Tuesday, September 25, 2007

9/25/07 - Highland High School 1997 10 Year Reunion

Well the reunion was a blast. I learned a lot about myself while approaching the event. At first I was kind of nervous, because I thought it would be just like high school, and that was not a great experience. I thought David Koontz and I would be the same old outsiders that we always were. Then I realized that I really do not care what people think, and if I am not having a good time, then I will just leave instead of being stuck in PE with a bunch of jerk offs that never give me the ball for a minimum of 4 months. LOL! Did that sound bitter or what?

Then I started stressing about my body and my clothes. You have to look smoking hot when you go to a class reunion. I spent 3 hours shopping which is not normal for me. I did get some great clothes. And though I have lost about 15 lbs, I am still about 20 lbs over weight so nothing was really going to make me look great anyway. I did look good, you can see the pictures here (http://www.tblpodcast.com/Images/10REUNION/HIGHLAND1997-10REUNIONPICS.htm), but I did not look great. Sara looked amazing, and we actually had a great time.

I had forgotten about the great equalizer. I know I am good-looking, and successful, and married to a beautiful woman. But even if I just had a normal job, had a marriage that was not crumbling, and was not massively disfigured in a fire or a car accident, I would have been much better off than most of the people I went to high school with. The equalizer is life and averages. I am going off on a wild tangent here, but you have to stick with me.

I know I am totally reasonable and down to earth, even though I border on being obsessive and idealistic sometimes. I was very lucky to find a wonderful woman who is the same way. We had our hard times pre-marriage and at the beginning, but now we are set, nothing could shake us. The one thing I know for sure about my life is that Sara and I have to put up with each other till one of us dies. That is a great thing to know. Can you imaging how many people stress about their love lives. 10% of the people at the reunion were divorced. Another 25% had children and no significant other was in the picture.

I did a lot of interrogating about what people do for a living. It turns out that there are a lot of losers, who are 'still in school', and I am not talking about medical school here. I also talked to a lot of people who did not want to comment. They were just there to have a good time and catch up with old friends. Whatever, I was totally there to prove that I was superior to all of them in real life. That is rude, but that was my hearts truest desire inside. Isn't that really sad? Yes! But at least I am honest with myself enough to admit it.

Lastly, about 19% of the class had about the same super skinny beautiful body type that they had in high school. The rest of them had really let themselves go. I have gained 70lbs since high school, but when I graduated I was only 130. I am still 20 over weight, but I don't think I look horrible. So you put it all together, and I should have realized way before I even signed up to go that I had nothing to feel anxious or scared about. Most of the cool girls that wanted nothing to do with me in high school are divorced, alcoholics, that would give their right arm to be with a man like me right now. I always dreamed that is how it would turn out. That history would prove me right. But now, there really is not pleasure in it. I actually am just happy that I do not feel anything about it anymore. I honestly do not think I will spend another moment of my life thinking about how crappy high school was, and how bad people treated me.

Think about the averages though... About 20% of the people there made more money than me... SIKE! It was more like 5%, and of those I think 1 of them had a wife as beautiful as mine. Who knows if she is down to earth and cool like Sara. If she is then that guy is doing almost as good as me. Now of the people who looked as good as they did in high school about 15% had a significant other, but only a couple of them had found the loves of their lives, and I did not run the job comparison on most of them. Thank you averages. Since my life is way about average, I am blowing most people out of the water. Also, the average for 1997 graduates of Highland High, is much lower than I had expected. LOL!

Time fixes things, I just needed a little reminder.

This should be the end of this post but I have to keep going because my life has been majorly rocked.

I consumed libations with my good friend David Koontz, and he gets way less reserved when he is half in the bag. So we are sitting at a table outside drinking, chatting with people, and Dave turns to me and says, "I don't believe in God anymore! I feel like all of the guilt is gone now." He actually seemed very happy to be saying this to me. Then Sara say, "It is about time Dave... Me too!"

OMFG! That just blew my f-ing mind.

I will have to expand on this topic later this week.

