The Bureau of Labor Statistics reports today that consumer prices increased at a seasonally adjusted annual rate (SAAR) of 5.2% for the second quarter of 2007.

This brings the year-to-date annual rate to 5.0 percent and compares with an increase of 2.5 percent in all of 2006. The index for energy, which rose 2.9 percent in all of 2006, advanced at a 27.8 percent SAAR in the first half of 2007 [emphasis added] and accounted for about 48 percent of the advance in the overall CPI-U during that period. Petroleum-based energy costs increased at a 48.3 percent annual rate [emphasis added] and charges for energy services rose at a 5.5 percent annual rate.

The food index rose at a 6.2 percent SAAR in the first half of 2007 and contributed about 17 percent to the overall CPI-U increase in the first six months. Grocery store food prices increased at a 8.0 percent annual rate in the first half of 2007, reflecting acceleration over the last year in each of the six major groups. [emphasis added] These increases ranged from annual rates of 14.8 percent in the index for dairy products to 5.5 percent in the index for other food at home.

Tell me something I don’t already know. Every month when I pay bills, I’m painfully aware that energy, petroleum, and grocery prices are all skyrocketing. And the money left at the end of the month keeps shrinking and shrinking. It’s depressing, frankly.

The Journal Star ran an Associated Press story in its print edition today (you can read the same story online here in the NY Times) about how statistics show that fewer teens are having sex, and more of those who are sexually active are using condoms. Also, the birth rate for teens is down sharply.

It appears that abstinence-only sex education is having some positive effects.

The full 207-page report is available in PDF format by clicking here.

My family went to see two fireworks shows (like we do every year): the July 3 show at Glen Oak Park, and the new “Red White and Boom” show down on the riverfront.

The show at Glen Oak Park was excellent, as usual. This is actually my favorite show — it’s in a beautiful setting, the Peoria Municipal Band plays (they always put on a great show), and the fireworks display is superb. There’s a lot of variety in the types of shells that are shot off, and the pacing is perfect. I think the show lasted 20-25 minutes this year. The kids loved it, of course; my youngest (James, 2) just sat there looking up at the sky with his mouth open, clearly awed by the spectacle. This event always has that “small town” fireworks show feeling, even though there are thousands of people there and the show is way better than you’d see in an actual small town.

The show at the riverfront was also great, but for a different reason: it was big, as promised. This year, Peoria and East Peoria combined forces to produce the biggest fireworks show ever on the riverfront. It started a little early because storm clouds were starting to roll in. This show was choreographed to music and it was announced that 5500 shells were sent up. Believe me, it was big, and very impressive.

One thing I experienced this year that I never experienced before was fallout. We set up on the East Peoria side of the river (because in years past it’s been less crowded — not so this year), and the wind was blowing east, so the ash and exploded shell casings rained down on us during the show. I guess I always knew that something had to be falling back to earth, but this was the first time I saw it falling out of sky on the crowd. I had to brush myself off when it was all over.

I love fireworks, and here in Peoria we have a couple of the highest quality fireworks displays you’ll see anywhere. While I appreciate the combining of the Peoria and East Peoria shows, I hope the Park District continues to keep their show separate and on the third. It’s a great tradition, and I enjoy getting to see two shows on two different nights. Kudos to the organizers of both shows.

All the newspaper media in town are singing with one voice now.

The Journal Star is reporting that GateHouse Media Inc., which recently acquired the Journal Star, is also buying up TimesNewspapers, publishers of the Peoria Times-Observer and the other local weeklies.

The Peoria Chronicle and other local blogs are still independently-owned and operated, though.

Last Friday was my oldest daughter’s birthday, and on Saturday I took her to see the Nancy Drew movie. First, we went to Nova Cinemas (formerly Landmark Theaters) just before noon to catch the 12:05 showing. Nova has a deal where it’s only $4 per person to get in, and they have a “popcorn and pop” special for only $2. That makes things more affordable than any other theater in town. Plus, they’re close to home.

However, when I got up to the counter and asked for two tickets to see “Nancy Drew,” the teenaged worker informed me that they had cancelled all their “Nancy Drew” showings because the projector was broken. I’ve gone to a lot of movies in my lifetime, and I have to say that I’ve never, ever been turned away from a movie — especially in a multi-screen cineplex — because “the projector broke.” After staring at her a few seconds in disbelief, my daughter and I left and went to Rave Motion Picture Theaters out by the Shoppes at Grand Prairie. Of course, we were too late for the noon movie by that point, so we got tickets to the 2:25 showing.

