29 APR 09: Uneven Dozen
Today marks 12 years since the last time I drained my waterbed. And it was such a challenge to drain the waterbed that I hurried to a hardware store for missing tools shortly after sunrise. I simply wasn't overweight enough to sit in the middle, and get the process started.
The waterbed had to be drained because a moving crew was coming to my duplex in College Park - moving me here. Yes, today is my 12th anniversary as a Columbus resident. I don't count the four weeks my new apartment sat empty, even though the landlord required me to pay rent on it.
It was a new full-time job that brought me to Columbus. These days it's a part-time job, as I've tried to launch other careers in the last decade. Sad to say, all those dream careers have floated away like fishing boats launched into West Point Lake.
I really didn't imagine 12 years ago that I'd still be in Columbus today -- and other things have surprised me, because they haven't changed. For instance, I'm still driving the same humble Honda. But its usual great gas mileage has slumped badly in recent weeks - because a sticking odometer shows I'm driving fewer miles.
When I came to Columbus 12 years ago, the old Baker High School was being used as a middle school. A couple of years later, students moved to a new school - and the way things are going, that new school will become outdated before the old one ever is used again.
Yet another new idea for the old Baker High building came forward Tuesday. A 1945 Baker graduate plans to go before Columbus Council Thursday, suggesting the city buy the building for use as a veterans' health clinic. The Muscogee County School District doesn't seem to like that idea - and now may be waiting for the right offer from a fancy restaurant chain.
Another old building which surprisingly is still standing is a brick structure on the northeast corner of Dillingham and Broad Streets in Phenix City. Not even the move of Russell County offices to the modern building next door has brought it down. And you know officials quietly were upset when last week's tornado somehow missed it.
Plenty of other things in Columbus remain the same today, as they did 12 years ago. There's still "Sunny 100" and "Rock 103" on the radio - and WOKS-AM still seems to play the same blues songs that it did in 1997.
But of course, plenty has changed in our area over the last dozen years. Columbus Park Crossing has developed as a major shopping center. Broadway has developed into a popular entertainment spot. And even on the radio - well, have you noticed Troy Public Radio now plays music during its news updates?
Thanks to high-definition broadcast TV, the last year has brought a great deal of change in what I can watch. I'm up to nine different channels - including my choice of weather with jazzy music or dull computerized voices.
(I'm counting WLGA-TV in those channels, even though its digital signal apparently going full-power until June. Its standard signal remains strong where I live - and as of this week, watching black-and-white reruns of The Andy Griffith Show at 7:00 p.m. seems more authentic than ever.)
I only realized the other day that I've been blogging for more than half my years in Columbus. That means you can look up other 29 April entries, and check more memories of my arrival here. You can also decide if this blog has become funnier with time, or if I've simply become more bitter and surly.
Enough of this Memory Lane stuff - since come to think of it, that nightclub has disappeared since I arrived in Columbus. But anyway, let's move on to the Tuesday news....
+ Columbus Water Works released surveillance camera video of last weekend's big tank rupture. It didn't seem to show anyone causing the spill. But conspiracy theorists will claim some runaway barge driver was on the other side, trying to repeat New Orleans in 2005.
+ Columbus Technical College was placed on lockdown, after someone in Columbus phoned a threat to a state education office in Atlanta. Campus officials indicated they know who made the threat, and it's NOT a student. Hmmm -- maybe some staff member became fed up with the vending machines.
+ Georgia Bureau of Investigation agents told the Ledger-Enquirer they're still investigating the Junior Marshal's office. That's funny -- The Courier's "Street Committee" declared three weeks ago the probe was over, and "many will be left with egg on their faces...." Who needs to hit the shower first?
+ WLTZ visited the Columbus Public Library, and noted job-seekers can use computers there for free. Uhhhhh - aren't the computers at the Columbus Career Center downtown free as well? Or are the library computers better, because you can also try out for an online poker career?
+ St. Luke United Methodist Church hosted a luncheon with the author of the book "Manners That Sell." The book's main point is that proper etiquette can improve your business. Judging from recent e-mail here, a working microwave oven for cold fries also would help.
+ Atlanta edged St. Louis in major league baseball 2-1. Former Russell County High School star Colby Rasmus started for the Cardinals, and confessed to WRBL he prefers major league ball because he travels on planes instead of buses. Apparently Rasmus hasn't been on any flights with turbulence yet.
+ Auburn trampled Troy in college baseball 26-6. Now if the Auburn football team can be dared into a game against Troy, to match that score....
+ Instant Message to WRBL's Kelly O'Connell: You can keep doing that midday webcast as long as you wish - where your face is right up against the web-cam at your computer. A couple of times Tuesday, I almost thought you were ready to kiss me.
BURKARD'S BEST BETS: Gas for $1.81 a gallon at Dolly Madison on Victory Drive.... 31-cent ice cream scoops from 5:00-10:00 p.m. at Baskin-Robbins downtown.... and old-timers' day at Thursday's Columbus Council meeting, with both Bert Coker and Paul Olson speaking....
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