The SoapBoxers

Harry Potter

Harry Potter and the Half-blood Prince opened in theaters at midnight on Wednesday. It broke the record for a midnight screening with $22.2 million is is well on its way to a huge weekend. I’m not fan of the Harry Potter series, but I am definitely a fan of the J.K. Rowling story. Rowling was on welfare before writing the Harry Potter series and becoming a billionaire. What a wonderful rags to riches story. We often hear stories about people who are on welfare for decades and have no real desire to work. Here’s a story about someone who took the assistance offered by the government, and used it to get back on her feet and become a success. The money the British government spent on welfare payments to Rowling ended up being a great investment – as they made it possible for Rowling to pay tremendous tax bills on her subsequent income!

Apple shuts down Palm Pre sync

When the Palm Pre launched, one of its features was the ability to pretend that it was an iPod, allowing it to make use of Apple’s iTunes software. There was some debate over at Lazy Man and Money regarding whether Apple would allow this to occur, or whether they would release a future update to block non-iPod devices. I thought that they would indeed block the Pre, and felt that they had the right to do this, asserting that it was not an unfair barrier to competition to force Palm to bundle a iTunes-like product with the Pre.

On Wednesday, Apple released iTunes version 8.2.1. According to Apple, “iTunes 8.2.1 provides a number of important bug fixes and addresses an issue with verification of Apple devices” – in other words, if iTunes can’t verify that your device is an iPod, you can no longer sync with it. Palm is suggesting that Pre own simply cease upgrading iTunes to retain the ability to sync.

Google

Google has announced plans to launch their own operating system, Chrome OS. Chrome OS will be a simple operating system that is based on Linux. Chrome is not expected to be as feature-rich as operating systems like Apple’s Mac OS X or Microsoft’s Windows. On the flip side, the computer should boot more quickly (fewer things to load) and run faster (due to the operating system requiring fewer system resources). Chrome OS will essentially allow a computer to run Google’s Chrome web browser. Will Chrome OS be a solution for everyone? No. But if you spend nearly all of your computer time in your web browser, it may be a good fit for you.

Google’s free web-based productivity suite Google Docs will face competition from Microsoft, as the software giant has announced plan to release a free web-based version of Microsoft Office next year. The web version won’t include all of the features that will be available on the desktop version of Office, but it might be a good solution for many people.

Bruno

The country of Ukraine has banned the Sacha Baron Cohen movie “Bruno”, saying that the movie is immoral. This will certainly be a death blow to the movie, ensuring lackluster crowds.

Oh, hey, just kidding. What I meant to say is that Sacha Baron Cohen will use this publicity to bolster his “bad boy” image, and that the banning will make more people flock to the theater to see what all the fuss is about.

Oops

Bank of America, which is not one of my favorite companies, charged a New Hampshire man 23 quadrillion dollars for a purchase at a local gas station where he often purchased cigarettes. The man was also charged a $15 “over the limit” free. After two hours on the phone, Bank of America removed the charge and the fee from his account.

Capitol Shooting

Officers shot and killed a man near the US Capitol on Wednesday. The man was trying to elude police. He jumped out of his car and began shooting at officers. I stumble across this sort of story occasionally, and always wonder what on earth is going through the person’s head. Do they think that the cops aren’t going to shoot back?

Sears Tower

The Sears Tower is no longer the tallest building in the United States. What happened? Did someone sneakily build a taller building? No, the Sears Towers was renamed Willis Tower as part of an agreement with Willis Group Holdings. The 110 story tall tower opened in 1973. Sears moved out of the building in 1992, but the Sears named has been retained until now. I wonder how many years (or decades) will pass before Chicagoans begin referring to it as Willis Tower?

Yankees

The Yankees recently signed Damian Arrendondo, a 16 year old shortstop from the Dominican Republic, to a contract worth $850,000. (Note: international players may be signed as young as 16). Major League Baseball invalidated the contract when it was determined that the player was not actually named Damian Arrendondo, and that he was older than 16. No word yet on whether he is truly a shortstop.

Why the fascination with ages of these kids? After all, if a player is good, he’s good, regardless of whether he is 16 or 18, right?

