Opinions can be reversed

Sometimes the news media will make a big deal about inflation. They will say stuff to the effect that people that made 35 k a year in 1990 are the equivalent of making 100 K a year now. This is meant to make the people earning a tenth of A million dollars to be humble. basically if you make "only" 100 k you are worthless as a human being It makes me think that even earning a cool Buck, now, is the equivalent of only making 35k from 1990?
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Whatever....

A brief summary of the past week

Last Thursday the 19th, I went to see a hockey game again, this time It was with some people from work and there were steaks before hand, and then a suite to watch the game from. The suite had shrimp and those celery things and unlimited beer. (technically there was a limit, we just never reached it) It was like we were the ANTI - MARINES in that we left some behind.

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The time before that was right on the glass, there was also unlimited beer then as well. I like both of those experiences because when you are on the glass and a guy gets slammed up on it right their, by your seat... Well, thats just big time sports right there, but of course the Box thing is also quite awesome what with the celery things, and the shrimp and your own private -bathroom.

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Then afterwards I went to a "club" that was advertising an Amateur pole night, This wasnt a regular wiggler bar, but just a regular dancing type of club bar for the young people, that just happened to be having a theme night to try out amateur pole dancers. ---Kind of like a PG-13 version of a nudey bar. Except, I guess it didnt start till much later in the Morning cause we didn't see any breasts, and in fact the pole was just sitting there on the stage all empty and void of women dancing around it. I don't think the pole was out of business, I just think they cut back on the hours, another victim of the recessionary times we all live in.

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We decided we weren't going to be out till 3 am in the morning to await the amateur pole dancing as there was work to be done on the Friday, and as the guy I was with had seen breasts before, and so have I, we decided to call it a night. Except, then we saw another normal bar. The type you go into and you sit down at and have a beer. The type of bar that is meant for chilling, as opposed to that first club where its like a job just to be in the place, what with all the people gyrating around and probably on the "x" and all.

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After one beer at the chill bar, the responsibleness came rushing through, it was almost one in the morning and there was the work to be done on Friday and all, so I left. Friday came and saw the job stuff, and then after work I made the haul to Gainesville to pick up my kids. We got back to my apartment around 10 p.m. on Friday and watched a movie and then went to sleep so that we could do the Busch Gardens thing on Saturday.

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My son still wont ride a rollercoaster. I tried asking nice, I also tried bribing him, " Son if you ride this rollercoaster I will buy you any DS Game you want!" I also broke out the slight shaming: -- "Dude, look at that little girl taking a turn. If she can do it YOU certainly can do it" all to no avail. There were other rides he would go on and My daughter and I took turns riding the coasters so it worked out pretty well in the end anyways.

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Sunday came and I got the boy a haircut. My daughter says that their mom will never do it because she doesn't care how long his hair gets, and figures I will fork out the 15 bucks, which is fine. I don't really care, its just that he does. He specifically knows his mom wont do that for him and , he can only get it cut when he sees me, so he actually asks, like its his last chance to live a normal and happy life. Its just so Snoopy like. No one feeds Snoopy except Charlie Brown and no one will have my sons hair cut for him except me. I am like Charlie Brown and he is like Snoopy.

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We then went and saw a movie. It was about how this one wide receiver dominated college football, got drafted into the pro's and then didnt do anything for quite a few years until he was basically out of the league, or maybe it was about a security guard at a mall and some skateboarding dudes happened to bust in and take hostages. because as we all know skateboarding dudes are really into crime and dont like to chill with their weed and ride their boards, they aspire to take over malls. Either way Paul Blart Mall Cop is a Huge Box Office success after years of nothing out of Kevin James and Antonio Bryant is the same guy. If the Glazers ( for CYFN Mr. Glazer and his son Owns the Bucs) are reading my post, just remember you saw it here first. Teams will game plan Antonio next year and he will get soft because he got paid, but I digress.

