That's what I woke up to this morning, running through my head!
Funny, but this has been one of those "who gives a shit!" years in terms of Christmas spirit for me. Why? Wish I really knew,...but I don't. There's enough nasty shit brewing, and that could be part of it, plus I'm closing in on 63 and the long term "outlook" is not one of roses and lollipops. (My fault, and I take responsibility for it!)
But I gotta tell you my faith in the braincells governing us are in very suspect position, the hope for our youth is in even worse shape, and I'm too damn tired to jump on my noble steed and fight it.
Sorry, I didn't want to screw up your Christmas,...(sigh) so on to things to be hopeful about.
Number two son and his wife are "with child" and expected delivery of Junw 2008, (looks like another trip to Utah!)
Number one daughter happier than a pig in slop doing "pro bono" work for Legal Aid and then wondering "who's gonna pay the rent?" (Non-profit is about as close to slavery as you can come,...but you're doing it to benefit mankind! (But mankind aint' payin' the rent either!)
Number one son is in the Houston/Dallas area trying to make things happen for himself,...the good news here is that he's gone back to school nights and is amazed at how easy it is for him! (DUH! It's nothing new, just the reality of life they try and teach dumb 18 year olds who are more concerned with partying and a cute piece of ass every weekend! Do I sound opinionated? Naaaaaw! Not me!)
My dipshit old company is sueing me for a bogus non-compete clause and a couple of "tortious interferance with contractual relations" charges. (That was last Friday's good news!) Like I told the wife, the attorney, and everyone else that will listen, I ain't goin' there. Win lose or draw F*** 'em all! I'm simply moving on with my life, you want to battle me there will be a body count, but not mine! I am prepared to become a "guest of the State" if the Courts rule against me! What the hell, 3 squares a day, roof over the head, free clothes,....only bad part no local pub, but I can adapt!
The very last thing you want to ever do is piss on my shoes, I take that seriously, and Don Quixote was a rank amateur when it comes to being ethically driven and stubborn next to me!
Well maybe tomorrow morning I'll wake up to Rudolph the Red nosed Reindeer and it will make Christmas a little brighter.
Again sorry to rain on your parade, but I really wish you all the best and have a joyous day!
-30-
Monday, December 24, 2007
Friday, December 21, 2007
An early Christams wish to all!!
I've been caught up in the "worldly shit" of business this past few monthes,...and it sucks!! Here i am on December 21st, three days before Christmas, no Christmas spirit, no presents bought( other than good friends Carl and Doug) and I really don't care!! That SUCKS!
Well I won't expound tonight, but over this weekend I will , along with a few other "surprises", so as they used to say on TV,...."stay tuned"!
-30-
Well I won't expound tonight, but over this weekend I will , along with a few other "surprises", so as they used to say on TV,...."stay tuned"!
-30-
Saturday, December 08, 2007
Told you I was going to write a "bunch" Chapter 3
Next new find was a bit of a fluke. It was so flukey I don't even remember how I found it1 (God I love the web!!)
This one is under "www.genetree.com".
I've been interested in tracing my family lineage for decades, but I'm stuck when my grand parents got off the boat, because all the immagration dudes put was "Ireland", no county, no city or town,...nada! And me, having been a smart ass kiddie some fifty years ago, never bothered to ask them when they were still around, at least some of them. Now I find I am the patriarch of the entire family!! SHIT!
Anyway every once in a while I would get a passing thought about how wondeful it would be to get a "dna" swab and try and track my family that way. (Ok, so I watch WAAAAY too much CSI! No wisecrack Lucy!)
Well it seems this web site is actually trying to accomplish that in a way. As I understand it, and we all know that's really a stretch,...me understanding that is. This guy who started the company, which is out of Utah (I know, maybe it 's a Morman thing) has already rounded up over 750,000 dna files and thier objective seems to be to trace everyone on this earth back to the "Adam and Eve" origin. Well it facsinated me (see I told you it did'nt take much!) So I signed up.
The theory is that at one point in the history of the world there were "tribes", and these tribes were the basic "foundations" if you will to todays modern humanity. Inter "mingling" over the eons produced more and differing "tribes" and so on and so on.
(Yeah I know, ...so what!)
Well it really would be a so what if it were not for the fact that apparently the female of the species all contain a never changing mitochondrial gene. Therefore that one gene can be matched and traced back forming a "chain" of lineage. (And they said I slept through Science!)
Makes sense to me, so I signed up for a DNA kit and once I get it and take my own DNA and plunk it back into the system what will it tell me?
Basically it will trace my "tribe" back. Obviously I'm hoping it's European, then perhaps a Roman or Greek strain, and then who knows! Sounds like an interesting experiment and the, I think it's spelled Hapologue or similar will show the entire movement of my tribe troughout time, and history.
I said it before it does not take much to amuse me!!
If Kevin Bacon is only six times removed from me, I wonder what Caesar was, or King Arthur, oh shi,...maybe even Bill Gates! (Dear Mr. gates, irrefutable research has shown I am a relative of yours, so please be sure my name is spelled correctly in the will, sincerely Cousin ------.)
Ok I'm going on hour number four of my writing marathon.
Well i'm going to end here because I'm going to go to work on a new blog I'm putting together called "The Emerald Rose". I've written a few test blogs to it, and I am trying to make it more visually appealing than this one
TTFN
-30-
This one is under "www.genetree.com".
I've been interested in tracing my family lineage for decades, but I'm stuck when my grand parents got off the boat, because all the immagration dudes put was "Ireland", no county, no city or town,...nada! And me, having been a smart ass kiddie some fifty years ago, never bothered to ask them when they were still around, at least some of them. Now I find I am the patriarch of the entire family!! SHIT!
Anyway every once in a while I would get a passing thought about how wondeful it would be to get a "dna" swab and try and track my family that way. (Ok, so I watch WAAAAY too much CSI! No wisecrack Lucy!)
Well it seems this web site is actually trying to accomplish that in a way. As I understand it, and we all know that's really a stretch,...me understanding that is. This guy who started the company, which is out of Utah (I know, maybe it 's a Morman thing) has already rounded up over 750,000 dna files and thier objective seems to be to trace everyone on this earth back to the "Adam and Eve" origin. Well it facsinated me (see I told you it did'nt take much!) So I signed up.
The theory is that at one point in the history of the world there were "tribes", and these tribes were the basic "foundations" if you will to todays modern humanity. Inter "mingling" over the eons produced more and differing "tribes" and so on and so on.
(Yeah I know, ...so what!)
Well it really would be a so what if it were not for the fact that apparently the female of the species all contain a never changing mitochondrial gene. Therefore that one gene can be matched and traced back forming a "chain" of lineage. (And they said I slept through Science!)
Makes sense to me, so I signed up for a DNA kit and once I get it and take my own DNA and plunk it back into the system what will it tell me?
Basically it will trace my "tribe" back. Obviously I'm hoping it's European, then perhaps a Roman or Greek strain, and then who knows! Sounds like an interesting experiment and the, I think it's spelled Hapologue or similar will show the entire movement of my tribe troughout time, and history.
I said it before it does not take much to amuse me!!
If Kevin Bacon is only six times removed from me, I wonder what Caesar was, or King Arthur, oh shi,...maybe even Bill Gates! (Dear Mr. gates, irrefutable research has shown I am a relative of yours, so please be sure my name is spelled correctly in the will, sincerely Cousin ------.)
Ok I'm going on hour number four of my writing marathon.
Well i'm going to end here because I'm going to go to work on a new blog I'm putting together called "The Emerald Rose". I've written a few test blogs to it, and I am trying to make it more visually appealing than this one
TTFN
-30-
OOOOoooooopppppppss!!
For all my jibber jabber about the Kiva project I spelled it wrong.
It's www.Kiva.org humble appologies, reading is fundamental!
It's www.Kiva.org humble appologies, reading is fundamental!
Chapter Two - "I get by with a little help from my friends"
One of my all time favorite Beatles tunes from "days of yore". But it has always been a reminder of us all helping each other out, whenever we can. Why? It's simple 'cause none of us is getting out of here alive! And that's a fact,...so do some good, it doesn't hurt and it's warmth to a little corner of your heart.
End of sermon (damn I shoulda been a preacher!)
I found some really neat new stuff on the web and I thought I'd share it with you, cause it might just warm a corner of your heart.
www.kivo.org , check it out. A friend of mine told me about a financial network TV program coming up the other night with a segment on "Second Life" (Yeah, I've been learning it for a couple of months already behind closed doors in the privacy of "the pit", names McCallen, ..Shawno McCallen if any of you get to second life, well look me up)
Anyway I digress. I watched the segment on second life with interest,, and then before I could switch back to a twenty-eighth re-run of "Law & Order", a new segment came on about this "Kivo", so I watched it.
Seems like in the less fortunate parts of the world there are people whose desire to support themselves and thier families, as well as not be "on the dole", or sucking of the public teat, and they have desire, ambition, an idea, but alas,...no money. (Sure sure I can hear you now, well so what so do a lot of people sounds like a scam coming up.) I said the same thing, but they explained the concept simply. It's not like the individual in Equador is looking for a half a million dollars for a MacDonals franchise, but a total of $700 to open a livestack sales business. Cool, but I don't have an extra $700 in my jeans. But they went on to say that all they would accept from anyone was $25. And if 28 of us "chipped in" $25 a piece it would be done, and it was not a "gift" but a business loan that would be repaid. The monies wnet directly to the "entrepreneur" through hundred of "micro banks", and the loans had to be repaid. The idea intrigued me, so when the piece ended I popped up stair to "the Pit" and checked it out.
www.kiva.org - sign up is free, and there is an international catalogue of entreprenuers, with thier picture, a summary of thier plan for thier business, a check out tht it's all on the "up and up" by the local "micro-bank", but what amazed me was the amount of money that the "micro-banks" , utilizing the measely $25 per person had put into economies from Equador to Tanzania, to Aberbajan. They were simple businesses, ideas of men, women, and groups of men and women. Being a bit of a skeptic I looked through the "money wanted" section at all the little businesses. The thing that truly amazed me was the virtually complete lack of "bad debt" or "failed loans" they were ZERO. and the "micro banks" were utilizing MILLIONS of dollars on these little loans. And they were all being repaid!!!
I said what the hell and after perusing all the candidates I decided I'd skip a few beers this week and spring for $25. (Make someone around the world an early Christmas present or some such.) I selected this woman who was standing in this scrawny looking "field" of her families "farm" and wanted $1200 for fertilizer, pest control , fungicides etc. so she could plant and grow Yams to sell from her land.
You get an account, and your "investment" shows up on your account, with the picture, you get periodic updates, and the repayments are posted to your account and you can see all the other "investors" that with you, are making this possible. As you get re-paid your "cash" grows in your account and you can either take it out and it cost you nothing, or "re-invest" in other ideas and entrepreneurs around the world.
It fasinates me that my little "beer money" is capable of helping someone stand on thier own two feet and be proud to be able to support thier own family, not by "gifts" but in the basic business method of banking.
I would urge everyone to check out this web sight, make your own decisions, but I know I really feel like I am making a difference in someone's life, somewhere on this planet, and yes, that another human being now has more dignity and character,...and I helped them get it!
www.kiva.org
-30- Stay tuned for Chapter 3 of the weekend blog "where did I come from?"
End of sermon (damn I shoulda been a preacher!)
I found some really neat new stuff on the web and I thought I'd share it with you, cause it might just warm a corner of your heart.
www.kivo.org , check it out. A friend of mine told me about a financial network TV program coming up the other night with a segment on "Second Life" (Yeah, I've been learning it for a couple of months already behind closed doors in the privacy of "the pit", names McCallen, ..Shawno McCallen if any of you get to second life, well look me up)
Anyway I digress. I watched the segment on second life with interest,, and then before I could switch back to a twenty-eighth re-run of "Law & Order", a new segment came on about this "Kivo", so I watched it.
Seems like in the less fortunate parts of the world there are people whose desire to support themselves and thier families, as well as not be "on the dole", or sucking of the public teat, and they have desire, ambition, an idea, but alas,...no money. (Sure sure I can hear you now, well so what so do a lot of people sounds like a scam coming up.) I said the same thing, but they explained the concept simply. It's not like the individual in Equador is looking for a half a million dollars for a MacDonals franchise, but a total of $700 to open a livestack sales business. Cool, but I don't have an extra $700 in my jeans. But they went on to say that all they would accept from anyone was $25. And if 28 of us "chipped in" $25 a piece it would be done, and it was not a "gift" but a business loan that would be repaid. The monies wnet directly to the "entrepreneur" through hundred of "micro banks", and the loans had to be repaid. The idea intrigued me, so when the piece ended I popped up stair to "the Pit" and checked it out.
www.kiva.org - sign up is free, and there is an international catalogue of entreprenuers, with thier picture, a summary of thier plan for thier business, a check out tht it's all on the "up and up" by the local "micro-bank", but what amazed me was the amount of money that the "micro-banks" , utilizing the measely $25 per person had put into economies from Equador to Tanzania, to Aberbajan. They were simple businesses, ideas of men, women, and groups of men and women. Being a bit of a skeptic I looked through the "money wanted" section at all the little businesses. The thing that truly amazed me was the virtually complete lack of "bad debt" or "failed loans" they were ZERO. and the "micro banks" were utilizing MILLIONS of dollars on these little loans. And they were all being repaid!!!
I said what the hell and after perusing all the candidates I decided I'd skip a few beers this week and spring for $25. (Make someone around the world an early Christmas present or some such.) I selected this woman who was standing in this scrawny looking "field" of her families "farm" and wanted $1200 for fertilizer, pest control , fungicides etc. so she could plant and grow Yams to sell from her land.
You get an account, and your "investment" shows up on your account, with the picture, you get periodic updates, and the repayments are posted to your account and you can see all the other "investors" that with you, are making this possible. As you get re-paid your "cash" grows in your account and you can either take it out and it cost you nothing, or "re-invest" in other ideas and entrepreneurs around the world.
It fasinates me that my little "beer money" is capable of helping someone stand on thier own two feet and be proud to be able to support thier own family, not by "gifts" but in the basic business method of banking.
I would urge everyone to check out this web sight, make your own decisions, but I know I really feel like I am making a difference in someone's life, somewhere on this planet, and yes, that another human being now has more dignity and character,...and I helped them get it!
www.kiva.org
-30- Stay tuned for Chapter 3 of the weekend blog "where did I come from?"
Ok,....I'm in a writin' mood! Hence "Chapter 1 of the weekend blog"
As promised a few goodies for all of you today.
Thanks for the prayers for my sister, she came through ok. They did two more stents for a total of three, did the old "roto-rooter" for a boatload of calcium buildup, and they are sending her home today. Again many thanks.
On to fun and games. First of all last time I did the 1967 (year I got married) events and intersting trivia for you, so let's jump ahead a scant ten years to 1977 and see how badly the world went to hell in a decade!
January 1977 - Apple computer incorporates
May - the first "quadraphonic concet" is performed in London by Pink Floyd
October - three members of the Southern Rock band Lynyrd Skynyrd ("Sweet Home
Alabama" a virtual Anthem round here) die in a tragic charter plane
crash
November - The first flight of the Concorde (London to New York)
Television first appears in South Africa
The Vatican bars women from joining the priesthood
West German Police engage in protracted battles with the Baader-
Meinhof gang, and the Red army faction
The worlds first MRI (Magnetic Resonance Imaging) is tested in
New York
The Nobel Peace prize winner was Amnesty International
Elvis Presley, Charlie chaplin, and Bing Crosby all passed away
in 1977
Costs of things
A new house = $49,319.00
Average U.S. Income = $15,070.00
Tuition to Harvard = $4,100.00
Gasoline a gallon = $0.65
Fresh baked bread a loaf = $0.36
Notable births
Liv Tyler, Sarah Michelle Gellar(Buffy the Vampire killer), and my
youngest son,...Jay the missing (long story for another time)
Tunes we love still
Hotel California - The Eagles
Best of my Love - the Emotions
How deep is your Love - The Bee Gee's
Movies from "the old days of '77"
Star Wars (the one that started them all)
Close encounters of the third kind
Saturday Night Fever - bet Travolta can't dance that way now!
Smokey and the Bandit - Coors finally made it east!
The spy who loved me - go 007!!
Aaaah! Ain't life great back then? It was a wonderful time to liv through , even though we were all just trying to survive and begining to recover from Viet Nam.
I could ask a dumb question like "Where were you in '77?" but I''m sure most of my readers just flat were not anywhere YET. The miracle of conception and birth had not begun. But next time you hear "Hotel California" you can say I know someone who was there then!
Back in a minute with Chapter two of the weekend blog!
-30-
Thanks for the prayers for my sister, she came through ok. They did two more stents for a total of three, did the old "roto-rooter" for a boatload of calcium buildup, and they are sending her home today. Again many thanks.
On to fun and games. First of all last time I did the 1967 (year I got married) events and intersting trivia for you, so let's jump ahead a scant ten years to 1977 and see how badly the world went to hell in a decade!
January 1977 - Apple computer incorporates
May - the first "quadraphonic concet" is performed in London by Pink Floyd
October - three members of the Southern Rock band Lynyrd Skynyrd ("Sweet Home
Alabama" a virtual Anthem round here) die in a tragic charter plane
crash
November - The first flight of the Concorde (London to New York)
Television first appears in South Africa
The Vatican bars women from joining the priesthood
West German Police engage in protracted battles with the Baader-
Meinhof gang, and the Red army faction
The worlds first MRI (Magnetic Resonance Imaging) is tested in
New York
The Nobel Peace prize winner was Amnesty International
Elvis Presley, Charlie chaplin, and Bing Crosby all passed away
in 1977
Costs of things
A new house = $49,319.00
Average U.S. Income = $15,070.00
Tuition to Harvard = $4,100.00
Gasoline a gallon = $0.65
Fresh baked bread a loaf = $0.36
Notable births
Liv Tyler, Sarah Michelle Gellar(Buffy the Vampire killer), and my
youngest son,...Jay the missing (long story for another time)
Tunes we love still
Hotel California - The Eagles
Best of my Love - the Emotions
How deep is your Love - The Bee Gee's
Movies from "the old days of '77"
Star Wars (the one that started them all)
Close encounters of the third kind
Saturday Night Fever - bet Travolta can't dance that way now!
Smokey and the Bandit - Coors finally made it east!
The spy who loved me - go 007!!
Aaaah! Ain't life great back then? It was a wonderful time to liv through , even though we were all just trying to survive and begining to recover from Viet Nam.
I could ask a dumb question like "Where were you in '77?" but I''m sure most of my readers just flat were not anywhere YET. The miracle of conception and birth had not begun. But next time you hear "Hotel California" you can say I know someone who was there then!
Back in a minute with Chapter two of the weekend blog!
-30-
Friday, December 07, 2007
Oh yeah,
If you get a chance a couple little prayers for my little sister who is getting two more "stents" put in her heart today. Should be no problem,.....BUT, I'll take all the help I can get!
Tom
-30-
Tom
-30-
Ok,...so I lied!
I said I'd write this past weekend,...but I didn't. 40 lashes with a wet noodle!! (Or going to Burger King and knowing the only way I'm going to get it "your way" is jump the counter and do it myself!)
But it's Friday morning! EIGHT hours to freedom!! It's not that I don't like what I do it's just the fact that as a damn "portfolio manager" I have too many things to do! I could literally work 18 hours a day and get further behind every day. And NO it's not becasue I'm an old fart losing grey cells, but the entire work attitude of the younger generation is infiltrating the world. (Feel a good rant coming on? You're right, but if I start it this morning, well, ..I'll just say "screw it" and stay home and write all day, which...will cause me to fall even further behind!! (sigh)
So off to work I go, but I will return this weekend,....promise. I've discovered a number of absolutely FANTASTIC new things on the 'web". Ok I'll give you a little sneak peek or two before I come back.......................
