Beautiful weather, custom rides, and happy faces as far as the eye can see.  No doubt about it, this would be the best way to describe the 2009 Frog Follies in Evansville, IN.  My only regrets are that I didn't have longer to spend time with the attendees and those that traveled so far to enjoy the company of other hot rodders.

I showed up to the Frog Follies, which is located every year out at the Evansville 4H Grounds, around 2 o'clock Saturday afternoon.  At this time there were still hundreds of people filing in, 2 by 2 in some places, a sight in itself to behold.  And once on the grounds excitement was in the air, mixed with testosterone, and lots of grease.  Basically all the best smells mixed into one, which would make one heck of a dangling air freshner.

Another reason why I love attending the Frog Follies every year is because of how affordable it is.  Unlike the Evansville downtown festivals, all the drinks and food you could possibly want are priced just right.  Furthermore, just to get through the door you aren't charged an arm and a leg, $5 per person will do.  Hiking around the 4,000-5,000 cars on display will create quite a thirst, thankfully RC is on tap around every corner.  For $1.25 you'll get a humongous drink and another $1 will buy you a hotdog.  Recession budgets rejoice!

Originally I had intended to bring my HD camcorder to take snap shots and conduct some interviews.  Unfortunately I was plagued with electronic gremlins that prohibited me from taking any of my own pictures or video.  Oh well, there is always Frog Follies 2010!  Below are a few photos I culled from Flickr and the official Frog Follies website will eventually update to include a gallery of the 09 Frog Follies.

by abracapocus_pocuscadabr a

by Adam Kirk Photography

by decard

Wal-Mart made my day! Yes, Wal-Mart. I have been anxiously awaiting the grand opening of the new Wal-Mart in Newburgh for months. Our family shops at Wal-Mart at least once a week and that shopping is mainly done by me. For the past 6 years I have been driving to the west side and Boonville Wal-Marts in order to avoid the east side at all cost. I live on the east side but the closest Wal-Mart is always dirty, understocked, and loud. I have to add 30 minutes to my shopping trip because of the long lines. My hopes were extremely high during my recent trip to the new store. They did not disappoint me!

Upon entering, I was given a map and a shiny, brand-new, clean shopping cart to fill up. I didn't think I needed a map for Wal-Mart but I ended up using it more than once. The store was set up in a completely different arrangement than I have ever seen. The shoes were on display just like a department store would showcase each style. The aisles were at odd angles but in a good way. The sporting goods area rivaled more expensive specialty stores. Perhaps it was because of the fact that the store has only been open a few weeks but everything I looked at was well stocked. The difference between this Wal-Mart and others that I have shopped at was the way in which they actually displayed their products instead of just stocking as many as they could onto generic shelves and racks. The clothing area for women and children was very well stocked and appealing.

We didn't wait in line longer than 5 minutes but we were in the store for over an hour even though my list wasn't very long. I couldn't help wandering around and browsing each department.  I left happy and extremely satisfied. I am looking forward to future grocery shopping there. It makes my life and shopping a little easier and much more enjoyable.

Here is some free advice for local car lots looking to capitalize on the popularity of Evansville Craigslist.  Yes it's free to list and there are not printed rules to follow, however there is netiquette that should be followed if you don't want to piss potential buyers off.  Let's get started.

1. Always advertise the price, don't  make me call you.  Town and Country Ford is the latest offender of this and frankly I'll never shop there again, that's how much it pisses me off.

2. Provide plenty of pictures, at least 4, don't tease me with the perfect exterior picture when the interior is rotted.

3. Remove the damn listing if you've sold it off your lot.  Internet shoppers don't like to hear about great sales after the fact.

4. Don't Spam!  Filling up Craigslist with listings from your car lot is the equivalent of filling my email inbox with Viagra ads and then coming to the grocery store with me and pushing my cart over when it's full.  Don't do it, you are ruining the free service for everyone else and it makes you look like a dick.

