I'm so tired of seeing the city of Evansville rely on focus groups to decide how what's best for our city.  This becomes especially true with the way we are running our events and how they refuse to change a business model that worked in a booming economy.  It's time to start looking at what makes surrounding festivals and events so successful and less at paid surveys.

Just to start, consider the Blues Festival in Henderson, BBQ Festival in Owensboro and other similar events that are taking place right across the river.  They are wildly successful in terms of attendance and the profit follows.  I strongly believe it's because to attend these events it's free.  Families don't have to worry about spending X amount of dollars just to get through the door and instead they can visit and leave freely and spend their shrinking expendable income accordingly.

There was no way I was going to spend the money necessary to take my wife and daughter down town, especially so close to Thunder weekend or whatever they were calling it.  It's poor planning all around and I truly feel sorry for the nonprofits that were affected by the poor attendance.  It's time Evansville starts looking at alternatives and run an event much like the West Side Nut Club Fall Festival and others that don't cost an arm and a leg, just to get in and spend another arm and a leg on a greasy meal.

14WFIE News - Freedom Fest Falls $290,000 Short

Howell Park Pool

Just heard on the news this morning that the newly revamped pool at Howell Park will be opening today. The pool is named after Norman Red Mosby, a late Perry Township Trustee. Mosby worked to better the west side of Evansville for 40 years and this pool is in remembrance of him.

The official ribbon cutting will be held today at 2:30, for those looking to attend.

I can tell you that this pool is a great addition to Evansville. It's in a great location with plenty of parking and the work that I've seen makes this pool top notch. It's colorful, big, and even features a 150 ft water slide. It's a reason to visit Howell Park, even if you are not a golfer or play basketball.

A local Evansville resident has posted a very interesting item on eBay.  joehilarious has posted a Tea Party Foam Finger, starting at just $6.00!  The foam finger is 18" long and contains the wording 'No Higher Taxes' in bold print.

Interesting way to protest and saves the time of making your own sign.  I bet this guy might even allow for local pickup, to discuss the current situation the effects of the Stimulus Package.

Foam Finger For Your Tax Tea Party    US $6.00

EvansvilleBlog.com is currently working on a revamp, to better reflect some goals that I have for the site.  Some of these goals will include guest authors, regular reviews, and hopefully a growing community of Evansville residents wanting to make their voices heard.

For the next couple days plan on some design changes, header designs, and template holders until the project is complete.  To stay on top of the changes please subscribe to my Twitter Feed.

Interested In Writing?

I'm looking for local authors that would be interested in writing restaurant or event news to be published to EvansvilleBlog.com.  No experience necessary, after all this is the internet.  However, I do ask that you be a local Evansville resident and have a general interest in the city of Evansville.  To apply, please send sample work and contact to me through the blog's contact system here.

Met with some friends out at Showplace East last night for the new Sacha Cohen movie Bruno.  Now, this typically isn't the type of movie I'd be interested in seeing, but I needed a distraction and nothing is better at that than watching people in uncomfortable situations.  This movie did not fail to deliver.

Don't see this movie if you don't have a perverted sense of humor.  It's raunchy, full of male nudity, and enough absurd situations to make you cover your face in a dark movie theater.

As stated it does deliver a great distraction to day to day life.  I mustered a handful of laugh out louds and my friends also appreciated the slapstick actions of the flamboyant Bruno.  This being said I'm not quite sure it earned the full $10 price of admission.  But that's for a different discussion and no doubt the very reason the theater was less than a 1/4 of the way full on the second day of release.

My family and I ended up going to the Zoo today and it was an exceptionally good trip.  Now, we always go several times a year and are proud owners of season passes, but today was something special.  We went earlier in the morning than usual and apparently it's true, the animals are more active in the morning.

Amazonia was really a treat, since the monkeys were running all over their exhibit.  They managed to play intently the entire time we were there or at least until my 2 year old daughter lost interest.  The large pig looking thing in the bottom was also active.  It (sorry can't remember what it's called) was swimming, walking around and generally just looking weird.  Also in Amazonia were some very colorful ducks that we normally enjoy.  However, this trip we had trouble finding them and for good reason.  As you walk out the bottom of Amazonia they could be found perched on a limb, much like a bird would.  Adorable.

Only a few downsides were that Mesker is remodeling the nocturnal animals exhibit, so it was closed off.  Also, the pride and joy of the Amazon exhibit, the Jaguar, was no where to be seen.  There were however in it's place some rare zoo workers scrubbing down it's glass walls.

