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Freegans & Wasted Edible Food: Witness this!

Posted on February 20, 2012 by
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Today I was at the green composting center where you can drop off your yard waste, tree trimmings, and other compost material.  When I arrived, I was stunned to see the following massive waste of food:

 

It must have been about 900 lbs of apples, bell peppers, cantaloupe, bananas, lettuce, cabbage, broccoli, even bread! Worse yet, the food wasn’t rotten. It was simply bruised in some way or another.  This food could have been cleaned, and the bad parts sliced off.  Completely edible. At the very minimum, it could be made into soups, stews, even fed to chickens or pigs.  This is good food that is left now to rot and be composted.

They had bunches of bananas with small black spots on them. Perfect for making a lovely banana bread.

The food had SKU sticker codes on them, which meant this all came from a grocery store or commercial fruit stand.

When a grocery store wastes this much raw product, it simply means they have to compensate for the loss, by raising their regular food prices.  Could this be a clear example as to why food costs are as high as they are these days?  If the grocery store is throwing out 900 lbs of food, where do they recover that loss? On your next grocery bill!

This amounts to simple mismanagement at the grocery store. Not having enough SALE items, and overcharging for their food in the first place. Under no circumstance should 900 lbs of salvageable edible food be thrown out this way. At the very minimum, contact some soup kitchens, or some farmers with livestock who could use this stuff. Why let it rot and decompose?

If a truck dumped this off in a starving nation like Ethiopia or Uganda, this 900 lb waste would be 95% used.

What a wasteful society. I’ve heard about this, but never seen it before myself.

Now I have – and it’s a real shock.

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Categories: Rants and Complaints, What do you think? | Tags: , , , , , ,

Having a sense of humor is great. Overdoing it is idiotic!

Posted on February 11, 2012 by
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Cracking some funny jokes is great. People love someone with a funny spirit who wants to make us laugh. Here’s a big problem though, and it is important that someone point it out.  I just witnessed a perfect example of someone who could be funny, but ruins the moment.

The other day I was waiting in line to get my passport photo taken. The girl behind the counter was running around rampant trying to serve the line up of customers.  The guy ahead of me sat in the chair and decided to crack jokes one-after-the-other hoping he’d be funny and amuse everyone.

To be truly funny, means you carefully pick and choose a pun, a joke, a situation, to make a comment.

To arbitrarily crack 50 jokes in a 15 minute period, hoping 2 or 3 are actually funny just makes people roll their eyes…

..and I rolled my eyes…

Let’s give you a rundown of what this guy did, and let me ask your opinion if you thought he was funny.

Actually I won’t.

I began to write a lengthy play by play about it, and I decided to stop and save you the trouble. We’ve all been there. Someone who cracks non-stop jokes hoping that some of them will be funny. That’s not a funny person because people see through it.

I find this type of raw sense of humor is often echoed by the new breed of teenagers and young adults these days.  In a group setting, they all try and crack as many jokes as possible hoping some of them will be funny.

That’s not good comedy.  Cracking as many jokes as you can in hopes that a few of them will be a hit, just makes you look stupid.

 

 

 

 

 

A good comedian will carefully pick and choose special moments to crack a good joke, or poke fun at a situation.  It gets greater laughs if you are SELECTIVE about when you come out with something funny.  Be patient, and wait for that truly funny opportunity to present itself.

…but just running your mouth off, non-stop, hoping some of the things you say in jest are funny, is just purely idiotic.  When you eventually do come out with a knee slapper… it will be too late. By then people have begun to ignore you and shrug you off.

This is a strange topic for me to cover, considering this blog is titled “Life is funny”. But sometimes, idiots ruin the best funny moments by overdoing it.

Don’t be idiotic with your humor. Save it for those special moments when a crowd will erupt with laughter because you came out with the RIGHT THING, at the RIGHT TIME.

I found this article difficult to explain, because humor is subjective usually.  I’m going to depend on the comments below to see what other people can contribute.

No comments? That’s fine. Everyone is too busy these days it seems.

Hopefully you got my point.

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Categories: Rants and Complaints, Weird People | Tags: , , , ,

What a joke, everyone is broke. Our pride doesn’t let us talk about it.

Posted on January 28, 2012 by
3 comments

It is no secret, everyone is broke. Simple things in life, paying rent, a mortgage, grocery shopping, or a Friday night at a pub has to be a big deal in our budget these days.  Everyone thinks it is only them that is having hard times.  Just because you don’t talk to your neighbor, doesn’t mean they aren’t feeling the same punch.

We’re too proud to admit things to the people we smile at every day. There is a real issue going on with EVERYONE.  Yes, we have shelter, and we can eat. But we’re all struggling right now, all of us.  No one likes to be the first one to admit it.

Think about it, you work hard each and every day, and every week to get ahead.  It’s fine to try and just pay the bills, and that seems to be the focus of what everyone around you is doing “let’s just pay the bills and wait for things to get better”.  Well, to be honest, things aren’t getting better – they are getting worse, much worse.

People are getting foreclosed on every single day. Everyone is pinching their pennies. The proud thing to do, is to NOT talk to your neighbor and act like the deep depression (officially called recession) is not affecting you. But it is… It is affecting you, your neighbor, the guy three doors down, and the family two streets over.

Wake up people. Where does pride end, and realism take over?

