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About Peoria Pundit

Billy Dennis is a former reporter and editor at small daily and weekly newspapers in Illinois and Missouri. He comments on media, news and politics. He also owns and operates The Blog Peoria Project, which promotes community-based citizen journalism in his hometown, Peoria IL. Call me at (309) 863-5748 and leave a message.

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Recent Blog Peoria Posts

• Who Is This Driven Freak In the Mirror? March 19, 2010

  When I was, say, six years younger I started getting a clue about who I was and what I was good for. Uh, I mean at. Good at. Heh, heh, heh, anyway. I was starting to figure it out. The first thing I really settled on was that I was a fundamentally lazy person. At my core I was most happy when I was just flopped somewhere and responsibilities were the easiest things to ignore. I understood that this was a major flaw and started trying to get a handle on work and getting off my butt more often. In my head that’s still who I am. I am still a fundamentally lazy person who wouldn’t know ambition or drive if they came up to where I was flopped and bit me in the face. In my mind that is still my prevailing sin that must be overcome and guarded against. Recent events, however, are starting to make me think that maybe I’ve changed.

  I got sick this week. At first I thought I was just having difficulty adjusting to Daylight Savings time. I’ve gotten really good at getting up on time and getting on the treadmill first thing in the morning. I enjoy my exercise; I feel better, happier, fitter, and more hydrated ’cause I start drinking water earlier when I exercise. But this past week has been really hard for me. I was having a hard time getting to sleep and then a really hard time getting up in the morning. I was constantly running late and feeling awful while I did it. Instead of being a little giggly to hear the sweet chimes of my Jeeves clock I started having fond visions of just what I would do to a real Jeeves if he tried to wake me up. I felt horrible.

  Then Wednesday rolled around. I woke up feeling the worse I had all week. My head was three sizes too big and full of cement. Some shop class had decided to practice their sanding skills on my throat and every last ounce of vip and vigor I had stored had been siphoned off by some evil person with a garden hose. I didn’t want to get up, didn’t want to move. But piano class had gotten move from Tuesday to Wednesday and I had to take Arianna and Samuel. Before that I had to call Dad ’cause it was Wednesday and I’d been looking forward to it all week. And before that I had to walk or else, um, or else I wouldn’t have walked. I would have, gasp, missed a day. And since I have a calendar I keep track of my exercise on anyone who came into my room and understood the arcane markings on the M. C. Escher calendar would know that I’d skipped a day. But, worse than that, I would know! I’d skipped one day back in February, the 9th, and it still haunts me. I couldn’t let it happen again.

  I didn’t walk as fast as I normally do (I think I stayed at 2.5 mph the entire time. That’s normally just my warm up speed) and I was seriously dragging the whole way through, but I did it. I won! Then Crystal told me to go be sick after I told her I was pretty sure I was feverish. So I spent Wednesday being ill. I slept, I read, I watched a couple of movies, I slept some more and just generally felt horrible. I somehow managed to bludgeon my body into going to sleep Wednesday night only to wake up on Thursday with a terrible thought. If I didn’t get up and walk then I was going to miss a day! I’d managed to soldier on through Wednesday on shear will power so why would I punk out on Thursday? I was feeling much better. Really.

  So on the second day of being sick I was once again on the treadmill. I only walked half my normal time and took it really slow, but it counted as exercise. I could mark it off on the calendar.

  Who is this person? Who is this freak who can’t take a sick day when it’s given to her? Why is she on the treadmill? When did I change from the lazy bum who is happy to sleep the day away into this driven freak who folds laundry on her sick day? And what do I do about it now? I was so used to my prevailing sin being laziness that I got good at making myself get up and do. Now I need to make my self stop and sit down, but I’m totally unprepared for that.

  I know I’m being funny (ish), but that one missed day in February really bugs me because other than that I walked every single weekday that month. And the one day off was supposed to be a treat, but I ended up feeling awful because I got really dehydrated and didn’t get my blood moving. I gave up on walking every weekday for a month and it wasn’t even fun. So it makes sense that I want to get March right, but I just don’t know how to deal with being driven. It goes against my nature or, I should say, it used to. Now, not so much.

