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| Thursday July 26, 2007 | Posted at 3:29 pm | |
| Props to the boss man... | ||
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As much as I bitch about my job, it really is an isolated few that make me really hate going there. Today, it wasn't the boss man... He told me to start my vacation early and cut me loose at noon. I went to Taco John's with the boys. This is normally done on Friday, but the boys were kind enough to go out one day early and have some food with me. After eating, I headed home and surprised the kids who had been dragging their feet in doing the daily chores, busted. Hahaha So, I have decided that we will do some GeoCaching while on vacation. I hadn't wanted to because of my back and the fact that walking about 1/4 of a mile leaves me numb and dragging my feet. But, what the hell... I picked up a one month subscription to GeoCaching.com and got a pocket query loaded with 200 caches located near Munising, MI. I installed GSAK in my Windows XP virtual machine and loaded them up and am going to update the GPSr units shortly. I decided to fire up the webcam to make sure the serial port still worked in the VM. After lunch I fought off the urge to go over to Alltel and upgrade my cell phone, haha. We're going to dump our land line phone and go with cell phones for everyone. Three out of four in the family already have them... If we dump the land line and go cellular all the way around, we'll save money each month by dumping the land line. But it will be a wash if I upgrade to a better phone with a data plan. Haha. Two posts in one day! I still hate illegal immigrants!! |
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| Thursday July 26, 2007 | Posted at 9:26 am | |
| I like this guy!! | ||
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The Sheriff in Maricopa County in Arizona is my kind of guy! This is the guy that makes inmates live in tents, outdoors, and makes their life a crappy existence, and treats them about the same way I would treat a criminal. Good for him!! Now, he has setup a hotline to report illegal immigrants. The Latino community is crying that it will create racial profiling. Yeah, so what, it's Mexicans that are invading this country at an alarming pace. On the flip side, I would hope that if anyone knew of a group of Al Qaeda in Maricopa county they would turn in their asses too. Oh wait, since they are most likely Muslim, that would mean we're engaging in religious profiling... SHUT UP!!! Sometime soon we're in for a huge attack against the US... For all we know, Al Qaeda are recruiting Mexicans with loads of money, and the promise of 72 virgins after detonation and all that happy Allah crap, to come into our country and do us harm. All under the guise that they wanna work all the crappy jobs that lazy Americans don't wanna do. Then we have the throngs of people that cry, "let them stay", they don't hurt anyone... No, but they sure do suck up a lot of government resources! Um, resources that I friggin pay for. Plus, they are being exploited by unscrupulous employers who are paying them cash under the table and paying them 1/2 of what they should be paid. Those sons of guns need to be found too and shut down. I would much rather pay an extra $.50 for a head of US grown lettuce if I knew that it were legitimately planted and harvested by US citizens! I long for the day when America gets rid of the employment taxation... We need to have a flat tax on all sales of merchandise. You buy a tv, prepare to pay 15% tax, or some magic number. This way, all the cash that illegals make in America, and are not reporting as income, and thusly not being taxed, will go back into the "system". We'd finally have some way to take something back from them. Screw FICA, Medicare, State, and local taxes being removed from your paycheck. Go to the damn store, buy some goods and then pay a big old tax on top of it. Now that son of a gun that is in the country illegally is at least paying something! You know they eat and buy stuff, cars/gas, whatever... Flat tax system... And figure out a way to get Bill Gates and Warren Buffets cash from them! Those rich effers need to start looking at America for their philanthropy efforts instead of dumping money into 3rd world countries. Time to start taking care of our own! Can you tell I got myself all worked up into a tizzy today, hehe... I can smell that vacation. Maybe on the backside of the vacation will turn me into a kinder and gentler person. I doubt it... I friggin hate illegal immigrants and I don't think vacation will change that!! |
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| Wednesday July 25, 2007 | Posted at 12:56 pm | |
| Sick to my stomach! | ||
