Wylie Today

August 22, 2008. That was the last post for Wylie Yesterday. Amazing, but not really when I think about it. When I think about the nasty, nasty things that people did because I wanted to highlight the good things about Wylie, it’s not really amazing at all. I’m surprised I put up with some people’s negativity for as long as did.

Soon after August 22, 2008, I was unemployed. I got a head start on the jobless rush. Lucky me. Probably would have been a good time for me to turn Wylie Today into a real, revenue-producing business, but I knew that wasn’t what I wanted to do with this site. When I started it one day, I wanted to contribute something positive to the swirling, negative pool of thought. I wanted to kick some motivation into the real news reporters of Wylie, whom I felt had begun to take things for granted. I wanted a place where people could share their events and become more informed about the people that make Wylie Wylie. That’s all.

Some folks just didn’t see that as a positive thing and I saw the true colors of many, many people. Some friends, some not. Some ended up being friends moving forward, some didn’t. Some new, some old. It was quite the sad affair overall and left me feeling a bit depressed.

Hence the reason for no writings in over a year. Eventually, I disconnected from Wylie altogether. I’ve kept up here and there, but not to the extent that I was. I have still been keeping an eye on the WISD and School Board decisions, but not so openly anymore. Hey, what do y’all think about the bond elections? LOLLMAOROFLCOPTER!!1!

Overall, I am quite happy that I let this site turn from Wylie Today to Wylie Yesterday. I found a job in an industry I truly care about, working for an Independent School District. (If I can’t get elected to work for free, I might as well get paid.) My home life is fantastic and I hope my two boys are growing into resp… I’m not even going to jinx myself by finishing that thought. Anyway, I am a bit amazed at some of the emails I received over the past year. (Sorry if I never replied to you. I quit checking email too. )

Links to malware infected web pages and pleas for help from unknown relatives in Nigeria were waiting for me, of course. I hope they didn’t need my banking information too much. I hope they aren’t still waiting! The most intriguing message was an offer to buy used rail scraps to harvest gold dust. Then I could make the dragons fly.

Enough of that, though. Who cares, right? Anyone? Bueller? Bueller? Bueller? Bueller? I really knew that the care-o-meter was at 0 when I stopped writing and no one asked me why.

So, where does Wylie Today go from here? eh…

Last week, I sent 20 questions to each of the 6 candidates for the May 10th election. The following is the schedule in which each candidate’s answers will be released on Wylie Today. Be sure to check in each day to read each candidate’s thoughts on issues like DART, economic development, road construction, ethics, the Wells property and much more.

City Council Place 5
4/8 - Rick White
4/9 - Chris Trout

City Council Place 6
4/10 - Ben Jones
4/11 - Carter Porter

City of Wylie Mayor
4/14 - Eric Hogue
4/15 - John Mondy

As I mentioned in my FAQ page about comments, I prefer to foster a positive environment on this site. I just feel it’s what the community needs right now and I happen to be in a good mood lately. My old friend Harvey Lacey visited the site yesterday and left a comment about a candidate he supports. He sets an excellent example as to what kind of comments should be left here on Wylie Today. I just want to bring his words to the forefront for everyone else to see and understand.

1. harvey lacey Says:
   April 3rd, 2008 at 6:31 amI’m voting for Chris Trout.

   It always seems when it comes to elections I’m stuck with trying to decide which one is the lesser of two evils. Our place five City Council seat this election is a no brainer for me. We are blessed because we have good and better. I would like to invite everyone to join me in voting for Chris because Wylie always deserves better.

   For those who don’t know Chris I’d like them to know first and foremost is he’s a good parent to his children. I personally believe that’s what we’re about and he does it better than most. I know his father very well and Chris is not only a good parent, he’s a good son.

   He has two businesses in Wylie and his children go to or are going to go to Wylie schools when they’re old enough. Chris is invested in Wylie and it’s future is his future. He’s fiscally conservative, almost exactly like his personality. If he has a flaw as a politician it’s he isn’t a politician. His service to the city as a councilman was exemplary and his service is needed now more than ever as Wylie continues to grow. He has the maturity, education, and committment to our city we need at this time.

   Join me in voting for better over good this election, vote for Chris Trout.

So there you have it. Support your candidate and let everyone else know why you support your candidate of choice. Help get the word out about them to others. Believe it or not, not everyone knows everything you know. Things like this help and go a long way towards making a difference.

Today I launched the 2008 Wylie Voter Guide. You can always get to the page to check for updates by clicking the 2008 Wylie Voter Guide link on the sidebar over there -> . I hope this provides a place for everyone to easily access all articles and contact information for the candidates. I did not add their phone numbers, but those are available in most cases on their websites.

The only current gap is information on Chris Trout. I expect to receive that information soon, but at this point I have received nothing from him. I could snail mail him as that is the only contact information he provided when he filed, but then I’d have to use a stamp. I really have a hard time parting with our stamps since my wife bought the Star Wars ones. Every time we get a new batch in the mail, I hide them knowing that once they quit printing them, I can sell them on eBay to some fanboy for a tidy profit.

I hope I can keep my listings straight so I don’t end up selling them to myself. How stupid would that be?

Also, none of the incumbent School Board Trustees have plans to launch a website. You can contact them with your questions via email. You can also get their phone number from the Board of Trustees page on the WISD website.

I hope this is handy for y’all. If you’d like to see something else added, just let me know.

Wylie Today will be unavailable for some time periods during the 48 hours following midnight, March 28th. The servers that host wylietoday.com are being moved to a larger data center, which means they will be unplugged sometime this weekend for the move. I don’t know exact times, but I know that sometime this weekend, visitors might be unable to reach the website.

Once the server move is completed, Wylie Today will be a faster site and running in a more secure location. Yes, in case you are wondering, this whole thing does pertain to the kidnapping incident last week.

Thank you for your patience during this weekend. It’s my birthday weekend anyway, so the only new posts I could add probably shouldn’t be added.

Hey everyone! I’m back! I’m sure you were all running around town aimless and lost without my postings for a week. I was kidnapped last Monday afternoon and just managed to escape in time to go back to work. I feel fortunate that I took vacation from work last week so I didn’t miss any time, but if I hadn’t scheduled vacation, I might have been rescued earlier. Well, I wasn’t really rescued. I managed to escape from my captors using something I saw in a movie once. It’s called a “Jedi Mind Trick”. I pretty much freaked out that it worked and wished I had tried it earlier.

I have a lot of good stuff for you this week, including Q & A’s with School Board Candidates Jim Griffin and Lance Goff and an announcement from Mayor John Mondy. I will also be launching the Wylie 2008 Election Guide this week. This is an exciting election season in Wylie and the first time since I’ve lived here that no seat is unopposed. I really want to thank all the candidates for dedicating the time to make a difference in the community in which we live. I know it’s not easy and the next 7 weeks are really going to work at your nerves. I wish you all the best of luck.

Wylie Today is almost two months old. I am very thankful for the growing readership and I hope to bring you more information and insight from the people who make Wylie what it is. I have added a Frequently Asked Questions page to the website and I hope you’ll take the time out to read it. Thanks again for your support and time.