  Gabrielle
• I doubt Rand Paul is good for the GOP or the country March 19, 2010

  Time magazine asks: http://If Rand Paul Good or Bad for the Republican Party.

  I guess we’ve stopped asking which candidate is good or bad for the country. Whether the younger Mr. Paul is good or bad for the GOP depends if you are more concerned about values and stated policies of the GOP, or whether you mean the the people who happen to have “Republican” next to their name on the ballots.  My guess is neither.

  I count Paul’s father — professional libertarian-spouting GOP Congressman Ron Paul — as one of the bad ones. He’s a master of sounding libertarian and convincing people he is one. But he really helped turn the Libertarian Party into the mess it is today. It’s mostly controlled by people who barely contain their contempt for black people, who believe all taxation is illegal and who think John Wilkes Booth had the right idea.

  
  Billy Dennis
• That vibration you feel this morning is due to the administrators at Peoria’s big three hospitals quaking in their boots in fear March 19, 2010

  Via Rich Miller:
  A new opinion by the Illinois Supreme Court is very bad news for not-for-profit hospitals in Illinois who want to qualify for local tax exemptions.
  Yes. It seems that it IS legal for cities to make nominally not-for-profit hospitals pay property taxes. Miller links to lots and lots of articles about it. Apparently, this [...]

  Original post by Billy Dennis

  
  Billy Dennis
• ComicList – 2010 Joe Shuster Awards nominations announced March 19, 2010

  Frankenstein (IDW), Killer of Demons #1-3 (Image Comics), Dark Reign: Mister Negative #1-3, Human Torch Comics 70th Anniversary Special #1 (Marvel Comics), Atomic Robo and Friends FCBD 2009, Atomic Robo and the Shadow from Beyond Time …

  
  ComicList Headlines – http://www.comiclist.com/index.php/reviews/

  
  Billy Dennis
• ComicList – Marvel unveils more IRON MAN BY DESIGN Variant Covers March 19, 2010

  Categories: Marvel Comics, media release · Deadpool_22_IMVariant.jpg Media Release — Get a look at Iron Man like you've never seen him before! Marvel is proud to unveil even more of the stunning Iron Man By Design variant covers by …

  
  Marvel Comics News Feed – http://www.comiclist.com/index.php/news/

  
  Billy Dennis
• Infinite Hollywood: Pulse of the Press: The Incredibles and … March 19, 2010

  Today I'm going to be taking a look at the Siege story arc from Marvel comics as well as some other interesting tidbits. Let's get right into the Siege storyline which covers, Avengers #33, New Avengers #62, New Ultimates #1 and Mighty …

  
  Infinite Hollywood – http://www.infinitehollywood.com/

  
  Billy Dennis
• Best Marvel Comics: X men action figure collection March 19, 2010

  Best Marvel Comics. Thursday, March 18, 2010. X men action figure collection. CUSTOM JIM LEE JEAN GREY and CYCLOPS These are the costumes from X MEN #1 by JIM LEE. These costumes were the ones used in the X MEN animated series from the …

  
  Best Marvel Comics – http://bestmarvelcomics.blogspot.com/

  
  Billy Dennis
• » Triple Signing at Midtown Comics on Saturday, March 20th Justice … March 19, 2010

  The Guardian A forthcoming court case could hand the children of legendary Marvel comics artist and writer Jack Kirby the right to create rival movie franchises based on … See all stories on this t …

  
  Justice Blog of America – http://justiceblogofamerica.blogpeoria.com/

  
  Billy Dennis
• PlayStation Comics Store Update – PlayStation Blog March 19, 2010

  Is there any chance we are going to have any Ultimate Marvel comics show up in future updates? You would really make my psp Go happy if you a bunch of those show up lol. 8. SDkngsht | March 18th, 2010 at 12:37 pm …