When we finally got to see the movie, we both enjoyed it. The critics complain that it’s contrived and predictable, but those critics aren’t seven-year-old girls. My daughter had no idea what was going to happen next. Those critics also apparently never read a Nancy Drew book; they weren’t exactly groundbreaking works of realism. It was a clean, funny, and thoroughly family-friendly movie. It was refreshingly free of cynicism, with the character of Nancy Drew maintaining her integrity and sincerity. The sight gags and physical humor were well-executed, and the pacing was perfect.

If you decide to see it (or any other movie) at Nova, be sure to call first to find out if their projectors are working.

When my dad, Joel Summers, began working at the U. S. Post Office in Peoria in 1965, a stamp only cost five cents, the mail was hand-sorted, and a letter carrier was known as a “postman” or “mailman” because that’s what they were at that time — all men. Now a stamp costs 41 cents, the mail is largely sorted by machine, and many letter carriers and most of the supervisors are women. On Saturday, June 2, Mr. Summers cleaned out his locker and punched out for the last time, completing 41 years and 11 months of service with the post office. He plans to stay in Peoria for his retirement.

Things were different then

Like most new employees of the post office in 1965, Dad started as a “sub,” filling in for the “regulars.” The post office was then located in what’s known now as the Federal Building at Main and Monroe. Soon after starting, he moved to the parcel post area. Ever heard of parcel post? If you’re my age or younger, I bet you haven’t. Today, all the letter carriers have their own trucks and all the mail is delivered at the same time once a day, but it wasn’t always that way.

In 1965, letter carriers would start their day by sorting the mail so it was in the right order for delivery. Then they would load it into three or so mailbags. The carrier would then ride the bus (yes, the bus!) to his appointed route carrying the first mailbag with him. The mailbag got him on the bus for free. Since carriers were on foot and had no truck, they only carried letters and flats (e.g., magazines), but no parcels. The parcels were delivered to homes separately by parcel post carriers, who were the only ones with trucks.

In addition to delivering parcels, the parcel post drivers would also deliver the rest of the carriers’ mail to them by leaving the extra mailbags in what were called “relay boxes.” Relay boxes looked just like big mailboxes you’d see on a street corner, only there was no slot for putting the mail in, and they were painted green instead of red and blue. After a carrier finished delivering his first bag of mail, he would go to the relay box and open it with his key to retrieve the next bag of mail that was left there by a parcel post driver.

So, my dad would deliver mailbags to relay boxes in the morning, and large packages (parcels) to businesses and residences in the afternoon. He did that until he became a “regular” and was able to bid on a route and become a letter carrier. His first route was in the East Bluff, delivering to homes on McClure, Arcadia, and the surrounding area. He had that route for about two years. At that same time (about 1968), the post office did away with parcel post deliveries and went to the current system of each carrier having his own truck and delivering letters and parcels together.

Finding a wife and a home through work

Shortly before he got his first route, my dad met a girl named Lorena Roberson who was working at the post office as a clerk. Three months after their first date, they got married on December 30, 1967, and they’ve been married ever since. I came along about two and a half years later. My mom quit the post office immediately after getting married to take care of her new family (my dad had a four-year-old son from a previous marriage, so my mom was not only a new wife, but a new mommy, too).

At the end of 1970, Dad got a new route delivering mail in a neighborhood called Sherwood Forest on what was then the edge of town — off War Memorial Drive just north of where the Glen Hollow shopping center is today. It was while he was delivering that route in 1971 that he found the house on Big Hollow Road where I grew up and my parents still live today. He carried that walking route — through rain, snow, heat, and gloom of night — for 22 years before finally getting a “mounted route” (meaning he could just drive up to the mailboxes instead of having to walk up to each house) in the Edgewild subdivision off north Knoxville fourteen and a half years ago.

Vehicles and uniforms are different now

Some of the changes I’ve noticed through the years: Dad’s mail truck used to be a Jeep with the steering wheel on the right side — that was the best-looking mail truck the post office ever had. Now they drive a Grumman Long-Life Vehicle, or “LLV” for short. That’s the vehicle you see in the picture above.