To give an example. While your finances aren’t going as far these days – while your purchasing power of your earned wage seems to go less – has your bank lowered their service fees? Of course not. Has the government lowered their taxes on what you owe? Of course not.

You, and me both, are getting downgraded financially, and no one is talking about it.

The stuff we buy, whether it be potato chips or coffee, the price increases, and the content volume is decreased. We feel like the dollar is still worth a dollar, but is it?  Pay attention, we’re on a downward spiral to never never land…  Who has money to go on vacation anymore?  Who has money to buy something silly and stupid like we use to? Every single expenditure we do these days has to be a calculated effort.

The world is different now. You won’t hear that from your neighbors, but you will hear it from me. I am not afraid to talk about it.

Grocery shoppers who use to walk away with 4 bags of groceries are walking way with only 3… That is soon to be 2 bags… Don’t think it isn’t happening. It is an incremental amount over time, that you are not suppose to notice.  10 cents here, 25 cents there, its not even noticeable until you walk away from the cashier and realize “gee, my dollars aren’t going as far as they use to”..

So now that I’ve called it out – what is the real solution?

Unfortunately there isn’t one.

What there IS though, is the fact, that everything you’ve noticed is exactly true and happening. While the major news media outlet’s won’t officially call it, I will. WE ARE IN A DEPRESSION. THE FIRST ONE SINCE THE 1930′S. YOU’RE LIVING THROUGH A DEPRESSION RIGHT NOW.

OMG (oh my god), could it be true? The answer is YES. Just because you don’t hear it on the TV, doesn’t mean it isn’t true.

This is a depression. Hard working individuals with decent jobs are struggling to survive.

THAT IS A DEPRESSION.

So, granted, your TV may be on, your internet connection may be working, maybe even you were able to get a McDonald’s meal this week.

YOU”RE STILL LIVING DURING THE 2011-2012 DEPRESSION.

Where is your savings? Where is that bundle of cash you have worked so hard to get?  Money in, money out, it goes quick doesn’t it?

We’ve become a society this day and age, where it isn’t ideal to share what is happening with the person next door. They don’t talk to you either. We’re all isolated. Is that a good thing, or bad thing?

What I will tell you is this…

I’m posting this on my blog for 72 hours. If I don’t get a few decent comments from people out there, ranting about this problem, then I’m going to be that neighbor next door that pretends the world isn’t actually happening. I’ll delete this blog post and act like everyone else is — it’s all in our minds, it’s a conspiracy theory, and anyone that points out the obvious deserves to wear a tin foil hat.

I’m broke, and so are you.  Admit it.

Who’s making money here? Banks with their service fees, car insurance with mandatory charges, think about it. Key organizations are doing well during this depression. You and I? We’re fighting to get rent, mortgage, utilities and groceries paid.  Yeah, life is just rosey isn’t it, but no one talks about it.

If you are upset, SAY SOMETHING.

This is the first step in getting the real issue recognized and maybe people realizing where we are.. the sooner we admit it, the faster we can all get to a solution.

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Categories: Rants and Complaints | Tags: , , , , , , ,

People always react stupidly to life’s problems.

Posted on January 25, 2012 by
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This happens every single day, and it is time someone points it out.  You’ve probably done this, I’ve done this, and everyone you know usually does this…

 

 

 

 

Have you ever found yourself in these silly predicaments?

1. You hate your job, so you start looking at job ads and sending resumes to them
Wrong approach.

2. Your bank account is low, the bills are mounting, so you cut back on your cellular phone plan or lower your TV channel package.
Wrong approach.

3. Sales at work are dwindling, to get new customers, you lower your prices, put on a major SALE and advertise.
Wrong approach.

4. You had a major fight with a friend, your boss, your spouse, so you decide to go out drinking on Friday night to calm your nerves.
Wrong approach.

By now you’re probably wondering how all of these solutions to these types of problems are wrong.  See, told you, people always react stupidly to life’s problems. While all of those reactions seem like they help the situation, all they actually do, is contribute to the problem.

How can that be? You might say…

It always helps to take a particular situation, exaggerate the same “rule of thumb”, to see how the point remains the same. Let’s take a look at #5 now:

5. The titanic ship is sinking, so you grab a bucket and start bailing water.
Wrong approach.

AHA! Now you’re beginning to understand.  Our first instinct when life presents problems is to look for a quick, and easy solution.  That only works for a short time, and all it does is set you up to receive similar amount of problems in the future.

Let’s look at what your reactions just caused:

1. You start looking at job ads and sending resumes to them, you land a job, but now your new job has an entire different set of problems. You hate your co-workers, the job description doesn’t match what you had expected. Your boss is a jerk, and the company is about to be bankrupt next year.
This reaction created more problems.

2. You cut back on your cellular phone plan or lower your TV channel package.  However next month, you went over you cell phone minutes and got charged $35 extra which negated the savings you were expecting.  Since you had less channels on TV, you found yourself at the local video store paying to rent movies. You even bought a few DVD’s to tie you over. Nothing was on TV, so you went out with friends instead, it ended up costing you money.
This reaction created more problems.

3. To get new customers, you lower your prices, put on a major SALE and advertise.

While sales volume increases, your cost of goods sold (remember that term from accounting class?) has increased.  The cost of the advertising in addition to the lower sales price has basically caused you to break even.  Once you stop the sale, you find that your sales dwindle off, and you’re back to square one. All you did was waste time, energy, and effort into a short term solution that didn’t fix a darned thing.
This reaction caused more problems.

