After that, I decided to get my hair cut.  Always a trip to go into Supercuts.  One thing I don’t do is high end salons.  If I ever have to pay more than $20 with tip for a hair cut, that will be the day I start cutting my own hair.  I don’t need it styled, I just need it cut.  Anyhow, got that done and then it was home to play with the dog and maybe clean the house.

I played with the dog but the house is still a shit hole.  I decided that I was going to visit Meijer to get a few new pictures printed for my dining room wall.  I’ve got 3 nice framed pictures that I’ve taken up on the wall and it’s time for a change of scenery so I spent a few hours going through my recent pictures looking for replacements.  I settled on 3 new pictures and loaded up the SD card and headed off to Meijer land to have them developed.  You all know I hate Meijer.  Once again, it’s the only grocery store of any quality in this little town so EVERYONE goes there.  It’s always crowded, the parking lot is a disaster, and I can never get out of there without having to wait at least 30 minutes in line and spending $100!  I went to the kiosk to pick out my pictures and options and submitted them for processing.  It was going to take about 30 minutes so I decided to grocery shop.  I went back to pick them up after 30 minutes and was accosted by the Meijer Photo Lab people.  They wanted me to prove that I was the photographer, that my pictures looked too professional and that they would only release them to me if I signed an affidavit claiming that I was in fact the photographer.  Normally I get my photography printed through my hosting web site and I’ve never had this issue before.  I didn’t know whether I should be flattered that they thought my work was that good, or offended that they thought I was a thief.  I decided to sign their release (which absolved them from legal issues if someone were to challenge my copyright), they put it in a little file along with maybe a dozen others then informed me that it might be a good idea for me to make sure my copyright is obvious, like a logo or something on my pictures.  So off I went.  Somewhat flustered that I had to prove something that was mine, was actually mine!

Tonight I’ve been sitting on my computer investigating copyright laws and how they apply to digital photography.  I’ve always been pretty careful with my photography.  I don’t sell it but I have left open too many loop holes that might allow someone else to try and sell it and claim it as their own.  Tonight I decided to turn off the print option for my web site.  This won’t eliminate the problem but it will prevent people from trying to order prints of my work without my permission.  I’m also going to work up a small copyright notice that I can attach to my photos that will enforce the digital data already stored in the picture file.  It seems that the more people see my work, the more people tell me I ought to be doing something with it.  I’m not sure I’m there yet.  Maybe soon.

Anyhow, here is one of the pictures that drew the attention of the Meijer Photo Lab.

Got a lot on my mind right now, can’t put much of it on this blog.  I’m ready to get out of this house and get on with my life.  Amazing how difficult that concept has been lately.  Anyhow, stay tuned, I may try to push my landlord to allow me out of my lease early.  If not, I’m sure I can tolerate living out here until August but with gas prices now at a new high (it was $4.09 in Maple City today…the highest price in the county) it’s becomming VERY expensive to commute 60 miles a day.  I am slowing weeding through shit.  In fact, when I’m doing writing this, I’m going to clean out another closet and try to see what I can get rid of.  I’ve kept a bunch of things hoping that I could eventually sell them on eBay.  Well, that’s just not going to happen.  I don’t have time right now to fuck with it.  Oh well, someone shopping at Good Will might appreciate getting a good deal of a lot of this crap.  One man’s junk is another mans treasure I guess.

Meijer was in the news here today.  They were fined something like $189,000 for breaking campaign finance rules set by the state of Michigan.  Serves them right.  I have a big problem with what Meijer tried to do (influence an election and subsequent recall of a township board that opposed Meijer’s plans to build a new store) and I absolutely agree with the price they are paying for breaking the law.  HOWEVER, I also sympathize with Meijer.  First, they own the property where they wanted to build a new store in Acme Township (outside of Traverse City).  They have for years.  Second, this area has clearly demonstrated OVER AND OVER again that another store like Meijer is not only needed but BADLY needed.  The Traverse City Meijer is one of the busiest stores in the entire company, the volume they do is crazy!  People come to shop at that Meijer from ALL OVER Northern Michigan.  Certianly Meijer is IN BUSINESS TO MAKE MONEY and another store would help them achieve that goal.  It is the desire and purpose of ALL retail businesses to MAKE MONEY (that is a concept too many people always seem to forget).  Acme Township was an ideal location because it was conveniently located on the opposite end of town from the existing Meijer.  The problem was that certain factions in the community did not want a big box store to come in a “spoil” the charm of their little community.  Never mind that Meijer was bending over backwards to design a store that would “fit in” to the landscape.  OK, here is where I have the problem.  Acme is a SUBURB of Traverse City.  It is not some little village in the middle of nowhere, it nearly bursts at the seams in the summer with a population that easily doubles or triples in size with tourists and summer residents who ALL come here from big cities down state and who ALL shop at Meijer downstate.  Acme (along with Traverse City) HORRIBLY under serves it’s residents by preventing business operations that people CLEARLY want (via zoning and exceptionally poor planning).  If people hated Meijer so much, why do people travel from ALL OVER NORTHERN MICHIGAN to shop there???????  Here is my suggestion:  I think Meijer should shut down their Traverse City operations entirely and pull right on out of here.  Their new Petoskey store will serve the area.  For a good year or two people will have to shop at Tom’s and Glens (or drive 80 miles north to Petoskey) and people will have to pay substantially more for their groceries than they would have at Meijer.  People will get sick of that shit really fast.  THEN, Zoning laws will be changed to allow Walmart to move in with their Super Center (since they will play the political game right and kiss lots of ass).  Once Walmart is in they will DEVASTATE the Mom and Pop shops that had been doing decent business since Meijer left.  People will shop at Walmart since it’s their only option to save money on commodities that they need to have in order to survive. (Come on folks, follow the history of what happens when Walmart comes to town).  Tom’s, Glen’s, and Olsen’s and the other tiny stores will all go out of business leaving only Walmart and then Traverse City can become another sleazy, run down,  middle American town with nothing to offer but a huge walmart store and a pretty view of the bay.  None of the smaller businesses will have any reason to exist since everyone can get what they want from Walmart….DO YOU SEE WHERE I’M GOING WITH THIS??????

Grow the fuck up Acme Township. Why do people in this area kick themselves in the ass over and over???  Get over the fact that GROWTH HAPPENS, in 20 years you WILL have some sort of Super Center in your “little village”.  Look, I like the fact that it’s quiet up here but I hate the fact that people are so fucking stubborn.  There is growth and then there is SMART GROWTH.  Why is the latter so fucking difficult for you all to figure out????  This is why I’m not in Politics.  I would offend too many people becuase I am too black and white.  This issue is clear cut in my mind and I don’t understand why other people can’t follow the logic.  I don’t care about your emotions, I care about your ability to think about things reasonably and deliberately.  Here is the question that Acme needs to answer which through this ENTIRE thing they have failed to answer (hell they haven’t even figured out how to ask it yet):  If you will not allow Meijer (or whatever other big box store) in to your community than WHO WILL YOU ALLOW AND WHY WILL YOU ALLOW THEM AND NOT OTHERS??? That is the question they have ALL failed to answer.  When and IF Acme Township can answer that question they will start on an appropriate SMART GROWTH path.  Until then, they will fight many more of these battles.