1. If anything can go wrong, it will. (see Murphy’s law)
2. Systems in general work poorly or not at all.
3. Complicated systems seldom exceed five percent efficiency.
4. In complex systems, malfunction and even total non-function may not be detectable for long periods (if ever).
5. A system can fail in an infinite number of ways.
6. Systems tend to grow, and as they grow, they encroach.
7. As systems grow in complexity, they tend to oppose their stated function.
8. As systems grow in size, they tend to lose basic functions.
9. The larger the system, the less the variety in the product.
10. The larger the system, the narrower and more specialized the interfaces between individual elements.
11. Control of a system is exercised by the element with the greatest variety of behavioral responses.
12. Loose systems last longer and work better.
13. Complex systems exhibit complex and unexpected behaviors.
14. Colossal systems foster colossal errors.

I do not think it would be too much of a stretch to say that most people are, at some level, dissatisfied with government. Be it because of things they see on the news about the federal government, things they read in the paper coming from the state capital, or things they see on their property tax bill at the local level. But aside from maybe this last example, most people get their information about the government through the media. I am fortunate in this aspect because as an employee of a local municipal government, I get to see the inner workings of things and therefore can be dissatisfied with my government for completely organic and original reasons.

See folks, I’m talking about water here. Yes, water. Rain, rivers, streams, floods, groundwater, surface water, runoff, erosion, wells, watersheds, and endangered little turtles that somehow live in every pond anyone is ever trying to turn into a shopping center. You see, when development takes place, managing the water for that development is a big deal and a substantial part of my job. Water needs to be managed so that things like rain don’t turn into things like flooding. This is done through what is called a “storm water ordinance” which has rules for people who are building things that require them to build ponds and drains and channels on a property to manage water. In this way, water is controlled and kept from being destructive. Instead, the water is allowed to slowly and safely seep back into the earth and everyone, including endangered turtles, are happier for it.

Storm water regulations have been with us about as long as hippies have, 1970s or so. And they have evolved over time and gotten more cumbersome and restrictive. They’ve also changed as the science behind them has changed. That brings us to the here and now. The state of Pennsylvania has recently decided that storm water management ordinances of little municipalities all across the Commonwealth aren’t good enough. Oh sure, they do a great job of managing water on a specific property but apparently we’re all part of some bigger “ecosystem” or something. Therefore, we need new storm water ordinances so that the management of water on one lot is congruent with the management of water on nearby lots as well as things like streams and ground water tables and little endangered turtles.

Stay with me here…

So today I attended a meeting held by County Planning Commission where the municipalities in the County were to learn about these new regulations. Except we didn’t. Learn that is. Why? Because no one has the new regulations yet. Or rather, they have them, but you’re not allowed to see them. And now we get back to the point, levels of government. See, first the state government says, “we need to do X” but we don’t actually do anything so here’s a directive and if the levels of govt below us don’t follow the directive, we’ll cut off your funding or something. (incidentally, the federal govt usually just said the same thing to the states to start all this)  Then the county governments in the state get nervous and start taking action. But they don’t actually do anything either so they say to the levels of government beneath them, “hey the state demands you do X and you better listen but don’t come to us because its not really our job to help you”. So then the municipalities in that county say, “well, guess we have to do X or we’ll lose our funding and then our taxpayers will be mad at us”. So then the municipality actually DOES something and takes whatever action the state originally wanted. This is usually in the form of adopting some new law or regulations. Except that doing this isn’t free. Lawyers have to be involved, stenographers are needed, advertising needs to happen. Basically there is cost. So the municipalities tend to get a little upset when these decrees come down because of the cost involved. So when I go to a meeting like this and I learn that the state wants me to adopt a new storm water ordinance and I have a deadline on when to do it….but the state won’t tell me what the new ordinance is supposed to say….and the county can’t tell me what the new ordinance is supposed to say….but everyone is telling me to hurry up, thats when it occurs to me just how broken the levels of government in this country are. Thats when the murphy’s law quotes become quite clear and thats when I decide to pass this all on to you the viewer so that you can, like me,  be dissatisfied with your government for better reasons than what you see on TV.

Oh yeah, and this is very possibly my last post. Pepperdine’s academic year is just about over and the whole point here was to teach people about why majoring or focusing or whatever they call it, on local government as a track was a good idea. I hope I have done that. After all, you see what I put up with….I could use the help.

