I decided that from now on I am going to try to review movies that I see, but first things first. This weekend I went to Lodi to visit my parents and also to see the Roo who took a bus down to hang out with me. The traffic on the way to get Roo from the train station was absolutely insane. Sacramento is beautiful and the air is pretty clean... but I still would not live there. I just hate lines and traffic. So after spending 30 minutes within 1 mile of the location I was trying to get to I finally arrived and me and Roo got to act crazy for almost two days. Actually I am pretty sure he is crazy all the time, but I act crazier around him.
Dad, Sara, Roo, and I went to a Chili festival http://www.lodiwine.com/manager2/publish/article_374.shtml
This website sucks based on the size of the event... check out my coverage. http://www.tblpodcast.com/Images/personal/0710ChiliFest/0710ChiliFest.htm
It was great to see the Roo and we had crazy adventures, which included, but were not limited to
1. Attending Chili Festival
2. Hours of talking about crazy junk
3. Hugging Moo-Hat guy
4. Pulling a picture scam on people
5. Almost impulse buying an old Porche
6. Dancing to country music
7. Drinking milk shakes from MOMO's
8. Seeing a movie
9. Eating tons of food at my parents house
10. A whole bunch of driving
30 Days of Night
This horror flick, which is one of my favorite genres, stares Josh Hartnett, and is based in Alaska during a 30 day period where there is no sun. Unfortunately for the inhabitants of this town vampires show up and start eating everyone. The vamps were hideously scary with their celerity and incredible strength. I am always interested when going to see a vampire movie which powers the night stalkers will have. Interview with a vampire had most of them, mind control, celerity, healing, flight, blah blah blah. In this movie the vamps always had their teeth out and only spoke what sounded like Turkish. This was an interesting take, and even though the movie was disjointed in regular comic book fashion the hero of the film makes a great sacrifice to save his friends. In regular horror movie fashion they had a major showdown at the end and the good guys win. But it was left open for a sequel.
The vampires were scary. I love this aspect because that is what horror really comes down to. There were some subplots like a love story that were not very well developed. It was a comic book adaptation after all. After the sun goes down and the vampires show up there is a ton of carnage which looked really good. Blood stained snow, shot up and half dead people, Alaskans getting "turned" into vampires, and bad guys getting their heads cut off.
I give it 3.5 stars our of 5 in a normal movie line up but 4 out of 5 in the horror genre. Decent story plot, but not all fast paced actions, enough plot twists to keep you interested, but there were definitely some holes in the plot line.
The Roo fell asleep during the movie and I had to tell him the ending.
When I got home I finished watching Lock Stock and Two Smoking Barrels. 4 English guys bumble around trying to cut out a big living in the London underground card circuit but get cheated out of 500k on loans in a crooked card game and have to find some way to pay it back in less than a week. There is something like 30 characters in the movie, and Sting plays the father of on of the unlucky young men. In usual fashion for these types of movies almost everyone ends up dead in a strange series of chance, well armed meetings throughout the movie. I was highly entertained by the dry and clever British wit.
The four main characters pool their money and send one player into a very high stakes poker game with 100 thousand quid. One player beats him for all of his money plus 500k in loans by cheating, and requires payment by the end of week but does not think he will get it. The main characters, which include the likes of Jason Statham, decide to rob some guys who are robbing a marijuana dealer. Everything seems to go right and then everything goes very wrong, but in the best way possible for our bumbling hero's.
I give it 4 out of 5 stars overall and a 5 out of 5 for its specific genre, which I am classifying as British comedy action. It is unclear at the end if the hero's get their money back in the form of two antic firearms worth 500k. This movie was filmed wonderfully, had some very surreal moments, had some well developed hardened characters, and made me laugh almost the whole way through.
Can't wait to see "We Own the Night" this week.
Monday, October 22, 2007
Monday, October 15, 2007
10/15/07 - Blog Action Day Baby!
Alright so I really wanted to talk about what was going on in my life and my new iPhone (pros and cons), but I decided to talk about the environment for blog action day ( http://blogactionday.org/ ) since the Roobot was already doing it and it seems like it might get me a few more subscribers. BAM!
So lets talk about the environment. Look I am clearly a black hearted, evil, selfish, greedy capitalist. Anyone that knows me knows that the only thing I care about is money. However, sike! There is no however... that is true. So the problem with the environment is not human kind.... it is human nature. There are all sorts of new car designs and engines that run on corn, but alas the Ford's 2008 vehicle list includes the same old Expedition, which has been around and fuel inefficient from the day it was invented. But wait... Ford is totally doing their part to help the environment because they have released one hybrid model.... out of 16 updated and new 2008 models. Thank god for corporate responsibility.
Now like I said, I am all for companies making a buck. But come on car companies... if you just change your cars, then the oil and gas companies will have to get on board and start exploiting some other resource instead of gas. You never know... you might even stop a war! I am just saying that is all.
