The Birthday Boy

This Sunday is my birthday. Ya! I’ll be one year older and one closer to thirty. So, if you can do the math, which you should be able to (unless you’re a caveman), you would know that I’ll be twenty-nine. Since Sunday is my b-day we celebrated it on Friday at work. You see, where I work we actually throw birthday parties for each other, and we go all out too.

The inflatable lady above–Well, her name is Judy. Don’t worry, she has a really nice and squishy personality And no, she’s not anatomically correct, either; I looked.

Of course, me and my crazy ideas that come to me, I had said something jokingly about having an inflatable doll. I didn’t think the folks at work would actually go through with it! The gentleman in the picture above is Jim, our production director, and he was the one who actually had the honor of blowing Judy…up. Hmm…that didn’t sound right

Anyway, I had a pretty good time, and tonight I’m going out to semi-party. One of the ladies in the business office is leaving–her last day was today–and she’s going on to better things, so we’re throwing a little party for her at one of the restaurants in town here. Should be fun. Now, what to do with Judy?

The Copper-Theft Epidemic

Lately, it seems that the hunt for copper to retrieve and sell to scrappers has become all the rage, and with it has come some rather drastic–or, should I say, dasterdly?–acts. Of course, anytime certain individuals learn of a new way to make some possible money, they do whatever it takes to make it. And this whole illegal recycling effort has gotten out of hand it seems.

At Zoomers Amusement Park in Fort Myers, FL, a small place that’s not yet open for the season, which is going through some tough financial times, thieves made off with track to a kiddie roller coaster that was in storage in a nearby field. That, I suppose, might be conceivable to look like something that could be meant for scrap–with weeds and all growing up and around it. However, the park was just storing it there temporarily. The thieves were eventually caught when they went to “cash in” their “treasure”; the metal scrapping company they brought the track to thought it was a strange thing for a couple of guys to be bringing them.

This, of course, is just one example of people trying to sell something for scrap that isn’t and never was theirs. But, things are far more worse than somebody stealing coaster parts out of a field. That’s nothing compared to the desecration of a local landmark here in Anderson, SC that just recently happened.

Of all things for scrap-thieves to target…a World War I monument to soldiers at a local war memorial, which is out front of the American Legion facility, was knocked over and broken apart. Apparently, the “dough boy” statue was targeted because the thieves thought it might be made of copper–or that copper might be contained within. Unfortunately for them, the statue is actually comprised of zinc and iron. Oops…dumbasses.

It’s hard to believe that anyone would even conceive of tearing down a war memorial just in the hopes of finding something to sell for scrap. It’s just utterly disrespectful, disrepectful to the people that it was built to honor; the people whose sacrifices were in support of the free world. And, to think, here Memorial Day weekend is upon us, and this disgusting event takes place.

Perhaps, the most disturbing part of all of this is that the police have determined that the statue was torn down sometime during the day–in broad daylight! And the memorial is on a busy road at that.

Minor Update

The site has once more been updated to the latest version of WordPress, and I’ve done the all-important back up as well. It’s stupid, I know, that I don’t back things up more often; I only do it when there’s an update, usually. Perhaps, somebody will come by and destroy things–then, I’ll realize how “all-important” those back ups really are