Not exactly. Take this outside of the baseball world for a bit. If a 1 year old can count to 10, he’s a genius. If a 7 year old can count to 10, you’re not impressed. Yet, it’s the exact same skill. It’s the same with baseball skills. A 16 year old may exhibit the exact same skills as an 18 year old, but the 16 year old is a better prospect because he’s ahead of his peer group in the development curve.

Last night, ageless wonder Jamie Moyer (46 years old) threw 7 innings of one-hit ball against the Marlins.  The Phillies bullpen finished the game without incident, resulting in a combined one hitter.

Today, we give you a tribute to Jamie Moyer.  Here are 10 things you might not know about Jamie:

• Jamie Moyer once threw a fastball.  Sure, it was in Little League, but it’s on his permanent record.
• Jamie Moyer started his career in Philadelphia. With the Athletics.
• Jamie Moyer threw the first pitch on opening day. It should be crossing the plate at any moment.
• The Liberty Bell cracked while ringing to announce Jamie Moyer’s birth.
• Jamie Moyer grew up in a family of carpenters.  He served his apprenticeship helping his uncle Noah build an ark.
• Jamie Moyer’s grandson can hit a homerun off him. Then again, Dustin Moyer-Pedroia is a pretty decent player.
• Jamie Moyer graced the cover of the first baseball video game – Pong.
• If Jamie Moyer is pre-approved for a scooter or power chair and Medicare denies his claim, the Scooter Store will allow him to keep his scooter or power chair at no cost.
• Jamie Moyer bought a brand new car when he signed his first professional contract. He still has that Model T.
• The Phillies might need to shut down Jamie Moyer late in the year. He’s trying to figure out how much money he can earn before he is forced to claim social security benefits as income on his 1040.

All kidding aside, I do wish Jamie continued good luck in his career.

Note to regular readers of The Soap Boxers: in case you missed it, here’s a link to today’s Fiction Friday short story, Heidi and the Shark.

I’ve implemented a bunch of changes.  I’m sure that everyone has noticed them.

No?

Ok, I’ll give a quick recap.  These are all pretty small changes, so they might be overlooked.  Some folks might find them useful, though.

• I’ve held the price of The Soap Boxers steady at $0.00!
• The author’s name in the byline is now a link that will take you take a listing of their articles.  In a similar vein, the right sidebar now has a “search by author” that does the same thing.  The author’s page will show you excerpts of each article, with 10 articles to a page.  I’m not sure how useful this function is.  I will be creating a special category for each author, so you could also just click on that category to accomplish the same thing.  The one exception is myself – there is no other way to view a listing of all of my articles.
• I have added the page numbers at the bottom of search results, category, discussion topics, and date searches.  This replaces the “older article” and “newer article” text.  If you don’t realize it, you can click on a category, discussion topics, or month in the left sidebar and you’ll be shown a listing of articles that fit that criteria.
• Search results, category, discussion topics, and date searches will now show 10 excerpts per page instead of 4
• At the end of the excerpts (when searching on author, category, discussion topic, date, or by using the search box on the top right), there is now a link where the reader can click to “Read Full Article”.  Previously, the course of action was not readily apparent (you were supposed to click on the title in order to view the full article.)
• “Discussion topics” was moved to the left sidebar.  This is a clickable listing of the topics that have been discussed most frequently.  The size of the words is proportional to the frequency of its use.
• New photo with the goatee

The Soap Boxers recently celebrated its 200th article!

Zach Johnson

Local favorite Zach Johnson (or ZeeJay, as I refer to him) stormed into contention on Sunday, shooting a 12 under par in the final day of the John Deere Classic to finish in a three way tie for second place.  This is not quite as impressive  as it sounds, as Zach (and the rest of the field) were forced to play 36 holes on Sunday.  23 of the players in the Deere then boarded a flight across the Atlantic so that they could play in this week’s British Open.  Oh, sorry, Goodman, The Open.

