Ridiculous but Relevant

The Hypocrisy of Al Gore

2008-07-20T06:19:00.000-07:00

Enjoy this video I found at Americans for Prosperity (www.americansforprosperity.org) showing our former Vice-President doing opposite the crap he preaches.

Take care for now...

The Fact is I Don't Post Enough - But When I Do...

2008-07-12T07:45:00.000-07:00

Yeah yeah yeah, I know I don't post enough here, I have a lot to say, trust me. Just no time to get it down here. But this video is just too good not to get posted, so here is is.

As always, take care...

Ethan's First Sentence

2008-06-22T15:06:00.000-07:00

Here is video of my son and his first sentence. Enjoy.

Ethan's First Sentence 6-19-2008 from Fusion Realty on Vimeo.

Why I am suing Stevie Wonder

2008-04-23T08:00:00.001-07:00

Up until last night I was a huge fan of Stevie Wonder. His talent both with instruments as well as with his own vocals are immense. One of my all time favorite songs, "As" is certainly in the top 10 of my personal lists, as well as one of the most played tracks on my iPod.

The problem I am having however is last night, perhaps for the first time, I stopped and actually listened to the lyrics of a song I was listening to. The song, "I Wish" was the straw that broke the camels back, and is the basis of a lawsuit I am filing today against Stevie Wonder. The opening lines of the song start as follows:

"Looking back on when I
Was a little nappy headed boy
Then my only worry
Was for Christmas what would be my toy
Even though we sometimes
Would not get a thing
We were happy with the
Joy the day would bring"

This is just the first verse, it gets worse...

"Sneaking out the back door
To hang out with those hoodlum friends of mine
Greeted at the back door
With boy thought I told you not to go outside
Tryin' your best to bring the
Water to your eyes
Thinkin' it might stop her
From woopin' your behind"

How much more offensive can this song get with phrases like "little nappy headed boy" and "what would be my toy" and the reference to "hoodlum friends of mine."

This is the crap they play on the radio, and I ashamed of the fact that I can mindlessly recite these lyrics.

It gets even worse...

"I wish those days could come back once more
Why did those days ev-er have to go
I wish those days could come back once more
Why did those days ev-er have to go
Cause I love them so

Brother says he's tellin'
'Bout you playin' doctor with that girl
Just don't tell I'll give you
Anything you want in this whole wide world
Mama gives you money for Sunday school
You trade yours for candy after church is through"

WOW!!!

Playing doctor with that girl, stealing money intended for Sunday School to trade for candy.

What the heck is wrong with people?

"Smokin' cigarettes and writing something nasty on the wall (you nasty boy)
Teacher sends you to the principal's office down the hall
You grow up and learn that kinda thing ain't right
But while you were doing it-it sure felt outta sight

I wish those days could come back once more
Why did those days ev-er have to go
I wish those days could come back once more
Why did those days ev-er have to go"

It doesn't take a genius to tear this exchange apart, let's see, "smokin' cigaretts and writing something nasty of the wall" and then wishing those days would come back once more.

I am offended, and my lawyer is confident we can bring down this Stevie Wonder, and get a nice healthy financial payday out of the whole ordeal.

For me, "I Wish" for filth like this to be taken off our airwaves and out of our iPod's.

For now, I am off to take a stroll around the neighborhood, I just loaded Dr. Dre's "Chronic 2001" on my iPod, now that is a great album.

For now, take care...

A Tribute to Earth Day...

2008-04-22T16:21:00.000-07:00

OK, this is pretty funny in my opinion, and I wish I could take the credit for it, but all credit is due Rush Limbaugh for this little tidbit.

How to celebrate Earth Day

"Drive. Drive! Drive five miles above the speed limit when you're on the highway. Go out and buy, buy, buy! Use extra toilet paper. Clog up the toilet if you have to with extra paper. Use, use, use. Turn on every light in the house, every light in the office, and leave it on when you leave -- and if you see anybody driving a stupid hybrid around, just buzz 'em with your horn and wave at 'em as you speed by. Just ram it down their throats, ladies and gentlemen."

Have a great earth day.

Live from Florida

2008-03-01T13:34:00.000-08:00

Well, here I am at WB's house. What a whirlwind trip this has been. Last night found us at Downtown Disney. What I love about Disney is that just in the off chance you missed buying the Disney crap at any of the 16,000 stores, you can always find it at the main Disney Store.