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After dropping them off and coming home, my Ex-Wife called me up to yell at me. Generally we don't have to yell at each other much. We have lawyers that argue for us now, even after being divorced for 8 months. Its crazy what they fight about and the tactics that are used but whatever, its almost over (relatively speaking, it will be a few more months of lawyering I am sure) we are legally divorced and would be getting along just fine except her lawyer likes the gravy train and sues me for stuff that I would gladly just give him if he would only allow me to do so. (its a long story)

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Monday was work and then home, Tuesday was work with a little going out to dinner action thrown in because I really only make Cheese Crisps, and then same as Wednesday. I also wrote this post tonight. So there you have it an update on the comings and goings of a pretend Charlie Brown from my last post of Wednesday Night to some of the things that have been going on to this Wednesday night.

Totally Stolen from EDSBS

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So what do you do when you have nothing original to say - you steal a You Tube Video from another blog and put it up on your own Blog. ... Thanks EDSBS...
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I did not see this game and had I been a betting man I would have picked Alabama to wear Utah OUT in this most recent Sugar Bowl. Watching this video I think it is an understatement to say the man had a bad day. Also I know the Oscar awards were just recently given out, but in the category for music soundtrack playing as background to a You Tube Video, whoever chose this song has some skill. I don't really care about Alabama Football or John Parker Wilson one way or the other, but after this I just feel sad for Wilson in particular and the Crimson Tide in General. I am sure I will get over it though.

Paul Blart is the same as Antonio Bryant

I have a few issues to talk about that are kind of unrelated and yet, in the end I will relate them, because that is what I do.

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1) Antonio Bryant has just been named as the franchise player for the Bucs. This bothers me on a couple of levels. First of all, has not anyone followed his career ? He was great in College, and then he was drafted relatively high into the NFL. He had a bunch of years with a few teams in the League in which he was marginal as a wide receiver at best. "IN FACT" he was even out of the league in 2007. The Bucs picked him up with a minimum contract in 2008 and he happened to DOMINATE last year. Now the bucs offered him 9.8 million dollars for one year, and he turned it down. They are now franchising him. Is this not absurd? He did have a good year, but he has also provided about 6 shity years to review as well. Why do they just assume that next year will be like this past year and not the other mediocre years before that?

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2) Paul Blart Mall Cop did not suck as a movie although Kevin James basically, and usually just makes crap movies. he is like ANTONIO BRYANT in the sense that his T/V show: "King of Queens" was awesome, just like BRYANTS college career. Then Bryant made it to the NFL and kind of sucked, just like KEVIN JAMES went into making shity movies.

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Kevin James finally makes a movie in "Paul Blart Mall Cop" that although it kind of sucks, it moves you, and he made a bunch of dollars. You, as a reader of this blog go "HOLY SHIT" KJ is the same guy as AB. They are basically okay in their fields but then they have the one hit and we are supposed to worship them? THAT'S CRAZY. Antonio Bryant is a Marginal player at best and Kevin James is sort of funny but not in a funny way that you would ever give him his own audience type of funny.
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No, they are both probably going to go back to sucking only they are both going to get paid really well to suck in the future.

Being a wuss can cost money

This is a post about opportunities missed, and how that can give you angst. Basically, life is for the living, and the dead should not apply. Don't be a wuss. and always remember its the things we don't do in life, that we regret the most, rather then the things we do and fail at.
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I read a blog called "My Tampa Life" because it's interesting to me and the guy who writes it try's to help me learn about the new city I just moved to. (He does it for himself, but when I say he does it for me to learn about the city I moved to, I just really mean I like it and read it) His blog site is in my side bar under the heading: "Blogs I read and then don't feel ashamed walking home from afterwards."
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On February 9th, He posted about a restaurant called "Jalapeno de Ybor" and advised that on Saturday February the 14th there would be a Jalapeno eating contest held at this very same restaurant.
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So here is where my suckiness comes into play. I seriously thought about going over there and participating, fully realizing that although I like Jalapenos, Eating them straight up, one after the other would probably suck on a couple of different fronts. It would suck while I was doing it, and also the following day while I sat on the porcelain as well. BUT, for 300 dollars wouldn't that be some pain that I was willing to endure? Of Course it would! The contest was basically how many jalapenos can you eat in 12 minutes with the winner pocketing 3 bills. These aren't Jalapeno Slices, these are some pickle ass looking Jalapenos of the same size a 400 pound man might have for his birdie finger, type of Jalapenos, and if someone would tell me they would give me 3 bills to eat 16 of them in twelve minutes I am pretty sure I could do that.
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If I had gone and done that, on that day, at that restaurant, then it would have been likely I would have walked away with 3 bills. There is no guarantee. The winner ate 15 of them and the next closest competitor was at 11, so maybe if he would have had the pressure of a guy being that close, he could have put in 17. who knows. I know I don't, because I didn't even go because I am a big wuss. I believed I needed to know before hand what the winner type of contestant would put down, because how bad would it have sucked to have eaten 14 of those fat ass finger looking jalapenos and not won the money? Not that I knew what the number was because I was to big of a puss to try.... Damn me and my conservative self protection ways.
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Here is "My Tampa Life" 's post on the contest http://www.mytampalife.com/2009/02/jalapeno-eating-contest-at-jalapeno-de.html

