Needs no explanation…and is a fun read no matter your gender.
What do you expect from such simple creatures? Your last name stays put. The garage is all yours. Wedding plans take care of themselves. Chocolate is just another snack. You can never be pregnant. You can wear a white T-shirt to a water park. You can wear NO shirt to a water park.
Car mechanics tell you the truth. The world is your urinal. You never have to drive to another gas station restroom because this one is just too icky. You don’t have to stop and think of which way to turn a nut on a bolt. Same work, more pay. Wrinkles add character. Wedding dress $5000. Tux rental-$100. People never stare at your chest when you’re talking to them. New shoes don’t cut, blister, or mangle your feet. One mood all the time. Phone conversations are over in 30 seconds flat. You know stuff about tanks.
A five-day vacation requires only one suitcase. You can open all your own jars.
You get extra credit for the slightest act of thoughtfulness. If someone forgets to invite you, he or she can still be your friend. Your underwear is $8.95 for a three-pack. Two pairs of shoes are more than enough.. You almost never have strap problems in public You are unable to see wrinkles in your clothes. Everything on your face stays its original color.. The same hairstyle lasts for years, maybe decades. You only have to shave your face and neck.
You can play with toys all your life. One wallet and one pair of shoes — one color for all seasons. You can wear shorts no matter how your legs look.. You can ‘do’ your nails with a pocket knife. You have freedom of choice concerning growing a mustache. You can do Christmas shopping for 25 relatives On December 24 in 25 minutes. No wonder men are happier.
NICKNAMES
� If Laura, Kate and Sarah go out for lunch, they will call each other Laura, Kate and Sarah.
� If Mike, Dave and John go out, they will affectionately refer to each other as Fat Boy, Bubba and Wildman.
EATING OUT
� When the bill arrives, Mike, Dave and John will each throw in $20, even though it’s only for $32.50. None of them will have anything smaller and none will actually admit they want change back.
� When the girls get their bill, out come the pocket calculators.
MONEY
� A man will pay $2 for a $1 item he needs.
� A woman will pay $1 for a $2 item that she doesn’t need but it’s on sale.
BATHROOMS
� A man has six items in his bathroom: toothbrush and toothpaste, shaving cream, razor, a bar of soap, and a towel.
� The average number of items in the typical woman’s bathroom is 337. A man would not be able to identify more than 20 of these items.
ARGUMENTS
� A woman has the last word in any argument.
� Anything a man says after that is the beginning of a new argument.
FUTURE
� A woman worries about the future until she gets a husband.
� A man never worries about the future until he gets a wife.
MARRIAGE
� A woman marries a man expecting he will change, but he doesn’t.
� A man marries a woman expecting that she won’t change, but she does.
DRESSING UP
� A woman will dress up to go shopping, water the plants, empty the trash, answer the phone, read a book, and get the mail.
� A man will dress up for weddings and funerals.
NATURAL
� Men wake up as good-looking as they went to bed.
� Women somehow deteriorate during the night.
OFFSPRING
� Ah, children. A woman knows all about her children. She knows about dentist appointments and romances, best friends, favorite foods, secret fears and hopes and dreams.
� A man is vaguely aware of some short people living in the house.
THOUGHT
FOR THE DAY
A married man should forget his mistakes. There’s no use in two people
remembering the same thing!
SO,
send this to the women who have a sense of humor…. and to the men who will enjoy reading
Many on the extreme right saw Cruz as the model of their idea of the perfect candidate.
He said all the right things to woo the evangelicals and of course hid his dirty work under the covers so the “perfect” voters could feel good about casting their vote for a man that held their ideals and worshiped the same Jesus that they worship.
This person won Iowa by cheating and pulling Lawyer tricks.
This person took delegates that should have belonged to Trump again through Lawyer tricks, and when accosted by Trump his response was, “all is fair in love and politics” paraphrasing.
To garner his win in Utah “he” sent out a nude photo of Trump’s wife advertising to the UBER right wing Mormon class, that this was going to be their new first lady!
Back in the day, she was a model…
Twenty-Six million evangelicals stayed home in 2012 because they could not stomach a Mormon in the White House. We got Obama for a second term. How did that work out for you?
Here we are in 2016.
A self-made business man who has had ample opportunity to screw up his life, has managed to not only not screw it up but raise a family that manages to deal with wealth and not be totally rotten to the core.
This is a man that does not drink, smoke or do drugs yet he could easily afford the best, like many celebrities, athletes, etc. and he does not. His vice is a milkshake at the ballgame with friends.
If I remember correctly Oreilly bought them!
I see many evangelical posts on social media saying that they cannot vote for Trump. Alas, he is not perfect!
“No Christian should bow their knee to Trump; his past is questionable.”
Trump is not running for a theological leader of anyone. Trump is running because he wants to give back to a country that has been good to him.
Self-funded the primary, handily beat 16 qualified candidates and now he has to survive $1.5 Billion dollars of negative ads, social engineering and right wing nut jobs who think that the next president should be Jesus himself!
Jesus is not going to run to save you from yourself! He gave you a brain and reasoning skills and expects you to use them!
This next election is so important you have no idea.
The progressive agenda will utterly destroy what is left of this country after this last 8 years.