Today we went to IKEA, the Mall of Millenia and then to the Florida Mall.

Tonight we will be cooking steaks with baked potatoes. That should taste good as I am starving right now.

Tomorrow morning we are going home, hopefully the flight won't be too full.

I think WB is a little annoyed with us being here, but you know what, tough.

I know she will have a lot more to say that I do, so for now, take care...

2 Computers - 2 Weeks

2008-02-21T17:35:00.000-08:00

I have been busy the past couple of weeks. With Chinese New Year all but shutting down my inbound shipments, I have had a lot of free time to do other things. So I woke up last week and decided to sell my laptop on eBay. After the 7 day period I got a bidder and got it sold. I went out that night and bought the new MacBook Air. I have to tell you that this computer is like a feather compared to the 17" MacBook Pro I had just sold.

I tried out the remote migration tool, it told me it would take 18+ hours to transfer the 45GB of info from my desktop to my laptop so I stopped that transfer. The bad thing about the process is that it ties up both computers as well not allowing you to do anything else in the process.

So I used my older hard drive based 20GB iPod. Three trips between computers and about an hours of time, and all the info was transferred via USB from the desktop to the laptop.

And then I got inspired. For you see I sold my MacBook Pro for $1400, but spent $2200 between the MacBook Air, Apple Care, and the 9.25% the state takes out of my pocket, so I dug up a Intel based Mac Mini I had sitting in the closet and listed that on eBay hoping for around $500.

The auction ended tonight at $637.50. Not bad for a computer I got for free. I am now only $165 short of what was spent on the new laptop.

I will say this, this computer is slick. I do see some limitations with it seeing as it does not have a drive installed, but is is fast and powerful, and for what I use the laptop for, I think just about perfect.

I got inspired about selling the 2 computers on eBay, I went and reopened my eBay store with Geta agreeing to do the listing and managing of the store to try to sell the electronic component items I have in inventory for the company.

All in all a great week.

My sister WB posted about the trains, and included the link. This Saturday promises to be a big event at the train set as we are expecting the largest showing yet of participants. To show you how excited I am, I bought 4 powered engines to run on the layout. It should be a great time for all.

I will have to post here about the pipe we had break in a house we built, but that will have to wait until the next post.

For now, take care...

Dude, this is funny - Dead Terrorist

2008-02-14T19:35:00.001-08:00

My friend Bill showed me this, and it is funny.

Enjoy.

I present to you the Dead Terrorist.

Happy New Year!!! 2008 - Part 2

2008-01-15T06:02:00.000-08:00

I guess what amuses me the most is that I get on here and tell others that resolutions are things you don't need to wait until a new year to make, and I go a fall into a panic mode regarding one of our companies due to the actions of an employee previously mentioned here.

As it has occurred to me that I only have 1 reader besides myself out there, I thought it better to start a different train of thought for fear of losing you. If a contest was held today on this blog, the likelihood of you winning is 100% as when the only person to compete against is yourself, the only way you can lose would be to drop out of the race.

But isn't that how life is as well. Isn't it true at the end of the day, the person most likely to knock you out of the race is yourself? Feeling sorry for yourself, lamenting past bad decisions, constantly looking back instead of forward, all things done to knock ourselves out of the race.

My Dad and I are in the same line of work. Things have not been as good as he (they) would like for the past couple of years. For me last year was not as good as I would have liked it to be, but it was still decent. I have made a lot of stupid financial decisions in my life. But I wonder if the stupidest of them all is constantly looking back at those other dumb decisions versus looking forward to create better decisions for the future.

For 2008 I have prayed that God will bless our business in a HUGE way. I have prayed that we can make enough money this year to pay off the house, the cars and any debt we may have. That is a HUGE number. But who is that number HUGE to? For me, right now it is HUGE. But to the one who created the Heaven's and the Earth. The one who parted the Red Sea. The one who bore the sins of the world and shed His blood for me and then was raised from the dead. I don't think it is a huge number at all.

And so I have prayed the following, "...Lord, this is so much bigger than me, that if you answer this prayer ALL praise and glory is given to you as this is something I simply cannot do on my own..."

There is more to it than that, but you get the gist.

Jeremiah 29:11 - "For I know the plans I have for you," declares the Lord, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future."

Seems like a pretty good deal in my opinion. Of course there is the whole seeking issue, but we can delve into that at another time.

