Archive for the ‘Ramblings’ Category
Tuesday, January 15th, 2008
I feel like I haven’t been writing all to much lately. I don’t know, sometimes I start writing and writing and writing and sometimes I don’t.
I think it has something to do with all this year-end business stuff. As the years go on, the pressure gets ratcheted up a bit. I even found a gray hair on the left side of my head today. That’s pretty strange, because I think I saw some gold ones in there too. Perhaps I won’t go gray…I’ll go gold. People can look at me and say, “Yes, he’s the man with the gold hair over there.” I guess there is a gold lining to it all. At least I’ll be worth a lot of money.
Also, it’s getting a little colder out again and inside the house is looking all too familiar. Boy, those warm days really woke up the neighborhood. People were outside walking around and everyone seemed to be in a better mood. As I always say, I like Winter up until about half way through January. After that, Spring can come early. The only problem is that I freak out at the first drop of sweat. A few days ago when it was 60 degrees outside, I began to sweat. I didn’t like that. So, the dark days of Winter will last for a few more months.
I wouldn’t mind have a good game of Frisbee though. I love Frisbee.
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Friday, January 11th, 2008
The other day, Craig and I decided to meet for breakfast in Newburgh. I thought this was a great idea, because we haven’t seen each other in quite a while. He had to pick up some parts in the area, so it was easy for us both.
I had a pretty uneventful drive to the diner. I took Interstate 84 East and got off the Newburgh exit…right before the bridge. Once I was off the highway and rolling to a stop, I noticed someone standing at the end of the off ramp holding a sign. As I got closer, I realized it was…I am not even sure what to call it. Here, I took a photo…
I think he may have seen me taking a picture of him, but I couldn’t help myself. The sign he was holding read, “Homeless, please help.” Now, if I was a better citizen than I am, I surely would’ve pulled over to give him directions to the diner I was going to. I mean, if he looked to his right, he could’ve seen it. If I was an even better citizen, I would’ve gone to the diner and picked up an employment application and brought it back to him.
This whole thing got me wondering…how should a person respond in a situation like this? The first reaction for a lot of people is to get mad and blame the person for being in the position they are in. I mean, aren’t the rest of us working our butts of trying to make a living? How can we be expected to help someone who is in perfect working order (I mean, he was standing there and got to that spot himself) who we think isn’t trying as hard as us?
You know, when people are young, they are taught all sorts of stuff…one thing we are taught is to help people. If we listened to our parents, we all would’ve pulled over to help this person who saw standing there asking for help. Somewhere, sometime, as we were growing up, we all changed. Not many of us help all that many people anymore. Sure, if we know who you are, we will help, but not so much for strangers. I oftentimes think about what happened to us. Why don’t we help anymore?
One of the big things with me is anger with certain situations. I remember a few years ago, I was reading a newspaper and there was an article about “Habitat For Humanity.” This has always been one of my favorite programs. I did have a little tiff with them a few years ago though. As I was reading the article, I learned that the person these wonderful people built a brand new house for was a local single mother of three. There was a picture of her standing there in the driveway with her three children. Off to the side, was her boyfriend. He was a dirty looking, skinny fellow standing there…smoking a cigarette. Hmmm, that made me think. Mind you, this was after the big increase in the price of cigarettes. I thought about how nice it was that these people now had a nice house to live in. Then, I pictured that skinny little dirty boyfriend sitting in some donated loveseat, smoking a cigarette and maybe drinking a beer. That kind of peeved me because I am not sure if he had any blisters on his hands from helping with the construction of the house.
Perhaps, through the years, we noticed that more and more people who ask for help, do things in their lives that we don’t agree with (and cost money), such as smoking, drinking, drinking soda, eating potato chips, driving gas guzzlers, shopping at Wal-Mart for junk, etc…
I am not sure if I told you this story already. One time, I was in the local Hannaford buying some groceries. As I got in line to check out, I noticed a family in front of me using food stamps. I was thinking about how hard up these people must be to be using food stamps. To be honest, I don’t even know what food stamps are, but I do know you gotta be kind of hard up to use them. I thought I shouldn’t judge them. Then, I noticed what they had on that little conveyor belt. I saw all this name brand stuff. It all looked very appetizing. I looked down in my basket and noticed a bunch of Hannaford brand things. Wait, I did have name brand tofu. I guess that could make up for the name brand “oatmeal cream pies” they were buying on discount. Whatever. They left and I started putting my stuff on the conveyor belt. What I didn’t notice was that the father had left the store a few minutes earlier to pull the car up. I saw a minivan pull up and park in front of the store. I noticed the family walk toward and stop at the minivan. I noticed them put the groceries into the minivan. Then, I noticed that the minivan was only a few years old. I looked out past their late model minivan at my nine year old Honda Accord. I thought to myself, “Hey, the family using food stamps has a nicer car than me.”