-Barack Obama

Really I couldn’t have said it better myself. I realize I haven’t been posting much lately. Its a mix of no news is good news and the news that is out there isn’t good anyway. Yes, like any other American with the ability to broadcast their thoughts right now, I’m talking about the health care bill.

I’m going to link you to this article.  Really I could link you to any health care article, they all say the same things right now.

Lets start with Nancy “Skeletor” Pelosi:

“Last night we made history,” House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., told reporters as she signed the legislation, a formality before Obama’s own signature. “It’s on a par with passing Social Security and Medicare.”

This is a woman who is more concerned with her place in history than with doing the right thing. I think her place in history will be somewhere between Pol Pot and Napoleon.
Now good ole barry:

“President Barack Obama is poised to sign the landmark health care bill ushering in near-universal medical coverage for the first time in the nation’s history — and then he’ll hit the road to resume selling it to a reluctant public.”

Wait a minute, I thought the government was supposed to pass laws that people already wanted. When you pass a law and then tell the people they want it, thats not exactly “we the people” is it? Frankly, that is the exact polar opposite of “we the people”, its “Do as I say and like it”.

So far 11 states are suing the federal government that this is an abuse of power under the interstate commerce clause. Virginia Attorney General Kenneth Cuccinelli said it better than anyone:

“If a person decides not to buy health insurance, that person by definition is not engaging in commerce,” Cuccinelli said in recorded comments. “If you are not engaging in commerce, how can the federal government regulate you?”

Now this is a public official who is making sense.

There’s been a lot said about health care. I’m not going to dive into a long drawn out post about it. What I am going to say is this. One of the most interesting stats I’ve read lately is about the number of people who are covered now vs. when this thing is law. From what we’ve all been told to believe, this law is needed for universal coverage. Without this change, most of America is living without health care. Not true. Right now, today, 82% of America already has health care. Under this bill we’re looking to hit about 95%.
Just so you’re clear, your country officially began its descent into oblivion so that 13% of the population could have health care. Makes you wonder who that 13% is. You know, for about 4 years back when I was in school, I didn’t have health insurance…

Could it be that this has more to do with government control of our lives than it does with helping people? Just my two cents. Time will tell.

- Douglas Adams

“Growth for the sake of growth is the ideology of the cancer cell.”

Interesting Article Time

As a local government type of guy, I find this article very interesting. It is actually a topic that I have considered before. The idea that rust belt cities, (or any other city past its prime for that matter) would find it healthy to actually shrink instead of seek growth or even the status quo.

I think the article points out some major benefits of the plan. In being involved with the management of my own Township I can tell you that public services like fire, police, and public works are immensely expensive. Road maintenance is a huge cost, especially for a place like Detroit that experiences hard winters. You’ve got to plow and salt the roads in the winter and fix potholes in the summer and then every so often a road flat out needs repaved on top of it. Then you’ve got water lines, sewer pipes, public sidewalks and curbs, its a massive budget drain. In good times, a municipality is pulling in enough tax dollars to hopefully break even. Detroit is far removed from good times. When three people live on a block, their tax revenue isn’t fixing many roads.

So for Detroit’s leaders to stand up and say look, we have some resources but they need to be focused to be effective and we can’t focus them with the current infrastructure, to me shows massive amounts of leadership. The leaders haven’t given up on the City, far from it. Obviously the mayor and his team want to preserve what is possible but they are very realistic on what that means. The plan is guaranteed to get mixed reactions and the range of these reactions could easily descend the whole way down into violence when people do not want to give up their homes (and who can blame them?). So again, to come out with this plan really takes some guts and I give Mayor Bing a lot of credit here.

Frankly, I think the plan would be successful too. The amount of services a municipality provides has to correspond to the population and the amount of tax revenue being brought in, otherwise a balanced budget can only happen with state and federal funding being diverted and thats simply not healthy or sustainable. The leadership of Detroit obviously wants to be sustainable and shrinking the city may well do it.

As an added benefit, they’re going to really beautify the area. Trees and farms look a lot better than slums. So maybe the plan has an unintended benefit, not only does it make the city more manageable short term, but long term it could create a healthier more attractive place that more people want to move to. The move from urban to semi rural could only last a generation or two before that land is eventually redeveloped. Its the old “broken windows” philosophy in a way. Right now its got to be depressing to drive around Detroit and see it crumble. Change the landscape and you might just change the mindset as well.