1. Point your cursor to the little line at the top and type,.."www.kiva.org" This is something I did get involved in this week because it beats the hell out of the old write a check for charity thing. "Give a man a fish he'll eat for a day, teach a man to fish and he'll eat for a lifetime" The investment is about my average bar bill a night (with tip) but if it lets someone be thier own master in any way I'm in!
2. Again point your little cursor to "www.genetree.com" a fascinting concept an reminder of the fact that good old druggie Rodney King actually had a good thought, just didn't extend it far enough,..."Can't we all get along (extended version) cause way back when we all came from Adam and Eve" Wonder which roads my genes came down?
More later fans, plus the continuing saga of Mr. Guinness sueing the Health Insurance Company. (You'll love this shit, and I do mean shit!) If you read a previous blog or so back about my attempts at getting health insurance wait until you read chapter 2. Not only do I have a "bad heart", COPD (chronic obstructive pulmonary disease), a "leper like" disease, but ED (Erectile disfunction)! I sure as hell wish my Doctor knew about that, then he could tell me about it, particularly the ED part then I could just relax and give up sex! Oh how wise the Underwriting department of Blue Cross Blue Shield must be to know all this stuff!
And other "slices of life" from the week gone by! Get a BIG mug of coffee, I may have to do multiple blogs on the same day, just so we all get a "potty break"
-30-
But it's Friday morning! EIGHT hours to freedom!! It's not that I don't like what I do it's just the fact that as a damn "portfolio manager" I have too many things to do! I could literally work 18 hours a day and get further behind every day. And NO it's not becasue I'm an old fart losing grey cells, but the entire work attitude of the younger generation is infiltrating the world. (Feel a good rant coming on? You're right, but if I start it this morning, well, ..I'll just say "screw it" and stay home and write all day, which...will cause me to fall even further behind!! (sigh)
So off to work I go, but I will return this weekend,....promise. I've discovered a number of absolutely FANTASTIC new things on the 'web". Ok I'll give you a little sneak peek or two before I come back.......................
1. Point your cursor to the little line at the top and type,.."www.kiva.org" This is something I did get involved in this week because it beats the hell out of the old write a check for charity thing. "Give a man a fish he'll eat for a day, teach a man to fish and he'll eat for a lifetime" The investment is about my average bar bill a night (with tip) but if it lets someone be thier own master in any way I'm in!
2. Again point your little cursor to "www.genetree.com" a fascinting concept an reminder of the fact that good old druggie Rodney King actually had a good thought, just didn't extend it far enough,..."Can't we all get along (extended version) cause way back when we all came from Adam and Eve" Wonder which roads my genes came down?
More later fans, plus the continuing saga of Mr. Guinness sueing the Health Insurance Company. (You'll love this shit, and I do mean shit!) If you read a previous blog or so back about my attempts at getting health insurance wait until you read chapter 2. Not only do I have a "bad heart", COPD (chronic obstructive pulmonary disease), a "leper like" disease, but ED (Erectile disfunction)! I sure as hell wish my Doctor knew about that, then he could tell me about it, particularly the ED part then I could just relax and give up sex! Oh how wise the Underwriting department of Blue Cross Blue Shield must be to know all this stuff!
And other "slices of life" from the week gone by! Get a BIG mug of coffee, I may have to do multiple blogs on the same day, just so we all get a "potty break"
-30-
Friday, November 30, 2007
this week "the 70's"
read again on Sunday,...I'm taking on the 70's,...1970 and 1977 to be exact. Both the birth years of two of my children. (1968 was the 3rd one.)
In the mean time Q: Name one of the "top ten" songs for the year 1977.
Clue: "Soar like an......."
closest to the right answer get's a personal e-mail from Mr. Guinness. (Savor them kid's,...it'll be a collectors item in ten years. :)
-30-
In the mean time Q: Name one of the "top ten" songs for the year 1977.
Clue: "Soar like an......."
closest to the right answer get's a personal e-mail from Mr. Guinness. (Savor them kid's,...it'll be a collectors item in ten years. :)
-30-
Sunday, November 25, 2007
"It's OOOOOOOOOver,...It's OOOOOOver."
...and thus sang Roy Orbison back in the sixties. Yup It's over. Here I am on a Sunday afternoon at 1 pm. getting ready to have a bite to eat, head for the Pub and watch some football, and otherwiseget ready for going back to work tomorrow, (sigh!).
Well it was a four day weekend with Thanksgivig and all, but it also means I go into stress mode because Christmas is only 30 days away. But I got plenty of reast, I'm going back to work with just about 90% of the stuff I brought home from work completed, (five hours this morning and I whacked it all out! Wasn't as bad as I thought.)
Getting down to the "nubbins" (old slang term for the stub of a pencil back in grammar school when you had run it through the pencil sharpener such that there was not even a millimeter to hold onto and sharpen it again. Another "old fart history lesson for all you boys and girls out there.)
The other day, well if the truth be known probably about four months ago, the wife and I went out to breakfast at a place called Cracker Barrel. (National chain, big tacky little gift shop where you are forced to wait twenty minutes until your table is ready and you always find a "gotta havit",....well anyway I picked up a few of those "remember when?" sort of greeting cards that were particular to the year on the cover. I bought one for each of my kids, (children, not goats!) and the year they were born. When we got home they got laid on the dining room table, buried under incoming mail for a month or two, moved to the fourth stair (Which is my wife's signal to "get it the hell out of here or I'll dump it in the trash" for everything that reaches critical mass on the dining room table and nothing more can be piled on top lest the entire thing just start cascading crap on the floor. (It's not a pretty picture, but being a guy, who cares? I know where every single thing we've gotten in the mail for the past three months is,...exactly,...well within a couple of feet of table top anyway.
I was going to send them out to the kids with a few "pithy" comments from the "Father Unit', aand then I got to reading them. Talk about something to make you feel older than dirt!! Try a few of these things;
1. The Boeing 737 makes it's first flight. (Shit that means they are some planes out there, I'm putting my body into that are older than my kids, almost 40 years old, crap, how can anything over forty years old still work?)
2. The Monkeys perform at Forest Hills, NY BUT Jimi Hendricks is thier opening act!
3. The Beatles turn down a $1,000,000 conttract offer for a concet in New York City
4. The Arab Isreali "Six day War" is waged. (I thought it was still going on, just a bigger field of battle
5. Che Guevara is captured and killed by the Bolivians
6. The FIRST heart transplants are attempted in South Africa and New York; the patients survived for 18 days and 2 hours respectively. (And today it's like getting an oil and lube for your car almost, plus they've invented an "artificial heart!).
7. Amana introduces the FIRST Microwave oven for consumers. (Shit that's scary. What the hell did you do before throw the food on a fire like and then when it smoked take it off?)
8. The average Life expectancy was 70.2 years
9. There was no Nobel peace prize awarded. (Schocked, why? Vietnam was in full tilt, the Arabs and Isrealies were kicking the shit out of each other, and who knows how many little skirmishes were going on!)
10. and some other interesting tidbits.
New house cost $14,425
Average Income was $7,305 per year (sounds like my bar bill this year!)
New car was $2,724 (I almost bought a brand new Volvo in '67 but
thought $2700 was too high!!
Average Movie ticket $1.25
Gasoline was $0.33 a gallon (We should have just taken out the middle
east then and the gas and oil "crisis" would be over by now!)
Eggs were $0.38 a dozen, Fresh baked Bread was $0.22 a loaf
Julia Roberts AND Pamela Anderson were both born as was "Normie" from
Cheers, John Ratzenberger!
The MOvies that were hits were;
Bonnie & Clyde, Cool Hand Luke, The Graduate
The hit "tunes" were
"All you need is love" - The Beatles, "Light my
Fire" - Jim Morrison and the Doors, "Penny Lane"- The
Beatles, and a Cyborg(used to be all human, now
mostly mechanical) group called "The Rolling Stones
with Mick Jaggar and "Ruby Tuesday"
I'd go on, but I can't stand the "squeaking" of my joints and bones nor do these brain cells think they can continue without a trip to the Pub for my elixir of Guinness to be able to wake up again tomorrow.
Think about what has come into this world since 1967. And then realize that I your favorite blogger was standing at the Alter getting married June 10th of that year, during the "Six day War" and hoping I was not called back before the honeymoon, as I was a Gob, a sailor, a swabby, and guess what? Still got the same wife! Now that's scary when you realize the Boeing 737 you fly is as old as your wife!! (Damn, guess I better get new sneakers, cause if the plane has the same aches and pains she says she does,....welll you do the math, and figure the odds.
-30-
Well it was a four day weekend with Thanksgivig and all, but it also means I go into stress mode because Christmas is only 30 days away. But I got plenty of reast, I'm going back to work with just about 90% of the stuff I brought home from work completed, (five hours this morning and I whacked it all out! Wasn't as bad as I thought.)
Getting down to the "nubbins" (old slang term for the stub of a pencil back in grammar school when you had run it through the pencil sharpener such that there was not even a millimeter to hold onto and sharpen it again. Another "old fart history lesson for all you boys and girls out there.)
The other day, well if the truth be known probably about four months ago, the wife and I went out to breakfast at a place called Cracker Barrel. (National chain, big tacky little gift shop where you are forced to wait twenty minutes until your table is ready and you always find a "gotta havit",....well anyway I picked up a few of those "remember when?" sort of greeting cards that were particular to the year on the cover. I bought one for each of my kids, (children, not goats!) and the year they were born. When we got home they got laid on the dining room table, buried under incoming mail for a month or two, moved to the fourth stair (Which is my wife's signal to "get it the hell out of here or I'll dump it in the trash" for everything that reaches critical mass on the dining room table and nothing more can be piled on top lest the entire thing just start cascading crap on the floor. (It's not a pretty picture, but being a guy, who cares? I know where every single thing we've gotten in the mail for the past three months is,...exactly,...well within a couple of feet of table top anyway.
I was going to send them out to the kids with a few "pithy" comments from the "Father Unit', aand then I got to reading them. Talk about something to make you feel older than dirt!! Try a few of these things;
1. The Boeing 737 makes it's first flight. (Shit that means they are some planes out there, I'm putting my body into that are older than my kids, almost 40 years old, crap, how can anything over forty years old still work?)
2. The Monkeys perform at Forest Hills, NY BUT Jimi Hendricks is thier opening act!
3. The Beatles turn down a $1,000,000 conttract offer for a concet in New York City
4. The Arab Isreali "Six day War" is waged. (I thought it was still going on, just a bigger field of battle
5. Che Guevara is captured and killed by the Bolivians
6. The FIRST heart transplants are attempted in South Africa and New York; the patients survived for 18 days and 2 hours respectively. (And today it's like getting an oil and lube for your car almost, plus they've invented an "artificial heart!).
7. Amana introduces the FIRST Microwave oven for consumers. (Shit that's scary. What the hell did you do before throw the food on a fire like and then when it smoked take it off?)
8. The average Life expectancy was 70.2 years
9. There was no Nobel peace prize awarded. (Schocked, why? Vietnam was in full tilt, the Arabs and Isrealies were kicking the shit out of each other, and who knows how many little skirmishes were going on!)
10. and some other interesting tidbits.
New house cost $14,425
Average Income was $7,305 per year (sounds like my bar bill this year!)
New car was $2,724 (I almost bought a brand new Volvo in '67 but
thought $2700 was too high!!
Average Movie ticket $1.25
Gasoline was $0.33 a gallon (We should have just taken out the middle
east then and the gas and oil "crisis" would be over by now!)
Eggs were $0.38 a dozen, Fresh baked Bread was $0.22 a loaf
Julia Roberts AND Pamela Anderson were both born as was "Normie" from
Cheers, John Ratzenberger!
The MOvies that were hits were;
Bonnie & Clyde, Cool Hand Luke, The Graduate
The hit "tunes" were
"All you need is love" - The Beatles, "Light my
Fire" - Jim Morrison and the Doors, "Penny Lane"- The
Beatles, and a Cyborg(used to be all human, now
mostly mechanical) group called "The Rolling Stones
with Mick Jaggar and "Ruby Tuesday"
I'd go on, but I can't stand the "squeaking" of my joints and bones nor do these brain cells think they can continue without a trip to the Pub for my elixir of Guinness to be able to wake up again tomorrow.
Think about what has come into this world since 1967. And then realize that I your favorite blogger was standing at the Alter getting married June 10th of that year, during the "Six day War" and hoping I was not called back before the honeymoon, as I was a Gob, a sailor, a swabby, and guess what? Still got the same wife! Now that's scary when you realize the Boeing 737 you fly is as old as your wife!! (Damn, guess I better get new sneakers, cause if the plane has the same aches and pains she says she does,....welll you do the math, and figure the odds.
-30-
Sunday, November 18, 2007
Rage is a powerful pile of shit!!
Dumb title, but you're reading on aren't you? Ok so what's it about? Like the theme song from the old Gilligan's Island said, "Sit right back and I'll tell a tale, a tale of a mighty,..." (whatever the hell it was!)
Sitting back, got your coffee, Guinness, bottled water, or other baverage of choice? Buckle up kids, here we go!
It's Sunday morning, I just got home from church, poured a cup of coffee and decided to give Blue Cross/Blue Sheild, the health care provider I applied to for insurance back in September a call and see what was up, since all I have now is a 30 day, renewable policy month to month until they "decided" whether to issue my wife and I a plan. "They're not open on Sunday." says the wife, but good old me says, "people get sick on weekend too, someone's got to be there!" so I call. After the obligatory "push 1 for english", press 48 for human beings", press 37 for human beings with a brain", and finally after 27 of those buttin pushing exercises the final one, "press zero for an operator". (Shit I could have done that on button number one if I knew that's where we are going with this!)
"Hello, this is Tamara, may I help you?"
"Yes Tamara, thank you for answering so quickly, this is Mr. Guinness and I would like to check on my application for the health insurance plan I applied for for myself and my wife. Can you help me with that?"
"Certainly sir, when did you apply ffor it?"
"September 24th"
"And the last four digits of your social security number?"
"1234"
"...and your zip code?"
"..32459."
"and your full street address?"
" 3245 Happy Camper Lane."
"...and lastly your date of birth?"
"...February 22, 1945."
"One moment sir I'm pulling that information up on my screen"
"No problem Tamara."
"Ok sir I have it up on my screen now."
"...And?"
"You and your wife have been permanently declined."
"That sounds a little onerous Tamara,...what does "permanently declined" mean?
"Well, it means we aren't going to provide you with the health insurance permanently, for any reason, at any time in the future."
"Ok,...but why are we being "permanently declined?"
"Based on your Doctors medical records."
"Wait a minute he told me I'm fine, and has been every year for the past six or so. He asks me to quit this, change that, lose a few pounds, but other than that that's it. What is so bad about that?
"Well sir in October of '05 he said you had "impaired fasting glucose", that right there is a permanent decline by our rules. And at the same time he said you had an "abnormal echo cardiogram", and then in February of '06 he indicated in the records that you had evidence of Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease."
"He never told me any of that shit!"
"Sorry sir, that's what's in the records."
"Ok, so what about my wife, can we at least get her on an individual plan?"
"No sir, she's under a permanent decline classification as well."
"For what?"
"Well in April of '04 she was diagnosed with "Rheumatoid Arthritis in both hands", that's a permanent decline all by itself, but in September of '06 she also had an "Abnormal Echo Cardiogram", and then in April of this year her "lipids were inconsistent with her height and weight", all of those are permanent decline criteria."
"Wonderful, so what are my options here?"
"None sir."
"What do you mean none, that's sort of final, end of the road, "tout finis"."
"Yes sir that's correct."
"So you mean we can't get health insurance,...period!"
"Yes sir."
"But the Doctor never, ever, told me any of that stuff."
"Sorry sir, is there anything else I can do for you?"
"Yeah,...what do I do now, there is only six days left on the temporary policy you guys offered me while you went through the application process."
"Your only option is to get on a group plan with your company sir."
"Thank you Tamara, you've been nice, helpful, but the answers were all wrong."
"Sorry sir, have a nice day. Goodbye."
"yeah, you too."
The phone is hung up, my mind is swirling, and "rage" is bubbling up,...big time!
If I can't get health insurance I'm screwed. Not only will a simple Doctor's visit wipe out a week's pay, but then how do you pay your bills, the spiral gets deeper, darker, and scarier after that. The options narrow until you have to wind up handing out carriages at Walmart and saying "Welcome to Walmart" just to get health insurance,....now that is scarrier than shit,...BIG TIME!"
So I guess I've got a "quest" for the week. Now where the hell did my old side-kick, Pancho go? I hate fighting windmills without him.
Oh, by the way tell me this isn't forcing a "socialized medicine" structure down our throats? Only healthy people get health insurance, and then I'll bet the bastards disqualify you on stuff that showed up twenty years ago.
I told my wife, I think it's pure horse shit. I think the folks in the Doc's office who put the little "codes" on the bill they send to the Insurance company manipulate the shit out of things to get the higher of the "fees allowed". While the Doctor tells me the echo-cariogram was simply a "test" to "give us a baseline for the future, if you ever do have a problem", and the "evidence of COPD (that's the folks you see carrying the little green oxygen tanks and tubes runninng from them up thier nose at the mall)covers his ass if I get lung cancer from smoking, which I stopped a few years ago when he suggested it. So far as "impaired fasting glucose" you can bet your sweet ass that I'm the first call of the day tomorrow and the opening lines are going to go like this:
"Dr. P***** Office, may we help you?"
"Yes please I really need to talk to the Doctor, it's a mattter of life and death!"
"What is the nature of this call?"
"Apparently my fasting glucose is totally shit-faced, my heart is bopping along in time with a Grateful Dead tune, and since I have Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease I'm not breathing. Don't put me on hold because from the scary sounds of all that shit, the Insurance company telling me I'm "permanently declined", There is probably a very good possibility I may become irrational, psychotic, and may even have to be put into a prison for grevious bodily harm to other human beings in order to get health insurance, ...or I'm just going to sit in your waiting room until I die. Just tell the Doc, we gotta talk! This is pure bullshit! If I'm in this bad a shape why don't I get follow up tests, appointments, second visits to moniter this shit? Why is it every year I get a "well you're fine, a few minor adjustments to eating habits, maybe try some exercise, and we'll see you at your next annual physical"
Someone is shoveling vast quantities of animal waste, and I just want to be able to put someof it where "the sun don't shine".
You are fuckin' with me , and I take a dim view of that!
-30-
Sitting back, got your coffee, Guinness, bottled water, or other baverage of choice? Buckle up kids, here we go!
It's Sunday morning, I just got home from church, poured a cup of coffee and decided to give Blue Cross/Blue Sheild, the health care provider I applied to for insurance back in September a call and see what was up, since all I have now is a 30 day, renewable policy month to month until they "decided" whether to issue my wife and I a plan. "They're not open on Sunday." says the wife, but good old me says, "people get sick on weekend too, someone's got to be there!" so I call. After the obligatory "push 1 for english", press 48 for human beings", press 37 for human beings with a brain", and finally after 27 of those buttin pushing exercises the final one, "press zero for an operator". (Shit I could have done that on button number one if I knew that's where we are going with this!)
"Hello, this is Tamara, may I help you?"
"Yes Tamara, thank you for answering so quickly, this is Mr. Guinness and I would like to check on my application for the health insurance plan I applied for for myself and my wife. Can you help me with that?"
"Certainly sir, when did you apply ffor it?"
"September 24th"
"And the last four digits of your social security number?"
"1234"
"...and your zip code?"
"..32459."
"and your full street address?"
" 3245 Happy Camper Lane."
"...and lastly your date of birth?"
"...February 22, 1945."
"One moment sir I'm pulling that information up on my screen"
"No problem Tamara."
"Ok sir I have it up on my screen now."
"...And?"
"You and your wife have been permanently declined."
"That sounds a little onerous Tamara,...what does "permanently declined" mean?
"Well, it means we aren't going to provide you with the health insurance permanently, for any reason, at any time in the future."
