Doubting Thomas Blog

Archive for the ‘communication’ Category

Today’s Buffalo News has an editorial encouraging readers to make a comment on the latest stage of the planning process of a new Peace Bridge. I’m commenting on the Peace Bridge web site, but I’m also encouraging people to consider the following.

I’m still waiting for someone to explain why Buffalo would want a new Peace Bridge. The reasons that I’ve heard so far are unconvincing. Here are a few:

1. More traffic. Buffalo will benefit from having more trucks drive through it.
2. More tourists. Buffalo needs another architectural feature to draw people to its West Side.
3. More jobs. Buffalo needs the jobs that would be created for construction workers.

Let’s start with the last one, jobs. Who gets these jobs, residents of Buffalo? I don’t think so. Bridge construction is a specialized field, so the men and women working on a new bridge won’t be from Buffalo. And won’t half of the workers be Canadians?

Next up, tourists. From what I’ve seen of the plans, a new bridge will only be able to be seen from the highway–the already chopped up Front Park will lose even more of its space. There won’t be any place to park near it and take photos. Also, let’s say that there were a nice place to stand and take photos of the bridge. Can anyone point out how that would be a positive impact, economically? Are they seriously expecting a huge increase in postcard sales?

Lastly, more traffic? Seriously, who thinks that would be a good idea? More trucks means more pollution. More asthma for the residents of that neighborhood. More accidents. More noise. Fewer homes. I’ve heard people say that those trucks will stop and buy stuff as they pass through Buffalo. How can people really think that? A trucker who just spent a couple hours waiting to get through customs is not going to find the nearest coffee shop and take a break. Not going to gas up, either. Show me the statistics of how many truckers are currently stopping for gas or coffee once they cross the Peace Bridge.

So, WHY is a new Peace Bridge needed?

The mid-Atlantic is getting a lot of snow, and we want it. They are not capable of handling snow like we are, they don’t want it, they can’t do anything with it, and it’s way more dangerous to people in the Washington DC-area who have no clue how to drive on snowy roads than it is to people here in WNY who have 8 months of the year to practice our snowy-road driving.

Who among us Western New Yorkers doesn’t recall with fondness when we got 6 feet of snow in only 3 days? And wasn’t the October Storm, for all its semi-benign destruction of power lines and cable TV wires, the most calm and relaxing week-long natural disaster in history?

So, it seems odd to those of us who lived through those snowstorms to have to sit back and watch the weather radar, with that distinct line of clouds that just sits right below our border with Pennsylvania. And the constant updates on facebook from our friends in Virginia, the Washington-DC area, and eastern PA–bragging to us about how much snow they’re getting, and how much more is forecast to fall before the storm is over.

And here we are, with some snow on the ground, but without full coverage. Because some of our snow has melted or blown off our lawns, we’re literally green with envy.

Instead of making resolutions, I’m writing down plans…well, not plans exactly, but stuff that I want to do.

I think most of these ideas are feasible. What do you think?

1. Finish the house we started in 2009. I’d like to incorporate green technology, but we’ll see.
2. Get back to running my favorite seasonal business, The Buffalo Bike Taxi Co.
3. Go to more pro baseball games than we did in 2009. I’d like to see my first major league game. In Toronto. I know what you’re saying…someone my age has never seen the MLB in person? Nope.
4. This one is related to #2 above. I will lose a little weight and continue to improve my cardiovascular health. Riding The Buffalo Bike Taxi Co, it would be nearly impossible to gain weight.
5. Do more writing, even if it just more-frequent posts on this blog. I do want to get back to real writing, though.
6. I’d like to learn to speak another language. I studied French in high school and college, so I remember some of that, but “Quiero aprender a hablar español de este año.” (Without having to use Google Translate.)
7. I have a bunch of audio cassettes that I want to convert into digital files, so that I can actually listen to that music. (Younger readers may want to ask their parents if they have any audio cassettes in the basement that they could look at.)
8. I say this every year, but this year is different (partly because of the divorce). I want to spend more time with old friends. I have not ever visited my friends Jesse, Rich, Craig, or Greg at their houses.
9. I’d like to buy an electric car. A Tesla Roadster would be nice, but I would “settle” for a a hybrid Fusion.
10. We live near a lot of water, so I’d like to make sure we get the canoe wet a lot this summer. The Buffalo River is a lot more scenic than you’d expect.
11. Another thing I’ve wanted to do for years, but somehow haven’t found the time to do, is ride my bicycle across New York State. The Erie Canal is a great way to go.
12. I want to take the boys camping, somewhere that they’ll never forget. I think the Adirondacks would be great.
13. We’ve been attending church more regularly, but this year, I would like to make it such a standard part of our life that the boys don’t resist going, when they are at my house on a Sunday. But here’s a problem I haven’t figured out how to resolve: I like three different churches, but I can’t go to all three on the same Sunday morning. Ultimately, I think it will be better if I am more actively involved with one of those three churches, doing things besides just attending morning church services.
14. Many of these things can be done, and some should be done, with family. Baseball, bicycling, and church, for example. This year, I would like to have time to visit my family members at their houses, but also to make the house we’re working on large enough for everyone to gather here for Thanksgiving or Christmas.

What about you? Will you be doing any of these activities?

What’s the point of a blog that never gets updated?

The point is very similar to a blog that never gets read.

I am glad I’m not a “normal weight” person, because, apparently, being a little overweight means I’m going to live a little longer.

A few extra pounds can add years to your life: study
NEW YORK (Reuters) – Carrying a little extra weight may actually be good for you, according to a Canadian study that showed a few pounds appear to protect people from an early death.

Researchers found that while underweight and extremely obese people die earlier than people of a normal weight, people who are slightly overweight actually live longer than those of a normal weight.