Monday, February 21, 2005
After further consideration
I am very blessed to be able to have one work day a week that I will be able to take off to be with my child when he/she is born. It is not babysitting since I believe that it is impossible to babysit your own child. The day that I will be taking off is funday.
You have heard of that day right?
It is right after Monday and immediately before Wednesday.
Sunday, Monday, Funday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday
|
I am very blessed to be able to have one work day a week that I will be able to take off to be with my child when he/she is born. It is not babysitting since I believe that it is impossible to babysit your own child. The day that I will be taking off is funday.
You have heard of that day right?
It is right after Monday and immediately before Wednesday.
Sunday, Monday, Funday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday
|
Thursday, February 17, 2005
Screwed over by bad planning in my dreams
This morning I was dreaming that I was at a fish fry but they were running behind in the delivery of the fish to the tables. My fish fry finally comes, I put the tartar sauce on it and bam. My dumb cat wakes me up so I can pet her.
Moral of the story.
Never bring someone with retractable claws to a fish fry.
-or-
I better get a fish fry pronto
|
This morning I was dreaming that I was at a fish fry but they were running behind in the delivery of the fish to the tables. My fish fry finally comes, I put the tartar sauce on it and bam. My dumb cat wakes me up so I can pet her.
Moral of the story.
Never bring someone with retractable claws to a fish fry.
-or-
I better get a fish fry pronto
|
Monday, February 14, 2005
Raymour & Flanigan - Amherst NY
What ever happened to the days when cash was king?
I wanted the title of this post to be the name of the assailant, hopefully I can make it onto a google search for that store.
Ok rarely do I post about specific incidences in my life or specific stories, but frequently I am annoyed by companies, restaurants, taking advantage of customers.
I am ferociously trying to steer my life away from credit terms and agreements, running my life on plastic so I can become part of the demographic, so I can get more relevant targeted sales calls, junk mail. Really it is nobody's business that yesterday I went from FWS to Raymour & Flanigan to Ashley Furniture to Don Pablos to Barnes & Noble and got Gas on the way home (not from the Mexican but petrol for my car, har har) However each one of these stores wanted to quickly determine what kind of line of credit they could give my wife and I. It is not that I have things to hide it is just that some things unnecessarily become the public domain.
STRONG OUT OF PLACE TANGENT HERE****************************************
Beware of 100% electronic medical records, GWBush "no one will have access to these records without your expressed written permission," Ok Tommy I really want to hire you for this office job, I just need you to sign this paperwork that allows us to run a drug test and credit / criminal background check (done today) and for you to sign this medical release (to come) . WE cannot consider this application without you signing this, Sorry Tommy the records say that you have a disqualifying medical condition, we cannot hire anyone who has been on antidepressants for 2+ years continuously, statistics reveal that you are 28% more likely to be 43% more inefficient at work. Oh and when you were 17 you were treated for a low back injury, our workers compensation carrier does not allow us to hire anyone who has had a low back injury in the last 14 years.
*******************************************************************************************
I can see the info message ad right now,
When you pay cash for items, you are supporting terrorist. Why, because we cannot track you that way. You must have something to hide.
Strangely enough I just talked to this with my sister. Bargain Hunter??
What a great way to get kids hooked on credit cards. Brilliant, everyone hopes for the trump card in the game "rich uncle pays off your credit debt now" I have not played that game in 15 years at least and I would bet money that is exactly how that card reads. Hey what do we get Billy for his birthday oh I have a great idea, a gift card. Please do me a favor, give me the equivalent amount of money in a card and save yourself the trip. Lets get kids hooked on plastic.
There used to be another equally evil training device for Americas Youth,
I return to the story now.
So with baby on the way Mr. Dad (typing dad in reference to myself, that is very strange indeed) begins to think "what can a husband do to even approach the magnitude of the gift that your wife is going to give you and the 9 moths of physical and emotional sacrifice" So I decide that nothing equals that but I will save up some resources but considering that we both will be home much more after the baby comes and people will be coming over to visit.