"Ok,...but why are we being "permanently declined?"
"Based on your Doctors medical records."
"Wait a minute he told me I'm fine, and has been every year for the past six or so. He asks me to quit this, change that, lose a few pounds, but other than that that's it. What is so bad about that?
"Well sir in October of '05 he said you had "impaired fasting glucose", that right there is a permanent decline by our rules. And at the same time he said you had an "abnormal echo cardiogram", and then in February of '06 he indicated in the records that you had evidence of Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease."
"He never told me any of that shit!"
"Sorry sir, that's what's in the records."
"Ok, so what about my wife, can we at least get her on an individual plan?"
"No sir, she's under a permanent decline classification as well."
"For what?"
"Well in April of '04 she was diagnosed with "Rheumatoid Arthritis in both hands", that's a permanent decline all by itself, but in September of '06 she also had an "Abnormal Echo Cardiogram", and then in April of this year her "lipids were inconsistent with her height and weight", all of those are permanent decline criteria."
"Wonderful, so what are my options here?"
"None sir."
"What do you mean none, that's sort of final, end of the road, "tout finis"."
"Yes sir that's correct."
"So you mean we can't get health insurance,...period!"
"Yes sir."
"But the Doctor never, ever, told me any of that stuff."
"Sorry sir, is there anything else I can do for you?"
"Yeah,...what do I do now, there is only six days left on the temporary policy you guys offered me while you went through the application process."
"Your only option is to get on a group plan with your company sir."
"Thank you Tamara, you've been nice, helpful, but the answers were all wrong."
"Sorry sir, have a nice day. Goodbye."
"yeah, you too."
The phone is hung up, my mind is swirling, and "rage" is bubbling up,...big time!
If I can't get health insurance I'm screwed. Not only will a simple Doctor's visit wipe out a week's pay, but then how do you pay your bills, the spiral gets deeper, darker, and scarier after that. The options narrow until you have to wind up handing out carriages at Walmart and saying "Welcome to Walmart" just to get health insurance,....now that is scarrier than shit,...BIG TIME!"
So I guess I've got a "quest" for the week. Now where the hell did my old side-kick, Pancho go? I hate fighting windmills without him.
Oh, by the way tell me this isn't forcing a "socialized medicine" structure down our throats? Only healthy people get health insurance, and then I'll bet the bastards disqualify you on stuff that showed up twenty years ago.
I told my wife, I think it's pure horse shit. I think the folks in the Doc's office who put the little "codes" on the bill they send to the Insurance company manipulate the shit out of things to get the higher of the "fees allowed". While the Doctor tells me the echo-cariogram was simply a "test" to "give us a baseline for the future, if you ever do have a problem", and the "evidence of COPD (that's the folks you see carrying the little green oxygen tanks and tubes runninng from them up thier nose at the mall)covers his ass if I get lung cancer from smoking, which I stopped a few years ago when he suggested it. So far as "impaired fasting glucose" you can bet your sweet ass that I'm the first call of the day tomorrow and the opening lines are going to go like this:
"Dr. P***** Office, may we help you?"
"Yes please I really need to talk to the Doctor, it's a mattter of life and death!"
"What is the nature of this call?"
"Apparently my fasting glucose is totally shit-faced, my heart is bopping along in time with a Grateful Dead tune, and since I have Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease I'm not breathing. Don't put me on hold because from the scary sounds of all that shit, the Insurance company telling me I'm "permanently declined", There is probably a very good possibility I may become irrational, psychotic, and may even have to be put into a prison for grevious bodily harm to other human beings in order to get health insurance, ...or I'm just going to sit in your waiting room until I die. Just tell the Doc, we gotta talk! This is pure bullshit! If I'm in this bad a shape why don't I get follow up tests, appointments, second visits to moniter this shit? Why is it every year I get a "well you're fine, a few minor adjustments to eating habits, maybe try some exercise, and we'll see you at your next annual physical"
Someone is shoveling vast quantities of animal waste, and I just want to be able to put someof it where "the sun don't shine".
You are fuckin' with me , and I take a dim view of that!
-30-
Wednesday, November 14, 2007
Bit of bad news.
My little sister, (two years younger than me) had a mild heart attack at work yesterrday. Fortunately she works as an X-ray tech at a pretty big hospital. Woke up with a pain in the arm, thought she slept on it, went to work anyway, had a co-worker take her Blood Pressure, called a cardiologist upstairs, he told her come on up,...poof off to the Emergency Room, one full stint, heavy blockage in another artery but tratable with medication, and she's resting comfortably. More info as I get it, but if you've a second today or tomorrow a little prayer in her direction would be greatly appreciated. Her name is Judy. Thanks
It set me to thinking. Judy was always the "worry wort" in the family. We all have a tendancy toward it, but she had it the worst. She took everything seriously, 24/7. At one point I did as well, but sometime back when I adopted the attitude that most of the world is completely out of my span of control, number one, and the only thing I can really control is myself, number two.
I saw a funny quote this morning as I was "surfin", it was a tag line on someones e-mail it said "Don't be so serious,...no one gets out of this life alive!!" Guess that's a bit prophetic today.
I learned a lonf time ago that a couple of pints at the end of the day, on neutral territory, like a Pub, with "bar buddies" as my wife calls them, and you know what,...I really let my worries go away!
I suppose the real "religious" say that contemplating the "Prayer of St. Francis", you know the "Lord help me to change the things I can, bear the things I can't and grant me the wisdom to know the difference" would do the same thing. But that's a "private thing" Having a few pints is a public clearing of the mind, and can act as a "support system" for those aroiund you having a pint themselves. Like the tag line I quoted earlier, "none of us are getting out alive,...so get used to it and make the best of things!
Besides that I really don't know how I'd react in a hospital. When someone came over and said something stupid to me like, "Don't worry, just lie back and get plenty of rest." Shit, that would scare the shit out of me! Like I don't really want to be here, the surroundings are strange and alien, the food sucks, and for the most part it's just me, this dumb "bent bed", folks "schuttling by" going about whatever it is they are doing that's beyond my regular world,....and you are telling ME to lie back and get some rest? Get serious!
I guess that means I'll be a bad patient, huh? And will my "real friends" bring me a couple of pints? Or cards and flowers (I DO NOT WANT THEM!!) Just a few pints of Draught Guinness for later when I'm watching "stupid" TV the likes of Oprah, etc.
Well, I'm due at work in 30 minutes so I guess I'll sign off for now and move my butt into worker drone mode.
-30-
It set me to thinking. Judy was always the "worry wort" in the family. We all have a tendancy toward it, but she had it the worst. She took everything seriously, 24/7. At one point I did as well, but sometime back when I adopted the attitude that most of the world is completely out of my span of control, number one, and the only thing I can really control is myself, number two.
I saw a funny quote this morning as I was "surfin", it was a tag line on someones e-mail it said "Don't be so serious,...no one gets out of this life alive!!" Guess that's a bit prophetic today.
I learned a lonf time ago that a couple of pints at the end of the day, on neutral territory, like a Pub, with "bar buddies" as my wife calls them, and you know what,...I really let my worries go away!
I suppose the real "religious" say that contemplating the "Prayer of St. Francis", you know the "Lord help me to change the things I can, bear the things I can't and grant me the wisdom to know the difference" would do the same thing. But that's a "private thing" Having a few pints is a public clearing of the mind, and can act as a "support system" for those aroiund you having a pint themselves. Like the tag line I quoted earlier, "none of us are getting out alive,...so get used to it and make the best of things!
Besides that I really don't know how I'd react in a hospital. When someone came over and said something stupid to me like, "Don't worry, just lie back and get plenty of rest." Shit, that would scare the shit out of me! Like I don't really want to be here, the surroundings are strange and alien, the food sucks, and for the most part it's just me, this dumb "bent bed", folks "schuttling by" going about whatever it is they are doing that's beyond my regular world,....and you are telling ME to lie back and get some rest? Get serious!
I guess that means I'll be a bad patient, huh? And will my "real friends" bring me a couple of pints? Or cards and flowers (I DO NOT WANT THEM!!) Just a few pints of Draught Guinness for later when I'm watching "stupid" TV the likes of Oprah, etc.
Well, I'm due at work in 30 minutes so I guess I'll sign off for now and move my butt into worker drone mode.
-30-
Monday, November 12, 2007
"In God we still trust"
Ok so I'm an idiot idealist. But that's what makes our country great, and when that's gone,...well what's left?
Now I plead guilty to owning a Country Western Bar & Dance Club, I even plead guilty to "walkin' the walk' 'n talking the talk" but in all truth there is a reeality, and a foundation to what made America great,...back then!
As a lot of you already know from reading my previous blogs, I am a Veteran of the united State Navy for almost five years, during the "cold war", both of my sons served thier country in the U.S. Air Force, and at the very worst, trust me, I am a patriot. I will defend your right to say what you want, regardless of my opinion, I will preservre that, right or "whacko" to uphold your rights to express it, regardless of the "leniency" of the courts and the liberals that infiltrate our country. But what of the reality of life?
We are a "Christian country". Does that mean we are elitists? NO! Does that mean we "under-value" your personal religious beliefs to ours? NO! Does that mean we would "blame" you for your fellow religious "zealots", any more than we would our own "right wing zealots"? NO!!
Give me a break here!!! If you want to strap 50 lbs of explosive to your body and "push the button",...well,...tough shit Charley,...you're dead, you took 20 or 30 wit you, but you know what? WE ARE GOING TO EAT YOU ALIVE,....BELIEVE IT!!! NOt because we are self-rightous, not because we "hate " muslims, but simply because you fuckers are NUTS!!!!
Killing innoent people is dumb in any language! So like my old grammar school techer used to say , "get along,...there is no one else coming to play!"
Sorry , another damn rant!!
Maybe the older you get the more "self-rightoeus" you get! But shit!!!!!,...What is the F***in' problem? We are all born, we all expect to live, and we all expect to form our own conclusions as to whether there is a God,...or not, As to whether violence and mayhem is "acceptable" in terms of human suffering, and whether "WHACKO'S" should simply be "offed".
Sorry frinds, I get a lttle "un-glued" when "whacko's" have a higher level of "rights" than those no longer with us, because it "furthered "he cause".
Am I a bigit,...I guess so, I love my country, spent four and a half years of my life defendng it, and sure as hell will burn any liberal spouting the "can't we all get along" philosophy.
As a Veteran of the United States Navy I have the right to claim my solidarity to having protected your rights. Are you so willing to give them away? The my sacrifice for you was a waste!!
Thank you for your support!!
Tom Corcoran, U.S.N. (United States Navy)
"I covered your ass and yet you would give it away like a cheap hooker? We need to talk. Write me if you dare!
Now I plead guilty to owning a Country Western Bar & Dance Club, I even plead guilty to "walkin' the walk' 'n talking the talk" but in all truth there is a reeality, and a foundation to what made America great,...back then!
As a lot of you already know from reading my previous blogs, I am a Veteran of the united State Navy for almost five years, during the "cold war", both of my sons served thier country in the U.S. Air Force, and at the very worst, trust me, I am a patriot. I will defend your right to say what you want, regardless of my opinion, I will preservre that, right or "whacko" to uphold your rights to express it, regardless of the "leniency" of the courts and the liberals that infiltrate our country. But what of the reality of life?
We are a "Christian country". Does that mean we are elitists? NO! Does that mean we "under-value" your personal religious beliefs to ours? NO! Does that mean we would "blame" you for your fellow religious "zealots", any more than we would our own "right wing zealots"? NO!!
Give me a break here!!! If you want to strap 50 lbs of explosive to your body and "push the button",...well,...tough shit Charley,...you're dead, you took 20 or 30 wit you, but you know what? WE ARE GOING TO EAT YOU ALIVE,....BELIEVE IT!!! NOt because we are self-rightous, not because we "hate " muslims, but simply because you fuckers are NUTS!!!!
Killing innoent people is dumb in any language! So like my old grammar school techer used to say , "get along,...there is no one else coming to play!"
Sorry , another damn rant!!
Maybe the older you get the more "self-rightoeus" you get! But shit!!!!!,...What is the F***in' problem? We are all born, we all expect to live, and we all expect to form our own conclusions as to whether there is a God,...or not, As to whether violence and mayhem is "acceptable" in terms of human suffering, and whether "WHACKO'S" should simply be "offed".
Sorry frinds, I get a lttle "un-glued" when "whacko's" have a higher level of "rights" than those no longer with us, because it "furthered "he cause".
Am I a bigit,...I guess so, I love my country, spent four and a half years of my life defendng it, and sure as hell will burn any liberal spouting the "can't we all get along" philosophy.
As a Veteran of the United States Navy I have the right to claim my solidarity to having protected your rights. Are you so willing to give them away? The my sacrifice for you was a waste!!
Thank you for your support!!
Tom Corcoran, U.S.N. (United States Navy)
"I covered your ass and yet you would give it away like a cheap hooker? We need to talk. Write me if you dare!
Crunch time is over,...YEA!!
In my business the Annual Meetings are all in October and Novemeber. That's when everything for the entire year gets crushed into a two or three hour annual meeting, which takes literally a month or so to put together,...each. Multiply that by eight or none and ,...well,..I survived, again.
So let's see, other than work, what's been going on? Ok, first a rant on the American "conundrum",..health Insurance.
I know I've ranted before, but bear with me here. I am beginning to wonder what part about common sense I am missing?
Usually you get what we call "Group" insurance, from your employer, and "in the old days" if you left that employer you still had coverage until the end of that particular month. Then you either got another job, a new group health insurance plan, or you just muddled through and handled things "out of pocket" until you did get a new job. Very few folks had "thier own" health insurance plan then.
Then , God love the government, they stepped in and screwed it up to "assist us", and "protect us". They initiated an animal so aptly nicknamed "COBRA" as part of thier "help". So after the end of the month, if you didn't have another job yet, you could opt to continue your old health insurance at the cost you're company paid for up to 18 months. (Ok, let me see, just lost my job, no income coming in, ...so tell me where I am supposed to get the "cost you're company paid"? Oh sure I could tap my savings, the mythical thing most Americans have little or none of,...and if I did that who would pay the mortgage payment on the house at the end of the month? Oh yeah, and that funny little habit the kids have of wanting to eat three meals a day,...forgot that one. Moral to the story don't quit or get fired unless you have another job "in the bag".
As soon as the insurance companies saw the government "help us out" they immediately jumped on the "more for me" bandwagon and started raising prices and other "nasties" (co-pays go up, negociated COBRA pricing, i.e. first two months at the employers rate then a 200% increase to be sure they "dump" any potential for having to payout anything.
Being a "thinker" whenever I hit a "dilemma" I research, investigate, and sort of "get my head around" the entire situation. Besides headaches, this also leads to seeing exactly how much we are getting screwed!
Recently I was terminated from a job (anacronym for "Just Over Broke") the COBRA bill came and it was $750 a month, good news you have 90 days to decide to pay it, no medical coverage if you don't but you can go back and file claims during that period later after you've paid for it. So I opt to wait and see, second months bill comes in, now another $750 is added, so now I have to pony up $1500 to be covered for the past 60 days, so I opt to wait til the end, the 90 days and see. I've got a couple job offers working, I'm just not sure which one I want to accept. So I wait. Third month comes and the bill for the third month is $1369! So I call to see if there is a mistake, nope,.. "it was a negociated increase with the employer"!! Where the hell do you come up with that kind of money a month if you are a working class stiff? If you divide that $1,370 by $5 an hour you have to work 274 at $5 an hour to cover it. Or let's say you make a whooping $10 per hour at your job, you have to deduct the first $1,370 to pay for your health care! So if my math still works, you GROSS $400 a week, take out 20%, or $80 in taxes, no you have $320 left, go ahead and pay a quarter of your health insurance, let's see, $1370 divided by 4 equals, let's see, $342.50, so if I'm correct you are already in the hole by $22.50 for the week and dead broke!!
That sucks!!
But what can the common man do? Not a damn thing, just keep saying "yes suh Masta'" and keep your mouth shut. Exploitation is so much fun!
I tried to get a private health plan, we're going on month four now. I was "allowed" a temporary 30 day plan" for $276, but only for three monthes. There are now only 13 days left on that, and the carrier Blue Cross, Blue Sheild, has still not made up thier mind in "underwriting" as to whether I will be able to get insured with them!
Oh yeah, got to remember these things are "opportunites", not "problems" they should not interfere with my performance of my job at all. "My mind is clear and focused boss", "I'm all over the job like white on rice". "No worries here boss already told the wife and kids a one meal a day diet would be good for all of us, and hell the exercise of running to work every day, all twelve miles, well that should help me live longer and work even harder".
Damn ain't life great!
-30-
So let's see, other than work, what's been going on? Ok, first a rant on the American "conundrum",..health Insurance.
I know I've ranted before, but bear with me here. I am beginning to wonder what part about common sense I am missing?
Usually you get what we call "Group" insurance, from your employer, and "in the old days" if you left that employer you still had coverage until the end of that particular month. Then you either got another job, a new group health insurance plan, or you just muddled through and handled things "out of pocket" until you did get a new job. Very few folks had "thier own" health insurance plan then.
Then , God love the government, they stepped in and screwed it up to "assist us", and "protect us". They initiated an animal so aptly nicknamed "COBRA" as part of thier "help". So after the end of the month, if you didn't have another job yet, you could opt to continue your old health insurance at the cost you're company paid for up to 18 months. (Ok, let me see, just lost my job, no income coming in, ...so tell me where I am supposed to get the "cost you're company paid"? Oh sure I could tap my savings, the mythical thing most Americans have little or none of,...and if I did that who would pay the mortgage payment on the house at the end of the month? Oh yeah, and that funny little habit the kids have of wanting to eat three meals a day,...forgot that one. Moral to the story don't quit or get fired unless you have another job "in the bag".
As soon as the insurance companies saw the government "help us out" they immediately jumped on the "more for me" bandwagon and started raising prices and other "nasties" (co-pays go up, negociated COBRA pricing, i.e. first two months at the employers rate then a 200% increase to be sure they "dump" any potential for having to payout anything.
Being a "thinker" whenever I hit a "dilemma" I research, investigate, and sort of "get my head around" the entire situation. Besides headaches, this also leads to seeing exactly how much we are getting screwed!
Recently I was terminated from a job (anacronym for "Just Over Broke") the COBRA bill came and it was $750 a month, good news you have 90 days to decide to pay it, no medical coverage if you don't but you can go back and file claims during that period later after you've paid for it. So I opt to wait and see, second months bill comes in, now another $750 is added, so now I have to pony up $1500 to be covered for the past 60 days, so I opt to wait til the end, the 90 days and see. I've got a couple job offers working, I'm just not sure which one I want to accept. So I wait. Third month comes and the bill for the third month is $1369! So I call to see if there is a mistake, nope,.. "it was a negociated increase with the employer"!! Where the hell do you come up with that kind of money a month if you are a working class stiff? If you divide that $1,370 by $5 an hour you have to work 274 at $5 an hour to cover it. Or let's say you make a whooping $10 per hour at your job, you have to deduct the first $1,370 to pay for your health care! So if my math still works, you GROSS $400 a week, take out 20%, or $80 in taxes, no you have $320 left, go ahead and pay a quarter of your health insurance, let's see, $1370 divided by 4 equals, let's see, $342.50, so if I'm correct you are already in the hole by $22.50 for the week and dead broke!!
That sucks!!
But what can the common man do? Not a damn thing, just keep saying "yes suh Masta'" and keep your mouth shut. Exploitation is so much fun!
I tried to get a private health plan, we're going on month four now. I was "allowed" a temporary 30 day plan" for $276, but only for three monthes. There are now only 13 days left on that, and the carrier Blue Cross, Blue Sheild, has still not made up thier mind in "underwriting" as to whether I will be able to get insured with them!
