Hogmanay is a Scottish New Year Tradition- HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!

Hogmanay (sometimes seen spelled Hogmany) is a Scots word that refers to New Year's Eve and the subsequent New Year celebrations.

Although Hogmanay itself is 31 December, the Scottish in fact celebrate the new year until 2nd January. This day is an official holiday only in Scotland, and not in the rest of the UK where the word 'Hogmanay' is not used.

Hogmanay involves a number of traditions, including the ancient custom of 'first-footing', the song Auld Lang Syne, and more recently fireworks at Edinburgh Castle.

Stuck at the Airport...?

A year ago, the Obama administration adopted new rules within the Department Transportation concerning airport delays.

“The new rule adopted by the Transportation Department sets fines of as much as $27,500 per passenger when airlines leave fliers stuck on a plane on the ground for more than three hours. Based on a delayed plane carrying 120 passengers, the fine could be as much as $3.3 million. The rule would apply to planes with more than 30 seats.”

OH, the unintended consequences…a year later a massive winter storm blankets the east coast in snow, closing major airports. Yet as the airports slowly clear the runways  and terminal ramp area, what are the airlines doing…why, cancelling flights. Rather than hoping for the best, perhaps a slim window of opportunity to get some flights out, the major airlines, fearing Obama retribution(in the form of fines) are cancelling flights, a sort of pre-emptive action.

“As many as 1.2 million airline customers may have been affected by almost 8,200 flight cancellations as the storm that hit three days ago closed major airports. Passengers were forced to try to make new plans, sometimes without being able to reach airlines by phone or online for help.”

Hmmm 1.2 million passengers times $27,500 fine per passenger, why that’s $33 BILLION dollars…what airline could stay in business with a hit like that?

Pre Christmas

Writing a lengthy discussion about anything 2 days before Christmas is absolutely not going to generate a huge readership. That statement almost seems like the most enormous DUH statement I have ever put to paper (screen?).

The last couple of days work has slowed down, as more and more people are taking off time to be with friends and family.

This afternoon it was me and two other women, and the security guard, so I left at 3:30PM.

The ride home was quick, reminiscent I suppose of traffic patterns 35 or 40 years ago, when the freeways were new here and the population was maybe 30% of what it is now.

Sacramento metropolitan area supposedly is about 2.2 million now, and when I was a kid was closer to what I found online, 589,000, which figures to be about 26-27%, so I was close.

Anyway, for those traveling this evening and tomorrow, be  safe, be alert, and have a Merry Christmas!

Ignarus electorate?

I don’t claim to be a philosopher, a profound thinker, or even all that well informed.

But when I read blogs where people denigrate political figures with name calling, I usually tend to think those folks are ideologues, dedicated to a single purpose and unwilling to think of other perspectives.

I thought that when people vilified Clinton, who as a person has some explaining to do about his personal moral code, but as a political figure, knew how to compromise when needed, even on issues he wasn’t particularly fond of.

 I really thought GW Bush was numskull, but after 9/11, I cut him some slack, and was not 100% behind some of his ideas…I personally thought the Iraq war was started on a bogus premise, and the while the initial execution could have been better, from a logistical standpoint the post “victory” period was totally screwed up by inadequate listening to the military, in favor of policy wonks that probably didn’t have a clue, since most of them never served a day in uniform. Be that it may, its water under the bridge.

Some folks now are apoplectic about Obama, and his hope change BS. Face it, he may in fact be evil, but I tend to side with the argument that he is probably the most incompetent leader in my lifetime, which means more than a half century.  

His incompetence is obscured sometimes by the crowd around him, both Republican and Democrats. Ramming thru legislation that was not read does not speak well for a republic, because the very idea of a republic is that the elected represent the vox populi- the voice of the people. So have we Americans become, as one commentator put it, too stupid to know what we are doing? I have long held the view that the answer is yes.

From my experience over the last 30 years, there seems to be a dumbing down in this country.

Example: As a young woman, my first job out of college was teaching for the Department of Defense in Germany. I fully expected to be teaching children the basics of English, literature, and perhaps hand writing skills. I spent most of my tenure there teaching young soldiers these skills, because their commanders said they had such a deficit in reading and writing that they were incompetent at their jobs. They could not understand manuals that told them how to do their jobs, and their learning skills were all non-verbal, as in show me how to do it. Many were only able to stay in the military because they used comic book style field manual for weapons and machines that was pretty much all pictures and very little words, so they could at least master those skills.

