Money Grubbing Whores Pt. 2

I had recently posted about Money Grubbing Whores and now have to post about them again. Thanks to Bling! this Craigslist ad was forwarded to me and I just had to post it here. I have not verified if this is true or not, but Snopes doesn't have anything on it that I can find one way or the other.

If it is true, I honestly don't find it all that shocking. I've literally been in bars and nightclubs in Dallas (Let's Keep Dallas Pretentious!) and have overheard chicks "interviewing" guys on the spot about their financial status. They might as well have asked for a Dunn & Bradstreet report and their last three pay stubs. You would have thought they were applying for a loan or something.

The guy's response echoes things I have also said on here in past blogs. If women are this superficial about money, what makes them think that they won't be (or shouldn't be) dropped as soon as the next hot money-grubbing-whore comes along that is better looking or gives a better BJ?

In any event, here is the ad, and the response:

What am I doing wrong?

Okay, I'm tired of beating around the bush. I'm a beautiful (spectacularly beautiful) 25 year old girl. I'm articulate and classy.I'm not from New York . I'm looking to get married to a guy who makes at least half a million a year. I know how that sounds, but keep in mind that a million a year is middle class in New York City , so I don't think I'm overreaching at all.

Are there any guys who make 500K or more on this board? Any wives? Could you send me some tips? I dated a business man who makes average around200 - 250. But that's where I seem to hit a roadblock. 250,000 won't get me to central park west. I know a woman in my yoga class who was married to an investment banker and lives in Tribeca, and she's not as pretty as I am, nor is she a great genius. So what is she doing right? How do I get to her level?

Here are my questions specifically:

- Where do you single rich men hang out? Give me specifics- bars,restaurants, gyms

-What are you looking for in a mate? Be honest guys, you won't hurt my feelings

-Is there an age range I should be targeting (I'm 25)?

- Why are some of the women living lavish lifestyles on the upper east side so plain? I've seen really 'plain jane' boring types who have nothing to offer married to incredibly wealthy guys. I've seen drop dead gorgeous girls in singles bars in the east village. What's the story there?

- Jobs I should look out for? Everyone knows - lawyer, investment banker, doctor. How much do those guys really make? And where do they hang out? Where do the hedge fund guys hang out?

- How you decide marriage vs. just a girlfriend? I am looking for MARRIAGE ONLY

Please hold your insults - I'm putting myself out there in an honest way. Most beautiful women are superficial; at least I'm being up front about it. I wouldn't be searching for these kind of guys if I wasn't able to match them - in looks, culture, sophistication, and keeping a nice home and hearth.

* it's NOT ok to contact this poster with services or other commercial interests

PostingID: 432279810 THE ANSWER

Dear Pers-431649184:

I read your posting with great interest and have thought meaningfully about your dilemma. I offer the following analysis of your predicament. Firstly, I'm not wasting your time, I qualify as a guy who fits your bill; that is I make more than $500K per year. That said here's how I see it.

Your offer, from the prospective of a guy like me, is plain and simple a cr@ppy business deal. Here's why. Cutting through all the B.S., what you suggest is a simple trade: you bring your looks to the party and I bring my money. Fine, simple. But here's the rub, your looks will fade and my money will likely continue into perpetuity...in fact, it is very likely that my income increases but it is an absolute certainty that you won't be getting any more beautiful!

So, in economic terms you are a depreciating asset and I am an earning asset. Not only are you a depreciating asset, your depreciation accelerates! Let me explain, you're 25 now and will likely stay pretty hot for the next 5 years, but less so each year. Then the fade begins in earnest. By 35 stick a fork in you! So in Wall Street terms, we would call you a trading position, not a buy and hold...hence the rub...marriage. It doesn't make good business sense to "buy you" (which is what you're asking) so I'd rather lease. In case you think I'm being cruel, I would say the following. If my money were to go away, so would you, so when your beauty fades I need an out. It's as simple as that. So a deal that makes sense is dating, not marriage.

Separately, I was taught early in my career about efficient markets. So,I wonder why a girl as "articulate, classy and spectacularly beautiful" as you has been unable to find your sugar daddy. I find it hard to believe that if you are as gorgeous as you say you are that the $500K hasn't found you, if not only for a tryout.

By the way, you could always find a way to make your own money and then we wouldn't need to have this difficult conversation.

With all that said, I must say you're going about it the right way. Classic "pump and dump." I hope this is helpful, and if you want to enter into some sort of lease, let me know.

The war Affects People

The other day I was in a cool little dive bar in Dallas called The Windmill Lounge with two of my friends. We were all having many beverages and several different conversations were being spun throughout the course of the evening.
These two friends of mine are liberal and democratic, which can be a dangerous situation when you infuse alcohol and one stubborn, opinionated, non-democrat (me) into the mix.

Of course the war in Iraq gets brought up and one of these people indicates to me that people aren’t affected by the war. Wait a minute. What do you mean people aren’t affected? They indicated in any capacity, financial or otherwise.

I had to disagree. And I was referring to a predominantly non-financial perspective. I fly all over the country and I see first-hand people that are affected by the war in one way or another. I see people thanking soldiers all over the airport. I have given up a first class ticket, and seen others do the same thing for those in uniform. I’ve had great conversations with the men and women serving our country while on a flight. I’ve bought them drinks at the bar, or breakfast on an early morning. I’ve met people who have friends, brothers, sisters, cousins, sons and daughters in the war and they are all affected by it. Unlike Vietnam, which I am too young to really remember, I see people that have a deep appreciation and respect for the men and women fighting for us.

Now from a financial impact, perhaps they are absolutely correct. It was pointed out to me that this was the first war in American history in which we had tax-breaks. I have not confirmed this (dad, are you out there somewhere?). But I can say that I personally don’t feel like I’ve been affected in a financial perspective from this war.
My question is, is this a bad thing? I do take issue when I hear that there isn’t enough monies being allocated to the soldiers to be properly protected. Could I make a difference if I was financially affected? Perhaps, but the actual allocation of funding is substantially beyond my control. I can’t say that I have looked into the financial implications of this enough to know the answer or what a good or effective solution might be.

One of these same peoples said something that I agree with to a large extent, and I’ll paraphrase for lack of exact recall (blame the vodka): “If you say you know exactly how to fix something, or what the answer is, you probably haven’t looked into it enough.”

Mexican Deportation

An article in the Dallas Morning News reported on a flood of phone calls into City Hall regarding a controversial program that has been focusing on the arrest and deportation of illegal aliens.

Apparently, though, people are flooding the hotline voicing support and NOT asking them to end the program.

I’ve said it before somewhere on here that I don’t know anyone that supports illegal aliens being in this country (aside from illegal aliens and Hispanic activists), and yet, the government still continues to not really do much about it.

For once, I’m glad to see Dallas doing something good. Let’s hope they keep it up.

As a side note, the article degrades into a “white man keeping the black man down” spin. I couldn’t quite figure out the point of that.

Rush Limbaugh Phony Soldier

On my way to Sonic this morning I was listening to some talk radio show. It was whatever is on 105.3 in the AM. They brought up the Rush Limbaugh scandal, which has to do with him calling any soldier that disagrees with the situation in Iraq a “phony soldier.”

This peaked my interest so I kept listening. According to the show Rush had made this disparaging remark right on the heels of the General Patraeus scandal. The show proceeded to rail on Rush and brought up how the response from Rush that this was taken out of context was nothing more than a spin job.

So, now I am really curios as to what is going on. They then played a very small clip from one of his shows and he did indeed use the term “phony soldier.” So now I’m a bit irritate and somewhat incredulous, but I figure there has to be more to the story or that I should at least investigate it some.

On the talk show, one guy called in and tried to explain the situation and was quickly dismissed and cut off. The hosts of the show would hear none of it.

It would really make me mad if he said these terrible thing. I believe that as an American you are entitled to not only your opinion but the right to speak your opinion. AND, that it does not make you unpatriotic to disagree with something. If you are over there fighting for me and the right to speak my mind, you certainly have the right to speak yours.

In any case, I get back to the house and am sucking down my elixir of caffeine, cola, an sugar also known as the Nectar of the Gods, or Dr. Pepper as it’s more commonly known and start doing a quick search on this.

What I find out in my investigation is that the Media Matters for America group flaunted portions of a transcript of the Limbaugh show that fairly purposely would mislead one to the conclusion that Rush did indeed say these things in negative light. But even MSNBC admitted that they researched the exact transcript of the radio show and that what Rush said and what Media Matters reported are not the same thing.