Cheer up, I know it could be worse. If you look for the bad in everything you will find it. Funny thing is though, if you look for the good in everything, surprisingly, you WILL find it.

For now, take care...

Line up to be taken advantage of...

2008-01-09T07:47:00.001-08:00

Talk about a rocky start to 2008. Aside from the fact that I am taking a beating in the stock market right now, it is the beating closer to home that is really taking its toll on me.

In a Monday morning meeting held on yesterday (Tuesday) because I was out of town on Monday, my partner and I were accused of "taking advantage" of our lead employee. Allow me to set the stage for this drama...

Our "employee" moved here from California in 2006 originally to do our trim work as well as other odd jobs around our job site. At that time, we have 26 homes being built at the same time, so there was no shortage of work that needed to be done. The original agreement was a salary of $600 per week, and entailed roughly 40-50 hours per week. During the first 6 months of his tenure, he was allowed about 14 vacation days, all of them paid, so he could travel back to California to visit his fiance.

During that time, he asked for a pay increase as well which we gave him taking him to $650 per week.

In November when we had the split with one of our partners, this "employee" stepped up again and demonstrated he was capable of running the entire operation, and was again given more money, this time going to $700 per week As 2006 expired and 2007 began, more vacation time was necessary, and again he took off 5-6 days during the first quarter of 2007. They were all paid as well.

In August, again we were approached about more money, and an agreement was struck moving him to $750 per week, but this time with certain conditions that had to be met on his part.

And still he excelled.

In late October, early November things slowed down a bit, and he was told he could relax a little bit due to the slowdown. The thought process was that he could rejuvenate and start back fresh and anew for us in 2008. What was offered by us, a couple hours here and there, turned into whole days, and then several days at a time that he didn't work. But he sill got the full salary agreed to.

And then he took a second job.

And lied to us about what was being demanded of him at that job.

And told us that he needed to leave us early every day to go to the other job as he was needed there.

So his participation in his salaried position went from 35-40 hours per week, to barely 30 (if we were lucky).

Which actually caused us to lose work.

Because his lack of desire to work for us was seen by the people paying us to do work.

So we started losing work.

Which brings us to yesterday morning when my partner and I confronted him about his lack of motivation for our company. And we were told that he felt like we were taking advantage of him, and that he deserved more money.

So playing the devil's advocate, I asked, "What things have you done to warrant this pay raise?"

To which the response was simply, "I don't know, I just deserve it. I feel like you guys have taken advantage of me."

Let me get this straight, I am paying you for a 40 hour work week, I am barely getting 30 hours out of you. You have taken another job that pays you the conflicts with the time you are supposed to be working for me, and I am taking advantage of you???

How about our other employees who are true hourly people, who if we don't have work for them, they don't get paid for that time? How about the fact that we lost work because of you, which directly affects other people's livelihood? How about the fact that you are "double dipping" in working at the same time for 2 different people, and the person being asked to shoulder that burden is me?

Perhaps it is time we shake hands and go separate ways.

See if you can find another employer who allows you as much liberty as we do, and pays as well as we do.

The winds of change are a blowin' and how it plays out is being written by the employee. For you see there was a time when this employee was not expendable, a dream position to be in as an employee. But in his own arrogance he has made himself fully expendable, no, he has done even worse than that, he has made it absolutely necessary to get rid of him as he no longer contributes in a positive way to the company.

I am sad about this, but while my partner and I will likely take the blame, the truth is the employee is the one who created his own problem.

How many of you out there would line up and take on the role he has abandoned???

For now, take care...

Off and Running

2008-01-05T06:36:00.000-08:00

Welcome to 2008. Funny how people think that since all a new year technically is a date change from one day to another, that "things are going to change or get better."

The reality is the change, if any is to occur can happen at any point during any year. There is no magical law that says because we went from one numeric description of time to another that things automatically get better. The truth is I believe it to be quite the opposite.

I didn't make any New Year resolutions this time around. For the last several years I will tell you that I have. Two years ago I made a resolution which involved a 3-year commitment to a leadership training program which starts its third year this upcoming Monday. The resolution in and of itself had nothing to do with the ultimate outcome of that commitment, rather my desire to see it through made the resolution valid. And if you yourself seeing a resolution through is sufficient to bring about a change, why not make resolutions each and every day to insure that you have a fuller, more fulfilling life.