Matt Cassel

Chiefs quarterback Matt Cassel has cashed in on his strong 2008 season with the Patriots by signing a 6 year contract with the Chiefs that will pay him as much as $63 million – with $28 million guaranteed.  This seems like an awful lot of money to pay to a player who still just has one good season under his belt.  I’m really not sure how much downside there would have been by waiting until after the 2009 season – or even after week 8 of the season – to see how Cassel performs outside of New England.  Cassel is definitely a feel-good story, though.  He did not start even one game during college.  It wasn’t that he wasn’t a good quarterback; it was simply that he was sandwiched between Heisman Trophy winners Carson Palmer and Matt Leinart.  Only an injury to Patriots QB Tom Brady allowed Cassel a starting opportunity.

Pedro Martinez

 The Phillies signed Pedro Martinez to a one year, $1 million deal, with the opportunity to earn $1.5 million more through incentives.  Martinez currently has an ailing shoulder, but should be ready to go in early August.  His presence should give the Phillies a boost in their quest to repeat as world champs.  Pedro’s Hall of Fame caliber career has been derailed by injuries.  I doubt that the 37 year old can make a serious run at 300 wins – he currently stands at 214 – but getting above 250 should erase any doubts about his Hall of Fame status.  Interestingly, Pedro’s next loss will be the 100th of his career.

Danica to NASCAR?

Rumors have been swirling for quite a while about Danica Patrick jumping from Indy to Nascar.  The flames were stoked a bit when she visited Stewart-Haas racing recently.  The race team – 50% owned by 2 time champion and current points leader Tony Stewart – is believe to be interested in adding a driver next year.  Patrick would definitely earn a ton of sponsorship money from Stewart-Haas, and she might be able to learn a lot under the wing of Stewart, who himslf made the jump from Indy to NASCAR.

In other NASCAR news, Jeremy Mayfield has tested positive for meth for a second time.  Also, Mayfield’s step-mother – with who he has a very strained relationship – has filed an affidavit accusing Jeremy of a long history of meth use.  NASCAR is asking for Mayfield’s indefinite suspension to be reinstated.  A judge had previously granted an injunction against the suspension – although Mayfield was not able to race, because no team was willing to give him a ride.

NBA

You won’t  see a lot of NBA news in The Soap Boxers, mostly because Goodman and myself are not big fans of the defenseless game played by the professionals.  However, there are a few interesting stories this week.

The perennial losers known as the Los Angeles Clippers are interested in signing Allen Iverson.  A prolific scoring machine, Iverson has had a tendency to rub teammates and coaches the wrong way, downplaying the importance of activities such as “practice”.  The Clippers might give Iverson the best chance to keep his career alive, although the move might not make a lot of sense from the team’s perspective.

Magic backup center  Marcin Gortat was upset when the team matched the contract he had been offered by the Dallas Mavericks.  The NBA essentially has a right of first refusal, allowing teams to match another team’s offer to a particular player in order to retain the player’s services.  Gortat will be paid a total of $34 million over the next 5 years.  In Orlando, he will back up superstar center Dwight Howard.  If he had been able to sign with Dallas, he would have likely been the starter.  This story might not be done, thought.  It is possible that the Magic are signing Gortat simply so that they can trade him (perhaps to the Mavericks)?

Winter Olympics

The 2010 Winter Olympics are slowly approaching.  For those of you who have been wondering if there will be a “fantasy” style contest for the Olympics on The Soap Boxers, the answer is a resounding YES!  Get your cheat sheets ready.  Some aspects of the contest will include:

• A limit on the number of US athletes on your team
• Limits on the number of atheletes from medal-rich sports (speed skating)
• Points awarded based on gold, silver, and bronze medals.

I ran a similar contest with a few friends for the 2008 Summer Olympics – it was a lot of fun.

We’re still working on the exact schedule for the monthly columnists, so today will be a general news article.

Intruders broke into the home of Byrd and Melanie Billings on the night of July 9 in Beulah, Florida. Within a few minutes, Byrd and Melanie were dead, and the intruders had stolen some items from the residence (police have not released details about what items were taken).  Nine of their children were at home during the invasion, but none were harmed (and one ran to a neighbor’s house for help).