I love the Olympics. I especially love the Winter Olympics. From the opening ceremony to the closing ceremony and as much curling in between as I can possibly watch, I am a huge Olympic fan. Sports that I have not seen for four years….sports I know hardly anything about….athletes that I’ve never heard of..it does not matter. I get into every event like its the most captivating thing on earth. The past two nights I have stayed up till midnight to watch figure skating. Figure skating. I almost have myself convinced that I need the $75 dollar wool knit Ralph Lauren hat worn by the American team during the opening ceremonies (this would instantly become the single most expensive piece of clothing that I own save for hunting apparel) Basically the Olympics are my March Maddness.

And why not? There is still so much snow outside that as I can’t even open my office window. Its still dark way too early. There’s nothing else going on. So if the whole rest of the world wants to throw the biggest sporting event on the planet, you’re darn right I’m going to tune in and become captivated by all the different flags and nations and personalities that come out. I’m flat out upset that I can’t watch curling during the day on msnbc like I could back in college during the Salt Lake Olympics. I’m going into curling withdraw. Any idea what that’s like? I thought not.

The Olympics also provide a bit of an escape from what is fast becoming a horrendous complaint season at work. See, I deal with complaints. Its not a high and mighty part of the job. Its not a part of the job that a graduate degree gives you the slightest idea how to handle. But part of zoning and planning is enforcing the rules. Everything from high grass to abandoned cars to work without a permit to…….snow on a sidewalk. Yup, the height of temporary weather induced misery. Let me explain:

Step 1. Have a blizzard

Step 2. Have a second blizzard 3 days later.

Step 3. Road plows come through and dump enormous amounts of snow on the side of the road and onto public sidewalks.

Step 4. Reference Section 117-1 of the Municipal Codified Ordinances which states a 24″ wide path shall be cleared on a public sidewalk within 8 hours of the end of a snow event. (kind of difficult for the elderly, the single moms, and people who are just lazy to accomplish)

Step 5. Get complaints from people who claim their neighbors surely want school children on their way to bus stops to die horrible deaths in the middle of the street because said people are not clearing their sidewalks and the death of children is the only possible motive

Step 6. Put on your public policy hat, throw away the philosophy, and get dirty.

Lest you think this is a topic that can be avoided by a higher calling, once residents get done with me they then call their state congressmen and complain all over again. So you can be at the top or the bottom of the totem pole in this kind of weather, its not going to matter.  I’ve talked to two local state reps who are getting flooded with these complaint calls.

So with that to deal with I’m going to go door to door with a violation list and think about how I could be training for the US Bobsled team.

“Just the other day I sent my girlfriend a huge pile of snow…I rang her up and said: “Did you get my drift?”- Peter Kay

In many ways, Southern California and Central Pennsylvania have a lot in common. I can’t think of any examples but one of the least accurate illustrations would be weather. And in February when I say weather, I mean snow. Over the weekend we got buried in the white stuff to the tune of…well I don’t know the official estimates. At my house we measure snow fall in terms of “Hollys”. See, my dog’s name is Holly. And on Saturday the snow was two Holly’s deep. Holly comes up to about my knee. So two Holly’s of snow is quite a bit of snow.

Luckily for me, my grandparents used to live in Cleveland Ohio. Cleveland has even less in common with Southern California than does Pennsylvania. In fact, they get something called “lake effect snow”. Lake effect snow translates roughly to “you’re gonna die”. When grandma and grandpa moved on to better hunting grounds, they left me their snow blower which is of an appropriate size and statue to handle even lake effect snow. So at least when we get blizzards like this past weekend, I can survive and get my driveway cleared. In fact I don’t just do my driveway. I also clear both neighbors, the guy across the street, my parents, their neighbor……. All in all I cleared six driveways last weekend of two Holly deep snow. And that’s not counting what the plows do….Oh you Malibu-ittes don’t know about what snow plows do? Well typically what happens is you spend hours with a shovel or snowblower or maybe you’ve got a plow on your tractor (we own lawn tractors around here, you can find pictures of these on the internet), anyway, you spend hours clearing your driveway of snow just in time for your local government tax dollar funded snow plow to come flying down the road. As it does so, it creates a tidal wave of snow that then lands at the end of  your driveway. Effectively sealing it with an already frozen solid block of mush and salt an ice. You then get to go back to work clearing this. Oh and if you’re lucky then the snow plow didn’t destroy your mailbox.