In short, Rush was referring to a specific person that had lied about their service record and called him, as well as anyone else that did the same thing, a phony soldier.

What really irks me is not only the typical partisan slander of one group to another, but the media’s quick attention to blow the issue out of proportion without investigating it to any real extent.

If a sap like me can take 10 minutes to figure this out, why can’t someone else? Perhaps we hear what we want to hear.

Lazy Scammers

You know, I don’t mind the occasional scammer. They are fun to mess with. In fact, there are several web sites dedicated to seeing how much time you can waste for these people. Some of them are pretty funny as they get the scammers to take humiliating photos of themselves in an attempt to prove their sincerity and that they are legitimate.

However, the other scammers you don’t see much of are the ones that pretend to be some hot chick from another country looking for the love of their life. Normally, I think this is pretty funny as they don’t speak English very well and have a very hard time communicating. This morning I was toying with one that found me (who knows how) and finally got “her” to send me some pics. How lazy can you be? The least you could do is REMOVE the portion of the pic that advertises the web site you stole it from.

At least they didn’t try to tell me that was really them and that they were the model and those photos just happened to be on the web site. Of course, that would have required some thought and creativity to try to pull off a lie like that one.

What is the Balance?

Is it that we are here for an undefined moment of time, and in time? That we should "make the best of it" while we are here? That we should, perhaps, try to better the things around us? Or simply live in the moment and enjoy what we have before us?

I suppose these are questions that have been asked for thousands of years. And I am no different, other than I am not an ancient Roman philosopher.

Quite simply, I look at the moon with my neighbor and discuss the way we think things should be. That's not to say that we even believe everyone should live the way we do. But the simple thing to say, or ask, is "couldn't the world be a better place?"

Sweet Factory!

In this case literally! I was just on a job doing a wireless site survey for a company that I cannot acknowledge here. They wouldn’t let us take any pics out that even showed any equipment or the facilities. Let’s just say that they make ice cream and other cold treats in mass quantity!

I am not much of an ice-cream fan (I don’t like cold things on my teeth, and I don’t have a big sweet tooth), but this place was really neat. They produce about five or six major items or “lines” in the factory. I really enjoyed watching how all this stuff is made up close and personal. We were on the factory floor, hence the garb I am wearing such as the booties, smock, beard net, hair net, safety glasses and hard-hat. I think it would be pretty neat to be in engineering and design systems like they use there.

Most of the areas we worked in were at about 30 ~ 40 degrees. We only had to work in two areas that were kept at roughly 0-degrees. Let me tell you, when you are on a lift approximately 30 feet up in the air and the chillers are blowing directly on you that is some cold ass air!!! My co-worker was taking readings and I was just thinking “hurry up…hurry up….” As my beard net froze to my face and clothes because of the water vapor in my breath,

This was one of the neatest places I have seen in a long time and they kept things very clean! I was impressed with the whole process and how big the facilities were. A few quick observations:

Pallets (and I mean pallets) of 50-lb bags of sugar

A whole room called “the chocolate room”

50-gallon drums of peanuts on pallets.

Corn syrup stored in vats that were about 10 feet in diameter and went up two stories!

If you walked four times around the plant it was the equivalent of doing a 10k!!

They take delivery of milk each day by NINE semi’s trailers!!! That’s approximately 47,551 gallons of milk each day and it takes approximately 9,510 cows to produce that much milk!

And one of their production lines could produce up to 500 “items” per-hour!

You people eat way too much sweet treats! No wonder we are all a bunch of fat bastards!

Illegal Aren’t Stealing Jobs!!

Ok, maybe they aren’t stealing jobs but it’s made it a lot harder for anyone except an illegal alien to get a job here in Texas if you work in any type of manual labor trade.

If you just break it down to raw numbers it’s no wonder that non-illegal aliens can’t hardly get a job here. A few years ago Texas became a minority state. Somebody too scared to print factual information concluded that the minorities are now the majority in Texas. The Department of Homeland security estimates that there are 1.64 million illegal aliens in Texas. That doesn’t include the legal aliens or other resident and non-resident Hispanics.

Break it down even further and you will find that a lot of blacks don’t want the jobs that the Mexicans are doing. I don’t blame them! It’s hard work, and if you can make cash under the table it’s a lot better than busting your ass only to have the government take a huge chunk out of it at the end of the day.

One of my good friends moved back here from Alabama. He’s got about 10 years experience doing trim work (he helped me with my floors!) and he can’t find a job here. He’s been looking in the paper and going to construction sites. The Mexicans have made it very difficult for non-Mexicans to find employment. All the contractors and workers that we’ve talked to while out and about all say the same thing – “you can’t get a job here because of all the Mexicans.” Usually there are a few colorful expletives thrown in as well. Folks are not happy.

In Forbes I am reading about how everyone is whining and complaining about the new crack-downs on illegal aliens. “Oh….booohoooo! We are going to lose our workers and go broke.”

First off – if you hadn’t been hiring illegal aliens you wouldn’t be in this position.

Secondly – let’s take all the illegal aliens and remove them from this country. That’s 30-some-odd million illegal aliens. Do I think there is going to be some far-reaching economic impact? Of course. But it won’t last forever. Think of how many jobs would be available to good ‘ol US Citizens or at least people that are here legally!! Economics would eventually reset and equalizes wages. People, like my friend, could go back to regular and steady work. And you, Mr. employer, wouldn’t have to worry about the IRS, INS, or any one else coming down on your ass because you have a bunch of illegal aliens working for you.

But it can’t be one or two companies that are nailed and held responsible. That just won’t cut the mustard. We have to hold all companies accountable. And, we have to prevent them from starting up their own companies and seeking refuge by proliferating the underground economy. We have to get them out and we have to keep them out.

And what is up with the new proposals in congress to give in-state tuitions to illegal aliens? Out-of-state US Citizens have to pay a premium to go to school out of state and yet we are going to give illegal aliens the same relief on tuitions??? At what point do we finally put OUR country first?

New Floors!

Over the last week I was juggling putting in new floors and getting work done all at the same time, but finally it’s all about to come together.
My friend, Droid, is up from Alabama and looking for work. He does carpentry and trim work and so it was an excellent opportunity for me to have some help putting the floors in and giving him a place to stay and putting a few bucks in his pocket.

Needless to say, he did an excellent job on all the detailed work with measurements and trim. I couldn’t have done a job like that, and it’s looking great!

Trimming things throughout the hallways took a long time, but the main body of the floor went pretty quick.
The floor is a true tongue-and-groove hardwood maple. It’s glued down to the slab with some pretty heavy-duty polyurethane glue that pretty much makes you high just looking at the bucket.

Stripping the carpet and padding out took a few hours. But we took about a week getting the flooring in with the majority of the time spent on those tedious trim pieces.

The transitions from the hardwood to the carpet is in, but I’m waiting on a piece of wood to go from the hardwood to the tile due to the height difference. I could have gotten a 6-foot piece of transition, but I needed 10 ½ for my front entry way. Not only that, but all the shops had the cheap laminate crap. The ones I have in, now, and the stuff on order, is a solid piece of maple. It just has to be cut and lacquered before installation.

So that’s about it….but like many projects, it escalated. Because the floor has a gap we had to get some shoe-molding and install it. Bling let me borrow is air nailer and that made quick work of that particular part of the project (Thanks Bling!). That also meant caulking and painting the baseboards. That was OK, because the ones in the kitchen needed it from the tile job.

This little guy ended up getting stuck to the wet paint. I could just imagine him thinking “what the fuck do I do now?” I thought he was dead and would come apart when I peeled him off the paint but he started twitching so I took him outside and let him go. I never saw him again, so I don’t know if he made it but there is a nice gecko imprint on my closet baseboards, now. No point in re-painting it. It just adds charm.

Done!

Now the problem is that I had to get rid of my old Oak stereo cabinet and replace it. So I have new one of those on order….and as long as I was doing that, how about a new CD rack to hold all of my CD’s and the DVD’s that used to be in the old cabinet? Maybe I’ll have it all wrapped up next week. I hope so!

I’ll post one or two more pics once I get everything put back together. For now, though, I am just really excited that the house is coming together this year. I have some new furniture, new tile floor in the kitchen, new hardwoods in the common areas, and my brother in law was installing sun-screens as I left to get on my flight.

Drama and Stripper Chicks

I had to fly out to Maryland today. No big deal, but I was woken up at 4:00am. Hopper was calling me and needed help. No, he wasn’t in jail….and I knew better than to think he would call me needing a ride because he was too drunk.