I know, I know, I shouldn’t complain. Who am I to judge people who are in need, especially when they smoke and drive nicer cars than me? Well, at least they eat better than me too. Man, I feel myself turning into a conservative. I remember I read somewhere a few years ago, something like this, “If you aren’t a Democrat in your twenties, you are heartless. If you aren’t a Republican in your forties, you are an idiot.” If was something like that.
Well anyway, Craig and I had a nice breakfast. I left and he left. On the way home, I was on the phone with a realtor and Craig called me. I couldn’t pick up, so he left a voicemail. He told me that he saw the bum I was talking about. He said, “Hey, I just passed by your bum…he was drinking a beer.” Enough said.
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Sunday, December 30th, 2007
I was doing a little research online today on the different tax burdens each state throws at its residents. I always knew New York was up there, but I wanted to know about how the rest of the states in our fine country compared to our overpriced and overtaxed state. Sometimes I wonder what the heck we are paying for up here. I guess that will be an eternal question in my mind.
So, during my research, I came across this great article by CNN Money, titled, “How tax-friendly is your state?” This was pretty good. They merged and averaged all the taxes a person pays in a particular state and put them in a nice list. As I said above, I knew New York was up there, but what really surprised me was who was in the number one slot and who was in the 49th. Two states, side by side. Makes you wonder.
See for yourself…
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Wednesday, November 14th, 2007
To save gas.
Well, it’s good for you too, for a little while. We all need to get out of the house, but I am sure that killing that two hour commute each day would leave a little hair on your head.
So much happens during that commute. I don’t think I need to explain what here, but I will say this…for the past few weeks, I have been taking Thursdays and Fridays off. I have had nice, four day weekends. I don’t think about working at my full time job at all. This past Monday, while I was driving into work, I began getting in a bad mood. I was almost to the job, so maybe that had something to do with it. Also, when I got to work, my left eye started twitching. I have had the twitch the week before, but it went away over the weekend. Hmmm….
I would say the main reason to work at home (if you can), besides saving your sanity, is to save gas. Check out this website for more information on that.
This morning, I passed by the gas station down the road from me. The cheapest gas was priced at $3.11. I fear that it will go up more. I like staying home and not paying for it. Also, when I don’t drive to work, I don’t smell the truck fumes that I have in the past.
Sometimes I wonder what happened to the old days, when people actually used to work in the towns they lived in. They had ten minute commutes. I like the idea of that. This whole commuting for half the day thing is the pits.
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Tuesday, November 6th, 2007
So I drove down to the gas station this morning to get some cash, gas and coffee. I walked in the side door…the area where the old men are usually hanging out doing nothing. These are the type of guys who have lived in the area forever and burn their garbage in their backyards. The sweet smell of plastic fills the breezy air. This morning, there were about four of them. I am not sure what they were wearing, but I did notice camouflage hats and maybe a jacket. I really have nothing to say to these people, because we have nothing in common (I’m not just making this stuff up, I have actually seen it).
I walked over to the cash machine to do my thing and overheard a conversation between two of them. It went something like this…
“Yeah, you can move down to Tennessee today and get a house and only pay $250 a year in taxes. I might just do that.” “Yup, one thing’s for sure, I won’t be moving anywhere in New York.”
That conversation cemented my theory…eventually, rising taxes will squeeze certain people out of the area. I am not sure where they will relocate, but as long as it’s not where I am going, things will be fine. I just don’t like people who think they are living on this planet alone. Seriously, these people would shoot a buffalo in the head, ten feet away from your front porch.
So…on this election day, if you live in a dirty little town where no one wants to visit, vote for lower taxes. YEEEE HAAWWWWW.
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Sunday, September 23rd, 2007
Have you ever felt the perfect temperature? I have. It’s right now and a little breezy to boot. I don’t know what it is because I am far too lazy to get up and look, but trust me, it exists.
I am just sitting in the “Red Room” (you remember those curtains, right?) doing a little work. I bought a new server agreement yesterday, so I am transferring a bunch of sites around. This project will take me a few days. After this, I should have things in good order for a while, especially since the Christmas season is coming up. The websites get pretty hot around Christmas, so this should spread out the load. I think this is fun…I love a good project. I have some big plans for the future, so a good foundation is important.
Oh boy, I really need to clean this desk. I really need to do a lot of things, but for some reason, I just keep walking by them. I never used to be like this. I guess the taste of procrastination has stayed with me.
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Wednesday, August 29th, 2007
Just because you are doing it slowly doesn’t mean you aren’t doing it.
On the way to work this morning, I was talking to my sister Laurie on my cell phone (with my ear piece, of course). I was getting on the highway when I looked in my rear view mirror. I saw an oversized woman sitting in her car with a little girl in the front seat and some kids in the back. Her windows were closed. Nothing really struck me, besides the fact that she had a little girl about two feet tall sitting in the front seat. I kept looking, when she brought a lit cigarette to her mouth for a nice puff. Hmmm, I thought, your kids have absolutely no idea that; 1. you are killing them with the second hand smoke, 2. you are forcing a cigarette addiction on them, and 3. you are forcing them to think that smoking is ok.
