My trip back to Michigan this past weekend was a bitter-sweet experience. The primary purpose of the trip was to attend my sister-in-law’s wedding. The ceremony was very nice and reception was a lot of fun. Her father can really dance a mean polka! It was great to see my parents and grandparents, too.It was kind of depressing, though, seeing all of the development that is happening all around. I don’t know what depresses me more: just seeing things not being the same as when I lived there, or the fact that a lot of farms and woods are being turned into subdivisions with huge, characterless homes. Not that the houses themselves are necessarily ugly. Individually, they are nice looking homes and I’m sure they are quite nice on the inside, too. But they all look virtually the same! I’m sure there are different “elevations” (the real estate term for slight modifications to the same basic house plan), but they hardly make any difference when you take a step back and look at the surrounding homes.And the plots of land that these houses are on. Oh, don’t even get me started on that one. Huge houses on dinky, tree-less lots. I guess it’s a statement of what our society values these days: nice, expensive stuff that’s low maintenance. Spend long days at work. Hardly spend time at home with the family. Spray nasty chemicals on the lawn (mowed by a yard service crew) that needs to look perfect despite the fact that the only time spent on it will be making a shortcut from the car to the front door. Maybe I’ll think differently once I start raising a family and become a homeowner. I certainly hope not.Oh, and the civil planner in Macomb County should probably start polishing up their resume. He or she did a terrible job preparing the road system for all of the development that has gone on out there. Traffic was terrible all along M-59 and the various roads that shoot off from it. What were you thinking?!?!?Anyway, enough ranting for now. Must save my aggression for the rock.