Digital Wilderness

From Gov. Steve Beshear’s office …

‘Kentucky at Work’ initiative to focus on today’s commitments, tomorrow’s investments

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (Feb. 25, 2009)—Gov. Steve Beshear today unveiled the “Kentucky at Work” initiative – the details of an estimated $3 billion in stimulus funding from the federal government that will be invested in Kentucky over the next 28 months.

‘Kentucky At Work,’ the commonwealth’s plan to implement American Recovery and Reinvestment Act dollars signed into law last week by President Barack Obama, will provide a much-needed, one-time infusion of dollars for two primary purposes: to maintain jobs and quality of life through investments in education, health care and public safety; and to make strategic investments now to position Kentucky for the future.

“Both of these principles recognize that we cannot retreat in our commitment to vital areas like education, health care, economic development and public safety,” Gov. Beshear said. “The bipartisan, mid-year budget initiative that the General Assembly passed and I just signed into law preserves these priorities.

At the same time, building roads, bridges and water and sewer lines, as well as new energy programs and health initiatives, not only create jobs but also enhance the infrastructure that makes expanded development possible. The “Kentucky at Work” initiative helps to stimulate the economy in both the short and long term.”

Beshear, who recently returned from a weekend conference of the National Governors Association (NGA) in Washington, D.C. where he met with President Obama, Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke and U.S. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner, said the President’s recovery plan recognizes that states are hurting.

The NGA estimates that between 2009 and 2011, states will face shortfalls totaling $250 billion. Kentucky cut spending over the last year by $432 million and just reached agreement on a bipartisan plan to address an additional $456 million hole in this fiscal year.

At a briefing today in Louisville with Mayor Jerry Abramson, Gov. Beshear presented a breakdown of major areas of funding under the ‘Kentucky at Work’ plan:

Medicaid: Kentucky’s Medicaid program will receive about $990 million over the next two years. The program currently faces a $232 million deficit this year, while demand for services is increasing by about 3,000 people a month due to the economy.

Health and welfare: Kentucky will receive about $272 million for areas like public housing, weatherization, child care, child support enforcement and homelessness prevention.

Education: Kentucky will receive about $924 million in stimulus money. Approximately $535 million will be used to preserve existing commitments to K-12 and higher education, as well as to continue efforts to hold down the cost of tuition. The remaining $389 million, administered through the Kentucky Department of Education, will go to Title 1, Head Start, technology and school lunch programs and other programs that help families in crisis.

General Fund: Kentucky will receive nearly $120 million to help address critical shortfalls in priority areas and mitigate against even deeper cuts over the next two fiscal years.

Job training and public safety: The commonwealth will receive $66 million in job training and workforce development dollars. In the area of public safety, Kentucky will receive about $30 million to combat violence against women and to support criminal justice efforts at both the state and local levels.

Roads and Bridges: Kentucky will receive $421 million for highways and bridges. Gov. Beshear and legislative leaders have been working together on a road plan that contains projects that meet the federal government’s requirement that 50 percent of those funds be obligated within 120 days. Projects must be shovel-ready.

Transit: About $50 million will be allocated for transit.

Water and Sewer lines: Kentucky will receive about $71 million for water and sewer infrastructure.

Community Development: The state will be allocated some $12 million for local community development block grants.

Energy Projects: About $63 million will be allocated to Kentucky for energy initiatives.

The governor has put together an interagency work group – led by Cabinet Secretary Larry Hayes – to help guide planning for the Kentucky at Work initiative.

Two areas not accounted for in this $3 billion of direct investment include opportunities for states to compete for several billion in grants in the areas of health technology, education, public safety, transportation, energy research and the expansion of broad-band networks, among others.

Kentuckians will also benefit from various tax cuts, tax credits and other incentives included in the President’s plan. These include those for low-income families, first-time homebuyers, incentives for the purchase of new vehicles and tuition assistance for college.

As investments are made, Gov. Beshear stressed the need for openness and accountability of the ‘Kentucky at Work’ plan.

“The federal government has created a Web site to track the dollars and how they are spent, and we will have something similar available here in Kentucky,” Gov. Beshear said. “These are tax dollars and public deserves to know how their money is being spent.

I caved…I bought the iPod Touch on Sunday. I was tired of doing research and agonizing over the decision. By being so frugal and stingy about making purchases, I get stressed and take much of the fun out of things. At least when I do make purchases such as this, I can pay cash and not have to pay for it (plus interest) for months to come. It had been quite a while since my last “major” purchase, though, and after the rough past couple of weeks, it felt good to treat MYSELF for once. Hey, if the government thinks it best to spend its way out of the recession, why not spend my way out, too.