Oh yeah, got to remember these things are "opportunites", not "problems" they should not interfere with my performance of my job at all. "My mind is clear and focused boss", "I'm all over the job like white on rice". "No worries here boss already told the wife and kids a one meal a day diet would be good for all of us, and hell the exercise of running to work every day, all twelve miles, well that should help me live longer and work even harder".
Damn ain't life great!
-30-
Saturday, November 03, 2007
It's Saturday, I'm sick,and theres a lot happening!
It's Saturday. How do I know that, you ask. Because I'm home not at work and I slept until 10am!!(It's been at least 50 years since I did that,seriously!) I'm sick. With what? "Creeping Crud or something. My head is completely stuffed up, I'm coughing like a five pack a day smoker, a smile or a kind word in my direction is met with a gurgling snarl and stuffy growl with the word "Shit!" But other than that life is ok.
It's got to be stress, one more Annual Meeting to conduct next Saturday and that's it until the end of January, just normal "day to day" shit to deal with. These "Annual Meetings" are an immense pain. By state law they must be done according to a specific ritual, starting 60 days before the meeting, mailing out specific documents to every owner, soliciting candidates to run for open seats on the Board of Directors, submitting "candidacy sheets" (brief one page bio's) I had one noted Surgeon who submitted his "Curriculum Vitae", all 27 pages of it! He may be well educated and well credentialed, but when the hell did he ever find time to even see a patient,...let alone operate on them!
Then 45 days before the meeting the nominations for candidates closes and ballots and candidacy sheets must be mailed to every owner, along with this animal called a "proxy" by which they can designate someone else to vote for them, or vote on a specific non-critical generality themselves. "Should the Association take any excess income over the expenses for last year and apply it against this years monthly fees?" Like "DUH!" Oh yeah, none of these meetings can even occur if thee is not a "quorum" of owners, and a "proxy" counts as an owner voting toward that. Now a quorum can be just about anything. I've seen some that are "50% plus 1" some 15%, some 30%, they are all over the place. So these "proxies" and candidacy sheets and ballots start flowing back at you by snail mail from the day you send them out. But guess what? For the most part , unless there is going to be a HUGE special assessment levied on each owner for something, no one gives a shit about any of it. BUT the State says you have to have a meeting. So from that point until the day of the meeting you are combing the mail every day for executed proxies, mailing out additional letters with proxies encouraging the owners to at least sign the damn thing and send it back, and otherwise seeing how high you can raise your blood pressure without that vein in your neck "popping" and ruining a perfectly good shirt!
Oh then there is the "Noticeing" phase. You have to post notices in conspicuous places on the property at 60, 30 and 14 days before the meeting. (Oh yeaah one more pain in the ass thing to remember!)
And on top of all that "someone" has to develop a budget for next year. Now I have some associations who spend monthes agonizing over it, meeting after meeting, analysis afteer analysis, tons of "what if" scenarioing, and the rest of the machinations. I love breaking thier bubble a week before the meeting and tewlling them it's time, I have to publish it, no more playing, put down your pencils and close your spreadsheet programs. Then I have the complete opposite, the Associations that simply look at you and say, "...ah, just go ahead and make one up for us, it's fine with us what ever you come up with."
About two weeks before the meeting you are frantically counting proxies to be sure you have a quorum, (no quorum, no meeting! State Statute, and God help your skinny butt if that happens cause we got to go through this whole exercise again, and again, until we get a quorum, and have the damn meeting! It always comes down to the last day in most cases, and then the "how many folks are actually coming to this meeting?" Well I did one a week ago and out of 120 owner/members, the entire head count at the meeting was ten! And to make matters worse only 27 people sent back proxies! By ONE, count it 1, proxiy I made the 30% requirement and we had the meeting. The day beofre I had another meeting and there were only two people who attended, besides half the Board of Directors, but we had enough proxies and agfain just "snuck it out".
There are only two questions anyone really wants an answer to, "Are our monthly fees going up next year and by how much?" and "Are our monthly fees going down next year, and by how much?" It cracks me up because the total apathy is astounding. And I'm talking properties that are for the most part "vacation" homes or "second" homes that are worth $2,000,000 to $5,000,000.
One more week and I can kick back and go back to the 1. "Why did't the landscapers trim my Azeala bush correctly?" and of course THE single most common comment, 2. "Can't these people understand English?" (Answers: #1 "So which horticultural school dod you go to and if you don't like it why don't you do it yourself!", and #2 "No none of them either speak, nor understand English because they are all illegal immigrants doing jobs that no American would be caught dead doing for less than five times what we pay them,....but they smile and nod very well and are very polite answering "Si, Si Senor" to every question or thing you say to them."
Don't get me wrong I love the job, but some major streamlineing has got to happen. This is 2007, not 1907. We have computers, high speed internet access, give me a break!! (I hate it when I have to consider running for Office in order to facilitate change. I have no patience for "concensus". In fact I've decided that "concensus" is the "smoking gun" that has killed leadership in this world.
(Oh, Oh, I feel a small rant coming!) Do I really care if Brittany is a "bad mom"? Do I want to "help her with parenting classes",...hell no. Just take away her kids, give them to some folks who would really love them, and fine the bitch $259,000,000 Million dollars. Treat her the way she would and has treated her kids,...as throw-a-ways.
Well better sign off for today, more tomorrow when (hopefully) I feel better.
Oh Yeah, number two son from Utah called and the Wife and I are going to be grandparents again for the second time. (All I could think of is that our other grandchild, a girl, will be 30 when this new one is 14. See,.." gaps in the synapses", why does the mind think wierd thought like that.
-30-
It's got to be stress, one more Annual Meeting to conduct next Saturday and that's it until the end of January, just normal "day to day" shit to deal with. These "Annual Meetings" are an immense pain. By state law they must be done according to a specific ritual, starting 60 days before the meeting, mailing out specific documents to every owner, soliciting candidates to run for open seats on the Board of Directors, submitting "candidacy sheets" (brief one page bio's) I had one noted Surgeon who submitted his "Curriculum Vitae", all 27 pages of it! He may be well educated and well credentialed, but when the hell did he ever find time to even see a patient,...let alone operate on them!
Then 45 days before the meeting the nominations for candidates closes and ballots and candidacy sheets must be mailed to every owner, along with this animal called a "proxy" by which they can designate someone else to vote for them, or vote on a specific non-critical generality themselves. "Should the Association take any excess income over the expenses for last year and apply it against this years monthly fees?" Like "DUH!" Oh yeah, none of these meetings can even occur if thee is not a "quorum" of owners, and a "proxy" counts as an owner voting toward that. Now a quorum can be just about anything. I've seen some that are "50% plus 1" some 15%, some 30%, they are all over the place. So these "proxies" and candidacy sheets and ballots start flowing back at you by snail mail from the day you send them out. But guess what? For the most part , unless there is going to be a HUGE special assessment levied on each owner for something, no one gives a shit about any of it. BUT the State says you have to have a meeting. So from that point until the day of the meeting you are combing the mail every day for executed proxies, mailing out additional letters with proxies encouraging the owners to at least sign the damn thing and send it back, and otherwise seeing how high you can raise your blood pressure without that vein in your neck "popping" and ruining a perfectly good shirt!
Oh then there is the "Noticeing" phase. You have to post notices in conspicuous places on the property at 60, 30 and 14 days before the meeting. (Oh yeaah one more pain in the ass thing to remember!)
And on top of all that "someone" has to develop a budget for next year. Now I have some associations who spend monthes agonizing over it, meeting after meeting, analysis afteer analysis, tons of "what if" scenarioing, and the rest of the machinations. I love breaking thier bubble a week before the meeting and tewlling them it's time, I have to publish it, no more playing, put down your pencils and close your spreadsheet programs. Then I have the complete opposite, the Associations that simply look at you and say, "...ah, just go ahead and make one up for us, it's fine with us what ever you come up with."
About two weeks before the meeting you are frantically counting proxies to be sure you have a quorum, (no quorum, no meeting! State Statute, and God help your skinny butt if that happens cause we got to go through this whole exercise again, and again, until we get a quorum, and have the damn meeting! It always comes down to the last day in most cases, and then the "how many folks are actually coming to this meeting?" Well I did one a week ago and out of 120 owner/members, the entire head count at the meeting was ten! And to make matters worse only 27 people sent back proxies! By ONE, count it 1, proxiy I made the 30% requirement and we had the meeting. The day beofre I had another meeting and there were only two people who attended, besides half the Board of Directors, but we had enough proxies and agfain just "snuck it out".
There are only two questions anyone really wants an answer to, "Are our monthly fees going up next year and by how much?" and "Are our monthly fees going down next year, and by how much?" It cracks me up because the total apathy is astounding. And I'm talking properties that are for the most part "vacation" homes or "second" homes that are worth $2,000,000 to $5,000,000.
One more week and I can kick back and go back to the 1. "Why did't the landscapers trim my Azeala bush correctly?" and of course THE single most common comment, 2. "Can't these people understand English?" (Answers: #1 "So which horticultural school dod you go to and if you don't like it why don't you do it yourself!", and #2 "No none of them either speak, nor understand English because they are all illegal immigrants doing jobs that no American would be caught dead doing for less than five times what we pay them,....but they smile and nod very well and are very polite answering "Si, Si Senor" to every question or thing you say to them."
Don't get me wrong I love the job, but some major streamlineing has got to happen. This is 2007, not 1907. We have computers, high speed internet access, give me a break!! (I hate it when I have to consider running for Office in order to facilitate change. I have no patience for "concensus". In fact I've decided that "concensus" is the "smoking gun" that has killed leadership in this world.
(Oh, Oh, I feel a small rant coming!) Do I really care if Brittany is a "bad mom"? Do I want to "help her with parenting classes",...hell no. Just take away her kids, give them to some folks who would really love them, and fine the bitch $259,000,000 Million dollars. Treat her the way she would and has treated her kids,...as throw-a-ways.
Well better sign off for today, more tomorrow when (hopefully) I feel better.
Oh Yeah, number two son from Utah called and the Wife and I are going to be grandparents again for the second time. (All I could think of is that our other grandchild, a girl, will be 30 when this new one is 14. See,.." gaps in the synapses", why does the mind think wierd thought like that.
-30-
Friday, November 02, 2007
The first leg of "The Triumphant Triangle" is complete!
Yes, that's right. "The Triumphant Triangle" is a pseudo-mythical, pseudo-egotistical, otherwise crazy concept that if it happens maybe I can make a million on tee shirts, hats and banners. (Still working on the logo/image, all help accepted and graciously cut in for a piece of the action if the powers trianglate properly.)
So what is "The Triumphant Triangle"? It is a convergence of Sports "Championships" in one single point on the big blue marble,.....BOSTON, Massachusetts, USA.
First leg complete, The Boston Red Sox won the World Series (still an oxymoron so far as I can tell because the "world" extends beyond the United States,...oh well we'll take it.)
Second will be the Boston (oops! "New England") Patriots taking the "Super Bowl" in February, and finally either Boston College becoming the NCAA Football champion at the Rose Bowl, OR the Boston Celtics becoming the Wrold's Champion Basketball Champions.
(ok, so I may be delusional, but you gotta believe.
AND congrats to Joe Torre for landing in LA, go show Georgie boy how badly he screwed up!!
-30-
So what is "The Triumphant Triangle"? It is a convergence of Sports "Championships" in one single point on the big blue marble,.....BOSTON, Massachusetts, USA.
First leg complete, The Boston Red Sox won the World Series (still an oxymoron so far as I can tell because the "world" extends beyond the United States,...oh well we'll take it.)
Second will be the Boston (oops! "New England") Patriots taking the "Super Bowl" in February, and finally either Boston College becoming the NCAA Football champion at the Rose Bowl, OR the Boston Celtics becoming the Wrold's Champion Basketball Champions.
(ok, so I may be delusional, but you gotta believe.
AND congrats to Joe Torre for landing in LA, go show Georgie boy how badly he screwed up!!
-30-
Wednesday, October 24, 2007
"Oh Lucy.....I'm home!"
Just a little teaser for this blog! Sorry gang, it's that time of year. Every Homeowners Association and Condominium in the workld wants their annual meeting in October and November! Why? Becasue that's about the only time no one is renting the units. So what you ask? Well one of my clients rents his little place (Sleeps 8, three baths, directly on the Gulf of Mexico) for $6,000 a week!! would you give up six grand a week?
Anyway, this blogs going to be a little dis-jointed because as a Bostonian life could not get too much better!!
The Red Sox (baseball for you Aussies) are playing the first of seven series of the World Series as I write this. (It only matters after nine innings so I'm taking time to write for you instead of watching innings 1 thru 8!! Is that dedication or what?) The New England Patriots are a sure thing for the Superbowl! (American football epitome of excellance!), and Boston College is ranked #2 in the Country in College Football and playing Virginia Tech tomorrow night at the same time the Red Sox are playing game two!!!( Send an emergency channel changer, it's going to be "switch city" from 7pm until midnight at my house!!!)
And I'M NOT A JOCK!!! A fan yes, but a jock no!
I'm sure my best buddy Mikie, who passed away last year, is conning God to make this a whole year for Boston so more of us can join him from the sheer "over the top" of all these Boston teams winning everything in 2007-08! Thank you Mikie,...we know it's you making it happen!
Well, got to get back to the game.
see ya'
-30-
Anyway, this blogs going to be a little dis-jointed because as a Bostonian life could not get too much better!!
The Red Sox (baseball for you Aussies) are playing the first of seven series of the World Series as I write this. (It only matters after nine innings so I'm taking time to write for you instead of watching innings 1 thru 8!! Is that dedication or what?) The New England Patriots are a sure thing for the Superbowl! (American football epitome of excellance!), and Boston College is ranked #2 in the Country in College Football and playing Virginia Tech tomorrow night at the same time the Red Sox are playing game two!!!( Send an emergency channel changer, it's going to be "switch city" from 7pm until midnight at my house!!!)
And I'M NOT A JOCK!!! A fan yes, but a jock no!
I'm sure my best buddy Mikie, who passed away last year, is conning God to make this a whole year for Boston so more of us can join him from the sheer "over the top" of all these Boston teams winning everything in 2007-08! Thank you Mikie,...we know it's you making it happen!
Well, got to get back to the game.
see ya'
-30-
Wednesday, October 17, 2007
Attention, stalkers!
Recently I've been writing and NO ONE, has even left me a note or a comment! Let me explain the process. At the end of each entry which, I sweat, labor, agonize and other wise "slave over" composing, there is a "thingy" that says comments. If you put your cursor on it and "click" you will find a box that invites you to leave a comment. DO IT!!
They say blogs are like "private diaries", but that's bullshit. I write, just to share my life with you. With no comments the implied is "why the hell write any more?)
Sorry , just a quick rant!
We had a "memorial service" for my good buddy "Mikie" tonoght at The Whales Tale" , perhaps about ten or twelve of us. A shot of Sambuca, a toast, and a time to remember,....we loved you Mikie,...and damn it we miss the hell out of you!
-30-
They say blogs are like "private diaries", but that's bullshit. I write, just to share my life with you. With no comments the implied is "why the hell write any more?)
Sorry , just a quick rant!
We had a "memorial service" for my good buddy "Mikie" tonoght at The Whales Tale" , perhaps about ten or twelve of us. A shot of Sambuca, a toast, and a time to remember,....we loved you Mikie,...and damn it we miss the hell out of you!
-30-
Saturday, October 13, 2007
The old man and the iPod!
No it's a take off on Hemingway's "The old man and the sea". Naw no, but a damn catchy title for a blog today.
My wife has decided not to "lovingly bitch" about my drinking,eating fried foods,avoiding "veggies" at all costs, and not exercising at all, nevermind regularly, and my rock solid belief that there are vitamins and minerals, and healthy non-perscription herbs and that for everything that ails you, or threatens too. Yup,..she's come to the conclusion that my shameful personal quest to wear my body out like a car that never gets a tune up or an oil change is definately going to make her survive me, (then she can sell all my toys, buy treadmills and exercycles, and live on.)
But anyhow to thank her for her decision I decided to get her a treat. She does a lot of walking and bicycling for exercise and has appropriated the MP3 (What the hell does "MP3" mean anyhow?)she bought me last Christmas. But recently it's been getting the better of her. That's why I didn't mind her taking it. It had directions for use that would definately break your back to lift!
So being the great husband and good dubbie that I am I decided to see if I could get her an iPod off of e-bay. "They got a million of 'em!" So it's back to the drawing board and see which one is best and what they do. After an exhausting bunch of research I determined that any of them would suit our purposes so I began shopping price and condition.
Long story short I bid and won a "refurbished" i-Pod 4gig Nano,...white. Being a real sport I also got her a "docking unit" with a recharger built in as well. (Nothings to good for my woman!) Well it showed up a few days later and it was smaller than I thought, and as I read the literature and looked at the lack of buttons and all the "touch sensitive" controls I was impressed. So last Saturday I set about putting it all together for her and downloading some of the chior music she's learning for this Christmas (God is it that close to Christmas already?). Being the non-techno, 63 year old klutz that I am, with the patience of one of Michael Vicks more agressive pit bulls, I set aside four hours to figure it out.
Guess what? 30 minutes later it was up, working like a charm and so easy to learn, operate, load and arrange stuff I really WAS impressed. Gave it to the wife, and she's been happy as a clam with it since.
She gave me back my old MP3 player, I made an attempt to make it work, then made an impulsive decision. (It's the only kind I ever make,...the impulsive kind!) I went back on e-bay, found another one and put a significantly lower bid on it. Within minutes I get the stupid, "You have been out bid!" e-mail, so there are two days left and I set up my tracking reminders, and guess what, the bid does not go any higher. "Ah Ha! It must be the seller jacking the bid up." says I. So I start playiing games with him, you know, bump it the minimum possible, and see if he responds, if he does I take a higher bump, maybe a twenty percent bump. (remember I said I started this thing at a really low bid)and I watch the amount of time before the bump backs and a few other factors. Then I just flat quit bidding! It leaves the seller with the high bid and scratching thier head, "Where'd he go?" Then I lay in ambush for the two minute mark. That's two minutes before the auction ends, I put in a bid to see what he's got for a top limit on his bid, then wait until there are 30 seconds left and then if I really want the item I drop a bid in with ten seconds left with a much higher max bid limit. For example let's say his bid is $30 and by playing with him I learn he covers his bid at about five dollars more, ergo $35 high bid, I'll test him a couple of times and we wind up at $40-$55, then I quit and wait. At the two minute mark the bid has not changed so I pop a bid in for $57.50, get the "outbid" and come back at $61 and am now highbidder. Strategy working, he is on a $5 over max limit so he'll come back at say $65 to keep me interestedand I'll sit and do nothing. At ten seconds left I'll put in a bid for $70.01 with a max bid of $80.01.
With time constraints he has to either gamble on where my "top bid" is, or stick to his original strategy of $5 over to keep me on the hook. By the time he gets the $75 bid into the auction the timer ends and he gets an "out buid and auction over with me winning at $70.01!
Long story short I bought another iPod 4gig Nano for myself. I've been playing with it and loading my classical music and 60's stuff as well as a ton of new age,....and the best thing is that I'm comfortable with it!
The old fart triumphs over technology again!!!!
-30-
My wife has decided not to "lovingly bitch" about my drinking,eating fried foods,avoiding "veggies" at all costs, and not exercising at all, nevermind regularly, and my rock solid belief that there are vitamins and minerals, and healthy non-perscription herbs and that for everything that ails you, or threatens too. Yup,..she's come to the conclusion that my shameful personal quest to wear my body out like a car that never gets a tune up or an oil change is definately going to make her survive me, (then she can sell all my toys, buy treadmills and exercycles, and live on.)
But anyhow to thank her for her decision I decided to get her a treat. She does a lot of walking and bicycling for exercise and has appropriated the MP3 (What the hell does "MP3" mean anyhow?)she bought me last Christmas. But recently it's been getting the better of her. That's why I didn't mind her taking it. It had directions for use that would definately break your back to lift!