I have an employee working for us in the construction company who is miserable right now. For months he has struggled with borderline depression regarding most everything happening in his life. In typical Monday morning quarterback position, it is easy to question what this person has to be so depressed about. He makes decent money, has a nice house and all the "toys" that go along with it. He has friends and activities that he is involved in, but he is miserable.

And sadly that miserable is translating into a less than stellar performance on the work front. Which is getting noticed by the people who pay us.

So I met with him yesterday and tried to pick his brain. Now I know that answer to the question I asked, but I had to ask it anyways. Boils down to this. He is simply not happy right now. The part I don't know, and he can't (or won't) answer is this: If the unhappiness coming from work and being carried over into his home and personal life, or is the unhappiness starting at home with his personal life and translating itself into his work life.

I have my suspicions, I think he is unhappy at home (In all fairness, I would be if I was in his shoes!!!) but that is neither here nor there. The point is trying to get him out of his "funk."

So I asked him, what makes you happy. A question asked numerous times, but yet to be answered.

I implore you to make each day new and special. Life is much to short to "...wait for next year when I can make a new resolution." Make the resolution each and every day to at least enjoy life. Be happy, look for the good in things, not the bad. Be positive even when others aren't. Smile at strangers. Hold the door for an older person. Try the Publix approach and offer to help someone to the car with their packages. Buy coffee for a stranger at Starbucks.

Do something, do anything. Just don't sit there being unhappy. Life will pass you by, and in that process the only person you have truly affected is yourself.

For now, take care...

Something to ponder...

2007-12-30T06:32:00.001-08:00

I really don't know what made me think of this, but I wanted to share with you a quick thought.

Why is it that if a 13 year old boy is molested by a man, everyone insists on tougher laws for sexual predators and demand that the perp be brought to justice, and yet when that same 13 year old boy is molested by a good looking female teacher, the boy is idolized???

Don't get me wrong, from a simplistic view it is easy to think that that 13 year old boy is a hero, but for crying out loud, would you want that to be your son??? And if a 13 year old boy is a hero for shaggin' an older teacher or mentor, why isn't the same respect put on a 13 year old girl who falls victim to an older man???

Our society is so ingrained on all things sexual that very quickly a scary double standard starts to apply. A predator is a predator. Someone who preys on young children should be punished. It should not matter the sex of either the predator or the victim, rather the crime itself.

Would guys across the country be envious of a 13 year old boy who is abused by a man??? Why then do they salute the child when it is a woman doing the abusing???

I think this is a serious flaw in our thought process as a country that would allow such an obvious double standard to apply. Makes me think of the book/movie by John Grisham, A TIme to Kill. In that book, a little black girl is raped by white men, and all the people can see is the color of skin. In the closing arguments, the lawyer asks the jury to close their eyes and paints for them a visual picture of the crime. His very last comment is, "...now imagine the girl is white."

Same thought here, when a 13 year old boy is molested by an older woman, change the context and imagine the predator was a man instead of a woman, and watch how quickly your feelings change.

Is that 13 year old kid still your hero???

Makes you think, doesn't it?

For now, take care...

Six Wonderful Years...and counting

2007-12-29T07:23:00.000-08:00

Today celebrates our sixth wedding anniversary of what most likely was the best decision I ever made in my life. How or why my wife puts up with me I will probably never understand, that is not the point. The point is that she does put up with me, and for me that makes her all the more spectacular.

We are heading out to ShoGun tonight for dinner. It is along the lines of a Benihana, if you are not familiar with that, too bad. Afterwards who knows, now that we have our little boy, we can't be as flexible as we once were but I know we will still have fun.

What a year 2007 has been. Interesting that in 2004 as we sat at Morton's Steakhouse for our anniversary we set some pretty ambitious New Years Goals, of which I am proud to say we kept. I think it is time again to jointly set goals to works towards for the New Year.

Well, that is it for now. I will probably not post again until next year, so for you few who do stop by once in a while to read, Thank-you.

Happy New Year!

Be safe, be happy, and take care...

Of interest to no one, but read by you...

2007-12-24T05:25:00.000-08:00

Merry Christmas.

Last night we joined my Mother at her church's annual Christmas dinner and program. On the way home at the Briley Road/I-40 intersection a big red sign was flashing in sequence something to the effect of, "It's not Happy holidays, It's Merry Christmas, and if you don't like that, just deal with it." Something to that effect. Amusing to say the least, but sad how far removed the true meaning of Christmas is from the hustle and bustle most celebrate.