Ah a new furniture set, that will be nice.
We found a beautiful microfiber couch and love seat set at Raymour & Flanigan - Amherst NY chocolate brown very nice. Ok the price is appox 700 couch 600 loveseat. With the "extended service plan" and "delivery" total before tax is about 1500. So the nice woman sits on the couch with myself and wife to begin discussing prices. Her sitting on the couch triggers the sales delivery process or herding in the cattle, whatever you want to call it. She now becomes "good sales woman" she says "well in discussing payment options I will direct you with one of our credit counselors, Oh how great here he comes now" to be known as bad sales man (you know the good cop bad cop routine) accountant looking guy wearing a power suit carrying a brief case trying to be as intimidating as possible. He sits on the couch now (to be on our eye level) and starts punching in numbers and adds the totals for everything and gives us the added amounts. Wow you can add numbers with decimal places, you are a smart man bad sales guy who works at Raymour & Flanigan - Amherst NY. He says we can work on pricing only if you apply for a store line of credit.
My wife says with perfect comedic timing "When did it start being a bad thing to pay for things with cash?" He then goes into his schtick about <1%> So his "deal" became boiled down to we wile give you delivery and the service contract for free if you pay full price for the furniture and open a line of credit in our store. Total 1300. I sit there calm as can be and basically tell him we are comfortable paying 1000 for both no service contract, no delivery needed. (basically 20-25% off the retail price that is already marked up 200%, ) He says "Have a nice day then, good luck finding that" we walked out. Today online microfiber couches are on clearance at > 40% the original retail cost, you can be damned sure that they are still making a nice profit on them. 1000 for both still would have been 100% profit, but they did not care, why is that?
Now to me the next logical question is, when did negotiation and paying cash become a bad thing? Because people feel compelled (myself included) to get what you want, when you want it and who cares how I am paying for it. The negotiations now have become what kind of financing terms can I get, not why are you marking up this item anywhere from 200-400% of your costs, they have no incentive to change this negotiation patterns because there were probably 8 other people after me that were more than thrilled to pay their suggested retail price for the item.
Fair enough.
Ok so in the past 2-3 months I have watched 2 excellent television documentaries on PBS that have really changed, evolved and confirmed my overall perspective on money finances etc.
Affluenza (link) (link) 2 separate pages.
history of credit cards (link)
|
What ever happened to the days when cash was king?
I wanted the title of this post to be the name of the assailant, hopefully I can make it onto a google search for that store.
Ok rarely do I post about specific incidences in my life or specific stories, but frequently I am annoyed by companies, restaurants, taking advantage of customers.
I am ferociously trying to steer my life away from credit terms and agreements, running my life on plastic so I can become part of the demographic, so I can get more relevant targeted sales calls, junk mail. Really it is nobody's business that yesterday I went from FWS to Raymour & Flanigan to Ashley Furniture to Don Pablos to Barnes & Noble and got Gas on the way home (not from the Mexican but petrol for my car, har har) However each one of these stores wanted to quickly determine what kind of line of credit they could give my wife and I. It is not that I have things to hide it is just that some things unnecessarily become the public domain.
STRONG OUT OF PLACE TANGENT HERE****************************************
Beware of 100% electronic medical records, GWBush "no one will have access to these records without your expressed written permission," Ok Tommy I really want to hire you for this office job, I just need you to sign this paperwork that allows us to run a drug test and credit / criminal background check (done today) and for you to sign this medical release (to come) . WE cannot consider this application without you signing this, Sorry Tommy the records say that you have a disqualifying medical condition, we cannot hire anyone who has been on antidepressants for 2+ years continuously, statistics reveal that you are 28% more likely to be 43% more inefficient at work. Oh and when you were 17 you were treated for a low back injury, our workers compensation carrier does not allow us to hire anyone who has had a low back injury in the last 14 years.
*******************************************************************************************
I can see the info message ad right now,
When you pay cash for items, you are supporting terrorist. Why, because we cannot track you that way. You must have something to hide.