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I am eating my lunch, on my lunch break, and I click around to various news sites, CNN, FOX, whoever, whatever... I am sick to my stomach about how much "pop tarts" crap there is in the news. I know this is a family site, and generally, I keep it somewhat clean... Turn away now... Last chance... I am warning you... WHO THE HELL GIVES TWO FLYING SHITS ABOUT THESE LOWLIFE BITCHES WHO ARE CONSTANTLY IN THE NEWS???!!???!!??? Someone has to, otherwise the press wouldn't keep barfing it up!! I have RSS feeds from the major Internet news sites that have been littered with news stories about this beotch or this beotch or this former spice something or another and a soccer (football) dude she married and how they came to America. Who gives a shit?? There are plenty of other news worthy items that could be a top friggin news story. The media needs to stop giving these whores all the attention, they don't deserve it and most likely act out only to make more news. It's no wonder other countries look at us and say, "those are some f&%^d up people over there!!". Of course, we'll put whores getting DUI's as a top news items for months over real news items.... Each of these sites generally has an "Entertainment" section... Leave the whores in there... Keep them off the front friggin page. Let E! get all the glory of gushing over them on-air. Keep it off what I used to think were legitimate news channels. Now, CNN, FOX, et al are nothing but a bunch of pimps, catering to the whores, so the beotchs keep the money flowing. AAARRRGGGHHHHHH!!! On a plus side, only a couple more days until vacation... And the foot is doing pretty good too... |
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| Saturday July 21, 2007 | Posted at 5:14 pm | |
| Catching up... | ||
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I am catching up on a couple of things today! I was seriously behind in my listening of BZT Weekly shows and even further behind in updating my camera phone MoBlog!! I caught up on a few past shows from Jeff and Jenny. These days, catching up on a show means two hours for each show since they started syndicating their weekly radio show on Delicious Agony. So, while listening to their great shows I have been getting caught up with a few things here on the computer, nothing intense, since the meds I am on really don't let me have that intense feeling. I am more suited to screwing around today. So I got caught up on the MoBlog with 16 new posts, head over and check it out!! Update on the foot issues that I posted about the other day. Long and short of it is that the doc thinks it is neurological in nature. They did some pin prick tests on my foot and they found some loss of feeling in my foot. They have me trying some medications that are typically used by those that suffer from Epilepsy. These meds stop the seizures. Anyhow, it seems to be working! In the few days I have been taking the meds, I would say that my foot and the pain has improved a good deal. It still hurts, but nothing like before. Downside to the meds is that they leave me feeling a bit unbalanced. I think I could drive a car ok, but sometimes when I stand up or start walking, I kinda feel like I want to stagger. Also, at random times I will get that feeling as though I were on a boat in gently rolling seas, just kinda floating haha. There were other discussions with the doc and some tests are going to be needed and some further digging required to try to find out why this is happening. I think some lifestyle modifications may be needed to reach some goals. I don't think I will enjoy that part of it. |
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| Thursday July 19, 2007 | Posted at 10:45 am | |
| Elephantitis of the foot... | ||
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I have no idea what the hell happened, but yesterday morning I woke up to a very sore foot! It felt as though someone had smashed all the little bones on top of my foot with a sledgehammer. I literally got out of bed and instant pain... I had a similar experience a few months back and thought, ok, my foot will feel better later. That was the outcome a few month back, if i recall correctly, it felt better later that day. I went to work and it felt progressively worse throughout the day. I got home took off my shoe and noticed that wow, it had swelled up quite a bit during the day. With my shoe off, the swelling had now wrapped around to the bottom of my foot, making walking a really painful exercise! We iced it down last night. I figured if it was still bad in the morning i would call off from work and go see my doc. I woke up, elephantitis foot was still there and the pain was worse. Trying to get a doctors appointment was another experience... My regular doctor could not see me until tomorrow. That ain't gonna fly! Even though the Ministry Health website indicates that "same day appointments can be made for my convenience". What a crock of shit!! They then tried to get me an appointment with the doc on call. Eventually they got me a time to see a doc here at the local clinic. So, here i sit, on the laptop, foot propped up with cold stuff on it. I only hope that amputation isn't an option... I was joking with my boss online earlier that it is probably some kind of rare African mosquito bite causing some new disease. Maybe they will name it after me!! I shall call this afliction, Humlitis!! |
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| Tuesday July 17, 2007 | Posted at 5:15 pm | |
| A present? For me?!?! | ||
Yeah! I got home tonight and had a package on my desk... Thought it was a couple of books that I had ordered from Amazon.com. It wasn't... The side of the box said "Fragile ("it must be Italian") 2 Samuel Adams Boston Lager® 16oz" WTF? I was scratching my head, half wondering what the hell I bought and the other half wondering what Michelle will say to my latest purchase, haha... I was at BeerGlassHopper.com the other day and I was looking at some glassware. Shit, maybe after having a few too many cocktails I must've ordered something! I opened up the box and inside was a nice little letter stating that, because I am a founding subscriber of Beer Advocate magazine, I was being sent these glasses "to experience and test". Cool!! Nice glass, here's a picture. And test I will, haha, no worry about that!! Respect beer!!
