Thoughts, Ramblings, & Misunderstandings

Something has been bugging me for a very long time. How long it has been bugging me is what I do not know. I want to say it started in the Fall of 2007 when I started back to school. Every Fall semester since then, there’s always been an article in the school newspaper about the amount of parking spaces available. There should be a parking garage built, they exclaim! The “close” parking spaces fill up around 9am by all the early morning commuters, present company included. There are three very large parking lots for premium parking. These are for those that don’t want to park at the football stadium and ride the bus to class. The two closest lots fill up fast. However, the third sits almost empty everyday. Why? Because it’s a couple blocks over from where people want to be.

The same thing happens at work. “Oh we need a parking garage because there’s not enough parking spaces!” Actually there are more than necessary if you’d take a second to go look.

So I came up with this theory: People’s laziness can be directly linked to the amount of time they will spend driving around a parking lot looking for a spot close to the entrance.

Too many times I’ve seen people driving around a parking lot for 10 minutes hoping a spot opens up really, really close. Why not go to an area you know there will be open spots and park there? The ten minutes you just wasted, you could have spent 5 walking to the door and saved the other 5 minutes. Oh wait! That makes too much sense, doesn’t it? So why do you drive around and around instead of parking in the first spot you see available? It’s because you are LAZY!!

The other day upon departing Wal-Mart as I was heading toward my car I saw an SUV following me so that they could get my parking spot when I left since I had parked on the side of the building, fairly close. (Here’s a tip: Park on the side of the building. There’s usually almost always a spot open.) So this SUV goes down to the end of the row and makes a u-turn to wait on me to leave. In the process of heading back my way, they passed an OPEN parking spot about 10 spots down from me. That’s right, roughly 20-30 yards away from me. (Another tip: don’t wait on me to take my parking spot. I will intentionally go as slow as possible due to this theory of mine.) Lucky for this person that I didn’t take very long as it was a bit cold. But I did take my time walking the cart back to the ‘Cart Corral’. Total time wasted for this person had to be at least 5 minutes. These fools could have parked 10 spots away and already been shopping. But no. Let’s waste our time and our gas.

Makes sense to me!

Read it and then read it again in reverse. 

Lost Generation by Jonathan Reed

I am part of a lost generation
and I refuse to believe that
I can change the world
I realize this may be a shock but
“Happiness comes from within.”
is a lie, and
“Money will make me happy.”
So in 30 years I will tell my children
they are not the most important thing in my life
My employer will know that
I have my priorities straight because
work
is more important than
family
I tell you this
Once upon a time
Families stayed together
but this will not be true in my era
This is a quick fix society
Experts tell me
30 years from now, I will be celebrating the 10th anniversary of my divorce
I do not concede that
I will live in a country of my own making
In the future
Environmental destruction will be the norm
No longer can it be said that
My peers and I care about this earth
It will be evident that
My generation is apathetic and lethargic
It is foolish to presume that
There is hope.

And all of this will come true unless we choose to reverse it .

I’m convinced there are a few industries/companies/villians all in cahoots with each other.

• Toymakers / Battery companies – All of my daughter’s toys that produce sound have a “one last goodbye” sound on them. If she hasn’t touched the toy in about 45-75 seconds, it will produce a “Thanks for playing…” or “giggle giggle GoodBye!”.  All in hopes she will remember she was playing with that toy and should come back for a few more noises so that the batteries drain a little more.
• Security Software / (hackers) – I placed hackers in italics and parentheses because I believe there are no true individuals out there that create malicious code to threaten our computers on their own. These people are paid a lump sum by the software company to create/release the code. Heck maybe even McAfee or Norton make the code but make someone else release it. All so that they can stay in business. Anyone else find it funny that a “fix” can be downloaded within a few hours of the malicious attack??

What groups do you think act in the same way?

You probably recognize at least one of the guys in the picture above. You probably remember that one of them was sent to prison for dog fighting and other related charges. You probably remember that only 19 months out of the 23 sentenced were served. This man is Michael Vick.

What you probably don’t remember is that the guy you don’t recognize is also an NFL player since 1998. What you also don’t remember is that he was sentenced to 90 days in jail, not prison, for manslaughter. Yes he killed a woman while he was drunk and served 3 months in jail for it. This man is Leonard Little.

Let me preface the rest of my writing by saying that I in no way condone what Vick and his cronies did to dogs. I am not an animal lover but I am not an animal hater either.

What I wish is for people to get off his back about his return to the NFL. He is a football player. That has been his “job” since he was young. He was gifted with a talent to throw the pigskin and run all willy-nilly on teams. If you want to continue to attack him, as a person, then so be it. But do not attack his return to his job. You’re pretty much saying that all criminals should not be able to re-enter the workforce once released from prison/jail.

On top of all this, he has to sit out the first five weeks of the season, roughly 30% of his team’s games after serving 19 months in prison. During that time he was not able to work as an NFL player.

Return to Mr. Little.