Most people do not realize that Christmas is simply a precursor to Easter as the Birth of our Saviour, and the Death and Resurrection represent the Christian story that gave us the gift of eternal life.

On other fronts, and few little tidbits...

-Our home has been featured on the front page of the local news channel for the better part of the week under the Holiday Photos tab. Not to beat a dead horse, but we hung Christmas Lights this year, not Holiday Lights. Click here to see: http://www.wsmv.com/index.html

-I have been waiting the better part of 5 years to get my hands on a stainless steel Rolex Daytona. This watch is the rarest of all Rolex's and can be sold the same day on e-bay for 2-3 thousand more than the retail price due to its rarity. What makes it unique is several things including the fact that Rolex hordes this watch and will release only a few per year to retailers throughout the world. The stores can get one in, and it may already be 2-3 years old based on its serial number even though it is still a brand new watch. In other words, you could get one and still not have the most up to date version. Which makes my decision that much harder as the one I got on Friday is the latest serial number series with all the changes and upgrades Rolex made 3 years ago as they started changing the entire oyster series of watches. So there it sits on my nightstand, in its original packaging, oh don't get me wrong I want to keep it in the worst of ways, but the business sense says that maybe I should sell it and take a nice profit. Here is the thing, it can come in either a white or black face, and I always wanted the white face. Which is what I got. I do however have an in with another store that I helped the manager out on a little business thing so he is going to hook me up as well. I would be a fool not to buy that watch as well, and then I would have 2, I can sell one of them and still have the other to wear and enjoy. I always stated that if I ever got my hands on this watch, I would not sell it. I need to be a man of my word and keep the watch and wear it proudly.

-I read that the reason spends hours searching for presents is that they don't know how to express their feelings towards another any other way, and as such use presents as a way to present their feelings towards another. Interesting thought.

-One Hundred Dollar Bills. I saw a story on Today yesterday (I think it was today) about a man simply known as "Secret Santa" in Kansas or something who each Christmas season would hand out $100 bills to complete strangers. For years he was not known, however I guess last season due to weakening health he revealed himself and then recruited others to do the same upon his passing. What a legacy to leave behind, impacting people's lives in a positive manner.

No matter what you end up doing today or tomorrow, my hope and prayer for you would be to know the true meaning of Christmas, and what it represents in terms of eternal existence. If you don't know, or are searching, reach out to someone, anyone, even me to ask more questions. All the presents in the worlds won't get you eternal salvation, only a one on one personal relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ can do that, and it is only a conversation away.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!!!

A Christmas Party to be remembered

2007-12-09T05:54:00.000-08:00

Last night we had our Christmas Open House. I will start off by saying that my wife put a tremendous amount of work into this thing, between the planning, the addressing of all the invitations, preparation of food not to mention the fact that she decorated the house almost entirely by herself.

We sweated every detail up until about 15 minutes prior to the official start, and then the fun began.

The small Jazz Trio I hired off of Craigslist showed up and got themselves set up. I still wasn't dressed for the party, but I went in and talked to them for a few minutes asking to have a "Charlie Brown" sound to the music they played. They hit this one so far out of the park, let me tell you they were awesome. Anyone can stream audio from iTunes off a playlist, but live music that engages people, making them stop and listen, and better yet make requests. Let me tell you, live music was AWESOME.

Now, on to our guests. We sent out over 100 invitations. We tried to make the party early enough in the month to head off other parties, but I guess those other parties thought the same thing, so we were competing against other parties, however we had to the best of our ability 61 people come and celebrate with us.

My sister (WB) has her annual Halloween gathering, and I know in the past she has invited everyone from the President to the governor of Florida so I took a page out of her book and invited our State Senator, our State Representative as well as our Mayor. I am proud to say I am 3 for 3 in those people showing up. Now in all fairness to my sister, I know all 3 of these people through organizations I belong to, as well as a committee I am a member of so perhaps I had a leg up!

The party started at 6 and it went strong until around 9:30. We had people here up until 10:00. We had hired 2 girls to help out with keeping the food tables stocked, the garbage moving as well as the drinks flowing as well as to clean up after the party, and I will say that they were worth every penny. We like to have parties, but the cleaning up after always sucks, not this year. We actually went into the bedroom to watch TV while they finished cleaning up, and when they were done we were left with a house that if you didn't know just had a huge party, you wouldn't.

Needless to say, it was a great time, and one that I look forward to doing again next year. A lot of work and planning, but worth it.

