UT’s had a less than stellar season; at the end of this season, there’s going to be a change.

Fulmer’s outta here.  Phil’s a good man, and I wish him well, wherever he goes.

Seattle really is a beautiful city… what little I’ve seen of it so far, anyway.

Getting here was a bit of an adventure, but it seems like anything involving airline travel is, these days.  My flight out of Knoxville was delayed (they didn’t put enough fuel in, on the first try), then we hit headwinds approaching Dallas.

When I got to the next gate, it was one minute until departure (I was supposed to have 45 minutes between flights), and they’d already given my seat to someone on standby.  So, I got bumped by 2.5 hours to the next flight out.

Not so bad, all things considered.  And, they even gave me a window seat, which I like.  Unfortunately, they put the two biggest fellows on the plane in my row, and I was in the last group to board, so I had my carry-on under my feet and was scrunched up against the window for the whole four-hour flight.

It could have been a lot worse, I know.  But I am tired — I’ve been up since 1 a.m. (Eastern time), and my last event this evening begins at 8:00 (Pacific time), so I’m going to be running about 24 hours straight before this day is done.

I can see the bay out my window, to the right of the shot posted.  I’d really love to go down to the wharf, and might just do that before the reception this evening.

I’ve been pretty much befuddled about the whole bailout mess this week, but finally, someone put it into perspective a little better.

From Blue Collar Muse:

[youtube:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H5tZc8oH–o]

Well, crud.  If the video isn’t showing up properly, just follow the link and read the rest of his post while you’re there.

The only communication I’ve had with my sister in Houston has been via text messages, but she left the airport this afternoon (where she spent the night at work, keeping their IT systems alive) to check on her husband and two sons.

In Kingwood, where they live (north-northeast Houston, just above Humble), there is no power, no phone service, and cell phones are out.  But her family is fine, and the house — the house that they just moved into in June — is okay.

After checking on everyone, she headed back to work.  

At least the temperatures have moderated to about 80 degrees — cool and comfortable by Houston standards — with the lack of air conditioning.

As hurricane Ike bears down on the east Texas coastline, pain is being felt across a much wider region.

My kid sister is riding out the storm at Bush Intercontinental Airport in Houston, where she works as the IT/Telecom manager.  it’s one of those positions where she has to be on-site during emergencies.  Unfortunately, that means her husband and two children have to survive at home without her.

They’ll be okay; they’re Texas tough.

Here at home, the worst we’ve seen is gas prices going crazy.  This morning, gas was still $3.69, but by afternoon, the price had jumped to $3.99.  There have been rumors circulating that stations may run out of gas, which of course prompts everyone (or everyone else) to go fill up all their cars, thereby increasing the likelihood of a shortage.

There’s a better answer to this temporary gas crisis: just stay home. 

Other than going to the football game tonight, I’m thinking the "just stay home" strategy could work really well for me.  I have plenty of groceries; I can buy more beer on the way home from the game.  

I will not participate in the frenzy; it’s like people buying up all the milk, bread, and toilet paper when snow is forecast, as though they’ll never see a grocery store again.  This is crazy, and just rewards the gas merchants for spiking prices in advance of a potential problem.

A little sanity, please, if there’s any left in the pipeline.

We celebrated Labor Day by laboring.

The new engine is finally — after about three months’ effort — in the Explorer.  Three months is a stretch, I guess, since we were out of town for half of July, and HWTFM has been out of town on business a few more times before and since… but it’s been three months since we started rebuilding Beta’s Explorer.

I’m pretty sure that professional mechanics have a better method than sitting perched between the windshield and the engine compartment, but that was the only way that I could see to ensure that we got the engine properly lined up with the transmission.

Delta documented the event.

In the many months that the vehicle has sat idle in our driveway, spiders have been attracted from miles around.  Lying on my back under the truck to align the bell housing bolts with the engine last night, I watched several spiders busily spinning, covering their egg sacs then toting them away into the darkness.

The spiders seem more prolific this year.  I wonder what weather sign that predicts for Fall and Winter?

My hope is that it predicts there will soon be one less vehicle taking up space in my driveway.

I have to admit, the name fits.

