Ramblings of Sarge

14JULY10 Hwy 169 Construction

14JULY10 Hwy 169 Construction
Originally uploaded by Sarge Jan08

The morning and evening commute between Anoka and Brooklyn Park is 10 miles and passes through a 4-year major project on Hwy 169. This trio of roadways makes up one of the top traffic intersections in the state.

The drive is improving as progress is made and I look forward to the day that it is complete. Highway 169 is being routed over Highway 81 and 85th Avenue which will eliminate two sets of semaphores in that congested area. A series of ramps and bridges will keep traffic flowing through the rush hours. There will still be a few stoplights from 93rd Avenue northward, but life isn't perfect.

For those in the area, here is the summary from the MNDOT site.

2008
Construction of the Hwy 169 Triangle began in July of 2008. Bypasses for Hwy 169 and County Road 81 were built through November of 2008 and traffic was switched onto those bypasses. Traffic on 85th Ave. (County Road 109) was restricted to a single lane in each direction on the eastbound side of the roadway and work began on constructing the north half of 85th Avenue which was completed in early October of 2009. Bridge construction on the bridge over BNSF Railroad and County Road 81 and the new alignment of southbound Hwy 169 began in late fall of 2008 and work continued throughout the winter on the bridges but work on the Highway was suspended and began again this spring 2009.

2009
The 2009 construction season was spent constructing southbound Hwy 169, County Road 81 and the north half of 85th Ave. On the same day, 85th Avenue traffic was switched onto the newly constructed westbound lanes between Jefferson Hwy and Xylon Avenue North. In early October of 2009, County Road 81 traffic was switched to the newly built roadway. Bridge work and retaining wall work will also continue through the end of 2009.

2010
southbound Hwy 169 traffic was switched to the new lanes of southbound Hwy 169. Once the northbound Hwy 169 traffic is switched to the new southbound roadway in the early fall, work will then begin on the new alignment of northbound Hwy 169. The summer of 2010 will also include continued construction of the south half of 85th Ave. Bridge and retaining wall construction will continue in 2010. Reconstruction of 85th Ave will be finished and both east and westbound lanes will be fully open by Fall of 2010.

2011
The final year of construction in 2011 will feature completion of northbound Hwy 169 and traffic will then be moved to the new northbound roadway. As the project wraps up, miscellaneous work will be completed on 85th Ave for final completion in the Fall of 2011.

13JULY10 Acme

13JULY10 Acme Originally uploaded by Sarge Jan08

Acme is the age old name for cartoons and businesses. I love delivering to Acme companies because it reminds me of Wile E. Coyote and brings a smile to my face. Evidently this company should call the Acme Sign Co. to get that "M" replaced. I got curious about what A.C.M.E. actually stood for. So, to Google I went. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Acme_Corporation Here is what I remember: "The Acme Corporation is a fictional corporation that exists in several cartoons, films and TV series, most significantly in the Looney Tunes universe. It appeared most prominently in the Road Runner/Wile E. Coyote cartoons, which made Acme famous for outlandish and downright dangerous products that fail catastrophically at the worst possible times." Then there is this: "The company name is ironic since the word acme is derived from Greek (ακμή; English transliteration: acmē) meaning the peak, zenith or prime, and products from the fictional Acme Corporation are both generic and tend to fail. A.C.M.E. has also been used as a backronym meaning "A Company that Makes Everything". This can be rendered as a recursive acronym ("Acme Company Makes Everything")." And finally: "Early Sears catalogs contained a number of products with the "Acme" trademark, including anvils, which are frequently used in Warner Bros. cartoons[2]."

