If you don’t know what day it is… well, it’s Sunday. A day of rest. A day to relax, and how better to relax but with a good laugh?

Alpha called this morning to tell me — very excitedly — that Google is offering a free wireless internet beta. Just go go the Google homepage, and click the link.

The alarm went off at 7 this morning, as I wanted to go to the 8:00 service so that I could pick Gamma up (returning from the Orchestra trip to Orlando) a little after 9. So I got up, showered, dressed, and got Delta ready to go, but driving down the turnpike, it seemed too dark. So I looked down at the clock in my car, which read 6:40. My watch said the same.

Hubby’s little prank was to set my clock back an hour, then set the alarm for me (as I rarely set the alarm at all, unless I have a plane to catch). He still claims he didn’t do it intentionally, but RealtorChick’s clock was also set back an hour… so it seems a little suspicious that HWTFM and PunkHP did a little scheming last night at Daco’s place, while we were otherwise occupied.

I also happened across a great shopping site — another of those merchants we’re unlikely to ever see in Oak Ridge — and purchased a new swim cover-up. So, this is the shirt I’ll be modestly covering up in until I can lose the 15 pounds I’ve acquired since quitting smoking. I had one sort of similar when I was pregnant, but I think it got given away with the maternity clothes.
Go ahead and laugh, but HWTFM loves it.

And, the Museum of Hoaxes has a great “Top 100 April Fools Day” list. My favorite:

#7: Alabama Changes the Value of Pi

The April 1998 issue of the New Mexicans for Science and Reason newsletter contained an article claiming that the Alabama state legislature had voted to change the value of the mathematical constant pi from 3.14159 to the ‘Biblical value’ of 3.0. Before long the article had made its way onto the internet, and then it rapidly made its way around the world, forwarded by people in their email. It only became apparent how far the article had spread when the Alabama legislature began receiving hundreds of calls from people protesting the legislation. The original article, which was intended as a parody of legislative attempts to circumscribe the teaching of evolution, was written by a physicist named Mark Boslough.

Have fun!

I’ve been struggling for words to express my thoughts about Elizabeth Edwards, but Susan Madrak has said it all so well.

I admire Mrs. Edwards for choosing to live whatever days she has left, doing what she wants to do.  It’s not up to any of us to offer what she “should” want, or what her husband “should” decide on her behalf.  She has the opportunity, it seems, to be part of something interesting — something bigger than herself — and I hope that she has fun and is as free from suffering as possible.

Daco’s got a really good post at Manland today.  Although I started this day still exhausted from last week’s travel, his excitement is contagious and palpable.

That’s one of the things I love about Oak Ridge: a diverse group of people can pretty quickly find one another and rally around a good idea, working together to make something positive happen.  It happened three years ago with the new high school, and there are many other examples throughout our history.

Aside from the obvious result of accomplishing something that makes the community better, there are tangential benefits as well — like becoming friends with people that we might not have otherwise gotten to know.

* * *

The bond referendum related to the Crestpointe project must pass, as the decline in our city’s sales tax revenue has reached a critical point.  We are more reliant on property taxes than any other city in the region, and it is this decline that was behind the funding shortfall in the schools’ budget last year.

It has not improved over the last year.  As noted in today’s Oak Ridger, the school budget presentation gets underway on Thursday.  I can tell you now that it will not be pleasant, and that many of last year’s issues will resurface.

Sales tax revenue is vitally important to education, because by statute, half of all local option sales taxes go to education (in our case, shared with all school systems in the county, since they superseded our tax rate last year).  It’s not money we have to beg City Council for, and if the sales tax revenue is healthy and growing, it results in less begging from Council.

That would make everybody happier.  I don’t like begging, and I know a number of Council members who don’t like being the bad guy, saying no.

Supporting passage of the referendum (the language on the ballot will be “Yes” or “No,”  with “Yes” approving the bond issue to move forward with Crestpointe) will not solve the budget problem this year or even next, but it will create a method for pushing us back in the right direction.

At the moment, we’ve gone far enough in the wrong direction that it’s going to be somewhat painful for everyone involved.