He never inhaled or learned what the meaning of “is is…”
We will be $20T in debt because of this administration and have many more problems than answers for the next president to deal with.
I am not an apologist for Trump.
I know who he is. He is not perfect Folks, we could do one hell of a lot worse than him. If you stay home, you are voting for Hillary. If you are willingly voting for her, you need to stop drinking the kool-aid.
If you can’t chuckle at this your not trying!
Isn’t it a good thing that God does not judge you as harshly as you judge Trump?
Vote to “Make America Great Again!” It’s the right thing to do!
This guy thinks we need more taxes to pay for more entitlements.
This is too true to be funny.
The next time you hear a politician use the
Word ‘billion’ in a casual manner, think about
whether you want the ‘politicians’ spending
YOUR tax money. A billion is a difficult number to comprehend,
But one advertising agency did a good job of
Putting that figure into some perspective in
One of its releases.
A.
A billion seconds ago it was 1959.
B.
A billion minutes ago Jesus was alive.
C.
A billion hours ago our ancestors were
living in the Stone Age.
D.
A billion days ago no-one walked on the earth on two feet.
E.
A billion dollars ago was only
8 hours and 20 minutes,
at the rate our government
is spending it.
While this thought is still fresh in our brain…
let’s take a look at New Orleans …
It’s amazing what you can learn with some simple division.
Louisiana Senator,
Mary Landrieu (D)
was asking Congress for
250BILLION DOLLARS
Torebuild New Orleans . Interesting number…
What does it mean?
A.
Well .. If you are one of the 484,674 residents of New Orleans
(every man, woman and child)
You each get$516,528
B.
Or… If you have one of the 188,251 homes in
New Orleans , your home gets$1,329,787.
C.
Or… If you are a family of four…
Your family gets$2,066,012.
Washington , D.C
HELLO!
Are all your calculators broken??
Building Permit Tax
CDL License Tax
Cigarette Tax
Corporate Income Tax
Dog License Tax
Federal Income Tax (Fed)
Federal Unemployment Tax (FU TA)
Fishing License Tax
Food License Tax
Fuel Permit Tax
Gasoline Tax
Hunting License Tax
Inheritance Tax
Inventory Tax
IRS Interest Charges (tax on top of tax)
IRS Penalties (tax on top of tax)
Liquor Tax
Luxury Tax
Marriage License Tax
Medicare Tax
Property Tax
Real Estate Tax
Service charge Taxes
Social Security Tax
Road Usage Tax (Truckers)
Sales Taxes
Recreational Vehicle Tax
School Tax
State Income Tax
State Unemployment Tax (SUTA)
Telephone Federal Excise Tax
Telephone Federal Universal Service Fee Tax
Telephone Federal, State and Local Surcharge Tax
Telephone Minimum Usage Surcharge Tax
Telephone Recurring and Non-recurring Charges Tax
Telephone State and Local Tax
Telephone Usage Charge Tax
Utility Tax
Vehicle License Registration Tax
Vehicle Sales Tax
Watercraft Registration Tax
Well Permit Tax
Workers Compensation Tax
(And to think, we left British Rule to avoid so many taxes)
STILL THINK THIS IS FUNNY?
Not one of these taxes existed 100 years ago…
And our nation was the most prosperous in the world.
We had absolutely no national debt…
We had the largest middle class in the world…
And Mom stayed home to raise the kids.
What happened?
Can you spell
‘politicians’!
And I still have to
Press ‘1’
For English.
I hope this goes around the
USA Atleast 100 times
What the heck has happened to our country?????
Enter a caption
Mary Landrieu Takes Heat for Spending Public Money on Private Flights – ABC News
I find myself between contracts on occasion. If there were something, that is a good match for my skills and talents, I would love the opportunity to speak with them or you about it.
As a seasoned professional, I bring many things to the table.
If I had a nickel for every time someone would ask me, “I got this C:\> on my screen, what do I do now?” Family is the worst, you cant charge them!
I started working with computers when DOS was in its infancy; nobody knew who Bill Gates was and Wang, IBM and Xerox were the major players with Atari, Tandy and the Commodore PET was in vogue for the affluent home user.
Early hard drive which had to be in a really cool room. The media was removable, the heads would stay inside the machine.
Steve Jobs had just stopped being a criminal with his phone freaking hardware, but still was a nobody, while building the first apple in his garage.
Alex Gibney’s newest documentary, “Steve Jobs: The Man in the Machine,” chronicles the famed Apple founder. Courtesy photoBlue Box
BBS’s or Bulletin Boards hanging off a POTS line at 300baud were the standard. 1200 baud was certainly not common as some were still using acoustical modems.
Al Gore had not invented the internet yet…
Truthfully I think he had something to do with legislation allowing the public access to it. Somehow it got conflated with him as the inventor.
Main Frames were what most companies used complete with water-cooling.
Networks went from different coaxial types for the physical layer. Arc net was the least expensive, Ethernet was still in the works, and Token ring, IBM’s idea was the standard; but few could afford it.
Starting on the ground floor of this industry, leaving a rather successful career in electronics was a valuable experience for me.
Witnessing the demise of the typewriter, dictation equipment, Gregg Shorthand and the secretarial pool replaced with high-powered laptops and smartphones has been quite the thing to see.