For now, take care...

I love having a family who blogs...

2007-11-18T15:14:00.000-08:00

The fun thing about this weekend has been checking in on the blogs to see what has been happening in other parts of the house. WB is on top of things as she documents each and every activity, and I like to check in to her site to see what I have been missing.

WB is so awesome, she should get some sort of reward or something for Sister of the Year, or something like that.

In other news, I planted a wine cooler in WB's purse this morning prior to departure for church. The original plan was for her to discover it during the church service thereby creating laughter from her, however she opened her purse on the way to church and busted out laughing. It was still funny, but would have been funnier if it had been discovered at church.

I will try the same prank tomorrow as she leaves for the airport. Wouldn't that be funny for airport security to make her dispose of the beverage, and she instead chugs it down right there, seeing as she is a raging alcoholic.

For now, take care...

A Complete Holiday Season in Four Days

2007-11-17T18:20:00.001-08:00

As I write to you we are gathered in our home sitting in front of a fire in the fireplace, everyone in pajamas just simply enjoying each others company. Well, except for the fact that CAL is still talking about how he thinks he can beat me at Madden '08 on Wii. Last night I slaughtered him 98 - 69.

This is really nice. The family together again enjoying each other. It has been 17 years since this happened.

I hope it isn't another 17 years for this to occur.

Take care...

The best $32,000 money can buy...

2007-10-28T15:14:00.000-07:00

Let me start off by saying that I am not against making as much money as possible as long as it is done with honesty and integrity, and not at the expense of poor people.

But I also think our priorities are a little screwed up as a nation.

I live in a really nice area. Williamson County located in Middle Tennessee has more than its fair share of really wealthy people. My home is dwarfed by the Mansions that line the streets all throughout Williamson County, and therein lies the topic for today's discussion.

Vince Young, the second year quarterback for the Titans just purchased a home in The Governors Club, an exclusive gated community just 3 short miles from my home. Odds are he spent well over a million for it, as most homes start at about a million. Now, I have no issue with the fact that Vince Young gets paid millions for tossing a football around. In fact, I am proud of the fact that as a nation we can have a job like that and get paid for our talent.

But, that is also the issue.

While I am not a proponent of teacher's unions, I will say this, there are good teachers in this world with whom we insult with the measly amount of money they are paid.

For crying out loud, these are the people we have put in charge of educating our children.

And they get a mere morsel compared to a professional athlete who gets to play football for a living.

We as a society place more importance on that athlete, and lament an injury sustained by them on the field more than we do the teacher who is charged with spending 40 hours a week with our children to teach them the things we want them to learn. And yet we are content to allow them to be paid so little for a task so important.

But I digress.

I think good teachers should be paid better than the average for in them lies the skill and talent to provide our nation the next generation of doctors, lawyers and leaders. Perhaps even another teacher or two. There are a limited number of pro athlete positions available, I think we should place more emphasis on what is truly important.

For now, take care...

Bill Draper is perhaps the hardest headed man I know

2007-10-20T10:23:00.001-07:00

This past year we relocated our office to a building in Nolensville Tennessee. During this transition period, I as the sole administrator had the task of making sure each and every vendor we dealt with was notified of the change, and saw to it that address changes were made to insure timely billing as well as payment.

Since I am head of three different companies, this task was done using three different notices that were printed on 1/4 sheet neon colored paper. The notice stated our move, our new billing and shipping address, as well as a thank-you for each vendor's support during 2006.

With InCite Group, Inc., we also changed our operating name to InCite Homes to more accurately reflect the fact we built homes. The notice that went with all InCite bills included a little tidbit about the name change as well. With the exception of 2 vendors, Sunbelt Rentals and Gallatin Electric, the transition went smoothly. The old PO box that was being used expired on 8/15/07 and all mail that was sent there was marked as "Not Here" and returned.

Since I pay the bills for the companies, I contacted Gallatin Electric regarding the fact that I had not received any bills from them. They stated they had mailed them, but to the wrong address. I reminded them that they had been sent numerous address change notices, and their failure to correct the address was not my fault, and as such I would not be paying any late charges.

Enter Bill Draper.

Bill Draper is a ego driven hard headed man who has proven himself a liar and a man of questionable integrity. For you see, Bill Draper will not reverse the late charges, even though he himself admits the odds are pretty good that in fact if every other vendor of mine got the address change slip, Gallatin Electric probably did as well. Now Bill Draper portrays himself as an honest man, however he has lied to me personally on 2 occasions, and he won't even admit his fault when caught in a lie.

