Sunday, May 11, 2003







Burkard's Blog of Columbus, Georgia



BURKARD'S BLOG



11 MAY 03: THE DISASTER ZONE



So many strange things have happened in Columbus in the last two weeks. A small earthquake struck at 5:00 a.m. The
Chattahoochee River has been above flood stage for days. My computer crashed. We MUST be cursed....



I was delayed in blogging for several days because my computer needed a new "motherboard." Of all the strange ways to remind me about Mother's Day....



I started developing motherboard problems in March - and the team at Computer Discounters told me I might need a new monitor. The computer would keep running even when nothing else was plugged in, and the monitor showed nothing. To that extent, it was like some Georgia drivers on the highway.



I bought a new monitor last Sunday at the Peachtree Mall Radio Shack to solve the problem. Well, it was a demo model on the floor for 50 dollars - without even a box. It's a good thing I parked near the Rich's entrance, so security guards didn't stop me.



I brought the monitor home - and it only had full color on the bottom half of the screen. Looking back, I now realize that model probably was reserved for someone from Taylor County High School.



To make matters worse, the same "blackout" problem with the monitor returned Monday night - but if I took the computer to work and plugged it into a monitor there, the trouble would stop. The mainframe would slowly whir to a stop - sort of like what would happen if you hook up jumper cables to a 1981 Pinto.



Only when I took the computer back to Computer Discounters did they confirm I needed a new motherboard. And to think only a few years ago, a "mother board" referred to a group of Church School teachers.



The new motherboard so far has worked fine - and even more amazingly, my new monitor has full color now. So I'm stuck with an old 15-inch monitor that probably works well, but I don't need. Well, it IS on the floor next to my free weights, so I COULD have more variety in my exercise program....



Meanwhile, the Riverwalk in downtown Columbus remained covered with water last night - even though the Chattahoochee finally dropped below flood stage. As I went for an evening jog, for some reason the song "Wade in the Water" kept bouncing in my head.



Did you see WRBL's Saturday night newscast - where the reporter and meteorologist REPLAYED their jumps off a Riverwalk ledge away from floodwater on Thursday? They dared to ask each other and the public whether they "jumped like a girl." I e-mailed them that Southeastern Conference women's basketball players actually jump much BETTER than that.



(By the way, the flooding in East Alabama was SO BAD that our Local Elder at church said he went squirrel-hunting - and shot an eight-pound bass.)



The Chattahoochee River crested at close to 40 feet in Columbus - or two-and-a-half flights of stairs up from the Riverwalk at Golden Park. Another flight-and-a-half and I would have been concerned, because a little voice in the back of my head keeps saying, "Flood insurance...."



So let's see, what else have I missed in recent days....



+ The temperature climbed above 90 degrees F. for the first time this season - weeks ahead of schedule. Having grown up
in the Midwest, I'm resisting turning on the air conditioner until Memorial Day Weekend. But boy, my hands are sticking to the pages when I read books.



+ WTVM apologized during a newscast for airing a story "based on a rumor that was false." I don't know what the rumor was - but for some reason, "Entertainment Tonight" is still on the air.



+ Someone who attends church with me sent a tough letter to the Ledger-Enquirer, complaining about the compromise on the Georgia state flag. I didn't talk with him about it at church this weekend - but I happened to carry a church newspaper with a headline, "Principle or Politics." Simply leaving that open should have sent the message.



+ I went for an evening stroll around Golden Park, and was stopped by a man wearing an L.S.U. T-shirt.



"Is there supposed to be a game here tonight?"



"No, the next game on the board is for Monday."



"I thought they were playing Macon tonight."



"That's arena football, at the Civic Center."



"Arena Football?!?!?"



"....at the Civic Center."



Sure enough, the Macon Knights beat the Columbus Wardogs. And who knows which player that man was in town to scout.



(Apparently he's still among those people who think "arena football" refers to a game in a domed stadium, like the Superdome.)