Thank you to everyone who left me comments about my photography and sent feedback about vacationing ideas! Keep the feedback coming!

   Well first off, I want to start by telling everyone Happy Valentine's Day! I think that it would be wrong of me to tell all of you to be extra nice to that special someone for today because really, that's something that you should do everyday. So, to all of those with a significant other, enjoy the day and make the most of it. Create memories and take pictures! Don't be selfish and petty. Don't worry about where you are going to go out to eat, or what he or she bought you. Enjoy the time that you have together. Be spontaneous! Do something that you've never done!

   This past weekend was great! My friend Brian Aldridge from high school and college is a stand-up comic traveling the country and he made a stop back through NW Indiana to do a show in Dyer. So I went there on Saturday night with some friends and had a great time.

   My biggest news of all is that I have a big vacation planned! For as long as I can remember, I've always wanted to take a road trip by myself (yes, I said by myself) and go across the country. As I mentioned in my last blog, I like to travel and I try to do as much of it as I can. My plan is to travel to the east coast, then north, then come back through Canada. Now, because of the fact that I will be going by myself, I want to make sure that I plan every single detail out accordingly. I'm not an 'itinerary' kind of guy and I like to do things on the spot, so I'm not planning out the details of the day, just the details of the drive. I want to make sure that I know about how long I will be on the road each day, about what time I should arrive, if it will be light outside, about what time will it be when I pass through each city, etc. Because I'll be doing a lot of photography, I basically want to time it out right. I will be going on this vacation the week before Memorial Day. So, the following is the research that I have done so far:

VACATION - SPRING 2006!!!

• Friday, May 19, 2006 - Drive from Hammond, IN to Washington, DC taking the 'southern route'. (11 hrs 30 min)
• Saturday, May 20, 2006 - Spend time in Washington, DC, see the White House, Capitol Building, Washington Monument, Lincoln Memorial, National Archives, etc. Stay one more night.
• Sunday, May 21, 2006 - Leave early, drive through Baltimore, Philadelphia, stay in Atlantic City. (3 hrs 30 min)
• Monday, May 22, 2006 - Leave Atlantic City, drive through New Jersey to New York, NY. Spend time in NYC. (2 hrs 30 min)
• Tuesday, May 23, 2006 - Spend time in NYC, see Times Square, Ground Zero, Empire State Building, Grand Central Station, etc. Stay one more night.
• Wednesday, May 24, 2006 - Leave NYC, drive to Boston, MA. (2 hrs 45 min)
• Thursday, May 25, 2006 - Spend time in Boston, try and catch a Red Sox game at Fenway Park. Stay one more night.
• Friday, May 26, 2006 - Leave Boston, drive through lower Maine and then beginning heading west into New Hampshire and Vermont and staying the night somewhere in upper New York State. Most of this day will be spent observing nature and taking pictures. (8 hrs 30 min)
• Saturday, May 27, 2006 - Leave New York early, cross over the US/Canada border north of Lake Ontario and head southwest toward Toronto. Stay the night in or just outside of Toronto. (4 hrs 30 min)
• Sunday, May 28, 2006 - Leave Toronto heading west back home. Pass through Winsor, Canada and then crossing the US/Canada border again in Detroit. From there, heading west on I-94 back home to Hammond, Indiana. (9 hrs 5 min)

   The map on the right shows in good detail my driving route. So for any of you reading this who have been out east, if there are any recommendations of places to see, things to do, please feel free to send me some feedback. Nothing is ever set in stone, but what I have shown you is intend to be a guideline for myself.

SEND FEEDBACK TO:

jlaxsalinas@robertmorris.edu

   If you are new to looking at the student blogs, feel free to browse through my archives. The blogs that are posted remain up there as the weeks pass.

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NOTE: The pictures that I have posted for this blog were NOT taken by me. I do intend to take many, many pictures that I will post when I have them.

