Violence Is Everywhere

And it hurts more when it's in your former backyard. I grew up in a nice regular neighborhood and people didn't cut up to this extent at all. I was able to play, ride my bike (granted it was stolen a time or two), play softball - basketball - run track at the stadium, even play tennis sometimes. At one point there was even a day camp at Eckersall where I learned to run track, play tennis, make sandcastles in the sand box, and discover snakes. How could all of that dissolve into this??? It's easier when the resources are depleted and not replaced - no more day camps, no more ice skating rink (even if you won't skate), no unified activity programs, no treat or treating, no crossing guards, no more in school vision tests, no more in school hearing tests, no more Officer Friendly vists, no more Fireman Friendly visits, no going home to watch Bozo's Circus during lunch time when your grandmmother or your Aunt Missy made you peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. So much is missing from what I had as a child, and I don't see Chicago moving in the right direction, as we should be doing.

19 people shot in overnight shootings across Chicago

Multiple victims

By Peter Nickeas Tribune reporter

4:06 a.m. CDT, August 24, 2012

Nineteen people were shot across the South and West sides from Thursday evening through early Friday morning -- 13 of them wounded over a 30-minute period, authorities say.

The overnight shootings peaked between 9:15 p.m. and 9:45 p.m. That's when eight people, many of them teens, were shot at 79th Street and Essex Avenue about 9:30 p.m.

Then two men were wounded in the Ida B. Wells / Darrow Homes complex at about 9:25 p.m., police said. The men, 27 and 33, were shot in the 600 block of East 37th Street and taken to the University of Chicago Hospitals, police said. The younger man was shot in the head and the other in the right arm, Gaines said.

Around the same time, two other men were wounded in the arms in a drive-by shooting in the 2900 block of West 39th Place in the Brighton Park neighborhood.

About 15 minutes later, a 24-year-old man was shot in the leg and taken to Jackson Park Hospital from the 7200 block of South Jeffery Boulevard, Gaines said. He was treated and released. The man told police he was talking on his phone when he heard a single shot and realized he was wounded.

Earlier Thursday evening, four men were wounded in a shooting in the Little Village neighborhood about 5:20 p.m. Thursday, police said.

They were walking in the 3200 block of South Kedzie Avenue when at least one person inside a vehicle with three others opened fire, police said, hitting the group. Three 19-year-olds and a 22-year-old were wounded.

Just after midnight, a 17-year-old was shot in the back and taken to Stroger Hospital in serious condition, police said. He was walking in the 7100 block of South Vincennes Avenue in the Englewood neighborhood when someone inside a passing car opened fire, police said.

Another 17-year-old was shot after 1:30 a.m. Friday in the 3500 block of West Grenshaw Street in the Homan Square neighborhood. He's in good condition at Mount Sinai Hospital. Someone walked to him and started shooting, police said.

Article from Chicago Tribune

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Safety At Playtime

Today I hung out at the Church Picnic. Our picnic is anything but a bunch of picnic tables filled with barbeque and potato salad. This picnic looked more like Funtown from back in the day. There was a moonwalk – one of those giant plastic bubbles that kids love to bounce in for hours. They had a climbing wall that reached the heavens – there were kids jumping all over that – one little girl was scarred to come down and she had to be helped by one of the guys. There was a strawberry carousel for really little kids to ride in. There was a bungee jump and little kids were all over that. There was a hay ride and there was a little trolley car that took kids around and they were waving and smiling like they were on a Miss America float – it was really fun.

On the inside the guys were showing their prowess at hitting free throws – that contest was the most popular – every little boy over the age of eight was trying to hit the backboard. The gym was lined with little kids. I was shocked that there were no little girls competing. What was really touching was that the kids were having so much fun – there was no concern that the place would be shot up, no worries about a gang fight breaking out, no care about having fun in public on the south side – all parks should be as filled with laughing little kids.

As a kid, I took living across the street from the park and the stadium for granted. I struggled to keep up with the other kids in my neighborhood – but I could play piggie and catch a softball without fear of losing my fingernails and I learned that at my park. I could hit a softball a half block , and I was able to shoot a freethrow and toss a football as well as anyone after years of practice. I played with other kids in the neighborhood, kids nowadays don't get that chance. They have to play at home and playing outside has to be coordinated. That's so sad.

Just to show that this was a party with a purpose, you could also register to vote, if you weren't already, and you could give blood to Lifesource. There were also an area to get your blood pressure checked and your glucose and cholesterol levels screened. The only thing missing was the tennis tournament – hopefully we will get back to that next year.

More Than One Way to Skin A Cat

My internet service on my laptop went completely down on or shortly after July 13, 2012. Naturally, that coincided with one of busiest weeks, and I have spent the majority of my time this week trying to straighten it out. It's sad how simple things become complicated and take forever to resolve. Unfortunately for Sprint, I did have time this week to resolve it - and now they're scrambling trying to figure out how I just saved the cost of sending my computer to Dell Tech Support in India or have a Techie come to my home at the cost of $139 an hour, orf the cost of buying a new computer. They're really hot under the collar because the Attorney General just told them that they couldn't charge me for their internet service if they were unsuccessful in getting it to work. That last part would seem pretty intuitive, but they needed a letter with Lisa Madigan's signature on it to understand, I guess.

Internet service in my area has been sketchy with Sprint. I would get onto the internet and I would get kicked off all the time. I'm paying top dollar for this internet service - it's not free, so I demand that it be reliable. Sprint Tech Support worked with me all day on July 13th and through several of my off days after that. On the 25th I couldn't get a connection at all. So I wrote to the General Counsel at Sprint. for me, Customer Service gets two strikes and after that, I gotta go to the top.

I took my computer into a Dell computer authorized repair location and they told me the problem was the Sprint software that was built into the machine. That took six hours of my day to find out. I took it to the Sprint repair office, and after the Tech on duty added software package after software package, he still came up empty three hours later. I called Dell Tech Support in India and they said I needed to have a Technician come out at a rate of $139 per visit and $50 an hour plus the cost of parts. At that point, I was ready to just get a new computer. I have everything on a detachable hard drive, so what's the point of getting this computer fixed. I only needed it for the internet connection and if that doesn't work - I need to move on, right?

So I called Sprint and told them that even though I had a 2 year contract on their wireless service, since it was embedded in the computer and that software, or the hardware (depending on who you ask) doesn't connect to the internet, I cannot be charged for the service and I cannot be charged for breaking the contract. They went crazy at the thought of that - their internet service is not cheap, because it's unlimited. The General Counsel's office calls me and I three way us to the Attorney General's office. They exchange a few pleasantries and before the call is over, I hear this pledge "Ms. Brazil, we will find a way to make sure your computer connects to the Internet and it won't cost you anything...". I gotta give credit where credit is due - the Attorney General is worth every penny that she can wrest from our state taxes. That happened this morning, haven't heard a word from Sprint since, but my account was credited for the cost of the internet service immediately.

I called AT&T this evening. They handle my cable service, and they are always trying to get me to get something else from them. So I ask and they place an internet connection card to the side for me to pick up. I plug in the card and we're off to the races. I even have state of the art 4G, something Sprint doesn't have in this area. My computer is running like a top and I'm very pleased. I never had much respect for Dell products to begin with, but for a computer to completely break down after one year -that means everyone else with this embedded service will also have a chance to get out of their contracts.

Now, I can write again....