So being the great husband and good dubbie that I am I decided to see if I could get her an iPod off of e-bay. "They got a million of 'em!" So it's back to the drawing board and see which one is best and what they do. After an exhausting bunch of research I determined that any of them would suit our purposes so I began shopping price and condition.
Long story short I bid and won a "refurbished" i-Pod 4gig Nano,...white. Being a real sport I also got her a "docking unit" with a recharger built in as well. (Nothings to good for my woman!) Well it showed up a few days later and it was smaller than I thought, and as I read the literature and looked at the lack of buttons and all the "touch sensitive" controls I was impressed. So last Saturday I set about putting it all together for her and downloading some of the chior music she's learning for this Christmas (God is it that close to Christmas already?). Being the non-techno, 63 year old klutz that I am, with the patience of one of Michael Vicks more agressive pit bulls, I set aside four hours to figure it out.
Guess what? 30 minutes later it was up, working like a charm and so easy to learn, operate, load and arrange stuff I really WAS impressed. Gave it to the wife, and she's been happy as a clam with it since.
She gave me back my old MP3 player, I made an attempt to make it work, then made an impulsive decision. (It's the only kind I ever make,...the impulsive kind!) I went back on e-bay, found another one and put a significantly lower bid on it. Within minutes I get the stupid, "You have been out bid!" e-mail, so there are two days left and I set up my tracking reminders, and guess what, the bid does not go any higher. "Ah Ha! It must be the seller jacking the bid up." says I. So I start playiing games with him, you know, bump it the minimum possible, and see if he responds, if he does I take a higher bump, maybe a twenty percent bump. (remember I said I started this thing at a really low bid)and I watch the amount of time before the bump backs and a few other factors. Then I just flat quit bidding! It leaves the seller with the high bid and scratching thier head, "Where'd he go?" Then I lay in ambush for the two minute mark. That's two minutes before the auction ends, I put in a bid to see what he's got for a top limit on his bid, then wait until there are 30 seconds left and then if I really want the item I drop a bid in with ten seconds left with a much higher max bid limit. For example let's say his bid is $30 and by playing with him I learn he covers his bid at about five dollars more, ergo $35 high bid, I'll test him a couple of times and we wind up at $40-$55, then I quit and wait. At the two minute mark the bid has not changed so I pop a bid in for $57.50, get the "outbid" and come back at $61 and am now highbidder. Strategy working, he is on a $5 over max limit so he'll come back at say $65 to keep me interestedand I'll sit and do nothing. At ten seconds left I'll put in a bid for $70.01 with a max bid of $80.01.
With time constraints he has to either gamble on where my "top bid" is, or stick to his original strategy of $5 over to keep me on the hook. By the time he gets the $75 bid into the auction the timer ends and he gets an "out buid and auction over with me winning at $70.01!
Long story short I bought another iPod 4gig Nano for myself. I've been playing with it and loading my classical music and 60's stuff as well as a ton of new age,....and the best thing is that I'm comfortable with it!
The old fart triumphs over technology again!!!!
-30-
Pumpkin time is here!
I've had the fall blues thus far, so my blog has suffered.
This year particularly with all the drought and heat and humidity was just one shower to the next for some relief,...but the weather is breaking now, the humidity is going away, and the temperature is moderating to a nice chilly 75 degrees in the mornings.
Fall is a time for Pumpkins, Holloween, little rug rats pounding on my doorbell wanting a candy handout, college football, professional football, the world series (GO Red Sox!)and the disappearance of the tourists (thank God! We got your money go the hell home!)but it also has some "down" memories this year as a result of last years "rash" of sudden deaths of a few dear friends about this time.
Yeah, yeah, life goes on, life is for the living, and all those other platitudes of reality. But we really do need to remember,...actually we really don't need to remember so much as we need to never forget those firends, loved ones and family that have passed on.
Now yesterday afternoon about 4:30 I stopped at the Pub for a pint (I know,..who da thunk it?) and ran into a girl I've known for about ten years, she's married, has a couple of kids, one particular daughter (23 years old) who is a "meth head" and is giving her hell, and she's an "Annual" person for a landscape company (that means she has a knack for planting colorful flowers and arrangements for the "big" clients who have the money and just want "some extra color, you know something to 'Pop' out at you.")
But I digress. Lynn and her sidekick, Vicky were just having a cold beer and I joined them as none of out "regular crew" had yet arrived. After a few pleasantries and some idle chit-chat there was a minute of silence and as I turned my head I noticed Lynn was all teary eyed with a couple running down her cheek. I figured (dumb guy thing I know)she was upset about her daughter as she had made a couple of comments about her a little earlier. So I tried to cheer her up a bit and said something like, "She'll grow up soon Lynn, don't take it so hard, she's really not a bad kid." And she teared up alittle more and looked at me and said "I'm not worried about her,...but I just thought about seeing you here sipping your Guinness, but no Mikie beside you. God I miss that guy! he was a real human being."
I had been thinking about Mikie a lot becasue we're coming up on the first anniversary of his death next week, ...and I too miss my buddy.
Later in the early evening as I was sitting at the Pub with a few friends, old and new, it was alomst a collective thought from at least a dozen of us at the same time about my good buddy Mikie's passing a year ago. So we've collectively decided that Wednesday of this week we are all going to meet at "The Whales Tale" beach bar and hoist a shot of Sambuca for Mikie at 5 p.m.,...just to let him know we all still care, and we all still want to remember how much joy, silliness, just "being Mikie" he brought to all of us. For those of you who can't make it,...just pause at 5pm, lift a shot of Sambuca and say "To you Mikie,...we still miss you. Godspeed my friend."
I'm not being "morose", but simply trying to make the point that as we go on with life it is really incumbent on us to remember ALL those who make it possible for us. We remember the soldiers, the teachers, the business friends, the relatives, the ones who are all obvious, but when you are touched by someone who is simply a "friend" , asking nothing, giving everything, and always there for someone else, amidst thier own trails and tribulations,.....well, they deserve a special rememberance.
-30-
This year particularly with all the drought and heat and humidity was just one shower to the next for some relief,...but the weather is breaking now, the humidity is going away, and the temperature is moderating to a nice chilly 75 degrees in the mornings.
Fall is a time for Pumpkins, Holloween, little rug rats pounding on my doorbell wanting a candy handout, college football, professional football, the world series (GO Red Sox!)and the disappearance of the tourists (thank God! We got your money go the hell home!)but it also has some "down" memories this year as a result of last years "rash" of sudden deaths of a few dear friends about this time.
Yeah, yeah, life goes on, life is for the living, and all those other platitudes of reality. But we really do need to remember,...actually we really don't need to remember so much as we need to never forget those firends, loved ones and family that have passed on.
Now yesterday afternoon about 4:30 I stopped at the Pub for a pint (I know,..who da thunk it?) and ran into a girl I've known for about ten years, she's married, has a couple of kids, one particular daughter (23 years old) who is a "meth head" and is giving her hell, and she's an "Annual" person for a landscape company (that means she has a knack for planting colorful flowers and arrangements for the "big" clients who have the money and just want "some extra color, you know something to 'Pop' out at you.")
But I digress. Lynn and her sidekick, Vicky were just having a cold beer and I joined them as none of out "regular crew" had yet arrived. After a few pleasantries and some idle chit-chat there was a minute of silence and as I turned my head I noticed Lynn was all teary eyed with a couple running down her cheek. I figured (dumb guy thing I know)she was upset about her daughter as she had made a couple of comments about her a little earlier. So I tried to cheer her up a bit and said something like, "She'll grow up soon Lynn, don't take it so hard, she's really not a bad kid." And she teared up alittle more and looked at me and said "I'm not worried about her,...but I just thought about seeing you here sipping your Guinness, but no Mikie beside you. God I miss that guy! he was a real human being."
I had been thinking about Mikie a lot becasue we're coming up on the first anniversary of his death next week, ...and I too miss my buddy.
Later in the early evening as I was sitting at the Pub with a few friends, old and new, it was alomst a collective thought from at least a dozen of us at the same time about my good buddy Mikie's passing a year ago. So we've collectively decided that Wednesday of this week we are all going to meet at "The Whales Tale" beach bar and hoist a shot of Sambuca for Mikie at 5 p.m.,...just to let him know we all still care, and we all still want to remember how much joy, silliness, just "being Mikie" he brought to all of us. For those of you who can't make it,...just pause at 5pm, lift a shot of Sambuca and say "To you Mikie,...we still miss you. Godspeed my friend."
I'm not being "morose", but simply trying to make the point that as we go on with life it is really incumbent on us to remember ALL those who make it possible for us. We remember the soldiers, the teachers, the business friends, the relatives, the ones who are all obvious, but when you are touched by someone who is simply a "friend" , asking nothing, giving everything, and always there for someone else, amidst thier own trails and tribulations,.....well, they deserve a special rememberance.
-30-
Wednesday, October 10, 2007
Boy am I a lazy bastard about writing!
I hardly believe this is the 10th of October!!!
It's like I said in a recent blog,...the older you get the faster that God Damn clock spins!! It was like yesterday when I wrote the last blog,but its over two weeks ago!
Please give me tinoght and I'll wrire another thrilling chapter tomorrow, .....I promise!
It's like I said in a recent blog,...the older you get the faster that God Damn clock spins!! It was like yesterday when I wrote the last blog,but its over two weeks ago!
Please give me tinoght and I'll wrire another thrilling chapter tomorrow, .....I promise!
Tuesday, September 25, 2007
God! The 25th already?
Time just has a way of whizzing by. On a number of occasions I've thought about time, in fact I really dwelt on it. Sometimes good,....sometimes not. For example let's look at time BAD. That's kind of like mowing the grass and the mower begins to look like it's maybe six inches wide, and the yard is growing from a 6' by 8' patch to a hundred acres! That's the example where you want time to fly, but alas it's an entirely new career istead.
Now Time GOOD, having a couple of pints, good conversation, laughing, joking, being a real part of "the spirit of life",....and BAM, you glance at your watch and it's already late evening and you wanted to be home early to relax for that big meeting first thing in the morning! That's where the clock is whizzing around like a cartoon and an hour seems like a minute!
Now there is the theory of the "life TIME". It's kind of like the good time,bad time thing as well. The only thing is that as you get older it's going in the right "GOOD TIME" direction, but your inner mind and spririt is screaming, "NO, NO, slow this thing down it's going to be over too fast, I want to enjoy it more!" But as a famous somebody once said I'm sure , "It ain't happenin' Jack!"
Maybe that's why old folks can just sit by the hour, and hour after hour, after hour, and be so amused at "the little things". Or perhaps why the young work so hard at multi-tasking and "crackberry" devices to suck in more in less time, ...becasue it's roaring by, out of control, daevil may care,...and in short, just complete chaos and mayhem.
Perhaps, I shall postulate, there is no "cross-over point", no point in life where you go from the spinning clock to the slow motion clock, or vice versa. Maybe the speed of youth simply is another "proof" of inertia, (A/K/A " a body in motion will tend to stay in motion") and perhaps aging is God's way of proving the other half of that "proof", (a body at rest will tend to stay at rest")
Now yesterday I had to solve our "health Insurance" dilemma. So I just picked up the mouse, googled "private health care plans" and ZAP! a screen asking me to fill in the blancks and get four responses in minutes. (God I love the internet! I've always been one to want to know the "ballpark" I'm playing in, and then I'll sniff out the particulars becasue It's a matter of more than the norm, in price, or less than the norm. So I hit the "enter" key, and bam! sixteen healthcare plans come up with links to the details of each, the prices of each, etc. As God is my judge I was looking over only the fifth one on the page and my phone rang!
"Hi, Mr. C******, this is Ron Zolone from Healthcare is us, I see you're looking for affordable yet good health insurance for you and you're wife. Is that correct?"
(DAMN!!! TALK ABOUT "BIG BROTHER" WATCHING) "ahhh, yeah, how did you know?"
"You're data came up on my screen and I hit the auto-dial and here we are."
"No Shit!!" (It's all I could say I was still in schock at how fast it happened!)
Long story short within ten minutes this guy has a perfect plan cranking for me, right benefits, right deductibles, right everything, from a nationally known company I probably never would have thought of looking up.
"And that includes all the office visits free, right, And the perscription deductible is only $15 for anything, no matter what? And it has a lifetime $5,000,000 limit, right? And it is only half of what I was paying through my employer, right?"
"Yes, yes, yes, yes, and yes. Are there any other questions?"
" How do I sign up and how long before it's in effect?"
"I'm going to put you on hold then connect you with an Underwriter, they willask you a few questions and in fifteen minutes or so poof, you are insured in full from that moment on."
"What about paying for it. I thought you had to pay for it before you were covered?"
"No problem, I can take a credit card for your first month over the phone, or we can draft the first month premium right out of your checking account tonight and at midnight you're covered"
"No shit! Now I'm impressed! BUT, what if I find out someof this stuff you're saying it has and all is not true, and my claim is denied?"
"I'm giving you my name, my phone number, and a fourteen digit confirmation code, everything we've talked about has been recorded and will remain archived for six months, and at anytime during that period you find anything I said is not true, call the number, read the code number and you get the entire premium back from today until the end of the six months, and we have still paid for everything that happened inbetween! Sound good?"
"Bring on the underwriter!"
And the questions began. It was like having someone read an entire medical journal to you, at high speed,for example, "haveyoueverhadanyform orbrain tumor, diabetes,lackofsairtothe earsortherwise beenhospitalizedonthursdays orfridays? And so it went for about ten minutes. I adopted the "if I've never heard of it I probably ain't ever had it" reply. ("andinthemorningdoesyoureyeturngreenandyellow?" "Nope!") and on it went. Then she says, "ok can I speak with your wife and get her responses?" So I give the phone to the wife and go about my business. About fiveminutes later she comesin and hands me back the phone and says "They rejected us." "What!!" "Yup, they said I was two pounds overweight for the medication I'm taking." "You've got to be shitting me,....two POUNDS overweight, are you sure?
So I call this dude back and say what's up with this two pounds shit?
"Well we are very rigid about who we accept,that's why the mopnthly price is so low."
"Ok let's start again and I'll tell her shave the two pounds off when they ask her next time,..ok?"
"Sorry your phone number is logged as well as your names and dates of birth in our mega data base, it's there forever,...can't help you there, but forabout twice the price I might be able to get you another policy with another vendor,...how 'bout it?"
So Iwas left to my devices,...a story I'll fionish tomorrow, stay tuned!
-30-
Now Time GOOD, having a couple of pints, good conversation, laughing, joking, being a real part of "the spirit of life",....and BAM, you glance at your watch and it's already late evening and you wanted to be home early to relax for that big meeting first thing in the morning! That's where the clock is whizzing around like a cartoon and an hour seems like a minute!
Now there is the theory of the "life TIME". It's kind of like the good time,bad time thing as well. The only thing is that as you get older it's going in the right "GOOD TIME" direction, but your inner mind and spririt is screaming, "NO, NO, slow this thing down it's going to be over too fast, I want to enjoy it more!" But as a famous somebody once said I'm sure , "It ain't happenin' Jack!"
Maybe that's why old folks can just sit by the hour, and hour after hour, after hour, and be so amused at "the little things". Or perhaps why the young work so hard at multi-tasking and "crackberry" devices to suck in more in less time, ...becasue it's roaring by, out of control, daevil may care,...and in short, just complete chaos and mayhem.
Perhaps, I shall postulate, there is no "cross-over point", no point in life where you go from the spinning clock to the slow motion clock, or vice versa. Maybe the speed of youth simply is another "proof" of inertia, (A/K/A " a body in motion will tend to stay in motion") and perhaps aging is God's way of proving the other half of that "proof", (a body at rest will tend to stay at rest")
Now yesterday I had to solve our "health Insurance" dilemma. So I just picked up the mouse, googled "private health care plans" and ZAP! a screen asking me to fill in the blancks and get four responses in minutes. (God I love the internet! I've always been one to want to know the "ballpark" I'm playing in, and then I'll sniff out the particulars becasue It's a matter of more than the norm, in price, or less than the norm. So I hit the "enter" key, and bam! sixteen healthcare plans come up with links to the details of each, the prices of each, etc. As God is my judge I was looking over only the fifth one on the page and my phone rang!
"Hi, Mr. C******, this is Ron Zolone from Healthcare is us, I see you're looking for affordable yet good health insurance for you and you're wife. Is that correct?"
(DAMN!!! TALK ABOUT "BIG BROTHER" WATCHING) "ahhh, yeah, how did you know?"
"You're data came up on my screen and I hit the auto-dial and here we are."
"No Shit!!" (It's all I could say I was still in schock at how fast it happened!)
Long story short within ten minutes this guy has a perfect plan cranking for me, right benefits, right deductibles, right everything, from a nationally known company I probably never would have thought of looking up.
"And that includes all the office visits free, right, And the perscription deductible is only $15 for anything, no matter what? And it has a lifetime $5,000,000 limit, right? And it is only half of what I was paying through my employer, right?"
"Yes, yes, yes, yes, and yes. Are there any other questions?"
" How do I sign up and how long before it's in effect?"
"I'm going to put you on hold then connect you with an Underwriter, they willask you a few questions and in fifteen minutes or so poof, you are insured in full from that moment on."
"What about paying for it. I thought you had to pay for it before you were covered?"
"No problem, I can take a credit card for your first month over the phone, or we can draft the first month premium right out of your checking account tonight and at midnight you're covered"
"No shit! Now I'm impressed! BUT, what if I find out someof this stuff you're saying it has and all is not true, and my claim is denied?"
"I'm giving you my name, my phone number, and a fourteen digit confirmation code, everything we've talked about has been recorded and will remain archived for six months, and at anytime during that period you find anything I said is not true, call the number, read the code number and you get the entire premium back from today until the end of the six months, and we have still paid for everything that happened inbetween! Sound good?"
"Bring on the underwriter!"
And the questions began. It was like having someone read an entire medical journal to you, at high speed,for example, "haveyoueverhadanyform orbrain tumor, diabetes,lackofsairtothe earsortherwise beenhospitalizedonthursdays orfridays? And so it went for about ten minutes. I adopted the "if I've never heard of it I probably ain't ever had it" reply. ("andinthemorningdoesyoureyeturngreenandyellow?" "Nope!") and on it went. Then she says, "ok can I speak with your wife and get her responses?" So I give the phone to the wife and go about my business. About fiveminutes later she comesin and hands me back the phone and says "They rejected us." "What!!" "Yup, they said I was two pounds overweight for the medication I'm taking." "You've got to be shitting me,....two POUNDS overweight, are you sure?
So I call this dude back and say what's up with this two pounds shit?
"Well we are very rigid about who we accept,that's why the mopnthly price is so low."
"Ok let's start again and I'll tell her shave the two pounds off when they ask her next time,..ok?"
"Sorry your phone number is logged as well as your names and dates of birth in our mega data base, it's there forever,...can't help you there, but forabout twice the price I might be able to get you another policy with another vendor,...how 'bout it?"
So Iwas left to my devices,...a story I'll fionish tomorrow, stay tuned!
-30-
Wednesday, September 19, 2007
So we got there!
After checking in we decided to do the "look around then eat" thing out at Downtown Disney. It has actually gotten better and I consider it a theme park, maybe it ought be called "Shopping Land" and have little American Express and Visa and Mastercard characters wandering around, like Mickey and Minnie in the other parks.
Now you gotta give old Walt a lot of credit. As a tourist we all know carrying "shit" around all day is not only a pain in the ass, but tends to bog you down, cause disputes "Will you carry this twenty piece dinnerware set for a while, my shoulder is numb.", soooo,....Disney has the answer. A whole bunch of little grmlins who will transport you "stuff" that you purchase, back to your hotel so it's there waiting for you and you can continue to shop til you drop! Like the Guinness commercial exclaims,"...Brilliant!"
