It's Monday

Here I sit, listening to the mono tone voice of one of my planners. She is a sweet person but to listen to her run a meeting for an hour is a sure fire way to put yours truly in to a full blown on drooling sleep.

My life in terms of work....excel sheets. Twenty, Thirty, maybe Forty excel sheets all linked together in a spaghetti of complex mess. Assumptions built upon assumptions built upon even more assumptions all being held accountable to deliver accurate results.

Keys being clacked in the back ground of the conference call I am on.

*Ding* An alert invades my lost thoughts "Your next meeting is in five minutes with so and so of this one group at that place you meet in Mondays". *sigh*

No tag backs

I don't want to be THAT guy. The one that is anti-social and doesn't want to play in fun little games. Well, actually I am and it normally doesn't bother me but Monica anticipated it and recently some have given me a few jabs about this. So ok, fine! Six things you didn't know about me but now you will. May Shiva frown upon you and fruitcake will become your Christmas gift this year. >:-(

1. I have wanted to write a book (Monica did too but since I am older it means I wanted to first and she is just a poser.....if you have a full sentence can you still use a parentheses?). I even have several manuscripts that I have hidden away in fear they may see the light of day and thus waves of ridicule and pointed laughing in my direction.
2. I am SCARED of heights. Coming from a fella that finished the Air Force ROTC and has his ground wings....SCARED of heights.
3. A former huge fan of horror movies...I am now border line schizophrenic thanks to that devil movie "The Grudge". Cats scare me now.....
4. Abused child
5. The first love of my life died in a car wreck three weeks after she told me that she felt the same way about me.
6. I LOVE Goldfish crackers! They smile until you bite their heads off

So I have to tag six other people, so the rules go. So,

1. LawDog
2. AD
3. Mr. Fixit
4. Marko
5. Tamara
6. Memphis Steve

More braining on the FLDS thing

My wife and I had a great debate the other night about the FLDS people in West Texas. She is pro-whatever is against the FLDS. I know she wants the men to be found guilty and I don't recall her stance on the mothers or the children. I know she defiantly wants that cult gone.

I am not taking the pro-FLDS side but I did take the pro- due process side as I have in the last FLDS post.

The first point was what boundary's does that state have when religion is in play?

Her position was that religion can only go as far as one civil rights are not violated. She went on to state that the mothers and children were brain washed into thinking that what they were doing was part of their religion when it actually is not. Thus their rights were violated as they were denied a chance to learn about other religions.

My position is you would have to take to court the entire catholic church, every evangelist, every Christian, Muslim, Buddhist, etc. every religion indoctrinates their children to really only to understand their own religion. Even in my own fairly liberal church we were not educated on anything outside of the bible, period. Now when I got to an age to start exploring other faiths I was able to walk my own path.

A sort of similar argument can ALMOST be said for this cult. However, their [the parents] children are held hostage if they ever try to leave. So there could be a clear contest for violation of civil rights. I'll have to stand back and let the State Attorney do her work....right, has she taken office yet?

The second point was you could claim everything that a religion calls part of its practice, legal

My wife contested that (according to my argument) someone could claim that killing children is part of their religion.

I objected. First the religion has to have some sort of doctrine. A written testament to moral behavior. Every religion has one....it keeps the people of that faith in control with the religion. You can't just, on a whim, start tagging all the children in your convent and then claim religious exemption. There has to be a written moral definition and cause for following the moral code.....like worship me or burn forever.

Where in the FLDS bible does it say that the leader of a church has the grace of god to drop his pants and squirrel away at the blond haired boy? So no....religion can not play the faith card and get away with everything

Lastly, (this was one of my points) that this is a clear example of persecution

I admit, what these people have been alleged to have been doing turns my stomach. However, when this story broke several years ago....yes its been that long. I clearly remember that local officials made the statement that they would be watching Warren Jeffs like hawk and bring this compound down. They came through on their promise.

My point was that the catholic church has been doing this exact something (not the polygamy but the kiddy lovin part) for CENTURIES. Their are victims coming forward from these acts as far back as the sixties. When the catholic church story broke it got a week or to of prime time coverage.