4. You decide to go out drinking on Friday night to calm your nerves.

This may have calmed your nerves, but next week you have a different fight, with the same person, about a different issue. What you’ve solved is nothing really. All you’ve done is put yourself in a situation where the same peril can happen to you again.
This reaction can cause more problems.

5. You begin bailing buckets of water on the titanic as it sinks, and you soon realize, all you did was exhaust yourself. The ship still sunk, but now your out of energy to survive in the cold water, and you perish.  You can’t save a sinking ship, so stop trying.
This reaction caused more problems.

If you’ve read this far, then you want real answers.

I will provide you some ideas, and I’d love to hear your own comments.  Whenever we come up with solutions, it is important to STOP. THINK. DISCOVER. PLAN. EXECUTE

Abbreviated that is S.T.D.P.E  (which isn’t a catchy word, so you’ll just have to get past it)

 

Here are better solutions to the previous 5 examples:

1. You hate your job.

CORRECT: Start talking to people in your industry. This is best done with strangers. People who don’t even know your name. This way you maintain confidentiality so it won’t get back to your current job. Your friends and family won’t judge you and scoff “oh look, John hates his job”.

Read newspapers, do research, network, get the information you need before making a decision on what to do, where to do it, and how to do it.

What’s that? You found out in an industry journal that some massive company is branching out into a new area that you have expertise in? Great.  Scope out the job. Read their history. Find someone that worked there BEFORE, who can talk about the place.

I can’t think for you, but some of you might be saying “Well, how could I possibly find someone that use to work there?”

Think about it. Resumes are posted online.  Websites like linkedin.com carry histories of where people use to work.  Old forum posts from 5 years back might have someone signing their name with a title of the company and then they are signing their name with their new signature.    If there is a will, there is a way, create your own ways.

People that no longer have any ties to companies they use to work have volumes of helpful information that could tell you whether or not it would be a great place for you to work. Heck, people even post publicly about it. “I use to work at XYZ” – they brag about it like credentials on the “About Us” page of a website.

Ask them how the company was doing before they left. Why did they leave? Are they sorry they left? Would they ever consider returning?

2. Your bank account is low, the bills are mounting.

Really? Is your financial situation going to greatly improve by lowering your cell phone bill or TV channel package to only save yourself $50 a month?  Is that the real issue here, you’re only short $50 and your life would be so much better saving that tiny bit of money?

“But it will help, at least right now” you say.

CORRECT: Come up with a long term plan of action FIRST.  Begin executing that longer plan to get you out of this long term problem.  When time permits, (and time always does permit) you can make small changes SECOND.

Obviously your income isn’t matching the expenses you want.  Most people will say “you want too much, you’re living outside of your means.”  While that is true, a better idea is to INCREASE your means.  Raise your income.  That’s better than just lessening the desires for things you want.

3. Sales at work are dwindling, to get new customers, you lower your prices, put on a major SALE and advertise.

Ask yourself first: Why are sales dwindling?  What is the real issue here?

Some people may say “well XYZ is taking our business”.  Well if you are selling the exact same products as XYZ and you lower your prices, don’t you think XYZ will take notice and lower theirs as well, until someone gives in?

CORRECT: Perhaps the product or service you are selling is the real issue.  Perhaps you need to find some products that are EXCLUSIVE to your store.  Maybe you can create a value added service that XYZ competitor doesn’t have.  This is the longer term solution that will help your business.

Customers don’t always shop on price. Often they will shop based on novelty, by recommendation, or perceived value (not just price).  Look and think outside of the box.  If you come up with some real creative ways to reach these customers that XYZ is unable (or unwilling) to copy, then you’ll have people clamoring for your product or service.

4. You had a major fight with a friend, your boss, your spouse, so you decide to go out drinking on Friday night to calm your nerves.

What happens the following Monday? Perhaps another major fight. What will be your solution? Next Friday go out drinking with friends again?

The question is why did the fight occur in the first place? The “details” of the fight isn’t the answer to this question either.

But why?  Who was tense? Who was intolerant. Look at the bigger picture. The details themselves are trivial. Problems happen all the time, that’s normal, and everyone knows that.. But for a fight to erupt means:

CORRECT: Someone is stressed.  Maybe someone simply has a bad personality defect.  Can something be done to lower that person’s stress load, so they are less likely to be so tense?  In the case of a personality defect, you can’t change the person, so maybe it is time to get away from them.

5. The titanic is sinking

CORRECT: Grab a life jacket, and get off the boat as safe as your best options permit. Did I really need to say this?

–

People always react stupidly to life’s problems.

You don’t need to react stupidly.

Think before you act. Plan ahead for a longer term solution and get the process rolling FIRST.

When you get time (and you will get time) you can do some short term solutions SECOND.

This is the key to avoiding reoccurring pitfalls and traps in life. It will hinder similar problems plaguing you in the future.

Your comments?  I hope you have some. I’ve given you plenty of food for thought here.

Other people want to hear what YOU have to say too.

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Categories: What do you think?, What would happen if? | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Youtube videos can’t go viral when a user chooses the wrong license!

Posted on January 12, 2012 by
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This is an ironic example I came across today on Youtube. If you make videos yourself, don’t let this happen to you.

