Has it really been this long since I last posted? Where does the time go? Well, there were only a few readers in the first place. But who could blame them for not coming back if there were no new posts.
During this downtime, I never stopped thinking, I just stopped writing. It just seemed like I was writing a letter to myself. Why call it a blog if it is just a diary?
But lets call it a 'journal' instead. Ya know that nobody gives a fuck about your journal until after your death.
Lots of famous painters/writers went dumpster diving and slept in alleys, dying penniless. Once they died, everybody just had to have one of their paintings. Now those paintings sell for $3 mil at the auction. The artist died a horrible death, but he would have been a millionaire if he could just stay alive to enjoy it. Everybody just loves them some Ernest Hemingway. That Truman Capote guy was a hoot, right?
Well, here is the thing. People collect things that are important to them and them only. I don't care to own an expensive original of (insert famous painter/writer here). I like originals just like the rich people do, but I don't have $900,000 dollars to buy it. So, I find myself looking at other things, things like rare golf clubs made out of hickory.
Tuesday, July 27, 2010
Thursday, December 10, 2009
Jack of All Trades, Master of None
Once again, I see that it has been a week since my last post. I guess I'm not much of a blogger, but I don't do this for money or fame. In all honesty, I have been busy, but aren't we all?
One trait that I have always enjoyed is learning new things. Sometimes I find myself with several open projects. It took me one month to refinish my dining room table because I had several other projects going on. When I finally finished it though, damn, it looks good. Now it makes the chairs and the buffet look pretty bad. The drop leaf mahogony table in my kitchen not only needs refinishing, it also needs repair. I think I've had that task on my list for about 10 years now. That wire on the cool shell lamp has been waiting on me for almost a year. I guess its a good thing I bought the lampcord six months ago. When you really think about it, I think I can do the whole job in about 15 minutes, so I have no excuse why its sitting here beside me uncompleted. My wife wants me to replace the ceiling fan in the guest bedroom. I want to do it too.
We just moved into a new house. Every interior wall and ceiling could use a new coat of paint, but the office, master bath and guest room are screaming for immediate attention. The others can wait. That will be a project on my 2010 list. Most of our art collection and family pictures are up on the walls, but many still lean against the wall in a neat pile. Their cold stare haunts me as I walk by. What haunts me more is that I need to go back to Atlanta and finish some projects I started at our house there. I'm going there tomorrow night and spending the weekend doing what I should have done before I left. I'm really not looking forward to it, but it has to be done. 2009 is running out quickly.
I forgot to put the ferns in the garage last night. It was 26 degrees when I woke up. They stare at me too. My wife usually feeds the sharks in the Psycho Kitty Memorial Aquarium, but they have been staring at me with that creepy fish eye look. Maybe she forgot to feed them, but they rarely answer me when I ask. Plus, they tend to lie. Its a shark thing. So, I'm going to sign off and pick a project, maybe the lamp or the framed art. But, what I really need to do is....
One trait that I have always enjoyed is learning new things. Sometimes I find myself with several open projects. It took me one month to refinish my dining room table because I had several other projects going on. When I finally finished it though, damn, it looks good. Now it makes the chairs and the buffet look pretty bad. The drop leaf mahogony table in my kitchen not only needs refinishing, it also needs repair. I think I've had that task on my list for about 10 years now. That wire on the cool shell lamp has been waiting on me for almost a year. I guess its a good thing I bought the lampcord six months ago. When you really think about it, I think I can do the whole job in about 15 minutes, so I have no excuse why its sitting here beside me uncompleted. My wife wants me to replace the ceiling fan in the guest bedroom. I want to do it too.
We just moved into a new house. Every interior wall and ceiling could use a new coat of paint, but the office, master bath and guest room are screaming for immediate attention. The others can wait. That will be a project on my 2010 list. Most of our art collection and family pictures are up on the walls, but many still lean against the wall in a neat pile. Their cold stare haunts me as I walk by. What haunts me more is that I need to go back to Atlanta and finish some projects I started at our house there. I'm going there tomorrow night and spending the weekend doing what I should have done before I left. I'm really not looking forward to it, but it has to be done. 2009 is running out quickly.