Let us ride the damn horse. Don't make the track all full of mud

It's about ten p.m. right now as I begin writing this post, and I just got home from work. Sort of. I left the office at about five-ish, stopped by the dry cleaners to pick up some shirts, dropped them off at the house and then walked down to the restaurant that I go to on most nights for my dinner. Except this particular night, I was meeting a vendor to talk about business.
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Here is the breakdown. He provides a service that the organization I work for needs. My company currently uses competitors of his for that service. He wanted to talk about why we should give them a chance to compete for the dollars we spend on this aspect of the business.

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He has an "in" though, because this isn't my first time as a jockey, and the horse I rode the last time, employed the same services. ( last time I was actually just an assistant jockey) This guy was a part of that when I was with that previous horse, and I know how he handles his part in keeping the horse at a competitive level .

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As the jockey of this new horse, my responsibility is to keep the horse agile and competitive, and as I know this particular groomsman to be awesome, he will get his chance. There are no handouts here though. He will make some money because he knows that ultimately the horse has to be competitive with the other horses in the race, and if he can't help me do that, then he cannot pass go. He cannot collect 200 dollars, and he cannot continue playing the game.

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He understands this because he is an entrepreneur. He is a capitalist. He has risked his own money for the chance to earn more money than what he has risked. He is a competitive son of a bitch and he will help me keep my ride.

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I will only get to keep my job as the jockey of this new horse, as long as it is competitive and shows constant improvement. I get paid to ride the thing, and guide the horse, and make the decisions that will keep the horse on its way and out of trouble. It is really everything I ever wanted. I began as an assistant stable cleaner. I was given the chance to shovel horseshit out of the stalls. Later the opportunity to brush the beast was bestowed upon me. Sometime after that I was allowed to bring the food she eats to her, and soon after that I was allowed to pick the food that she was allowed to have. Then I was given the opportunity to ride her during training runs and had obtained the job as assistant jockey. Even though I believe I had shown promise as an assistant jockey I ran into some personal problems and the owner of the previous horse riding operation and I, agreed to split our ways.

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In my current role I get to be the jockey. If I let the horse eat junk food and have sex with goats while smoking crack, I will not be able to keep the ride. The owner of the horse pays me to help guide her to be faster and more durable, and in this aspect I am selling my skills as a jockey to do this. If he believes he can get better results from someone else, then I am out of a job. That is also capitalism.

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I get this and understand it and believe in it.

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So in the end ,what I was doing tonight at dinner was talking capitalism with an acquaintance that also spoke the same language. We understand that our income and our ability to live the kind of lives we want to live, and earn the income we believe we deserve, comes from our ability to compete and do what we do better then others. Neither of us believe anyone owes us shit, which in theory, brings us income, albeit from different ways. We are on the same page about this. We are fellow capitalists.

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So when I got home from this business meeting and picked up my mail, part of what I picked up was my subscription to "Newsweek" Here is a photograph of the cover of that magazine for this week:

I have not read the article yet but it is still deflating. There is some truth to it though and that is what makes it all so depressing. O'bama is still my President, but he is the leader of our new existence. He is the leader of our socialistic society and I feel like I am dying a slow death.
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It's Like he is in control of my oxygen intake. Maybe a true capitalistic approach to our problems would be to just cut off the oxygen right now, maybe that would force us to grow gills. What O'bama is doing with these bailouts and spending bills, is slowly dialing down our oxygen intake, so that soon we will be so accustomed to breathing thirty percent air that we will think that is normal. We will never learn to grow gills. We will begin to beg for the 30 percent air and think that is all normal.