Somehow, he had ended up at the gas station a few miles away from my house with two chicks and one motorcycle. Unless you get really creative, you can’t get three people on a bike, and certainly not in a way that wouldn’t get you pulled over by the local po-po’s.

I end up getting out of bed and driving over there and sure enough, two chicks…one bike. One of the chicks was pretty upset. Apparently, the guy she was riding with took her to a park and tried to force himself on her. When she wouldn’t give it up he took her to the gas station and dumped her off. She got some bad pipe-burns on her leg from the bike.

There is always two sides to every story, though, and it certainly sounds like she was all over this guy prior to the incident. Does that justify forcing yourself on someone? Not at all, but there is obviously more to the story than meets the eye.

We all came back to my house and woke up ‘Droid. Or rather, he was already awake. So we stayed up until they could get another ride back to N. Dallas. Typical stripper chicks. Drama, drama, drama….. the one was pretty upset, but had no problems showing us various parts of her body while explaining the whole ordeal.

“Did you get a look at her pussy?”

“umm….yeah, who didn’t?”

And for her, it was all about her….. she was fishing for a ton of affirmation that she was good looking, etc. etc. I couldn’t deal with a chick like that for too long. Maybe a few hours.

Give me a beer, I’m going back to bed because I have a flight to catch…..

INS Crawls up Guys Ass!

A friend of mine does fairly consistent contract work with a guy that we’ll call “Festus” for lack of a better name. Well Festus has been hiring illegal aliens for years as crews for the jobs he does. Sure, he gets paperwork on them so he can feign innocents, but he knew they were illegal aliens.

Festus also supports allowing more open borders and amnesty for illegal aliens. It’s all an effort to keep his costs low so that he can put more money in his pockets. He’s the same kind of person that complains about rising costs, taxes, etc.

Not too long ago, Festus had his crew working at a government in the Metroplex. Well, one day the feds came and hauled off Festus’s van, with his tools and Mexicans in it. All but one of the Mexicans didn’t come back as they were illegal.

Needless to say the IRS and Feds were all over him demanding records, tax records, etc. He wasn’t very happy about it, but it looked like it was finally over.

Just recently, the INS has started crawling up his ass and investigating him, too! Well, I say screw him!!! I hope they give him such a hard time that he never thinks about hiring another illegal alien again!

It’s amazing to me that the same people who favor this complain when their world is negatively impacted by having so many people flood into the country.

Remember 9/11!!!

Yesterday I intentionally didn’t post about 9/11, but I have not forgotten. I haven’t forgotten sitting in front of my TV with my jaw on the floor. I haven’t forgotten visiting NYC when the airports opened back up. I haven’t forgotten the people that I talked to there that had lost a piece of themselves. I haven’t forgotten the little kids that I met that would never see their mom’s or dad’s again. I haven’t forgotten conversations I had with people that were in or near the towers when it happened. I haven’t forgotten the people that did this or what their objectives were, and still are. And most importantly, I haven’t forgotten the thousands of people that lost their lives and that for a brief moment in time, America came together to mourn and heal.

More Global Warming Dumbasses!

http://politicalangstinamerica.blogspot.com/2007/09/global-warming-is-fickle.html

Ever Have One of Those Weekends?

Where things just seem to go right for a change? We always talk about them going obscenely wrong, and I’d say that if you make plans then most of the times things are going to happen that don’t fit in with your plans.

Last weekend was one of those rare times where things not only went as planned, but they turned out better than planned!

I had to be up in Montana to do some work, and while the work-week was hectic my friend Hopper was flying in to come party with me over the holiday weekend. He’d never been to a place like Montana before so I wanted to show him how beautiful it was and to give him an idea of “my world” for the 2 years that I lived there.

I started getting sick on Friday morning at about 4:00am. At 6:15am Hopper called me to let me know he had his first beer and was getting ready to catch the flight.
“What’s up?”
“mhrem…sleeping…”
“I got my first beer and getting ready to get on the plane!!! IT’s ON!!!!”
“great. See you later.”
*CLICK*

Then he gets in and we proceed to start off with Elk burgers and Blue Moons. From there, it’s pretty much a blur. Suffice it to say that we had very little in the way of a plan. The loose plan was this:

• Shut the bars down at night
• Hike up to Palisades Falls
• Hike the M
• Play horse shoes with my friend’s Fuego and Bentley.
• Go to Big Sky

Whatever else would happen would happen. Other than that, we put no constraints on doing other things or even sticking to a schedule. The closest we got to that was playing shoes up at Fuego’s just because of trying to get everyone together up there.

• The fires had been burning up in MT for quite some time, but when Hopper flew in the winds shifted and cleared out the skies for the weekend.
• We got to enjoy Palisades Falls almost all by ourselves.
• Our friends came out to see us and party with us almost every night.
• Fuego’s place was awesome and we had a great time throwing shoes and checking out the amazing stars that came out. We even saw multiple satellites with the naked eye.
• We got to check out a 700+ lb black bear that was someone’s pet.
• We saw milfs and young college chickie-babes on the M
• We shut the bars down just about every night.
• Our friends let us borrow motorcycles and ride with them up to Big Sky as opposed to doing it in a car.
• We had a lot of laughs, and nobody got arrested!

It was a bummer getting up and catching the flight out on Tuesday and both Hopper and I were done by then anyway. It was a long, but very good weekend. I really enjoyed sharing what I think is one of the most beautiful places I’ve ever seen with a close friend, and having them appreciate it as much as I do! Cheers, Hopper!

Worst Beauty Pageant Response Ever?

This is truly pathetic. I'm not sure she even makes one complete or coherent sentence.

Texas Whacks the 400th Inmate

Today, Johnny Ray Conner was put to death by the State of Texas. Conner marks the 400th inmate to be executed since 1976 when the U.S. Supreme Court allowed capital punishment to resume. Three more are scheduled for next week.

A recent acquaintance of mine and I were talking and she indicated that she was against the death penalty. She is an admitted liberal. I don't personally share her viewpoint. I struggle a bit with the moralistic side of the equation, but I completely agree with the philosophy behind it.

My father was telling me that one guy was proposing that if you are against the death penalty that you could "sign up" to make sure that if anyone ever committed a capital offense and you were the victim, that the state would fore go the death penalty based on your personal beliefs. I don't think that is a 1/2 bad idea. I think that we could do apply this same type of "put your money where your mouth is" behavior to a lot of different ideas.

Anyway, I'm tired....outta here!

Shit Man!

Today we are in class and we are getting ready to break for lunch. One of the guys (student) gets up and I notice something dangling out from the waistband of his jeans that looks suspiciously like toilet paper.

I tell the guy about it and he is kind of big so he blindly reaches back there and pulls it out and it falls on the floor. it IS toilet paper, and it also has shit on it. Now I'm not talking a lot here, but clearly there is a nice brown smear all over the paper. Ick.

The guy reaches down and GRABS the paper and wads it up in his hands and then throws it away without being mindful at all about not getting shit all over himself.

So now I am standing there, kind of in shock at what just happened. I am fully expecting him to excuse himself to go wash up.....but he doesn't!!!!! He goes to lunch just like that. Not once did he go and wash his hands or anything.

Needless to say I made sure I didn't touch a DAMNED thing that this guy was near for the rest of the day.

How gross can you be?

Pillow Fight!

Sometimes when I am eating and I am bored I check out what games are available for download on my phone. If it's free for a little while, I might get it and play it until it expires.

One of the games featured today was "Pillowfight." I love the description:

"Join an elite and sexy crew of hot women in the exclusive world of competitive pillow fighting."

No, I did not make that up. I am not sure I am creative enough to make that one up.

But as it turns out, I did Google it and there is an "official" sport of pillow fighting.

http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=competition+pillow+fighting

About God***n time!

The title is a direct quote from Bling!!! A while back he sent me a fairly interesting article and I am just now getting around to posting on it. Sorry for all the delays, but it’s just been nuts lately.

The article is from http://www.politico.com/ and is entitled “Bush Orders New Crackdown on U.S. Border.” The article goes on to mention and list various elements of the newly proposed package. It also has several quotes from bush.

One of my favorites is:

After the announcement, President Bush released a statement in Kennebunkport, Maine, saying that despite the failure of Congress to pass a new law, his administration "will continue to take every possible step to build upon the progress already made in strengthening our borders, enforcing our worksite laws, keeping our economy well-supplied with vital workers, and helping new Americans learn English."

Are you kidding me? Does the Bush administration really believe that everyone is that stupid? Well, perhaps, but let’s face it America….most of you have earned it. Aside from that fact, let’s pick this one apart a bit.