With the FLDS people we are going on a month, Dr. Phil is all over this, and I wouldn't be surprised if a trading card game comes out about this.

The point is that when a Catholic priest spreads the love of god through the anus of little Bobby its brushed under the rug. the FLDS people do it and its prime time TV for lord knows how long.

Why? Cause they are WEIRD! Yeah, they are very weird and I'll admit that. I cannot relate to them and thus this is interesting. The FLDS people are not like us and for that we hold their morals up to the light of our morals. Some how we become the judge of how they should live their lives.

Its food for thought. Lets hope in the end we, as a society, can help the children in this mess.

The Jesus Fish Chronicles: Chronicle Six, Soccer mom

Wow! It's been awhile since I last blogged about JFC.....heh.....that kind of looks like KFC. OK, sorry off topic. JFC, right! It has been awhile....hmmmm.....last September if my little blogger dashboard is correct. Living in the country side shields me from a great deal of the crazies. Never the less, I do have to drive in to the city for work, which leads me to.......


The Jesus Fish Chronicles: Chronicle Six, Soccer mom

April 22nd
6:30 pm (ish)
Blue Mini-Van

On the poor lane of 183 north, before 620. I am heading North on the poor lane to head home to dinner. This, apparently, pissed the crap out of Jesus Fish. A blond haired, what appears to be a small to medium framed woman. Lets say early to mid 30's and happens to be driving a blue mini-van.

Her expression about being behind me is one of anxiety and the look of trying to give birth to a water buffalo right there in traffic. I apparently was in the wrong! I was in front of her you see and that prevented her from moving through me and into the spot in front of me. Thus further adding to her frustration and complicating her labor pains. IF she could have furrowed her brow any more than she was, it may have also served as a well placed napkin holder.

The true icing on the cake of our Jesus Fish, Blue mini-van driving, my bumper riding, soccer mom is that she was smoking.....in the van.....windows up....with her kids in the car......with a cross hanging down from the rear view mirror. Shalom! Every life is precious right?

Our oblivious Jesus Fish also managed to flippantly almost run another person off the road in her mindless pursuit of self serving behavior. The expression on her face....she couldn't give a hoot. Horns honking, fingers flying, high-beams flashing, our vaporous and vacant vixen, true victor of vehicular vanity because SHE owns the road and you are just a nuisance to her.

She, my gentle readers, is a Jesus Fish.

FLDS cult in Texas, my thoughts

The FLDS [Fundamentalist Latter Day Saints] has been in the news a lot down here in the nation state of Texas. The short and skinny is that these folks bought some land out in west Texas and built themselves a rather large commune. Last I heard they have themselves cattle, crops, a water treatment plant, and a Starbucks.

Now as of late they seem to have gotten themselves in a bit of a pickle. The allegations go that church leaders married individuals off as young as 14. Most, if not all, husbands have several wifes. The way the state sees this is that this is statutory rape and some violation of federal marriage law that you can only marry one person?!

Now my thoughts on a 14 year old getting married are not in line with the FLDS. I tend to agree with my wife that you should be at least 25. Not that I am for a law or anything, lord knows we have to many damn laws. But I think as a rule of thumb, you should listen to family when they say "hey stupid, wait till your older". Now I understand that this is part of their religion and the Constitution of the United States prohibits the state or the federal government from taking action. It is true that the State of Texas is over stepping their constitutional limits.

Further more, the legal consent age in other states ranges from fourteen to eighteen (maybe higher). Which begs the question "With such a large variance in legal consent from state to state...what do we concider a legal age"? In Texas its eighteen years old .... I think.

Second, why is the Federal government in the business of telling us how many wifes we can have? I for one can't imagine any self-respecting male being able to handle one wife let alone SEVERAL! I think several wifes ranks right along with water boarding! If a fella can handle more than one wife.. I say let'em. Its none of my bees wax what they do and frankly we should stay out of their business.

Now there is an allegation of forced intercourse against the will of the girls [wifes] of the compound. To my little knowledge and second-hand information that comes from friends inside the LDS church, there is no biblical law that authorizes spiritual marriages as described by the FLDS nor the ritual of the spiritual consummation of the forced marriage ceremony. I.e. girly raping.