The Power of Now

"Wherever you go, there you are." Buckaroo Bonzai said that. Lately however, I have not been feeling it. I have been lost inside my own head. When I am home, I feel like I should be out. When I am out, I feel like I should be in. When I am working I want to be doing something else and yet when I am not working, I feel like I should be. I have some projects and some deadlines that aren't going to miraculously come together by themselves. For me lately, "wherever I go, I wish I was somewhere else"

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The best thing anyone can do for themselves is to be present in their own lives, yet I have been feeling like I should be doing something else, no matter what it is that I am doing. Its very frustrating.

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I was out the other night and got a phone number. Now that I have those digits I don't really want to call. Pretty sure I will wait a week or so and then do it, and she will read that as me playing games. Not really though, thats not my intention. My intention is to just cut the whole relationship and all the bullshit that goes with that short. so instead of boy meets girl, boy and girl go out for awhile, then boy and girl stop seeing each other. I am just going to skip right to the breakup part and miss out on all the pain.

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My blog writing was non-existent for the past week and now I am writing this drivel. I believed I should write when I wasn't, and now that I am, its all I can do from hitting the delete button.

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Eckhart Tolle wrote about being present in the moment and letting go of your EGO -so thats a good book for me to re-read (the power of now) except that when I picked it up again, I felt bad about wasting my time reading a book I have already read. Not very "power of now" of me at all.

Creative Math Answers

A friend of mine sent over some answers from some tests that have been floating around the internet. This is my favorite.

I also really like this one:

This was also a pretty creative answer:

A remembering post or two

I was just looking through some old blog posts, and found a piece that I wrote very shortly after getting my divorce. (Coagulation) It was all about how I believed I had lost my funny due to the mess of getting divorced, but the thing is, reading it tonight, I thought it wasn't a bad post at all. It might not have been funny, but it was okay, and thinking back on those early days it really wasn't that bad a piece of writing at all, it had some rhythm to it and it flowed pretty well.

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Then I read the post I wrote on the day I got divorced, or at least, the day I found out I was divorced. It is kind of an angry post, but it didn't suck, and now after reading it from the perspective of seven months later, it kind of makes me laugh. Not in a Ha Ha way, but in a "look at your thought process at that time you dickhead" So I put that one up in my favorites also.

Bring The Thunder

Pat Tillman would tell people that he is going to "Bring The Thunder" --Those are His words---on the surface, it meant that he intended to run down the field and lay a big hit on whoever the ball carrier was. Underneath, I think he meant he was bringing everything he has to everything he does.

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Bringing everything you have to everything you do is exhausting. Its painful, and its harder to do when you try to skip a play here or there, or in comparison, and in non football terms, when you let yourself do less than you could have, that tendency can creep in and become a nasty habit.

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Bringing it has rewards though, bringing it will get you promotions and money. Bringing it will provide stature in life. Bringing it will wear you out, It will take its toll physically, mentally and emotionally, but at the same time it will reward you. Nothing in life is free and the effort required to live it fully will also cause loss to enter your life.

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So many people are happy with just being. They get up in the morning and go to work to earn their paycheck. They bitch when that is all that they get however, and then they wonder why even though they have been there longer, they are passed up for promotions and they moan about not getting that newer, bigger and better paycheck.

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Pat Tillman brought it, and then he brought it some more, and later on, he ended up making a decision that got him killed because he cared. The man had passion about life and the man knew what it took to make life worthwhile. I still think about Pat Tillman quite a bit and I never knew him. I have read about the man, and I admire what he was all about and try to "bring the thunder" in my own life as best I can. I try to do it at work, and elsewhere, I try to be a good friend to the friends I have. I try to be the best Dad I am able to be under the circumstances I find myself in for my children, and I just always try to do whatever I am doing, as well as I can.

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One area where I have not had any thunder for awhile, and where I have been sucking quite a bit, has been in my own physical fitness. I have taken shortcuts, I have been lazy. I have justified it to myself, I will say "Hell Bill you deserve to sit on your ass after a long day at work with all the stress that involves." "You are entitled to relax a little. Plus you are older now Bill, your metabolism has slowed and really it doesn't matter."