Only one "gotta remember to get" on this trip, a white tee shirt with JUST Mickey Mouse on it for my buddy Carl. That should be a piece of cake right? WRONG! They had grey ones, pink ones, blue ones, tiedyed ones, thousand of tees with phrases, logos, themes, and every thing you could imagine. But a plain white tee with just Mickey? None to be had. (For those of you who know me the word "NO" is loosely translated in my mind to "Now you become an obsessive/compulsive in this matter". Well three days later I found a white tee shirt, with a full Mickey (sounds like a "full Monty" doesn't it?) on it, BUT it had a narrow blue band around the collar and the sleeves, but it qualified enough for me to make the purchase and release the first store clerk who said "they don't have any", from captivity tied to a support beam in Thunder Mountain!
My wife wanted to go to "Animal Kingdom", and while completely of the opposite desire, we went. Now I enjoy a zoo as much as anyone (OOOOH! Got a joke! What's the difference between a Zoo in New York City and one in Louisiana? .....give up? Ok, the one in Louisiana has cooking instructions under the metal signs with the latin names of the animals!) Apologies to anyone who was offended, but the ol' Cajun's from Louisiana will cook and eat anything! (A little filo, a little okra, some Tabasco,....damn that's a tasty critter, but watch out for them quills, I think they may be poisonous!)
You gotta be careful in Louisiana as a question like "Which do you prefer Democratic philosophy, or Republican Philosopy? "Shoooot, which one smokes up better?"
Ok, I've recovered and taken several of my politically correct pills.
Back to Disney World. We stayed in the Port Orleans section the last time we went and loved it. The rooms weree good, it was a compact little village of Jackson Square New Orleans type buildings with the wrought iron railings and tiny streets of cobblestones and had several swimming pools, a restaurant, and a little pool bar and was very shady to boot. We found that end of the day a dip in the pool for an hour wasjust what you needed to re-vitalize and get ready for the evening or a good noghts sleep, your choice. One of the really good deals was this coffee mug thing. You buy this plastic insulated covered coffee mug and all refills were free for your entire stay! Now it was $11.99, but at $2 for a cup of coffee, and my usual four a day,...well I beat the system big time.
The other reason we like Port Orleans is because it's got a river running through it, manmade of course, but they have these twenty foot barge type boats that go up and down transporting people between there and the Down Town Disney, or nightlife area. There's nothing like a cool roam down the river with a breeze to relax you for a good evening out. And at the end of the evening the boats will bring you back to within 50 yards of your hotel room. (A much desired outcome if you have a REALLLY GOOD night of fun!)
The other great thing is the kiddies all see to be put away in the evenings. For as many as are around the pools during the day, and in all the theme parks, they are totally absent at night. Maybe Disney gives parents complimentary quaeluddes for the kiddies ater supper! (Ok so the politically correct pills haven't kicked in yet,...sorry :( )
The big "marketing push" this year is the Johnny Depp "Pirates of the Carribean", in Magic Kingdom, Epcot, Animal Kingdom, every cart and display is all "Pirates of the Carribean" stuff. I started thinking about it, and the "Pirates of the Carribean" ride has been at Disney for at least thirty years, in fact we noticed last time we were down in '04, or '05 the lines were down to nothing,....but now? They put a couple of Johnny Depp manniquins selectively around, crank up the music, "....Yo-ho, Yo-ho a Pirates life for me!" and the popularity of the movie overflows to the ride and we're back to 30 minute lines in a "slow" period of the year to wait to ride! Ain't marketing something!
We've already established my "rides policy" in the previous blog, so I won't repeat it, suffice it to say Pirates is a real enjoyable ride. The other ride, which was being re-done and was closed last time we were there,also benefitted greatly from a movie, that was the Eddie Murphy "The Haunted Mansion" ride, also pleasurable and with only 45 minute waiting lines!
Based on those two I am willing to go out on a limb here and forecast several "new" movies from Disney in the next copuple of years based on thirty year old rides dwindling in popularity, ready for "Mr. Guinness's movies of the future picks"?
"The Mystery of Space Mountain", a captivating thriller starring Robin Williams as the leader of a band of mutant humanoids with degree's in Political Science probing the universe in search of jobs, who encounter "The Dark Side" featuring a demented Harry Pottter as a candidate for President of the Galactic Empire Federation. (Really doesn't matter what the story is since Space Mountain is a totally in the dark rollercoaster ride where you can't see anything anyhow, but Political Science Majors can imagine anything, so it will draw, plus we all know there really aren't any jobs for them out there anyway, ergo, we will be keeping an entire segment of the population who squandered thier parents hard earned college tuition savings becoming "Political Science Majors", and avoiding meaningful work in our society, cotained and away from the unemployment dole lines! Hurray!!!
After that will come a re-make of "The Sound of Music" aptly re-named "The Matterhorn Escape" starring Brittany Spears as the former Nun, turned Nanny for nine children of widowed Charlie Sheen's Colonel Von Trapp, a U.N. Atomic Energy Inspector who knows about a plot that The European Union is secretly developing to miniturized Weapons of Mass Destruction in Austria which are all disguised as little Edelweis flowers and distribute them as "Wild Flower Seed Mixtures" through out the world to poison the earth so only Poppies and Marijuana will be capable of surviving in the irradiated soil. (Again another ride in the dark with lots of turns, drops, g-forces, and a whole bunch of "WARNING" posters all over the place,....but we're going after box office revenues with DVD "piggy-back" revenues to stimulate an otherwise "old ride" so Disney woin't have to tear it down.
There's probably a dozen more I could come up with, but (Thank you God?,...who said that?) I'll stop here for today. Now I know how Tolkein got so demented before he wrote The Hobbitt! (Man I guess I bettter go get a real job or there will be a ring at the front door one morning and some men in white uniforms will want me to try on the new jacket with the wrap around sleeves!
More tomorrow, (if I don't have meaningful employment by then!)
-30-
Now you gotta give old Walt a lot of credit. As a tourist we all know carrying "shit" around all day is not only a pain in the ass, but tends to bog you down, cause disputes "Will you carry this twenty piece dinnerware set for a while, my shoulder is numb.", soooo,....Disney has the answer. A whole bunch of little grmlins who will transport you "stuff" that you purchase, back to your hotel so it's there waiting for you and you can continue to shop til you drop! Like the Guinness commercial exclaims,"...Brilliant!"
Only one "gotta remember to get" on this trip, a white tee shirt with JUST Mickey Mouse on it for my buddy Carl. That should be a piece of cake right? WRONG! They had grey ones, pink ones, blue ones, tiedyed ones, thousand of tees with phrases, logos, themes, and every thing you could imagine. But a plain white tee with just Mickey? None to be had. (For those of you who know me the word "NO" is loosely translated in my mind to "Now you become an obsessive/compulsive in this matter". Well three days later I found a white tee shirt, with a full Mickey (sounds like a "full Monty" doesn't it?) on it, BUT it had a narrow blue band around the collar and the sleeves, but it qualified enough for me to make the purchase and release the first store clerk who said "they don't have any", from captivity tied to a support beam in Thunder Mountain!
My wife wanted to go to "Animal Kingdom", and while completely of the opposite desire, we went. Now I enjoy a zoo as much as anyone (OOOOH! Got a joke! What's the difference between a Zoo in New York City and one in Louisiana? .....give up? Ok, the one in Louisiana has cooking instructions under the metal signs with the latin names of the animals!) Apologies to anyone who was offended, but the ol' Cajun's from Louisiana will cook and eat anything! (A little filo, a little okra, some Tabasco,....damn that's a tasty critter, but watch out for them quills, I think they may be poisonous!)
You gotta be careful in Louisiana as a question like "Which do you prefer Democratic philosophy, or Republican Philosopy? "Shoooot, which one smokes up better?"
Ok, I've recovered and taken several of my politically correct pills.
Back to Disney World. We stayed in the Port Orleans section the last time we went and loved it. The rooms weree good, it was a compact little village of Jackson Square New Orleans type buildings with the wrought iron railings and tiny streets of cobblestones and had several swimming pools, a restaurant, and a little pool bar and was very shady to boot. We found that end of the day a dip in the pool for an hour wasjust what you needed to re-vitalize and get ready for the evening or a good noghts sleep, your choice. One of the really good deals was this coffee mug thing. You buy this plastic insulated covered coffee mug and all refills were free for your entire stay! Now it was $11.99, but at $2 for a cup of coffee, and my usual four a day,...well I beat the system big time.
The other reason we like Port Orleans is because it's got a river running through it, manmade of course, but they have these twenty foot barge type boats that go up and down transporting people between there and the Down Town Disney, or nightlife area. There's nothing like a cool roam down the river with a breeze to relax you for a good evening out. And at the end of the evening the boats will bring you back to within 50 yards of your hotel room. (A much desired outcome if you have a REALLLY GOOD night of fun!)
The other great thing is the kiddies all see to be put away in the evenings. For as many as are around the pools during the day, and in all the theme parks, they are totally absent at night. Maybe Disney gives parents complimentary quaeluddes for the kiddies ater supper! (Ok so the politically correct pills haven't kicked in yet,...sorry :( )
The big "marketing push" this year is the Johnny Depp "Pirates of the Carribean", in Magic Kingdom, Epcot, Animal Kingdom, every cart and display is all "Pirates of the Carribean" stuff. I started thinking about it, and the "Pirates of the Carribean" ride has been at Disney for at least thirty years, in fact we noticed last time we were down in '04, or '05 the lines were down to nothing,....but now? They put a couple of Johnny Depp manniquins selectively around, crank up the music, "....Yo-ho, Yo-ho a Pirates life for me!" and the popularity of the movie overflows to the ride and we're back to 30 minute lines in a "slow" period of the year to wait to ride! Ain't marketing something!
We've already established my "rides policy" in the previous blog, so I won't repeat it, suffice it to say Pirates is a real enjoyable ride. The other ride, which was being re-done and was closed last time we were there,also benefitted greatly from a movie, that was the Eddie Murphy "The Haunted Mansion" ride, also pleasurable and with only 45 minute waiting lines!
Based on those two I am willing to go out on a limb here and forecast several "new" movies from Disney in the next copuple of years based on thirty year old rides dwindling in popularity, ready for "Mr. Guinness's movies of the future picks"?
"The Mystery of Space Mountain", a captivating thriller starring Robin Williams as the leader of a band of mutant humanoids with degree's in Political Science probing the universe in search of jobs, who encounter "The Dark Side" featuring a demented Harry Pottter as a candidate for President of the Galactic Empire Federation. (Really doesn't matter what the story is since Space Mountain is a totally in the dark rollercoaster ride where you can't see anything anyhow, but Political Science Majors can imagine anything, so it will draw, plus we all know there really aren't any jobs for them out there anyway, ergo, we will be keeping an entire segment of the population who squandered thier parents hard earned college tuition savings becoming "Political Science Majors", and avoiding meaningful work in our society, cotained and away from the unemployment dole lines! Hurray!!!
After that will come a re-make of "The Sound of Music" aptly re-named "The Matterhorn Escape" starring Brittany Spears as the former Nun, turned Nanny for nine children of widowed Charlie Sheen's Colonel Von Trapp, a U.N. Atomic Energy Inspector who knows about a plot that The European Union is secretly developing to miniturized Weapons of Mass Destruction in Austria which are all disguised as little Edelweis flowers and distribute them as "Wild Flower Seed Mixtures" through out the world to poison the earth so only Poppies and Marijuana will be capable of surviving in the irradiated soil. (Again another ride in the dark with lots of turns, drops, g-forces, and a whole bunch of "WARNING" posters all over the place,....but we're going after box office revenues with DVD "piggy-back" revenues to stimulate an otherwise "old ride" so Disney woin't have to tear it down.
There's probably a dozen more I could come up with, but (Thank you God?,...who said that?) I'll stop here for today. Now I know how Tolkein got so demented before he wrote The Hobbitt! (Man I guess I bettter go get a real job or there will be a ring at the front door one morning and some men in white uniforms will want me to try on the new jacket with the wrap around sleeves!
More tomorrow, (if I don't have meaningful employment by then!)
-30-
Monday, September 17, 2007
Back from vacation (When do I get a vacation from vacation?)
Ok, I'm back, six lovely days in Disney World, LOTS, and LOTS of walking! (Thought twice about renting one of those old senior scooter thingies!) Been just relaxing a bit this morning, you know, checking the Credit Card balances, checking the Bank Balances, letting all the good old "real world shit" creep back into my being. Oh and I got a bucket of stories to tell as well.
Last time the wife and I were at Disney ('04 0r '05 me thinks) they were just building the new Irish Pub/Restaurant in the Downtown Disney section. Spent a couple of evenings there (September 14-15th is afterall, mathmatically, half way to St. Paddy's Day you know! Yeah, yeah just another excuse to imbibe seriously and sing silly Pub songs, meet other folks with a touch o' the green in thier blood, and another chance to make sure my wife never forgets I ruined a perfectly pure, 100% Irish, then Irish American blood line, for her love and her hand! (I know, ...what a guy,...thank you, thank you very much. I guess I am a romantic :), or an "you're such an ***hole " as she will remind me, everytime I tell her of this noble sacrifice on my part as my testimony to my devotion to her!
But comedy aside, they do seem have the best food in the Disney area, in my opinion, as the first thing out of everyone's mouth when you say you went there is "Man, wasn't the food absolutely great?". (I suppose you have to put something in between pints o' Guinness while you wait between 1st and 2nd pours!)
Before we begin a few comments. First my unchanging policy on "rides". If it says anything about "motion" or "heart related illnesses", or has a little line on the wall that kiddies must measure up to to be allowed to ride,....well color me "waiting at the other end for you". Nothing could possibly be as "adrenaline pumping" or anywhere near as "fun" as going from a dead stop to 300 miles an hour in a jet fighter off the deck of an Aircraft Carrier almost straight up in the air pulling a bunch of "G's", or riding out a MAJOR storm or two in the North Atlantic in the Spring, or going from the 200 miles an hour, of the airplane on approach to the Aircraft Carrier and then the 200mph to Zero as you hit "the wire" and a full dead stop, or any of my other "fun experiances" in my life,....so why in the hell would I want the opportunity at 62.5 years of age, to relocate my gall bladder to a new area in my left ear, or my spleen to somewhere behind my knee cap, ..and not to mention reducing the size of my breathing capacity from gallons to thimblefulls to make room for the stomach as it compresses everything together! Besides dying for you country is noble, ...dying for Disney World is just plain DUMB! I mean would Mickey or Minnie even come to the funeral, or would I have to subject all my friends to a Goofy eulogy (sorry couln"t resist the pun!)So let's see, where should I begin this imfamous voyage to where "every man has been before"?
We drove six and a half hours to get there from my house, and it was all "super highway", which we all know is boring as hell, but it's a full hour and twelve minutes faster than the "shorter" route, with all the burg's and villages and stop lights and all, not to mention the "Bubba-Bob" Deputies, all trying to get a new car from "the most speeding tickets in a month" County lottery.
Let it never be said I was a "slouch", or "slacker" with regards trying new technology,...witness this little start to our adventure.
Just before I left I got a notice in the mail from my cellular company about a "FREE Trial" on a cellular GPS system for 30 days. What the hell, I'll give it a shot! Ready? Ok I programmed in the Address of the Disney Resort we were going to (Port Orleans in the French Quarter), pulled the car out of the garage the morning we left and stood like an idiot pointing my cell phone (Blackberry) toward the skies like I was making an offering to the Gods of Travel, and allowed it to get a 9 satellite GPS fix on my driveway. After a minute or two the screen lit up and it said "DRIVE TO DESTINATION, PUSH NAVIGATE TO BEGIN."
Cool, I felt like Magellan, and Cortez, and DeGama, and Captain Cook. (Let's face it Columbus, the Pilgrims, and the rest of them really didn't have a clue where they were going, they just wanted out of there (kind of like an office party at Christmas with no alcohol options!). So in we get, to the car, I plugged in my cell phone battery charger to the cigarette lighter and then into the Blackberry (good thinkin', if we were going to leave it on the whole six and a half hours we don't want the battery to croak twenty miles away with no back up!) I found a place of honor for it resting in a coffee cup holder where I could clearly see it, and we were just about ready.
7:08am CST - We're off, "turn left for one tenth of a mile, turn right for less than one tenth of a mile, turn left for less than one tenth of a mile, go one tenth of a mile and turn left onto Sugar Drive, proceed 5/10th's of a mile on Sugar Drive, then turn Right onto U.S.Highway 98 and go 4.3 miles to Route 331 on the left." All that before I even got out of the driveway, but it was correct, so my confidence level increased in this "newfangled" GPS technology.
So I do the lefts and rights and tenths and "less than a tenths" and "poof" we turn onto the highway,.....and the screen goes blank and then it flashes "re-computing route" after about two minutes it comes back on and shows where we are and says "continue on this road until further instructions",....and we did. The next few instructions were also right on and I was feeling pretty comfortable with this thing as we cruised up the road, under the watchful eyes of nine different satellites.
About fifteen minutes later we get to this intersection where the GPS says "take a left turn onto Route 331 North" Ahahhh! Now being the human, and having far more "un-killed" brain synapses than a cell phone, I knew if I turned right onto Rt 20 and then left about seven miles down the road, I could cut off about twelve miles with no traffic, no lights, and no fuss. So I did.
Then the "beast" began to fight with me,..."make a legal U-turn now", which I ignored and kept going. Ten seconds later it reared it's ugly head again, "make a U-turn and proceed west on Rt 331 for 3 miles then turning northward and proceeding until further instructions", again I ignored it, so it sought to play upon human insecurities. The screen went blank and the "re-computing route" and spinning little hourglass showed up. (We'll teach this little electronic beast who the boss is!) After a few minutes, as I was tooling along eastward on Rt 20, the screen lit up again. "GPS signals unreliable at this point". Was that a veiled threat to me,....from a little machine? Was that translating to "Do what I tell you to do dummy or I'll see you get so lost you wouldn't be able to find your own ass with a cattleprod!"
Well little machine buddy, that's your problem, I know where I'm going, so "re-compute" your little electrons off, and flash your "Danger Will Robinson Danger" messages in full technicolor for all I care, but remember you work for me! I pull your battery and you're nothing,....got it?
The machine stopped flashing the "re-computing" shit as well as the "GPS signals unreliable" shit at me, and ten minutes later I arrived at the entrace to the super highway, I-10, on my terms, and my chosen route. As I got about 300 yards from the ramp to turn onto the highway, it mechanically re-acquired it's verbal wisdom, "Turn right in 300 yards, onto Highway 10", then "Exit to the right in 100 yards", and I slide up onto the high way with a smug grin on my face.
(Now notice the "voice" of this thing is feminine, and being a "woman" it had to have the last word. Now, I was willing to let bygones be bygones and just keep trucking along to Orlando, but nooooooo. This little bunch of chips and resistors and shit thinks SHE has to get back into the act,...."continue on this road until further instructions". And onward we went, eastward for about another two hundred mile to see who would ultimately win this battle of wits!
I turned to my wife who had been watching this whole battle of man versus machine, up close and personal, and she just shook her head and said something like, "Are you two done for now?" I grin sheepishly and said, "Hey honey, would you put one of those books on tape on for me?"
More tomorrow.
Oh by the way, I got an e-mail on my Blackberry as we were rolling along that Fred Thompson, my choice for our next President, would be having a "morning coffee session" for 2500 of his closest friend next week, and for only $2300 I could get a cup of coffee, a stone cold Danish, and see the man from a distance and hear him say the same thing I saw him say on his website. Maybe I'll just invite him over the house for coffee next time he's in town,....I know for a fact coffee ain't that expensive!
-30-
Last time the wife and I were at Disney ('04 0r '05 me thinks) they were just building the new Irish Pub/Restaurant in the Downtown Disney section. Spent a couple of evenings there (September 14-15th is afterall, mathmatically, half way to St. Paddy's Day you know! Yeah, yeah just another excuse to imbibe seriously and sing silly Pub songs, meet other folks with a touch o' the green in thier blood, and another chance to make sure my wife never forgets I ruined a perfectly pure, 100% Irish, then Irish American blood line, for her love and her hand! (I know, ...what a guy,...thank you, thank you very much. I guess I am a romantic :), or an "you're such an ***hole " as she will remind me, everytime I tell her of this noble sacrifice on my part as my testimony to my devotion to her!