“….Every possible step….in strengthening our borders, enforcing our worksite laws….” Ok, let’s just take that little tidbit and work with it a bit. The Bush administration has been consistently weak and lackadaisical with any regards to protecting our borders. If anything the administration has gone out of its way to allow illegal aliens IN to the U.S. The administration has also been great at ensuring that local law enforcement has been hamstrung and not allowed to create, enact, or enforce laws that would make it tough on illegal aliens to reside in the U.S.

How about some more of this quote…. “….keeping our economy well-supplied with vital workers…” See my above paragraph. The Bush administration has worked hard to ensure that illegal aliens are practically protected by allowing cities to pass their own laws with regards to making it very difficult to investigate illegal aliens and have them deported as well as fining business owners. This stuff isn’t new. If you’ve been reading my blog for a while I have cited this type of behavior by cities and municipalities over and over again.

And I love the last part – “…and helping new Americans learn English.” Let’s get a few things straight, here. Number one, these are NOT Americans. They are illegal aliens that have violated federal law by being in our country illegally. I don’t care what the color of you skin is, and I don’t care where you come from. If you enter the United States illegally you are committing a felony. Most of these illegal immigrants are making an exaggerated effort to circumvent United States law and culture. Mexican immigrants are borderline hostile towards the U.S. and are trying to reclaim it for their own. They are doing a good job, too!!!! Muslim immigrants are already having laws bent and created for their own means including trying to impose Shira law and having local, state, and federal funds used to build schools just for them. Does anyone else see a problem with this?

And last, but certainly not least…. Where, just WHERE do we mandate that anyone has to learn English? It’s not the official language of the U.S. and as far as I can tell there has never been any real political pressure to make it so. We now have municipalities making Spanish their official languages. State and Federal governments are mandating that school systems have bi-lingual teachers available. Hospitals and health-care institutions are also doing the same thing. This is not a push to learn English. Look around you and open your eyes.

I may have been born at night, but it wasn’t last night. This is an insult to my intelligence and is not appreciated.

To take it a step further, why is Bush suddenly trying to do something about all this? Well, in short, he’s trying to butter people up. His last effort at granting amnesty to illegal aliens and increasing the number of illegal jumping the fence every year failed. A large reason for that failure was due to poor enforcement of existing policies. So, now Bush figures he can throw us a bone to appease us and then try to push it through again. It’s coming, so watch out!!!

Political T-Shirts

Thanks to Bling! for one of these, and the other is something that I found. One for each political preference......Can you guess which one of us contributed which shirt?

ARRRGGHHHH!

FUCK! I am kind of pissed off right now. I am VERY stressed out from work. I am getting a whole whopping ONE day off from the 6th up until the 31st. Out of all that time I am going to be out of town predominantly the whole time.

Let's also pile up all my regular work, plus the extra stuff I am trying to take care of. Then consider that ALL of my professional certifications expire at the end of the month. I told work about this MONTHS ago and requested extra time to study. I was allocated TWO fucking days, and they are passing and I have barely gotten anything done because I can't get ONE hour to myself without being interrupted.

But, that doesn't matter because I only ONE free day to take the exam anyway, and if I don't pass I have to wait a week to re-take it..... but due to the only day available, if I don't pass then I am history because my certs expire before I can re-take. Nice, huh?

I also have to still get ready to fly out of town tomorrow, I have a client that is having severe problems and keeps bugging the shit out of me, the guy there barely 'spaks' English, and I am supposed to be meeting up with friend tonight, but i can't do that, yet, because I can't get in the goddamn shower to clean up!

And Bling! and I may be cancelling our trip to the Dragon because of the LEO's being a bunch of cocksuckers http://www.tailofthedragon.com

So, I am REALLY not in a good mood at the moment and there are so many other things I wanted to write about on here but I just haven't had the time.

Crazy Schedule

I am getting ready to fly out to Chicago as I write this. I JUST came from San Jose (about a day ago)

Wed - back from Chicago
Sat - Fly to North Carolina
Get back from NC and then fly to Montana
I may be in Montana for about a month, but it's not known for sure as of yet.

If I do that, I'll have to fly home to get things prepped for my vacation!!!

My Pointer Is Too Small!

The last class I taught in San Jose was interesting. It was a little too large and difficult to manage. I had about 25 students. I like it when it's about 15 or less.

In any case, I actually had a student ding me on my evaluation because.....

“Recommend instructor replace his current laser pointer with one that displays a larger light point….”

I've never had anyone tell me that my pointer was too small!!

Is He Black?

I was having a chat with my friend the other night. She has a Suzuki Hyabusa and has been riding it for about a year, now. She really enjoys the bike and I was telling her that I was looking forward to the new ones that are coming out.

She told me there was a guy at work that asked her for some help picking one out and learning to ride it. So here we have a first time rider that wants to get a bike that weighs in at about 450-lbs and lays down over 190+ bhp to the rear wheel. This is an accident waiting to happen. I asked her if she directed him to take the MSF (motorcycle safety foundation course) and get into a used 600cc bike to start with.

This guy wasn’t interested. He wanted to get a new ‘Busa, extended the swing-arm, drop (lower) the bike, custom paint it and chrome it all out. He does not, however, want to raced it.

So I asked if he is black. She asked does it matter? And I said, not really, but typically only a black guy would take a bike like that and sink a ton of money into it to customize it in such a manner and never ride it or use it for what it was made for.

Not Wired!

A few days ago I was working out at the gym and went to hit the elliptical machines for some cardio. I grabbed a “Wired” magazine and started reading it. I hadn’t read something like that in a long time, but it’s technology based so I figured I’d enjoy it.

As it turns out, I was wrong. The magazine does focus on technology. But it focuses on trendy technology. The latest cell phones, PDAs, game machines, laptops, etc. Not much on how this stuff works, but a lot on what bells and whistles they have. The formatting of the ‘zine is also geared towards the trendy folks that just have to be connected all the time.

I find it slightly ironic that my career and job is focused on making this technology work so that you can have access to things like this blog on your cell phone, but at the same time I don’t want anything to do with being connected all the time.

I don’t really give a ratt’s ass that my cell phone can surf the web, act as a camera, play videos, play music, etc. I don’t use these features and I certainly don’t want to be in a position where people can get in touch with me via phone, SMS, email, or some other form of communication 24 x 7. And because of this, I also don’t care what the latest cell phone / pda / MP3 player wizardry is that would allow me to do this.

All you hip, trendy, wired to the hilt folks can enjoy living in your virtual world. I’m going to go ride my bike and relish in the sights, sounds, smells, and experiences of the real world.

A Terrorist No More!

The TSA must think I chucked my turban and denounced my ways of terrorism. I just checked with the gate agent for my outbound flight to SJC and they said I was no longer on the “no fly” list. I guess they caught “the other guy.”

I never received any acknowledgement from the TSA on my request. So I don’t even know if they properly received my request. Nice, huh?

The whole security thing is a joke. Especially after I found out that employees of the airport and airlines can pretty much skate right through security without a check after-hours. You don’t enforce security some of the time, you enforce it ALL the time.

I don’t mind that we have tighter security. I DO mind that it’s a farce and not effective. I guess you could say it’s the illusion of security. Considering that my hard-earned tax dollars pay for this and I am the one that is standing in lines and wasting a lot of the time at the airport it really pisses me off.

Dream Theater In Concert!

Last night Dream Theater played at the Nokia building. The first two bands weren’t that good and I’m surprised that anyone even opened for DT as they typically don’t have opening acts.

DT started up about 9:00pm and it took about an hour to get through four songs. So far so good!!! Over all, it was a totally awesome concert! Those guys are just wrong, though. People shouldn’t be able to play that well for that long.

The only critical things I would say are that:
1 – James Labrie (lead vocalist) is getting pretty thin on top and needs to cut that shit off!! He’d be better off doing something different.

2 – James also flubbed a few lines on a song. I think he forgot the lyrics for a moment. Either that or the sound system was having a problem.

3 – I was slightly disappointed that they only played for a little over 2 hours! They usually play for closer to 3 hours.

Otherwise a most excellent show!

BTW – a big Thank You to Hopper for buying me a few beers and loaning me a few bucks for a shirt. I didn’t exactly have a way to spend much cash (see previous entry!).

I’m a Dumb-Ass!

Yesterday, I was talking to a trainer at the gym about signing up for some sessions. I told him I’d take 5 sessions just to tweak my training regiment. He said that was great and asked how I’d like to pay. Credit card, of course.