(You know, this always reminds me of a high school student I used to tutor in Thousand Oaks back in my Pepperdine days. I was telling him what winter is like and I mentioned putting salt on your driveway. He looked at me like I grew green horns out of my head. Why on earth would you put salt on your driveway? Salt melts ice I said. No way. Yes way. Go to freezer, get ice cube, put table salt on it, hum theme song to Mr. Wizard, abracadabra presto chango melted ice aka water!)

So that was last weekend. Today is Tuesday. Many parts of town, especially the City with its small tight roads, are still digging out. Parking lots are still bad, roads are still bad, you get the idea. Well in the next 24 hours we’re supposed to get another 10-18″ of snow on top of what we already have.

Behold the screeching halt.

Yeah stuff is gonna shut down. Its like when LA gets an inch of rain and buildings start floating away. The Township has pretty much already given up on tomorrow and decided to not even open. So I’ll get a day off to run my snowblower up and down my street freeing my poor neighbors. What I won’t get is any interesting work updates for you loyal readers. To be honest, next week’s post isn’t looking too exciting either. Hey I don’t make the weather, I just shovel it.

It’s a neighborly day in this beauty wood,
A neighborly day for a beauty.
Would you be mine?
Could you be mine?…

I’ve always wanted to have a neighbor just like you.
I’ve always wanted to live in a neighborhood with you.

So, let’s make the most of this beautiful day.
Since we’re together we might as well say:
Would you be mine?
Could you be mine?
Won’t you be my neighbor?”- Won’t you be my neighbor by Fred M. Rogers

Hmmmm, I know I have it here somewhere….blog post….updates….something important and meaningful to say to all the beautiful people in make believe lan….er Malibu…. Ah yes, here it is.

An ongoing theme in this blog is me trying to convince some of you that state and local government is a great way to use your talents and a good tract to focus on while at Pepperdine. So today while thinking about all the projects going on I was reminded about how much a part of the neighborhood my job allows me to be. Its something that I think is unique to state and local government (especially the local part) and a real reason to consider “small timing” it if you are at all so inclined.

So first, what are all these projects? Well I won’t rehash old history that you already know and that I have no new news on but of course there’s that big regional hospital I’ve been talking about. No new updates there but its obviously still on the table. Then there’s the assisted living facility, still no new updates (the applicant is currently bogged down in environmental regulation paperwork) but again, still around. What else? Well new to things is a local factory that is a world-wide leader in the manufacture of hydroelectric components has decided that they need to expand their local facility. This company has been bucking the downward economic trends as of late and is actually rapidly expanding their production and size of their workforce. I just had a meeting this morning with some of the local plant managers about expanding an outdoor storage yard at the factory. This new storage yard will allow them some greater flexibility in their process but from my standpoint it means the review of a new storm water management facility and the inclusion of some zoning requirements like security fencing and some well placed screening. Not exactly an earth shattering project but good news for a local company.

Then there’s the local pizzeria. Actually my favorite of the dozen or so we have. They’re currently located in a nearby strip mall and are doing a brisk business. So brisk is their business that they need to expand to a new facility. So I recently had a meeting with the owner where we talked about the possible development of a new construction building for them. Issues like site access and traffic, lot design, allowable signage…..you know, the works! Well it turns out that this new site they had in mind may not work for them after all. Fortunately, they have assured me I’m still welcome for lunch or dinner and don’t have to worry about getting a pizza that fell on the floor.

So where am I going with all this stuff? Pizzerias, hospitals, factories? What’s this mean to today’s hip and cool Pepperdine student? Well I’m trying to show the key benefit to local government. You really get to be a part of your community. You know whats going on and where. You don’t read about that new restaurant in the local paper, you were the guy they interviewed for information about it! You don’t wonder if that old factory will ever get reused, you just had a meeting discussing its future plans. This is what I like so much and what I think could really appeal to a few of you. Its the neighborhood! Its working face to face with the same people who you see at the mall and at the bank and at the gym. Its a cool thing I don’t think you get when you’re part of Fedzilla or even a private organization.

Anyway, that’s all the news fit to print. I’m going to go download some Mr. Roger’s clips. I can’t get that song out of my head.