5. Don't list crap.  Only list things on Craigslist that are of value or a special deal.  This means if you have a special edition car or truck you want to sell, list it, or if you have a bargain basement price, list it.  Everything else you can keep to yourself and try to sell off of your lot.

My daughter, Emma, has been attending the Evansville Vanderburgh Public Library Toddlers Story-time almost since birth. Each Tuesday morning her babysitter would take Emma along with her grandson to the Oaklyn Branch for the under 2 year old story time. The older she got the more she enjoyed it. The class is free to the public and lasts a half hour.

Taking her to "library school", as we call it, was one of the activities that I was looking forward to the most when I became a stay at home mommy. I was amazed and in awe that my one year old knew so many classic nursery rhymes, not to mention her way around the library from this weekly class!

Despite its name, there is more music and motion than reading. Each class is pretty much the same which follows the philosophy that babies learn from repetition. We start with a hello song to each child, sing several classic songs with hand movements or bouncing, read one book chosen by our child and end the class with a good-bye song. The class usually has about 20-30 kids in attendance and I watched my daughter become more outgoing as she saw the same kids each week.

The classes are on a month long break to end the summer reading programs and to get ready for the school year. We miss going so much! I have taken her there to check out books and play in the children's section but she always runs to her classroom. Very soon she will be 2 years old and will be able to attend up to 4 classes that range from story-time to music to crafts. I know social interaction is important to her development and I am planning on taking her to these classes to help her meet new friends, have fun and of course, continue to support her love of reading. I thank the local public libraries for providing a wonderful, safe program for children to enhance their learning process.

I love to save money. I cut coupons, watch sale adds, sign up for every email mailing list possible all in order to save a few extra dollars. Spending wisely is a tricky challenge for anyone in this economy and as a stay at home mommy it is one of the most important ways I can contribute to my family's quality of life. However, many stores send notifications and money saving coupons only to their credit card holders...until now.

Old Navy has started a wonderful and actually fun way of receiving superb coupons. They call it "Old Navy Weekly". I discovered it on accident by becoming a "fan" of them on Facebook. The tab is accessible to anyone on their website, the coupons, however, are another story.

The "modelquins" are hanging out advertising current deals and great new items. It is your job to hunt for the coupons. Its totally exciting. By moving click-able items around on the modelquins the different coupons become available. A set amount of coupons are available of each kind, i.e. 25% your purchase, $50 off $100 purchase or even $70 off $100 purchase. Fans of Old Navy on Facebook post clues to capturing these worthy coupons but the best coupons are usually gone within minutes. So far all I've been able to snag are the 25% off and $10 off of $50 purchase coupons but both are better than nothing!  New coupons are updated each Thursday night between 7:00pm and 11:00pm.

Our daughter is about to turn 2 years old and will need a complete new wardrobe for fall. I have always loved Old Navy clothes for their style and quality but they aren't usually my first stop for kids clothes because of the price. Having these coupons available to me in the next couple of months will put Old Navy in the top spot for stores to shop for her. Its a smart move for Old Navy and for any mommies trying stretch their clothing budgets

The Evansville Otters game last night was simply amazing!  Truly one of the best Otter Baseball games I've seen in a long time.  It's a shame they don't play like this every game, they could not be stopped.  Of course, 3 errors by the Crushers didn't hurt either.

Thanks go out to my parents for watching my daughter so my wife and friends could go out for the evening.  Also, being penny pinchers we were pleased to be given 2 free tickets.  Thanks to the anonymous stranger.

Wildebeest Water Coaster

Holiday World and Splashin Safari announced today their all new attraction for the 2010 season.  The Wildebeest will be worlds largest water-coaster and to date the most expensive attraction ever built by the theme park.

Check out Holiday World's offical website for detailed information on the Wildebeest.

Some initial concerns about the water coaster are it's location.  Already Splashin Safari has grown to enormous proportions, it's simply a huge park.  This sounds good, but for families that means doing a lot of wakling to get somewhere, just to wait in line.  Myself and others feel money would have been well spent on integrating the ride into the existing attraction locations.  Much like the Congo River winds through the water park, the water coaster Wildebeest could have wound through the water park over head.

