bad situation

Cyn and Michelle were in the car with me, and I needed to find a pay phone. Just as I started to pull into a hotel parking lot, I noticed two men run past the car. It didn't register that they had sticks (or pipes?) in their hands until Cyn said, "what are you doing?!" I stopped the car and they confronted another man in the parking lot. I backed out onto the street, and moved slowly down the street. I was driving so I couldn't see what was going on very well. The man ran towards the entrance to the hotel, but the two guys caught him up against the doors and started wailing on him. The guys took off very shortly. I suspect the doors finally opened and the man fell into the lobby. By this time I had turned the corner. There wasn't anybody standing in the lobby, but someone was walking towards the doors.

Our options were few at that point. By the time we could have found a phone the police/ambulance would have already been on their way. I guess we could have provided the police with a witness statement, but we didn't see any details beyond what I have said here. Hopefully, there were security cameras.

So there was Michelle's welcome to Milwaukee, after about ten minutes in town.

It's only been in the last few years that I haven't felt very safe downtown.

nothing to see here

We got about a half inch less than the predicted two to four inches. The sun is out, though, and it looks like winter. :-)

manufactured needs

I read this in a magazine today:

The essential bodily needs of most people in the western world have been fulfilled for decades. Demand can only be maintained by a commodification of the sacred.

I think they got it wrong. I think they should have said that commodities are being made sacred.