I don't know how much you know about utility companies, but they are a regulated industry. All the rates are set in stone, and any change to them must be approved by a governing board. It is not like your local gas station of food store that can raise and lower prices based on competition. There is a bright side to the rates being governed, when the utility makes dumb decisions or rash decisions in its purchases, it cannot pass that rate on to the consumer.

Which makes the late charge the icing on the cake. The late charge, an item cooked up by greedy people to stick it to honest people. Now, granted, there are people in this world who are about as credit worthy as a cock roach, and as such a late charge is appropriate, however for the majority of law abiding bill paying people, the late charge is a way to say "F#$* you" for being a good customer.

For you see, I didn't have Gallatin Electric chasing me down to pay the bills, no rather quite the contrary, I had to call them to alert them to the fact of their mistake in not changing my address, and then I requested the bills be faxed at once so that they could be paid.

But Bill Draper, our power hungry ego maniac had spoken, and the late charges stand. For you see, I don't have just 1 account with Gallatin Electric, but in fact have had 43 accounts during the last 18 months. That is right, 43 accounts.

Hey Bill Draper, I am going to petition the city to fire you. I am going after you and your job. I want to see you having to collect unemployment rather than a paycheck because in my book, you sir are a shining example of what a scum bag truly is.

Yes Bill Draper, you are a scum bag. Hey, do me a favor, quote me on it. For your little act of ego is going to cost you dearly, as I will do what it takes to see that I am righted in this matter, and ALL late charges are reversed. And them, I am going after the cost of my time, and I will propose it be taken from your measly little paycheck. I am not some scum bag resident who routinely pays his bills late, not sir I contacted you to make sure my bills were paid because that is what is important to me.

Bill Draper, do the right thing.

R.I.P. Kitty Kat

2007-10-16T17:26:00.000-07:00

As you may have read on my sister's blog, yesterday I had to put my cat down. She was not doing well, and you tell she was suffering. She had the final laugh because as she left she had her tongue sticking out at the world. She was a good cat and she is missed.

I got home today from work, and there was a card from the vet's office offering their condolences. I thought that was very nice. Of course, they didn't think to include the $113.00 it cost to have the procedure done.

Oh well. For now, take care...

An evening with Fred...

2007-09-28T08:57:00.000-07:00

Last night I did have the opportunity to go and see Fred Thompson. I did pay for the opportunity, but the price of admission in my opinion far outweighs the chance of a lifetime to meet the person who most likely will be the next president of the USA. Sadly, the person taking my picture moved the camera too quickly, and the image of me was blurred, but here are a few of the pic's that did come out.

This is my friend Richard Cammeron with Fred Thompson. He is the one who has gotten me involved with the Williamson County Republican Party Chairman's Circle. He has really taken to introducing me around, and always prefaces the introduction as, "________, this is Jason Lukawitz, he is someone I thought you should meet." How is that for an introduction.

This is my friend Bill Hemrick with Fred Thompson.

Both Bill and Richard have a lot of pull in this town with some of the elected officials they are friends with, and the exciting thing is both have stated that should, no rather WHEN Fred Thompson gets elected, they could arrange to go to the White House to meet him there.

Now that would be cool.

Anyways, for now, take care...

I use the free labels

2007-09-27T09:33:00.000-07:00

I don't know where I read this, but as I recall the writer wrote that they were a good person because they didn't use the free labels provided by those charities that solicit money through the mail and attempt to use guilt as the trigger to give. I am here to confess to the world that I do use those labels, but I don't donate.

Why you may ask???

The way I see it, I didn't ask to be solicited, and since the company soliciting has the money to print labels to give away, they probably aren't the best steward of money collected from donors. Since someone somewhere has donated, and their hard earned funds are being used to print mailing labels for me, I would almost feel guilty not using the labels.

It would be like baking a cake for the neighbor. You may or may not be the best cook in the world, but you probably tried your best in baking the cake. Would you not be offended if the neighbor didn't eat the cake you spent your time and resources preparing? If the neighbor refused to eat the cake because they were not in a position, or had no desire to give you something in return, would you not feel offended?

I would argue that you would take offense. As such, just as you would expect your neighbor to eat the cake expecting nothing in return, so also should you use mailing labels provided by people begging for money regardless of whether or not you contribute.