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Well, no, ----- it does matter, because its not the best I am capable of and deep down I know I was lying to myself. So as far as physical fitness goes I intend to try to ramp the thunder up. I will try to bring it in that aspect of my life once again and here I am putting it in my blog so others can mock and judge me if I fail.

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Here are my goals: By August 15th, to weigh 230 lbs or less (and at 230 I am pretty ripped as, although I have the fat that I alluded to, and that I am not proud of, I am also pretty muscular as well)

Satisfying a woman

A friend of mine sent this as a comment but then deleted it in the comment section but it cracked me up and since I am not naming her I think its okay if I put it up myself.

A weekend in Miami

Tomorrow after working all day I am going to Miami for the weekend for some family reasons. My first time back since I left. Probably wont post again till Monday as I dont think I am going to be on the internet much while down there, and I probably wont enjoy the drive as it is long and tedious and it will be too cold to put the top down as I cruise through the Everglades.
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Overall, I miss Miami a little bit, but can tell already after only about a month that Tampa is going to be MUCH better for me personally and professionally. I really like it here. Tampa is awesome for me on a multiple of different levels.
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Bill Gates lets loose some Goth looking Mosquitos

I was reading today about Bill Gates and his speech at the TED conference. He no longer runs Microsoft, as he is retired from that now. He basically runs a philanthropic non profit with about 36 billion dollars that he is giving away to make the world a better place. He and Tim Tebow both work to make the world all full of chocolaty gooey happiness draped in goodness, But Tim also leads the Gators to National Championships.
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One of Bill Gates projects is to try to cure Malaria in third world countries. That, and improving our educational system in America specifically, and the world in general. Today though, at the TED conference, his speech was about malaria. As he was giving it, he opened up a jar that had a bunch of Mosquitoes in it, and let them fly out into the audience. His point was that basically poor people in third world countries are the ones that get Malaria but if rich people got it, maybe we would do more about combating it. http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,488348,00.html
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These Mosquitoes were not malaria carriers. These mosquitoes were evidently the good type. Sure they probably would still suck your blood and give you a little welt, but in the end they probably would not kill you.
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Okay, maybe no mosquito is "good" but lets just say these particular mosquitoes may have been misunderstood. These particular non malaria carrying Mosquitoes are like the Goth kid who is all quiet in the back of the classroom while he wears black trench coats, but secretly he is a straight A student who watches his little sister in the evenings, while his parents work in the salt mines to put food on the table. --- You may just see the Goth Kid and go what the fuck and hope he is not going to go all Columbine, but underneath all that makeup and black clothes and leather dog bands worn as wristbands, is just a good kid. Same with these Mosquitoes.

Hey lady at the restaurant tonight: how do you know I am not Michael Jordan?

Today I had a visitor at work. It wasnt scheduled. She did not previously plan the meeting with me, she just did the whole, " I was in the neighborhood " routine. It goes like this: "Hi I am So and so with such and such, and I was in the neighborhood, and now I am at the front desk, do you have some time? "

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Truthfully, I had a tight schedule, didnt know this person at all, but really, at the end of the day, if you cant make 15 minutes for a sales person to do their sales pitch, then you probably never tried to sell something yourself. If you just completely blow them off out of some sense of what should be done, then you may be a compassionless dickhead, which is not part of my self image.

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I am a single guy, I am constantly selling myself. I let her in. Plus, I always feel like if you dont give someone that is out there selling and hustling a chance, and just shut them out, that maybe thats alot like being a basketball coach, and some kid cold calls you to show you his hoops game and you dont give him a chance at all. Just watch the kid work out. He will probably suck, but maybe it will turn out that he is a young Michael Jordan.

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The vendor she represented already does work for the company, and its not like she didnt know that, she just heard I was the new guy and wanted me to put a face with her so if I ever fired the firm she was with, It would be harder for me and more personal. It was very savvy on her part. So that was part of my day at work.
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Then, tonight for dinner I went up to the restaurant that I tend to have 4/7ths of my dinners at, I saw a woman that I had seen in there before and I tried the whole " hey I was in the bar and now I am standing right by you, and do you have some time so I could show you my jump shot? routine.
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She evidently didnt sell stuff for a living and I dont think she ever coached basketball. She probably would have cut Michael Jordan if she was a basketball coach.
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So there it is She is clearly one of the missed jumpshots that I took , however that is a good thing as you cant make them all, and the odds are ultimately in my favor. even Michael Jordan misses shots sometimes. That woman makes me associate myself with one of the greatest Basketball players of all time. Thank you random beautiful mig fighter pilot of a woman. Its Like Nietsche says. You make me stronger you long legged russian fighter pilot that doesn't appreciate Basketball.