Just like every zoo visit we had to stop long enough at the entrance for my daughter Emma to play in the fountains.  Today she was not alone, there were at least 4 kids at any time running through the 4 ft spraying fountains.  We shall return at least a few more times this year, but for now my daughter is content and soaking wet.

Mesker Park Zoo Fountains

Stopped by C & I Electronics on my lunch break to find out what kind of deals they had on a used Netbook or small low-end laptop.  Unfortunately, their prices are a little high, for what I consider heavily used hardware.  I have a hard time swallowing only $50 in savings over buying new.

The people over there were very friendly and helpful, although admittedly a little disorganized.  This may be attributed to the nature of my request, I knew what I wanted and was very specific.  However, in the past I've purchased computer accessories from them without any issues at all.  They have great prices on used mice and keyboards, just FYI.

As for my hunt for a cheap netbook, I'm still on the look out.  For the past few days I've also been keeping a close eye on Evansville Craigslist, but all of those computers are old, at least ones posted recently.  I'm looking to spend around $200-$250 for a very basic netbook, with WiFi capabilities, 1GB ram, preferably XP, and a 20+GB hard drive.  I can buy a brand new Asus netbook for around $250, but wouldn't be quite as well equipped.

Oh well, I'll keep my eyes peeled for deals on NewEgg.com and ZipZoomFly.com, I've had really good experiences in buying from them in the past.

Twitter is a popular and exponentially growing online communication tool used by virtually everyone.  Think of the service as like a one way conversation that allows you to listen into what certain individuals are doing, right when it's happening.  Now, the conversations don't have to be one way, the ability to subscribe to each others updates is what makes Twitter a social phenomenon.

So who uses Twitter in Evansville and why should you follow them?

ME - Myself and  this blog are on twitter, so you can be notified of new blog posts and what I'm doing on a semi-personal basis. http://twitter.com/EvansvilleBlog

Scott Dimmich - Scott is a meterologist for News 25 and updates frequently.  On occasions he may even help you decide if weather will hold off long enough for a round of golf. http://twitter.com/NEWS25sdimmich

Debbie Bush - Debbie is the general manager at 14 WFIE and updates frequently with comments on world news and local events.  She also frequently RT's which is a retell that alerts her followers of what she is interested in following. http://twitter.com/debbiebush

CJ Hoyt - CJ is the news director at 14 news and updates his twitter account with semi-personal updates as well.  Kinda like what he's currently watching on TV, but also keeps followers updated on what's going on at the News station. http://twitter.com/CJHoyt14

YOU - Twitter is free to sign up and free to use and best yet there isn't even any advertising.  While the latter may change in time, right now it's a great resource for immediate news and communicating with others around the Tri-State. https://twitter.com/signup

Just a quick thank you to our elected officials for screwing the residents of Evansville over in regards to this years property taxes.  Since myself, or anyone else in Evansville got a Homestead exemption, I had to cut a check to the bank for the difference in my Escrow.  Now, it's not a huge amount, but it's enough to royally piss me off.

Vanderburgh County is the only county within Indiana that did not get the Home Stead Exemption option on their taxes.  Our mayor is claiming over sight, but I'm saying it was a corrupt move to pad the pockets of the city.  An additional $5 million is now being used to half ass fund pet projects to nowhere.

Yeah, I'm pissed.

Just received an anonymous email from someone claiming that someone loosened the lug nuts on the rims of their vehicles.  I have no specific validation, only the single email found below:

Kleymeyer Park softball parking lot on Friday, 6-26-09 around 10pm.

Our softball game was over and we were all heading home with a victory and a smile. My smile was replaced by a frozen stare when my truck began to vibrate more and more as I drove south on First Ave.  First thought it was a flat tire, but upon inspection the tires and vehicle seemed fine.  The vibration continued and gradually got worse as I drove home. Lug nuts! Check the lug nuts. Sure enough, the lug nuts on all four tires had been loosened. The lugs on the drivers side were loose enough to remove by hand. I immediately called several other players from the softball team and found that a few others had the same experience.

Why would anyone do this? Did a couple of kids loosen the lugs and go across the street and wait for the laughs to literally start to roll?

It's one thing to tollerate people opening their car door into mine because they don't take pride in their possesions or leaving their shopping cart in a convient store parking lot only to have the wind blow it into the middle of my truck door because they don't have respect for my possesions.  It is a completely different and unacceptable situation when the distruction of my property intentionally puts me and, even worse, my family in serious danger.

Grow up Evansville. Can't we find more creative and less distructive ways to entertain ourselves?

If anyone has any information on who is responsible for this..I'm interested.

There you have it.  If you have any information regarding this please leave a comment or contact me through this website.