Fortunately, many others have paved the way through the challenge of caring for elderly parents from a distance.  I learned yesterday that the local electric company has something called a “third party notification,” so they will contact someone else (i.e., adult children of a senior citizen) before utilities are disconnected.  That, in itself, is a huge relief.

In this case, it appears that she did pay the electric bill, but as of yesterday, they hadn’t recorded it.  Maybe the mail is slow.  I should probably help her set it up for auto-payment, along with the phone bill.

Tomorrow’s challenge will be to contact some of the folks who send her paper checks (the fruit co-op of which she’s a member, and a couple of brokerages from whom she receives dividend checks) and see if we can’t get those set up for direct deposit.  That way, she doesn’t have to worry about how to get them to the bank.

I would be happy to have her live with us, and have extended that offer on a number of occasions.  However, this is the farm she was born on, that’s been in her family for over a hundred years.  The pictures on the walls are of ancestors who immigrated around the turn of the last century (or a little earlier); there is her grandparents’ framed marriage license (in German, of course).

I don’t blame her for not wanting to leave.  This is her home.

Finding a way to make this work is our problem.

I’ve heard it said many times that the Pine Ridge site really is the only suitable site in Oak Ridge that meets Target’s size and traffic count criteria, but enough people were questioning that fact after Mr. Monday’s letter to the Editor on Monday that I went back to the City Manager to find out.

His response?

Monday’s property was considered early on and due to access and wetlands there was not enough developable land left.  

And, since so many folks seem to be asking the same questions, he forwarded me the list of other sites that were evaluated:

I can tell you about the sites that have been discussed and what I know. I really do not think that the public realizes how large this project is.

1. The old Food City site on Illinois – The entire site is approximately 10 acres. Target alone needs approximately 19 acres. Also, the building is approximately 30,000 sq. ft. Target alone is at least 180,000 sq. ft.

2. Big Lots area – to make the site larger the waterway has to be moved. This is a very expensive process and still will not yield enough space for just the Super Target.

3. Museum site – already been turned down by the Museum Board

4. Mall site – Unless the owners can get the restrictions lifted by all of the owners and tenants, it will not happen. In addition, even with the proposed changes, it will be difficult to place a Super Target on that site with the layouts and parking demands. I suggest talking to the owners to get their opinion.

5. Bob Monday owns just over 40 acres of property, but a significant portion is encumbered by water. The main reason that Target will not locate on that site is because there is currently no access to Illinois. In addition, there is just enough room for a Super Target, but not the other 220,000 sq. ft. that is proposed. Losing that amount of new retail would severely weaken the financial models

6. The next piece is the driving range. It is located on a landfill.

7. The arboretum is out.

8. Commerce Park is out

9. The church owns 11 acres next to the cemetery with limited access   [NM: not sure what this refers to]

10. I, along with my staff, looked at many smaller parcels on our GIS, but could not piece together a tract large enough to accommodate a development of this size.

11. National Fitness Site. Home Depot tried to get a co-anchor when they built, but Target said no. It is our understanding Target wants to locate on Illinois. In addition, with the new shops and office buildings that have been constructed, there is not enough room on the site.

12. Have the people read our frequently asked questions.  Do they realize what could go on this site without any additional approval? I know the public does not believe us, but eventually something will locate there.

13. GBT would love to find another site, because of the high construction costs. GBT has already done their own land review and came to the same conclusion.

14. We have explained to several other developers that if they will bring legitimate proposals, we will work with them. All we have so far is vague commentaries, but not a legitimate proposal.

Go ahead and download the FAQ’s.  It’s important to understand the details, and it seems that too many people are getting caught up in chasing “de tails” every time a new rumor is floated by someone who doesn’t like the current site — whether for their own environmental reasons, their own financial interest in another site, or whatever.

Give me your best description…

This was too good not to pass along.  No, I haven’t run it past Snopes; it really doesn’t matter to me if the quotes were ever truly uttered by those they’re attributed to… they’re still worth pondering.  Thanks David, for sharing!

18 trophies — 9 First Place.