10JULY10 Isanti Rodeo

10JULY10 Isanti Rodeo 06 Originally uploaded by Sarge Jan08

Sue and I attended the The 34th annual Isanti Firefighters PRCA Rodeo. It was an excellent show including Bare Back, Bucking Broncos, Steer Wrestling, Bull Riding, Calf Roping, Team Roping and Barrel Racing. We had a great night at the well attended event and the weather couldn't have been better. It was a wonderful date reminiscent of our early years together as we would go to the once big rodeo in South St. Paul. The Isanti, MN, fire department hosts this annual event. They use it to to raise additional monies to enhance fire/rescue protection services to the community. It is also an affordable event and family friendly. After the rodeo is a dance and the band Six Wheel Drive was the entertainment on the Saturday night that we attended. We did not stay for the band or dance. One moment had the crowd in a collective gasp as a bull rider from Anoka, Mn, was thrown from the bull. Although the bull missed the cowboy as it's hoofs slammed to the ground, the man wasn't so lucky as he was struck in the head when the bull immediately bucked again. He got to his feet and staggered a bit and went back to his knees as a couple of other men reached him to assist him out of the ring. He looked to be out on his feet as they headed to the side rail and he was moving his feet again as they headed toward the gate. He walked past the ambulance, but I am sure they were keeping an eye on him for a while in the back area. See the rest of my photos at http://www.flickr.com/photos/jdshnzr/sets/72157624363297197/

World of Outlaws

[flickr video=4790866391 show_info=true w=240 h=180] 12JUL10 Vid Feature 3 Originally uploaded by Sarge Jan08

The World of Outlaws sprint cars made their annual visit to Cedar Lake Speedway in New Richmond, WI, on July 11, 2010. My cousin Jeff and I were in attendance for another excellent show. The questionable weather may have kept the crowd size down, but the moisture in the track kept the race speeds up! I don't recall ever seeing the cars so fast on the banked 3/8 mile dirt track. Even the heat races were something to watch with the speed they were carrying. We had the grill and tailgaiting set up and were watching from our perch in turn 3. In our opinion it is one of the best places to watch races at this track. All in all it was a great night of food, racing and interacting with other folks at the track. See video of the feature race on my YouTube page. http://www.youtube.com/user/Sarge4 See my photos on my Flickr page. http://www.flickr.com/photos/jdshnzr/sets/72157624363547685/

The Office

09JULY10 The Office Originally uploaded by Sarge Jan08

"Averaging 52-55 hours per week, well over two-thirds of it is spent in this cab. Even after 11 hours of work, here I sit for 30-60 minutes to get to the dock for another 20 minutes of being unloaded." (Photo Description) My office is the cab of a 2006 Kenworth T300. Although it was paid off in January, the payment savings are still not reaching my pocket. Repairs that have been put off during the slow economy of the past two years are now eating up the funds that were going toward the purchase. There are a couple more months of this and maybe more if anything else pops up. As with many truckers these days, I am one major repair away from being out of business. I love the job itself, but the profits have gone in the tank. Three and four years ago when the economy was moving along, profits were high and work was plentiful. When the economy hit the breaks, the work load dropped sharply. With the volume drop came the feeding frenzy of the sales teams as they all undercut the competition in order to take business from one another. Rates have been painfully reduced. Even though it has gotten a little busier, the profit level has not bounced back. If I could sell the truck for a good price, I would give serious thought to getting out of the business. Like every other industry though, bouncing back is slow and labored. It will be a long time before we see the prosperity that existed earlier in the past decade. Unfortunately the supply of these trucks outweighs the demand for them. Thus a good price is highly unlikely and an okay price is sketchy at best. So the way it looks at this point, I will continue to add onto the 234,202 miles that I have put on the truck to this point.

Laundry Day

08JULY10 Laundry Day
Originally uploaded by Sarge Jan08

The growth rate of the pile of clean laundry was outpacing my waistline. Like the diet I need, something had to be done. The dreaded day has arrived. Laundry Day!

I had a photo of the end table next to my dresser where I tend to pile the clean laundry until I get around to putting it away. The stack was equal to the height of the chest of drawers leveling off just below the television that hangs from the ceiling. All told it was approximately 30" high on a 2'X3' table. Well, you get the picture. There is no need to embarrass myself with the photo of that collection. I was about to say that the only thing worse would be ... But I thought of my kids yucking it up as they posted that ... on my behalf for all the world to see and take a collective gasp.