Strangely enough I just talked to this with my sister. Bargain Hunter??
What a great way to get kids hooked on credit cards. Brilliant, everyone hopes for the trump card in the game "rich uncle pays off your credit debt now" I have not played that game in 15 years at least and I would bet money that is exactly how that card reads. Hey what do we get Billy for his birthday oh I have a great idea, a gift card. Please do me a favor, give me the equivalent amount of money in a card and save yourself the trip. Lets get kids hooked on plastic.
There used to be another equally evil training device for Americas Youth,
I return to the story now.
So with baby on the way Mr. Dad (typing dad in reference to myself, that is very strange indeed) begins to think "what can a husband do to even approach the magnitude of the gift that your wife is going to give you and the 9 moths of physical and emotional sacrifice" So I decide that nothing equals that but I will save up some resources but considering that we both will be home much more after the baby comes and people will be coming over to visit.
Ah a new furniture set, that will be nice.
We found a beautiful microfiber couch and love seat set at Raymour & Flanigan - Amherst NY chocolate brown very nice. Ok the price is appox 700 couch 600 loveseat. With the "extended service plan" and "delivery" total before tax is about 1500. So the nice woman sits on the couch with myself and wife to begin discussing prices. Her sitting on the couch triggers the sales delivery process or herding in the cattle, whatever you want to call it. She now becomes "good sales woman" she says "well in discussing payment options I will direct you with one of our credit counselors, Oh how great here he comes now" to be known as bad sales man (you know the good cop bad cop routine) accountant looking guy wearing a power suit carrying a brief case trying to be as intimidating as possible. He sits on the couch now (to be on our eye level) and starts punching in numbers and adds the totals for everything and gives us the added amounts. Wow you can add numbers with decimal places, you are a smart man bad sales guy who works at Raymour & Flanigan - Amherst NY. He says we can work on pricing only if you apply for a store line of credit.
My wife says with perfect comedic timing "When did it start being a bad thing to pay for things with cash?" He then goes into his schtick about <1%> So his "deal" became boiled down to we wile give you delivery and the service contract for free if you pay full price for the furniture and open a line of credit in our store. Total 1300. I sit there calm as can be and basically tell him we are comfortable paying 1000 for both no service contract, no delivery needed. (basically 20-25% off the retail price that is already marked up 200%, ) He says "Have a nice day then, good luck finding that" we walked out. Today online microfiber couches are on clearance at > 40% the original retail cost, you can be damned sure that they are still making a nice profit on them. 1000 for both still would have been 100% profit, but they did not care, why is that?
Now to me the next logical question is, when did negotiation and paying cash become a bad thing? Because people feel compelled (myself included) to get what you want, when you want it and who cares how I am paying for it. The negotiations now have become what kind of financing terms can I get, not why are you marking up this item anywhere from 200-400% of your costs, they have no incentive to change this negotiation patterns because there were probably 8 other people after me that were more than thrilled to pay their suggested retail price for the item.
Fair enough.
Ok so in the past 2-3 months I have watched 2 excellent television documentaries on PBS that have really changed, evolved and confirmed my overall perspective on money finances etc.
Affluenza (link) (link) 2 separate pages.
history of credit cards (link)
|
Wednesday, February 09, 2005
Who the heck okayed the idea of me being a father,
Why am I drinking something I hate the taste of and other ramblings.
57 days, 9 hours, 48 minutes, 27, 26, 25, 24 seconds until the baby comes.
Who thought this was a good idea, as I sit here I receive a telephone call from my wife, just heading out of the doctors office "everything is great, gained 4 pounds since the last visit" I went back to school on Saturday for the "Birthing Class" learned about what to expect, I turn and looked at my wife and said "who said that it was ok for us to do this?" not implying in the least that we do not want to do this but rather everything you do in your life you have received permission for other than this.
