Abandoned Factory - Ohio

old factory sandusky oh
Originally uploaded by Gene Bowker

When I was in Sandusky, OH in 2006 I saw the abandoned American Crayon Company plant across the tracks from the Ex-NYC depot.

Everywhere in the US we see abandoned plants. Industries which once flurished, now being made somewhere else (probably China) and a changed economic landscape left behind.

How do we face the changing economy? We can either play the victim and say "Bring our jobs back" or you can say "How do I adapt to the new economy?"

There are new opprotunities and new challenges, it is all how we look at it.

Bloglink: Railroads Fight Back

The Journal of Commerce has a really good article about the state of the railroad industry.

The head of Union Pacific won’t support the Rockefeller competition bill, providing rough track ahead

Top railroad executives are throwing down the gauntlet, serving notice to Congress and freight shippers they will push back hard against efforts to tighten rail regulations.

James R. Young, chairman, president and CEO of the largest rail carrier, Union Pacific Railroad, said flatly his team opposes the version of a rail regulatory bill that cleared the Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee just before Christmas.

Young told Wall Street analysts on Jan. 21 that although UP officials worked with the panel ahead of time on legislative language and with its chairman, Sen. Jay Rockefeller, D-W.Va., “without additional changes, we cannot support the bill.”

Young said UP and other carriers are still negotiating with congressional staff to make changes, but said the bill threatens rail earnings at a time when national policy should provide incentives for railroads to haul more freight. “I hope common sense prevails,” he said

 

Bloglink: Scientology mythbusted

James Christensen wrote a great blog about Scientology here

I really love the pictures.

Jealousy... I WANT SOME SNOW!

Reading the blog of my friend MSCATOR from Twitter this afternoon and looking at all her pictures of snow from the deck of her home near Asheville, NC. (you should go check out the pics...)

I just want some snow..

Please.. just a dusting.. everyone else is getting it.

Friday's Quote- Emerson

Truth is beautiful, without doubt; but so are lies.

-- Ralph Waldo Emerson



If you haven't read Emerson recently (maybe since High School or college?) this is a great collection to get cozy with him again.

I used to do tweets as @Emersontoday but I found my time getting split too much between the accounts so I gave it and @Thoreautoday up.  However, I still love his work and quotes.

This weekend is going to be rainy here in South Carolina, hopefully I'll have a little time for some extra reading.

Which way are you looking today?

I took these mushroom shost during Cindy and my vacation to Fort Mountain State Park over in Georgia last summer.

From the top, it just looked like any other mushroom...

Nothing particuarly worth a photo, except that it was large and contrasted nicely with the forest floor at sunset.

But when you look at it from a different angle.. it became a lot more interesting.

Isn't life like this? Sometimes when we take a new approach, or look at something (or someone) differently it will improve our outlook on the situation.

Rocks and Waves

Rocks and Waves
Originally uploaded by Gene Bowker

The waves roll in.. towards the beach.. on a cold Gulf Coast day.

The wind was strong, when I visited Fort Desoto Park in Pinellas County, Florida in December 2009.

Fort Desoto features a long gulf beach, as well as the historical fortifications from the Spanish American war in 1898.

The park is a great place to beachcomb, birdwatch, surf fish, or just ride your bicycle along the miles of bike trails.

The blowing sand and crisp weather kept the crowds away, and helped me to get some nice shots of "big waves" (at least for the Gulf) coming into the shore.