before we vote this Tuesday.

Finally, vote for Karen Handel and vote for Black in the runoff.

KAT

General Tso's Rug Gets Shampooed

07/24/06

I took out the passenger's seat on the General Tso as I figured this would most effectively let me clean the carpet. I shampooed and brushed the carpet and front and rear mats. I vacuumed the rug after it dried. The seat was shampooed, brushed,and vacuumed too.

Of course the hardest part was aligning the screw holes with the holes on the seat. The left front screw hole had been stripped by the time I got through. Saturday night I tried to screw the seat in and got really angry. I tried to pry, curse, and sweat through the ordeal.

Then Dad checked his blood pressure and found it to be 205/??. We then called 911 and an ambulance came. The paramedic and EMT examined him and found him to be fit despite his having the jitters. We thought it best to have him go to the ER.

KAT