Yes, I actually worked on these…Mylar belts were the media.
The cost of one business letter in the 70’s was well over $100 in 1970’s dollars. Today a quick e-mail re-defined the way we communicate. In today’s 2016 dollar, that is $627.38…
Before my time but not by much!
If you do not believe me about the price of a business letter, ask me about it. I was there.
Gregg shorthand
The first virus I fought was before there was anti-virus software. The cleverest virus I fought was the “pong” virus. Modeled after the Pong game, one would be working in some program and a ball resembling the ball in pong would appear. As it struck a character, the character would fall to the bottom of the screen. This of course was destroying your document but at least you had some entertainment while it did it.
Pong or “ping pong virus”
Moving from the XT Based 8086 systems in the late 70’s up to the recent, has been a nice ride and I have enjoyed being part of that evolution. As hardware hits the brick walls of physics and bigger better faster slows down, software must carry the advancements forward until such a time that chip manufacturers figure out how to get more speed and throughput maximizing everything from RAM to video and disc performance. Embracing advancements while constantly positioning the company strategically ahead of the curve, but not on the bleeding edge is my long-standing history.
These were great!
Once included in your world, seamlessly; I will become part of that world knowing your business and how technology fits.
Every part works in concert to fulfill its intended purpose. Employees must necessarily “fit.”
While focusing more on business applications vs wiz bang hardware, I specialize in providing an ROI to the people who have to pay for it. Is this technology necessary? How will it help? Will it prepare me to transition in the future?
Spending much of my life with technology, I have run a business now for the last 10 years providing ad-hoc IT services, while performing disaster recovery services.
My specialties include, but are not are limited to:
Over 30 years hands-on IT projects.
Over 15 years in Management.
Data Center design and installation
Power
Placement
Controls
HVAC
Fire retardant
ADA compliance
Security design and audits
Physical security design
Disaster Recovery
Best Practice
Business Acumen
Compliance issues with SOX or other regulations, as the need requires.
Visionary and forward “out of the box” thinker.
Troubleshooter
From the desktop to the cloud, I have it covered.
Some of the typical calls I receive while on site.
The internet is slow.
The server crashes.
We think we might have a virus.
This computer cant “see” the printer.
I don’t know what we have?
I thought we paid for that software?
Somehow this computer got hacked.
Cant get on the Internet..
If these sound familiar the underlying causes may surprise you.
Through best practice, a complete inventory of your hardware and software it usually does not take long to figure out why?
Lack of documentation is generally the common denominator.
From a startup that just needs things set up right the first time, to a company that let some family member set it up, and now needs help, I am your person. No sugar coating…
This letter is meant for those of you who see my profile on Linked in and wonder if I am available. Drop me a note, I might be!
Unlike others who will blow smoke, I will not. If you are seeking a trip to the moon with funding for the carnival, I will tell you. If I cannot help you, I will not waste your time. I know many people in the industry, I might simply refer you.
As someone who has written many job descriptions, hired and let go more than I care to think about, I am a tried and tested realist. I find options for you, and then you decide.
The golden arches have forever been a small source of satisfaction for millions of folks. As a young person… I was introduced to A&W drive trough’s until I moved south in the early 60’s.
They had the different burger sizes by baby, teen, mama and father I think burger… Same with the size of the ice cold Mug of Root beer!
On the way south there were the famous Burma Shave signs to keep one entertained on long car trips and finally the Golden Arches.
These were awesome marketing..
Before Trans-fats became evil …. Their French Fries were the Best!
Doesn’t this make you want to go right now and get some fries?
Second to McDonald’s, later in life a place called Arbys. It was not until the early 70’s do I remember them as being a staple on the fast food fast track of life. Their fries were awesome! They screwed that up by the way, with those hideous curly seasoned things…Yuck!
Bring back regular fries and I will patronize you again.
They would serve them in cups back then, much like the cups that the drinks came in. It was a toss-up really, if I were going after the sandwich or the fries.
As a young person, I worked for the King of Burgers or Burger King. There for $2.10 an hour I slaved away with a team of my peers making and selling burgers.
Wearing that nylon polyester orange and yellow zip up shirt, that would more than likely com busts if I got too close to the flames, I made countless burgers. We had good fries as well but here is the thing. We were taught customer service. For $2.10 an hour, we worked until after one in the morning where I would finish by putting the food up and cleaning up the place. Then I would ride my bicycle home in any kind of weather. It was about 2 miles and oh by the way, I still was expected to go to school the next day and if my grades suffered, the job went away.
Before I talk about the “Golden Arches”, I would like to say … I appreciated that job and I think that every child should work in the food services industry while going to school.
Why?
Firstly, you learn what an entry-level job is and what it is about. You learn some skills even if it is simply getting somewhere at an appointed time and doing something for your shift.
If you are fortunate like I was, you learn what customer service is and, you might even learn some remedial cooking skills. Most certainly, you will learn some skills regarding sanitation and cleanliness. You get more out of it if you will put something into it.
Burger King paid more than minimum wage. When I worked there, minimum wage was $1.80. .30 cents an hour to the entitled class seems like nothing but when gas was .50 cents a gallon guess what….thirty cents added up.