In the aftermath of this tragedy, we began to get an idea about the sort of people the Billings were.  68 year old Byrd and his 43 year old wife Melanie had a total of 4 biological children from previous marriages.  Blessed by financial prosperity, they adopted 12 or 13 more children (the accounts vary), many of them with special needs.  Instead of spending their money on fancy jewelry or trips around the world, Byrd and Melanie chose the enrich the lives of these children.  What a wonderful way to spend your life.

The police were aided in their investigation by the surveillance system that that was used to keep an eye on the Billings children as they moved throughout the house.  The surveillance system caught the crime on tape.  Seven people have been charged with murder, including a 16 year old who will be tried as an adult.  A father and son were among those arrested.  Authorities also have an interest in another person who may have aided and abetted.  The seven who are charged with murder could face the death penalty.

Two members of the group had military experience, and some members of the group may have done work on the grounds of the Billings home.  The inside information, coupled with the military experience, may help explain the very efficient nature of the attack.

At this point, authorities are saying that robbery was the motive, and they have not indicated that any other motives may gave existed.  If this crime was simply for financial motives, it is absolutely sickening.  Not that any motive would have been a good reason to kill them; but with purely financial motives, the criminals could have simply tied up to couple to prevent them from calling authorities.  To elevate the crime from burglary to murder makes no sense, on any level.  I do wonder if there might be a second motive, although I am not sure what that motive might be.

I’m not sure why the killer chose to spare the Billings children, but at least the monsters showed a tiny bit of compassion by allowing them to live.  Or perhaps they simply ran out of time.

I am not typically a proponent of the death penalty.  I have a couple of concerns with it, the most troubling being the fact that it is irreversible in the case that the wrong person is executed for a crime.  However, in this case, I believe that I could be convinced that execution is an appropriate punishment for the crime.

The American League won the All Star game, running their record to 12-0-1 over the last 13 All Star games. For the fourth year in a row, the margin of victory is just a single run. No AL player (or NL player, for that matter) has more than 1 hits, 1 run, or 1 RBI. The MVP is Carl Crawford, largely for his catch that robbed Brad Hawpe of a homer.

Here are my notes from the game.

• Pregame: 30 “Community All Stars” were recognized for volunteer work in their communities. The community All Stars had a chance to mingle with the MLB All Stars on the field for a few minutes. Pretty cool.
• 1st inning – Ugly defense by the NL. Wright throw pulls Pujols off the bag. Pujols makes an error later in the inning (although he may have been distracted by a base runner). Lincecum fails to cover first on a play. NL is lucky to get out of the inning with just two runs scored.
• 2nd inning: Obama drops by the broadcast booth. In general, I hate it when interviews occurs during the game action. In this case, I’ll make an exception, as Obama’s presence leads to three runs for the NL. Sadly, Obama can’t hang around the booth for the entire game. The Obama interview focused on sports, not politics.
• 3rd inning – Ryan Franklin and his pet goatee take care of the AL 1-2-3. That goatee is quite impressive. Unfortunately, the NL goes quietly in the bottom of the bottom of the third.
• 4th inning: Missed most of the 4th, as it was time to put my daughter to bed. While I was applying Orajel to her gums, she bit me rather viciously. Unfortunately, this is not particularly uncommon. She had a really strong bite. We have Orajel swabs – we’ll have to start using them. It turns out that I really didn’t miss much – a total of one hit in the inning.
• 5th inning: Joe Mauer drives a pitch to left field to drive home Derek Jeter in the top of the inning. It would be nice if the Twins could sign local kid Mauer (Cretin-Durham grad) to a long term deal. Great player. Edwin Jackson shuts down the NL in the bottom of the inning.
• 6th inning: Adam Jones puts a charge into a ball to right field, but Brad Hawpe settles under it to make the play. Josh Hamilton singles to right. With other deserving players on the bench, and with Hamilton off to a lackluster start this year, why is he still in the game in the sixth inning? A double play erases Hamilton and ends the inning. In the bottom, Adam Jones returns the favor by retiring Orlando Hudson on a fly to deep right. Albert Pujols ends his night 0-3 with an error – definitely not the show he wanted to put on for the home crowd.
• 7th inning: Adrian “Super Mario” Gonzalez replaces Pujols at first base. Gonzalez was a former #1 overall draft pick, but was traded away by a couple of teams before emerging as a star in San Diego (in spite of the severe pitcher’s park that he plays in). Brad Hawpe drills the first pitch he sees, but is robbed of a homer by Carl Crawford at the wall in left. Miguel Tejada then chases Adam Jones to the deep in right before Papelbon strikes out Werth to end the inning.
• 8th inning: Curtis Granderson triples off the wall with one out in the 8th. Victor Martinez is intentionally walked in order to set up a double play (by putting a catcher at first base) – and Adam Jones once again pops up in the spotlight. Maybe it’s just me, but he has been in the midst of some fun plays in the game. On cue, Jones hits a sacrifice fly that drives in Granderson to put the AL ahead. In the bottom, Adrian Gonzalez walks and Orlando Hudson singles, but Ryan Howard strikes out to strand them and second and third.
• 9th inning: K-Rod comes into the game for the NL. After two quiet outs, Justin Morneau hits a ball to deep center, where Jayson Werth gets on his horse to chase it down. Mariano Rivera comes into the game to try to finish it for the AL. BJ Upton grounds out, Brad Hawpe strikes out, and Miggy Tejada ends the game on a pop out.