The story about impending "physical activity" at the former Oak Ridge Mall is not one to get excited about; they’re going to drill a geothermal test loop.  They want to find out it it’s possible to more efficiently heat and cool that empty shell?  What could be more efficient that having it locked up, as it is now?

The real story here is not the storyline, nor the editorial that follows.  The story is that people — whether the people commenting online, or the editorial staff themselves — are blaming the city leadership for the fact that our city center is empty, forcing many Oak Ridgers to Knoxville to shop. 

Folks, the mall is privately owned.  Every time our city leadership has attempted to do anything to bring in fresh retail opportunities, citizens fire up a petition and hold a referendum to quash any government involvement in potential progress. 

Don’t blame our City Council; they’ve tried, but been stopped by referendum every time.  If you signed one of those petitions, or voted "no" in a referendum, look in the mirror for the leader who failed to fix our city’s biggest problem.

Next in the blame line are the few remaining anchors on the site, who’ve exercised their rights to say NO to potential new businesses who might increase competition to their stores.  But, with no competition, there’s also nothing to draw traffic, nothing to entice those stores to carry better lines of merchandise (we tend to get the cast-offs that didn’t sell elsewhere), no synergy.

It would make just as much sense to blame the Oak Ridger.  After all, when the paper was locally owned, we had a vibrant shopping center.  The owner, publisher and editor lived here, shopped here, and helped set an example.  Today, none of those are true.  Therefore, it must be the newspaper’s fault, right?

No.  It’s our own fault.  The fault of the citizens who signed to govern by referendum.

If you’re going to throw someone out, that’s where you need to look.

School shootings always are. 

15 year old Ryan McDonald got up this morning, kidded with his grandmother, caught the bus and went to school — where he was supposed to be, doing what he was supposed to be doing.  Somewhere along the line, he got crosswise with Jamar Siler in the cafeteria.  Jamar pulled a gun from his backpack and shot Ryan in the chest.  Ryan died within the hour, at UT hospital.

For a few months, Central High School parents have been expressing concerns about discipline at the school, or lack thereof.  But school officials seem to have dismissed it as trivial stuff, like shoving in the lunch lines.  I have to admit, it’s a long leap from shoving in the lunch line to shooting a classmate over breakfast.

Not so many years ago, teenage machismo was settled with bare knuckles after school.  More often than not, the parties ended up friends afterward, their differences settled.  What has changed in the psychological makeup of teenagers, that permits one to take a gun to school, kill another child, and calmly walk away?

Did Jamar look at Ryan’s bald head (due to a medical condition that left him completely hairless) and see racism?  Did he think that the taking of Ryan’s life would improve his own?

There is no sense to be made of this.

UPDATE: Murder runs in the family?

I first got the news via a text message on my cell phone: TVA is raising rates for electric power by 20%, effective October 1.

Blue Collar Muse has an excellent (and link-rich) post about the subject.  And he’s right about where the blame belongs.  But, there’s more to the story that gets under my skin in a big way, referring back to an article in the News-Sentinel last December 13:

In a separate report to the U.S. Office of Management and Budget, TVA detailed incentive payments greater than $25,000 to 54 top executives.

TVA President and CEO Tom Kilgore earned total compensation of $1.84 million for the fiscal year, up from $1.59 million last year. Kilgore is eligible to make $2.7 million next year under a compensation plan approved last month by TVA’s board.

Other top earners for 2007 were Chief Operating Officer Bill McCollum ($1.76 million), Vice President of Nuclear Generation Development and Construction Ashok Bhatnagar ($1.04 million) and Chief Nuclear Officer Bill Campbell ($1 million).

Since TVA is supposed to be a not-for-profit type entity, it surely seems to me that part of the criteria for earning bonuses ought to be whether they’ve done all they can to provide maximum customer service at the minimum price.

Folks, November is fast approaching.   We all know that developing alternative energy sources is necessary, whether to protect the environment or to quit sending billions to people who want us dead.  We’ve used hydroelectric for years, and it works well when it rains.  We’re developing a taste for wind and solar, which works well where the wind blows or the sun shines.

Nuclear power doesn’t depend on the weather.  It’s reliable, and we know how to do it right. 

John McCain gets it.  So does Zach Wamp.