Company Killer

If you don't like your company and you want it to begin to struggle or worse fail, just get me a job there.

Seriously, any company I work for seems to fall on hard times at some point in the near future.

Let's recap my work history and you will understand why.

First example:

My third job (first two were paper boy and something else small) was at a sporting goods store called Shenk & Tittle. I started in October and everything was fine....except that the mall we were located was damn near useless. The only people that came into the mall were old people so that they could walk around and get their exercise.

By May of the following year that store was closed.

I started and within 7 months the store was empty and I was looking for a new job.
Second example:

The next real full time job I had was at Rite Aid. If you haven't heard of it Rite Aid is a national drug store chain. Before I started the stock had been pretty high, like 50 or something. And while part of that was because of the executives cooking the books they were still getting away with it when I started.

Within a few weeks of starting at my store the companies stock price fell down to like 1 dollar or something like that.

Third example:

Another sporting goods store called Kelly's which specialized in shoes and sports clothing. I worked there from November to February one year. A nice store in a good mall that seemed to be doing okay.

With a couple months of me leaving the store was closed and everyone was out of a job.

Fourth example:

After that I went to work for my fathers construction company. I actually worked there for 4 years and while I technically didn't do any real harm to his company, it isn't around anymore. We were building around 25 houses a year, which is a lot for a small company like his, and everything was good. Except that his partner wanted out.

After 4 years of working there my dad and his partner sold the land they still owned and ended their company.

Fifth example:

After that my dad and I became partners in a new construction company. I thought it was the beginning of my future. I had seen how much money he had made and was fine with doing that for a living. We managed to build a few houses and even got a couple sold. And then.....

The housing market completely fell apart. Within 8 months of us starting the business the market was pretty much dead and didn't seem to be coming back. We managed to sell a couple more houses but I have since left and moved on.

Sixth example:

I am currently at this place of employment so it isn't all bad for them. But it isn't all peaches either. I work for the biggest employer in my local area and they usually hire numerous people each year.

Not anymore. Within 6 months of me starting here......there is a hiring freeze for the foreseeable future.


See what I am saying. That is 6 different occasions of me showing up and the business going downhill.

I guess I better put this on my resume so that future employers know what they are in for!

Lucky Dog

I must say that I am a lucky man.

Why you ask.

I will tell you obviously.

I watch football every weekend. And I don't mean that I only watch my favorite teams and don't really care about anything else.

That is what most people would do.

Or a lot of people watch only college on Saturday OR pro on Sunday.

But that isn't me either.

I watch about 25 hours of football EVERY weekend. Some weeks it is even more than that.

I watch games from Thursday through Monday and will watch games if they are on Tuesday and Wednesday as well.

This past weekend I watched about 24 hours worth of football.

And I LOVE IT!!! I watch every game I can no matter what teams are playing.

But why am I lucky?

Because my beautiful wife tolerates it and me all weekend.

She doesn't HATE football but she doesn't enjoy watching it much.

And by the end of the second weekend of the season she is tired of it and doesn't care if another football game comes on the tv ever.

But she doesn't complain or bitch or holler at me for watching it.

She doesn't give me a list of stuff to do each weekend so that I can't watch what I want.

She doesn't take over the tv or bitch until I change the channel.

And I appreciate it greatly.

I don't golf, I don't hunt, I don't fish, I don't go to bars and get drunk with friends. I watch sports.....mainly football.

And she handles it wonderfully.

Not only that but she is beautiful and tolerates all of my other short comings (and believe me I have many).

She is pretty much perfect in my eyes.

Thank you honey,

I love you

Tired

Is anyone else tired of the election crap?

I love the topic and think that it is very important but come on.

I watched part of the debate last night and I didn't hear anything new.

And that is the problem.

The candidates are saying the same thing in each debate. Or they are just repeating things that they say in tv commercials. Obama started a comment yesterday about McCain's insurance plan the EXACT same way as the commercial does. WORD FOR WORD!

What's the point?

I am all for debates on the topic and would love to debate just about anyone on the topic but these candidates have pretty much said what they intend to say.

They aren't coming up with anything new and probably won't before the election.


I also watched CNNs recap of the debate.

And they pretty much feel that if the election were tomorrow Obama would destroy McCain.

And there isn't much in this world that makes me happier than that.

I really am afraid of what this country will become under McCain/Palin.

Am I 100% confident with Obama/Biden?

No but why would I be. There are surely things about their policies and opinions that I don't like.

But I definitely like them better than the McCain camp.

Looking for Perfection

4 years ago the only thing I ever heard leading up to the election was that they didn't like either candidate so they were going to vote for Bush since he was safer than Kerry.

Basically people were choosing the lesser of two evils they said.

I hate that!

And now I am hearing it again this year.

Why?

Are people really expecting to find a candidate that has the same opinions and stances as them?

Because that person isn't out there!

Everyone lives their life the way they want to. Which means that everyone has different life experiences that shape who they are.

So unless you were attached to someone your views are probably going to be different than then person next to you right now.

I personally like BOTH of these candidates more than the Bush/Kerry election from 4 years ago.

Do McCain or Obama agree with everything I think?

Hell No!

Does that mean I can't like one of them to be in office?

I don't think so.

I understand if you would rather of seen a different candidate in the running. I wanted to see Mike Huckabee. I think he would have been perfect for the position would be great for the country but unfortunately he didn't have enough money.

So my #1 choice isn't involved. Big Deal!

So I look at the 2 that are left and I listen to them talk and I research them both and I find one that I can and will support.

What is so hard about that?

Why do people have to continuously say things like I don't like either candidate so I will take him because he is safer. Or I will take the lesser of two evils.

What? Why?

Vote for the candidate that YOU feel will be the BEST President of this great country!