Most of you know after reading my column week in and week out that it is no secret I am a golf fan. This upcoming week holds one of the best tournaments of the year in the Open Championship.

Now we as hearty Americans call it the British Open, but truth be told there is no need to throw the first word of that sentence out there. This is THE OPEN. Not the United States Open, the Canadian Open, French Open, Scottish Open or Australian Open.

THE Open Championship.

The oldest of what is considered golf’s majors first played out over the great course at Prestwick, just a wee bit south of Glasgow on the Ayshire coast. It was held the first time in 1860.

Willie Park Senior edged out Old Tom Morris that year. The prize was the Challenge Belt, purchased by the members of Prestwick Golf Club. There was no prize money, but the winner received custody of the Belt for the year. If a player won the Belt three years in succession, it would be his to keep.

This was eventually done by Tom Morris’ son Tommy Jr., or as he was more popularly known, Young Tom. In 1870, just 10 years after this tournament began, Young Tom won for the third straight time and the Moroccan red leather belt was his to keep.

No Open was held in 1871 mostly in part as no replacement award for winning had been commissioned.

Finally in late 1872 an agreement was reached between three clubs that were to host The Open — Prestwick, the Honourable Company of Edinburgh Golfers (now based in Muirfield) and The Royal and Ancient Golf Club (more commonly referred to as St Andrews) They decided that the winner would receive a medal and that each of the three clubs would contribute £10 toward the cost of a new trophy, which was to be a silver claret jug, instead of another belt. Its proper name was to be The Golf Champion Trophy.

Today the winner each and every year hoists the Claret Jug after being announced as the champion golfer for the year.

This year my pick and nearly everyone else’s pick will be Tiger Woods. A host of others will be looking to win – can Padraig Harrington do it a third straight time?  Can Sergio Garcia break his string of top ten finishes and break through to win?  Will it be the hot hand of a player such as Martin Kaymer or Paul Casey?  What about one last hurrah for Colin Montgomerie?

That is what makes this so special,  many players, most of which the casual golf fan has never heard of, representing a variety of countries.  A diverse International field … This is

The Open Championship.

Tune in this weekend to early morning coverage each and every day, and see golf as it was meant to be played, in its purest form, among the links of it ancestral home on the Scottish Coast.

Today is one of my favorite days of the entire year.  Major League Baseball’s All Star game is tonight.

There are many fans who don’t watch the All Star Game.  Many fans prefer the made-for-TV thrill of the home run derby over the actual game itself.  To me, this is quite simply blasphemy.

Growing up without cable TV, the only teams I ever saw on TV were the Cubs and whoever the Cubs were playing (on the rare occasion that there was a game on network television).  The All Star Game was the one day during they year when I would get to watch the brightest of baseball’s stars shine on the national stage.  Cal Ripken, George Brett, Kirby Puckett, Mark McGwire, Bo Jackson – what a great spectacle to see!