Quite simply, someone got legitimately upset, when the advertised price of the Baltimore Sun was $2.12 but a particular store was charging $3.12 instead.

Armed with a video camera, the person walked into the store and confronted the staff about it. He said that the video would be put “all over Youtube and that it would go viral”. After the initial shock, the staff proceeded to do something quite surprising (watch the video to see for yourself).

Now, as of the time of this writing, the video only has 58 views. That’s not very viral, is it?

Watch the video and read my explanation below as to why the initial standard Youtube license chosen for this video was incorrect.

There is something that is not understood by people who shoot videos and want them to go viral. There are two different licenses that each Youtuber can choose to release their video under as follows:

Standard License (reuse NOT allowed) :

While fair use laws still exist, this is a much more restrictive license.  It basically means that the video uploaded may be accessed through Youtube and it cannot be incorporated into other mediums (like in someone else’s video, tv program, etc) in its entirety.  For instance in this blog, I can embed the video, but the person still has to go use the Youtube service to watch it. If Youtube decides to remove the video, or the person deletes their channel, or get if they get suspended, the video is lost forever.

In addition, some parts of this particular video, the camera was held “sideways”.  Someone else might want to edit the video and fix that. According to the standard license, the moment you import that video into your movie maker software and start making changes and subsequently re-distribute it, you’ve violated the standard license agreement.

Ever see a television program where they reference a video, but they don’t play the entire thing? Some of the time it is simply because the video on Youtube has a “standard license”, so all they can do is use little pieces under fair use laws to reference the video. Do everyone a favor and use Creative Commons License, it makes a world of difference!

A MUCH BETTER OPTION:

Creative Commons License (reuse allowed):

You retain your copyright and other users get to reuse your work subject to the terms of the license.  Which basically means that the video can be incorporated in part, or in WHOLE, as part of another work (like someone’s own video, TV program, etc).

If you want something to go viral, I highly suggest you release it under the Creative Commons License.  You will have a lot more people interested in using your video and helping it spread.  Not everyone wants to link back to your Youtube channel. Some people want to redistribute the video their own way, by broadcast, by adding it to a DVD compilation for example, etc.

 

To encourage your video to go viral,  select “Creative commons license” when you upload it.

Content creators would love to use your creative commons video to help you spread the word. Give them that opportunity.

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Categories: Ideas: Good and Bad?, Rants and Complaints | Tags: , , , , , , , , ,

Commodore 64 and what we’ve lost along the way.

Posted on January 10, 2012 by
1 comment

I read a tweet linking to http://www.retrocomputers.eu/2012/01/04/your-commodore-64-memories/ which basically is asking people about their Commodore 64 memories.

I tried commenting on that blog post, but it didn’t seem to have a save button. So here goes my first trackback. Let’s see if this works.

In response to “It would be great to hear your response to this brilliant 8 bit computer”

My reply:

The best thing about the Commodore 64 is that all the users had the same hardware. It meant software had to be dynamic and unique. No one told you to go out and buy more RAM or get a better video card.

If your software didn’t work in a standard C64, it didn’t get sold. That simple. As a result, software was written tight. Every last byte was carefully chosen due to space limitations.

This is the problem with computers today. It’s too easy for lazy software developers to just tell you to upgrade to a faster machine to make up for their laziness and poor coding skills.

I remember the first time I heard actual digitized music coming from the Commodore 64. It wasn’t a .MID file, it wasn’t the SAM speech synthesizer, it was actually a rendition of “Everyone was Kung-Fu Fighting”…

Actual Song

C64 Version

 

Apparently it really put the synthesizer chip to a real test. The programmers of that little demo had to block out the video screen with random colors and use all of the buffer space just to play the song.  It was said that they had used every last byte, had programmed the entire thing in hexadecimal machine language, and there was barely any bytes left in the machine to spare.

We were pleasantly shocked by the effort involved.  What was incredible about it, wasn’t the 8 second clip of the music playing, it wasn’t the fact that the C64 was able to play it.  It was the fact that these talented programmers were able to get the Commodore 64 to do something that no one had ever seen before.

That’s what the world needs more of, real special programmers who work for software development firms where the market departments aren’t dictating what the IT departments are doing.

People do not understand most of what goes on in large corporations with software development. I think I’ll have to leave that for another blog post at http://lifeisfunny.freethrills.com

But hats off to Andy @ Retrocomputers for bringing up the topic and thanks to him @andytuk for the tweet !

 

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Categories: What do you think? | Tags: , , , , ,

Writer’s Block: How to overcome it.

Posted on January 10, 2012 by
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I am not a professional writer. It doesn’t matter; writer’s block is something that happens to the best of us.

For instance, have you ever bought a birthday or anniversary card and rather than just sign your name, you attempt to write a little paragraph or two?  Instant writer’s block. How do you possibly put your emotions and personal feelings into a few short sentences?

Writing a business letter? How about a rebuttal letter to a newspaper article? Any of these can stimulate writer’s block.

Let’s discuss what writer’s block actually is, and ways to overcome it.