He was convicted of manslaughter and served 90 days in jail. He was suspended for half of the next season’s games. For killing a human. I have not seen one article debating why Leonard Little should be able to play in the NFL. I don’t see PETH(People for the Ethical Treatment of Humans, yes I totally made that up) protesting against his career. So essentially, the majority of people are stuck with the equation – Animals > Human.

Let’s also bring into the mix, Donte Stallworth. He, too, killed a human being recently. He is also an NFL player. He will be suspended for this season and reinstated the next season. I really doubt there will be a comparable hub-bub for Stallworth’s return as there is for Vick’s.

I’m reading Home Game by Michael Lewis. It’s a collection of his journal entries during his three children’s first year of life. It’s more for fathers than mothers but I recommend it to anyone that has or is having children. Here is an excerpt discussing how a father’s love changes for his children from "could care less" to "totally in love":

"But there’s something else, too, which I hesitate to mention for fear it will be used against me the next time we divvy up the unpleasant chores around here. The simple act of taking care of a living creature, even when you don’t want to, maybe especially when you don’t want to, is transformative. A friend of mine who adopted his two children was asked by a friend of his how he could ever hope to love them as much as if they were his own. "Have you ever owned a dog?" he said. And that’s the nub of the matter: All the little things that you must do for a helpless creature to keep it alive cause you to love it. Most people know this instinctively. For someone like me, who has heretofore displayed a nearly superhuman gift for avoiding unpleasant tasks, it comes as a revelation. It’s because you want to hurl it off the balcony and don’t that you come to love it."

I can totally relate to this. As a first time father, I was unsure how I was going to handle a child. Someone that was going to need my undivided attention. At first, I was prone to pawn her off on mom. She was a nuisance. How dare you wake me from my slumber every hour? But that passed with time. Now I can’t wait to get home from work just to see her sleeping in her crib. At one or two in the morning, I hope she wakes up just so I can hold her and play with her for a little bit while she drinks her bottle. I may seem grumpy when she decides its seven in the morning and it means everyone better wake up and you’re not going back to sleep because I’m going to play with my toys and don’t you dare walk away out of my sight for I will scream and cry. I could complain and bitch and moan about those mornings, but I really love them.

Torie just rubbed her eyes like she does when she’s sleepy. Then she saw me looking at her. She laughed and smiled really big and said “Screw this. I’m not sleepy after all.”

I enjoy moments like that.

Ten percent savings doesn’t seem like a lot and depending on the amount you apply the savings to, it may not be a lot. I often scoff at retail stores when they offer a 20% (or less) off sale for whatever material goods they sell.

Really? You’re going to give me 20% off that $20 shirt? Thanks for allowing me to save $4!

I mock these sales, not because of the miniscule savings, but because you’re not saving anything if you’re spending. But alas, that is not what this is about. editor’s note: I’m not even sure if that is the proper use of the word alas, but alas I’m using it!

I recently logged into my auto insurance account to make sure my address change had gone through. It was also coming close to the end of my 6-month policy so it was renewal time. I’ve always been a monthly payment kinda guy for my auto insurance, but something caught my eye this time. I could pay my 6 month policy in full for almost 10% less than if I was to make my monthly payments!

I thought about it for a few days. I had the money in my savings account. My savings account is earning a measly 1.4%, which is still one of the highest rates, but definitely not the 3-4% I was getting before this economic meltdown.

Since I could basically earn 8% on paying in full, I paid the entire bill. But, you ask, what about when your next renewal comes due. Are you going to just keep withdrawing from your savings, eventually leaving you with nothing?

No, my friend, I have a plan. My monthly payments were paid automatically on the 27th of each month. I still make these payments. No, not to the insurance company. I pay myself. I send the payment I would have had into my savings account. That money will be used to make the next 6 month renewal payment. And I’ll make a little extra money, about $10, each time I make the transfer from checking to savings.

So why wouldn’t you want to do this?

Well if all the money you have in your savings account would be the entire renewal payment, don’t do it. As a champion of savings, I recommend you have at least one month’s of expenses in your savings account before doing this.

Also you’re insurance company may not even offer such a great discount for paying in full. My old insurance company, *cough State Farm cough*, didn’t offer a discount for paying in full. The only difference was that I wouldn’t pay a $1 monthly installment plan fee. That was still about a 1% savings, but not really worth it to me.

Something that really chaps my hide these days is that we are giving youth a sense of entitlement. Entitlement to everything. I have no idea why our generation is doing this. We can sit here and complain about it, but we are the ones doing it.

Why?
Did we not feel entitled when we were young? Do we believe that since we grew up without everything getting handed to us that our children should be handed everything to them? We are ruining our children and I’m not sure there are enough people that realize it to stop it from happening.

Here’s a Trophy
Nowadays kids are getting participation trophies or ribbons. It’s not enough to make them try hard to get the trophy for first or second place. Nope. Mommy and Daddy paid their $75 to get you that trophy. Who cares if you come in last place as long as you get that trophy? In Little League, our team sucked. I mean we royally sucked. We once got a pizza party just for tying one of the best teams. And the game was called because of rain, so who’s to say we probably wouldn’t have lost it anyways. But I remember sucking every year and being so upset every year during the year-end awards ceremony. I had to sit there and watch the other teams get their trophies. I didn’t get a trophy so I had to work harder. So I did. It didn’t change our team’s fortunes, but I became a better baseball player because of it.

