There has definitely been an uproar between BP which is a refinery of crude oil and is referred to as an environmentally friendly company with their plant in Whiting, Indiana and Mayor Daley and the environmentalist and quite a few Senators over adding more ammonia and sludge into Lake Michigan. It seems everyone wants in on the act. They even have a petition for signatures for the “Save Our Lake” underway to put pressure on BP and Indiana’s governor to reverse their decision.

Bp was granted a permit from the Indiana officials that will allow them to release a higher percentage of ammonia and 35 percent more sludge according to the Chicago Tribune into Lake Michigan each day. You may read BP’s fact sheet.

Bp maintains that it is not sludge that will be released into Lake Michigan, but tiny dispersed particles that the water treatment may miss and by no means toxic and it is still beneath the legal limit and the Commissioner of the Indiana Department of Environmental Management did report that the permit increases discharges of suspended solids that are left after the waste water is treated and filtered and not sludge that was being reported. Bp will be spending $150. million on the upgrades to the water treatment plant.

The plans for a $3.8 billion refinery expansion to process the heavier Canadian crude oil will produce more jobs that will benefit the economy. Do you really think if they thought there was a threat that they would have granted the permit? I think after everything has been viewed and everything has been investigated all those that are hollering so loud now will be satisfied that BP is trying to uphold all of it’s responsibilities to all those that depend on The Great Lakes. After all they live there too.

Bp states that the current or planned discharge is not toxic to either animals or humans. Now I have always liked BP and applauded them for all the ways they have tried to help our environment. I don’t claim to be an expert on anything, but I am sure they will be well monitored and at the first sign of any problems would be shut down and fined. I personally would rather see the oil coming from Canada than the Middle East. Maybe in the long run we will all benefit.

In my next life I want to be a geek, I want to use the left side of my brain more and not be in my right mind all the time. I have seen so many descriptions for the word geek, but the one I like is being passionate and knowledgeable about technical things. I want to be technically adept within the computer field.

The closest I’ve ever been to technical was learning hair design and I love cutting hair and all the technical terms of everything I learned in beauty school because I wanted my license, but you tend to forget a lot of the technical stuff if you don’t continue your education.

That isn’t the kind of technical stuff I really want to know. I should have gone to school for computer training instead, but I didn’t realize how fascinated I would be with computers because I hadn’t been around them much, but all of a sudden everyone had a personal computer, but me.

Computers have brought the world together and has produced a lot of millionaires in the process. I can’t imagine being without one now. The ability to learn something new everyday is fascinating. There are so many technical things to learn and do that I just can’t keep up.

Being able to keep in touch and share so much with family and friends that live in different parts of the country or world through networking is one of the best things that has transpired. It has also given so many people the ability to stay at home and earn a living and take care of their family.

There are so many ways people can earn through different programs or selling tangible goods online, but you do need a business license when selling anything taxable. I would like to create some programs, but I really don’t have the background and like I said I am not very savvy with computer knowledge. Of course I could hire someone to create them for me, but I’m not that rich either.

So in my next life I want to be a computer technical geek not a nerd just a know it all geek.