1. Teacher may I go to the bathroom.
2. Mom can you sign my financial aid forms.
3. Bank can I get a car loan.
4. College, am I smart enough to get in.
5. Grad school, was I smart enough in college to get in to your school.
6. New York State, have I satisfactorily met the requirement for licenser in your state.
7. Is my credit good enough to get a morgatage
Nope not this time, "hey baby do you want a third glass of wine"? Hey we're pregnant.
That really is not the truth but you get the idea. My wife and I plan most major events in our life and the preganancy was no accident. Not like I was (i am the result of my dads unemployment and probably looking for a little action to help him "feel better")
It is really really odd though,
what is it about being human that our society willfully developed into getting "preapproved" for everything we do. When it comes to perhaps the most significant contribution you can make to the world, no one has any control over. There is something amazingly peaceful to that. It does not matter whether or not you are in the middle of poverty or wiping your ass with 100 dollar bills a sperm fusing with an egg will occur, and assuming a basic healthy lifestyle, a healthy baby with unlimited potential will arrive 40 weeks later, the only limit to that potential is by not getting the approval from the powers that be.
There are many major things that I like in my life that I originally hated when i first tried it.
So it really does not matter that this unsweetened green tea taste like ass in my mouth right now, i will grow to enjoy it, right?
I like the health benefits that they theorize exists, here are just a few medical conditions in which drinking green tea is reputed to be helpful:
cancer
rheumatoid arthritis
high cholesterol levels
cariovascular disease
infection
impaired immune function
That was the same thing for my
first cup of sweet delicious coffee, it tasted bitter and like what I would imagine something you would use to take the rust off of bolts.
Beer, I easily had to drink the eqquivalent of 2-3 cases of beer before I enjoyed the flavor
Running, oh how I hated you, the boredom, the pain, the out of breath heart coming out of your chest thing.
Cranberry juice, why would you drink something that was so tart?
There really must be a enourmous emotional component to food and tastes, likes and dislikes. You begin to have a couple fun memories associated with beer drinking with friends.
Waiting for Pearl Jam Vitalogy to come out at midnight so you drink coffee at Perkin's anxiously awating you time to buy it.
Convincing yourself when you cannot run any more to go ten more minutes, telling yourself you will not die of a heart attack and think that pain and agony now will be nothing like suffering for your final years of your life in a nursing home like my gradfather did and actually doing it and feeling damn good about yourself for completing a goal no one but you will ever know you did.
Pushing the normal limits and boundaries that life places on yourself, what if you rewarded a toddler with apples not a trip to McDonalds, What if a fun family night is everyone learning to play a musical instrument instead of watching The Simpson's. PLaying football instead of playing Madden 2005. Going to a music festival rather than watching MTV, playing cards rather than onine texas hold'em.
This conversation is rapidly getting lost within itself. No I will not edit this, I am sorry for the difficulty
I am annoyed that when we were at the birthing class >90% of the people in attendance had predetermined that labor was going to be awful, wanted a pre planned epidural/spinal and even worse a cesarian section. The instructor brought out an exercise ball and these people looked in horror when they thought of sitting on it while in the middle of contractions. Closed mindedness is the american poison. Accepting only one alternative as the only correct way of doing things.
Fear is modulated and created only in the brain, pain and nociception come from every cell in your body and are suppressed by your spinal cord and your brain, yes it is true the same column in your spinal cord that carries pain also carries pleasure, S&M anybody?
Fear and anxiety supresses this supression (opens the door) to a greater pain experience. Fear of pain makes pain worse.
This green tea still tastes like ass, but I think that I see that I will in time enjoy the flavor.
Let us try somthing new this week, let us start a revolution!
|
Why am I drinking something I hate the taste of and other ramblings.
57 days, 9 hours, 48 minutes, 27, 26, 25, 24 seconds until the baby comes.
Who thought this was a good idea, as I sit here I receive a telephone call from my wife, just heading out of the doctors office "everything is great, gained 4 pounds since the last visit" I went back to school on Saturday for the "Birthing Class" learned about what to expect, I turn and looked at my wife and said "who said that it was ok for us to do this?" not implying in the least that we do not want to do this but rather everything you do in your life you have received permission for other than this.
