To celebrate my youngest cousin’s high school graduation, Yeni and I headed to Albany to join the celebration. Instead of flying, we packed very lightly and took the Harley 650 miles east from Ann Arbor to Albany, mostly following I-90 (we were going to go through Canada, but that’s a different story). The trip to Albany was amazing and covered parts of Michigan, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and New York. Cities included Toledo, Cleveland, Erie, Buffalo, Syracuse, and Albany. Normally, when traveling on the Interstate, you really don’t get to see much, and with this trip, we set that as our expectation. Gladly, we were wrong. I had never been West of Albany (yes, I’m one of those type of New Yorker’s) and ...

UPDATE — Monica Conyers has resigned from Detroit City Council effective July 6, 2009. Detroit News Article This morning, in a Detroit Federal Court, Monica Conyers plead guilty to charges of Conspiracy to Commit Bribery. The presiding judge, Avern Cohn, advised the court that “the defendant now stands convicted.” At this point, Conyers is still a councilwoman for the Detroit City Council. The Detroit city charter requires Conyers to resign “immediately” the minute she is convicted of a felony, but apparently, in Federal Court this is viewed as when the Defendant is sentenced....

Besides celebrating the birth of my sister, June 21st holds additional special meanings… such as the start of Summer, the Summer Solstice, and the longest “day” of the year. This year, it of course was also Father’s day — so all in all, this year, June 21st was a day of family. The amount of daylight surprised me. This picture was taken at 9:30 pm: [][1]Sunset in Ann Arbor, MI

DETROIT, MI — The Detroit News reports that my favorite politician, Monica Conyers, reportedly needs to consider a plea offer from the Federal Government regarding a corruption investigation of City Hall. Apparently, the feds want an answer from Conyers by the end of the day (June 16th). The short story concerns Rayford W. Jackson’s recent guilty plea in Federal Court on Monday. Jackson pleaded guilty to a bribery conspiracy in which “Council Member A” was given more than six grand in bribes in connection with a 1.2 billion dollar contract. This same “Council Member A” had also been bribed by another person, James R. Rosendall, Jr. ...

[][1]More pics... Yeni and I just got back from a quick trip to Chicago… visiting her brother as well as celebrating our first month of married life. 🙂 It was a short drive (few hours) from Michigan to Chicago, and figuring the parking in Chicago would be interesting, we chose to take the Versa instead of the Expedition. Although, if we hadn’t have needed the trunk space, taking the Harley would have been much more fun....

Back in 2007, I was floored by the University of Florida’s President (Bernie Machen) accepting more than $200,000 in bonuses. I was so floored, I sent him a letter (below) and asked him to decline the bonus. After all, he already receives in base salary more than 10 times the annual income for a Florida family sending their child to the University of Florida. As expected, I did not receive a response and there was no mention of donations, declines, or anything else from Bernie Machen. ...

I’m still in Florida, but headed back to Michigan on Wednesday. I’ve been enjoying the warm weather, although it was 98 degrees yesterday in North Florida… much, much higher than Ann Arbor. Anyway, this last weekend I: Celebrated mom’s birthday with my family (including my sister and our spouses) Had an AMAZING meal at Joe’s Stone Crabs (but, when do you not?) Celebrated Mother’s day with the family Worked a little in Boca Raton, FL Enjoyed a nice afternoon on the beach with my wife....

No, it’s not a reference to Cinco de Mayo… but just simply, the quick and dirty news for Fred Posner. Let’s see… recently I: Got married (blogged @ yenifred.com) Reviewed the Gandy Dancer at Fat Freddy Says.com Had an AMAZING cake from Cake Nouveau (review coming) And those are the biggies I guess. 🙂

[][1]Remember when flying was fun? As a boy, I loved going to the airport. I remember being fascinated by the TWA terminal at JFK, awed by the escalator down from LAX, and excited to see the ocean immediately after take off from Fort Lauderdale. Airports also meant seeing family, visiting new places, and let’s not forget all the cool planes. I associated air travel with very positive emotions. Well, a funny thing happened on the way to Detroit… Today’s world finds me loathing any experience with airports, airlines, or at this point just air travel. For the third time in a year, US Airways cancelled my flight. I like numbers, so let’s look at it this way… I’ve taken 3 trips on US Airways since April 2008. Each of the three have had a cancelled flight, and, two of the three delayed overnight; requiring a hotel stay. So, in percentage… 100% of trips on US Airways have a cancelled flight and 67% delay arrival by a day or more. ...

Update June 11, 2009: The Chief is now leaving in early July – 4 months earlier than he had advised. Norman Botsford, the current Police Chief of Gainesville, Florida, announced that he would be retiring from his position. Although the following Gainesville Sun article highlights his history, they don’t mention how in recent years he has helmed a department who’s morale has dropped faster than, well insert your metaphor here… it’s way low. This is a good thing. Here’s what the Gainesville Sun said: ...