Then it hits me like one of those times when you are stuck on the freeway in rush-hour traffic in downtown Dallas and you suddenly have to go to the bathroom. Really, really bad.

I lost my wallet.

Not just a credit card or something, but the whole freaking thing! I went to the grocery store (which I lothe to do anyway) after working out and bought some fruits and veg to eat. Since I had my gym shorts on, I didn’t have a pocket to put my wallet in and stuck it on the little tray that is part of the grocery cart. I even remember telling myself not to do that because I’d forget it.

Sure enough, I did.

Scramble back to the grocery store (three hours later). The carts have all been taken inside. I go in and check, but they haven’t had a wallet turned in. Scramble back home and start calling banks and what-not to have my credit cards cancelled and re-issued.

I also went to the DPS today to get a new photo ID issued. Something tells me that this picture wouldn’t fly anymore.

Dream Theater was last night, and while I couldn’t go to the ATM to get any money out I was fortunate enough to keep a few spare bucks stashed in the house so I had a little money to spend.

It was really strange, though. I felt pretty nekkid out there. Not in the same way as not having my wallet with me, but in the way that I didn’t have a choice. I couldn’t show ID, couldn’t get any money, and couldn’t pay for anything beyond the few bills I had in my pocket.

So now I am waiting for the fallout. I have new credit cards on the way, but I can’t buy airline tickets, rent cars, or get hotel rooms for work. I also am going to have to wait until the new cards come in to setup some of my e-payments again. And, of course, I need to call my insurance companies so that they can re-issue me some new insurance cards.

It’s pretty much a big pain in the ass and I’ll have to watch everything real carefully just in case someone decides to try to steal my identity (never had a problem with this before).

At least the extra rubber I kept in my wallet is easily replaced and not missed…..much.

Fat Bastard on the Rebound!

Well I have finally committed to getting my fat ass back in shape again. I find it odd that many people are telling me that I look like I’ve lost weight or that I look good. I can’t quite figure it out because let me tell you *I* know I’m a fat bastard. Your friend my lie to you while you are both horking down Crispy Cream’s faster than my truck sucks gasoline but the scale don’t!

Besides, just because I may be “average” to everyone else I feel like a fat bastard. I’ve always been skinny and in shape. Now I feel fat and out of shape. So, being the selfish prick that I am it’s really all about me. J

In any case, I had been trying to do more things this summer like biking but it rains all the time. If I want to hike, it’s boring compared to hiking 9000-foot mountains with 2000-foot vertical climbs. And I’m really not sure which is worse – being accosted by a enraged crack head with a bald guy fetish or checking over my shoulder for grizzlies, but something tells me that I enjoy being with the bears more.

In any case, it’s all an excuse. Ultimately, you have to make the decision to be a fat bastard and balloon up to epic proportions Al Gore style, or do something about it. So I’m trying to do something about it. I was hitting the stationary cycle in PA, and now I signed back up at the local gym. They gave me a smoking price (can you beat $15.00 / month?) because I used to work out there all the time and remembered me. “WTF happened to you? You fat bastard!”

So now that I plonked down my hard earned cash I feel motivated to go to the gym because I am also a cheap bastard and I hate throwing my money away. Today was my first day lifting weights again. It was all chest and triceps for today with a good solid 30-mins of cardio on top of a warm-up and however long it took me to rip off some sets. I really tried to take it easy because I know I am going to be hurting for the 1st week or two. So I tried to be good and just let my body know it was going to be dealing with this again and to get ready for it.

Tomorrow, if you ask me how I am I’m sure I’ll say I am fine, but please don’t touch my he-bitch-man-titties!!!!

My Terrorist Activities

Today's Guest Posting is yet again from Bling! Thanks Bling! (My name has been slightly altered to protect my terrorist identitity)

"In the news, Brad Muhammad Smith is being sought in connection with recent terror activities. Authorities claim that nationwide levels of alcoholic beverages have dipped dangerously low and attribute the drop with the presence of Smith and his associates. While many terror experts dispute the claims, since Muslims do not normally drink, witnesses have shown increased willingness to come forward with stories of late night binges and surreptitious partying. The prosecution's main witness, known only by the code name "The Weasel" has agreed to provide details about past activities of Smith. Police have requested that anyone knowing the whereabouts of Brad "Allah is All" Smith should not approach him, but instead to alert the authorities and order him a drink......."

Track Days

‘Priller is Just Fine

Last week, Hopper and I had a small accident in which we ended up colliding while on our bikes. We are both fine, but the bikes suffered some minor damage. I think mine got the least of it as his fender hit my back tire and got my right-side tail-pipe.

The pipe itself came out mostly OK with some minor scratching and a hairline crack in the carbon fiber weave – all on the underside of the pipe. The worst thing that happened on my bike is that the steel band that holds the pipe on got munched pretty good. I took it all off the bike and straightened it out yesterday. Nothing like sweating your balls off in the garage and getting metallic fragments buried into your skin while you try to straighten something like this out. Fortunately, with some very minor exceptions your average person probably can’t even tell that something happened to the bike.

His bike got it much worse as his dresser fender got wrinkled up and crushed the front running light.

I felt really bad for him because he’s only had his “new” HD about a month and so far:

The seat almost came off of it in mid-ride because the bolts vibrated out. He said that it was a “pucker” moment and that his eyeballs almost touched his goggles.

His check engine light had been coming on – unknown as to why at this point.

His front fender is now damaged and will be far more difficult to repair than my ‘Priller.

Why are Dems Trying to Snuff Out Common Sense?

There is a bill being proposed that originally started as a non-bipartisan bill to prevent people from being sued should they report suspected terrorist activity to the authorities. I think what kicked this off was the group of Muslim scholars that were about to board a plane when many of the passengers noticed them intensely praying and saying things like “Allah Akbar” – a common phrase yelled just before igniting one’s self into a fireball and taking out as many people as possible.

In any cases, these folks sued and I am not quite sure what happened with the lawsuit. Our government has been encouraging us for years now to report suspicious activities. Some of those reports have led to terrorist arrests and potential plots being stopped in their tracks.

Now, though, the democrats are making an effort to block a bill which would prevent Joe Citizen from being sued simple because he did his duty.

I often times don’t understand politics, but it certainly seems to me that the radical left is often at odds with common sense and their own goals.

USB Fan Kicks Ass and Takes Names!

I am in another hotel that has one of the A.C. units that shuts off when it get to the right temperature. That’s fine, except that I like moving air when I sleep. I can put the unit on “fan only” but then it won’t keep the room cool. If I keep the room cool the unit shuts off at the desired temperature. It’s either that or get the room so cold that icicles form on unmentionable body parts. What to do?

BAM!!

Introducing the USB Fan on a flexible goose-neck. Bling! said I am “such a geek” for having this…..but it didn’t cost me hardly any money and guess what? It works like a champ.

Simply:
1) place laptop with USB connection on the nightstand beside the bed
2) Plug in the portable USB fan
3) Adjust the goose-neck so that the fan is blowing towards you

Problem solved!! Now I can enjoy cool, refreshing, circulating air without freezing to death!

I Must Be A Terrorist!

Yesterday when I went to check in for my flight I went to one of the little kiosks like I usually do. It told me that it was unable to process my itinerary and I had to see an agent. Fortunately, the line wasn’t that long. Unfortunately, there were three sloth’s working the counters and it took forever to get to an agent.

When I finally got there I was informed that I am on the “No Fly” list. This is all new to me. “How does one get on the no fly list?” I ask. “We don’t know and we can’t tell you.”

“Does that mean I can’t fly?”
“No, it just means you have to always see an agent and we have to check you out.”

Now as many of you are aware, I travel a lot. Maybe not as much as some people, but definitely more than most. It’s usually not too bad to go up to a kiosk, check in and dump your bags before heading off to security. In some cases, I don’t even check a bag to make the process even that much faster.

But NOW I have to go see an agent. This means I have to allocate a substantial amount of time to do this. There are some flights I would not have made if I had to stand in that stupid line.

How do I get off the list? I can fill out a request with the TSA and submit some “paperwork” and then they will process it in some unknown amount of time. However, right now I can’t even fill that out online because the web site is hosed. That means I have to mail everything and that will have to wait until I am back home.

Big pain in the ass!!! Considering I fly about 60+ thousand miles a year and take roughly four flights a month and have been for years I am surprised I am on the “no fly” list. I don’t have an uncommon name so perhaps they have me confused with another anglo-saxon male that also has a similar European / American name. Perhaps if I was of middle-eastern descent and had a name like Mohammed Salami Fuquad I’d be able to fly with less hassle.