Much of my hold-up regarding the Touch involved the cost-to-capacity ratio. I could have gotten a Zune with 8x the capacity for less money. Flash based players such as the Touch are much more expensive that hard drive based players, such as the Zune and the Zen. I played with the Zune in the store and wasn’t all that impressed with it, though. Couldn’t do much with the demo product, but based on what I could do I wasn’t all that thrilled with the product design or the interface. In the end, I figured that since I already have a hard drive based mp3 player still in working order, why not go flash this time.

So I did. I sprung for the 16GB iPod Touch (second gen). So far I really like the it!

Quick hit thoughts…

- My first impression: very thin! I guess after years of looking at my large, clunky Zen, anything else will look smaller, but given that the Touch has flash memory rather than a hard drive, it can naturally be much smaller. The Touch feels and looks slick and sleek and futuristic compared to the Zen. The user interface is SO much better and intuitive, and now that I’ve gone touch screen, it’s going to be hard to go back. It’s really nice not having buttons to press, sometimes accidentally, and with the touch screen interface, there are so many more options.

-Love the Wifi connectivity. When coupled with apps, it practically does away with needing a notebook computer.

-The apps add a lot to it. Like the iPhone, apps are available to download and install on the Touch. There are a ton of them available, some junk, some incredibly handy, some free, some costing a couple bucks. There are apps that will only feed my online addiction, such as those for Google, Facebook, Twitter, WordPress, Pandora, as well as apps that will be handy resources (dictionary, language translation, Bible) and many games that will help me kill time.

- Big negative for me is playlist management. There’s no way to create a playlist or add to them from the Touch itself; it has to be done via iTunes, presenting a problem at the office where I can’t install the program. It’s also frustrating and not easy to queue up a list of songs. something I frequently did with the Zen . There is an “On-The-Go” playlist that tries to mimic the behavior I want, but it’s a long way from what I’m used to. I’ll have to check out the app store, as there may be some that will help with playlist management.

- Another downside is the limited capacity. 16GB really is not that much when it comes to multimedia files. I could have opted for the 32GB model, but flash memory is expensive. It was tough to be forced to pick and choose which music I wanted to load on the Touch, rather than just dumping everything I own onto it, which is what I did with the hard drive based Zen. I still plan to keep the Zen handy and loaded with older, less listened to music, so this isn’t a huge deal for me right now.

As Paul commented on my previous post, I see how the iPod Touch can be a gateway drug to the iPhone. I’m even more tempted now to go the iPhone route, but I’m still going to hold out for an Android-based phone. One thing that isn’t in doubt is that I need a separate music player, rather than player/phone combo, By having the Touch, I can get much of the awesomeness of the iPhone in addition to the awesomeness/perks of an Android-based phone at a later time.

Not that I have any experience in this area – far from it actually – but these insights from New Spring Church pastor Perry Noble, one of my favorite preachers, seem dead on. They’re from his new sermon series I Want a New Marriage.

• “Singles, if you think marriage is easy, you’re wrong.”
• “Marriages are in trouble because couples don’t talk to each other anymore.”
• “If you like it, you should have put a ring on it.”
• “You and I can’t hold our spouse accountable for unspoken expectations.”
• “Women, you’ll speak the truth about your husband, but you won’t speak it to your husband.”
• “The Bible isn’t a request from God. The bible is God’s commands to us.”
• “You need to talk about ‘it’ or you’re going to be in deep ‘it’ before the day is over.”
• “The consequences of concealment are much greater than the consequences of confession.”
• “How much time does your wife need to feel important? Ask her. No one can coach you better about your wife than your wife.”
• “Your job will not define you, but your legacy will.”
• “Is there anything you need to talk about? Is there anything you need to change?”

Via Tony Morgan.

I’ll let the video speak for itself – the results when you mix fire, gas and a a group of men during a night of R.A.T. Unfortunately we didn’t get a video of the first round, which had quite an explosion, but the second one involved fire jumping and we almost lost the groom.

Fire Jumping

A little fuzzy on the fall of the housing market and how it’s affected the economy and led to the so-called credit crunch?

Crisisofcredit.com has a nice visual explanation that details the domino effect that has led us to where we are today, as well as terms such as leverage, CDO, etc.

The Crisis of Credit Visualized – Part 1

The Crisis of Credit Visualized – Part 2

Anyone own, know of someone who owns, has thought about owning or just know details about the iPod Touch? It’s time for an upgrade and I’m looking for some opinions.

My mp3 player, a Creative Nomad Jukebox Zen (first gen) which I’ve had since 2003, is finally dying. Though big and clunky, and not having a very user friendly interface, it’s certainly served its purpose and held up well to the abuse I’ve subjected it to over the years. I had to replace the hard drive once, but other than that, I really haven’t had any big issues with it. It’s finally biting the dust, though. Songs are starting to get corrupted, battery life is waning and I may have dropped it one too many times causing a crucial button no longer work smoothly.