“How far you go in life depends on your being tender with the young, compassionate with the aged, sympathetic with the striving, and tolerant of the weak and strong. Because some day in life you will have been all of these.” – George Washington Carver

Now despite my occasional soapbox about some political topic, this blog is supposed to be for Pepperdine students and those thinking of becoming Pepperdine students.  So let’s cut to the chase, its all about the money right? The good grades, the homework, the reading, the networking, all the hard work…..its all for payday right? Weren’t you told at a young age, “study hard and someday you’ll get a good job”….a good “paying” job that is. When you are in school your measure of success is a grade on a report card. So it only goes to reason that when you translate your efforts into a paying job that the size of your new report card, ie your paycheck, should be your new measure of victory and success. Don’t you want to show your friends that brand new car? What about having your parents over to that big house? Shouldn’t all the people you’ve known be able to see how successful you are? Well that takes money so go get your Pepperdine degree and go get some big bucks!

A wise man once told me, “Son (because this wise man was my dad) if all you want is money, its not hard to get it”. At the time I didn’t understand him. OK Dad, if money is so easy to get then where are all my new toys you should be buying for me about now? But the older I get, the more I understand my Dads advice. If money is all that matters to you its really is not very hard to get it. Any matter of unscrupulous under-handed uncouth and un-a lot of things activity will make you plenty of cold hard cash. Frankly, an education is a waste of your time if money is your only goal. Most of the richest people in the world don’t have an education to thank for it. Taking the time to learn things so that you can get a job working for someone else? Come on now, that’s not even logical. More of my Dad’s advice, “you’ll never get rich working for someone else”. So if all you want is money, then go sacrifice whatever else gets in your way and make all the money you want.

But wealth in and of itself is a pathetic goal. Once you have enough money to buy the food you need to be healthy, the shelter you need to be safe, and the clothes you need to not get arrested at Burger King, any money beyond that is really only for ultimately selfish pursuits. Furthermore, accumulating wealth is a pointless endeavor; you cannot take it with you and the government will probably just end up taking it from you. Of course, there’s nothing wrong with spending money on things you enjoy, but is that really all there is to life? Is a part of your identity based on your annual income and tax bracket? And what did you do to earn that money? Do you enjoy that good paying job or does the size of the paycheck just barely keep the gun from your head?

As the possible future or maybe current Pepperdine student, wealth cannot be your primary goal unless you are A) not too bright or B) hopelessly delusional. Sure, many alum do quite well for themselves financially (hey you’ve got to make some money, those student loans don’t go away unless you’re dead!). But you’re better than that. You want the place you spend 40+ hours a week to be something that matters. The money in your wallet, the knowledge in your brain, none of it means much if you keep it to yourself.

The education you can get at Pepperdine will better you as a person (if you stay awake in class). But simply passing your classes with a good GPA is not the meaning of success. Using your degree to land a six figure salary is not the meaning of success. The meaning of success is to become a better person and then use your super powers to help other people be better as well. Maybe you do that through public service in government or through social outreach or any number of careers. But have that as your goal. Don’t worry about resume builders and benefits packages, fair weather friends and the VIP treatment.  Worry about what you’re using the time of your life for;  make it something meaningful and important. Leave behind a legacy of people you helped. Or make money your life…… and be the richest man in the cemetery.

- Robert Burns, “To a Mouse”

There I was….sitting in a dark but crowded room…suddenly blue and white lights begin to flash….a spotlight dances across the walls….the sound of a mighty diesel engine echoes through the room….then music, Thunderstruck by AC DC starts playing at full volume…..the bay door opens and reveals the M109A6 for the first time to the public…..and then…..nothing. Right at the moment that the military’s newest artillery piece was supposed to drive into the staging hangar to a throng of press, dignitaries, and well, me…the vehicle stalled. Soon enough the song ended and the vice president of the company declared that they’d try to start up the engine again after a two minute diagnostic. And then on the second try….more nothing. So the grand unveiling of the Paladin turned out to be a walking tour instead.  Such is life. It was still a very impressive, very big, very awe inspiring piece of machinery. I’m sure that despite some bugs in the prototype, the platform will go on to years of solid service for the US Military. On a somewhat related note, I’m glad I ate lunch before I went. The buffet table turned out to be cake and kool-aid. How you’re supposed to make the enemy shake in his boots with cake and kool-aid I have no idea. In the end my visit to the plant was salvaged with a “climb inside and poke around” tour of a Bradley fighting vehicle (super cool) and a tour of one of the assembly lines. So a good day and good to see some of the equipment the military uses up close.

If you’d like to see the story the local paper did on the unveiling, here’s a link (oooooh it even has video)

story linky!