 

Writers block is publically defined as:

“Writer’s block is a condition, primarily associated with writing as a profession in which an author loses the ability to produce new work. The condition varies widely in intensity. It can be trivial, a temporary difficulty in dealing with the task at hand. At the other extreme, some “blocked” writers have been unable to work for years on end, and some have even abandoned their careers. It can manifest as the affected writer viewing their work as inferior or unsuitable, when in fact it could be the opposite. The condition was first described in 1947 by psychoanalyst Edmund Bergler” [excerpt from Wikipedia]

(While we are on the subject of Wikipedia, please consider donating to them they are a fantastic resource).

These are my ways to deal with writer’s block:

AVOIDANCE

Avoiding writer’s block can be done by a variety of ways. Being refreshed and having a good sleep are key. Get a good night’s sleep the night before, and be refreshed when you begin writing. If you are half way through a literary piece and you find yourself struggling, take a break and come back to it in a few minutes. Go grab a coffee, munch on a cookie, whatever it takes to put your mind at rest for a brief period.

 

ENVIRONMENT

Create an environment where writer’s block is less likely to occur. This means, don’t write in a situation that is likely to cause distractions.  TV and radios can’t be blaring. Traffic noise can’t be causing a problem for you either.  People running around the office or the house can be distracting as well.

For instance, it might be wise for you to use time during the office lunch hour when the employees are away to compile your difficult letter.  Or don’t write that blurb in that birthday card inside the post office while people are coming and going while you sit huddled in a corner.

Writing a novel as a full time job? Modify your sleep schedule so you sleep in late in the morning, and you go to bed late at night. You’ll find that when the city seems to quiet down for the night, it is a very peaceful time to write.  Dogs are no longer barking, loud motorcycles aren’t driving down the street. Phones aren’t ringing, and the rest of your family is asleep.  This is a golden time to write as long as you, yourself, isn’t tired.

 

MINDSET

Your mind must be in a creative mood.  We all get moody for various reasons.  This could happen due to nutrition, stress, even simple interruptions.  Each and every day there are periods where you will be in a good, bad, happy, or even a creative mood.  Don’t write while you are in a bad mood unless it is a customer complaint letter. :)

When your mindset is right, AND the environment is friendly, you’ll be able to write without having writer’s block. It is that simple.

 

INSPIRATION

Perhaps both your mindset to be creative and the environment is right, but for some reason, you’re not having any inspiration.  That’s an easy fix. Think about what you’re about to write, and find someone, or something, to inspire you.

For instance, if you are planning on writing a fiction novel, go read a fiction novel that you didn’t write. Watch how the words and descriptions you are reading seem to turn your brain on to thinking about these things. Descriptive words from someone’s writings can inspire your brain to start thinking along those lines.

Thinking about writing an excerpt in a birthday card and having trouble? Look in your memory box for previous cards written to you. Read them.  If you put your brain through the exercise of experiencing something, it will become inspired to create like minded things.

 

With the foregoing being said, I’m going to re-define writer’s block MY WAY:

“Writer’s block is a condition that anyone can experience when attempting to write. It is a situation where the brain is not able to create or concentrate due to a wide variety of factors. The mindset must be right. The mind must be inspired.  Finally, the environment must be suitable for the writer to thrive.  When all conditions are favorable, it is impossible to experience writer’s block.” — Jason  http://lifeisfunny.freethrills.com

So the next time you are experiencing writer’s block, look at your environment and take some action.  Small changes can remedy that situation.

:-P Scientists are working a new medication in tablet form that will alleviate writer’s block.
– That’s a intended joke. But who knows, might that even possible some day?

Is there something I’ve missed? I’m experiencing a little writer’s block at this moment and need to hear from you.

Your Comments?

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Categories: Ideas: Good and Bad? | Tags: , , , , , ,

Hope for the New Year — is it realistic?

Posted on January 6, 2012 by
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To be honest, I want to believe it too — a New Year — New Hopes, the year to come is going to be totally different than the year that just passed. My question to you is — is it realistic?

Honestly no. This year is just going to be just like last year.  The calendar makes little difference in our lives. So what does that mean?

The only way this new year is going to be different is if we MAKE IT DIFFERENT. Since most of us are locked into a circular routine (go to sleep, wake up, work, come home, sleep, then shop on our day off)…

The calendar itself can’t help change our lives. Yet inevitability every New Years Eve we begin with some weird expectation that things will be different. I am sorry to burst your bubble, but that honestly isn’t the way that things work.

So is the celebration of New Years and the concept of making  New Years Resolutions just a bad idea? No… of course not.. If you have made up your mind to stick by a New Years Resolution, then you should keep to your word.

It is no secret that people come up with a New Years Resolution as a pivot point in their lives when they admit to themselves, “this is the last time I will do THIS, or this is the last time I will do THAT”.

The biggest problem with resolutions are not in the resolutions themselves — they have complete merit. The problem is with the people announcing their resolutions to their family and friends without keeping true to them.

Don’t feel despair reading this article.

Most of us have been exactly where you are right now.  You want your life to be better in the upcoming New Year, so you make resolutions not to repeat bad habits.

The concept is noble. You have probably tried this before as well. Many people give it a shot for a New Years Resolution and then give up a few weeks later, only to say, well next year I’ll do it.

The time is now. It has nothing to do with a holiday or a specific date. If you are serious about dropping a particular part of your life that you are not proud of — then today is just as good as any day.