I thought many of these young people were from impoverished areas with poor schools, but most were from big cities, like Los Angeles, Chicago, New York…how sad is that?

So now these barely educated people muster out of the service, and inevitably come home to marry, start families, and well it’s the whole premise of the movie Idiocracy, the rise of the dolt to represent the mass.

Going a step further down the politically incorrect path, many of the people I deal with today are from foreign countries, and have mastered none of the language skills required to be successful in a society.

I have a friend that is of Chinese ancestry, whose father was a professor at the local university. Yet she has taken me to restaurants in town where 3^rd generation Americans barely speak English, let alone understand it. They routinely speak to her (and anyone else) in Chinese, which she really doesn’t speak, since her parents emphasized English to her and her siblings. Yet they can vote, because they too are citizens. I asked some of them recently, and most smiled and said they voted for Obama; same with the workers in the Mexican foods store I shop at sometimes.

How can the dull witted and linguistically challenged thrive in this country, when my some of my Swedish ancestors couldn’t? Well, because 130 years ago, if you didn’t learn to speak, read and write in English, your lot in life was pretty tough.

Our education system has pretty much continued to graduate people unable to effectively speak, read or write, and because of that, there is a concomitant deficit in critical thinking.

Several years ago a young woman working with me, who spoke pretty good English in spite of the fact that she would say things like “I have been this country 3 years only “

 (She emigrated from China) would come back from project meetings and sigh. I asked her why the heavy sigh and she lamented that in this country “No one know how to be critically thinking!”

Critical thinking, then, becomes key to the assumption I am making, that only a fool would elect a fool, therefore, Obama being a fool, must have been elected by fools.

“Critical thinking is reasonable, reflective thinking that is focused on deciding what to believe and do."

Assuming that critical thinking is reasonable reflective thinking focused on deciding what to believe or do, a critical thinker:

1. Is open-minded and mindful of alternatives
2. Tries to be well-informed
3. Judges well the credibility of sources
4. Identifies conclusions, reasons, and assumptions
5. Judges well the quality of an argument, including the acceptability of its reasons, assumptions, and evidence
6. Can well develop and defend a reasonable position
7. Asks appropriate clarifying questions
8. Formulates plausible hypotheses; plans experiments well
9. Defines terms in a way appropriate for the context
10. Draws conclusions when warranted, but with caution
11. Integrates all items in this list when deciding what to believe or do

I applied these concepts to listening to candidate Obama, and quickly determined that he was using platitudes and unrealistic assumptions, especially budget assumptions, to promise the electorate what they wanted to hear. He had a vision- get elected President.

His secondary goal would then to do what is necessary to get re-elected President.

His goals are not necessarily my priorities, therefore I reject his goals, and vote for the candidate that most closely aligns with my beliefs, who effectively convinces me they understand the issues and have applied critical thinking to come to the position they hold.

It would seem that unfortunately for this country, that level of effort is not generally expended in voting. And we all suffer the consequences.

Hence we have a leader who has never been a leader, doesn’t have a understanding of leadership, and is not pre disposed to learning leadership.

So is he evil? I doubt it. Is he incompetent? That seems evident.

Fighting with Fat...so

Needing to lose weight is sometimes not just for vanity sake; because it also improves your health to be at a healthy weight, whatever that is for you. I am not talking about some idealized weight, but what is healthy for you as a person. I am overweight, and it impacts my ability to control my diabetes, blood pressure and other health issues that come to dominate the conversation with my doctor.

Used to be those conversations were about birth control, smoking, drinking, and inquiries about any casual drug use. Oh, those were the days…but I am off subject.

So in my quest to find things to help me manage my weight, I found a online food diary, where you list everything you did all day and all the food you eat, and you get an idea of how many calories, fat, carbs, and protein you have eaten, and how many of those calories you burned. If the burned is greater than the intake, yippee, you are using more than you ate.

Sadly, on the weekend I am busy and burn off a lot of calories, while now during the week, I eat too much and don’t do enough to burn them off. No big secret what happens then, as all those extra calories turn into fat, which settles into layers of blubber, leading to “beached whale syndrome”. That’s what I call it anyway, because when I am real heavy, I think I look like a big blob of blubber. (Geez, talk about poor self image)

I am probably being harsh on myself because I have a picture taken of me when I was in Germany on my mirror, a time when being thinner and healthy was so easy for me. I mean I would drink beers, eat pizza, generally not do anything healthy and stayed a decent size for me, a 12.  