That is just a bit about companies... now lets talk about the government that has recently funded the studies that have caused all this hoopla. Please tell me what kind of incentives there are for me to start using solar energy instead of Gas and Electric from the local utility? em... Very little. You can't release a movie starring the incredibly debonair and charismatic Al Gore without following that scare tactic up with some incentives. For goodness sakes. The government paid millions of dollars for the the study to be done and they will not even kick down a reasonable discount for the average consumer to cut down on the cost of a solar heating and power system for their house... average cost for an average system is 13k.
So my conclusion is that companies can make money on other stuff. I think they just want to exploit what they have already been selling till the well runs dry... literally the oil wells that power their vehicles. Second, the government is a two faced bastard that wants to use scare tactics to get people in an up roar about junk melting (like our children's faces in 50 years) but not give us any reasonable incentives to make changes. Listen up useless bureaucratic machine, someone that makes 25k per year, has a family of 6, a car payment, and rents because he cannot get financing to buy a house, can only care about the environment enough to not liter. That is free! Everything above that you are gonna have to give him a big hand. There is a huge percentage of people in that situation... much more than you would think. It is called poverty level. Look it up! Someone in another department in your useless organization defined it for you.
Now lets talk about rich spoiled movie stars that show up to benefits for the environment. I hope they all drive hybrids there. Instead of giving your money to organizations that suck up at least 50% of the donation for overhead, why don't you sponsor 40 families so they can buy a hybrid car or an alternative power system for their house. Seems to me that it would be much more effective that way.
As for me. I will help the environment by driving the most cost effective car with the best gas mileage, walk to the store instead of driving, not put cigarettes out on the polar ice caps, and breath 1/3 as much as I did last year. However, I refuse to stop littering. It gives me an emotional thrill to know that I am beating a 1k ticket and putting one over on the traffic pigs that never catch me... FACE!
BTW... I would really love to have a solar system for my house, if they were more versatile with what they can power, had a better storage system for long term storage of excess solar energy. If you think about it... the sun is the best natural resource that exists and we are totally not using it. That is retarded. Now I am going to be thinking about this depressing crap all week.
So lets talk about the environment. Look I am clearly a black hearted, evil, selfish, greedy capitalist. Anyone that knows me knows that the only thing I care about is money. However, sike! There is no however... that is true. So the problem with the environment is not human kind.... it is human nature. There are all sorts of new car designs and engines that run on corn, but alas the Ford's 2008 vehicle list includes the same old Expedition, which has been around and fuel inefficient from the day it was invented. But wait... Ford is totally doing their part to help the environment because they have released one hybrid model.... out of 16 updated and new 2008 models. Thank god for corporate responsibility.
Now like I said, I am all for companies making a buck. But come on car companies... if you just change your cars, then the oil and gas companies will have to get on board and start exploiting some other resource instead of gas. You never know... you might even stop a war! I am just saying that is all.
That is just a bit about companies... now lets talk about the government that has recently funded the studies that have caused all this hoopla. Please tell me what kind of incentives there are for me to start using solar energy instead of Gas and Electric from the local utility? em... Very little. You can't release a movie starring the incredibly debonair and charismatic Al Gore without following that scare tactic up with some incentives. For goodness sakes. The government paid millions of dollars for the the study to be done and they will not even kick down a reasonable discount for the average consumer to cut down on the cost of a solar heating and power system for their house... average cost for an average system is 13k.
So my conclusion is that companies can make money on other stuff. I think they just want to exploit what they have already been selling till the well runs dry... literally the oil wells that power their vehicles. Second, the government is a two faced bastard that wants to use scare tactics to get people in an up roar about junk melting (like our children's faces in 50 years) but not give us any reasonable incentives to make changes. Listen up useless bureaucratic machine, someone that makes 25k per year, has a family of 6, a car payment, and rents because he cannot get financing to buy a house, can only care about the environment enough to not liter. That is free! Everything above that you are gonna have to give him a big hand. There is a huge percentage of people in that situation... much more than you would think. It is called poverty level. Look it up! Someone in another department in your useless organization defined it for you.
Now lets talk about rich spoiled movie stars that show up to benefits for the environment. I hope they all drive hybrids there. Instead of giving your money to organizations that suck up at least 50% of the donation for overhead, why don't you sponsor 40 families so they can buy a hybrid car or an alternative power system for their house. Seems to me that it would be much more effective that way.
As for me. I will help the environment by driving the most cost effective car with the best gas mileage, walk to the store instead of driving, not put cigarettes out on the polar ice caps, and breath 1/3 as much as I did last year. However, I refuse to stop littering. It gives me an emotional thrill to know that I am beating a 1k ticket and putting one over on the traffic pigs that never catch me... FACE!