These days, I do have cable TV and am able to keep up on players by watching Baseball Tonight and Sports Center.  (Am I the only person who has the Baseball Tonight theme song as the ring tone on their cell phone?)  Nonetheless, the All Star Game remains a hallowed event for me.  I elevate it to a sports status that is second to baseball’s opening day – ahead of the baseball playoffs, the Super Bowl, Olympics, and the NCAA basketball tournament.

Dictator Selig suggest that we should watch the game “because it counts” – since MLB awards the All Star Game winner home field advantage in the World Series (a moronic idea, in my opinion).  When did it cease to count?  I have always cheered lustily for my beloved National League to throttle the hated American League – and I will continue to do so until you pry the baseball out of my cold, dead hands.

Toddler sexual abuse

Over the weekend,  there was a breaking news story about a 3 year old girl.  The girl had fallen, and was rushed to a hospital, where she was pronounced dead as a result of the fall.  This would be sad enough, but authorities then took a 14 year old relative into custody on suspicion of sexual abuse.  (Due to the age of the victim and suspect, as well as the fact that the investigation is in the early stages, I am choosing to refrain from publishing the names).

It seems like sexual abuse cases involving toddlers is on the rise.  I completely fail to comprehend the mindset of the perpetrators, which I guess is a good thing.  When the victims are teenage girls, I have a loose understanding of how an adult might feel an attraction to the girl, simply because I was once a teenage boy who was attracted to teenage girls.  I definitely do not want to give the impression that I am condoning sexual abuse of teenagers – this is most definitely NOT the case.  I  am just saying that I can get a tiny bit of a glimpse into the twisted mind that would engage in these acts.

When the victim is a toddler, I really struggle to see how the attraction would develop.  I could watch a hundred toddlers all day, every day, and I am confident that no physical attraction would ever develop.  Maybe it’s the human instinct to shelter toddlers (not just our own children) from the dangers in the world (not just sexual predators, but cars, big dogs, and other things that might scare them) that precludes us from developing physical attraction toward them.

I hope that parents use these new stories as reminder to be cautious about the people who are allowed to be in close contact with their children.

On a slight tangent, an Iowa family added a second generation to its roster of pedophiles.  Brothers James and Roger Bentley were involved in crimes against 10 year old Jetseta Gage.  James was found guilty of sexually abusing Jetseta.  Roger, who had previous convictions for sex offenses, was found guilty in Jetseta’s 2005 murder.  Roger is currently serving two consecutive life sentences (one for kidnapping, one for murder) and James is serving 100 years for child pornography and sexual exploitation of a minor.  Jetseta’s mother had dated both of the brothers in the past.

In June, Daryl Bentley, nephew of James and Roger, was arrested for sexually abusing a 4 year old girl.

Burr Oak Cemetery

A story that has been getting some national press coverage  are the crimes that have occurred at Burr Oak Cemetery near Chicago.  Burr Oak is a historic African-American cemetery.  I won’t pretend that I am an expert on the historical significance of the cemetery, because I am not.  However, the name was familiar to me, and there are very few cemeteries whose names I would recognize.

The story began when the owners of the cemetery called the cops regarding perceived irregularities.  It turns out that older graves sites were being unofficially excavated and the bodies dumped so that the perpetrators could then re-sell the plot.  They chose plots in the older part of the cemetary at first – grave sites that rarely had visitors.  More recent reports also indicated that they dug up graves in the “babyland” section of the cemetery (children’s graves) as well.  Initial reports indicated that at least 300 graves had been disturbed, but authorities said that this number was sure to rise.

I am saddened that someone would commit crimes against the dead and the families of the dead in order to make a quick buck.  The families have suffered enough from the death of their loved ones.  Now, many of these families will be unable to visit the grave site, because the body is no longer buried there.  It is uncertain how many of the bodies can be identified.

It is worth noting that authorities have repeatedly stated that it is not believed that the owners were involved in the scam.  The owners initially tipped off the police.  I am not exactly sure how the crime grew to such a large scale before the owners realized that there was a problem.  There is always the possibility that the owners are not actively involved in the day-to-day operations, or may not even live in the area.  The size of the cemetery – 158 acres, or nearly a quarter of a square mile – may have also made it easier for the criminals to hide their crimes.