Now I look at food and gain weight. Hence the obsession with trying to figure out the problem, and as much as I don’t want to acknowledge it, the truth is I am eating more than I am burning, not by a lot, but enough that I stay in this budgie mode.

A few years ago I was pretty close to being back to the skinny side of me, I was happy with myself, and actually cried when I tried on some jeans previously way to tight and they fit. Not a real comfy fit, but I could sit down in them at least.   Then I got the thyroid problem, which accounted for why I was able to lose the weight, since I had a overactive thyroid speeding up my metabolism.  Following the radiated iodine I took, the function of that gland went down to normal, and I piled on the pounds.

So I have been slowly making progress, but need to stay focused and try to start doing more and eating less.

I wrote this while eating a big bowl of macaroni and cheese...OMG, I can't stop... :)

Say austery one more time....

Sometimes for not much reason at all, I start to feel sad, and want to cry.

That’s not true, there are reasons. Like doing the bills, and realizing that sometime next month, I am going to be broke before the end of the month.

Recently in a morale booster at work (hint, this is heavy sarcasm, OK), they decided since the tax laws seems to be worked out, they could relent on confiscation of 15% of my, and everyone else’s, salary at my work. So now I only have to deal with a 5% pay cut…and an increase in how much I pay towards retirement, a decrease in how much they match in retirement, and an increase in my health insurance. Which pretty much means my net pay stays about the same....thanks.

It’s really not that bad, because by now we are well used to hearing complaints met with  the expression, “Be glad you still have a job”, and they have quit saying that. What used to be that was greeted with open hostility, is now hostility is muted since they decided to lay off about 1,000 people, a bomb they dropped the Monday after Thanksgiving…more precisely, the  email notice went out at 3:50 PM, well after early day shift employees had gone home at 2:30.

Why do companies always seem to say “Hmmmm, when could we screw the employees the best, hey I know, let wreck Christmas!!!!” .  So some of us more senior employees kicked in and had a Christmas, oops, Holiday (what friggin Holiday is it anyway?..ChristmasKwanzaHogmanay?) party in the production area, which usually is full of stuff, but now is a large vacant area…we paid for all the stuff and treated about 200 employees to lunch, turkey, ham, salad, a real potluck, with tons of food. What was left over we gave away to people, or took to the mission down the street. We did this the same day corporate executives were celebrating at the “official Holiday celebration” priced at a modest $27 per person, with catered food consisting of hors d'oeuvres, no bar, salad and (seriously) “brick oven fired gourmet pizza”. GIVE ME A BREAK.

I know I had more fun paying for 20 people to eat at our alternative party than I would of at the schmoozer party.

Austerity – A personal rant

I think I wrote in one of these blogs about the latest great scheme management came up with, consolidation of nearly everything. It’s a part of the newest buzz word in big enterprises, austerity.

Austerity.

As in lets consolidate everyone from everywhere into the company to headquarters, by first figuring out who we can chop and stay in business, then let’s eliminate as much as possible. Let’s scale down the company, so that all hopes of promotion are gone, and managers are leaving by the droves. Let’s consolidate, and make senior level employees (like me) do managerial duties (without the pay), and IT support, and all the stuff she used to do before the new Austerity…

So today on my way home, I heard that damnable word in a news story, “Webster’s dictionary says austerity was the most looked up word in 2010”. I started crying. Not the boo hoo,  red faced,  deep gut ‘ I wanna let it all loose’ crying, but the kind of ‘clench the steering wheel’, and feel the tears start type of cry.  

It was over fairly quickly, as I reminded myself, well, I still have a job. And then the other type of crying started.  Bummer.

Angel Flight

No one asks to be a hero but sometimes it turns out that way Semper Fi

Radney Foster music video for "Angel Flight" Proceeds benefit Texas National Guard Family Support Foundation. Available on CD "Revival" at radneyfoster.com Buy this video for iTunes http://itunes.apple.com/us/video/ange...

Santa Claus, USMC

 US Marines bring Santa Claus to Supai, Ariz. near the bottom of the Grand Canyon on Wednesday, Dec. 15, 2010. With transportation from the Marines, Santa joined local Toys for Tots and St. Mary's Food Bank to deliver  toys and food to the remote tribe.

Merry Christmas to all, and to all a good night...Semper Fi!

A man's man

I was flipping thru the channels and came across the John Wayne version of The Alamo on TV. John Wayne, a real man’s man. But what defines a man’s man?