When I come home from work at night, I usually come home and sit and relax for a bit. I get home pretty late, so one of the first things that I'm able to watch on television is the news. I was thinking to myself, and maybe some of you can relate to what I mean, but when I watch the news at night, I see some of the strangest people!

Now, I'm no person to judge, but it just seems like some of the strangest people with the strangest situations keep making the news time and time again, while so many other news-worthy storys get swept under the rug. I've always enjoyed psychologyand studying the behavior of people, but some of these stories would blow the minds of many professors, scientists, and professionals of the like!

I've pasted a few of the stories that I have come across that have made news in the past months. Some of it is weird, some of it funny (actually, all of it is pretty funny), and some of it is just outright ridiculous. All of these storys are real!!

MAN SHOWING OFF OnSTAR ARRESTED (ST. AUGUSTINE, Fla.) - A man showing off his OnStar system in his Cadillac Escalade found out the system worked too well. Ralph A. Gomez, 38, was being held Wednesday on $15,000 bond on charges of possession of an illegal narcotic within 1,000 feet of a church and possession of drug paraphernalia. Gomez was showing off his OnStar system to his girlfriend, but the volume was set so low that he couldn't hear the OnStar operator. OnStar comes on many new General Motors vehicles and allows a customer to contact an OnStar representative in an emergency or to get directions. If there is no response, OnStar contacts police. That's what happened with Gomez on Friday night, Tom Clements, a spokesman for the St. Augustine Police Department, said Wednesday. When police located Gomez' car, they determined there was no problem. But Clements said cocaine was clearly visible on the car's center console. In addition to seizing $1,900 in the case, the Cadillac equipped with the OnStar system was also seized, Clements said. There was no information available from Clements or the jail on whether Gomez has a lawyer.

POLICE: HOMELESS MAN TRIES TO STEAL SHEEP (LITTLE ROCK, Ark.) - A homeless man who police say tried to take a sheep from the Little Rock Zoo has been arrested on numerous charges. A security guard at the zoo called police Tuesday evening after spotting a man carrying a trash can with a sheep in it, a police report said. When officers arrived Grady Allen Carnahan, 32, told them he was a doctor and the sheep was sick. He said he was taking the animal to a veterinary clinic, the report said. Carnahan fought with officers as they were trying to take him into custody, police said. He was arrested on a felony charge of violating an animal facility and on misdemeanor charges of criminal trespass, cruelty to animals, resisting arrest, and theft of property. The animal was returned to its pen at the zoo.

MAN KILLS ROOMMATE OVER TOILET PAPER (MOSS BLUFF, Fla.) - A man accused of fatally beating his roommate with a sledgehammer and a claw hammer because there was no toilet paper in their home has been arrested. Franklin Paul Crow, 56, was charged Monday with homicide in the death of Kenneth Matthews, 58, according to the Marion County Sheriff's Office. Capt. Thomas Bibb said Crow initially denied his involvement, but confessed during questioning. Crow told investigators that the men were fighting about the toilet paper over the weekend when Matthews pulled out a rifle. Crow said he then began beating Matthews with the sledgehammer and claw hammer, according to an affidavit. Matthews was beaten so badly he had to be identified through his fingerprints, detectives said. Crow was being held at the Marion County jail without bond. It was not immediately known whether he had an attorney.

BIGFOOT HUNTERS CONVERGE ON CENTRAL ILLINOIS February 14, 2006 - Bigfoot may be roaming central Illinois, at least that's what some hunters hope. A Bloomington man claims he spotted an 8-foot tall, 400 pound Sasquatch last year in McClean County while he was driving home from work. Word of the possible sighting reached a group of Bigfoot hunters in California who are now in Illinois for the next few days with their equipment to catch a glimpse of the big and hairy creature. "What more can be said that hasn't been said? I've been ridiculed, but the proof is in the pudding, Jack, and that's the reason why myself and my team are out here now investigating across this great United States of America," said Tom Biscardi, Bigfoot hunter. The hunters believe they might be onto something.

