Pumped

Hey there, me again!

I am getting excited about my life, now. Things are going rather well for me. My job is going great, I am making small amounts of progress in my business, and my personal credit rating keeps on getting better and better!

I am looking forward to the day when my business is able to sustain my modest lifestyle and I can start saving for retirement, which isn't all that far away really.

So anyway, I am making forward progress and keeping my chin up here.

Cheers!

Things Are Starting To Look Up!

After 3-1/2 months of being unemployed and using up the last remaining amount of my unemployment benefits, I have secured employment.

I am now going to be running CNC machinery - something I have never done before and completely unrelated to my career path to this point, but hey, it'll pay the bills (almost).

Anyway, after being screwed by previous employment in the IT industry, I guess a change of tracks might be just the ticket to keeping employed for more than 4 months.

Stay tuned!

What are YOU looking at?

Well, punk?

(okay, I got nuthin')

Just thought I'd shake up the tree a bit and see what falls out.

Is there anybody out there???

What Happened to the United States of America?

I am becoming more and more scared of what is happening to the good ol' US of A. Our elected officials, who WE THE PEOPLE put into office, who are supposed to SERVE THE PEOPLE, who are supposed to have OUR BEST INTERESTS in mind, are completely, and utterly running amok. And not only at the local level, not only at the state level, but all the way to Washington D.C. - right up to, and especially, the President of the United States of America and his cabinet.

People, this isn't Nazi Germany from the 1940's. The government is taking away our civil liberties, one at a time, piece by piece. Our freedoms, the very concepts with which the founding fathers of this country established and fought for, are being consistently eroded to the point of irrelevant uselessness.

Case in point, this poor schmuck was only doing his job. What happens? The political highbrow doesn't like the question and has the reporter arrested. In comes the Gestapo and off goes the reporter. And don't even THINK about taking a picture of the police doing their job. You WILL be arrested. What are they trying to hide?

Now the President screws with our freedom and makes it possible to have any UNITED STATES CITIZEN arrested for ANY reason OR NO REASON AT ALL. A woman in New Hampshire was arrested for MAKING FACES AT A POLICE DOG.

Soon we will all be in state of lockdown IN OUR OWN HOMES. Big Brother isn't coming, ladies and gentlemen, BIG BROTHER IS ALREADY HERE! Try driving through an intersection, passing through a toll booth, or shopping in your favorite store WITHOUT HAVING YOUR PICTURE TAKEN. Soon, the government will know not only what you buy, when, and where you bought it, but the route you took to get there, where you go afterward, who you talked to, what you ate, how much you spent, and what you do online.

Is the United States of America becoming a police state? Will we all be prisoners in our own homes? How far are we away from becoming the communist country that we, not too long ago, defended ourselves from? I am ashamed at what this country is becoming. The government was originally setup to protect and defend its citizens. Now, it seems as if the government is protecting itself FROM its citizens and serving its own out of control needs.

I was once proud to be an American. I still am. But the way this government is treating its citizens just makes me want to puke! I am sure the founders of our country are spinning in their graves. I hope things get better real soon - as in the upcoming election year...

The Amazing Colossal Skyrocketing Price of Gas

It is amazing how much Americans will just go along with anything…
Raise the price of gas to record highs and dumb Americans say:

“Duhhh, okay…”

The sad thing about this is that the rest of American business is keeping a close watch on reactions of Americans to the outrageous, nonchalant screwing raping of the American consumer by the oil overlords because they are ready to jump on the bandwagon in the blink of an eye to cash in on Americans apparent willingness to be docile, drone-like sheep to be so easily lead around by the nose.

Food prices will be next followed closely by utilities and every other profit leech in the country.
Perhaps women won’t notice until the price of shoes doubles or triples. And all of these drones with cell phones permanently attached to the side of their faces won’t notice until the price of service plans doubles.

Hey, since plastics are petroleum-based, do ya think anyone will notice when the price of anything made with plastic (about 95% of EVERYTHING in this country) jumps exceedingly high as with the price of gas?