As a general rule, a man's man prides himself on being practical, tough, sensible, and logical. He believes that he can solve any problems which might be thrown at him with aplomb, and he is prepared for a range of situations. A man's man may also prefer “roughing it” while working on projects, eschewing creature comforts for the bare essentials, and stressing self-reliance and ingenuity as valued character traits. Many also consider themselves to be gentleman, with old-fashioned manners and a complex personal code of behavior.

Some people find the culture of the man's man off-putting. People who reject traditional gender roles may dislike the heavy emphasis on masculine activities, for example, while people who think that sensitivity is an important characteristic may struggle to relate to a man's man. Other people point out that the man's man has been held up as a prime example of how to behave for quite a long time in literature, film, and song, and that centuries of praise for manly men can't be all wrong.

While I can agree with much of this definition, I can’t say it works entirely for me. I think my hubby is a man’s man, for the above reasons, and a few more….

He told me during the Vietnam War he thought about going to Canada if he got drafted, even after his dad said if he did, he would be disowned by the family. But he thought about what to do, and said one day in the college library he saw a copy Profiles in Courage, by John F Kennedy.

He also re-read the Kennedy inaugural address, and thought about the freedoms we have because men were willing to stand up for principles. He thought about it and decided that service to the country was important, that if his peers were going, he should as well. But why tempt fate, join the Navy.  Later that week there was a Navy recruiter on campus, and he signed up. When he got to Oakland, and was informed all the new Navy Corpsmen were going to be assigned to Marine units, he sought out an officer, and asked if he could be sworn into the Marines. He said fate was telling him something.

After his service, he finished college, taking a scholarship from the Army. Upon graduation, he was commissioned and served as an Infantry officer. But these actions don’t necessarily make him a man’s man.

He also is a good father, taking the time to try as he will to instill some sense in our daughter as she grew up. When she wanted a horse, he got her one with the caveat she help take care of him. The gelding was her horse, but she didn’t care much for mucking out his stall, feeding, grooming. So after entering him in the county fair, we sold him, blue ribbon and all.  She cried, and then fumed, but he had told her life and obligations have consequences, like them or not.

Years later, while she was attending college and called to talk to “Pop" about a fender bender she had been in.  I listened as he explained to her why keeping the money the other driver gave her to fix her bumper and filing an insurance claim was not only illegal, it was not something decent people do. He said calmly to her “you know we raised you better than that, right?”

He is a man of his word. He says what he means, and definitely means what he says.

He is opposed to senseless violence, but believes there are sometimes when good men must fight evil. Early in our marriage he worked in law enforcement, occasionally having to physically intercede where wrong was being done, something that has made me fear for him several times.

 He cried like a baby when his dog died, yet was stoic for our family at funerals, while I was falling to pieces.

He is the rock of our family, and has always said his priority in everything he does is the family.

I think these things also make a man’s man.

 

Like the lyrics of one of his favorite songs says:

 

We’re from North California and south Alabam
And little towns all around this land
And we can skin a buck; we can run a trot-line
And a country boy can survive
Country folks can survive

Artist: Williams Hank Jr
Song: Country Boy Can Survive

Odds and ends

Started a political blog, and thought - nope, not going to do it, would not be prudent at this juncture...

How about age, and how ones concept of beauty changes, but the advertising world doesn't?...so 50 + year olds are somehow supposed to try to look like 20 somethings? Or shop where? What exactly defines why am I referred to as a mature woman? Whats that all about?

Why do men have BIG & Tall, but women have to be Plus sized? Is that like McDonald's,  where plus size is an overdose on fries and a drink that lasts from lunch to dinner.

Well, back to Christmas party planning....

People

My blogs lately have deviated from the usual fare of either boring tales of my life, overly long monologues on economics, or politics, or both. Many of my readers seem to enjoy my rants, where i vent the frustration I feel with a lot of different things, mostly people.

That's because people, for the large part, better or worse, is what we ALL have to deal with. Family, friends, coworkers, associates, comrades, our community, our town, city, metropolitan urbanplex....its all people. And all the good, bad, and truly ugly they drag along with them.

I have been harsh on people, and i know it, often i regret saying things to people and apologize, knowing they probably don't hate me, but don't love me either. Some people avoid me, especially at work. I have been at my current job for 3 years. In that time I can think of two people, both men, who avoid having anything to do with me. One guy sees me, and averts his eyes and walks quickly away, in the direction of the nearest get away.

 The other has that seething "I hate you" look on his face all the time, and has never EVER said hi, screw you or anything to me, even when i brought in a small cake on his birthday. This guy also wears the same clothes every time I see him - high top sneakers, black shorts, a t-shirt and a baggie black sweatshirt, and a university baseball hat (worn backwards). Doesn't matter if its 114 or 23 degrees outside, that's what he wears.