WOMAN WHISTLES THROUGH HER TOES An Oklahoma woman takes whistling to a whole new low -- she whistles through her toes. Betty Bell learned to whistle through her toes as a kid. She said she started her strange talent when she found she couldn't whistle through her fingers. Bell is in New York trying to get a spot on David Letterman's late-night TV segment "Stupid Human Tricks." A friend painted a likeness of Letterman on one of her toes in hopes of bringing her luck.

OREGON MAN BUILDS FOAM HOME January 30, 2006 - An Albany, OR man is living inside a volcano, one which he built himself out of recycled materials. Steve Fletcher has made a career out of using foam for insulation. Now he isn't just taking his work home with him, he's building a home out of foam. This foam home even comes with a hot tub made of foam. Fletcher, who owns a spray foam business, was looking for a way to recycle leftover foam when the idea for this house came to him. "When we moved here, it was a gravel pit, so it looks better than it did," said Markus Fletcher. Now, with its waterfalls and 30 foot pond, Fletcher's foam volcano has become a local landmark. He's not done with it yet and says the foam home is a work in progress. Someday Fletcher hopes to give the property to the city. In the meantime he's planning another project: a floating car made of foam which he could drive into the Willamette River.

INVESTORS BUY FAKE MILLION DOLLAR BILL February 17, 2006 (TOKYO) - Bad news for some Japanese investors. There's no such thing as a $1 million greenback. According to a Japanese newspaper, eight people are out more than $1.25 million. They were duped into buying supposedly rare U.S. million-dollar bills from the 1920's. But the mil notes are fakes. The largest denomination bill ever produced by the U-S treasury was a 100-thousand-dollar note in the mid 1930's. The news reports say three of the bilked investors have had to file for bankruptcy. The man who promised them huge returns has disappeared with their real money.

GIRL WEDS DOG TO WARD OFF 'EVIL EYE' February 22, 2006 (NEW DELHI) - A 7-year-old girl wed a stray dog as part of a ritual to ward off the "evil eye" on her and her family in eastern India, a news agency reported Wednesday. Shivam Munda's upper teeth appeared before her lower teeth considered a bad omen by members of the Santhal ethnic group to which she belongs, the Press Trust of India said in a report from Dhanbad, a coal mining town in the eastern state of Bihar. Kundan Munda, a coal mine worker, said his daughter married the dog only to "remove the evil eye," a superstitious belief that some misfortune could befall her and the family, and that she would be free to marry a man later. Friends and family participated in three days of traditional ceremonies and festivities that are part of a Santhal tribal marriage, Munda said, according to the report.

TWO TEENAGERS CRASH PLANE THEY STOLE March 1, 2006 (BIG BEAR LAKE, Calif.) - Two 14-year-old California boys have escaped with just minor injuries after crash-landing an allegedly stolen plane. Authorities in Big Bear Lake, California, say the plane belonged to the parents of one of the boys. The boys had had some sort of disagreement with them and, according to investigators, took the plane from a hanger at the Big Bear Airport to run away. The airport does not have a control tower and pilots are not required to check in with anyone before taking off. The boys ditched the plane in the Joshua Tree National Park after apparently running out of fuel. Neither boy has a pilot's license but the airport manager says the one youngster has flown regularly with his dad. Both boys now face possible charges of burglary and airplane theft.

TWO WOMEN OK AFTER BEING ATTACKED BY SQUIRREL February 27, 2006 (CRETE, Ill.) - Authorities say two women in the Chicago suburb of Crete are fine after being attacked by a squirrel. Crete Police Chief Paul VanDeraa says one woman was scratched in the leg and bitten by a squirrel February 16th as she walked from her porch to her car. Three days later, a squirrel scratched another woman. VanDeraa says the women live several blocks from each other. Will County Animal Control set traps in the victims' yards and caught a squirrel. He says the squirrel didn't have any signs of rabies, but it is being held as a precautionary measure

NOTE: News stories are written and published by The Associated Press.