I forgot to put the ferns in the garage last night. It was 26 degrees when I woke up. They stare at me too. My wife usually feeds the sharks in the Psycho Kitty Memorial Aquarium, but they have been staring at me with that creepy fish eye look. Maybe she forgot to feed them, but they rarely answer me when I ask. Plus, they tend to lie. Its a shark thing. So, I'm going to sign off and pick a project, maybe the lamp or the framed art. But, what I really need to do is....
Thursday, December 3, 2009
I'm Tired
I'm tired of a lot of things. I'm tired of my older cat puking on the carpet. I'm tired of the younger cat begging for people food and telling our new neighbors that she goes to bed hungry. She doesn't. I'm tired of moving one pile to another in order to finish moving. I'm tired of gas logs. I want to burn real wood like a pioneer.
But I am a news junkie and I use several sources to get my news. I'm tired of the gatekeepers at the mainstream media. I like making my own decisions and I hate how liberal the press has become even more than ever before. I'm tired of the global warming debate. However, I love how the myth has been exposed. I didn't hear this on the mainstream media though. I had to go out and find this on my own. I'm tired of high unemployment. I'm tired of our government trying to spend our last dime. I'm tired of war in general and I'm tired of hearing about anything Somalian. I'm tired of the current real estate market. We bought a house last year with thousands of dollars of instant equity and it is all gone already. I'm tired of Sarah Palin, but I'm even more tired about the millions of people that are going around scrutinizing and bitching about her every move.
I'm tired of Congress. I can't stand Robert Gibbs. His scolding to a reporter yesterday made the hair on the back of my neck stand straight up. I'm tired of hearing about Tiger Woods. There are more important things in life.
I'm mostly tired of being forced to be politically correct. I have never been one of those persons that openly tried to offend any race, creed, color or religious choice. I don't hate all Muslims and I don't go around using the N word or any other racial term. But if I cry foul that Ron Artest is bragging about drinking Hennesey at halftime in the locker room, I would like to do it without being called a racist. I really want to know how he was able to pull this off and why nobody noticed it before now. What was he trying to accomplish by sharing this with us? I'm tired of Pac Man Jones and Terrell Owens. I don't care if I never see either of them on my TV.
I'm tired of the SEIU and ACORN. I'm tired of Chicago style politics. I want Al Gore to give back most of the money that he made on global warming scare tactics. Now that we discovered the truth about true info being destroyed, I want him to give back his Nobel Peace Prize. I haven't heard from Al yet, he seems to be inconveniently quiet right about now.
I'm tired of hearing about Czars. This whole breach of security at the State Dinner is tiresome indeed. If we can't rely on the Secret Service, then who can we trust? Seperation of power, how convenient.
Yeah, I'm all over the place and randomly ranting. I must be tired. But I'm really only about halfway done. I think this is a good stopping point though. If you disagree and request a debate, then pick a topic. I will address your topic in the order it was recieved. Press #1 for English or Numero #Dos para Espanol.
But I am a news junkie and I use several sources to get my news. I'm tired of the gatekeepers at the mainstream media. I like making my own decisions and I hate how liberal the press has become even more than ever before. I'm tired of the global warming debate. However, I love how the myth has been exposed. I didn't hear this on the mainstream media though. I had to go out and find this on my own. I'm tired of high unemployment. I'm tired of our government trying to spend our last dime. I'm tired of war in general and I'm tired of hearing about anything Somalian. I'm tired of the current real estate market. We bought a house last year with thousands of dollars of instant equity and it is all gone already. I'm tired of Sarah Palin, but I'm even more tired about the millions of people that are going around scrutinizing and bitching about her every move.
I'm tired of Congress. I can't stand Robert Gibbs. His scolding to a reporter yesterday made the hair on the back of my neck stand straight up. I'm tired of hearing about Tiger Woods. There are more important things in life.