The other thing that gets me is when i wander around the building, I have never met an employee  out of the 350 people working there, that either don't know my name, or when they are introduced to me, nod their head and say "Oh, so YOU'RE Canice..." I think part of that might be because all IT purchases go to me to be logged into our IT budget system, a responsibility I sort of inherited after it was introduced.

 "We don't have a good handle on IT spending, so lets have someone track everything from mouse pads to entire new networks" is a entirely stupid thing we do, because someone somewhere decided it made sense.

 It works like this - you fill out a form and send it to me; I take what you had on the form and add it to a bigger form with all the other purchases. Once a quarter, i send the form to the CIO's office. They look to see how much money the CIO/IT has to spend for the rest of the fiscal year, and if they think you item has merit, it gets a priority number. If not, you suck at writing purchase justifications. once you realize you suck at that, you call me for advice; which I supply by coaching you into writing what they want to hear. If you still SUCK at writing (and a lot do) then I write the justification, and you get what you wanted about 6 months after you wanted it...unless you convince me its something that is desperately needed, then I tell you you suck at writing and I will do it for you, all while trying yo still do my regular job of managing my unit, running projects, managing our projects budgets and schedules, meeting with contractors, vendors, and new clients.

Writing this makes me realize why I get frustrated sometimes...

PS- the picture of my office cube was when the building was new- imagine it looks the same only there are piles of papers in stacks about 6 inches high, and the laptop was ditched for a 27" widescreen monitor, to see the stupid eforms we use on...I haven't seen that much of the actual countertop since 2008.

Do dogs and cats go to Heaven?

My mother in law, a devout Catholic up to the day she died, would scoff at me when I told her I believed animals go to heaven, because no loving God could create these living beings and then cast them into nothingness when they die. How the Creator re-purposes that life energy is the big mystery though, isn't it?

But what about the creatures we bring in to our homes, our lives? Having a cat die recently, and another slowly dwindling w lymphoma, I wonder if they will join my departed dogs in some Heaven waiting area?

I had a really long discussion here about the various major religions of the world, and then decided that wasn’t where I wanted to go with this discussion, if there is one.

So instead, I will discuss their animals souls…

I was talking with a coworker the other day who informed me that animals do not have emotions. This is just after he told me that animals do not have souls and therefore will never enjoy the concept of heaven. Now, this coworker is what I refer to, as a "bible-thumper." He is, in fact, a born-again Christian. Please bear in mind that I have nothing against my fellow Christians, nor do I have anything against religion in general. I do, however, have a problem with passing along faulty information.

Animals do have emotions and they also have souls, and I'll tell you how I know that.

I also have never seen a cat find enjoyment from setting a human on fire. I've never gone hiking in the desert to find a child that dogs have left tied to a stake, without food and water, subjecting it to a painful death in the desert heat. I have never seen a chicken force two unwilling humans to fight in a ring with razor blades attached to their feet while the chickens place bets on who will be the first to die. I haven't seen a puppy place eight children in a gunnysack and drown them in a river. I have yet to see a bear kill a human simply to place a head on the wall of their cave.

Let me tell you what I have seen.

I have seen my own dog sleep next to me for a week to keep me a little warmer while I was ill. I've seen my dogs play games with me just to force a smile to my face. I have seen news reports of a cat rush into a burning home not once, not twice, but six times to save her kittens, nearly losing her own life in the process. Or ferret pull a frightened kitten out of a deep hole in the ground. I've seen monkeys scream in empathy when one of their own was injured. I've seen puppies whine all night long when they were separated from their mothers. I've known a dog that pulled a child away from a fire.

As for the soul thing? Well, it is my humble opinion that if you have emotions, any kind of emotions, then you have a soul. Ironically, the pope of the Roman Catholic Church recently stated that he feels the same way.

Now, I can't prove that animals have souls. But then, I can't prove that you or I have one either. And for all those people who firmly believe that animals don't have souls - well, I suppose then in heaven, you'll probably have the job of cleaning out all the litter boxes...

 

Religious Beliefs

I asked the question what do your think of when you hear the word church, and many of my friends immediately thing of buildings, or about being a member of church.

I think about the forests, the ocean, the deserts I have seen. About the garden in my yard, or the many other places where i observe the miracles of our world.

I started to write a blog about church, what it means to people, whether its the building, or the community of worship, and decided to not continue writing.