Also, further allegation state that there is boy lovin' too! Again not stated in the FLDS lexicon of spiritual proclamation. It seems that this compound may have been setup solely to meet the sexual desires of those few church leaders, as outlined in the allegations.

I think it is unfortunate that the truth may never come to light. And please don't take this post as the source for news. I am just blogging my thoughts on the FLDS compound in west Texas. Feel free to share your own.

Sallie Mae

Not many of you know this but I am one of those college graduates. I gots me and edsumkation wit a dgree ands evrythang!

As I am part of the population that is "under unprivileged", basically a white male, I have to pay my own way through college. Meaning, since I don't have a skin color other than white, I have to secure loans on my own credit and I can pretty much kiss any grant away. I do qualify for some Hispanic loans I think!? Due to my last name being Hispanic but I didn't even bother. I mean I would walk into the first qualifying interview and I would be crossed off the list pronto, post haste even!

Oh well.....so goes racial inequality. ANYWHO, I did mention that I had to get all my own loans on my own credit. One of those lending companies is Sallie Mae..... the mother f*@king anti-Christ in corporate form.

If you are more than 30 minutes late on a payment you can expect, without fail, a barrage of collection calls EVERY 30 minutes on any of your listed telephones. Such has been the case this weekend EXCEPT that I paid six days early.

Regardless of my EARLY payment, Sallie Mae has taken proactive measures and started collection calls from the 17th until today. My payment is due on the 25th.

Now mind you I answer all my calls and I usually get a recorded greeting "This is an important message, please stay on the phone". My policy is to hang up! First, I do not recognize the rights of machines to make calls to my person. I consider it an invasion of privacy to have one companies corporate assets call to harass me. Second, if this IS an important phone call.....why delegate it to a machine? Me thinks that this a devaluation of the word "important". Like when Sallie Mae said I was an important account and then turns around and calls me every thirty minutes to bug the snot out of me for paying early!?!?!

Soooooooo.........Today a PERSON from Sallie Mae actually calls me. WOW! They tell me my account is delinquent and that I have to pay.

"Great!" I proclaim! "Now if you could actually check your records and find the last time I paid" I say.

"Well Mr. We-trapped-you-in-an-outrageous-interest-rate. You need to provide us with the records that shows you paid us" he hisses.

"Well, Mr. My-parents-hate-me-and-kicked-me-out-of-the-house-after
-I-told-them-want-to-major-in-liberal-arts I have the e-mail right here and your recor *click*....."

Sombytch hung up on me!

Here is my new Sallie Mae motto to their customers:

Sallie Mae......we bring a new level on belligerent harassment.

Living Skeletons

I don't know about you but run way models gross me out. I don't mean the REI hiking models showing this years "IN" repelling equipment....no I mean the Paris fashion industry kind. The Skeletor Olsen kind of run way models. You know exactly what I am talking about too....don't even sit there and try to say "Man I totally don't watch that stuff!". I know the truth! You, like me, are desperately waiting to see last years throw cover turn into this years glam dress! You get'em Chantecaille! You go girl! Grrrrrrr- moew!

Eh...uh, no what I am here to write about is my love hate feelings towards the fashion industry. Even for a dude that is fashion challenged, I do pay attention of the fashion industry in pure economic terms.

You see models in the fashion industry, through tradition, like to appear slim. And in an aggressive, dear I say, free market competition have gone to extreme measures to be "more slim" than the next girl. This somehow gives some serious wood to the fashion designers as a measure of their models commitment. Now all you hippies out there are jumping up and down with delight screaming "See! We need more government regulation". Hold on my friendly little granola pounders. Its time to check the other side of the Birkenstock.

The MARKET is now turning. Consumers are now protesting, aka using their supreme vote, and refusing to buy products from designers who use skele.....anorexic models. In hippie terms, this is what us economist talk to you about. That "invisible hand" that "natural correcting action" that "freedom of choice". You know when I talk to you and say that an industry will boom, then recede, then it will become ultra competitive, consumers will correct market fractures, then market demand will swing back in play to stabilize the market. Crap......did I lose your attention already?