I'm mostly tired of being forced to be politically correct. I have never been one of those persons that openly tried to offend any race, creed, color or religious choice. I don't hate all Muslims and I don't go around using the N word or any other racial term. But if I cry foul that Ron Artest is bragging about drinking Hennesey at halftime in the locker room, I would like to do it without being called a racist. I really want to know how he was able to pull this off and why nobody noticed it before now. What was he trying to accomplish by sharing this with us? I'm tired of Pac Man Jones and Terrell Owens. I don't care if I never see either of them on my TV.
I'm tired of the SEIU and ACORN. I'm tired of Chicago style politics. I want Al Gore to give back most of the money that he made on global warming scare tactics. Now that we discovered the truth about true info being destroyed, I want him to give back his Nobel Peace Prize. I haven't heard from Al yet, he seems to be inconveniently quiet right about now.
I'm tired of hearing about Czars. This whole breach of security at the State Dinner is tiresome indeed. If we can't rely on the Secret Service, then who can we trust? Seperation of power, how convenient.
Yeah, I'm all over the place and randomly ranting. I must be tired. But I'm really only about halfway done. I think this is a good stopping point though. If you disagree and request a debate, then pick a topic. I will address your topic in the order it was recieved. Press #1 for English or Numero #Dos para Espanol.
Tuesday, December 1, 2009
My plate is not full!
I noticed that it has been exactly one week since my last post. Apparently, I've been busy moving from one town to the other. The days slip through you fingers like sand through the hourglass. But while I have a moment, I want to bitch about some worn out 'sayings' that haunt me. One in particular is the phrase "My plate is full".
To me, this phrase is stating that you already have too much to do, too little time, and you are not willing to take on any other tasks at this moment. How convenient, huh? Now, I love my sister and she taught me many things throughout my life, but she is one of those people that often refers to her full plate. I think her plate has been full for about three decades now.
Although I learned this phrase 30 years ago, I rarely used it and I rarely heard it. But, when I did hear it, It always struck a nerve. Two examples come to mind along with sidenotes of other phrases too.
First, lets get some things out of the way so I can concentrate on my full plate. When I lived in Charlotte, I had the same boss for years. He often said "Plan your work and work your Plan". Well, thats a great saying, but it is not always practical. Sometimes you hit a snag. Sometimes you find out that your original plan needed a tweak. You might even have found yourself between a rock and a hard place.
Several years ago, my 70 something Mom married a wealthy man that tried to rule her and her grown children with an iron fist. Needless to say, we didn't care much for him, but my Mom loved him, so we remained mum. One day in particular, I had just moved from Charlotte to Raleigh and my car broke down on the beltline. Not having any local friends or a cell phone, I pulled off to the side of the road and walked to the next exit. I called my new stepfather and asked for some help. He told me that I should pull up my own bootstraps. He suggested that I get a job pumping gas at the local gas station. When I told him that gas stations are self serve only and nobody pumps gas for a living anymore, he balked and told me to find a job where a commute was not needed. He told me to plan my work and work my plan. Oh, for God's sake. Having your car die on the beltline on my way to work was not in my plan. He told me that he did not like the fact that I had three different jobs in the past ten years. "You pick a company and you stay with that company through thick and thin". Oh, Paleeeze. Times have changed you old geezer. I'm not staying for the gold watch and I'm not Japanese either. I guess his plate was full. I didn't cry at his funeral.
A few years later, I started getting serious about this golf thing. I decided to find a PGA professional to help me hone my skills. However, I made a poor choice. I chose a guy that was tall and skinny like me. I thought he could teach me to use my leverage to smack that ball to kingdom come. But he was an asshole and I realized that after spending about thirty minutes with him. We started out on the range and he asked me to pull out my 8 iron and hit the ball to a target 120 yards away. I told him that I use an 8 iron for targets about 160 yards away. If you want me to hit a 120 target, a pitching wedge would do nicely. He got angry and told me to do what he said. So, I hit the target with my 8 iron, but I didn't understand the syllabus, and I asked him what we were trying to accomplish. He told me not to question his motives. But that was where he and I differed. I don't want to just know how, I also want to know why. At the end of my first lesson, I told him that I did not pay him big bucks to teach me how to hit an 8 iron, I hired him to help me get leverage, accuracy and depth required to reach the next level. That arrogant tall drink of water looked down at me and pointed his finger in my face. He said "Wow, you sure do have a full plate, don't you?" That was the last time I saw that guy. My heart was hardened and I drove away frustrated. Maybe I should just pump gas for a living near my house like Gomer and Goober in Mayberry. I tried for months to rationalize his teaching methods and thought maybe I was wrong and he was right. But I came to my senses and decided that he was an asshole. In reality, PGA professionals are a dime a dozen. What works for him doesn't really work for me. I needed a new pro.
