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

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

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

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...

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

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...

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???

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...