What did YOU do this weekend?

I had a pretty good weekend, even though I didn’t get out and party my ass off Friday or Saturday night. Aside from some of my usual things I try to get done I:

Went to a nudist resort and attended a chili cook-off. Ever seen naked pool volleyball? “Hey man, just make sure it’s the hot dog on the grill, ok?”

Rode motorcycles to get there, and had a small accident on the way back (nobody was injured and there is just some minor cosmetic damage to both bikes).

Played racquetball for the first time since I injured my knee and ankle – about three years ago. It felt a lot better than I thought it would and I only felt my that my knee was unstable once. But today my butt and my legs are sore, which is to be expected.

Hung out at the pool with Weasel, his wife, and their kids. Played hard with the kids and had a great time. This put me in the sun for about the third or fourth straight day and I am just now showing signs of a slight burn. Don't forget your sunscreen kiddies!

Saw a major car accident that probably resulted in a death or two. This was fairly depressing and makes you appreciate how quickly it can all end.

Live Earth Flop?

Well I am sure it wasn't a flop. I'm sure those folks made plenty of money!!!!

I'm constantly amazed by how many people have no real clue about what is going on in the global warming debates and wars. Those people that just accept, as fact, that we are destroying our planet and it's OUR fault.

Let's get something straight - the earth existed for a loooooong, long, long, time before "man" ever came along. If we had a nuclear holocaust and destroyed every living thing on the planet (with the exception of some very hardy insects), the earth would survive and thrive millions of years later - just without man. So, even if we were as bad as the alarmists say we are the only thing we are truly hurting is ourselves.

So my friend, Phil, forwarded me this link to the Live Earth thingie and there is a voting poll on the right of the web page. Here are the results, which I found to be quite humorous:

http://www.liveearth.msn.com/green/bestofgreen

Which of the following best characterizes your feelings about the Live Earth event?

It was an awesome, inspiring display of unity by some of the world’s top artists
19%
It was a great weekend of music by an all-star lineup
8%
It was a self-serving publicity stunt for climate alarmists and their entertainment industry friends
56%
I didn’t follow the event
17%

Faster Than Dark!

OK, so I had at one time posted that I wanted to go faster than the speed of light. Now I want to go faster than the speed of dark!!!!

Just when I thought it was safe Suzuki released the mostly new (redesigned) GSXR1300, also known as the Hyabusa II ('Busa II for short).

Claimed output is over 190bhp at the rear WHEEL. One reporter said he saw three digits on the dyno at the testing facility and one of them started with a "2"!!! If it's anything like the first 'Busa it will be a serious bike!!!!

Now, though, the problem is that I was really eye-balling the new Kawasaki Concourse. It's $14k and not sticking on the dealer showroom floors, but I haven't seen any reviews of it as of yet. One local dealer said I could have their third or fourth one coming in if I wanted to drop $500 bills.

So now the question is - 'Busa or Concourse? What's that you say? Buy them both?

Cute Little Bastard!

Things Never Change

Today I was driving around running a few errands and for whatever reason decided to throw in my Stormtroopers of Death CD - Speak English or Die

SOD was one of the early thrash bands that bordered on punk and death metal. Mostly made up of Anthrax members, they wrote and recorded the album in about 3 days. I'm not sure, but it's even my earliest recollection of a type of music called "grind" which later matured to be even heavier.

You can't take SOD seriously, but I found it ironic that some of the lyrics from their classic hits are still relevant today almost 20 years later (album was released in 1987). I thought I'd share some of these melodies with you, gentle reader, to show you what I mean:

Speak English or Die

You come into this country

You can't get better jobs

Boats and boats and boats of you

Go home you fucking slobs

Selling hot dogs on the corner

Selling papers in the street

Where you come from must be beat

Chorus:

You always make us wait

You are the ones we hate

You can't communicate

Speak English or die

You don't know what I want

You don't know what I need

Why must I repeat myself

Can't you fucking read?

Nice fucking accents

why can't you speak like me?

What's that dot on your head,

Do you need it to see?

And, 20 years earlier this throwback to a more civilized time:

Fuck The Middle East

Fuck the middle east

There's too many problems

They just get in the way

We sure could live without them

They hijack our planes

They raise our oil prices

We'll kill 'em all and have a ball

And end their fucking crisis.

Beirut, Lebanon - won't exist once we're done

Libya, Iran - we'll flush the bastards down the can

Syrian and Shites - Crush their faces with our might

Then Israel and Egypt can live in peace without these dicks!

And of course, with global warming:

No Turning Back

The atmosphere is breaking up

Sunlight starts to burn my skin

Loosing weight, but I swell

Wish I'd die and leave this hell

Cannot stop no turning back

Rays that burn my front and back

Our solar death that we deserve

For being ignorant with our world.

Chorus:

We will die, we will fry

We never learn, so now we burn!

The time has come to start again

But first we all must see the end

By hand of God or man

To oblivion we descent

I think that this is understood

Wouldn't stop it if I could

Time for the human race to die

And give our world a chance to thrive!

The Long Life Triangle

Weasel Gets Married!

¼ bottle of Jack Daniels
½ bottle of Jagermeister
½ bottle of Rumple Minz
320 Miles
15 hours
A box and a half of shotgun shells
One pack of beef jerky
Two Wedding Rings
A small Church
A minister
…And Ron is now married!

Crazy Schedules!

I am at another airport waiting to fly home. When I get to the house, I am going to dump the clothes out of my suitcase. I am then going to re-pack it, shave my head down, take a shower, and hit the road to drive to OK. One of my very good friends is getting married. Then Sunday, I’ll attend the wedding, drive back home only to get ready to leave out of town again to head to PA. At least I’ll have a few days at home!

More Bad Politics

Thanks to my friend Bling! for forwarding this link. It is a brief article that clearly implies there is coercion from the Bush administration in an effort to manipulate policy and politics.

I’ve long thought that to some degree our existing system is always going to encourage this type of behavior. I’m certainly not saying that I excuse it, though. Ultimately, Bush is responsible for the member of his administration and this type of manipulation is very disappointing.

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/07/11/washington/11surgeon.html?ei=5065&en=79030f4eb1e8f7e1&ex=1184817600&adxnnl=1&partner=MYWAY&adxnnlx=1184159559-/NYm79y6BIFjCfEdvXhCOQ&pagewanted=print

More Thoughts on Illegal Aliens

My dad sent me a funny video in which Newt (CHECK NAME) makes some amusing analogies between countries that work, and countries that don’t work.

In his examples a country that works is one in which we can track millions of packages, in real-time, from shipping companies such as FedEx and UPS. A country that doesn’t work is one in which we can’t track down illegal aliens.

While I found this amusing, as it was supposed to be, I also found it to be inaccurate with respect to the root of the problem. Perhaps the rest of the video covers this, but what was available did not.

The problem is not finding illegal aliens. If you live in Texas, New Mexico, or California they are not hard to find unless you are deaf and blind.

In my opinion there are multiple problems, the least of which is finding them. I think the biggest problems is primarily due to not enforcing our existing immigration laws or levying heavy penalties against those that aid-and-abet felons (illegal aliens). This would be those people that knowingly hire them or provide them with housing, food, clothing, etc.

The other large problem I see is all the state and local laws that are set up to protect illegal aliens. This kind of goes back to the first problem, but look at it from this perspective. There are several places that have simply chosen to not only ignore federal law, but have taken it upon themselves to enact laws that make it illegal to inquire about ones status in the U.S. That basically means that you can’t ask someone if they are here legally, nor can you do anything to them if you find out that they are here illegally.

Our constitution is setup in a way that makes it illegal for police officers to “ask you for papers.” We don’t want to be a police state. But there has to be some middle ground. It is not illegal, for example, for an officer to ask you for identification. However, not having identification is not against the law. Yet, it’s clearly obvious that there are millions of illegal aliens in the U.S.

But to me, the root of the problem is not protecting our borders and controlling the influx of people into the country in the first place. Do that, and it makes it much easier to enforce the existing laws.

Recently the amnesty bill was resurrected and defeated TWICE in a very short time span. For once, all the PACs, lawyers, Mexican mafia, etc. didn’t get their way. For once, the system worked, but it was close. I wouldn’t say that I have renewed faith in the system, but at least it is a ray of sunshine.