Working in this industry really makes you appreciate a real job when you get one and by the way, it will drive you to secure one. Cleaning those damned walk-ins every Sunday was a bloody nightmare, but I did it and never complained.
Many things happen when you get your first job.
You actually learn time management as you have to juggle school and work and oh yes, sleep. The schedule is tough, I am not going to sugar coat it, and there is little time for play.
Riding a bike home in the snow, at 1 in the morning actually builds character if you can fathom that…
I could have asked my parents to come get me. What would that do? What would I learn in that deal, how to guilt my parents? I knew that this was about me…It was about learning who I was.
The first paycheck is a revelation as well. When you get your first check for $200 for two long ass weeks work and you see that $35 of it was taken out for taxes…What a kick in the gut! What was this Fica and other taxes on there. “This is not even a real job, can they do that!? I learned some basic economics.”
Well, it is a real job and those are real dollars being taken from you for the beginnings of a socialistic society,which has been going on since Woodrow Wilson.
Fast-forward 30 years….
A few (18) months ago, I stopped into a McDonalds in East Texas. I was traveling and had little time so truthfully, fast food was called for.
As many know, the bathroom is a critical part of any visit to a fast food place for a number of reasons.
The most obvious is that you are traveling. I hope that in a restaurant the bathroom will be clean. I have never ever stopped into a place and just used their facilities and not patronized them, never! All of that cost money and to me doing that would be “theft of service.”
The visit to East Texas was a bad experience. The bathroom was a wreck.
If the bathroom is not kept up, you can guess what the kitchen will look like or at the very least, they may not be paying attention to how the take care of the food. This is the second and I would argue more important reason to visit the bathroom, in any place you intend to eat.
There were many things wrong with this restaurant, so much so that I took notes, pictures and contacted the corporate office. For all of my time and effort they sent me a form letter business card coupon for a free quarter pounder…I tossed it into the bin… I was not looking for anything other than for them to fix the problem.
Years, well 18 months or so have passed and I finally broke with tradition and went back to the Golden Arches this week leaving the well-established Whataburger and Chick filet habit for a Quarter pounder, fries and a Doctor Pepper.
This was after 2 in the afternoon, there were three cars in total in the line, one in front of me ordering. After waiting over 5 minutes, the person in front of me finally pulled ahead. I am a patient person but had someone not pulled in behind me, I might have headed back to Whataburger, as they are very predictable. “Keep that in mind, I want to get back to that fact.”
Pulling up to place my order, there was nothing. Saying hello several times, a person in a very low voice said “just a minute.” I think that is what they said. A van behind me full of a family started to get impatient, looking at me like I was the holdup. He then started yelling at me “what is the problem!”
Pointing at the box, then raising my hands while making eye contact with him was the universal language for “cool your jets!” It is not me holding this up.
Finally, she took my order and on the screen, she indeed got it correct.
Pulling forward to the “first window,” a young woman took my card and charged close to $8.00 for this meager meal…ok…just get the food and I will leave.
At the second window, it takes another several minutes with the guy in the van giving me the stink eye once again, thinking that I am the holdup…nope…just waiting on my food. #3…Dr.Pepper…simple.
The folks behind the counter have a robot that makes the drinks now.
Instead of what I remember as a K-Way, they have a robot where they put in the proper cup and hit a button. A set amount of ice fills the cup and a set amount of sugary drink fills the cup the rest of the way. Sweet…right?
Grabbing my food, I thanked her and left, before the person in the van became agitated further and did something stupid. “Can you imagine having to get into a fight with some hot head in line at a fast food place because the people inside have something very wrong?”
The meal was two thirds correct. I got Diet Coke instead of Dr.Pepper. People, diet drinks are evil! I would rather drink tap water than that crap. I have no idea what chemicals are in diet drinks. I was not going back and probably will not go back.
Remember what I said about consistent?
The secret to Ray Kroc success was in large part, no matter where in the world that you went, if you went to eat at the golden arches the food was consistent in taste and quality.
Another secret to his wealth was real estate. That is another story.
In this day of different fast food places, an Icon like McDonalds needs to get back to what made it great. Consistent food quality, at a good price, with quality customer service. McDonalds hires and trains many first time workers. I do not know what has changed in their management, but something is amiss.
With more and more robots, there will be fewer people needed as the idiots in government seek to put their nose in the business of business’s trying to tell them how to run their company, and order them to pay a certain wage. Fast food places are not, and were never meant to be careers! They pretty much idiot proof the process, so they can hire kids and hopefully teach them some remedial skills along the way.
More and more companies will go overseas and, more and more companies will replace people with automation.
We see it in the stores everyday with self-checkout and fewer checkers. I just wonder when I am going to be asked to go up and self-stock the shelves.
Would it be too much to pull into a gas station, look out the window and say “fill er up?”
Today’s news regarding the slide of oil prices brings back the memories of the volatile world in which we live and just how much of it centers around our lack of energy independence.
Still fresh in my mind are the long lines at the gas pumps of the “world coming to an end” oil shortage of 1973.
Much like the world ending “Global Warming Hoax,” I do not trust any of them. (with good reason…they lie!)