An Accidental Sellout

Being aware can be a real son of a bitch. I often camouflage my life with lots of bullshit, I think most people do. We write blogs, watch T.V. Study a few subjects so that we can be knowledgeable about a couple of things. In the end though, I think we all tend to gloss over a whole bunch of shit and lie to ourselves about pretty much everything.

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I know some stuff about handling Insurance claims. I make a decent living doing that. Other people know stuff about real estate, or accounting, or computers and technology, or getting naked and dancing around poles.

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Then lots of people, or at least most people, also have stuff that they do just because they enjoy it. I know dudes that are really into photography, music, art, automobiles etc.

Myself, I enjoy reading and writing, also, football fascinates me, so I study the game on multiple levels. The history, the strategy, the players. All of it. I think about it in terms of our society and watch how it influences our culture, our work ethic. Seriously, I could write multiple posts and go into some real minutia about it, but in the end, its just something I do with my free time because it brings me joy.

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Everything has layers of depth to it, from managing a claims organization to the nuance of generally accepted accounting principles. A professional Golfer that I once talked with, told me about how he doesn't just hit a golf ball, he hits an area of the golf ball and he does it with different types of swings, depending on how he wants the ball to fly. He spoke to me about it with a reverence and a clarity, that although I appreciated what he was saying on a superficial level, I still know that the words he was using and the knowledge he had about it did not translate 100 percent, because I don't have the background to completely understand what the hell he was trying to get across, other then what he was saying on the surface. Me, I am glad when I break a hundred and also when I hit the damn thing and it just goes far and straight.

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So in the end had I not worried about making money and just followed my passion Maybe I could have been a sportswriter specializing in writing about the game of football. Maybe I would have sucked, and never made the kind of dollars I make now doing this other thing I do, but maybe I would have had this amazing life. I will never know because now its to late and I have to many other problems that rule out just jumping out and going in a different direction. I am broke enough as it is and I make good money. Being even broker is just not an option .

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I bring this up because I was talking with an acquaintance who does know a thing or two about football. He is a coach and has been for the past few years. before that he played the game at the highest levels of the sport, and now he is going to quit because he can make more money doing other things. When he told me all this, I wanted to scream at him to just do what he loves and the money will come. Advice I did not give, because coming from me it would be completely hypocritical I sold out, but I did it without even knowing I was, until after it had already happened.

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Some pictures from the tailgate yesterday

Some Pictures from the tailgate yesterday. They made Raymond James look all superbowly....

Its not everyday you see a broken down hippy playing a Guitar on his bike with a Giant monkey Riding on the back

A George Bush Look a like came to the tailgate, complete with a Secret Service guy

George was Drinking a Beer with us.

Some Cigar smoking was going on.

Goodbye football season

Another football season has come to an end and it was done in a glorious manner with that superbowl ending. We now find ourselves in the offseason ... Football, ....I will think about you often and that little tease during April that you do with spring practice and the draft,... I will eat you up, all the while feeling dirty and sleazy about it because I know its just a tease.

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I await NFL two a days in late July ... I will devour the trade news in the off season . Until it goes full tilt again in the late summer, I will just fondly regard the National Championship that Florida gave us, and the superbowl that the right team won, but at the same time they did not do it as convincingly as I think they should have. I miss you already football, you glorious beast. I look forward to next season starting now though....

superbowl party

I could write alot about the superbowl party that I went to today, but I am not gonna.

I have my reasons and although there would be some awesome shit to tell, the bottom line is that I often self censor --- usually I dont talk about when I self censor, so its just me not saying anything.

Tonight I am teasing a little. Not my normal way. Just a really good time. It was awesome. Honestly I wish that the Monday following a Superbowl was a National Holiday. Plus I wish even if it wasnt, to bad I dont have any days off yet because I just started this new job and cant take any Personal Time .