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| Sunday July 15, 2007 | Posted at 10:19 am | |
| Middle of July... Already? Ice Road Truckers... | ||
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Wow, the Summer is flying by... Hope you are all having a nice one! I for one am glad we made the air conditioning investment last August. I just can't handle any heat and humidity, sure has helped to keep me a little more sane in what has been occasionally, very insane times. Dealing with insane people who should be on medication, and aren't, is challenging, to say the least. Not much reason to use the AC in the last week or so as the temps have been very nice! At times I have heard some complain that it is cold. I won't complain, next month my electric bill probably won't be that bad, haha! My old buddy, Don, over at DonKeyHoeTee.com had a nice rant about credit card companies and got some first class crappy customer service too. He also mentioned the TV show Ice Road Truckers which airs on The History Channel on Sunday nights. I have been watching that show, I really enjoy it! Of course, having been a former OTR driver with 3/4 of a million miles under my belt, I can kind of relate... Kind of relate, after all, I used to drive big trucks on some really snarky roads in The Rockies during some abysmal weather. Nothing worse than coming down a long steep grade where you are trying to gauge the balance between pulling the johnny bar and stabbing your own brakes. The johnny bar being a bar extruding from your steering column that, when pulled, would apply the trailer brakes only. At times, it was necessary to use that to get yourself out of a jack-knifing situation. Normally you would get off the brakes and mash the gas to pull your rig straight, but going down a steep grade covered in ice and snow, mashing the gas wasn't an option. Stab the brakes just to the point where if you went a little bit longer they would lock up and then tug the johnny bar to pull ya together, but not too hard or it would become a locked up mess and start going its own way. If that was the case, you were screwed. I came down my fair share of mountain passes with a puckered butthole and a nearly out of control truck, but I never once lost it. Those Ice Road Trucker guys are something else, I honestly don't think that I would want to do that, at least not now! 17 years ago... I would have been all over that gig! My one dream haul would have involved running some kind of freight from Miami, FL to Prudhoe Bay, AK... That would have been the dream trip! |
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| Friday July 13, 2007 | Posted at 10:45 pm | |
| Illegal Immigration... Pissing me off yet again... | ||
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Do we really have any kind of grip on immigration control? After reading this story about the girl in Washington who was abducted and most likely raped and murdered by someone who was in this country illegally and was a registered sex offender, it makes ya wonder... Is Al Qaeda living next door to me? Here we have a registered sex offender who has immigration problems... This story said that he had "alleged immigration violations". I read another that said he was in the country illegally. Ok, management of INS, are you listening? Iif some sick bastard sex offender is on ANY kind of visa in our country, DEPORT THEIR ASSES!!! This dude should have had his ass sent back to Thailand in 1990, some five years before this poor child was even born. Don't require that they register as a sex offender, put them on the next banana boat back to whatever third world shit hole they came from!! If INS and the border control can't keep a friggin pervert out of our country, how in the hell are they going to keep terrorists out? There are probably 1000's of terrorists here right now, working on H1-B visas! |
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| Wednesday July 04, 2007 | Posted at 1:59 pm | |
| Happy Birthday America!! | ||
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231 years old! Hope everyone has a safe and happy Fourth of July holiday. Our big festivities were held during the past weekend, so not much going on around town today. Today, I am doing some work for the beer fest website. Also finished up another project I was working on, the Northern Lakes Custom Builders website. Please don't crucify me on the design and colors... I was only keeping the customer happy. It took about a year to get that done due to the customer basically disappearing for about 8-9 months. But, the last couple of months I have been dragging my feet due to other projects. Bill made them a great looking header graphic last year and the site was built around those colors which I had originally talked with the customer about. Then, they decided they wanted the current header logo and it didn't fit in with the color scheme and buttons that had already been created. So, I had to rework it to make it what they wanted. They did some work on my house and I did their website, barter deals are pretty cool... I think they got the better end of the deal when you factor in the rework, but, I have more time than money, haha. Next time I need some work done on the house, they better remember the duplicated efforts, and if they don't, I will remind them. But, I do get the yearly recurring hosting fee, haha. Last day of the mini vacation... Bummer, spent too much of it working, but I did get some quality time kicking back and relaxing. About another 23 days or so and it will be time for another week off when we head up to the U.P. for a week in a cabin on a lake near Munising, MI. |
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| Monday July 02, 2007 | Posted at 1:30 pm | |
| Northwoods Living | ||
