News And Notes From Meridian, Idaho

Being that I actually live in this town where almost nothing happens (except new houses being built -- the city's population has gone from 35K to over 60K since 2000), I figured I should post about what little does happen. (Please note that I'm happy that nothing really happens here -- I like it that way.)

1) I went to the homecoming game last night at Mountain View High School (MV beat Boise HS 40-7), and saw... streakers! Three of 'em. Right in the middle of the introductions of Homecoming royalty. Looked to be about 17- or 18-year old boys. One of them fell on his butt (it was raining) and lost his sock. The PA announcer said something like, "Pay no attention to those idiots." I laughed my fool head off.

2) We have a election coming up for mayor, featuring the incumbent, Tammy de Weerd, against a challenger, James Holtzclaw. The current Mayor has a really big forehead that looks kinda frightening, and the challenger is a 10 year Air Force veteran whose website bio says that "(w)hile serving in the Air Force, I earned a medal for Outstanding Service, as well as a degree in Science". Huh? What kind of medal? Was it a Good Conduct Medal? If so, why only one? And where do you get a "degree in Science"? I'm not sure who I'm gonna vote for, since the current Mayor seems only interested in granting building permits to everyone with a bank loan, and the challenger doesn't come right out and say he's going to stop further new home construction. (As you can guess, I'm one of those people who thinks that I'm the last person who should be allowed to move into a growing city; in my defense, I bought an existing house.) The incumbent is going to win anyway, so I'll probably end up voting for the other guy just to let the Mayor know I'm not happy with what's going on. I could go to meetings, I know, but there's this really good TV show on and... you get the picture.

3) There are two other fairly well-known (for Idaho) bloggers that I've found who write from Meridian, over at Free in Idaho and at the website of Marv Hagedorn, one of my state representatives -- he's also a retired Navy officer. (Also, I think at least some of the posters over at girlfriday live here.) If anyone knows any other Meridian bloggers, I'd sure like to hear about them.

4) I've got two inflatables up in my yard already for Halloween, including an 8 ft. tall haunted pirate ship. I love gaudy holiday lawn art.