BTW... The new season of Dexter starts on my birthday. FACE!

~Richard

Tuesday, September 18, 2007

9/18/07 - The truth is the truth

I have seen this movie before, but today I was napping, woke up and it was on again... It is called 'Prime' and it is not a great movie by any means, but it just reminds me that Uma Thuman is totally hot. She is getting close to 40, and she is probably way too skinny, but I just think she is totally hot. That is that, just a little thought that I had today. And what is a blog, if it is not a collection of little thoughts.

I miss the Roobot. I saw him last weekend and we had a ton of fun; bootleg 'Balls of Fury', Flight of the Conchords marathon, laughing, slightly homo-erotic wrestling... you know, the usual stuff. He has only been at Berkley for like a month and my Thursday afternoons and some weekends are sorely laking in male companionship. Not only is he gone, but he has also stopped blogging. I am so disconnected. Why have you forsaken me?

The great news is that Sara and I have been spending a lot of extra time together and really enjoying it. We had a real lazy weekend, and she continually reminds me why I love her, and am willing to spend the rest of my life with her. She has a really great sense of humor, and I do not have any idea why she like me at all.

The business problems with the infamous Jack Balfanz continue. He has begun emailing me, asking me for documentation I have already given him, calling me incompetent and the like. I am not pleased with the situation. It is clearer than ever that he does not intend to pay my remaining invoices or to honor the rest of our contract. It is just his personality. He appears to be very unhappy with the idea that I have something he wants, and he does not have the power in this situation. I don't even think it is a matter of being a businessman. I think it is just a character flaw. I have filed with the Better Business Bureau to see if they will mediate the situation. I will keep you guys updated.

Lately Sara and I have been discussing what we would do if we could have any job in the world. Most people would think I would like to be a poker player, but that is not true. I have always waned to be an investigator of some sort. At this point in my life the only option truly open to me is private investigations. I have done some research to see what it would take to become one, and it is much harder than you would imaging. A degree in criminology, 2 years of experience under a licensed person, and state testing. It is like becoming an accountant. This option does not really appear to be something I can accomplish right now. There are only two PI's in town and neither one of them is hiring right now. I am still looking for a way to make it happen. I think it would be a great additional set of services to offer in addition to accounting and tax. Plus it would give me a reason to buy all sorts of cool gadgets.

We will see what happens.

Wednesday, September 12, 2007

9/12/07 Businessmen... Can you trust them?

Recently I have had some business deals go extremely bad. I am soooooo not happy about it. I had an old guy that has been in business for more than 40 years cuss me out in his office because he wants to get out of a contract that he signed. He insulted me personally while I was in his office stating after he gave me the check for my services, "Why don't you use that money to buy yourself some clothes and shoes!" He thought it was really funny and started laughing at me, along with two other staff members in his office. I just want what was agreed to and I have not given him any reason to try to cancel. He is just too short-sighted to be professional. He is honestly just a crazy person. What are you gonna do.

Well after taking some abuse I did give him a reason to be real mad at me. I said some stuff back to him that I will not repeat, but it was very mean. He got so mad about it he followed me out into the hallway as I was leaving and got in my face like he was going to hit me. I kinda wish he had.

Then today in a surprising turn of events he sent me an email regarding another outstanding invoice. He wants some additional information from me, which I would be happy to provide if he would just pay me, and not try to cancel the contract anymore.

I just do not understand how adult professionals can be so short-sighted when it comes to treating their business contacts in an extremely rude manner, or trying not to pay them. I have only seen extreme cases two or three times over the course of my ten years in business. However, everytime it happens I am always surprised at the source. It is always a well established person that has been in business for a long time. Someone you should be able to trust, or that is part of the BBB. WTF? I just don't get it.

The deal with this guy has caused me to create a website using his name www.jackbalfanz.com , where anyone can record their stories about highly unprofessional behavior, name names, and give out information about the persons business. This will allow others to look up this kind of information and avoid crazy business owners and people with bad business practices.

It is really just a small effort, but I hope it turns into something bigger.