Over the weekend

You might have taken a break from the internet over the weekend, but the staff of The Casual Obsever never sleeps – relentlessly working in an effort to create quality content every single day.  What happened at The Casual Obsever over the weekend?

• Friday – Kosmo’s eBook was launched.  If you’re not currently a regular visitor or RSS reader, considering subscribing to the RSS feed.  There will be a “footer” in the RSS feed that allows you to access the eBook.  Everything is completely free, of course.  A few clicks, and you’ll have a 50 page PDF of Kosmo’s fiction.  Free is good!
• Saturday – We cooked up the first pot of Saturday Stew.  Topics included baseball, Michael Jackson, and the auto industry.  On Saturday night, we announced the addition of Jonna Wibelius to the staff of The Soap Boxers.
• Sunday -The debut edition of Tyson Turner’s “North of the Border” column featured Tyson’s thought about what he finds most appealing about the United States.

To celebrate July 4th, and to just get away for a day, my girlfriend and I made the popular Winnipeg-Grand Forks drive for some shopping and to experience some American culture on Independence Day.  I was a little surprised at how deserted the main streets were.  The parking lots had as many cars with Manitoba plates as North Dakota plates.  Columbia Mall was nearly vacant.  It was an enjoyable day nonetheless, just not quite what I had expected.

I have traveled to a few different parts of the United States, mostly by car.  I have spent time in major cities such as Seattle, Chicago, and Minneapolis; and I have been to smaller towns in Pennsylvania, Idaho, and New York.  I also made the 14 hour drive to Mount Rushmore to see what the fuss is about.  In the end, there are four main things I have noticed that are common to all of these areas:

• Gas Prices.  Any time I hear an American complain about gas prices I want to slap them.  This weekend was no different.  While we measure our gas here in litres, the equivalent price right now in gallons is 4.056 per gallon.  In Grand Forks, a measly two hour drive south, gas was 2.499 a gallon at the Holiday gas station I filled up at.  That works out to a difference of 35 cents a litre up here.  I do a lot of driving for my job, and I can’t even begin to imagine how much money I’d save if I had those kind of gas prices to work with.  Given the price of flying these days, it is no wonder more and more people prefer to drive when heading to America.
• The Roads.  Perhaps this is an especially touchy subject at the moment given the horrid state of the Trans-Canada highway just east of Winnipeg right now, but the roads in the States (especially the Interstates) are far superior to what we have up here.  The physical conditions of the roads are better, the speed limits higher, and there are far more 2/3/4 lane roadways.  One of the best moments of the drive to Grand Forks is crossing the border to hit the 75 MPH Interstate 29 where travels are much more efficient.
• The Variety.  Naturally with so many more people in the United States, there is much more to offer.  As potentially nerdy as this sounds, one of my favourite stops anywhere south of the border is a grocery store (Target was this weekend’s choice).  I started down the cereal aisle to find Trix, Cocoa Pebbles, Apple Jacks, and several other unfamiliar varieties to choose from.  Also making it into my cart was Red Bull Cola, Blue Mountain Dew, Rice a Roni, some Bushes Beans, and other fascinating products which my Canadian mouth have never had the opportunity to taste.  Don’t worry, I kept it legal and didn’t bring back and meat or produce!
• The customer service.  It doesn’t seem to matter what industry we are talking, Canadians could learn a lot from their neighbours to the south in this area.  I find Americans to be much more helpful, smile more often, and have much better manners than Canadians whether I be shopping for a shirt or purchasing a burger for lunch.  I am not sure quite why this is.  Canadians and other countries seem to have the impression that Americans are jerks in a lot of ways, but I definitely don’t see it when it comes to someone helping me find the right size of pants.  Having said this, I have found Americans to be shockingly much more rude when dealing with them over the phone (though that is a story for another time).  My number one customer service award goes to the folks at Wall Drug in South Dakota (if ever travelling to Mount Rushmore this is a can’t miss – look it up online)

I don’t know when I will be back next to visit down south, but there are still many more places I plan on seeing.  I am glad to know that when I do go, I can count on the above four to be there for me to make my trip that much better.