1. Teacher may I go to the bathroom.
2. Mom can you sign my financial aid forms.
3. Bank can I get a car loan.
4. College, am I smart enough to get in.
5. Grad school, was I smart enough in college to get in to your school.
6. New York State, have I satisfactorily met the requirement for licenser in your state.
7. Is my credit good enough to get a morgatage
Nope not this time, "hey baby do you want a third glass of wine"? Hey we're pregnant.
That really is not the truth but you get the idea. My wife and I plan most major events in our life and the preganancy was no accident. Not like I was (i am the result of my dads unemployment and probably looking for a little action to help him "feel better")
It is really really odd though,
what is it about being human that our society willfully developed into getting "preapproved" for everything we do. When it comes to perhaps the most significant contribution you can make to the world, no one has any control over. There is something amazingly peaceful to that. It does not matter whether or not you are in the middle of poverty or wiping your ass with 100 dollar bills a sperm fusing with an egg will occur, and assuming a basic healthy lifestyle, a healthy baby with unlimited potential will arrive 40 weeks later, the only limit to that potential is by not getting the approval from the powers that be.
There are many major things that I like in my life that I originally hated when i first tried it.
So it really does not matter that this unsweetened green tea taste like ass in my mouth right now, i will grow to enjoy it, right?
I like the health benefits that they theorize exists, here are just a few medical conditions in which drinking green tea is reputed to be helpful:
cancer
rheumatoid arthritis
high cholesterol levels
cariovascular disease
infection
impaired immune function
That was the same thing for my
first cup of sweet delicious coffee, it tasted bitter and like what I would imagine something you would use to take the rust off of bolts.
Beer, I easily had to drink the eqquivalent of 2-3 cases of beer before I enjoyed the flavor
Running, oh how I hated you, the boredom, the pain, the out of breath heart coming out of your chest thing.
Cranberry juice, why would you drink something that was so tart?
There really must be a enourmous emotional component to food and tastes, likes and dislikes. You begin to have a couple fun memories associated with beer drinking with friends.
Waiting for Pearl Jam Vitalogy to come out at midnight so you drink coffee at Perkin's anxiously awating you time to buy it.
Convincing yourself when you cannot run any more to go ten more minutes, telling yourself you will not die of a heart attack and think that pain and agony now will be nothing like suffering for your final years of your life in a nursing home like my gradfather did and actually doing it and feeling damn good about yourself for completing a goal no one but you will ever know you did.
Pushing the normal limits and boundaries that life places on yourself, what if you rewarded a toddler with apples not a trip to McDonalds, What if a fun family night is everyone learning to play a musical instrument instead of watching The Simpson's. PLaying football instead of playing Madden 2005. Going to a music festival rather than watching MTV, playing cards rather than onine texas hold'em.
This conversation is rapidly getting lost within itself. No I will not edit this, I am sorry for the difficulty
I am annoyed that when we were at the birthing class >90% of the people in attendance had predetermined that labor was going to be awful, wanted a pre planned epidural/spinal and even worse a cesarian section. The instructor brought out an exercise ball and these people looked in horror when they thought of sitting on it while in the middle of contractions. Closed mindedness is the american poison. Accepting only one alternative as the only correct way of doing things.
Fear is modulated and created only in the brain, pain and nociception come from every cell in your body and are suppressed by your spinal cord and your brain, yes it is true the same column in your spinal cord that carries pain also carries pleasure, S&M anybody?
Fear and anxiety supresses this supression (opens the door) to a greater pain experience. Fear of pain makes pain worse.
This green tea still tastes like ass, but I think that I see that I will in time enjoy the flavor.
Let us try somthing new this week, let us start a revolution!
|
Friday, February 04, 2005
What the?!
If anyone reads the onion, you would swear this article came from there, nope it is real.
Here are some edited highlights
Two teenage girls decided one summer's evening to bake cookies for their neighbors. Big mistake. They were sued, successfully, for an unauthorized cookie drop on one porch.