This Bugged Me

Let's talk about something other than politics on here for a minute or two.

Last week I witnessed an act on my bus that I find to be ignorant and unacceptable.

On my bus just about everyday there is a young man who is more challenged than the rest of us.

He rides the bus just about every morning and everyone knows who he is.

And he sits in the SAME seat everyday.

The seat he sits in and the one across from him have signs above them that say they are reserved for older people or people with handicaps if they are requested.

Well he was waiting with other regular bus riders at the stop in the afternoon one day last week.

And he was in the back of line.

But all the people that were getting on KNEW exactly who he is and where he usually sits.

Now if it was me I would NOT have taken his seat because I know he likes to sit there and seems much more comfortable there....in fact when I get on in the morning and he isn't in that seat he moves to it AS SOON AS THE PERSON MOVES!

So I know he is comfortable there and likes to sit there.

But did this other idiot think about that when he got on the bus?

Nope!

A daily rider of that bus sat down in that seat before he got on. And the other seat reserved was taken by someone not disabled and not old.

Did they get up and move?

Nope!

Now I understand that the seats are only reserved if they are requested by the riders....

BUT

if you know that HE is going to sit THERE....

DON'T SIT THERE!

Sorry....but I find that to be common courtesy.

Something that is sadly disappearing in this country!

The End of the World?

yes this is a long post....but you really should read it....please


I didn't watch the entire debate Friday night, just the last 30 minutes or so.

In that 30 minutes they mainly talked about foreign policy and how they would proceed with other countries like Iran, Russia, and North Korea.

Which to me is the most important part of a President's policy.

Why?

Because the President only has full control of one thing.....the military.

Think about it.....

Everything else like tax cuts, insurance, education, and policy making has to be at the very least approved by the Congress.

And most of the time Congress handles everything that is associated with any of those things.

Which is why people say that politicians lie all the time. Because they don't follow through on campaign promises.

Well they can't follow through because they DON'T have final say.

Every one gets a vote and things are amended and eliminated and added to bills and policies in order to get important things passed.

But the military.....well only ONE person controls them......

The President.

So when you look at everything else the candidates are talking about realize that none of it is going to happen the way they say it will.

Obama promises tax cuts and says he will get health insurance for every American......he intends to do those things but more than likely he won't be able to. Maybe he achieves them to a certain degree but not the way he is telling you now.

But look at what they are saying about our troops and how they will handle talks with other countries.

That is the one area where they are telling the truth and they will do what they want.


Here is a slight breakdown of what I got out of their foreign policy debate:

McCain is not going to relax his strong opinions and plans of force. He WILL keep our troops in Iraq for as long as it takes. He is willing to ignore some other areas of concern to finish the job in Iraq. Because he says that Iraq is key to the situation.

And honestly I kind of agree with him. If we pull out of Iraq it is likely that Iran or some other country that we don't agree with (pretty much all of them there) will come in and take over and turn into a huge power.

The area I don't agree with McCain on is his stance with talks and negotiations. He refuses to sit with a country like North Korea or Iran until that country does something for us like disband their nuclear programs.

Why? I don't understand.

This to me sounds like something from the Cold War. We aren't going to negotiate with you unless you do something for us.

But they don't want to negotiate or talk with us.....so why would they do something for us.

I agree with Obama that you have to some sort of preparation and initial talks with these countries but you don't need to make a hard stance and say we won't work with you until you work with us first.

But it is a tough call on which candidate presents more of a danger in my eyes....

Obama will (more than likely) pull out of Iraq as soon as possible. Not right away but there will be a schedule. But he will talk more with other countries.

McCain will NOT pull out of Iraq until the job is done. But he won't talk to other countries.


Typically, and in the past, McCain's stance could work. Because we were, and still kind of are, the strongest nation in the world. And we could pretty much bully people around.

But that was when we had everyone on our side....like France, Spain, and any other country there with any power.

But now that we have ignored the diplomatic route these countries aren't backing us.

They have no problem supporting us if we have REASON to be aggressive but we typically can't show a good reason lately.

If McCain gets elected this will continue to be a problem.



I said this to my mom the other day after arguing with her about why McCain is going to ruin this country (yes I have made up my mind on who to vote for)....

It is said that the world is possibly going to come to the end on December 21, 2012 and I said that if McCain is elected.....

.....I may start to believe it!

Another One

The following is an excerpt from a post by Carl Newman of Warrior Poet. To read his entire post click here.

"John McCain is a fine man. And a good manager. Sometimes I feel like he’s running to be America’s grandfather, and I’m embarrassed to think about his policy reversals. But like I said, he’s a good manager. He’s fundamentally running a campaign of reaction, he displays no clear vision of the future. Of course, the future is terrifying, and so people are drawn to him because they think he can handle whatever comes his way, even if he presents no real understanding of what’s coming.

George Bush, by the way, is also a manager. He’s a profoundly bad one, but fundamentally, his leadership style is one of reacting to the environment (just incorrectly).

Barack Obama is not a manager. He is clearly capable of management, his primary candidacy demonstrated that. But he is not a reactionary. He is a leader. He presents a vision of the future (commonly mocked by Republican pundits), and his campaign is one of looking forward to create change (commonly parodied by everyone: Hopechange cocktail, anyone?).

A manager keeps you stable when things are changing. A leader accepts that things are changing and moves you towards stability. It’s a fundamental difference in the assumptions that each candidate has on the role of a president."

I really couldn't agree with his post more.

Obama will make a great President because of his leadership skills.

You don't have to have a ton of experience to be great at something. All you have to have is the backing of supportive people and the confidence to do it.

If he is elected he will bring this country together like never before!

Please check out Carl's post. This is just a bit but it says what I think so I wanted to include it.