My friend works for a guy that hires illegal aliens. He “skirts” the law, and is now under investigation, because they provide him with papers. While I don’t disagree that you shouldn’t prosecute someone that was provided papers it is clearly obvious that these are illegal aliens. This guy, however, wants them here because it costs him less money to hire illegal aliens than American citizens. I disagree with this as a free-market society can exist and work with legal immigrants and could still help bring labor rates down. In my opinion, this guy deserves to go to jail and lose everything he’s got. This same person complains about taxes being raised and his struggle to get ahead in life. Yet, he can’t see he is part of the very problem he is complaining about.

Happy 231st Birthday!

Our country celebrating yet another birthday!! A big THANK YOU to all the men and women that made it possible for us to have our independence throughout the years!

It was a fairly chill day for me as there just wasn’t a whole lot going on. I think the constant rain was ruining a lot of people’s plans. I went and grilled out with some friends I hadn’t seen in a long time and it was really good to see them.

Of course, the rain set in and brought the humidity up to a bazillion percent even though it never got very hot. I haven’t checked the “official” recordings, but I bet we’ve had one of the coolest June’s and early July’s on record – not to mention the wettest.

Later in the evening Ron (a.k.a. Weasel) came over with his fiancé and we had a good time going over photographs and catching up on things. Ron had a fight with one of his daughters and he got agitated. So what better way to relieve some aggression than with fireworks on the 4th of July?

My fireworks were pretty old and dry. We had a lot of duds, and a lot of quick fuses. In some cases we “modified” them to make our own demonstrations. Note: this is not exactly the most intelligent thing to do and I don’t recommend it to people.

Here is a pic of Ron trying to light one of our creations and get away. The good news is that it was a dud and never fired. All in all it was pretty relaxed and since we had so much rain nobody was worried about catching stuff on fire. And remember kiddies - Always wear your safety glasses!!

Not Much Going On Except the Rain

It's still raining here in Texas. I'd have to go back and really check, but it seems like with little exception that it's rained every single day for about the last two or three months. All of our lakes are flooded out and well over their full marks. Some of them are over the spillways while others are being drained via open floodgates so that the dams don't burst.

The Brazos river looked like it was up about 20+ FEET when I drove by it the other day and my roof has developed a small leak, which I can't fix because it won't stop raining. I can't mow the yard without leaving tracks, but at least my sprinklers have been off for a long, long, time.

Other than that, there really hasn't been too much going on. I took the boat back out to the lake recently and suffered a blow out on the trailer - that was a two hour period of introspective reflection while stuck on the side of I-20 in the middle of nowhere.

I've determined that the toys I want are just too expensive. Used Vette's are still going for $30+ thousand, as well as the used ski-boats I'd like to have at $40 and $50+ thousand. USED!!! Who can afford to buy them new?

My 'Priller battery died and cut short my only window of opportunity to ride in the last few weeks, but at least I got a few miles in.

The 4th Of July is coming up and I just don't have any plans. Not sure that I care to have any plans. I used to love to celebrate the 4th on the lake, but now.... it's just not the same.

The Amnesty bill was once again defeated for those of you not keeping track, but it still seems that our government is failing us, but I did manage to pick up a set of ratcheting wrenches at 50+ percent off from sears!

RingBack Tones

Here is a little something that I really can't stand. The idea is not half-bad. Enable your mobile phone to play music, rather than the traditional ring, to the person that is trying to call you.

The problem is that the execution is horrible. Telephones, and in particular cell phones, were never made to carry or reproduce the frequencies necessary to play music. So what you get when someone uses ringback tones is a garbled, mutilated, sound that you might be able to recognize as music.

It's horrible and extremely agitating. Me being the selfish bastard that I am, have taken to telling my friends that use them that unless I really need to get in touch with them that they can expect me to not be calling as often. Or they'll get a text asking them to give me a call - I don't have any ringback tones programmed.

Though few things might be worse, calling a friend up to have a nice conversation and getting a bunch of staticy, garbled, crap over the phone is pretty bad.

El Cenizo

Last night as I was flipping channels I caught a quick news report on a little town in Texas called El Cenizo. The town has about 6000 residents, pretty much all of which are Hispanic. Now, they claim that everyone is there legally. Ok, I can buy that (even if I don’t quite believe it).

But the really unique thing about this town is that they have made the official language of the town (that is, all business conducted and recorded by the government) Spanish. Not English, but Spanish. They are no longer doing any record keeping in English.

While there is no Federal mandate on this, I found this to be a little disturbing. Legally they have every “right” to do so considering that there is no official language of the U.S. What bothers me, though, is that it is a clear indication that we are:
1 – losing the war on immigration (thanks Bush and Kennedy!)
2 – losing our sovereignty.

I think that it is a bad idea to continue down this path as what we will ultimately do is continue to divide our country and create confusion amongst its citizens (hopefully legal ones).

The other thing that really got me is that in this town it is outright illegal to turn in an illegal immigrant! That’s right! Even though federal law has decreed it is against the law to be in the United States without going through the “process” this town has usurped federal law by making it illegal to do anything about it.

It’s hard for me to believe that a city can get away with this type of behavior. This is not unlike other cities that have thumbed their noses at federal law on other issues. Why are we not enforcing our laws? Why are we allowing cities to write into law ordinances that conflict with federal law?

I really have to blame Clinton and Bush on this one. Neither president has done anything to ensure enforcement of our immigration laws. Especially Bush.

I get the impression that there aren’t any lawyers that read my blog, but if there are I’d love to hear the legal argument of how this is possible and permissible.

Maybe Texas succeeding from the U.S. isn’t such a bad idea after all.

Fooked at the Airport

I had a quick, two-day trip up to St. Louis and back. My original plans were to fly in on Tuesday, then meet with my client on Wed, and fly back late Wed. night. However, after it was all locked in the client said they couldn’t meet Wed. So we did everything on Tuesday afternoon and evening.

Wed. rolls around and I figure there isn’t much point in sitting around at the hotel, and since I have to checkout at some point anyway I decided to head to the airport and grab an earlier flight.

As it turns out, everything was booked up and they best they could do was standby. Ok, no problem. Except two other flights had mechanical delays so now I am at the back of a VERY long standby list. My flight out is not until 7:45 this evening. (BTW – did anyone just catch that I changed verb tense?). So here I am….sitting on my arse without anything to do. I can’t get online because there isn’t any Internet access, here. A whole day wasted. Maybe I’ll get lucky and still grab an earlier flight out.

If You are Going to Turn, then TURN!

One thing that really frustrates me is when you are approaching an intersection and you want to take a left-hand turn, and the driver coming the opposite direction wants to take a right hand-turn.

It should be simple, right? We all learn when that unless there is an arrow to protect our turn that the driver taking the right-hand turn (i.e. oncoming traffic) has the right of way. So why do drivers continuously yield to the person taking the left-hand turn and just sit there looking like a moron? Now both vehicles are 1/2-way into the intersection and nobody is moving.

This drives me crazy. I've gotten to the point that if the oncoming driver pulls this crap, I take my left-turn anyway. I'm not going to sit in the middle of the intersection while the light changes colors and sticks me out there to dangle in the proverbial wind because they had to fiddle-fart around and wouldn't turn.

Lean on My Truck!

Today I was out eating a burger for lunch. I had a spot by the window and was just staring outside. My truck was parked right by the establishment and this older gentleman along with what appeared to be his son and grandson walked up to my truck. he just kind of casually throws his arm over the bed and leans on my truck talking to his son.

So then his son leans on my truck and starts talking back. Now my truck is a 4x4 and therefore has a slight lift to it. It's just about the perfect height to throw you arm up on the bed-rail and lean. Obviously it was working for these two guys.

Now the young boy "disappears" for a moment because he has walked around back. Then his head pops up and I realize he is standing on the bumper and leaning on the tailgate.

So here is the Grandfather, dad, and boy all just hanging out on my truck. It was kind of strange. They obviously weren't hurting anything so I didn't really care. But I wouldn't go up to some strangers car / truck and just start hanging out on it. In fact, I'd be willing to bet that a lot of people would be so possessive as to have said something to them about it. I guess that is just a sign of the times.

Hate Crimes

I received an email from someone I had not heard from in a long time. It was regarding a new hate crime bill called the Mathew Shepard act. I have not yet read this bill or what is contained therein so I can’t comment on the specifics of the bill, though I got the impression from the campaign that it is specifically targeting hate crimes against gays or lesbians.

Personally, I am a bit reluctant to support a hate crime bill that secludes or recognizes one social group of people over another. Isn’t that the very definition of discrimination?