I found that new pro, but this time we sat down and talked before we went to the range. I told him that my plate was full. I want to change this but I don't want to change that. Can you help me? He did. My plate was not full anymore. He opened doors for me that I never knew about. He pulled back the curtain and showed me that Oz was just an insecure man pretending to be something bigger than he was. Don't dream it, be it.
As time went by, I got my own certification, but my wife was struggling at work. She was the one that assigned the jobs with a deadline. She distributed the work evenly, but there was that one prima donna that never wanted anything new. She was too busy planning her wedding and used her work hours to talk to caterers and her mommy. "Don't you roll your eyes at me, I'll just go and talk to your boss. My plate is full." It turns out that the boss had a stiffy for this girl, so she could continue her wedding plans and forget about deadlines. He could beat off in the shower and she could use her workplace for personal use. Deadlines were never met because her plate was full.
So, I don't ever want to hear somebody tell me that their plate is full. Their cup runneth over. Seasons change, people change. Plates are often emptied and you put them in the dishwasher. You get a new plate. I guess we all have full plates, but do we really? I don't. I'm not dead yet and I have lots of new people and new adventures to seek. I have room on my plate and I hope you do too.
To me, this phrase is stating that you already have too much to do, too little time, and you are not willing to take on any other tasks at this moment. How convenient, huh? Now, I love my sister and she taught me many things throughout my life, but she is one of those people that often refers to her full plate. I think her plate has been full for about three decades now.
Although I learned this phrase 30 years ago, I rarely used it and I rarely heard it. But, when I did hear it, It always struck a nerve. Two examples come to mind along with sidenotes of other phrases too.
First, lets get some things out of the way so I can concentrate on my full plate. When I lived in Charlotte, I had the same boss for years. He often said "Plan your work and work your Plan". Well, thats a great saying, but it is not always practical. Sometimes you hit a snag. Sometimes you find out that your original plan needed a tweak. You might even have found yourself between a rock and a hard place.
Several years ago, my 70 something Mom married a wealthy man that tried to rule her and her grown children with an iron fist. Needless to say, we didn't care much for him, but my Mom loved him, so we remained mum. One day in particular, I had just moved from Charlotte to Raleigh and my car broke down on the beltline. Not having any local friends or a cell phone, I pulled off to the side of the road and walked to the next exit. I called my new stepfather and asked for some help. He told me that I should pull up my own bootstraps. He suggested that I get a job pumping gas at the local gas station. When I told him that gas stations are self serve only and nobody pumps gas for a living anymore, he balked and told me to find a job where a commute was not needed. He told me to plan my work and work my plan. Oh, for God's sake. Having your car die on the beltline on my way to work was not in my plan. He told me that he did not like the fact that I had three different jobs in the past ten years. "You pick a company and you stay with that company through thick and thin". Oh, Paleeeze. Times have changed you old geezer. I'm not staying for the gold watch and I'm not Japanese either. I guess his plate was full. I didn't cry at his funeral.
