News Around Town

I have a lot of pictures today!!


It's the combination of snow and ice that makes things more difficult.

 

picture is courtesy of KansasCity.com
When the city advisories said "STAY OFF THE ROADS", I don't think they meant driving off of them.

This week, here at TAOBC, I am aiming for a few  heart warming stories resulting from events around Kansas City. Anything that has the word "warm" connected to it, got moved to the front of the line.  So for today, I am just talking about some nice things that have happened in my city this past week.  Hopefully, there are nice things happening where you live as well.

 Last week, I wrote about the first wave of the snowstorm that blew through here on Thursday. With that storm most of the KC got between 10-16 inches of snow.  Comparatively speaking that amount  of snow isn't all that bad.  I guess, you might disagree if you live in Phoenix or Orlando. Here in Kansas City that amount isn't unheard of but is a bit unusual.  The upside to the snow...is that it is a  lot of fun for the kids (the word "kid" here isn't defined by age)  that came out in droves to play.  I was going to post a picture of all the people on one of the local sledding hills. but after arriving, I couldn't find a parking spot. The hill was covered with all manner of people with sleds, toboggans, even sheets of plastic to slide around on this wintery slide. SPOILER ALERT!!! Just so you get to see some sledding pictures, I have added some to the bottom of the post.

ANYWHO...  as I was saying.........That was last Thursday......and the snow wasn't done with us.  After a couple of days of milder weather, round two came through.  Tuesday of this week a second snow storm  moved into the area clogging up the already snow packed roads.  That brings me to a story that is a story about people being generous and kind.  Really?? LOOK AT ME WRITING A FRIDAY NEWS STORY THAT IS ABOUT NICE PEOPLE. 

Miracle of 74th Street

Emergency crews were called to a south side Kansas City neighborhood on Tuesday where  a resident had collapsed  of an apparent heart attack while trying to shovel out the snow from his drive.  Unfortunately, when the ambulance tried to enter the unplowed street, it became stuck.

You Want Me to Do What??

Thought Number One:  There's going to be some changes made.

In the past two days, I have seen portions of three interviews with Marissa Mayer, the CEO and President of  Yahoo .  Marissa is currently in the news because of a policy change that many feel is unfair, if not, positively primeval.  As the youngest CEO of a Fortune 500 company, she has the reputation for being a notorious workaholic and, if one is to believe in the chatter on Twitter and Facebook...Marissa seems to be setting woman's rights back to the 1950's....actually according to Forbes, it is setting it back to the Stone Age.

So what is behind all the brouhaha at Yahoo!?  Marissa is rounding up the employees and mandating that they come to work.  She is doing away with telecommuting.  A memo sent out by Jackie Reses, the chief of HR,  that says in part:

To become the absolute best place to work, communication and collaboration will be important, so we need to be working side-by-side. That is why it is critical that we are all present in our offices. Some of the best decisions and insights come from hallway and cafeteria discussions, meeting new people, and impromptu team meetings. Speed and quality are often sacrificed when we work from home. We need to be one Yahoo! and that starts with physically being together.

A Night At the Oscars

Normally, I don't post on Monday but Crabby Pants and I wanted to share our Oscar night pictures with you.  We decided to crash attend the festivities to cheer on our favorite category.  Prior to that nomination, which I will discuss in a sec, here are a few pictures of our fun night out on the town.

Here we are arriving...walking the red carpet.

Fire and Ice

Today most of the people in Kansas City are trying to scoop their way out due to snow storm that rolled through most of the Midwest.  It was a thunder snowstorm which made it somewhat unusual. While digging out driveways with 12+ inches of snow may not be everyone's idea of a good time, we have been in a serious drought for quite a long time.  At this point, any precipitation is a GOOD thing.   I have found it rather amusing,  with the non-stop weather reports, that all the stations keep showing us the various weather cams around town.

This weather camera is looking toward Country Club Plaza.

Went to Heaven in a Little Rowboat

Have I mentioned in the last five minutes that I tend to be very conflicted about certain things.  Oh, I am sure that I did.

We love monkeys here at TAOBC but we recommend not
getting drunk and getting into a fight with one.

 It's not that I don't have strong opinions on numerous issues but there are so many things these days that have areas of gray.

 Just a few days ago, my alter-ego Crabby Pants reinvented herself for the umpteenth time now taking on the form of a Superhero that intends to find truth in the media, stamp-out overreaction and kick-the-sh** out of rampant rumor mills.  Just in the nick of time it would seem.

So for today..here at TAOBC, I am having my own little version of  Dateline.  The only thing that would make this more realistic if I could have the annoying voice of  Keith Morrison asking you to sign onto Facebook and weigh in if you think the alleged perpetrator did it.  Actually, as you will see...the monkey killer  did it...for sure..no question about it.   That not entirely the point.  The point is I have some questions and concerns. 

There is a criminal case in progress in Boise, Idaho that is gaining national exposure.  On  the outside chance you haven't been following it, it is being referred to by the unfortunate name "The Boise Monkey Killer". I am not making this up. Feel free to Google it. 