Think about it, you know I am right.

For now though, take care...

While driving to work this morning...

2007-09-13T08:32:00.000-07:00

I was on my way into the office this morning when a country song came on the radio station I was listening to. I started listening to the words, and it started off with a father buying his son McNuggets from McDonald's and telling him he needed to finish them. During the song he was celebrating the fact that his son was imitating him, until he muttered a swear word.

Hmm...

Makes you aware of how much of an impact we make on the people we are around on a daily basis including our children. I stopped cussing a little over 2 years ago, yeah, I do slip from time to time, but for the most part that language has been removed from my vernacular, but that doesn't mean my talk is always "clean."

I had to listen to the whole country song to find out how this kid turns out, but sadly my phone rang and I got engaged in a conversation so I don't know the outcome.

Don't know who the artist is who sang the song, but I am sure I will hear it again. If they wrote the song about me, I wonder what it would say.

I know what I hope it would say...

For now, take care...

Have you forgotten???

2007-09-11T18:07:00.000-07:00

I have to be really honest with all of you today in letting you know how disappointed I am in myself for shear complacency in remembering the tragic events of 9/11. I am ashamed to say that my day started like most others, up before the sun, and out of the house with the rising of the sun for another day of "business."

My day today started with a 7:30 meeting followed by a 9:00 meeting, which was followed by a 10:00 meeting that preceded a lunch meeting that culminated in a 1:30 interview for a prospect we were looking to hire. (We did hire)

Aside from a few minutes of talk show dribble as I dashed from one meeting to another, no part of my time today was spent remembering those who lost, and those who continue to fight to insure our freedom into the future.

I said to my Dad this morning in a brief conversation that today should be made into a national day of remembrance to honor those who were lost, and to pay respect to those sent to protect as a result of 9/11.

After much thought though, the prospect of another day set aside for one purpose would only give corporate America the opportunity to launch another day of sales designed to separate you from your money, and in that would ultimately trivialize the sacrifice made that horrible day.

Sadly I confess to you, the true horror of that day has been forgotten. Replaced by the day to day routine we are all guilty of participating in. My son is growing up in a world vastly different from the one I grew up in, and if I forget the horror of that day, how can I explain it to him so that he will understand.

Funny thing is 6 years ago, American flags were hung in respect after the attack. People gathered in church and turned back to God. New friendships were forged by neighbors meeting neighbors. And the strength of our country was strong and unified, a united front for the rest of the world to see.

The memorial that had the massive spotlights arranged that resembled the fallen towers were like a middle finger being shown to the terrorists who executed the attack, and real smack in the face to them that said, hey, we may be down, but we won't be for long.

Six years later, we soldier on with our lives, callous and complacent to what happened, content to pretend like it never did. And I am guilty of that, and I am ashamed.

For those of you affected by either the loss of a loved one, a friend, a colleague, a job or in any way connected to 9/11 I owe you an apology. And I am sorry.

We should never forget.

Take care...

People I am looking for...

2007-08-30T17:39:00.001-07:00

After getting reconnected to a friend from grade school because of my sister's blog and a little work on MySpace, I decided to post of list of people I would be curious to hear from.

If you are on this list, post a comment with an e-mail, and I will contact you from there.

Thanks.

Richie Hartzer - I was in 5th grade with him, and I think he moved to FL. We went to Aurora Christian Academy (ACA) together

John Garber - Although he was a year ahead of me, we became friends. He moved to Guam as his Dad was military. We also went to ACA together

Amit Patel - Friend from Troy High School in Fullerton California. Actually connected with him back in 2000, but we never actually got together. Would be fun to catch up.

Tuan Grogman - Friend from Troy High School as well. Moved to Arizona. We kept in touch up until about 1993.

David Brown - Friend from Skaneateles High School, class of 1992

Josh Watson - Friend from Skaneateles High School, class of 1992

Jason Highsmith - Friend from SHS, I think class of 1992

Mike Busher - Friend from SHS, class of 1992

Nick Ross - Teacher from SHS, we used to water ski together

Dave Perry - Teacher from SHS for my sophmore year, would be 89-90 I think

Carmen Ruggio - Teacher from SHS

Margeret Lund - Teacher from SHS - I taught your daughter piano lessons for a while

Mark Barnes - Guidance counselor from SHS

I think that is it for now, drop a line if you are listed above.

Thanks