Adios, Amigos!

Well folks, it’s time to say goodbye to ChowderBlog for the time being! It’s been fun blogging about the Treasure Valley, random events in my life, about Cowboys and Space Aliens, children’s idols messing around with drugs, making fun of the Idaho Statesman, and my first post about a guy at 90 years old going back to college.

If you ever feel the urge to start a blog of your own, don’t hesitate! It’s a good outlet to get the word out, to vent about the frustrations of everyday life, or for a whole slew of different things. Here is a great article to help you start up a blog to call your very own!

I’ll be serving a mission for my church in Denver. It would be a bit hard to keep updating this blog in a “local” sense when you’re not only busy all day with other things, but when you’re in another state.

I’d like to thank all those who have dealt with the random crap on this blog, and my friends at Treasured Valley for promoting this blog on their own website! TreasuredValley.com is another great blog to check out if you haven’t been doing so already.

Keep it real!
William (“Chowder”)

image 5_ClayOBrianCooper

Left: A picture of the place; Right: Clay O’Brien Cooper, well known team roper

Remember Mr. “Space Alien”? That was our friend, Matthew Kleindorfer, who was on a plane from Helena, MT to Salt Lake City, UT. He became unruly and started banging on the cockpit door, probably screaming something along the lines of “oooOOOooo, I am a spaaaace alien! Let me in the cockpit, so I may fly the plane back to the mothership…” or something like that. Bottom line is that he claimed to be a space alien and wanted to fly the plane, according to this KPVI story. Video after the jump:

And according to this story from the PRCA’s ProRodeo.com, a well known cowboy and team roper, Clay O’Brien Cooper, was on this flight as well and helped subdue the space alien wanting to take over the plane:

“The flight attendant asked for help,” Cooper said, “so I came up behind the guy and grabbed him by both arms. I told him, ‘you need to come with me,’ and I took him to a seat in an empty row and told him to put on his seat belt and stay there. He didn’t struggle at all.”

Albeit the ProRodeo story might have their “Falls” cities mixed up (it happened in Idaho Falls, PR website says it happened in Twin), the story also claims the space alien kicked an officer while being arrested. Kleindorfer now faces a felony charge of battery on an officer as well as misdemeanor counts of disturbing the peace and resisting arrest. He also learned the following lesson:

NEVER PRETEND TO BE A SPACE ALIEN ON A PLANE, ESPECIALLY WHEN A COWBOY IS ON BOARD.

And that’s the bottom line, folks.

Immigration reform is all over the news nowadays, since Arizona passed the new law that will crack down on illegal immigration. Seems that a lot of people are uber upset over this, so much so that a rally was held on Saturday here in Boise in opposition of this new law.

A lot of people that are opposed to this are laying out the excuse that immigration should be controlled on the federal level. Hmm, I wonder why? Oh! Perhaps it’s because the almighty President Obama will give them exactly what they want: amnesty. They know they probably won’t get that on the state level, especially in red states.

And what about racial profiling? People are saying this is absolute racism, because the questioning just might be based on skin color. So tell me, if we can’t use visual cues to determine if someone might be illegal, what do we use?? Accents? Facial hair? Or does the Arizona Highway Patrol question EVERY SINGLE PERSON they come in contact with? Tell me, opponents, how are we supposed to identify possible illegals using the “politically correct” way? Seriously, I’d like to hear ideas. I can’t think of any off the top of my head. That’s what the comments section is for.

Now, say you’re hispanic, and here in the country as a legal immigrant. If you get pulled over because the police want to check your citizenship, and you’re here legally, what do you have to worry about? The illegal immigrants are the ones that will worry, and rightfully so. Why? Uhhm, maybe it’s because they are in this country illegally.

So here’s the bottom line: there are legal ways of entering this country. Use them, and you don’t have to worry about jack crap. Nuff said.

Vote for Idaho Humane Society!

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The Idaho Humane Society posted this on their Facebook page:

[Idaho Humane Society] has been chosen by Nestle Purina to be one of 18 shelters eligible to receive $50,000! You can make it a possibility by voting DAILY for the Idaho Humane Society’s ‘Tale for the Pet Lover’s Heart.’ Simply go to the site below, register with your email address, and then click next to ‘The Idaho Humane Society’ from the …list of shelters. Add this address to your favorites and vote DAILY! until July 31st. Just imagine what $50,000 would do for the dogs and cats in our shelter!! They are counting on you! Vote today and everyday! (We’re already behind – we need you to make this happen) THANK YOU!

Will you support the Idaho Humane Society? Please take the time to vote for them NOW, and vote daily until July 31st! Let’s show some community support by the click of a mouse!

