Tag: Altoona

ROAD TRIP

Worst budget season in history ended this week.

Shoveled, hauled, and spread 6 yards of mulch yesterday for eight hours.

Today I get to do an eight hour roundtrip through torrential rains to pick up my son at Penn State.

I’ll be off-line for the rest of the day.

Here are some reminiscences from previous trips with son number one. Son number three starts at Penn State in August.

THE GOOD, THE BAD & THE SMELLY

JUNIOR ADMINISTRATOR, ALTOONA, BIG K & THE WRATH OF GOD

HOPE & SORROW – THE CIRCLE OF LIFE

ROADTRIP OBSERVATIONS

ANOTHER REASON I DESPISE BANKS

Yesterday was a day from hell. A 14 hour ordeal moving my son into his apartment at Penn State Altoona. It included 8 hours of driving, rest stop food and the consequences thereof, battling the hoards of freaks at Wal-Mart, and the latest reason I despise banks.

I had Jimmy drive the entire trip so he could get used to the roads and the tedious boredom of driving on the PA Turnpike. Avalon followed with my youngest son in the car behind. It gave me plenty of time to impart my years of wisdom upon him. I’m sure he has already forgotten everything I said. And I had to listen to four hours of Phish.

All went smoothly and it was time to make a rest stop at the 2 hour mark just before Blue Mountain. The plan was to grab a quick bite to eat and complete the journey for a 1:00 pm arrival. The selection was limited. Either a personal pan pizza from Pizza Hut or something from Roy Rogers. I grabbed a box of pizza and they got Roy Rogers.

Within 30 minutes of departure there was a rumble in my tummy. The rumble became shooting pains. I guess you can screw up a pizza. For the last 90 minutes of the trip I was in various stages of discomfort. But, I gutted it out. When we arrived and got the key, I grabbed the case of toilet paper we brought and ran for the bathroom. And Jimmy’s new apartment was christened.

Continue reading “ANOTHER REASON I DESPISE BANKS”

JUNIOR ADMINISTRATOR, ALTOONA, BIG K & THE WRATH OF GOD

ORIGINALLY POSTED IN AUGUST 2011

My oldest son has now made it through his first week in college at Penn State Altoona. It was such a busy week, I was unable to give a brief synopsis of the eventful trip. On that Wednesday night we packed all of his earthly belongings into his CRV and my Insight. His hockey stuff, amplifier and electric guitar took up 70% of the space in his car. His check-in time at his apartment complex in Altoona was 11:00 to 12:00. The plan was to leave in a caravan at 7:00 am for the 3 1/2 hour drive.

I slept like crap and got up at 5:00 am on Thursday and began the orderly shower progression . I put on a pot of coffee and walked outside to get the newspaper. As I reached down to pick up the paper, a flash of lightening departed from the heavens.

I should have known right then it was going to be a long day. The weather forecast was for scattered thundershowers. That usually means a late afternoon 20 minute storm. But Nooooo!!!! Not today. The rain started to fall and thunder and lightening increased. The path to Altoona is pretty straightforward – 180 miles west on the PA Turnpike and 40 more miles on Route 220/99. We got under way at 7:00, but driving through a heavy thunderstorm on the Turnpike with 18 wheelers sharing the road with you is stressful and much slower.

After about an hour on the road we blasted through the storm and into sunshine. We started to make good progress until the Administrator’s bladder filled up and we needed to stop at a rest stop. We made one more stop on the way to get some more gas and arrived in 4 hours and 15 minutes.

Continue reading “JUNIOR ADMINISTRATOR, ALTOONA, BIG K & THE WRATH OF GOD”

HOPE & SORROW – THE CIRCLE OF LIFE

REPOST OF ARTICLE FROM AUGUST 2014

 

“Actual happiness always looks pretty squalid in comparison with the overcompensations for misery. And, of course, stability isn’t nearly so spectacular as instability. And being contented has none of the glamour of a good fight against misfortune, none of the picturesqueness of a struggle with temptation, or a fatal overthrow by passion or doubt. Happiness is never grand.” – Aldous Huxley, Brave New World


When you drive the PA Turnpike for 7 hours you have a lot of time to think. Our trip to Altoona was bittersweet. My oldest son is beginning his senior year at Penn State. He has his whole life ahead of him. But you never know for sure. His best friend was killed in a car accident one year ago. That tragic event has changed him. He is more serious and introspective. He is searching for a deeper meaning to life. He has downloaded a number of books about spirituality this summer.