Because when it comes down to it, nothing I write will change anything in how you believe or don't believe.

So I will tell you what I believe, because it is my faith, trust, hope. That's what I believe. Any other beliefs i have are irrelevant to you, because they only have meaning to me, and those I associate with who believe like me. My religious views are mine, and I can not and will not try to change your views. That's a real challenge for me, but experience teaches me that those committed to believing things are not easily changed.

 

Christmas and the things we do to celebrate

Americans over the years have increasingly commercialize Christmas.

Christmas is supposed to be about celebrating the birth of Christ (although there is historical evidence that Christ may actually have been born in January 6).. The point being that in American English, holiday means a holy day as well as a day off from work.

It is in the spirit of that Holy Day that we celebrate by sharing, a tradition that has become...well here is what one British blogger wrote: "Today in the West, not many people consider the religious meaning to Christmas. Most people in UK or Europe will not go to a religious church meeting, even at Christmas. It has become a busy race to spend money on presents, and get ready for the Day. In UK, our shops stay open till late Christmas Eve and often open again on Boxing Day with the cut-price 'sales'. (Not much holiday for the poor shop workers!) A visitor from another world would think that Christmas was a festival to the gods of money and shopping.

 As a kid and teenager, I remember going to church on Christmas Eve..

As a young adult in Germany I went to Christmas Mass in the Fulda Cathedral, which was finished in 1712. I was really moved by the beauty of the ceremony as well as the spirit of joy the season brought. The village I lived in celebrated starting with Advent, about four weeks before Christmas.....

I am on the topic today because I spent the morning wrapping what few gifts I bought this years for my family.  Our daughter and son in law will be coming for Christmas, which means a lot to us. Still, I can't help but sometimes reminisce about simpler Christmases in the past, and the spirit of Christmas.

My thoughts December 10, 2010

Christmas is a mere fortnight away!

If you were to sit down and talk with me in person, you would quickly realize that one of the many quirky things about me is I speak like anyone else (aka normal), but when writing anything, I can (and usually do) use a lot of words that my college education taught me. Some people think that is pretentious (characterized by assumption of dignity or importance), which I find really amusing. Its the way I have been since probably the 8th grade.

8th grade, now there was an awkward time - somewhere between a little kid and adult. My parents used to say youngster...gee, what a word. A mere youth. Go to school dances and no boys wanna dance, like they are scared...maybe they were. Some girls are, well, more mature, developed, whatever...others still have that pre puberty look, like me. As mom used to say, I was a late bloomer.

Yesterday I wrote about work, how it is used to define you, and the joys of interviews...or lack therein..Today I got another invitation to interview for a managerial position, this one over a "Call Center Operations, Voice Over IP (VOIP) and Telecommunications Groups"...as if I know anything about managing all that. Although, I did supervise a small call center once, and VOIP/Telecomm shouldn't be that hard, since I know the terminology, and more importantly, would have subordinate supervisors that are in the daily grind...so i guess I will follow thru...they want to know by Monday.

Making obscene money would be a real different experience....about money.

Back a few years ago, before America's economy was in the crapper, I was making pretty good money, more than we needed to live on. I put a chunk of it into our retirement account monthly, and donated 10% gross to charities...Humane society, ASPCA, cancer and diabetes research, Wounded Warrior. But even in these tough times, i make a donation monthly to these and other groups. Including the Salvation Army and Goodwill..

My thought, if a person can be charitable to other people during Christmas, how much better would it be to give year round? I have been doing this for the last 14 years.

 

De-Stress Blog (Frustrations part ??)

Part of what makes most of us who we are is what we do for work, how we get the money to do what we want to do, like eat, have a place to sleep, provide for ourselves and our families.

But I get really annoyed by people assuming that what anyone does for work, deserves commentary. My personal priorities in life are simple: me and my family. Whatever i do, its with the end goal of taking care of my family.

We have more than a couple of little artsy plaques and things hanging in out home, like " This home maintained for the comfort of the dog" or "Bless this Mortgaged Home" but the favorite is simply " God-Family-Country"

I guess that makes me sort of a redneck, huh? I mean besides what I do for work, what else defines me? Being a parent- certainly has longer term effects than being a IT manager.

I bring this up because in my daily encounters with new people, right after asking your name is invariably the question "and what do you do?"