A few years later, I started getting serious about this golf thing. I decided to find a PGA professional to help me hone my skills. However, I made a poor choice. I chose a guy that was tall and skinny like me. I thought he could teach me to use my leverage to smack that ball to kingdom come. But he was an asshole and I realized that after spending about thirty minutes with him. We started out on the range and he asked me to pull out my 8 iron and hit the ball to a target 120 yards away. I told him that I use an 8 iron for targets about 160 yards away. If you want me to hit a 120 target, a pitching wedge would do nicely. He got angry and told me to do what he said. So, I hit the target with my 8 iron, but I didn't understand the syllabus, and I asked him what we were trying to accomplish. He told me not to question his motives. But that was where he and I differed. I don't want to just know how, I also want to know why. At the end of my first lesson, I told him that I did not pay him big bucks to teach me how to hit an 8 iron, I hired him to help me get leverage, accuracy and depth required to reach the next level. That arrogant tall drink of water looked down at me and pointed his finger in my face. He said "Wow, you sure do have a full plate, don't you?" That was the last time I saw that guy. My heart was hardened and I drove away frustrated. Maybe I should just pump gas for a living near my house like Gomer and Goober in Mayberry. I tried for months to rationalize his teaching methods and thought maybe I was wrong and he was right. But I came to my senses and decided that he was an asshole. In reality, PGA professionals are a dime a dozen. What works for him doesn't really work for me. I needed a new pro.
I found that new pro, but this time we sat down and talked before we went to the range. I told him that my plate was full. I want to change this but I don't want to change that. Can you help me? He did. My plate was not full anymore. He opened doors for me that I never knew about. He pulled back the curtain and showed me that Oz was just an insecure man pretending to be something bigger than he was. Don't dream it, be it.
As time went by, I got my own certification, but my wife was struggling at work. She was the one that assigned the jobs with a deadline. She distributed the work evenly, but there was that one prima donna that never wanted anything new. She was too busy planning her wedding and used her work hours to talk to caterers and her mommy. "Don't you roll your eyes at me, I'll just go and talk to your boss. My plate is full." It turns out that the boss had a stiffy for this girl, so she could continue her wedding plans and forget about deadlines. He could beat off in the shower and she could use her workplace for personal use. Deadlines were never met because her plate was full.
So, I don't ever want to hear somebody tell me that their plate is full. Their cup runneth over. Seasons change, people change. Plates are often emptied and you put them in the dishwasher. You get a new plate. I guess we all have full plates, but do we really? I don't. I'm not dead yet and I have lots of new people and new adventures to seek. I have room on my plate and I hope you do too.
Tuesday, November 24, 2009
Change you can believe in?
Granted, I've been offline for over a week, but I still have TV, radio and newspapers to keep in touch. Its not quite the same in these days of the information superhighway, but its all I had.
So, somebody correct me if I'm wrong, but I heard that the new bill introduced by our current administration includes fines and/or jail time for citizens that don't have health coverage. I don't think that this will ever really happen in our lifetime, but I have heard rumors that Nancy Pelosi and Barack Obama support this type of new legislation.
Whether this is true or not, the mere fact that people are talking about this disturbs me greatly. Could you imagine that you are so poor that you cannot afford private health care. Yes, we all know that there is Medicare and Medicaid, but the Joe Public is being squeezed here.
According to the pending plan, people that can buy health insurance must buy it or be fined or imprisoned for not doing so. This includes wealthy people that decide to be self insured and pay their own medical bills out of pocket. Could even the most reasonable person even imagine this type of scenario. Our prisons are already overcrowded with drug dealers, rapists, murderers and ingrates. Where are we going to put these people behind bars? Build more prisons with stimulus money? Put Aunt Bee in jail because she paid the Doc in cash? I don't like the path this trip is taking. This includes the abortion issue. I have always been a pro-choice person, but I think you should pay for your own abortion. My tax dollars should not go to kill your unborn child. If you want to kill your baby, that is your choice, but don't ask me to help fund it.
So here is my take on the House of Representatives: I think they are a bunch of clowns. When I lived in Georgia, we had this girl named Cynthia McKinney that made all of us look bad. She represented most of the clowns in Congress. Aren't there about 400 plus people in the HOR compared to 100 some Senate members? I rely on the Senate to make honest opinions, but if they don't, I will be here to protest in a civil protest kinda way.