  
  PlayStation Blog – http://blog.us.playstation.com/

  
  Billy Dennis
• Marvel Comics LCD & LED Television | GADSTA March 19, 2010

  These brand new, officially licensed Marvel Comics LCD & LED HDTVs are the ultimate comic fan's television. Featuring your favorite Marvel superhero embellished on the bottom two corners of the TV casing, these televisions are offered …

  
  GADSTA – http://gadsta.com/

  
  Billy Dennis

Tell Peoria Business Directory

• AAMCO Tranmissions Unknown Date Format
  AAMCO is your local automotive repair specialist from synthetic oil changes to rebuilt transmissions.
• Health and Harmony: Barb & Dick Lulay Shaklee Independent Distributors Unknown Date Format
  ExtremeHealthMakeovers.com offers top quality products with an impeccable reputation. The Shaklee products are all natural, safe for you and your family, and safe for the environment. Customer satisfaction is guaranteed.
• dESCO, LLC Service Management Software Unknown Date Format
  The Better Way to Run Your Service Company ESC simplifies the management and operations of service companies. ESC will organize and streamline the work flow of both small and large service companies, making them more manageable and profitable.
• Mitch Williams Magic Productions Unknown Date Format
  Make your events absolutely unforgettable, with entertainment programs by international award winning sleight of hand artist and speaker, Mitch Williams.
• ExplorePeoria.com Unknown Date Format
  ExplorePeoria.com is a locally owned & managed information portal website featuring a comprehensive events calendar, free e-newsletter, a business directory, free classified ads, restaurant menus, real estate listings, job listings and much more.

PeoriaChronicle

• Should principals be empowered leaders or branch managers? March 18, 2010
  The extent to which mechanistic thinking is corrupting our culture might be illustrated in relation to any number of fields of activity. For instance, our educational system suffers disastrously from the dominion of the administrative mind, which is, by the very nature of modern administration, generally mechanistic in its thinking (and therefore unfitted to […]
• Another D150 administrator put on paid leave March 16, 2010
  District 150 Director of Technology and Library Media Services Mary Ward has been put on paid administrative leave as the district performs an internal investigation. If past is prelude, taxpayers may be paying her to do nothing for a long time. The last administrator to be put on paid administrative leave, Mary Davis, [...] […]
• “Word on the Web” has Urich news conference video March 16, 2010
  The Journal Star recently started a new blog based on John Sharp and Karen McDonald’s Monday column “Word on the Street.” The blog is called “Word on the Web,” and so far it has been very good. New content is added regularly, and the information is much more timely than the weekly print [...] […]

Merle Widmer’s Peoria Watch

• FireFly - What Community Leaders Said March 15, 2010
  "Calling FireFly 'the poster child' of Peoria NEXT", National City regional president Doug Stewart said that technology was not in short supply in Peoria. "Ideas are not our problem. The issue is management, first, and capital second. If we are going to hit a home run, FireFly is the closest thing we've got."Doug was probab […]
• FireFly Closer to Burning Bright March 15, 2010
  So wrote Molly Parker, reporter for the JS in May of 2007. The resolution by the County to guarantee, along with the city, a six million dollar loan to FireFly by National City Bank, State Representative Dave Leitch, Vice-President, who personally urged the County Board to approve this loan. Quoting Ms. Parker,"The resolution passed both committees by v […]
• FireFly & G&D Integrated March 14, 2010
  On 5/28/07, Jennifer Davis and Molly Parker wrote "Finding a FireFly Fix Over Breakfast" in their 'Word on the Street' Column in the JS. Quoting the column, " braving buckets of snow, former Mayor Dick Carver, current Mayor Jim Ardis, state Representative Dave Leitch and a Peoria businessman showed up for breakfast at Le Peep. Over t […]

The Community Word

CW Notes

CapitolFax

• *** UPDATED x1 *** Afternoon campaign roundup March 19, 2010
• More thoughts about Garrett’s lite guv candidacy March 19, 2010
• Question of the day March 19, 2010
• Cohen claims his religion was a factor March 19, 2010
• On the process March 19, 2010

Links of Interest

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