If you have any comments about this, then please bring them on — I’m very interested in what people have to say…

 

 

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New Year’s Eve Party Ideas

Posted on December 28, 2011 by
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The best part of every new year, is that we bring it in the same way.  A celebration!  Good friends, good times, good music, good food and drink, what a better way to kick off this holiday? If you’re throwing a New Years Eve party this year, now is the time to start thinking ahead.  There are things you can do to make your party a real hit.

What everybody always does (yawn):

a) Put out food and munchies

b) Have mixes and ice

c) Has the stereo going with decent music

d) Watch the apple drop (east coast), or the space needle drop (west coast) on TV

e) Invite a bunch of friends over. Watch as the night progresses and people drink themselves silly.

That’s often usually good enough – and fine, but wouldn’t you rather do something a bit more special this year?

Here’s some New Years Eve party ideas:

1) Setup a group game like Pictionary or Win, Lose, or Draw.

Basically all you do is get a whiteboard (with dry erase markers) or even a chalk board will do
Visit a thrift store, and you can find actual Pictionary cards, or even simple Trivia cards can work too, where the answers can words you have to draw

The idiotic drawings people inevitably make bursts the room into laughter, almost every time.

2) Karaoke

No body wants to sing at the beginning of the night, but by the time the night is over, everyone finds themselves wanting to be on the mic.

Karaoke machines are cheap these days. You can pick one up for under $100, they usually connect to your big screen TV with RCA cables too!

They need CD+G compact discs, but these are easily found. Just contact your local Target, Walmart, or Best Buy – they know what you are looking for..

3) Who am I game

Everyone gets a piece of paper taped to them with a famous person written on it.  They can only ask questions that yield a yes or no answer.

For instance, if you had Elvis taped to your forehead or your back. You’d ask questions like, “Am I man?”, “am I a musician?”, “am I alive or dead?”

Certain famous people would yield interesting questions, and interesting answers. Think of controversial famous people and it’ll be a hoot.

4) Quarters: Drinking Game

All it requires is a quarter and a cup.  Each player tries to bounce a quarter off the table. If they succeed in getting it to land into the cup, they

can appoint anyone else to have to take a drink.  If the player misses, they take a drink.

5) Make up the best man

First two male contenders.  Each man goes into a separate room, and the room splits off into two teams. Try and see who can create the best wo-MAN with makeup.

There are hundreds more – you can Google them into your heart is content.  Planning one or two of these for your guests will make the night a lot more memorable and generate a lot of laughs.  Get creative and think of some ideas that you think your guests would be willing to do..

I’d be interested in hearing any of your own ideas that you’ve tried before, and turned out to be a real hit. For me, the Win, Lose, or Draw / Pictionary idea works well every time, but we only do it after people have a buzz on and their guard is down.  It is not something you want to try too early in the evening.

Have a safe, fun, New Years Eve!

Your comments?

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Categories: Ideas: Good and Bad? | Tags: , , , , , ,

“There is more where that came from” — an evil saying – stay away from it at all costs!

Posted on December 10, 2011 by
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When I had more that I needed, and spent it without a care, I believed in the old age saying “There is more where that came from“.. now, after there is “no more”, I realize how foolish I was.

There was a time that I was making money faster than I could spend it.  NO – I wasn’t rich – I just had a solid income. My bills were paid, all of the staples were covered. I had money for taxes, my accountant, my medical bills, insurance, house payments — everything was paid.

So I would end up with “extra” every week or two. That meant to me (at the time) it was extra I could spend carelessly, because…

“THERE WAS MORE WHERE THAT CAME FROM”

..and I believed in that adage.. As long as money was pouring in, and I met my expenses, and things should only get better, there was always more where that came from – I was free, happy, and deserving because I had worked hard to get to that point in my life.

So we use to go to fancy restaurants, and tip good servers (Waiters/Waitresses) well. We use to stay in above average Hotels, and enjoy the good life. We spent the first half of our years working like dogs to finally get to the point where we had extra cash, and there was more on the way.

That worked for awhile, when we were ahead of the game. It felt great. I never saw an end in sight.

I’d do silly things like accidentally blow $600 in a night at a local casino, but I wouldn’t worry. “There is more where that came from”. — All of this was legal. I had a small business, that was growing to become a medium business – it was all legit. $600 casino nights were par for the course.

 

          ..then it happened..

 

 

 

The economy turned. Competition moved in, we began struggling to keep even. Then it got even worse. No longer were we struggling to keep even – we were struggling to just pay the bills. Then it got worse. Now we were not only choosing which bills got paid, but we were wondering whether we could keep the house, the car, and whether or not we could keep our fridge full of food.

That’s how easily it happened to us — and how easily it could happen to anyone.

So whoever invented the phrase “there is more where that came from” was obviously drunk, disillusioned, or just plain stupid. That is one phrase or cliche we could all do without.

Never should you believe that there is more where that came from – because that only holds true for a short period of time. It may be weeks, months, or even a couple years. Eventually the MORE stops – and there is no more WHERE THAT CAME FROM.

Instead, things like “SAVE FOR A RAINY DAY” or “PREPARE FOR THE FUTURE” are real solid pieces of advice that people need to hold true to their heart.

Just when you work so hard all your life to have the “extra” — no one is there to tell you to save it, and keep it, because life as you know it today, can change on a dime tomorrow. That’s pretty much on how fast life turned for the worst for us – on a dime.

One day we’re sitting pretty, and the next day, we’re wondering what’s happening.

BE CAREFUL OUT THERE – LIFE IS FULL OF SURPRISES.

