blog.bharper: the blog of brandon harper » Cognizance

Walsh Featured on NPR Twice Recently

Brandon Harper — Wed, 05 Nov 2008 08:05:52 +0000

My tiny hometown of Walsh has been featured TWICE in recent months on NPR. If you go look-up Walsh, CO on Google Maps, you’ll see how small and isolated it is. That said, it’s a big deal when anything like being on NPR happens. I think the last time it was in any sort of national spotlight was in the early 1980’s during the farmer’s strike. My dad was actually interviewed then for the CBS Morning News.

Anyhow, the first story was on NPR Morning Edition on September 5, 2008 about Robert Morrow, the country coroner, dentist, and volunteer fireman.

The second story which was on the NPR Morning Edition on November 3, 2008 were various viewpoints about how people there were voting, and included interviews of a couple of friends of mine. Cool stuff!

Be sure to check out the photo galleries in both stories– great photos!

Review of Blue Sage Realty in Westminster, CO — It Sucks!

Brandon Harper — Fri, 04 Jul 2008 03:59:58 +0000

My buddy Rod recently had a really bizarre and unprofessional experience with Kathryn MacGeraghty and her team at Blue Sage Realty. It sounds like a good place to avoid at all costs. You can read more about his experience here.

Blue Sage Realty in Westminster Sucks!

I also posted a review of Blue Sage Realty, Westminster CO at Yelp.

There are a few other listings for Blue Sage on the interwebs, so this is the one that he had this bad experience at:

Blue Sage Realty, Inc
8471 Turnpike Dr, Suite 220
Westminster, CO 80031
(303) 432-9898 Office

http://www.bluesagerealtyinc.com

Nightclubs Are Hell

Brandon Harper — Thu, 16 Aug 2007 05:51:39 +0000

I just ran across a brilliant article titled “Nightclubs are hell. What’s cool or fun about a thumping, sweaty dungeon full of posing idiots?” in the Guardian Unlimited. There are many statements in there that hold true for me, but I think this is my favorite:

I used to feel intimidated by people like this; now I see them as walking insecurity beacons, slaves to the perceived judgment of others, trapped within a self- perpetuating circle of crushing status anxiety.

Well said.

The Housing Bubble Crisis Becomes a World Economy Crisis

Brandon Harper — Mon, 13 Aug 2007 05:34:23 +0000

I really wish I’d taken my own advice a couple of years ago and tried to sell my place to instead rent for awhile. The bubble has burst, and it’s not pretty.

Stocks take a turn for the worse as investors scoff at the Fed’s decision to step in yet again, this time adding $3 bln in temporary reserves. At $35 bln (the sum of the first two repos), the Fed had already stepped in more aggressively than its actions following the 9/11 attacks to calm a nervous market.

Since a third injection is unprecedented, as such infusions typically only occur during a crisis, investors are again left wondering just how bad the subprime situation is and questioning whether or not an emergency rate cut would even be enough to avert a possible true credit crunch.

I’ve seen Jim Cramer go asplodey before, and mostly I just generally find him entertaining rather than taking his advice seriously at all, but he really went AWOL on CNBC about this same issue recently.

My assessors evaluation this year showed that my place has lost value, homes in the area are now selling for about 10-15% less than I paid four years ago, and many houses have gone to into foreclosure in this area. I’m still waiting to see what prices the homes that recently sold in a foreclosure auction went for wondering how much they will bring the value of my place down. I do somewhat regret buying a place when I was so young, but maybe it’s better in the long run to learn this lesson on a relatively inexpensive piece of property with a standard 30 year loan.

A Soldier Speaks Out On Craigslist

Brandon Harper — Tue, 24 Apr 2007 06:25:35 +0000

About all that I can do here is provide a link, perhaps an excerpt, and say “wow”.

How do I dare say this to you moronic war supporters who are “Supporting our Troops” and waving the flag and all that happy horse shit? I’ll tell you why. I’m a Marine and I served my tour in Iraq. My husband, also a Marine, served several. I left the service six months ago because I got pregnant while he was home on leave and three days ago I get a visit from two men in uniform who hand me a letter and tell me my husband died in that fucking festering sand-pit. He should have been home a month ago but they extended his tour and now he’s coming home in a box.

You fuckers and that god-damn lying sack of shit they call a president are the reason my husband will never see his baby and my kid will never meet his dad.

Wow.

Congrats To SpaceX!

Brandon Harper — Wed, 21 Mar 2007 06:17:29 +0000

SpaceX launched their second rocket today and made it to space! A lot of us around the office were watching yesterday but the launch was canceled, and I simply forgot to look again this afternoon as I was busy at work. We have a vested interest as SpaceX’s founder is the brother of our CEO.

It didn’t quite go as planned as there was a problem during the second stage, however given that it took the Atlas program 12 tries for a successful launch into space, SpaceX seems to be well on their way.

Another Speech, Another Lie

Brandon Harper — Thu, 25 Jan 2007 04:22:14 +0000

Wow, we totally thwarted the terra again according to the State of the Union speech given last night:

“We stopped an al Qaeda plot to fly a hijacked airplane into the tallest building on the West Coast.”

I’m so proud. Lets bring out the shirts that look like flags and celebrate!

Oh wait, that “threat” has actually been debunked as a myth.

In other news, Obama is going after Faux news for the fake “Madrassa” report about him, and apparently racists are morans. (intentional typo)

We Are Watching You

Brandon Harper — Tue, 23 Jan 2007 03:23:14 +0000

My last post reminded me of an interesting factoid that I keep forgetting to mention.

According to my server logs, two of the biggest fans of my Snacks On A Plane spoof are the US Department of Justice, and The Pentagon.

Andy Griffith Is A Terrorist!

Brandon Harper — Tue, 23 Jan 2007 03:14:58 +0000

I can’t believe a stand-up guy like Andy Griffith would be associated with terrorism, but after watching this short clip, I’m convinced we should send him to Abu Ghraib and beat the hell out of him.

Photos From The Nebraska Ice Storm of 2006

Brandon Harper — Sat, 06 Jan 2007 23:23:57 +0000

The same recent storm which pulverized the area I grew-up in had a completely different effect in Kansas and Nebraska. In these photos, you can see how damaging an ice storm can be.

I remember having an ice storm in Colorado sometime around 1984 (I was 5 or 6) which was not early this bad, but I haven’t experienced a storm like that since then. We had cattle at the time and my dad and I had to go out and knock all of the ice off of the electric fences to keep them from getting out as well as busted holes in iced over water tanks so that the cattle would have something to drink. Consequently that was the first time I remember driving– I had to steer my dad’s Bronco while he knocked the ice off with a shovel on the electric fence. Man, has life changed since then…