If you really want to know what it means…follow the money… Who gets rich if we stop using coal, or we all use sunshine and unicorn magic instead of fossil fuel? If Al gets to sell you his carbon credits that he already has printed, who gets the money for them, and what do they do with that money?
Many of my readers are too young to remember or know about the oil shortage hoax, so for those of you that were not driving in the 70’s here is the deal.
In 1972 Gas was about .50 a gallon. $5 dollars would fill my car…The price per barrel of crude was $14.00. Minimum wage was $1.85. I made minimum wage for a while until I went to work flipping burgers making $2.10. “I was of course in school; this was popcorn, gas and movie money.”
All of the sudden there was this “Energy Crisis!” We had gas lines and limited supplies. According to Carter, we were going dry and in a few years’ time, there would be no more gas…ever!
There were oil tankers crashing into each other as well as running in to under water obstructions spilling millions of gallons of oil into the ocean. The shipping lanes, which they had navigated safely for years prior and years since; all of the sudden became more dangerous…?
My contention is that those ships were sitting off shore waiting for orders to make their delivery and ran into things because they were in places that they should not have been.
As Americans went from paying .50 cents a gallon and allowed to purchase all the gas that they wanted, that changed overnight. Suddenly it was mandated as to how much and when we could purchase gas. No more than 10 gallons on odd or even days depending upon your license plate, and of course, the price jumped. Like sheep, we fell in line because our leader was someone we could trust, and if he told us this, we would do it.
President Carter responded to the crises thusly…. This is part of his speech…
“The oil and natural gas that we rely on for 75 percent of our energy are simply running out.… World oil production can probably keep going up for another 6 or 8 years. But sometime in the 1980’s, it can’t go up any more. Demand will overtake production. We have no choice about that.”
“To some degree, the sacrifices will be painful—but so is any meaningful sacrifice. It will lead to some higher costs and to some greater inconvenience for everyone. But the sacrifices can be gradual, realistic, and they are necessary.”
“We must not be selfish or timid if we hope to have a decent world for our children and our grandchildren.”
This is not the first time a sitting president has lied to us….Nor will it be the last.
Oil production during this period was steady with a slight linear progression all except one…The Middle East.
In 1970, The Middle East topped the oil production of North America, continuing its production to 21.894,000 and in 1974 to finally peak in to 22,020,550 in 1979. At which time they cut production back to a low 10,645.400 1984.
There were other players in the market, but make no mistake, the Middle East was the driving force.
During this time, Asia Pacific was ramping up its use of Oil… In 1979, they peaked usage to 10,917,244 barrels a day. At this same time, North America was sitting at 21,483,623 with the largest consumer of oil being Europe and Eurasia coming in at 25,117,430 barrels a day.
The problem was the OPEC Embargo. Egypt and Syria announced that they were no longer selling oil to countries that supported Israel. Less supply of oil caused prices to rise 134%. In response to this Saudi Arabia, Iran, Iraq, Abu Dhabi, Kuwait, and Qatar unilaterally raised prices by 17 percent.
These events caused issues with our markets and eventually negatively affected our GDP.
Once again, we were held hostage over oil in the 1979 Iranian Revolution. OPEC once again raised prices by another 14.5%. The US then halted Imports from IRAN and Kuwait, Iran and Libya cut production. Saudi Arabia eventually raised the prices of crude to $24 a barrel. These factors brought an increase of oil up another 118% in one year. The Gulf War precipitated another increase of 113% in 1990… This adversely effected the strength of the US dollar as the feds started to lower interests’ rates.
Lines
We had long lines at the gas pumps because the Middle East who we now relied upon for oil. Years of negotiations finally eased supply but the price was no longer .50 a gallon. Today the barrel of oil dropped below $30 a barrel. If things were equal that should make a gallon of gas about a dollar.
These are the scant few facts that history tells but… I would really like to know the rest of the story. Who profited? Why did Carter fill our heads with lies? Who was pulling his strings?
The Embargo that inconvenienced millions was a political play. Today we have a glut of oil on the market bringing the prices down to record lows taking the world stock markets with it. They are blaming the glut on less demand … are you trying to tell me that there are less cars?
The Middle East for some reason, “economics” is crushing its competition by making oil supplies more abundant. This adversely effects the other oil companies, as now exploration…fracking… and other sources of obtaining oil is no longer profitable. With oil at $30.00 a barrel, all of the oil producing countries of the world will be effected, with Russia, amongst one of the countries hardest hit.
Enjoy your cheap fill-ups as your 401K is adversely suffering because of this.
“Do they still teach economics in school?”
“Have they common cored our people into actual stupidity?”
Now she is pretty…This is far more important than your survival…look at that pretty dress…that bracelet is stunning…I wonder who did her hair… Sarcasm..yep!
If the kids of today understood anything other than who got an award in Hollywood or who was sleeping with whom, or…what video game is great and why…they might actually protest our out of control politicians. These overpaid bags of hot air who paint with unicorn blood and fairy dust, create rosy pictures for those of you who watch passively the greatest president that we ever had…ever…give the greatest State of the Union address ever! If you do not believe me…ask him….he will tell you that himself if, he can pull himself away from his selfie stick or mirror! “Yes, that is sarcasm.” If the only politics you followed are on MSNBC or CNN and then watched the State of the Union Address you would buy the lies.