The excuse that are currently being spoon-fed to the unaware masses in this country will not prevail too much longer; then what will be the excuse for gas price-raping America? The refinery broke and they are waiting on parts? Locusts ate the refinery? In-laws are visiting the
refinery and won’t leave?

Puh-leeze!

SSDD

My, my, my... Here we are at yet another month and nothing has changed.

Am I suprised?

Apparently, it is amusingly obvious that I would have to reply that interrogative in the negative.

Any way, I continue to stomp out little fire that keep popping up here and there, waiting for a speck of good news. I am almost completely moved out of the house now and anticipating the next move in my impending divorce situation. What joy, what bliss...

I keep battling with the school about paperwork, payments, and processing. Even when I faxed them all of the documentation they requested and, amazingly, they cannot locate them! So I repeated the process for them and we shall see if they actually can handle it.

So, for the time being, intrepid readers, that is all I have to say.

Be good or be good at it!

Later!

OMG

Listen, the first thing that I want to make absolutely clear is that I am NOT whining, just stating what is (quite obviously) the facts of the situation here.

Okay, here we go:

I am 47 years old - not an old fart, not a spring chicken either.

I am trying to grow my own company since I cannot seem to hold a job for more than four years. I have been laid off from the past 5 jobs I have had. Who says the economy is good? Assholes!

I am taking online courses in an attempt to earn my Bachelor of Science degree in Information Technology. And the financial aid office disables my account because I can no longer afford to pay them what they are demanding.

I am on my 3rd divorce. That's it, I'm done, women are crazy! Period.

I just can't seem to catch a break in all this. I am living one catastrophe after another.
No freakin' stress here... .

My blood pressure is off the scale; you can hear the blood rampaging through my arteries from across the room.

I quit smoking.
I quit drinking.
And God knows I have enough reasons to do both!

My friends don't talk to me anymore.
It seems that even my own family will only talk to me on the Holidays.
I am alone on an uncharted, sinking island and no one can hear me scream.

Okay, I AM whining. So sue me.

WTF

I just don't understand life, I suppose.

The harder you try to get ahead, the more effort you put into tyring to make something of yourself, the more life just seems to flip you off while taking a rather large crap on your head!

It seems to me that today's business environment is reverting back to the days of the industrial revolution where only the rich could afford to advance in society. All us "blue collar" type were relegated to following orders for minimum pay, just enough to survive and serve the company.

If you didn't perform as the company's goon robot managers specified, whether it is due to overload, lack of competent direction, or extreme ass-kissing by co-workers with an peculiarly discolored nose, you are released from employment. They call it a lay off now. Call it what it is - age discrimination.

There is no longer any dedication to the most important aspect of a business - the employee. We have become, once again, a commodity item; a disposable tool; a consumable supply of inexhaustible quantity. We suffer the indignities of insufficient paychecks, we endure the caterwauling of insolent owners and the browbeating of incompetent managers, we bear the consequences of the foul ups and blunders caused by nonchalant mismanagement, we allow ourselves to be raped and gouged by the oil barons running this country, and we carry the burden of corrupt and illegal taxation inflicted upon us by our very own government.

And no one says a damn thing.

Happy New Year!

Happy New Year everyone. I certainly hope that this will be both a safe and prosperous year for you all.

One thing that left me in quite a stirred state was a video I saw at http://www.freedomtofascism.com/ produced by Aaron Russo ("The Rose", "Trading Places") and, quite frankly, it left me scared and pissed-off. Some of the reviews went something like this:

"This is a movie you MUST see. This is a movie the government MUST keep you from seeing." ~ By Mike Rivero, WhatReallyHappened.com

" A thought-provoking clarion call for the masses to wake up before it's too late."
~ Kam Williams, The Black Star News

"See this cinematic call to arms..."
~ Jeff Craig, Sixty Second Review

"The scariest film you'll see this year. Makes Fahrenheit 9/11 look like Bambi."
~ Todd David Schwartz