He is worried about getting a job after graduation. His degree in Information Technology doesn’t guarantee a job. No degree guarantees a job anymore. I hope he is able to land a decent job with a decent company. He won’t be burdened with any student loan debt. That’s my gift to him. He also understands what is going on in this country. He doesn’t trust the government or the police. He has a healthy skepticism about everything in the media. Driving in a car with me for two hours a day will do that to you.

On the interminable drive, I thought about my senior year in college. It was a great time. I shared an apartment off-campus with two buddies. I had my academics completely under control, so there was plenty of time for enjoying my final days of freedom with friends. There was softball, basketball, frat parties, concerts, and many nights of drinking. Our apartment was fairly big and perfect for parties. There were many interviews with accounting firms and many rejection letters. Our biggest most drunken party was the rejection letter burning party. There were so many rejection letters among the attendees that we achieved a huge bonfire in our yard.

I graduated from college in 1986 and I had hopes and dreams that seemed achievable. Jobs were plentiful. If you took the necessary steps (CPA, MBA), worked hard, and joined the right company, a successful career in finance was there for the taking. If you invested your money in the stock market consistently, dollar cost averaging would lead to a long-term nest egg. Monetary and fiscal policy was too abstract for someone trying to raise a family and build a successful career. Accounting manager, Treasurer, Controller, Strategic Planning – next stop CFO. Politics was uninteresting to me. Life was progressing nicely until the turn of the century.

Continue reading “HOPE & SORROW – THE CIRCLE OF LIFE”

BACK TO SCHOOL

I’ll be offline for most of the day. My oldest starts his senior year at Penn State tomorrow. Then he enters the REAL world. He filled the CRV with stuff last weekend and we are left with everything he couldn’t fit into the CRV. We’re bringing all the essentials – three guitars, two amplifiers, a suitcase of clothes, and all the electronic equipment he forgot to bring.

Our 7 hour round- trip of boredom on the PA Turnpike is about to commence. I’ve written three articles on previous trips to Altoona. I’ll repost them for your pleasure. One is a TBP classic.

Back to School

PENN STATE TERRORIST OR DUMBASS POTHEAD?

Don’t you love how the MSM loves to use the term Weapons of Mass Destruction? Big bad axis of evil dictators are supposed to have them. We now know that cookware counts as a weapon of mass destruction in Boston. Now we have a Russian college engineering pothead student at Penn State Altoona being caught with a WEAPON OF MASS DESTRUCTION. I wonder if the U.S. Military will be invading Altoona to liberate its people.

CNN, Fox, MSNBC and the rest of the fear mongering legacy media are breathlessly reporting this latest terrorist threat. He is one of those dreaded Russians. Hide under your beds. The Russians are coming.

A Penn State Altoona freshman from Moscow, Russia, was arrested late Friday and charged with possessing a weapon of mass destruction and risking a catastrophe, after city police allegedly found a homemade bomb and bomb-making materials in his Juniata apartment – where they had come to look for a marijuana-growing operation.

The Altoona Mirror doesn’t seem to be following the MSM scare tactic headlines. They actually interviewed the dude’s roommate and got the following responses:

One of Miftakhov’s apartment mates, Andrew Leff of Bucks County, contradicted Miftakov’s statement that he hadn’t detonated anything in Pennsylvania, saying that during the current semester, Miftakhov had set off three “mini-bombs” just outside their apartment, creating small craters in the ground.

Recently, Miftakhov had showed Leff a bomb made by mixing chemicals in an aerosol whipped cream container, Leff said.

“I said, ‘Dude, you’ve got to get rid of that,'” Leff said Saturday afternoon in the snow outside the apartment.

Miftakhov later told Leff he’d done as suggested.

“[But] apparently he didn’t,” Leff said.

Miftakhov was a “crazy kid” who did “impulsive things,” Leff said.

“He was off the wall,” Leff said. “It’s not surprising to me at all [to learn about the arrest].”

Leff said Miftakhov was a “dumb kid” who did what he did because he was bored.

Leff didn’t see Miftakhov as truly dangerous, he added.

Why let the truth get in the way of a sensationalist fear mongering headline designed to keep the ignorant masses fearful, begging for more government protection and the further restriction of our liberty and freedom? A headline about a pothead engineering student who liked to create explosions in remote fields just doesn’t do the job.