There is some sort of scandal with her and mean girls but that really does not interests me…She is attractive … but completely not germane to anything that I am talking about.
“Folks, they are lies…. People such as myself are not going to be able to keep this fight up forever…you had best engage and smarten up, unless you want to go the way of Greece.”
Protest in Greece turns violent… Out of free money…
I will take this opportunity to put a plug in for a news network that is strictly news. No opinions, just the facts. http://www.oann.com/
I actually think she is great! I think she went to the Blaze …
Their reporters at time are sophomoric, but I find that part of the charm. Just the facts, no spin. They are currently in a battle with the major news networks, as the multi media giants are pulling strings to keep them off cable networks. Verizon still has them but Time Warner and Charter who seem to be under the thumb of certain people in the administration, do not want them. The FCC is going to have to get involved with this one but I am certain that they “the multi media giants” can drag this out until after the election, as to keep the left wing loons influencing politics as they have been doing forever.
A recent article about tipping brings to the forefront of our “things to talk about;” tipping.
Europe has simply raised the cost of goods and services 20% to 30% in their restaurants and stopped tipping. The money “supposedly” used to increase the wages of the employees as well as pay for things like health care. I do not see any issues here, do you?
In theory, it sounds great but what accountabilityis there on the shop owners that they will use that money for those reasons? The answer is none.
I would prefer to TIP my server, as his or her service can be quantifiably assessed by his or her clients. They get immediate feedback.
Speaking of jobs if I could choose, I would like to be a restaurant critic. I already am a foodie and know something about food. I used to travel a lot, when on an expense account one of my companies allowed generous benefits in that area. Taking clients out to dinner often times I went to 5 star places and came to know the difference between good, mediocre and bad.
If I could have dinner with one celebrity, it would be Gordon Ramsey. In the world of IT, I am just like him, other than I can choose my vernacular better than he…I still have that style and appreciate an honest person.
Life is not fair.
Not everyone will have the same skills and talents. When you as a younger person piss off your opportunities afforded to you in school, you relegate yourself to jobs that are currently being taken by others from other countries that think those jobs are sweet; you limit your possibilities!
In the food services industry, servers that are good, earn more money than those that work in the back room.
I would point out that the kitchen helper position is not exactly a career choice that anyone should aspire to. Much like working in the mailroom in a large corporation, those are entry points into the job market. They are minimum wage jobs because they require little talent to perform.
Retail sales is not a career choice, it is an entry point. The problem is that managers that work there will tell their people anything to encourage them to keep their nose to the grindstone and work hard as they see management potential in them. Most of the time they are lying in an effort to placate you into giving them more of your time in return for part time minimum wage dollars.
“Time is expensive.”
When you boil it all down, what you are selling is bits and pieces of yourself through the time you invest. We are all whores if you think about it; we will do almost anything for money.
“Money truly is the root of all evil!”
People that find a way to live comfortably, without killing themselves to earn more money, are probably the true winners of the game of life.
Higher paying jobs are inherently more stressful, and stress kills. Stress produces a hormone known as cortisol. This hormone is the “fight or flight” hormone, released when danger is present. When we stay in a stressed out situation, that hormone is released in copious amounts, and often…that takes a toll on your body and your health suffers.
If corporations had a brain in their collective heads, they would look into ways to reduce the stress on their employees; as stress leads to job burnout, sick time and turnover. Those are costly!
If you can live on minimum wage, work your 8 hours and whistle while you work, your life might be sweet.
Those who chase the dollar their whole life, typically die young and leave their life’s work to their spouse or their greedy progeny to fight over, allowing attorneys to swoop in like vultures, and acquire the bulk of it.
Tips for success.
Get a good education.
Find a trade or skill that cannot be outsourced, and master it.
Discover all of your talents and skills. What are they? Take an inventory of them.
Are any of them marketable?
Figure out what you like to do…what makes you happy?
Can you find a job doing that?
Keep toxicity out of your life.
If you have toxic friends, develop boundaries and keep them outside of them. If your job is toxic, find something else as soon as possible. We all have worked around toxic people who bitch and moan incessantly. That is their own toxic cesspool, which they most likely have created. Stay out of their sphere of influence. Do not add to it and certainly do not marry into it. You cannot fix stupid and you cannot help someone that does not know either that they need help or that they do not want it. Some people actually enjoy being miserable. They like to be the victim. You cannot help them.
As a manager, identify those employees and try to work with them through HR, or get rid of them, that BS is contagious.
Tomorrow is never coming back. The time you spent reading this is gone, forever. The time I spent elucidating my thoughts on these subjects is gone as well. I hope that I spent that time wisely. I am optimistic in thinking that you got something out of it.
Time is your stock in trade. Time can be measure in heartbeats as you only have so many. There is a finite number of times that your heart will pump that life force around your body. Do not waste it.
I write the following from what I have learned thus far on this subject. I would appreciate input from those of you that have made this trip successfully.
Write Well
It cannot be overemphasized enough to write well. I have read many books written by people who were self-published. They wrote their story that they wanted to tell. Not being able to make their fortune from their manuscript, they self-published. They spent the next several months trying to sell enough of their books to re-coop their investment. Not everyone was meant to be a writer or published. If they had read their work more carefully they would have discovered that it was not written well. This leads me to my next thought.