I turned on to the highway and started driving, a little troubled. I wanted to pull her over to smack her. After a few miles, she just happened to pass me in the left lane. I looked over and noticed that her windows were still up and they had that nice dirty smoke staining on them. Apparently, she has done this quite a bit.
I remember back one time when Craig and I were sitting at the deli eating lunch. We were out at a picnic table near the parking lot. I woman in a caravan had a full load of kids. We sat there watching as she rolled up the windows, turned on the A/C and light a cigarette. Craig got very angry and walked over to the car. He knocked on the window and she rolled it down. He said, “Can you please not smoke in your car with the windows up while there are children in there?” The woman got very angry, rolled up the windows and drove away. Heaven forbid someone actually speak up for the kids she is killing.
I read an article the other day on the Drudge Report. It was titled, “100-year-old celebrates her birthday by smoking 170,000th cigarette.” I thought to myself, “Wow, I am very proud of her. I wonder how many other people in her life she has brought down because of her smoking?” There is nothing like not being totally selfish.
Ok, so here it is. If you are reading this and you smoke in your car while there are kids nearby, you are killing them. If no one has ever told you that, I just did.
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Thursday, August 23rd, 2007
I was just sitting here waiting for Laura to get out of the shower and decided to read some of my blog posts. I was browsing through them and thought to myself, “Boy, these crafty writings are quite entertaining.” Right after I thought that thought, I thought of how lucky you guys are to be exposed to something so terrific.
Well, off to the races today…not really, but we will be near races. Of course, I will tell you all about it later.
Love, peace and hair grease.
Here is a picture that has nothing to do with anything, but I know people like pictures.
PS – My nephew, Storm, started posting to his new blog. After he gets a few more posts up, we will hook the boy up with a nice Wordpress Theme. Go get ‘em kid.
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Wednesday, August 22nd, 2007
Now, I am not one to say that the English language makes sense and I really don’t want to come off like the Queen of England. I am not even saying that I am any good at what I say. All I am saying is that I hear a whole bunch of words being mispronounced from time to time. You may have even witnessed spelling mistakes in this blog. I do try to check over my spelling as much as I can, but sometimes I just don’t care. I mean really, who cares? Sometimes I feel like just throwing my hands up in the air and joining those who say, “Oh, you know what I meant.”
A big one is “often.” I always thought that the “t” is silent. Maybe I am wrong, or maybe the English say it differently, but even my ninth grade English teach said it incorrectly.
I found a great website that lays out the most mispronounced words. Here is what they say about “often” or what should really read, “offen…”
We have mastered the spelling of this word so well, its spelling influences the pronunciation. In fact, T drops out between F and N regularly in English (compare soften).
More times than not, I hear people say, “Oh, that happens often.” They say it with the “t” in often. Who can really blame them? I mean, if people want to hear that word with a silent “t” then why not take the damn “t” out of the word? Would that really be too much trouble? Hey, that’s a novel idea…say it like it’s spelled. I have another idea…why not just say the “t” with often? What harm would that be?
I think this English language needs a bit of cleaning up. What do you think?
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Thursday, August 9th, 2007
Sometimes I write and write. I think I used to write a heck of a lot more than I do now. I mean, when I first started out with this blog, I think I used to write longer posts. Now, I write more, but shorter ones. How do you say that? More, but shorter?
There are many times when I come across information in news stories or other blogs that I flip though. There may be something that catches my eye…something I find kind of funny. It may be because I deal with a bunch of buttheads all day long or something like that. Sometimes my sensitivity meter is off. The story that I may have found amusing isn’t always all that amusing to others. Really though, most of the time they are pretty amusing. I probably have a pretty thick skin for these types of things because I am super exposed to them.
Well folks, we have to be careful. I mean, what we write really is our business, but like any other sort of media, people are reading our business. We can go day in and day out and choose to write what we want and ignore any comment that someone throws our way, but there might come a time when you say to yourself, “Hey, where did all my readers go?” Well, I suppose you may have a whole new breed of reader visiting your blog, but it was those faithful ones back in the beginning who really are the ones who matter most.
I now have over 320 posts written on this blog in under a year. I have only had to remove one post and slightly edit another. Neither of them were that bad, but when I hear even an inkling of dissatisfaction, I correct whatever is bothering someone. If I don’t like the person, I just ignore them. That’s not such a bad track record, right? Even newspapers get it wrong sometimes and they have full time editors. I am just a one man show. I have the strength of one million men, but still, I am just a guy.
This evening, I did a little Google search for “offending people on blogs.” Interestingly, there wasn’t much offered. I did find a nice post called, “3 Ways To Offend Readers and 4 Ways Not To.” There was a super duper link in there called, “Seven Reasons Not To Post To Your Blog.” It made me feel pretty good that there are people out there who have at least thought of the same stuff as I have and have had to deal with it as well.
Let’s face it, writing on blogs is fun. That might be why there are so many new ones popping up every day. Reading blogs is fun too. They really have become an integral part of people’s lives. It might be a good idea to get back to what we started in the first place, and that’s writing for our readers.
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