Today, I’m reporting from a relative’s basement near Provo, Utah. On the way down here, my stepdad Kevin checked out KTVB.com mobile while we were at a gas station, and I was scraping off an excessive amount of bugs I accumulated on I-84. He stumbled across this top headline: Blue turf at Bronco Stadium to be replaced because of glare problem!

So here’s the scoop: the new blue turf has been creating a glare problem when watching the game on television. So, FieldTurf will replace the turf at no cost to the university (thank goodness), just because they want to make sure they get it right.

In my opinion, I think it’s mostly with KTVB broadcasts because of their non-high definition cameras, no matter if it’s in widescreen or not. It makes me wonder if KTVB had some influence in the decision. That wouldn’t surprise me at all, because they might have received quite a few emails or phone calls about the terrible picture quality. I also heard a few friends and coworkers talk about the terrible picture quality on channel 7.

Consider my following cost guesses:

KTVB’s standard def cameras: $$$

ESPN’s HD camera and equipment: $$$$$$$$$$$$

Then again, that’s just my guess. I have no data to back that up. But with nice, expensive camera equipment, the smurf turf probably won’t look as terrible. Hence why the blue turf doesn’t look half as bad on ESPN as it does on KTVB.

Now, here comes another question. Are they modifying the existing field, or tearing it out and replacing it? If they are replacing, my vote is they should auction it for money, turn it into financial aid and call it the “Smurf Scholarship,” to help students since Idaho colleges have recently announced tuition increases. Hey, every penny helps!

Chowder the Psychic!

I just might know something about you. Not that I’m a creeper or anything, but:

I bet that your legs are crossed and/or your left hand is touching your face while reading this.

Pretty weird, eh? I saw a few of my friends join this group on the ‘Book, and I was shocked to find out that yes, my legs are crossed and yes, my left hand was touching my face, when I read that in my news feed. I couldn’t believe.

Okay, I’m not a psychic. And yes, it is a tad bit creepy.

Just goes to show how common it is to be doing these things while reading a computer screen, or maybe while sitting in a lecture, office meeting, or at other times too!

Bringin’ it to B-Town

There are a number of groups and pages popping up all over the ‘Book about bringing various things to Boise. It’s anywhere from restaurants to Conan O’Brien’s tour… check out this list I threw together after a simple FB search:

Did I miss one? Just post a comment and I’ll add it.

Also on a side note… just a friendly reminder for those who miss the Boise River Festival, you might want to check out the Boise Rec Fest (on Facebook), coming this June. I’ll be long gone to Colorado by then, but still, you should check it out.

Also, random interruption here, but still on the topic of Facebook groups: if you think WinCo rocks as much as I do, join this group. Or at least read the description, because it’s hilarious and strikingly accurate…

Oh, April Fools Day

Happy April Fools Day! This obviously means the Chick-Fil-A in Boise post was indeed fake.

But boy oh boy, wouldn’t it be nice to have one here in Boise? That would be awesome!

Chick Fil A ID

With the recent downturn of the economy, my step-father Kevin has been out of his engineering job for some time now. He has fortunately been able to take a temporary part-time job as a building cleanup manager (fancy term for janitor) at a local business, and has also been working on various projects with old coworkers and friends.

We have been considering the opportunity to expand into different managment or franchise opportunities for restaurants for a while now, since Kevin has had experience working at Sizzler’s as a manager. We considered Taco Bell, but that franchise for the Treasure Valley (and maybe beyond?) has been well taken, hence why the Pavilion was renamed to the Taco Bell Arena!

The process for purchasing a Chick-Fil-A franchise is generally explained on this eHow article, so I’ll leave the details to that website, which explains it pretty well. I don’t want to be too specific on how far we are in the process, mainly because I’ve been too busy to even ask or keep track so I might be making premature or inaccurate guesses.

According to this article, the window of actually getting a shot at a franchise is pretty slim, with only 75 to 80 of the 10,000 applicants being selected each year. Considering there is no Chick-Fil-A here in the Treasure Valley (or in all of Idaho for that matter), we won’t have to worry about coordinating with other franchises. Besides, that’s all the more reason to bring one here!

But here’s the scoop: Kevin’s plan somehow made it thru this slim window! He already has the plan in place and it’s being executed. If all things continue to go well, we the people of the Treasure Valley will sure hope to see a new Chick-Fil-A in Boise soon!

I’ll keep you folks updated. The only sad deal about this, is that I will be gone on my mission, and will probably miss the grand opening. (and I bet if I wasn’t leaving, I would be a bit more on-board with this project and have more details :P )

But dang! This is exciting news! I’m happy! :D

THIS JUST IN FROM THE CHOWDERBLOG NEWSROOM:

APRIL FOOLS. :D

Put Yourself in This Man’s Shoes

I was linked to this story from the “Support our Troops” Facebook page, and it really made me not only PO’d, but saddened as well.

More after the jump.

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