So, lets put it like this. Most people my age are having kids that are going off to college or even graduating from college. How would you like it if they were headstrong and decided that they were young and vibrant and felt no need to buy health insurance? Their employer didn't provide it and they decided to roll the dice? Do you want our government to fine or imprison them? Where are they going to put them? Where are they going to put the rich people that pay their own health care bills? Oh, I can just see it now. " What are you in for?" Well, I murdered three people, what are you in for?" Well, I didn't buy health insurance!
I was born in the USA and I thank God for that. I will be damned if I will step aside and let my neighbor get fined or imprisoned for making his own choices in this country. I can choose cable over Direct TV or I can choose AT&T over Windstream. But if somebody forces me to choose one way only or go to jail, I will choose jail. Folks, this is America, the greatest country ever imagined. Nobody is going to put me in jail or fine me for making a Constitutional right to say NO to the ongoing debate in Congress.
As a prologue, I can't believe that most of you bleeding heart liberal left wingers want this either. It is most of your children that are going to be most affected by this type of legislation. Lets put your kids in jail. Even though they have no room for them and they have no budget for it, lets do it anyway. They can sleep on cots and eat grits until you either bail them out and let them sleep in your basement or change the current policy provided to our wonderful and all knowing Congress. Change you can believe in? I don't think so.
So, somebody correct me if I'm wrong, but I heard that the new bill introduced by our current administration includes fines and/or jail time for citizens that don't have health coverage. I don't think that this will ever really happen in our lifetime, but I have heard rumors that Nancy Pelosi and Barack Obama support this type of new legislation.
Whether this is true or not, the mere fact that people are talking about this disturbs me greatly. Could you imagine that you are so poor that you cannot afford private health care. Yes, we all know that there is Medicare and Medicaid, but the Joe Public is being squeezed here.
According to the pending plan, people that can buy health insurance must buy it or be fined or imprisoned for not doing so. This includes wealthy people that decide to be self insured and pay their own medical bills out of pocket. Could even the most reasonable person even imagine this type of scenario. Our prisons are already overcrowded with drug dealers, rapists, murderers and ingrates. Where are we going to put these people behind bars? Build more prisons with stimulus money? Put Aunt Bee in jail because she paid the Doc in cash? I don't like the path this trip is taking. This includes the abortion issue. I have always been a pro-choice person, but I think you should pay for your own abortion. My tax dollars should not go to kill your unborn child. If you want to kill your baby, that is your choice, but don't ask me to help fund it.
So here is my take on the House of Representatives: I think they are a bunch of clowns. When I lived in Georgia, we had this girl named Cynthia McKinney that made all of us look bad. She represented most of the clowns in Congress. Aren't there about 400 plus people in the HOR compared to 100 some Senate members? I rely on the Senate to make honest opinions, but if they don't, I will be here to protest in a civil protest kinda way.
So, lets put it like this. Most people my age are having kids that are going off to college or even graduating from college. How would you like it if they were headstrong and decided that they were young and vibrant and felt no need to buy health insurance? Their employer didn't provide it and they decided to roll the dice? Do you want our government to fine or imprison them? Where are they going to put them? Where are they going to put the rich people that pay their own health care bills? Oh, I can just see it now. " What are you in for?" Well, I murdered three people, what are you in for?" Well, I didn't buy health insurance!
I was born in the USA and I thank God for that. I will be damned if I will step aside and let my neighbor get fined or imprisoned for making his own choices in this country. I can choose cable over Direct TV or I can choose AT&T over Windstream. But if somebody forces me to choose one way only or go to jail, I will choose jail. Folks, this is America, the greatest country ever imagined. Nobody is going to put me in jail or fine me for making a Constitutional right to say NO to the ongoing debate in Congress.
As a prologue, I can't believe that most of you bleeding heart liberal left wingers want this either. It is most of your children that are going to be most affected by this type of legislation. Lets put your kids in jail. Even though they have no room for them and they have no budget for it, lets do it anyway. They can sleep on cots and eat grits until you either bail them out and let them sleep in your basement or change the current policy provided to our wonderful and all knowing Congress. Change you can believe in? I don't think so.
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