If I would have read a blog post like this – maybe I wouldn’t be in the boat I’m in…

I feel better about sharing this information – if it helps you, please take the 2 minutes to comment.

Thanks.

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Categories: Rants and Complaints, Stupid Cliche Phrases | Tags: , , ,

People – and the do gooder attitude

Posted on November 24, 2011 by
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With this blog post, I’m going to take a different turn. I want to be open and honest to call out certain people (let’s see if you are one of them).

People Type #1: “Saved by attendance”

Saved by attendance people are those that go to Church, feel they are saved. They have a Bible, they read the Bible, and go to Church every Sunday. Not only do they go to Church, but they ALWAYS contribute to the offering. They know the 10 commandments and live by them (or so they think). They pray, they believe in God. They are members of a local Church, and believe that all you have to do is believe in God, or Jesus, accept him into your heart, and you’re saved.

 

 

 

          WRONG. WRONG. WRONG.

 

 

 

I suppose the pastor of the Church hasn’t had the opportunity to explain this to you yet, but God doesn’t take attendance. If God exists, he’ll be a lot more interested in the way you live and conduct your life – not who was sitting in the piu, or what type of offering or donation you gave to the basket.

There are people (by the thousands), who think that God somehow takes attendance at Church every Sunday, just like elementary or middle school. He doesn’t. Yes, it could be considered by some, that it is God’s house — but if he exists, he can see past the superficial being that you are.

To explain in detail:

IF you are someone that attends every service, AND gives a generous amount to every offering – that is not enough, because both of those are superficial acts. Even a murderer could attend Sunday Church and give generous offerings — does that mean they will be saved?

No – the truth is quite simple. How you live your life on a daily basis. Not how you live your life on Sunday – or how you put on your best Church clothes or what type of offering you give. Those that don’t even go to Church, or give an offering, but do a kindness to their neighbor, stranger, or fellow citizen have a much better chance at the gates of heaven than you do..

BE VERY CAREFUL that you’re not following a stereotype. “Have a bible, go to Church, give an offering, I’m saved”. I am surprised about the amount of people that live in this plastic concept that there is a simple road to heaven this way.

HERE’S WHERE I CAN EXPLAIN THE DIFFERENCE

The same Church person will generally have a routine, and after they’ve dressed up, attended the sermon on Sunday, gave at the offering, they will leave the Church and go out for a family breakfast at a local restaurant. I know this is true, because Church generally gets out at 10:30am, and by 11:15am, ALL RESTAURANTS ARE PACKED EVERY SUNDAY BY PEOPLE IN THEIR CHURCH CLOTHES.

…so talking like this, means I know something — don’t believe me? Go to your local iHOP Pancake house at 10am on a Sunday and watch the sudden crowd in Church clothes that appear at 11:30am – it’s very obvious.

Now that being said, and agreed upon..

This same Church crowd that visits the International Pancake House at 11:30am after Church has let out, will do certain UGLY and UNGODLY things:

1) They will honk and give curse expressions with their hands and arms while in bumper to bumper traffic

2) They will be selfish and try and race to get into a parking spot without concern to the other vehicle in the same lot, irregardless if they have their 80 year old mother with them.

3) They’ll sneer and think they’re above people of different color, race, financial position, or social status. You could almost hear them talking to their kids, saying “We were at Church, look at that drug addict bum. We were at Church, look at that FAT disgusting person. We were at Church, what would the Lord think of that gay couple?”

———-

So if you are one of those people, who go to Church every Sunday, and thinks God takes attendance — he doesn’t. He’s not watching the offerings you gave, as much as he’s watching how you conduct yourself outside of his house. Your thoughts, your demeanor, and not what clothes you wore to iHop are what matters.

I am really tired of seeing hypocritical people that believe that to love thy brother is to love one’s self is a concept to live by.. Immediately thereafter walk out in public and think their obligation ends as soon as they leave the Church steps.

God doesn’t take attendance – but he knows.

People Type #2: “I’m good because I did this simplistic action”

This is the most dangerous type of person. Those that aren’t necessarily “Bible thumpers” – excuse the rude comment, so I can prove my point. It sounds derogatory, and I don’t mean to be so obvious about it. However, it helps to make a clear line between people that believe in God, and that’s why they try to do the right things, verses people who DON’T go to Church regularily, but think they’re equally entitled to similar entitlements.

These are the people that walk around thinking “I’m good because I did this simplistic action”

Here’s a few things these people do, figuring they are worthy in life, of getting their just desserts later by simplistic actions:

1) They see someone standing on a concrete island at an intersection holding a cardboard sign saying “God Bless, Please Give. Hungry” — They immediately roll down the car window, hand $5, and figure not only did they do a good deed for the day, that proves something to themselves and everyone else they’re a decent person. After that split second donation, they can continue on their life path for the next 6 months and not feel guilty.

TRUTH: Most of the time (90% or greater), you’ve just handed your $5 bill to a professional con-artist / scammer. While you sat in traffic for that 2 minute RED light, what you didn’t see, is that he’s been there for the last 58 minutes, and found that everytime the light turns red, he gets $2 to $5. Over the course of an hour, he makes $40 to $50 for standing there with a cardboard sign. The problem is, he had a job, but quit it, and left for this business. He saw that making $19 an hour was peanuts. He’d rather pretend to dress in old clothes, stand at an intersection with a cardboard sign, and make double his annual wage.