Write for your enjoyment.
The passion that most writers have is not to sell millions of books, just to write. It has been said that if you want to get to know the author, read their book. Take this one-step further. If you want to get to know yourself, who you are…, write a book. When you are reading your story, if you are listening, you will find yourself in your characters. Insight as to who you actually are will come out in their actions and feelings.
If your characters do not have feelings, you need to go back and try again. Sell the story through their actions or feelings.
Which reminds me, do not try to do this for a living, until you are famous. Your sanity might depend upon you being in this world with a day job. We are social creatures, being around people and not in your world of your story all of the time is important. Of this… I speak from experience…
Start out with a bang!
The first few pages sell your book, especially for an unknown. The prologue is a good place to entice the reader to want to know more, than you can build the story after the prologue. Once you become a JK Rowling, than you can let your name (or brand) sell your product.
Be well read
Most successful writers read a lot. While I have read some “flash in the pan” books that were not well written, nor were the authors “well read,” that actually made it. Statistics show that more often than not, books that get published, are from people who were well read.
Have a story that is unique and interesting
Your story should be unique. If it is a rehash of a common situation, there is a good chance it will sit on the circular file cabinet of some publisher, until the janitor makes his or her rounds.
Expect rejection
You must have thick skin to be in this vocation. Your own family may not like what you have written. Do not expect everyone to love it as much as you do. This is your baby, your passion not theirs. As soon as you send it off to someone, start working on something else. One of the publishers that I have been talking with might take a year before they get back to you simply telling you, no thanks!
A Good Agent
First off, agents are about as hard to sell as are publishers themselves. Many folks take up writing as a get rich scheme instead of for the pure passion of writing or telling a story. Agents get a commission for what they do. Never pay someone up front…If the agent is a true agent worth their salt, they will know from your synopsis if this is something that they can sell.
Do lots of research on your agent before signing.
Good agents are available. Locating them through a writers league might be a good idea as the others in the league might have an experience to share.
Finish your work before you think about getting it published
I have spoken with many who get some idea for a book and immediately approach an agent or publisher. “You have nothing to sell, until there is a manuscript of 120,000 words or so in your hands.”
When writing your manuscript do not get hung up on the word count! After the editing process, your 135,000 words might be around 95,000. Somewhere between 100,000 and 120,000 seems to be optimal.
Check your work well before you send it off…
As alluded to in the last point, editing your work is paramount. When you decide to send it off, it should be as good as you could possibly make it. I like to read it aloud although one trick that I found is to have something like “Nuance’s Naturally Speaking” full edition; read it back to me, one paragraph at a time. Your mind will skip over clumsy sentences or bad grammar. The program only reads what it sees so the “you instead of the your” will pop out at you!
Try to get something published in a magazine prior to getting your book published.
This is a great idea for first time writers. Write a short story or several, 5000 words or so and submit it to magazines. If they publish it, they might pay around $500 for the story (one time) but you then can write on your cover sheet…published in…. That is a great way for your manuscript to get more of a look than 3 seconds, of some agent or publishers time.
“What magazine you ask?” What do you write? Sci-Fi… Pick a science fiction magazine and approach them with a story…
Submission guidelines are critical…
Everyone has some idea of what they expect to see when they open your manuscript. I have found double-spaced block type, cover sheet etc… They should have guidelines to follow…follow them not just a little bit, to the letter.
Have a well-written synopsis keeping it to two pages.
This is a problem for writers. You need to tell the complete story, with the ending in 500 words or so…2 pages… Look for guidelines online… Oh yes, it must be written well…
Purchase The Writer’s Market published by Writer’s Digest
Query Letter
Send a query letter even if they say they are currently not accepting. The worst thing that will happen is you wasted a stamp. (One page) Many publishers may say that they do not accept unsolicited manuscripts but truth be told, they all want best sellers. A query letter cost you .50 cents and it might perk their interests.
Sending your manuscript to agents and or publishers should not be with a lot of fanfare. Simply box it “if it fits its ships” or padded envelope and let the post office do it for you. No FED EX nothing like that…Media Mail in fact… Anything else gives the appearance of desperation. “They should be lucky that you have chosen them to publish…” Ok, maybe not but, you get the gist.
Now go back to writing and tell a story….
-Best
Below are a few links that I have found while digging.
(HIPAA) Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act
Being and IT guy for the last 35 years, I am no stranger to HIPAA, SOX, FISMA, and many other regulations from the government, including the federal mandates as to how this is to be accomplished.
While HIPAA is designed to protect your privacy, I wonder if that is how it is actually being used.
From a DR (disaster recovery) standpoint, your data must be backed up and off site. Your data must be recoverable; meaning that you have successfully tested the process on a regular basis.
The easiest way to do this is with CLOUD technology but, I am here to tell you that the hackers attack the cloud… If you’re data, and my data, and your competitors, is in some nebulous storage arrays out there in some data center…that is a central target for the bad guy…
You must have written policies and procedures regarding same… This would be part of your DR plan, run book; or even your living document that is your DR plan.