This has gotten me thinking about upgrading to a “next gen” mp3 player. Finally. The iPod Touch and other fancy touch screen devices have been wooing me for a while, but I just couldn’t bring myself to shell out the money for one since mine was still in working order and serving its purpose.

At the time I bought my first mp3 player, I choose the Creative model over the iPod because it came with more capacity for a hundred dollars less. As much as I wanted the iPod, I just couldn’t justify spending the extra money for the name, though it was eye-catching. I’m in the same place again, so I’m interested in hearing people’s experiences with the Touch, Zune and other competing models from other companies. Any opinions or recommendations?

[UPDATE: Another aspect I'm considering with this upgrade - my mobile phone is beginning to bite the dust as well. I've been trying to hold off for the Google Android phones to catch on then compare with the iPhone. If I were to opt for the iPhone, I wouldn't want a Touch as well. Not sure if the Android devices will be on par with the Touch, so I might get a separate mp3 player in that case. More things to consider...]

Oh, boy, just what the doctor ordered!!!

The Montgomery Inn at The Boathouse is 20 years old, and to celebrate, they’re putting on an all-the-ribs-you-can-eat party. At any of the three Montgomery Inn locations from February 22-26, they will bring you ribs for as long as you can take it–for $19.89. (Commemorating the year the Boathouse opened.) They’ll keep the Saratoga chips coming, too. And there will be reduced drink prices and drink specials. Montgomery, Fort Mitchell and the Boathouse.

The blog has been neglected for quite some time now, no denying that. Much has been happening to keep me busy and other things have rightfully taken priority. Specifically, that would be spending time with Laura or being on the road to visit Laura or thinking about Laura or planning things for Laura and I do to or…you get the picture.

Unfortunately, I now find myself with free time once again. It’s 3am, I can’t sleep and there’s nothing on TV.

Laura and I are no longer together.

Being more candid and open on this blog than I have been in quite some time – it flat out SUCKS. I opened up so much of myself to the relationship, tried so hard to be a caring, thoughtful, Biblical man, to show her and tell her how special she was and how much she meant to me. I tried to seek God’s will and do right in every circumstance. I tried hard to initiate and be intentional. I brought her into my world like I have no one else. I cared for her in ways I have no one else. I gave in ways I’ve always wanted to. I was more raw and real and vulnerable than I have ever been. I tried harder than ever to overcome my shortcomings though it hurt like the dickens. She changed me in ways for which I will forever be thankful.

And now I’m paying the price. I’m tired, I’m worn out, I’m drained. I’m without a piece of my heart. I’m without the person that had been so much a part of my life over the past months. I have nothing left but frustration and anger and lack of hope. Frustration that things didn’t work out though we truly cared for one another. Anger at God for a failed relationship when it’s clear he introduced us and guided us in it, and he knows how hard I tried to do right and be a spiritual leader. Lack of hope that I will ever find that someone special to spend my life with. My heart is now more locked down than ever after having been opened and exposed as much as it was, after allowing her into areas I hadn’t shared with anyone, then being torn out.

I didn’t advertise it, didn’t write about it or talk about it, but heading into 2008 I had an inner peace, a hope that I would finally meet that someone special and be able to share life with them, a strong feeling that it would be a great year, that it would be my year. And it was. And I did meet someone special.

Then 2009 came, and along with it came heartache.

I wish I could say what went wrong. It was a mutual decision and we could both see it coming, but there was nothing we could do to stop it. We didn’t fight or argue or have heated discussions at any point in the relationship, but we were both hurt and drained in the end, mainly from the previous couple weeks, from trying to work through communication issues and not meeting each other on the right level. The harder we tried to work through and resolve things, the more they became issues. Being long distance didn’t help matters in the least. Those seemingly trivial, small, mundane moments are worth far more than they seem when you don’t have them. We were overwhelmed to the end. I can’t blame her for anything. It’s not her fault. I would like to think it’s not my fault either. She is a wonderful and amazing girl, someone I could see myself sharing the rest of my life with. Unfortunately, God saw fit to tear us apart.

They say it takes half the length of the relationship to be able to move on and get over it. The next 3+ months are going to be torture. What a sucky time for it to happen, too, right before Valentine’s Day, before a concert to which I already have tickets, before the wedding of a close friend, before other plans that were in motion but yet to come fully to fruition. There is much that will leave behind remembrances I will have to face and work through, on top of the daily reminders of her presence that are everywhere in my life, much like that scent that permeates everything and won’t easily go away. It’s only been hours since we separated and though tears have been shed, it has yet to fully sink in. The days, weeks, months to come are going to hurt. I ask for your prayers during this time, for the both of us.