POWER BACK ON!

After being without power for a whole week, I'm finally able to get on line, watch TV, do laundry, run the vacuum, etc. I didn't think I would miss it as much as I did. Here's a couple of things I want to get caught up on.

* Langley lost against non-conference opponent Phillip Barbour High School in West Virginia. The bright side about this is the fact they lost 29-26. This means they are at least scoring points finally, and they are throwing the ball too. I hope they continue to improve.

* I am convinced that 9 out 10 people that are involved in either city or county politics don't even know the West End neighborhoods exist. We are last to get fixed for everything it seems. This might not be the case, but from my point of view, it really seems that way.

* I came aross this article in the Post -Gazette. It shows you how to pull up articles from 1929 to present on Google that you would have had to get from the Carnegie Library on microfiche in the past. You can find a lot of historical articles about the West End area. Be careful though, it can be addicting once you start using it. Click here to take you the advanced archive search page.

* I took my daughter to the West End Overlook friday evening to watch the fireworks from the Pirate Game. It was 9:00 P.M. and all the lights went out. It was pitch dark and you could barely see where you were walking. It was a little scary for a 6 year old. There were a few other people there with kids that were complaining too. There were 4 people that didn't seem to mind. They were a couple that was making out pretty heavily and 2 guys sitting on the wall sharing a joint. I don't think I'm taking my kids up there after dark anymore. I am going to write a letter to the city. I let you know if I hear a response.

* I am so glad I send my daughter to Propel-Montour instead of Thaddeus Stevens. Take a look at this article and you'll see why. Instead of getting these kids to rise above their expectations, they dumb down everything else to make the appearance of decent grades. At first I was nervous to send my child to a charter school, but it was probably the best decision of our lives. It's an excellent school and it's free.

* My Elliott Soccer team is officially 0-1 after losing our first game by the score of 2-0. The kids had fun though. The 4 and 5 year olds really don't even understand the difference between winning and losing. The 6 year olds are pretty competitive. It's amazing the difference a year makes.