BTW... I would really love to have a solar system for my house, if they were more versatile with what they can power, had a better storage system for long term storage of excess solar energy. If you think about it... the sun is the best natural resource that exists and we are totally not using it. That is retarded. Now I am going to be thinking about this depressing crap all week.
Monday, October 8, 2007
10/8/07 - Sanity
So I watched the Amittyville Horror remake this weekend and it occurred to me that I really do not understand sanity. Or rather I really do not understand my own insanity. I think we all have a little insane person inside of us. All of our jealousies, crazy conspiracies, self-centeredness. It reminded me of the book of Ecclesiastes from the bible. It was written by Solomon, apparently the wisest person who ever walked the planet, and in it he repeatedly says that he has explored; happiness and sadness, love and hate, wisdom and foolishness and madness. He explored it all. He had unlimited riches and could explore all things to their fullest.
I think it may be a time in my life that I will explorer madness. Of course I have to do all things in moderation. I do not have an entire kingdom at my disposal to frivolously explore things to the fullest. In the last year I have explored more of the world and selfishness than I have ever done before. I have been foolish, impetuous, selfish, wild, and undisciplined. What does the next year hold?
Being friends with Andrew has helped me quantify this desire to explore all different aspects of life and myself. He is very gung-ho about denying himself nothing, and just living in the moment, and being in contact with his unique brand of exploration has really given me a lot to think about.
So what is sanity? My current understanding is that sanity has to do with you understanding of the reality you live in. So what is insanity? Not connecting with the world around you? What is reality? Isn't it relative anyway? Isn't perception reality? Doesn't that mean that living in your own reality is sanity? If you are logical about exploring sanity does it defeat the purpose? How do you go about altering your perception and reality?
I have decided that the best way to really explore my psyche is to focus myself on some writing. If I write about some really dark or altered things, then maybe that will help me contact the dark insane parts of my own heart. So what should I write about? Maybe just talking about this is crazy. Maybe I am already insane.... Bruhahahahahah!
The funny thing is that I know who I am. I am confident, secure, and stable. Another reason I have decided that I need a really abstract project like this is because I feel like I need to expand my mind in a new way. I enjoy media, books, movies and television soooooo much, but they are really limited ways to exercise your brain and imagination. I really want my mind to continue to grow, and the best way to make that happen is to look at new things, and explore. I do not want my brain to become weak and soft like most of the people in the world around me. I want there to be limitless possibilities.
As you get older it is so easy just to fall into patterns of life and then just live out your life in a rut or on a track. I don't want that for my life. I want new ideas and possibilities on the horizon everyday. I love change. What is a bigger rush than the crazy feeling that the world that you have always known is about to drastically change? The life you have been living for years is going to be turned upside down? Gambling, drugs, booze, and competition do not have anything on the high you get from life changes. The fear, excitement, and confusion that real life brings is the bomb.
I think it may be a time in my life that I will explorer madness. Of course I have to do all things in moderation. I do not have an entire kingdom at my disposal to frivolously explore things to the fullest. In the last year I have explored more of the world and selfishness than I have ever done before. I have been foolish, impetuous, selfish, wild, and undisciplined. What does the next year hold?
Being friends with Andrew has helped me quantify this desire to explore all different aspects of life and myself. He is very gung-ho about denying himself nothing, and just living in the moment, and being in contact with his unique brand of exploration has really given me a lot to think about.
So what is sanity? My current understanding is that sanity has to do with you understanding of the reality you live in. So what is insanity? Not connecting with the world around you? What is reality? Isn't it relative anyway? Isn't perception reality? Doesn't that mean that living in your own reality is sanity? If you are logical about exploring sanity does it defeat the purpose? How do you go about altering your perception and reality?
I have decided that the best way to really explore my psyche is to focus myself on some writing. If I write about some really dark or altered things, then maybe that will help me contact the dark insane parts of my own heart. So what should I write about? Maybe just talking about this is crazy. Maybe I am already insane.... Bruhahahahahah!
The funny thing is that I know who I am. I am confident, secure, and stable. Another reason I have decided that I need a really abstract project like this is because I feel like I need to expand my mind in a new way. I enjoy media, books, movies and television soooooo much, but they are really limited ways to exercise your brain and imagination. I really want my mind to continue to grow, and the best way to make that happen is to look at new things, and explore. I do not want my brain to become weak and soft like most of the people in the world around me. I want there to be limitless possibilities.
As you get older it is so easy just to fall into patterns of life and then just live out your life in a rut or on a track. I don't want that for my life. I want new ideas and possibilities on the horizon everyday. I love change. What is a bigger rush than the crazy feeling that the world that you have always known is about to drastically change? The life you have been living for years is going to be turned upside down? Gambling, drugs, booze, and competition do not have anything on the high you get from life changes. The fear, excitement, and confusion that real life brings is the bomb.