The uniform has changed significantly, too. When I was growing up, Dad wore a hat with a badge on it that made him look like a policeman (at the time), a necktie, polished leather shoes, and a chain with lots of keys on it connected to his belt. His shirt was always pressed and tucked in, and he looked very spiffy. Today, the uniform standards have really gone to pot. The hat has been replaced with a ball cap, the leather shoes have been replaced with black tennis shoes, no tie is required anymore, and many of the letter carriers I see walking around town don’t even tuck in their shirt, which looks pretty sloppy, if you ask me.

A faithful worker

When my dad started working at the post office, I mentioned that he worked at the building at Main and Monroe. After that, he worked at the “annex” which is right next to Kelleher’s today. Then he worked at the West Glen station for a long time — that’s at Glen and Sheridan next to the Red Carpet Car Wash. When he worked at that station, he would ride his bike to work. One morning, his hat started to fly off as he was coming down the hill toward the station. As he reached up to catch it, he applied the front brakes too hard and tumbled over the handlebars of his bike and was quite a mess. He came into work bleeding yet tried to convince them he would be alright and could work. As it turned out, he had to get stitches in his upper lip.

But that’s the kind of worker he was. He very, very rarely called in sick, and the post office lets you accumulate your sick time from year to year up to, I believe, a year’s-worth of sick time. He had that much in reserve because he was always there; he had to be practically on his death bed to call in sick. He worked a lot of overtime, a lot of days off. But he wasn’t all work and no play. He took four weeks of vacation every June and would take the family on vacation. Those were a lot of fun. Although my behavior on a certain trip to Florida when I was three convinced him not to have any more children, so I guess they weren’t all as much fun for him. 🙂
The future

Since he always took most of June off for vacation anyway, things don’t seem too different right now for Dad. But when July rolls around, he says it will probably start to sink in, since he won’t be going back. He doesn’t have any big plans for retirement. He’s not moving to Florida or Arizona. He’s not buying an RV and roaming the country. My parents will spend more time with their grandkids (they see my kids often enough, but their other grandkids — my nieces and nephews — live in Ohio), work on their garden, visit friends, travel, and just do what they enjoy. Dad says he’s going to play it by ear.

I think he’s earned it. Congratulations on your retirement, Dad.

The American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials (AASHTO) recently released a report titled, “America’s Freight Challenge,” that claims freight transportation is going to grow significantly and the nation’s surface transportation system is ill-prepared to handle it. They say this increased congestion of roads, rails, and ports amounts to a tariff on trade:

This congestion increases travel times, it disrupts tightly planned supply chains, and it raises the costs of doing business with America and in America.

The effect of rising congestion is like a tax—only it escalates every year without a vote of the people. This congestion tax can be repealed only if the United States adopts a new vision and new strategy for a global, 21st Century American transportation system.

The report goes on to document the limitations of America’s highways, rail network, and water ports and especially the connections between them (intermodal transportation), show trends in the growth of freight transportation, and make recommendations to take a multi-modal approach to improving the nation’s surface transportation system.

There are many interesting points in the report, but I want to pick out those dealing with freight and passenger rail because there seems to be some anti-rail sentiment around Peoria. I don’t think this sentiment is pervasive, but you do see it occasionally, such as when the Kellar Branch debate comes up or when LaHood says we don’t need passenger rail here in Peoria.

In particular, I found these recommendations interesting (emphasis mine):

Recommendation 1. Meeting America’s surface transportation needs for the future will require a strategy which goes well beyond just “more of the same.” It will require a multi-modal approach, which preserves what has been built to date, improves system performance, and adds substantial capacity in highways, transit, freight rail, intercity passenger rail, and better connections to ports, airports, and border crossings.

Recommendation 6. Establish a National Rail Transportation Policy. Intercity passenger and freight rail are critical components of the nation’s surface transportation system. Current rail capacity is not sufficient to meet passenger or freight needs. It is imperative that a national rail policy be developed which addresses institutional roles, passenger and freight capacity, and new non-Highway Trust Fund funding and financing options.

Better intercity rail means fewer cars on the streets, and more freight rail means fewer trucks on the streets — that all adds up to cost savings on road repairs. The report states, “The expanded rail capacity analyzed by AASHTO would remove 450 million tons of freight and 15 billion truck vehicle miles. That service would save shippers $162 billion and save highway users $238 billion over 20 years and avoid $10 billion in highway repair costs.”

This is why I think rail service needs to be beefed up in this country, not remain status quo. It’s cheaper, cleaner, and more efficient than highways. We’ll always need highways, but we can significantly reduce the size requirements and maintenance costs of them by utilizing rail as much as possible.