We were born to mothers who smoked and drank
Our cribs were covered in lead based paint
No child proof lids no seat belts in cars
Rode bikes with no helmets and still here we are, still here we are
We got daddy’s belt when we misbehaved
Had three TV channels you got up to change
No video games and no satellite
All we had were friends and they were outside, playin’ outside

A snippet from the source of my “frustration”. Bucky Covington’s A Different World. Download it, legally, and listen to it.

Once my friend told me that he had found Jesus. I thought to myself, “WooHoo, we’re rich!” It turns out he meant something different.
- Jack Handey

This is very true

http://www.boston.com/bigpicture/2008/09/hurricanes_as_seen_from_orbit.html

This is from 2004, so almost 4 years ago. I was re-reading some old blog postings and this made me laugh and remember it oh so vividly.

December 3rd after coming back from the company Christmas Dinner at the Elks Lodge, I stopped at the Kwik Chek to get some gas and a lotto ticket here in HG. I walk in and 2 cashier girls we behind the counter. I told em I had gas and wanted a lotto ticket. The girl that wasn’t assisting me asked if I wanted to donate a dollar to some horseshoe for hope stuff and I said no.
She said “Well can I tell you something?”
“Sure”
“I hope your legs never fall off”
“Ok THANKS!”

That kinda irked me a bit. I went in the next Saturday to get another lotto ticket and lo and behold guess who is working. You guessed it! That same girl.

“I need a lotto ticket, quick pick, cash option”
“Ok, would you like to donate a …”
“No, and I don’t want my legs to fall off either!”
“Huh, what are you talking about?”
“I came in here last weekend and I didn’t want to donate $1 and you told me you hoped my legs didn’t fall off and I didn’t appreciate that!”
“No I didn’t”
“Yeah you did”
“I must have been playing around..”
“No you weren’t and I didn’t like you saying that anyways. You’re lucky I didn’t come talk to your manager cause I’m pretty sure you need your job”
“Uh…”
And I walked out the door as it looked like she was about to cry. So Mission Accomplished. Yeah I know I was a bit harsh but geez, don’t tell someone that!

One thing that really irks me is people driving as fast as they can or think they should be able to with total disregard for the speed limit. It seems we are all in a rush to get to that next stop light. There is no greater satisfaction while I’m on the road than to get passed by someone speeding and then meet them at the next stop light and pass them. Childish, I know. But oh so gratifying.

I’m an odd duck here in the DFW metroplex, especially on the road. I drive the speed limit of 60 mph around here. I do that for great fear of getting a speeding ticket and because it saves gas, or so they say. I’m a small-town dude that grew up in the slow life so I’m in no rush to get anywhere.

With all this information coming out about saving gas and such, I decided to run some numbers to see just how much time is saved by going x mph over the speed limit. You can pretty much see, its not even worth it.

You save just a few minutes of time as opposed to putting yourself and others at risk.

I assume most trips are approximately 25 miles here in the DFW, but if less then your time savings are even smaller.

The speed limit on most highways around here is 60 mph. Thus a 25 mile trip is going to take you 25 minutes. Most people that speed by are going at least 65 and sometimes more.  Just going 5 mph over the limit saves you an entire 1 minute and 55 seconds. Wouldn’t it be easier to leave 2 minutes early? If you drive 70 mph you don’t even save 4 minutes. Not worth it my friend, not worth it.

A follow-up from the last post on DISD education. I believe it hits the nail on the head.

http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/dn/localnews/columnists/jfloyd/stories/DN-floyd_17met.ART.State.Bulldog.4d82ff3.html

I came across this story just a few minutes ago and it has infuriated me.

“DISD plan to ease grading standards angers teachers”

For example, the new rules require teachers to accept late work and prevent them from penalizing students for missed deadlines. Homework grades that would drag down a student’s overall average will be thrown out.

School officials said the new guidelines are needed to ensure that all district teachers operate under the same rules and to create a “fair system” for grading students.
Read the rest of this entry »

It seems that the CIA are dominated by people who are mentally ill.  For example, they seem to have the attitude that they will solve the world’s problems with assassinations, weapons, LSD and war.  These are policies I would expect from an angry, 10-year old boy.
- Eric Hufschmid
  http://www.erichufschmid.net/WhatToDoWithTheUSA.html

American’s love to blame someone else for all of their problems. Many times the problem can be seen with a quick look in the mirror.
We’re quick to blame fast food for making us fat. Well, if we weren’t so lazy we wouldn’t be so fat. Next we’ll be blaming Lazy Boy for making the chair too comfortable for us to get out of it.

Took several pictures at the Rangers vs Yankees game Wednesday Aug 6,2008.

Had a program put together the below panoramic picture. Click to enlarge.