All said, it looks to be the first attraction I'm going to get excited about in years.  Not to mention, such a rare attraction will bring traverlers from all over and give the Travel Channel another excuse to come visit Holiday World and Splashin Safari.

Had the opportunity to play a little golf last night with my brother over at Tee Time on the Eastside of Evansville.  Seemed like it would be an ideal evening, considering the weather was beautiful and for $5 for 9 holes you almost can't go wrong...right?

Unfortunately, Tee Time has let their little course go south, fast.  Earlier on in the year their greens were beautiful, course neatly mowed, and everything just looked real professional.  However, last night all the greens had terrible divots, big patches of the course weren't mowed, and sections were just a muddy mess with no walk way.  Making matters worse was the Geese shit that was absolutely everywhere.

In all honesty, until they get things cleaned up out there, the course out at Howell Park is much nicer.  Believe it or not I'd pass on this executive course that's just not cutting it anymore.

I'm becoming increasingly infuriated every time I see news that Weinzapfel is blaiming the homestead exemption credit reinstatement on why he must slash all these jobs and issue cuts in other places.  It's a cop out, a justification for him stealing from the residents of Vanderburgh County, salt in the wound.  It's especially frustrating considering that of the $217 million budget the loss of funds from the homestead exemption was only $5 million, less than 2% of the total budget.

My thoughts are that if the jobs and items being funded relied on 2% of the budget, that never before existed, they didn't need to be there in the first place.  Why should I be guilted on a daily basis for wanting my homestead exemption?  No one will have pity on me for losing my job due to cut backs in the recession, why should a government employees job be protected?

I'd be real interested in finding out all the items listed on the 2010 budget.  I refuse to believe that hot words like Ambulance would need to be cut first.  But I digress, whatever it takes to help you sleep at night Mr. Weinzapfel.

Often times I enjoy reading comments more than I enjoy reading actual news articles.  Today was no different with the persuasive article from The Courier Press.  Unfortunately this article focuses on guilting the reader into providing all the info the Census asks so that the city can get more funding from the government and hovers around political motivation for low population numbers.  Whatever the case, the comments are already being fired back about not wanting to provide personal information to the government.

A sample of comments:

The problem with the census is that Obama has illegally taken over the census. Plus our public funding is going to ACORN/COI to perform the counts. Tis was the group that registered Mickey Mouse

Never fear,C&P. MJR Inc. has been hired to get all the illegals in Evansville to fill out census forms. The population count will surely go up.

The only thing the government needs to know is the number of people living in my house. That is the all the law requires and that is all that they are getting.

And then of course there are comments firing back claiming all doom and gloom for not filling out the extra personal information.  Apologists, just wanting to give this administration anything they want, of course just because you're not paranoid doesn't mean they're not after you.

From what I found there are fines associated with not completing a Census form, however I could not find where jail time was involved.  In the 2000 Census an individual could be fined up to $100 for not completing the form or up to $500 for providing false information.  However, I've seen reports from bloggers on the web that claim the maximum fine has been raised to $5,000 for not completing the form.  I've not found any proof or official documents verifying this.

As far as the US Constitution is involved it was only a way to keep a head count for legal residents within the United States.  The Census was not developed and written into the Constitution to keep track of any Social, Economic, or Housing Characteristics, which is exactly what the 2010 Census is designed to do.  According to the official Census website, 1 in 6 households will randomly be given a 2010 Census long form, which will contain a lot more specific and personal questions.

The 2010 Census Long Form is really what has people up in arms, at least those who value their privacy.  Questions pertaining to age of your home, amount of vehicles owned, type of kitchen facilities, and even fertility status are hardly any of the governments business.

So, will you be completing the long form if you are one of the lucky 1 in 6 choose?  Remember, the law requires you to fill out the Census as pertains to number of people living in your house, nothing more.