SOX or Sarbanes Oxley is another set of rules that apply to all publicly traded companies that share many of the same tenants of a good DR plan. E-mails must be stored and retrievable in the event the government wants to see them. Stored off-site and recoverable…
The government, for the government’s own use, has stricter policies and procedures which I wrote about some time back when the Hillary e-mail fiasco came to light… That is why this whole e-mail scandal is laughable as there is no possible way that those e-mails should have been lost, just like there is no way that she should have had a server of her own, dealing with Top Secret Classified e-mails. Why she is already not wearing orange, and living in Club Cupcake Penitentiary, is a testament to the corrupt policies and procedures that our wonderful government seems to enjoy for the rich and famous or in this case the political elites.
Calling and talking with any of the folks at your insurance carrier, you are told that your call may be recorded and monitored for security and training purposes… Now please tell me how this does not violate HIPAA?
When visiting your doctors you had to sign a release, basically nullifying HIPAA so they, the office staff or doctors can talk about your case, health or anything that is needed to whomever that they have to deal with to get paid. Again, how is this not a violation of HIPAA? Working behind the scenes at these places I have heard many cases talked about from end stage renal disease, to genital warts complete with names. I was once working in a plastic surgeons office where his desk was littered with open pictures of nude women with before and after breast augmentation etc etc. This stuff should have been put up before I was ever allowed into his office.
The simple facts are, that we are living in an age of no-privacy; either expressed or implied. The idea of HIPAA is great but, like the thousands of pages of tax code, it is virtually meaningless after the lawyers get through with it. It’s like living in Chicago with all sorts of police vehicles, and one cop who lives at the donut shop. There is the illusion of security, but it simply does not exists.
The airport is another place where you have no privacy but, still the TSA misses about 95% of the threats that their agents try to smuggle through, while testing their efficiency.
While we parade through scanners that strip us naked, and expose us to ionizing radiation, they still miss 95%…! How the hell is that possible?!
While in the waiting room the other day I could hear the office staff talking about patients and their treatment options… That was not bad enough… One of the ladies at the reception desk was calling patients who owed them money between greeting people, taking credit card info… Yep, she read back the guy’s number complete, the billing zip code and expiration where everyone could hear it. I take credit cards and I thought to myself… you did not get the CVV code… A few minutes later she called him back to get that…. And repeated it to where anyone in the waiting room could have heard.
While I have since written a letter to my Doctor…it does not end here…
This same doctor prescribed some meds that I went to CVS to pick up… While in line, the cashier, after getting your name and date of birth, grabs the meds off the shelf, and tells you what they are so everyone in line and the immediate area can hear.
Name and DOB are nobody’s business and certainly what you are buying is nobody’s business…
While I may be over sensitive to this, I don’t really think so…
Either we have HIPAA or we don’t. Either we follow the rules and policies set forth…or we don’t.
The illusions of security is not enough. The illusion of privacy is not enough. Collecting everyone’s Meta data without warrant, is wrong on many levels.
We need to look at and re-vamp all of these policies as we have given up so much of our privacy for the sake of laziness on the part of the employees.
Instead of me telling the lady behind the counter she should ask me to see my ID verifying who I am and my DOB without saying it aloud. After she pulls my meds she can show me what they are without voicing them… Simple policy changes prevent unauthorized or in this case nosey people in line getting into your business.
There are simple answers for all of these things but one simply has to think… We are too damned lazy to think…
The word of the day is profligate…”One who shamelessly pisses away money…”
I find it interesting that of the 50 states in this country, 11 of them are totally insolvent.
I also find it remarkable that of these 11, they are all run by liberal ideologues or profligates.
There is a 12th state, Delaware that is soon to join the other 11 which is troubling.
The amazing facts are that these states are losing their people who are traveling to states who are fiscally responsible and also run by conservatives. Now these same liberal ideologues that have made their way to states that are not in any financial trouble complain. What do they complain about? That we are too conservative…
Really?!
If you look at Greece and then at the state that you left; and cannot draw the comparison between them, than you are not only so wrapped up in your ideology that you are lost…but you may also be … well … Bless your heart!…
Look, don’t come to a state that works with your troubled ideas and screw us up… When you come to this country…you fit it with us… You offer the best that you have and fit in…
When you come to this state… You offer the best that you have, and fit in…
…When in Rome…
This is not rocket science… If you are fleeing a state or place because it is screwed up…something is wrong… Why in the world would you not examine what is wrong and accept that you might have been part of the problem…. Like maybe something as simple as the way that you voted?
We have a huge influx of people here in Texas from all over the country. Amazing as it may sound, I find that the plates from out of state are the people who cut people off, honk, and drive like crap and so on. This is Texas…Chill…. We are friendly people here but remember…Texas is one of the states where we carry concealed and soon not concealed…when you wave…use all of your fingers pardner… Just saying….
We eat BBQ that is made the way god intended, and we drink Iced Tea. We hold doors for ladies, and we say please and Thank You… We teach our children to be polite, but we also teach them not to put up with crap.
There were oil tankers crashing into each other as well as running in to under water obstructions spilling millions of gallons of oil into the ocean. The shipping lanes, which they had navigated safely for years prior and years since; all of the sudden became more dangerous…?
TheTimeDok 
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