Let me reiterate…. Isn’t any crime against another human being a “hate crime?” If a person kills another person, isn’t that a hate crime regardless of the color of their skin, their sexual orientation, or religious preference?

A lot of liberals like to talk about racism and discrimination. They like to indicate that we should all be treated fairly and equally. But, liberals are usually the first to pass laws that segregate and isolate one class of people. In doing so we are in fact actually enforcing and encouraging discrimination.

Take reverse-discrimination. If what you just read translated to “discrimination against white people” you are already actively taking part of the political juggernaut that perpetuates discrimination. I never said / wrote anything about reverse-discrimination being against white people, but that is what you interpreted it as. Have you ever thought about Why?

If you look at affirmative-action laws, they were not really written to promote equality in the work environment. They were, however, written to make sure that blacks (and I guess, now, Hispanics) are given preferential treatment. Because if it was truly a mechanism to prevent discrimination against a minority, then Caucasians would now be receiving this treatment in areas like Texas and California where we are now considered “minority” states. Again, liberalism at work – calling the majority of people a minority is an oxymoron if I ever heard one.

So look again at hate crime bills. And think about the potential, long-term consequences of these bills before we go and continue to socially identify, isolate, and discriminate for (or against) certain groups of people.

Something is Missing

I don’t know what it is. But I still feel like I am missing something. I’m struggling, but I’m not sure for what. Happiness, maybe. Not that I am whole unhappy, but I just feel like I should be in the prime of my life and somehow I am missing the experience. I’m not quite sure why that is.

OK! Stitch me up!

Do you remember when you were a kid? Did they have Big Wheels and Green Machines back then? I asked one person if they remembered them and they said “no.” How can you say “no?” I asked if they lived under a rock as a child and was quickly reprimanded.

I was at the toy store today to pick out a birthday present for my niece and took my time browsing the toys. The toys are getting better and better, but sometimes the simple toys are still the best.

My niece wants a pair of “heelies.” These are shoes that have wheels in the heel that you can skate on if you lift your toes up off the ground. You’ve probably seen little kids wheeling around on them at the grocery store and stuff.

My mom, the ever, constant, motherly, worry-wart is scared my niece is going to hurt herself and end up in the hospital. “You heard what they said! Kids are pouring into the hospitals from these things!”

Yeah, well they are also pouring in from bicycles, skateboards, swing-sets, cheerleading activities and all sorts of other things. In other words, they are kids and they are going to get hurt. I had my fair share of going to the hospital when I was kid. I got stitched up a lot. I had stitches in my head about 7 times by the time I was 10…..and I’m not accident prone, I just had a lot of fun and sometimes got hurt doing it.

Ever try to jump your bicycle off a home-made ramp that was a ½ of a 4 x 8 and bricks? It takes a couple of times before you realize that as the ramp gets higher, you have to use more bricks to keep the thing from exploding on impact and sending you, your bike, the board, and the bricks all flying in different directions.

My dad says I would go to the ER (and by this point they just about knew us by name), hop up on a gurney and say “ok, stitch me up!”

But I digress….the point is that I was in Toys R Us to get my niece a gift and I saw the new Green Machine that also has a water tank strapped onto it and a trigger right on the handgrip with a squirt gun on the top of the handlebars. You could ride your Green Machine around and squirt the crap out of people. How cool is that

I need one of these for the ‘Priller! (my motorcycle)

I Can Fix Him!

A friend of mine has been going out with this total jerk of a guy for about 8 or 9 months, now. He moved into her house, has paid no rent, bought no groceries, or helped out in any other way, shape or form.

Originally, he was kicked out of the place he was living and he didn’t have any place else to go so she let him stay there until he could save up some cash and get a new place. That’s a very nice thing for her to do for someone. But this guy never saved his money. He’d go out and blow it on trips, and buying other girls clothes and stuff like that.
Did she kick him out? No.

And of course over this time they became “romantically” involved. Now my friend will contest that they were never together, but what else do you call it when you are living together and getting upset because the other person is telling you one thing and then sneaking off to be with other women? I’d say that while you may say you are not “officially” together you are obviously in a relationship of sorts. So this guy treats her like crap, goes out with other women (blatantly) and then gets possessive when she might be going out with someone else.

I recall several occasions where she called me up and was upset over the situation. If you have read my blog for any length of time you can probably guess my response was to throw his bum ass out on the street. “But he doesn’t have any money or any place to go.” So? Kick his fucking ass out!!!
This is called enablement. People (this guy) can’t be the way that they are unless someone enables them to do so. When you see the fat bastards that can’t fit through a doorway you should wonder how they got so big if they can’t fit through the doorway to get to the refrigerator and the bucket of KFC glowing like the 10 Commandments inside the Ark of the Covenant. They had an enabler. Someone brought them the five buckets of KFC that it took to maintain their figure. My friend was the enabler. The guy never had to be financially responsible, or morally, or socially responsible because she wouldn’t do anything about it.

But, I think, FINALLY she is over this guy. She met someone new and I couldn’t be happier for her. She deserves to have someone treat her good and with respect. So we were talking about this and I am really trying to bite my tongue. Then she says “I don’t know….I guess I let it go on for so long because I thought I could change him.” I swear I wanted to reach through the phone and strangle her. I couldn’t believe she just gave me one of the most classic reasons a chick lets a guy treat her like dirt and why they seem to like it.

I have begun to think that if that’s how women think then they deserve what they get.

Electric Ass

If anyone has stayed in a hotel room in the last few years you have probably noticed they give you those electronic room key cards. If you have stayed in the crack motel, you might not have seen one of these as of yet but they look like a credit card and you simply insert them, or swipe them, into a reader embedded in the door. CLICK! And your room opens.

They are supposed to be safer than a key because most hotels never re-key their locks and any psychopath could make a duplicate key and steal your Twinkies in the middle of the night.

But there is also one flaw. They seem to be FAR more sensitive to EMI (electrical magnetic interference) than an average credit card. It seems like I have had a slew of them that didn’t work and I have to keep going to the front desk to get them re-done. Not a big deal if you are right around the corner, or if you are an elevator kind of person. But I am not. I take the stairs and so by the time I go up, figure out it doesn’t work, back down and then back up again, it is a fair bit of exercise when I am carrying my backpack. Mostly, it’s just a hassle.

So I asked the front desk chick what the problem was and she told me that carrying the card next to your wallet or cell-phone might erase it. Check. I was definitely doing this as I would stick my Razr cell-phone and the hotel key-card in the same back pocket. I might even set the key-card on top of my wallet. Of course, my credit cards in my wallet never care if my cell phone is on top of it, but maybe the technology for key-cards in hotels is not as robust.

So this last trip I paid extra attention and made sure that the key card never came within proximity of either my cell phone or my wallet. I put it into my back pocket like usual and that was it.

But, still, EVERY freaking night when I’d get back to the hotel room it didn’t work and had to be re-programmed. So the next logical conclusion is that my ass is electric and puts out some EMI. I wonder if I can market this…..

I’m a Rabbit Hole Kind of Guy

I’m not sure what motivates one to be like this. Recently, I found I could not pull myself away from a situation that could have serious repercussions, or that nothing at all might come of it and I’d have some fun. In the end, I was able to be a “good boy” and nothing happened.

I’ve always been like this. Every since I was a little kid I just have to see how far the rabbit hole goes. Now, I’m not prone to this type of exploration if I know it’s going to get me into trouble. But if it only might get me into trouble then I am all over it like butter on toast.

Maybe it’s the same reason that I ride motorcycles, snowboard, hike in the woods and anything else I do that is a bit adventuresome and exploratory in nature.

Chicks and Wedding Rings

While I was teaching my last course in Arkansas I had encountered a few different women all of whom were not wearing wedding or engagement rings, but that I found out were married. Some of the women were in my class, but I also noticed this with waitresses and other women that I met while in Arkansas. Is this a new trend I am not aware of? Is it a type of deception or am I just missing something?

A Weekend With Dream Theater

Dream Theater is coming to the Nokia-whatever-it's-called Theater-thingie on August 2nd. I just bought two tickets to go see 'em. I am stoked as I haven't seen them in years.

It should be a great concert.

Timing and Illegal Aliens

Here is an interesting article posted by the Washington Times. According to the article the Republican National Committee is taking a hit by people that are pissed off about the proposed amnesty bill.

Here is a link to the article and a link to the comments. Both are good to read.

Please don't forget to call and write your senators!!!

Need more information on how this bill is shaping up, the status of the votes, and what all the legal mumbo-jumbo means? Check out http://www.numbersusa.com/index