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I had an email exchange with my head hunter this morning that got me thinking... Started me down the path when he told me the salary a company up here was looking to pay... Got me thinking about a good rant... Employers want it all, but don't want to pay for any of it... The typical northwoods employer so desperately wants to find that one person who loves living up north so much and will eagerly work for half of what they make just a couple hundred miles away. An employee, the employer figures, will certainly want to have very limited benefits because, after all, living up north is so much better than living in the big shitty. We should pay them less then fair market value for their skill set, and by God, we'll certainly not give them any other worthwhile benefits. In fact! We'll take away benefits when it suits the company's need!! On the flip side of that is the person originally from the northwoods that doesn't, or can't, move away to the big city. The employer desperately wants to hire that person! They've never known better salaries! They'll certainly be more loyal than any talent you can get away from the city! If a northwoods employer can land one of these locals and let them toil away for a few years getting on the job training, they know they probably have an employee for life that won't balk at a 1% salary increase and longer hours and less benefits. Why? Because sometimes, out of desperation for a job, anything is better than nothing, even if your employer is taking advantage of you. Often times the employee knows that and knows there isn't much they can do. All to often I hear, "well, it is a job", "not much I can do", or "they have me by the short hairs". I work in IT, but this rant isn't solely about IT, it is about ALL jobs and employers up here! I know people who work for employers who won't give pay raises and who don't offer even paid holidays and vacations. Why? Because employers can! Because, people that love living up here will put up with all the shit an employer will dish out. And, if they don't want to put up with it, the employee is 100% disposable... A consumable product, if you will. The employer will take you for all that you are worth and once you reach your limit, you will quit, and a week later, some other person is doing your job; for probably less than what you were making. I know what some of you are saying, I can hear you now... "If you don't like it, then leave". I did once, and, I may very well do it again, soon. Or, maybe after they read this, I will be forced into it. But, I don't think you should have to move away to make more money or be treated better. My property taxes in Crandon are only a few hundred less per year than they were in DeForest and much more expensive than Indiana (source: former co-worker who told us that all the time, haha)! Housing costs are even rivaling some cities like Madison and Green Bay. My gasoline cost just as much, probably more, my groceries cost just as much, probably more, my cell phone bill is the same, probably more and with much crappier coverage. My electricity, natural gas, cable tv, sofa, lawn mower, and beer cost the same. Shopping in general costs more because I have to drive further away for it. Believe it or not, my auto insurance actually costs more up here than in DeForest due to the high number of car/deer collisions! We found that out when we moved back up north. So, if this is the case, why are salaries and benefits so crappy up here? Employers don't put any value on consumables. We're no different than a disposable lighter, or better yet, a roll of cheap toilet paper. When we're all used up, they'll just put in a new roll. It's no secret that I am not happy where I work, my immediate supervisor knows as much and he's probably shared that with his supervisor. I also know that the people who sign my paycheck know about this blog and can/do read it. If ever I am asked by them, what my assessment is of my department or of their company, I have no problem in being honest. I don't think that day will come. Instead, I think, they don't want to know, they like that money is being made and if we have to hire a new IT guy or gal, so be it. I've never lied to an employer, in fact, I've always found that honesty really does go a long way! I think my company could be much more profitable! I think they have some problems in management. But, as long as there is growth, everything must be good, right? When a northwoods employer takes bottom of the barrel talent, read entry level, because that is all they can fish from due to the salaries they pay out, it'll take them much longer to turn out a better product. Instead, they waste so many resources in seeking, interviewing, hiring, training, and eventually replacing entry level workers, that they burn out the few good ones because every time someone quits, it literally takes six plus months before the workload begins to subside. And then, about that time, someone else will quit and the process starts anew. When someone quits, projects get put on hold, often times to never be picked up again. The single biggest disappointment to me, personally, is that we settle for talent and I'll be honest with you, it pisses me off to no end to see some of the talent we have. To be so clueless about the technology you work with is simply amazing to me. To constantly be asking such rudimentary questions...you would think would raise a flag!! To me, if an airplane pilot is sitting in his seat and he says to the flight attendant, "what is this gauge for?", and she replies, "it says altimeter, sir", that pilot should not be in that job!! But, if the flight attendant doesn't raise the flag, who will know? I've raised the flag, but my boss works on the opposite end of the building and seems to not care, so people are allowed to soar under the radar. I am sure that this is equally true in other companies in the north. Now, while I have spent a bunch of time relating my own experiences and disappointments, I do, in fact, know that this is happening in companies all over the northwoods!! I hear it in some form every single day. Some days, I think northwoods employers don't want growth... Keep the company smaller by hiring bottom feeders. Less overall profits coming in, but less salary being paid out too. |
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Keep a tight one... (Thanks Jimmy)
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The Huml Family Organizational Unit
 March 11, 2010 :: 9:40 PM |