So the Paladin unveiling showed some plans that did not go according to…well plan. But in the past week I’ve been a part of some other planning the results of which will not be seen for several more years. I’m talking about the hospital that has been in my recent posts. This week I attended a PennDot transportation planning meeting for the hospital. In reality, this was yet another “meet n’ greet” for all the VIPs and well, me. Details are still very few at this point because the Hospital people themselves really have not yet decided basic things like how their site layout will be designed and so Township concerns like where will new roads be built or how will off-site traffic patterns be affected really are premature at this point. But those concerns are very real. We learned that the current hospital generates 300-400 peak hour trips currently and that the new site is expected to double that up to 800 peak hour trips.  Now when someone like the hospital builds something like a new hospital, they’re responsible for making off-site traffic improvements to manage their own impact. I’m talking about things like new roads, new traffic lights, turning lanes, medians, on and on. This hospital is certainly going to change the very infrastructure where it will be located. So we’ll see how things pan out as future meetings hopefully reveal a little more info.

Anything else? Well not much else. Its cold outside and that means no one does a lot of construction. It also means no one spends much time in their back yard thinking of things they hate about their neighbors. So I’m not exactly operating at peak capacity like I’ll start doing on the first nice day of spring. However, I’ve got to say that commercial construction is picking up. Not new buildings, but plenty of upgrades and interior renovation work going on so hopefully thats a good sign for the local economy. Lots of planning going on out there but you know what they say about the best laid plans.

“A general dissolution of the principles and manners will more surely overthrow the liberties of America than the whole force of the common enemy…. While the people are virtuous they cannot be subdued; but once they lose their virtue, they will be ready to surrender their liberties to the first external or internal invader…. If virtue and knowledge are diffused among the people, they will never be enslaved. This will be their great security.”- Samuel Adams

Today’s quotes have nothing really to do with today’s post. I just like Sam Adams and sometimes things work that way. You find me interesting quotes about hospitals and I’ll fix it. Maybe.

There’s big things going on in my Township.  These are the kind of big exciting things that do not come around often but when they do, really remind me why working in local government has so many benefits and attractive elements to it.

The first is that my Township is now officially set to be the location of a new regional hospital. This hospital is one of two regional hospitals in the county and is relocating their entire operation from another township to mine in order to expand (and cuz we’re just the hip cool place to be). It is not too often an entire hospital up and moves so this is quite exciting. With the move the hospital will be dramatically increasing its size, staff, and services and all of these benefits will now be that much closer to my residents. Good stuff. But its not all good stuff. At least not at first. Before the first shovel full of dirt gets dug up there will be years, yes years, of planning. Some of this planning has already been going on without me on the hospital’s side of things but recently we had our first meeting with the hospital’s engineers. See,the site of the new hospital is a former golf course. It just so happens that this golf course is located right off a major highway and in between two major arterial roads and it just so happens that every intersection between them is a total failure. Oh yeah, there’s also some minor connecting streets and they’re all a traffic engineer’s nightmare too. Basically if you were in a helicopter and hovered above this area, it would be like watching water flow upstream in a river. Things back up, people take shortcuts that aren’t short, and at some point the parking lot of a nearby grocery store became a street right of way……..and we’re not even talking about the fact that the whole site is underground limestone…..or that many houses are located nearby *always adds an interesting perspective*…..or that electricity service in the area isn’t quite “reliable”…..or or or or…. So yeah, its going to be a long road. By the time it is over, I anticipate being a professional meeting attender.  But its still very exciting because this will probably almost certainly gotta be one of the biggest projects I’ll ever work on in my life. I mean this dwarf’s your typical backyard deck.

On a completely unrelated note comes the rest of the post…Paladins. Paladins? Well specifically the M109A6 Paladin produced by a factory in my Township and next week to be delivered for the first time to the US Military. A Paladin, in this context, is a self propelled howitzer (think big gun on tank tracks). A local factory here in my Township produces quite a number of military vehicles and the new upgraded Paladin is set for its official unveiling. And who gets to go attend the ceremony on behalf of the Township? Well I wouldn’t be telling you about it if it wasn’t me. I’ve never been to an official unveiling of a new military weapon before. I imagine they’ll let me fire it a few times and take out some old cars or other cool targets. Probably I’ll drive it around an obstacle course, you know, all typical stuff for VIPs. At the very least I intend to launch a “shock and awe” campaign on the lunch buffet.

Yup, big hospitals, big guns, and complaints about dog poop not being picked up (its not all awesome avatar 3D excitement out there kids), just another typical awesome week in local government.