The July 31 deliveries consisted of half a dozen chocolate-chip and sugar cookies accompanied by big hearts cut out of red or pink construction paper with the message: "Have a great night."
Inside one of the nine scattered rural homes south of Durango that got cookies that night, a 49-year-old woman became so terrified by the knocks on her door around 10:30 p.m. that she called the sheriff's department. Deputies determined that no crime had been committed.But Wanita Renea Young ended up in the hospital emergency room the next day after suffering a severe anxiety attack she thought might be a heart attack.
A Durango judge Thursday awarded Young almost $900 to recoup her medical bills. She received nothing for pain and suffering.
"The victory wasn't sweet," Young said Thursday afternoon. "I'm not gloating about it. I just hope the girls learned a lesson." Young said the girls showed "very poor judgment."
But Young, home with her own 18-year-old daughter and her elderly mother, said she saw shadowy figures who banged and banged at her door. When she called out, "Who's there?" no one answered. The figures ran off.
She thought perhaps they were burglars or some neighbors she had tangled with in the past, she said. Young left her home that night to stay at her sister's, but her symptoms, including shaking and an upset stomach, wouldn't subside. The next morning she went to Mercy Medical Center.
The girls wrote letters of apology to Young. Taylor's letter, written a few days after the episode, said in part: "I didn't realize this would cause trouble for you. ... I just wanted you to know that someone cared about you and your family."
The families had offered to pay Young's medical bills if she would agree to indemnify the families against future claims.
Young wouldn't sign the agreement. She said the families' apologies rang false and weren't delivered in person.
The matter went to court.Young said she believes that the girls should not have been running from door to door late at night."Something bad could have happened to them," she said.
I do not think that I need to give any further comment, this article says it all.
Moral of the story, in terms Mrs. Young would understand clearly,
don't do nothing nice for no one
|
If anyone reads the onion, you would swear this article came from there, nope it is real.
Here are some edited highlights
Two teenage girls decided one summer's evening to bake cookies for their neighbors. Big mistake. They were sued, successfully, for an unauthorized cookie drop on one porch.
The July 31 deliveries consisted of half a dozen chocolate-chip and sugar cookies accompanied by big hearts cut out of red or pink construction paper with the message: "Have a great night."
Inside one of the nine scattered rural homes south of Durango that got cookies that night, a 49-year-old woman became so terrified by the knocks on her door around 10:30 p.m. that she called the sheriff's department. Deputies determined that no crime had been committed.But Wanita Renea Young ended up in the hospital emergency room the next day after suffering a severe anxiety attack she thought might be a heart attack.
A Durango judge Thursday awarded Young almost $900 to recoup her medical bills. She received nothing for pain and suffering.
"The victory wasn't sweet," Young said Thursday afternoon. "I'm not gloating about it. I just hope the girls learned a lesson." Young said the girls showed "very poor judgment."
But Young, home with her own 18-year-old daughter and her elderly mother, said she saw shadowy figures who banged and banged at her door. When she called out, "Who's there?" no one answered. The figures ran off.
She thought perhaps they were burglars or some neighbors she had tangled with in the past, she said. Young left her home that night to stay at her sister's, but her symptoms, including shaking and an upset stomach, wouldn't subside. The next morning she went to Mercy Medical Center.
The girls wrote letters of apology to Young. Taylor's letter, written a few days after the episode, said in part: "I didn't realize this would cause trouble for you. ... I just wanted you to know that someone cared about you and your family."
The families had offered to pay Young's medical bills if she would agree to indemnify the families against future claims.
Young wouldn't sign the agreement. She said the families' apologies rang false and weren't delivered in person.
The matter went to court.Young said she believes that the girls should not have been running from door to door late at night."Something bad could have happened to them," she said.
I do not think that I need to give any further comment, this article says it all.
Moral of the story, in terms Mrs. Young would understand clearly,
don't do nothing nice for no one
|