I was asked that at an interview today- for a fleeting second I serious thought of saying something cavalier, like : " I'm a dog walker, and sometimes I shovel coal at the power plant, its a great job" 

Its like the most horrible experience ever, when you get asked "why do you think you are qualified for this job?" and you have that momentary mental gag, like what the hell am I supposed to say now? And then, with any luck, a flurry of words comes out of your mouth that displays not only how well you speak, but how much BS can can create on the fly. At least its how i always feel, like I need to brag on myself to justify why I am there, when clearly to me, my resume interested you enough to call me in. it tells you everything you need to know.

When I was a supervisor, I would review the applications supplied to me by Human Resources (which used to be simply Personnel) and would read what the applicants said they could do, how well they expressed themselves, whether they could write and make complete sentences,etc.

Those i found interesting I would call in.

One time I had pretty much decided on a applicant pretty much from what I read, and upon interviewing her, found her completely obnoxious; the woman must have combed her hair last week, bathed in cologne, and dressed completely inappropriate, though the position listing stated professional attire. What profession must not have been clear.

I am not that type of interviewee...while most of the time I wear casual clothes to work, and very little makeup, for interviews, managerial meetings and other times professional attire is required, i can do that.

Now..back to focusing on nothing....relax, don't think about work, play with the dog, cat...or???

Later my friends.

 

Frustration Blog

Sometimes i write on here just to vent, and don't really expect comments, other times I write trying to put across a point to start people thinking about things from a different perspective.

I suspect than frequently I fail at both. I get comments, often adverse to my opinion, which at times only infuriates me; some comments are so offensive to me, so off topic that I delete them, I mean it is MY blog, right?

I wonder how well people know me from any exposure we have online...and surmise that a lot of the time people misread me. I have lost "friends" online, and more than once chalked it up to just being a situation that isn't right or wrong, but a poor fit.

While I can be profane, I have worked really hard not to be, in real life and online. There was a time when my language was frequently peppered with expletives, much to the chagrin of those close to me.

Odd ramblings-

 i can ( and frequently am) brutally honest, which at work has at times earned me the various titles of  know it all , and more frequently the word used to define a female dog...mostly from guys who I suppose aren't used to women like me. Let's be clear here. I am the first born child of three, daughter of a Korean war USMC officer who in civilian life was a  sheriff. My mom always told me I could do anything, be anything career wise, and dad was supportive, although he used to say stuff about me when he was upset with my choices, his favorite being to say something along the lines of "Go ahead, waste your life, get knocked up and be a nobody"...which usually made me angry, because it didn't hurt me as much as my mom. But I digress.......

So when i write things, it is colored by the life experiences i have had, from how I was raised, thru college, early work life and then the latest phase, where i am actually in a higher position with my company that I expected I would ever get to. Which comes with pluses and minuses.

Pluses, mostly financial, have steadily dwindled over the last two years. I never got bonuses, but did get salary increases. The good news is I reached the top of my salary scale this year; the bad is due to salary reductions, its about what I was making in 2007. Thankfully my car is paid for, but when gas hits $4 a gallon, I expect I will have to try to find a decent go cart to use to get to work, or at least to the nearest train station about 8 miles from my house.

And then there is planning for retirement, and how my retirement accounts have shrunk in the financial melt down..

What this has tended to do is heighten my sense insecurity about my financial future. I earned my money, so why do i want to give it to the government, who is spending it like drunken sailor in port after six months at sea...? I know about the national debt, I realize we need to collectively retire that debt. How we do that is the debate...one side wants to raise taxes, while others want to cut spending. Reality is both will probably happen...which sucks.

How about promoting work in America, making stuff....goodness knows we used to make stuff here. Forget that double talk about low wages elsewhere, like Mexico or China.

Make stuff here, and pay people a decent wage...not inflated wages, but decent. i saw on the news a wooden dowel company reopened, after some former employees bought the place. Hired back some workers at a lower wage than before, but they took it because it beats being unemployed...why can't isn't there more of that? 

 

TAXES!!!!

The nation is consumed with our economic woes; nightly news details how our flagging economy is recovering yet still has unemployment over 9%.

The national debt is skyrocketing, currently over $13 trillion…that $13,000 billion for those that (like me) are really having a hard time with numbers that big.

Business news stations, magazine, even some mainstream journals all discuss that businesses are afraid and unsure due to the uncertainty in our future- What will Obamacare do to the corporate bottom line? How much it will erode their ability to compete with companies in countries that don’t have such policies, etc.?

 The issue dominating the Sunday news cycle is Taxes...

 Congress, among many other issues, needs to get serious about the Bush tax cuts, otherwise in January everyone’s taxes go back up.