Ok fine. The hippies tuned out and are now trying to develop new ways to solar dry their socks. I just talk to the rest of you then.

You get what I am talking about right? I didn't mean to throw your thinking off with all these gross pictures. But you get what I am talking about. With the market system, not a bastardized one that we have in the United States, you [the consumer] have all the power in an industry. You may not feel it with power houses like Wal-Mart but you really do.
Consumers alone made such an outcry of disgust that fashion designers are making pledges to only hire"healthy" models. Aka, ones with body fat.

Coming from an industry that is so fickle, self-righteous, pompous, and so indignant to basic moral character when engaged to free enterprise......free choice is an ear-ringing wake up call to the fashion industry. It should also serve as an example how people, not governments, may have a better position to govern the social matters that exist in our time.

You see, this change in the fashion industry wasn't voluntary. I know, you are scratching your head. This change you see here....it was a pure and simple change the way you operate or go out of business.

Consumers CAN control business WITH OUT laws. All you have to do is simply exercise your CHOICE.

The Front Walk Way Project

I have a new project....well several new projects. Specifically this one project is called the front walk way project.

The front walk way to my house is been something my wife has been asking me to deal with for awhile. She wants to put up some new solar lights in the area (front walk way) but the soil and the run off from our roof prevents that at the moment.

The run off from the roof, of course, falls and hits my soil pretty hard. I have a rock perimeter that is made up of small stones that is left over from the rain pounding the soil away. Eventually I want to add gutters to the house so I can redirect this rain.....maybe into a dry well?

Second, I live on a hill. Naturally my property slopes. This makes a bit of a problem for my front stairs. Its quite a hefty first step from the ground to the first step. Add in a little soil erosion and this can quickly become a problem.

Enter in a 16' ( ' is foot, " is inches in case anyone didn't know) long by 6' wide raised front walk way. I have cut stone on my property, plenty of soil, the tools to do so, and a little time here and there to make this happen.

What you see here in this picture (right) is me lining up the future lay out of the walk way with some PVC pipe. Just trying to get a feel for what it would look like.

I put up some stakes and mason line to give me a guide to work by during excavation. It kind of helps but I found out yesterday that its not exactly straight. It doesn't matter to much though. I have to remove all the dirt in the area, remove most of the rocks (keeping the smaller ones), and then get everything wet enough so I can level everything out and then tramp it down.

The purpose of all that is that with dry soil it has all the lumps from digging, holes from removing rocks, and just soil compression. If you get it kind of muddy and then smooth it all out...let it dry for a little bit and then tramp it you get a nice slightly compacted soil that is level.

It helps to not only lay down the retaining stones but it makes putting in a drain cloth super easy AND the paver stones that will go in. Having a nice level and compacted soil is crucial to landscaping like this. Having uneven soil will give you a wavy unappealing path which can also be a trip hazard and could end up cracking your pavers.

I'll try and remind myself to give you a shot of the tools I am using.

Sweet Jumping Jupiter!

Only in Arkansas

LITTLE ROCK, Ark. - Arkansas' marriage-age crisis is over. A law that mistakenly allowed anyone — even toddlers — to marry with parental permission was repealed by a measure signed Wednesday by Gov. Mike Beebe, ending months of embarrassment for the state and confusion for county clerks.

Yes..............we are all laughing at you.

My scribblings

My scribblings......or lack there of as been due to another recent surge of work. It happens.

As of late, I have been putting more focus on my personal network. I'm in the process of cleaning up some rough edges, removing people that don't belong and can be damaging to my network.

In other news, I did my federal theft summary report last night. I show a hefty return of my own money coming back to me.....that was until my filing got rejected. So now I have to go back and check everything, which is a total pain in the rear end.

I have also been playing this game called Ikariam (www.Ikariam.org). It is mighty addicting for a history nerd like me. It is set in ancient Greece and you have to build your city-empire. This is my kryptonite. I put a link off to the side of you to go check it out. I live on Iota server and if you plan on signing up just shoot me a message. I'll try my best to help out.

let's see.....there is other stuff and I'll try and make another post during lunch when I can catch a break.