But comedy aside, they do seem have the best food in the Disney area, in my opinion, as the first thing out of everyone's mouth when you say you went there is "Man, wasn't the food absolutely great?". (I suppose you have to put something in between pints o' Guinness while you wait between 1st and 2nd pours!)
Before we begin a few comments. First my unchanging policy on "rides". If it says anything about "motion" or "heart related illnesses", or has a little line on the wall that kiddies must measure up to to be allowed to ride,....well color me "waiting at the other end for you". Nothing could possibly be as "adrenaline pumping" or anywhere near as "fun" as going from a dead stop to 300 miles an hour in a jet fighter off the deck of an Aircraft Carrier almost straight up in the air pulling a bunch of "G's", or riding out a MAJOR storm or two in the North Atlantic in the Spring, or going from the 200 miles an hour, of the airplane on approach to the Aircraft Carrier and then the 200mph to Zero as you hit "the wire" and a full dead stop, or any of my other "fun experiances" in my life,....so why in the hell would I want the opportunity at 62.5 years of age, to relocate my gall bladder to a new area in my left ear, or my spleen to somewhere behind my knee cap, ..and not to mention reducing the size of my breathing capacity from gallons to thimblefulls to make room for the stomach as it compresses everything together! Besides dying for you country is noble, ...dying for Disney World is just plain DUMB! I mean would Mickey or Minnie even come to the funeral, or would I have to subject all my friends to a Goofy eulogy (sorry couln"t resist the pun!)So let's see, where should I begin this imfamous voyage to where "every man has been before"?
We drove six and a half hours to get there from my house, and it was all "super highway", which we all know is boring as hell, but it's a full hour and twelve minutes faster than the "shorter" route, with all the burg's and villages and stop lights and all, not to mention the "Bubba-Bob" Deputies, all trying to get a new car from "the most speeding tickets in a month" County lottery.
Let it never be said I was a "slouch", or "slacker" with regards trying new technology,...witness this little start to our adventure.
Just before I left I got a notice in the mail from my cellular company about a "FREE Trial" on a cellular GPS system for 30 days. What the hell, I'll give it a shot! Ready? Ok I programmed in the Address of the Disney Resort we were going to (Port Orleans in the French Quarter), pulled the car out of the garage the morning we left and stood like an idiot pointing my cell phone (Blackberry) toward the skies like I was making an offering to the Gods of Travel, and allowed it to get a 9 satellite GPS fix on my driveway. After a minute or two the screen lit up and it said "DRIVE TO DESTINATION, PUSH NAVIGATE TO BEGIN."
Cool, I felt like Magellan, and Cortez, and DeGama, and Captain Cook. (Let's face it Columbus, the Pilgrims, and the rest of them really didn't have a clue where they were going, they just wanted out of there (kind of like an office party at Christmas with no alcohol options!). So in we get, to the car, I plugged in my cell phone battery charger to the cigarette lighter and then into the Blackberry (good thinkin', if we were going to leave it on the whole six and a half hours we don't want the battery to croak twenty miles away with no back up!) I found a place of honor for it resting in a coffee cup holder where I could clearly see it, and we were just about ready.
7:08am CST - We're off, "turn left for one tenth of a mile, turn right for less than one tenth of a mile, turn left for less than one tenth of a mile, go one tenth of a mile and turn left onto Sugar Drive, proceed 5/10th's of a mile on Sugar Drive, then turn Right onto U.S.Highway 98 and go 4.3 miles to Route 331 on the left." All that before I even got out of the driveway, but it was correct, so my confidence level increased in this "newfangled" GPS technology.
So I do the lefts and rights and tenths and "less than a tenths" and "poof" we turn onto the highway,.....and the screen goes blank and then it flashes "re-computing route" after about two minutes it comes back on and shows where we are and says "continue on this road until further instructions",....and we did. The next few instructions were also right on and I was feeling pretty comfortable with this thing as we cruised up the road, under the watchful eyes of nine different satellites.
About fifteen minutes later we get to this intersection where the GPS says "take a left turn onto Route 331 North" Ahahhh! Now being the human, and having far more "un-killed" brain synapses than a cell phone, I knew if I turned right onto Rt 20 and then left about seven miles down the road, I could cut off about twelve miles with no traffic, no lights, and no fuss. So I did.
Then the "beast" began to fight with me,..."make a legal U-turn now", which I ignored and kept going. Ten seconds later it reared it's ugly head again, "make a U-turn and proceed west on Rt 331 for 3 miles then turning northward and proceeding until further instructions", again I ignored it, so it sought to play upon human insecurities. The screen went blank and the "re-computing route" and spinning little hourglass showed up. (We'll teach this little electronic beast who the boss is!) After a few minutes, as I was tooling along eastward on Rt 20, the screen lit up again. "GPS signals unreliable at this point". Was that a veiled threat to me,....from a little machine? Was that translating to "Do what I tell you to do dummy or I'll see you get so lost you wouldn't be able to find your own ass with a cattleprod!"
Well little machine buddy, that's your problem, I know where I'm going, so "re-compute" your little electrons off, and flash your "Danger Will Robinson Danger" messages in full technicolor for all I care, but remember you work for me! I pull your battery and you're nothing,....got it?
The machine stopped flashing the "re-computing" shit as well as the "GPS signals unreliable" shit at me, and ten minutes later I arrived at the entrace to the super highway, I-10, on my terms, and my chosen route. As I got about 300 yards from the ramp to turn onto the highway, it mechanically re-acquired it's verbal wisdom, "Turn right in 300 yards, onto Highway 10", then "Exit to the right in 100 yards", and I slide up onto the high way with a smug grin on my face.
(Now notice the "voice" of this thing is feminine, and being a "woman" it had to have the last word. Now, I was willing to let bygones be bygones and just keep trucking along to Orlando, but nooooooo. This little bunch of chips and resistors and shit thinks SHE has to get back into the act,...."continue on this road until further instructions". And onward we went, eastward for about another two hundred mile to see who would ultimately win this battle of wits!
I turned to my wife who had been watching this whole battle of man versus machine, up close and personal, and she just shook her head and said something like, "Are you two done for now?" I grin sheepishly and said, "Hey honey, would you put one of those books on tape on for me?"
More tomorrow.
Oh by the way, I got an e-mail on my Blackberry as we were rolling along that Fred Thompson, my choice for our next President, would be having a "morning coffee session" for 2500 of his closest friend next week, and for only $2300 I could get a cup of coffee, a stone cold Danish, and see the man from a distance and hear him say the same thing I saw him say on his website. Maybe I'll just invite him over the house for coffee next time he's in town,....I know for a fact coffee ain't that expensive!
-30-
Thursday, September 06, 2007
A quick, but important alert!!
I know I said I'd be commenting on Fred Thompsons Presidential run as well "bashing the shit" out of his opponents, (only kidding, but I think if you check out my old to me, new to you blog at "www.commonsensegonzo.blogspot.com" you may enjoy my biting (ok so it's gnawing) political comments, and by all means check www.Fred08.com and see what Fred's thoughts are to Michael Moore!! GO FRED!!
-30-
-30-
Fred Thompson,...reality vs. "dynasty"
Ok, strap in tight, Mr. Guinness has decided to enter the fray for the United States Presidential Elections of 2008. Not as a candidate (for those who know me, my personal level of patience for "superfulous BS" precluded me from that consideration, as a "lifeterm" would be in line, and not in the White House, but the "Big House"!). But I'm thinking that despite being a veteran, giving my four plus years in the service of our country in the "Nam" period, voting in every election I could since I was 18 years old, and meeting a number of "politicians" (anyone have some hand sanitizer?)it was perhaps time to get off my "butt" and see about getting someone into the office of President of the United States who at least had a fighting chance of making some changes for all of us, for the good.
With that in mind I have chosen to take my faithful "constituantcy", the "Pub Times Silent Majority" via this blog, to make a difference in American elections in 2008.
I wasn't sure about Ronald Regan before the election, as he seemed more "smooth talking" than I really liked, and Ross Perot was my man, bigtime, even though it was obvious his personal agenda was the biggest "plank" in his platform for the White House. Now GB #41 I respected, but there was always a nagging doubt about "was he ALWAYS leveling with us?",and GB #43, well, I 'll support him, but we really need someone more "upscale downhome" for the future,..less political good ol' boy. Notice, no democrats thus far? Well that should be obvious, as they need to all go home and take a few "conservative" pills and call back in the morning if they don't start to feel more responsible to our Constitution and Bill of Rights!
So where am I going with this? I'm going to support Fred Thompson from Tennessee for the Presidency of the United States in 2008, and over the months I'll explain the why's and the wherefor's as well as love to hear your comments on it as well. Now Lord knows I haven't got a bunch of $$$ to throw his way, but I don't want to see anyone "BUY" the Presidency of MY country anyway. Sure there's a risk that you might have to be a bit "beholdin'" to big givers, but I think Fred is capable of being a little more "above that" than the rest of them.
First there's Mr. Guinness's "litmus test" for political candidates, the ultimate test which can not be faked, worked around, or manipulated. The imfamous "Mr. Guinness Power Drill Test". In words even children can understand just answer the question totally honestly to the VERY best of your REAL GUT feelings. Ready?
"Would you loan your power drill to Candidate ___________?"
Think about it, it's your power drill , you bought it, you are the one keeping it in shape and going, you are the one paying to repair it, and you are the one that expects it to be there for you not just for little jobs, but for those BIG jobs! So I ask you what do you think you'd get back from each candidate if you lent them your power drill? Here's my assessment;
Hillary Clinton - you'd get a flowery, scented "Thank You!" note filled with dripping honey and vague and veiled committments, more or less to be continued later. But no drill back,...it was sent to a refugee from Katrina as a gesture of one on one help and solidarity. (After all it wasn't her drill and you were coalaced into helping the needy, which is where you should have been in her opinion anyway!)
Barak Obama - I always wondered what the hell a model from "GQ" would do with a drill. I suppose we would have to dig back into the archives and find the operating instructions, see that they were translated into fifty-six different languages, be sure there was no dirt on it at all, and then with all the rest of the stuff we'd have to put up with a series of comments talking about a "fair and equitable method of modern fastening technology being disemmanated to the nations poor and needy", and after that the uniqueness that "the more blessed and privelged have the opportunity to join with the government in the propagation of model programs like this where they are most needed." (Does anyone know where the hell my drill went?)
John Edwards - Has seen pictures of drills, remembers his "poor friends and neighbors" just barely scrapping by using thiers,...but has to get back to us on how long he'll need it because his Gulf Stream is due in the shop for an oil change and the Caddilac Escalade has a "pinging noise" coming from the engine.
Mitt Romney - He's sure he can use it, can't really offer you a beer for lending it to him, isn't really sure what part of the country he will be using it, but as a "home town boy" in at least thirty-six states he knows it will work. But before he uses it he wants to trace and baptize it's entire line of heritage by generation to be sure they all are saved and can enter the Power Drill Hall of Fame.
I guess it's time to move on to the Republican Candidates,...let's see,
John McCain - Good man, salt of the earth, spent his time in hell at the Hanoi Hilton, proven leader, straight shooter,....but there is serious potential that because of his age he may forget where he left my drill, or even if he brought it inside after he used it,...or worse yet may even forget borrowing it, ergo making returning it to me a non-existing situation! Then what will I do?
Rudy Gulianni - I guess I don't have to worry about his ex-wife getting it in the divorce settlement, and the probability of having it under security and hidden are very good, OR maybe that was my drill alongside the Cross Bronx Expressway that was just lying there stripped and nothing but a burned out husk of a pwer drill. Plus being from New York City, and being the former Mayor, you gotta iknow he's well versed in screwing things, (and people!)
Fred Thompson - As long as he's not wearing a "Vol's" ball cap, or a "Grand ol' Opry" tee shirt there is hope. And I trust him to borrow my drill, do what he has to do with it, clean it up before returning it to me, offering me a beer when he returns it as a gesture of thanks, ....and DAMN if we can just get Sam Waterston as his Vice President,...well now we can gt something done around this country, but alas "Lennie Brusco" has passed on so we'll have to settle for someone else for Homeland Security,...but I'm all for Marisa Hagirtay as Secretary of State, and let's get "Munch" as Ambassador to the Middle East, and Ice-T as secretary of Defence.
Thanks Fred, you got my support, at least you bring a crew to the Cabinet that knows how to get things done, and feel free to tell poiticians to kiss their butt!
More as the race progresses,....but I am officially a "Friend of Fred"!
-30-
With that in mind I have chosen to take my faithful "constituantcy", the "Pub Times Silent Majority" via this blog, to make a difference in American elections in 2008.
I wasn't sure about Ronald Regan before the election, as he seemed more "smooth talking" than I really liked, and Ross Perot was my man, bigtime, even though it was obvious his personal agenda was the biggest "plank" in his platform for the White House. Now GB #41 I respected, but there was always a nagging doubt about "was he ALWAYS leveling with us?",and GB #43, well, I 'll support him, but we really need someone more "upscale downhome" for the future,..less political good ol' boy. Notice, no democrats thus far? Well that should be obvious, as they need to all go home and take a few "conservative" pills and call back in the morning if they don't start to feel more responsible to our Constitution and Bill of Rights!
So where am I going with this? I'm going to support Fred Thompson from Tennessee for the Presidency of the United States in 2008, and over the months I'll explain the why's and the wherefor's as well as love to hear your comments on it as well. Now Lord knows I haven't got a bunch of $$$ to throw his way, but I don't want to see anyone "BUY" the Presidency of MY country anyway. Sure there's a risk that you might have to be a bit "beholdin'" to big givers, but I think Fred is capable of being a little more "above that" than the rest of them.
First there's Mr. Guinness's "litmus test" for political candidates, the ultimate test which can not be faked, worked around, or manipulated. The imfamous "Mr. Guinness Power Drill Test". In words even children can understand just answer the question totally honestly to the VERY best of your REAL GUT feelings. Ready?
"Would you loan your power drill to Candidate ___________?"
Think about it, it's your power drill , you bought it, you are the one keeping it in shape and going, you are the one paying to repair it, and you are the one that expects it to be there for you not just for little jobs, but for those BIG jobs! So I ask you what do you think you'd get back from each candidate if you lent them your power drill? Here's my assessment;
Hillary Clinton - you'd get a flowery, scented "Thank You!" note filled with dripping honey and vague and veiled committments, more or less to be continued later. But no drill back,...it was sent to a refugee from Katrina as a gesture of one on one help and solidarity. (After all it wasn't her drill and you were coalaced into helping the needy, which is where you should have been in her opinion anyway!)
Barak Obama - I always wondered what the hell a model from "GQ" would do with a drill. I suppose we would have to dig back into the archives and find the operating instructions, see that they were translated into fifty-six different languages, be sure there was no dirt on it at all, and then with all the rest of the stuff we'd have to put up with a series of comments talking about a "fair and equitable method of modern fastening technology being disemmanated to the nations poor and needy", and after that the uniqueness that "the more blessed and privelged have the opportunity to join with the government in the propagation of model programs like this where they are most needed." (Does anyone know where the hell my drill went?)
John Edwards - Has seen pictures of drills, remembers his "poor friends and neighbors" just barely scrapping by using thiers,...but has to get back to us on how long he'll need it because his Gulf Stream is due in the shop for an oil change and the Caddilac Escalade has a "pinging noise" coming from the engine.
Mitt Romney - He's sure he can use it, can't really offer you a beer for lending it to him, isn't really sure what part of the country he will be using it, but as a "home town boy" in at least thirty-six states he knows it will work. But before he uses it he wants to trace and baptize it's entire line of heritage by generation to be sure they all are saved and can enter the Power Drill Hall of Fame.
I guess it's time to move on to the Republican Candidates,...let's see,
John McCain - Good man, salt of the earth, spent his time in hell at the Hanoi Hilton, proven leader, straight shooter,....but there is serious potential that because of his age he may forget where he left my drill, or even if he brought it inside after he used it,...or worse yet may even forget borrowing it, ergo making returning it to me a non-existing situation! Then what will I do?
Rudy Gulianni - I guess I don't have to worry about his ex-wife getting it in the divorce settlement, and the probability of having it under security and hidden are very good, OR maybe that was my drill alongside the Cross Bronx Expressway that was just lying there stripped and nothing but a burned out husk of a pwer drill. Plus being from New York City, and being the former Mayor, you gotta iknow he's well versed in screwing things, (and people!)
Fred Thompson - As long as he's not wearing a "Vol's" ball cap, or a "Grand ol' Opry" tee shirt there is hope. And I trust him to borrow my drill, do what he has to do with it, clean it up before returning it to me, offering me a beer when he returns it as a gesture of thanks, ....and DAMN if we can just get Sam Waterston as his Vice President,...well now we can gt something done around this country, but alas "Lennie Brusco" has passed on so we'll have to settle for someone else for Homeland Security,...but I'm all for Marisa Hagirtay as Secretary of State, and let's get "Munch" as Ambassador to the Middle East, and Ice-T as secretary of Defence.
Thanks Fred, you got my support, at least you bring a crew to the Cabinet that knows how to get things done, and feel free to tell poiticians to kiss their butt!
More as the race progresses,....but I am officially a "Friend of Fred"!
-30-
Monday, September 03, 2007
Wrong button,...(almost time for the pub!)
For anyone who knows me as an "old fart" i have a boatload of opinions. I will try not to subject you to the more "political" of them on this blog sight, however I've re-activate my "other" blog at "www.commonsensegonzo.blogspot.com" you will never get away from my opinions on that sight.
In fact I published the first blog since 2005 on it this afternoon, It's the short breif history of the freedom from salvery for Americans between 1776 and 1976, 200 years of freedom aren't bad, but the last fiofty have been very stressful, follow my demented "keyboard" as it explains to all for the world to see.
Got to go now, those silent all black helicopters are everywhere now,...you know?
-30-
In fact I published the first blog since 2005 on it this afternoon, It's the short breif history of the freedom from salvery for Americans between 1776 and 1976, 200 years of freedom aren't bad, but the last fiofty have been very stressful, follow my demented "keyboard" as it explains to all for the world to see.
Got to go now, those silent all black helicopters are everywhere now,...you know?
-30-
Labor Day 2007, The beginning of the end in Destin
As a lot of you already know I live in the Destin Florida area. I moved here in the 1996-1997 period, started a new life, with my wife, bought a nice townhome in 2000, and have been "coming back" ever since. But I must unhappily inform you the entire area may as well have been bombed based on the economic outlook and current conditons I see here.
The once "red hot" real estate market is gone (unless you have cash, and Cash is King!) I thought it was immoral to allow people to get "upside down" (where you owe more than something is worth at current values)in automobile sales. I watched it put my own oldest boy into bankruptcy five years ago. But the good news is that all he lost was a fancy new car, his credit rating for about two or three years, and had him eating humble pie for several months. (There's no way you can put a good "spin" on going from a brand spanking new hot car to an old motorcycle!)
Now the "upside down" car stuff was one thing, but this new "sub-prime mortgage" stuff is a whole other kettle of fish! The car thing was to move mostly American Auto Manufacturers inventory and keep autoworkers working, suck up the stop gap "losses", and stay alive as a business while the economy strengthened. BUT where is the "good" of the sub-prime stuff? In my humble opinion (and we all know what that's worth!)this is probably the mosst vicious, predatory practice ever perpetrated on people. Let me expand, why is it so bad, you ask.