Yet for the last several days, most liberals are saying that reliable polling data says as a nation we only want the Bush cuts to stay for people making under $250,000 a year and not those rich SOB’s. As proof, they cite the CBS News poll, that’s says 53% want the cuts to stay only for under $250,000.

Meanwhile Gallop polling says forty (40%) percent want the lower rates be maintained for everyone while, 44 percent favored some income cutoff. Of those, five percent called for a threshold of $1 million, 12 percent at $500,000 and only 26 percent at $250,000. (26% compared to 53% reported by CBS)

Regardless of how the public feels, Congress will decide. Thet will make deals to get something for everyone, and please none....

 

One of the deals now in the works is an extension of unemployment benefits being tagged to an extension of the Bush tax cuts.

More worrisome is that several of the Debt Commission recommendations may make it into this legislation, such as limiting the income tax deduction a homeowner can take only to the first $500,000 of any home mortgage. Some want this language changed to apply this limit to “the average home mortgage”, although how average is going to be defined is still in the air.

Then there is a proposal to apply Social Security tax to all earnings, not just the first $106,800 as is the law now. Again, the difficulty will be in defining what earned income is included. Some have suggested it be applied to ALL earnings, not just wages and salary. Somewhere in Obamacare, doesn’t it say that health insurance paid for by your employer is to be included in your earnings?

Interesting times we are in for sure…

Pipe Music- No bagpipes, PVC pipe

EMBED-Insane Pipe Music Skills - Watch more free videos

Life in the Golden (Goose?) State

Interesting news today, that as the Governator calls the Legislature into Special Session to deal with the (continuing) looming budget crisis ( currently at $6 billion), AP and others are pushing the story about our elitist legislature continued use of taxpayer paid transportation either in Sacramento and/or in their district...

Forbes says..."California is the only state in the nation to provide vehicles to its rank-and-file lawmakers for unlimited use, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures...The amount lawmakers contribute varies greatly, depending on the cost of the vehicle they choose. Assemblywoman Lori Saldana, D-San Diego, contributes $31.02 a month toward her 2005 Honda  Accord hybrid, while Assemblyman Jim Nielsen, R-Yuba City, pays the most, $397.10, toward his 2009 Ford Edge...

The most expensive vehicles are used by two Southern California Democrats. Sen. Ron Calderon of Monterey Park drives a $54,830 2006 Cadillac STS while Sen. Gil Cedillo of Los Angeles uses a $52,235 2007 Lexus LX 400H hybrid.

Cedillo, for example, pays the state $373.64 a month to lease his 2007 Lexus, or $4,483 per year. If he continued paying that amount for his entire four-year Senate term, Cedillo will have reimbursed the state a total of $17,934, or 34 percent of the vehicle's total purchase price. Most states reimburse lawmakers' mileage for official business. "

Sorry, but blowing taxpayers money on cars for these bozos while they continue to rake in an a salary of $116,208 in the Senate and $95291 in the Assembly,  plus $173 per day per diem for everyday they are in session...wow, what a waste of money.

Say what you will, but back when Pete Wilson was Governor, the "Capitol fleet" was almost entirely Dodge Spirits, checked out when needed, compared to now, where the Assembly spent another $1.4 million to buy 49 Toyota Camry Hybrids for 51 lawmakers who live far from the state capital and use the vehicles when they are in Sacramento. The Senate spends an additional $81,000 a year to lease 25 vehicles for senators' use in Sacramento...

Dealing with Loonies

Everyone who has any contact with other people, can relate to the topic today, dealing with loonies. Some will think i am referring to the Canadian coin, called a loonie because it depicts a Loon...nope, i mean loopy people; you know, wacky, bonkers, nutters, what ever.

Looney are defined in common terms as crazy; looney; loony; weirdo, lunatic; madman; maniac (an insane person).

In this sense, i think the people i refer to as looney are mostly weirdo's. Not the dangerous kind, but those that frequently go off the deep end with suspicions and, well a touch of paranoia. Kind of like Mel Gibson in Conspiracy Theory...do you trust em, or write em off as nuts?

You can't really explain to looney people that they are bonkers. All you can do is hope that one day they wonder why they are so unhappy and hope they do something about it like going to the doctors.

I think about this type of person frequently. I have in the past gone along with people online, only to have what Magnum PI used to say was that little voice tell him something was wrong.

One was a nice woman in Florida, who wanted me to fly out there for vacation, without my husband...nah, that aint happening.

Anyway...how do you deal with looney people?