From the website:

Determined to find the law that requires American citizens to pay income tax, producer Aaron Russo ("The Rose," "Trading Places") set out on a journey to find the evidence. This film which is neither left, nor right-wing is a startling examination of government. It exposes the systematic erosion of civil liberties in America since 1913 when the Federal Reserve system was fraudulently created. Through interviews with U.S. Congressmen, a former IRS Commissioner, former IRS and FBI agents and tax attorneys and authors, Russo connects the dots between money creation, federal income tax, and the national identity card which becomes law in May 2008. This ID card will use Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) chips which are essentially homing devices used to track people. This film shows in great detail and undeniable facts that America is moving headlong into a fascist police state. Wake up

Chilling. Absolutely frightening to the extreme.

Please, take a bit of time to check this out.

This is the United States of America we are talking about.

Some individual are taking this once-great nation and turning it into a stinking sewage pit.

It's about time this country, "of the people, by the people" stands up and returns it to the great glory and shining symbol of freedom and democracy for which it once stood.

Happy Holidays

Christmas is nearing rapidly and, before I forget, I would like to take this opportunity to wish everyone a very, Merry Christmas and a safe, healthy, and prosperous New Year.

Support for Microsoft Windows XP x64 Not Worth Anything

Almost no one is supporting Microsoft Windows XP x64, the 64-bit version of Windows XP.

There are no Antivirus programs that work with x64 and most applications won't work with x64 (unless they run the crippled 32-bit equivalent).

Programs won't install printer drivers because, apparently, no one can figure out how to write a 64-bit printer driver.

If Windows XP x64 has this much trouble with basic elements such as printer drivers, how can anyone expect the much maligned Windows Vista to be of any value?

Frankly, my high opinion of Microsoft is quickly fading away, and my shop used to be a staunch Microsoft shop.

Open Source alternatives are looking better and better every day.

The Economy Sucks and the Media are Puppets

Don't be fooled by what you see on TV or hear on the radio or read in the paper...
The American Economy Sucks and is getting worse!

That's right. We are headed for another recession and this time it's going to be pretty dreadful. No matter what the lying political machine in Washington would have you believe, no matter what the puppet media spews from its sewer of falsehoods and misrepresentations, all signs from the future economic indicators are pointing to a coming economic disaster.

In spite of the misdirection plays being executed from the political high-chairs in our nation's Capitol with name-calling, scandalous interplay, secret indiscriminate behaviors being exposed, and other typically expected bone-head moves from our ELECTED officials, the coming financial collapse of our economy is building a full head of steam and is going to come barreling down on us as we have our collective heads up Washington's posteriors, just the way they like it.

But is it really surprising that this should happen when we are being "lead" by the absolute worst President that this country has EVER seen? Then again, what would you really expect from an impertinent Republican? The current administration is certainly not going to make it easy for the next incoming administration, which by all accounts is going to be strongly democratic. In fact, it would appear that the Republicans are purposely creating a bad foundation for the next administration to make them look worse than the incumbent administration.

And the media are only reporting what they are told to report. They are only saying what they are told to say. They are spewing forth the lies and deceitful misrepresentations that they are being ordered to spread about. How can we blame them? Just like the blind leading the blind, the media is being lead around by its nose from the federal administration. And if they would dare to tell the truth (even if they knew what that was), they would risk being tossed in the pokey without being given a reason and labeled combatants.

This is what America has become.
How sad it makes me.
How embarrassing for this country.
How ashamed we all must be.

As the Bush administration erodes our civil liberties piece by piece, and the yes-men in congress follow the trail of ignorance, we as the citizens and backbone of this country are being reduced to nothing more than pieces of voting meat. Even our votes don't have any meaning any longer; not since the last federal election where the popular vote lost to the Electoral College even though the popular vote had greater numbers. It's the good ol’ boys club in the Capitol that are running things, not the citizens of this country, the ones that pay for everything (one way or another).

But at least we still have free speech.

For now.

Until that, too, is taken away as well.