First of all it was fueled by only one motivation, greed! What is the difference between a "drug dealer" offering a wide-eyed thirteen year old "free" hits of meth, coke, or heroin? The great "American Dream" was "pimped" to a lot of folks who, although they wanted it in a HUGE way, were not quite ready for it yet. It took away any "safety net", i.e. any "emergency out" they may have had. It let them get way in over thier head, borrowing more than they could reasonably afford to re-pay, and taking away "the Dream" in a cruel way,....foreclosure. A house foreclosure does not go away quickly, it lingers for at least seven years on your credit history. If you've a family it is a 24/7 reminder of "failing" to provide for them. And it will sour you like you would not believe. But so what,...is that the worse that can happen? Hell no!
The clowns allowing the mortgages then turn around and "bundle them" to even more greedy investors in large seven, eight, and even nine figure "bundles". For example you pile 100 of the $275,000 mortgages together and you have a $27,500,000 "bundle" kicking off an 8, 9, 10, and even higher percentage return every year, and they are all secured by real estate. So a few "go south" or fail, you just turn it around and sell it again. It's not like real estate is a "risk", or is it. While everyone thought the market would never end, the values would just escalate, and escalate, and escalate! The way it was going from 2000 to late 2005 you had to be a total idiot with an I.Q. of less than a "caveman" (ooops! Sorry guys, just a play on words) , not to become a millionaire.
The bad thing is that this little "time-bomb" of greed went global. Overseas investors and banks got involved in the buying of "bundles", the "bundles" got bigger, instead of $27,500,000, bundles rose to $100,000,000+, it was truly like owning the "Golden Goose",.....but then....
It all turned around. The old adage of your mortgage payment never exceeding a total of 25% of your aftertax income was a brief footnote to "the old days". The terms which had flourished a scant year ago evaporated. Terms like "Jumbo", "Wrap-arounds", "progressives", and "the flip" now became visible for what they were, a lot of "bullshit". World markets began to stagger, U.S. markets began to stagger, the "couple of odd bad debts" turned into "snowballs" of bad debt. Forclosure rates began to reach all time record numbers. The once firecracker of "I don't give a damn what it costs, I'll take it, make it happen" crowd began to doubt. Now instead of buying like a shark feeding frenzy they began to think about what and how they were buying. I've one acquaintance who mortgaged his family home to the absolute maximum concievably possible, in fact well beyond ANYONE's belief that it could even reach. He then bought several palatial places right on the ocean, started wrapping mortgages around multiple properties, "re-fi" the package into "bundles" and man he was rich. The "plan"? To set up a confusing trail of ownership of multiple properties leading to one "el Primo" place completely paid for by the "re-fi's and "cash take-outs" on the rest of the "house of cards". Then what? Well his plan was to bank enough to pay for his kid's college, max the "take-out" money on his businesses, much like he did on his main "ancestral home" in another big city, file for divorce, dump his wife, leave her the "ancestral home" as his settlement on the divorce, let the rest of the house of cards fold up, and voila! He had a fabulous home, completely paid for, covered uder the "homestead" act in Florida, pull in a personal bankruptcy, and walk away clean! And who would pick up all his "pieces"? You really think he cared? He had "offshored" money, leveraged all his "disposable assets",a/k/a "throw away homes", and was virtually untouchable. Unlike the young couple who are just beginning life and who "stretch" to own thier own home, signing for the "sub-prime mortgage", optomistically thinking "we'll be earning so much more in three years when the payment goes from "$677 a month" to the "$1432 a month" that it won't hurt!" You can find most of them now prowling around for a low cost bankruptcy attorney, or just walking away and moving out of state to try and "start over" again.
Sound depressing,....it is, and I know a number of folks in that position.
Now me? No, I saw it coming and " re-fi'd" my mortgage in very early '05. got a nice sub 6%, fixed 30 year rate, and even had it all planned so that my "retirement check" from Social Security when I'm 65 would cover it all. Oooops! Shame on me,...forgot about the damn hurricanes! Last March I had to writre a check for $5,400 for "homeowners insurance", which included "wind" or "hurricane" insurance, but in all honesty I really don't know if I can afford to do that again this March, so somebody bettter find a solution. My first home we bought in 1972 cost us $296 a month and that included the Principal on the mortgage, the interst on it, the annual real estate taxes, and the "homeowners insurance". That was 18 months of payments for me to even cover my current years "hurricane insurance". The worst part is I do not have the option of "gambling" even. That being the option of not carrying the "hurricane insurance", becasue the mortgage lender requires it!
AND the way it works there is a "deductible" on the hurricane insurance. I pay the $5,400 insurance premium for the year, AND have to "eat" the first $6,000 worth of damage to meet my deductible,....then I can file a claim!
Yup,...this "sub-prime" shit is going to bite a lot of people in the butt, the only "realisitic" solution is to increase the income to cover the costs, and since we in this country spend more time at our businesses hearing about how "things are too tight and we can't do any raises this year" we are left with the new model of funding the "American Dream", take in several families of illegal immigrants and give them an 8 foot by ten foot room for thier family of four, charge them rent and prosper, or re-read Robin Hood and try your own skills at "re-distribution of the countries wealth via Smith & Wesson negociations.
End of Rant
-30-
The once "red hot" real estate market is gone (unless you have cash, and Cash is King!) I thought it was immoral to allow people to get "upside down" (where you owe more than something is worth at current values)in automobile sales. I watched it put my own oldest boy into bankruptcy five years ago. But the good news is that all he lost was a fancy new car, his credit rating for about two or three years, and had him eating humble pie for several months. (There's no way you can put a good "spin" on going from a brand spanking new hot car to an old motorcycle!)
Now the "upside down" car stuff was one thing, but this new "sub-prime mortgage" stuff is a whole other kettle of fish! The car thing was to move mostly American Auto Manufacturers inventory and keep autoworkers working, suck up the stop gap "losses", and stay alive as a business while the economy strengthened. BUT where is the "good" of the sub-prime stuff? In my humble opinion (and we all know what that's worth!)this is probably the mosst vicious, predatory practice ever perpetrated on people. Let me expand, why is it so bad, you ask.
First of all it was fueled by only one motivation, greed! What is the difference between a "drug dealer" offering a wide-eyed thirteen year old "free" hits of meth, coke, or heroin? The great "American Dream" was "pimped" to a lot of folks who, although they wanted it in a HUGE way, were not quite ready for it yet. It took away any "safety net", i.e. any "emergency out" they may have had. It let them get way in over thier head, borrowing more than they could reasonably afford to re-pay, and taking away "the Dream" in a cruel way,....foreclosure. A house foreclosure does not go away quickly, it lingers for at least seven years on your credit history. If you've a family it is a 24/7 reminder of "failing" to provide for them. And it will sour you like you would not believe. But so what,...is that the worse that can happen? Hell no!
The clowns allowing the mortgages then turn around and "bundle them" to even more greedy investors in large seven, eight, and even nine figure "bundles". For example you pile 100 of the $275,000 mortgages together and you have a $27,500,000 "bundle" kicking off an 8, 9, 10, and even higher percentage return every year, and they are all secured by real estate. So a few "go south" or fail, you just turn it around and sell it again. It's not like real estate is a "risk", or is it. While everyone thought the market would never end, the values would just escalate, and escalate, and escalate! The way it was going from 2000 to late 2005 you had to be a total idiot with an I.Q. of less than a "caveman" (ooops! Sorry guys, just a play on words) , not to become a millionaire.
The bad thing is that this little "time-bomb" of greed went global. Overseas investors and banks got involved in the buying of "bundles", the "bundles" got bigger, instead of $27,500,000, bundles rose to $100,000,000+, it was truly like owning the "Golden Goose",.....but then....
It all turned around. The old adage of your mortgage payment never exceeding a total of 25% of your aftertax income was a brief footnote to "the old days". The terms which had flourished a scant year ago evaporated. Terms like "Jumbo", "Wrap-arounds", "progressives", and "the flip" now became visible for what they were, a lot of "bullshit". World markets began to stagger, U.S. markets began to stagger, the "couple of odd bad debts" turned into "snowballs" of bad debt. Forclosure rates began to reach all time record numbers. The once firecracker of "I don't give a damn what it costs, I'll take it, make it happen" crowd began to doubt. Now instead of buying like a shark feeding frenzy they began to think about what and how they were buying. I've one acquaintance who mortgaged his family home to the absolute maximum concievably possible, in fact well beyond ANYONE's belief that it could even reach. He then bought several palatial places right on the ocean, started wrapping mortgages around multiple properties, "re-fi" the package into "bundles" and man he was rich. The "plan"? To set up a confusing trail of ownership of multiple properties leading to one "el Primo" place completely paid for by the "re-fi's and "cash take-outs" on the rest of the "house of cards". Then what? Well his plan was to bank enough to pay for his kid's college, max the "take-out" money on his businesses, much like he did on his main "ancestral home" in another big city, file for divorce, dump his wife, leave her the "ancestral home" as his settlement on the divorce, let the rest of the house of cards fold up, and voila! He had a fabulous home, completely paid for, covered uder the "homestead" act in Florida, pull in a personal bankruptcy, and walk away clean! And who would pick up all his "pieces"? You really think he cared? He had "offshored" money, leveraged all his "disposable assets",a/k/a "throw away homes", and was virtually untouchable. Unlike the young couple who are just beginning life and who "stretch" to own thier own home, signing for the "sub-prime mortgage", optomistically thinking "we'll be earning so much more in three years when the payment goes from "$677 a month" to the "$1432 a month" that it won't hurt!" You can find most of them now prowling around for a low cost bankruptcy attorney, or just walking away and moving out of state to try and "start over" again.
Sound depressing,....it is, and I know a number of folks in that position.
Now me? No, I saw it coming and " re-fi'd" my mortgage in very early '05. got a nice sub 6%, fixed 30 year rate, and even had it all planned so that my "retirement check" from Social Security when I'm 65 would cover it all. Oooops! Shame on me,...forgot about the damn hurricanes! Last March I had to writre a check for $5,400 for "homeowners insurance", which included "wind" or "hurricane" insurance, but in all honesty I really don't know if I can afford to do that again this March, so somebody bettter find a solution. My first home we bought in 1972 cost us $296 a month and that included the Principal on the mortgage, the interst on it, the annual real estate taxes, and the "homeowners insurance". That was 18 months of payments for me to even cover my current years "hurricane insurance". The worst part is I do not have the option of "gambling" even. That being the option of not carrying the "hurricane insurance", becasue the mortgage lender requires it!
AND the way it works there is a "deductible" on the hurricane insurance. I pay the $5,400 insurance premium for the year, AND have to "eat" the first $6,000 worth of damage to meet my deductible,....then I can file a claim!
Yup,...this "sub-prime" shit is going to bite a lot of people in the butt, the only "realisitic" solution is to increase the income to cover the costs, and since we in this country spend more time at our businesses hearing about how "things are too tight and we can't do any raises this year" we are left with the new model of funding the "American Dream", take in several families of illegal immigrants and give them an 8 foot by ten foot room for thier family of four, charge them rent and prosper, or re-read Robin Hood and try your own skills at "re-distribution of the countries wealth via Smith & Wesson negociations.
End of Rant
-30-
Friday, August 31, 2007
August 31,2007 - What now?
Been very busy sheparding this lawsuit for one of my associations, in fact spent time with Banks setting up million dollar credit lines yesterday.
This morning I found an interesting site on the web, it is "www.realage.com" it's one of those survey type sites in that you answer a whole bunch (maybe 40 questions) about health history, background, medicines, activity levels, exercise(what the hell is that?), and they compare them all in some big "black program" and send you the results. The bottom line is that there is your biological age, your mental age, and your physiological age. So biologically you could be 40, mentally 21 (sometimes accused of that!), and physiologically 65. Granted I'm citing extremes here, but I'm waiting for the e-mail results. Sure would be nice to be biologically the 62.5 I am, but mentally about 40, and physiologically about 50. But I reckon due to my being "built for comfort not speed" the physiological might be about 70! I'll let you know when I get the info (provided my answers did'nt blow up thier computer program.
I had some time to kill yesterday waiting for an appointment with a bank so I pulled out a looseleaf notebook that I started years ago and just happen to have in the car, in which a lot on my "pre-blogging" blogs (a/k/a real written things on paper) were stored. I think I may put some of them up on the web for your consideration and see if my commetns and thoughts from the early 21st century still hold water.
Gotta go for now, back at you when I get home this afternoon.
-30-
This morning I found an interesting site on the web, it is "www.realage.com" it's one of those survey type sites in that you answer a whole bunch (maybe 40 questions) about health history, background, medicines, activity levels, exercise(what the hell is that?), and they compare them all in some big "black program" and send you the results. The bottom line is that there is your biological age, your mental age, and your physiological age. So biologically you could be 40, mentally 21 (sometimes accused of that!), and physiologically 65. Granted I'm citing extremes here, but I'm waiting for the e-mail results. Sure would be nice to be biologically the 62.5 I am, but mentally about 40, and physiologically about 50. But I reckon due to my being "built for comfort not speed" the physiological might be about 70! I'll let you know when I get the info (provided my answers did'nt blow up thier computer program.
I had some time to kill yesterday waiting for an appointment with a bank so I pulled out a looseleaf notebook that I started years ago and just happen to have in the car, in which a lot on my "pre-blogging" blogs (a/k/a real written things on paper) were stored. I think I may put some of them up on the web for your consideration and see if my commetns and thoughts from the early 21st century still hold water.
Gotta go for now, back at you when I get home this afternoon.
-30-
Tuesday, August 28, 2007
Sorry Boys and Girls,...been on a mental vacation!
What with working every day and all kinds of other things going on in life I fianlly reached a point with my hiatus from the world of work and realized
I even had a full vacation in Disneyworld planned for a six day stint in September, and I even prepaid for it all. (Forget it, I ain't even going to think about cancelling it! I was smart enopugh to buy the meal plan as welland all the tickets and reservations so shit! Just gonna go and relax and enjoy. I'll be back to getting serious after that.)
And since it's going to be a "grueling six days of FUN!" I guess I better rest up now and get in shape for it.ok, first the sleep regimen. No more five and a half hours, then up on the computer, checking the bank accounts etc.,....nope screw it. Go to bed at 10 pm and stay there til 8am, (it ain't like I gotta be at work at 8!) Get up pour a cup of coffee, shower and shave, (I know some guys live for the days they can skip shaving for the day, me, shit I don't even feel awake unless I shave it's sort of an O/C thing (obsessive compulsive), then I'm human.)
Go dick around on the computer, touch base with the clients that are going to jump ship and come with me in Novemeber, make sure everybodies still happy and on track, do a few errands, make a few calls to "former business associates" (they are the most fun actually, here's how they usually go;
Hey Ann, how's things going?
"Pretty good, and how about you I heard they dumped you,...ah,...so what are you doing now?"
"Actually I'm just lining them all up, getting ready to create some havoc in the field,...you know?"
"Ah..yeah, I mean like who are you working for now."
"Ann, Ann, remember I always told you never work for anyone but yourself, casue if you get a "JOB" it simply means "Just Over Broke",....so why should I work for anyone else?"
"Well I mean you have to get a check right? Or did you start your own firm?"
"Actually I did start my own company, I am now officially a fully licenced and registered "LLC" (Limited Liability Corporation). Just finished registering it all about five days ago as a matter of fact."
"Great, so what's it called and what are you doing with it?"
"Awww,Ann, you know if I told you I'd have to kill you! I am getting ready to just pop everything wide open,...you know?"
"Y..e..s, but what are you going to do?"
"Well, today I'm probably going to have a bite to eat for lunch, work on a couple contracts and make a few corrections to them, then slip down to the pub for a couple of pints before supper,...you know, nothing strenuous."
"But what exactly are you going to do?"
"Well,...it's kind of a long story, but I guess,...oops, hold on a minute, it's my damn cell."
.
.
.
.
" Sorry just a few of the last minute detail thingies to take care of before we launch."
"But what about your non-compete agreement?"
"I'm one of those stupid idiots that believe in the Constitution, you know the right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. If Mr. Magoo is that afraid of little old me after he's had a dozen years to build and establish his shitty little company,well,....I guess my comment is "Bring it on Mother,...but be sure someone's got your back, 'cause I'm gonna be all over your clients with truth, you can then explain to them the thing with the "blue smoke and mirrors" and the sublties of "misappropriation" versus a three year series of "bookeeping errors"."
"So maybe we should get together and you can fill me in on all the stuff you're doing?"
"Gee Ann, I'd love to but I have to be real careful not to let any of this slip out and all. Got a lot at stake here. Listen I'd love to talk more, but I just got a few e-mails I have to deal with like now. Take care kid and keep in touch,...adios"
And so it goes, keep 'em all guessing while I relax a bit more. Once Disneyworld is over and done, I'll be ready for another three or four years of kick ass business pursuit, only this time it will be on my terms and for my company!
TTFN
-30-
I even had a full vacation in Disneyworld planned for a six day stint in September, and I even prepaid for it all. (Forget it, I ain't even going to think about cancelling it! I was smart enopugh to buy the meal plan as welland all the tickets and reservations so shit! Just gonna go and relax and enjoy. I'll be back to getting serious after that.)
And since it's going to be a "grueling six days of FUN!" I guess I better rest up now and get in shape for it.ok, first the sleep regimen. No more five and a half hours, then up on the computer, checking the bank accounts etc.,....nope screw it. Go to bed at 10 pm and stay there til 8am, (it ain't like I gotta be at work at 8!) Get up pour a cup of coffee, shower and shave, (I know some guys live for the days they can skip shaving for the day, me, shit I don't even feel awake unless I shave it's sort of an O/C thing (obsessive compulsive), then I'm human.)
Go dick around on the computer, touch base with the clients that are going to jump ship and come with me in Novemeber, make sure everybodies still happy and on track, do a few errands, make a few calls to "former business associates" (they are the most fun actually, here's how they usually go;
Hey Ann, how's things going?
"Pretty good, and how about you I heard they dumped you,...ah,...so what are you doing now?"
"Actually I'm just lining them all up, getting ready to create some havoc in the field,...you know?"
"Ah..yeah, I mean like who are you working for now."
"Ann, Ann, remember I always told you never work for anyone but yourself, casue if you get a "JOB" it simply means "Just Over Broke",....so why should I work for anyone else?"
"Well I mean you have to get a check right? Or did you start your own firm?"
"Actually I did start my own company, I am now officially a fully licenced and registered "LLC" (Limited Liability Corporation). Just finished registering it all about five days ago as a matter of fact."
"Great, so what's it called and what are you doing with it?"
"Awww,Ann, you know if I told you I'd have to kill you! I am getting ready to just pop everything wide open,...you know?"
"Y..e..s, but what are you going to do?"
"Well, today I'm probably going to have a bite to eat for lunch, work on a couple contracts and make a few corrections to them, then slip down to the pub for a couple of pints before supper,...you know, nothing strenuous."
"But what exactly are you going to do?"
"Well,...it's kind of a long story, but I guess,...oops, hold on a minute, it's my damn cell."
.
.
.
.
" Sorry just a few of the last minute detail thingies to take care of before we launch."
"But what about your non-compete agreement?"
"I'm one of those stupid idiots that believe in the Constitution, you know the right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. If Mr. Magoo is that afraid of little old me after he's had a dozen years to build and establish his shitty little company,well,....I guess my comment is "Bring it on Mother,...but be sure someone's got your back, 'cause I'm gonna be all over your clients with truth, you can then explain to them the thing with the "blue smoke and mirrors" and the sublties of "misappropriation" versus a three year series of "bookeeping errors"."
"So maybe we should get together and you can fill me in on all the stuff you're doing?"
"Gee Ann, I'd love to but I have to be real careful not to let any of this slip out and all. Got a lot at stake here. Listen I'd love to talk more, but I just got a few e-mails I have to deal with like now. Take care kid and keep in touch,...adios"
And so it goes, keep 'em all guessing while I relax a bit more. Once Disneyworld is over and done, I'll be ready for another three or four years of kick ass business pursuit, only this time it will be on my terms and for my company!
TTFN
-30-
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