Wednesday, October 3, 2007
9/30/07 - The Birthday Party
So I am now 28 years old. I do not feel old, but I do have the feeling that I lack in accomplishments. I feel like I should be making at least 200k per year, and should be involved in lots of community business circles. I know that is dumb but it is just something that I feel.
We had a party at Don Perico's. People kept buying me booze and I kept drinking it. The Mic showed up with his family and we took some video of the event. Daniel, Stoney, Sara, and Keeter also showed up. The cards that I received warmed my heart and made me laugh. I had sent out a text message telling everyone that I was challenging Derrek to our annual drunken UFC alley rematch. However, he called and said he was coming to the poker game late so I would be really drunk and never showed. I was ready to beat him down, none of that submission crap this year. I was gonna punch him in the face till he wanted to take a nap. I will get him next year.
The Mic wants to have a really complicated 6 month family competition with over 1k on the line. It involves body fat measurements, short distance running, long distance running, basketball, tennis, hockey, and something else I cannot remember. I am 90% sure it is going to happen but we are still talking about rules and scoring.
So at my birthday poker game I was really drunk and did not stop drinking for quite a while. I felt like I was playing good though. Mixing it up a lot, trying to confuse people, and making really dumb plays to get others to think the alcohol was impairing my playing ability. It worked, I got soooooo much action on my good hands. I feel like I would have taken all the chips on the table is if Sara had not had too much to drink and gotten sick.
I feel bad because the whole time I was telling her to drink and giving her shots, and just being a completely obnoxious drunkard (I only do it a couple times a year, might as well play it up.) So at about midnight, Sara calls to me from the back porch, when I get there she looks confused and the ground is covered in vomit. I sat with her for hours, and she was rambling all sorts of nursing mumbo jumbo about electrolyte balances being thrown off by the consumption of water and vomiting. She was real wasted so we had some super funny conversations. For instance, if Sara could have a mix of two animals it would be a tiger/koala, and she is almost positive she would not kill someone for any amount of money.
So my heart has been extremely saddened by the loss of Dave and Andrew. I had no idea how much I missed them till I recently saw them. I have been moping around the house for a week now trying to keep myself busy with cleaning and accounting work, but alas, it will never be enough. I am sad and I miss them. I am all about brotherly love! There is a type of bond that men have that some people will never have or understand. Not everyone gets to experience it in their lives and I have had the opportunity to experience it 3 times. There is a friend that sticks closer than a brother. That companionship is important to me, and it make my life better for having it. Missing it now makes life less bright and shiny.
~Richard
We had a party at Don Perico's. People kept buying me booze and I kept drinking it. The Mic showed up with his family and we took some video of the event. Daniel, Stoney, Sara, and Keeter also showed up. The cards that I received warmed my heart and made me laugh. I had sent out a text message telling everyone that I was challenging Derrek to our annual drunken UFC alley rematch. However, he called and said he was coming to the poker game late so I would be really drunk and never showed. I was ready to beat him down, none of that submission crap this year. I was gonna punch him in the face till he wanted to take a nap. I will get him next year.
The Mic wants to have a really complicated 6 month family competition with over 1k on the line. It involves body fat measurements, short distance running, long distance running, basketball, tennis, hockey, and something else I cannot remember. I am 90% sure it is going to happen but we are still talking about rules and scoring.
So at my birthday poker game I was really drunk and did not stop drinking for quite a while. I felt like I was playing good though. Mixing it up a lot, trying to confuse people, and making really dumb plays to get others to think the alcohol was impairing my playing ability. It worked, I got soooooo much action on my good hands. I feel like I would have taken all the chips on the table is if Sara had not had too much to drink and gotten sick.
I feel bad because the whole time I was telling her to drink and giving her shots, and just being a completely obnoxious drunkard (I only do it a couple times a year, might as well play it up.) So at about midnight, Sara calls to me from the back porch, when I get there she looks confused and the ground is covered in vomit. I sat with her for hours, and she was rambling all sorts of nursing mumbo jumbo about electrolyte balances being thrown off by the consumption of water and vomiting. She was real wasted so we had some super funny conversations. For instance, if Sara could have a mix of two animals it would be a tiger/koala, and she is almost positive she would not kill someone for any amount of money.
So my heart has been extremely saddened by the loss of Dave and Andrew. I had no idea how much I missed them till I recently saw them. I have been moping around the house for a week now trying to keep myself busy with cleaning and accounting work, but alas, it will never be enough. I am sad and I miss them. I am all about brotherly love! There is a type of bond that men have that some people will never have or understand. Not everyone gets to experience it in their lives and I have had the opportunity to experience it 3 times. There is a friend that sticks closer than a brother. That companionship is important to me, and it make my life better for having it. Missing it now makes life less bright and shiny.
~Richard
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
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.
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.
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.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)