On The Road Again

I am up north in the Twin Cities for work from today until Friday.

Tonight we got to the hotel and checked in and I did a little bit of work for about an hour and then it was out to hit the town. First stop was supper.

We drove out to Menneehaha park where there was this pretty cool little seafood place that you could choose to either dine indoors or outside on the terrace. There were families eating, kids playing, loads of people riding their bikes. The scenery was really cool and the atmosphere just felt very lively.

When we were finished there we went with a former co-worker to check out his digs. He had purchased a house not too long ago in Minneapolis and he wanted to show it off to us. It was a very nice place, much like many of the houses in the area. Both Minneapolis and St. Paul have tons of older homes from the Victorian style. It was fun just driving around and looking at all of the rich architecture that was poured into these various communities.

The thing that I love about the Twin Cities is that everywhere you go you find people. There are parks everywhere and many of the streets have designated lanes for bicycles. I also love the quaint feeling of driving down the streets of these mature neighborhoods and seeing all of the local businesses that thrive. While there are certainly big corporations that are located here there is still a sense of community and supporting the local small business. This is what truly makes for a good sense of community and economy.

The last stop was this place in St. Paul that was on Grand Ave. It was a creamery that made both their own cones and ice cream. I had been told that it was good, but it was more affirming to see the line of people waiting to receive their cold treats. The line started in the store...and wrapped around and out the door to the sidewalk outside. We probably waited 15 minutes or so to get served but it was well worth it.

Grand Ave in St. Paul is known for its small business and shops along the strip. Four or 5 miles of storefronts and houses that have been converted into businesses keep alive into the evenings with people either shopping or walking around. I love the fact that they didn't come in and bulldoze the homes out of the neighborhood; they recycled them.

Although I probably wouldn't want to live here, it is a great place to visit.

Commentary Concerning Internet Subculture, namely MySpace.com

I am posting this primarily just as a talking point. The following is a bulletin that is now circulating en masse on MySpace because of a recent ABC news story. After much thought and deliberation, I will leave the message as is without editing it for the sake of my readers...[like I really have any kind of attendence here] I apologize for any offense that might be taken at some of the choice words, but again, I do not believe in editing other's works in light of points that they are trying to make.

Much time has been given to the converstaion and controversies surrounding MySpace, Facebook, and probably will with TagWorld

Is there really anything to worry about or is it all much ado about nothing? I have my own guesses but here's an interesting read.

Anybody happen to catch Nightline last night on ABC? In case you didn't, one of the hot topics discussed was MySpace. It is no secret to anyone who reads the newspaper or watches the 6 o'clock news that MySpace has been in the limelight because of "sexual predators" trying to "abduct and corrupt" the youth of the world. To this I say bull shit! I see dozens of profiles a day showing 14 year old girls dressed like sluts, wearing four inches of make up and 32 layers of eyeliner, displaying their age as 18 years old and profile lines stating "Oh, I'm So Sexy" or "Hey There, Wanna Check Up On It?" Come on! The youth of today's world are already corrupt enough due to the undying need to be "older" than they really are. I seriously doubt there are tons of people on MySpace stalking "innocent young girls" who just happen to have tramped up profiles and ages 4 years greater than their own.

On Nightline, there was a story of a 12 year old girl who was a drug-addict and attributed it all to MySpace. She claims that Myspace allowed her to easily find drug dealers in her area, as well as older men to have sex with her. Now, at the age of 14, she has been checked into a drug-rehabilitation clinic and has been away from her family for 5 months. Her parents would rather place the blame squarely on the shoulders of MySpace instead of their daughter, who even admitted that at the age of 12, had already tried weed, crack, X, and had slept with numerous guys older than herself...but of course, it wasn't her fault, it was all because of MySpace.

Once again, COME ON! When are parents and children going to stop passing the blame and grow up enough to take responsibility for their actions and the actions of their children.. Parents: monitor your children online, take some responsibility for YOUR children! Children: if a profile name sounds like something that comes out of a cheap horror movie, like "DARK ANGEL OF DEATH WHO EATS THE BRAINS OF GIRLS"...chances are you DO NOT WANT TO ADD THEM AS A FRIEND. Apparently there is new legislation in Congress now to block MySpace in all public schools and public libraries across the United States. All because little girls want to act like sluts and don't want to accept the consequences of their actions, and parents don't want to accept the fact that their "innocent little girls" are posing as 18 year old crack whores trying to buy drugs.

A 14 year old girl and her mother have filed a law suit against Myspace.com because she was sexually assaulted by another user. She said he lied by saying he was on the high School football team, and THAT gained her trust. Obvisiously if thats all it took to gain her trust, chances are she'll pretty much trust anybody and anyone (not really MySpace's fault). She's suing Myspace.com for $30 million because she believes MySpace has poor security. WHAT A CROCK OF SHIT! Myspace is not a babysitting service, take responsiblity for your own actions!!! What happened to her is a terrible thing and should never happen to anyone, period. Where were her parents? Why are they not held responsible for what thier daughter does in thier own home? Myspace has many many ways of blocking out/screening people, some are: you have to ACCEPT the person you may or may not know as a friend, as well as deny people you do or do not know, you can have certain sercurity measures added like making your profile private, or asking for last name and email address, you can block a person, you can only associate with people you ALREADY know or simply you can NOT be on MySpace if you lack common sense.

Eventually, if this continues, MySpace could be totally outlawed from the Internet. Restrictions will be put in place in order to make MySpace "safer". I don't know about you, but I use MySpace to keep in touch with my family and friends, use it for messages, and just to have a space that is my own. Just because some children want to act grown up, does that mean I may have to eventually give up my MySpace? If you feel the same way I do, please, repost this in your blogs or bulletins, or both as "STOP BLAMING MYSPACE". If enough people post this and spread the word, maybe people will get the picture and stop blaming MySpace for every little thing that their children do wrong. As a user of MySpace, we should all repost this and take some sort of action. This is not a chain letter, and nothing will happen to you if you don't repost this in 321654987 seconds. However, of all bulletins you will read today, I am sure that this one is the only one that actually has a point to it.