Today became the day as I thought of it as an idea for my daily photo. It was my motivator so to speak. I attempted to perform my usual procrastination techniques. I queried the dinner menu with the bride. We ordered a pizza and watched a Dirty Harry movie on Netflix, The Dead Pool. I even opened the laptop. But alas, here I am, folding clothes.

Well, now the laptop is open again as I procrastinate the putting said clothes in drawers and closet. This can't last too long as the wifey will want to gain access to the new bed tonight. The new bed is a wonderful improvement I might add. No might about it, I just added it.

Well now to tweet and FB the blog and then back to work. Or should I go find a dvd first to throw into the player up here. Hmmm? I am quite certain that the old gal won't put up with this very long. 30.5 years of marriage and no nagging. How great is that? She will get in my face or bury her size five when I need or deserve it though. I know when that is and I cannot consider something I deserve as nagging. Again, I am truly blessed.

Well, enough of this. It's Laundry Day! Huzzah!

Finally, A New Bed

06JULY10 New Bed 1
Originally uploaded by Sarge Jan08

The new bed set from The Original Mattress Factory delivered July 6.

I'm guessing that it was a little more than a decade ago when I decided that it was time to replace the bladder in the soft side water bed rather than repair it again. While I shopped around for the new bag, I threw a full size mattress into the queen size frame. It was a nice snug fit and worked well for a temporary fix. Is a decade temporary?

The Sealy Posturepedic was pretty comfortable and chimed in at around $1400 for the set. The Simmons Beauty Rest weighed in at $1099. After that sticker shock I stopped in at my local store front for The Original Mattress Factory to find the Ortho Luxury Firm at $699.

When it comes to purchasing items like this, items that should be of good quality for a longer term, I hesitate to go with the cheapest brand for fear of product failure. In this case however, after seeing the cutaways and the quality of materials and construction, I believe that I got the best of the three and the lowest price is a bonus.

Even new and too firm, this bed will be worlds ahead of what we had been using. I look forward to breaking it in and having years of better quality sleep.

Assignment: Sermon Prep

07JULY10 Sermon Prep
Originally uploaded by Sarge Jan08

Home from work in the truck and now working on the pain management. Soon to be working on the computer as tonight's assignment is sermon prep for Saturday's Comforts of Home service in Blaine, MN, which our church provides on the second, third and fourth weeks of the month. Also being finalized tonight is the devotional message to be presented at the annual Cornerstone Church of Blaine Men's Group golf outing.

Unfortunately, due to a prior annual engagement, I will not be able to attend this year's golf outing. I had planned on attending both events but other things scheduled by the church bumped the match back an hour. I am now unable to attend either event in it's entirety if I try to attend both so I had to make a choice. I could spell out my reasoning here but I don't believe I could do it justice. Also, due to some of the reasoning, this may not be a good place to elucidate the issue. Any curious soul will just have to contact me personally. (You know - an actual live conversation.)

I look forward to tonight's duties because this is what keeps me studying and learning Scripture. For the Christian, which I am, there is joy in exploring God's Word. I do not mean merely reading the Bible, even though that is a good thing, rather, actually studying and seeing how passages are tied together and how they spell out the principles by which I ought to operate and how they reveal the attributes of God. Studying and learning and experiencing the joy of the Living Word of God.

The Front Yard

Front Yard
Originally uploaded by Sarge Jan08

Down the side and along the front of the yard are many burnt out spots in the lawn in keeping with our house in need of much repair. Today will be a rare attempt at yard work, patching the lawn. The trick will be to determine to keep up on the watering. Then the weeds in the driveway and on the patio need to be sprayed.

It seems that life in today's culture has moved to the backyard. Decks and privacy fences seem to have replaced the front porch. I prefer to sit on the patio out front and watch the neighborhood go by. Greeting the walkers, watching the cars, and talking to the neighbors.

What is your neighborhood like and which do you prefer?

Morning of Another Day

Morning of Another Day
Originally uploaded by Sarge Jan08

Another project started. We'll see how this one goes. The goal is a photo nearly every day to tell the story of the rest of 2010. I am beginning on Independence Day with the typical beginning of the day. Deal with the pains and look forward to the joys that the day will bring forth. All are blessings in one way or another from God.