To catch you up to speed if you haven't been following this with bated breath.  (yes, I said bated...it is a derivative of the word "abated"...there is no such thing as "baited breath"....unless you are eating worms and going swimming in a fishy lake)



Thought Number One:  The Case of the Boise Monkey Killer

And The Award Goes To

For those of you that aren't regular readers, here at The Art of Being Conflicted, our two reporters look for the "odd or weird" little news stories that you might of missed due to the over-reporting of the BIG stories. Every Friday, Reporter Cheryl P. and Crabby Pants try to find a little something unusual in the news.

Upon occasion, we give out awards here at TAOBC for the more inventive creative stories that make our Friday post.

The Westminster Dog Show, also, gave out an award this week to a little cutie named Banana Joe.

Drinking, Yes...Thinking, No

According to police, April Cassidy Velez drove to the Hamden Police Department last Saturday to bail out her husband.  Her husband, Edwin, had been arrested earlier in the day for Driving Under the Influence.

Unfortunately, for April she showed up at the station intoxicated.  Upon further checking, the police found that she had parked her pickup in a snow drift in the parking lot that was marked "for police vehicles only". The truck had a number of empty beer cans in it, as well as a full six pack.

She was arrested. for driving while intoxicated.  Both her and her husband will be back in court later this month.

The husband and wife that drink together get to go to the clink together.

The Truth is in There Somewhere

Last Friday, in my odd news wrap-up for the week, I told you about the 10 year boy  boy being charged with a misdemeanor charge for carrying a toy gun on his school bus. Then...as it happens, another story comes across the news  that deals with a similar use of "play" weaponry.

Thought Number One: What IS the REAL story??

At first glance, the story out of Loveland, CO would have us all shaking our heads thinking it is a case of gross overreaction to  harmless school yard play. As new facts emerge, however,  there seems to be some confusion what exactly happened.

Initially, Mandie Watkins, a mother of a second grader, Alex Watkins, said she received a phone call from the principle of Mary Blair Elementary saying that her son had received a suspension for throwing an IMAGINARY grenade on the playground.  According to Alex he did throw the make-believe grenade to "save the world" and he included the sound effects of  psssshhh. As you might imagine, with the release of that story...Moms were losing their minds. (not just moms for that matter, Kiddo #2 AKA my son called with his comments as well.)  WHAT the WHAT...we are talking IMAGINARY grenade, right?

The story spread through the media with the speed akin to a  lighted fuse that was laced with an accelerant. The personnel of Mary Blair, however, said they were unable to comment due to privacy issues.  The pesky rules that come with Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act were causing the school to remain "mum" on the subject.

Perhaps That Was a Bad Idea

Another week of oddly interesting (OK...maybe" interesting" is a bit of a stretch) but odd seems right. As always, there are a few stories that remind us that thinking before doing might be beneficial....but probably less entertaining.

The Face of Love

A tattooist has inked his name across his girlfriend's face less than 24 hours after meeting her.

 Lesya Tourmaniantz from Saransk, Russia let Rouslan Tourmaniantz tattoo 'Ruslan' over her face in giant Gothic letters.

The couple, who met online in a chat room, say they fell "head over heals" in love and quickly decided they should get married.  While the couple have only been engaged since January 20th, Lesya has taken Tourmaniantz's last name and is learning how to become a tattoo artist with the tutorship of her fiance.

The happy couple

A friend of the couple says that Lesya's future plans are getting married, getting her entire body inked and having children.  He went on to say, "I know that there are people who are terrified that Leysa has made a rash decision that she will regret horribly, but sometimes the best decisions are the ones you make in an instant with your heart..."


 Good thing the happy couple didn't decide to tattoo their last name across her face.

When Did Technology Stop Being Our Friend?

Thought Number One:  My Computer is a Peeping Tom


I was watching one of the morning news shows and there was a segment about how all of us should be extra careful in leaving our computers on with the webcam exposed.

Yes...exposed webcams are being used by voyeurs (or perverts, if you prefer)  to keep an eye on you in the privacy of your home.  At the beginning of the story there was an ominous tone that suggested that we were being spied upon in nefarious ways much in the same vein as a crazy neighbor looking into our windows at night.   OK, that might be happening, also, who is to say?


There are always two things about this type of reporting that  confuses me.

A. Whenever a news program programs offers this type of  precautionary news, they hire some "expert" that may or may not gotten his expertise from being a criminal, and then they hire him to do "whatever they are warning us about".

B. The "expert" will  proceed to tell us how he did whatever we should be frightened of.  This instruction portion of the program is exceedingly  handy for the creepy types that hadn't thought of doing it already. Less creative criminals, then can have  "ah-ha moments".  Can't you just imagine them  saying "Sh**, why didn't I think of that?")

Eye On The Prize

 Some of you  might of missed some of the odd little news bites this week,  amid all the controversy surrounding the commercial that may or may not be offensive to Jamaicans. (For what it's worth, I don't find it offensive but to be fair, I am not Jamaican.) The pure genius of  the Volkswagen advertisement is  that it got aired a gazillion times prior to the Superbowl so everyone could weigh in on it appropriateness.  Whether people find it politically correct or not doesn't diminish all the exposure it got in the process.