Look closely. You might see the latest iPhone bulging in his pocket, or a chrome bicycle a few yards away.

2) People that travel in urban city areas and see an unkempt person, dirty, struggling and hungry and hand them spare change. What you don’t often realize is that same spare change will buy a case of beer of a 1/5th of Vodka that same night. When you give spare change to an individual, it doesn’t mean they are going to use it to make photocopies of their resume for a badly needed job.

Yet these same #2 people “I’m good because I did a simplistic action” will walk away smiling. I gave this person $2 for no reason, just to help them [buy wine] and that means I’m good.

WRONG WRONG WRONG WRONG

You would have been much better off giving your $2 donation to the local soup kitchen, who turns that $2 into food (instead of wine or beer).

You walk away thinking you’ve done great, by giving a homeless person spare change.

Instead, you’ve enabled them to purchase alcohol or drugs, and without you, they may have been unable to afford those substances.

So if you’ve reached this point in this blog post, my question to you is:

Which of these are you?
PEOPLE OF TYPE #1: NICKNAMED “Saved by attendance”
PEOPLE OF TYPE #2: NICKNAMED “I’m good because I did this simplistic action“
PEOPLE OF TYPE #3: I don’t fit into either of these. I’ll explain below in my comment

A huge percentage of the population, can usually fit into one of these 2 categories.

For me, I’m type #3 – which I haven’t discussed, but soon will.

Your comments are appreciated.

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Categories: Ideas: Good and Bad?, Rants and Complaints, Weird People, What do you think?, What would happen if? | Tags:

Mowing Lawns – the OCD Neighbor

Posted on June 28, 2011 by
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On our block we have some OCD (obsessive compulsive disorder) neighbors — two of them, who care more about their lawns than life itself. Not only do they pull out the mowers and mow when their lawn is only 2″ high it’s worse.

Most normal people will mow their lawn when it is a certain height. They take 30 to 40 minutes and put the mower away.

 

 

 

 

 

NOPE. Not these two neighbors, that is too simple.

My neighbors love it when the mower is out and they take extra special moments with it. One neighbor would mow his 2″ lawn (because you can’t have a single blade of grass higher than the rest) relentlessly.

He’d move his mower to the sidewalk, put it into neutral (still running) and take a cell phone call. He’d chat happily away for 10 or 15 minutes on the phone, while the mower sat infront of him idling away spewing tons of noise pollution.

He’d then put the phone away and start mowing. Three minutes later he’d stop the mower (stop moving not shut off) while it sat there running and pull the bag off the mower. He’d shake it briefly, there must be a full 2 oz of grass in there because the lawn didn’t need to be mowed to begin with, and walk around to the back of the house to empty it.

Meanwhile the mower, still buzzing sat in the front yard.

He then comes back, re-hooks the bag and the sun shines on his left ear. Yes, the neighbor is wearing ear buds, so the lawnmower noise isn’t bothering him whatsoever.

He mows another foot and sees a pebble. He stops the mower again, picks up the pebble and throws it near the house where he has some gravel. WAIT! The pebble didn’t land in the right place.

He walks away from the lawnmower (still buzzing) and finds the pebble he threw. He moves it 4″ over to an acceptable spot that makes him happy. Wait! He didn’t realize there were some weeds next to this big large rock he has in his garden bed, so he starts pulling those weeds.

 

Yes, the lawnmower is sitting there, still buzzing and idling away.

 

 

Wait, he found more weeds, picks those, and then finds more, picks more weeds. Can’t have that in his garden. He spends 3 or 7 minutes picking weeds out of the garden with his ear buds in his ears. He can’t hear the lawnmower, and neither should his neighbors.

After he’s done weeding his garden, he returns to the idling lawnmower. He continues mowing the lawn, going over the grass that is only 2″ high. His lawn is already so short you can’t tell the difference between where he’s mowed already, vs where he still needs to mow.

Finally he’s done. He stops the mower (an hour later after beginning for a 15 foot area) and puts it away.

Now he has about 25 grass clippings on the sidewalk. He brings out an electric leaf blower and starts blowing the sidewalk. This takes him about another 15 minutes, making sure he blows every grain of grass away.

Think he’s done? Not quite.

He puts the leaf blower away and brings out the garden hose. He saw some dust on the sidewalk. Can’t have that.. He starts using valuable municipal water to wash the sidewalk. Gets every grain of dust, and any grass to wash away. This takes him 30 minutes, with about 300 gallons of water.

Finally he goes inside. He feels that his nice cultured lawn will be loved by many.

After watching him noise pollute, waste electricity, water, and be totally annoying to the neighborhood for the last 3 hours, I am wondering why I don’t want to see him jailed or killed.

Your comments?

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Categories: Rants and Complaints

Food – Restaurants – and abuse

Posted on August 1, 2010 by
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I’ve always wanted to talk about this, and I don’t know if anyone is listening, but my words are in cyberspace now, so hopefully some is seeing it.

Anyone ever had a fantastic meal? The taste and flavor was awesome, your body felt warm and fuzzy by it, and you totally enjoyed every morsel and every bite?

In addition, anyone ever had a nasty meal? Just the sight of it was unappealing. Someone served you something and you look down on the plate and think “are they kidding?”. You ate it, and the flavors and spices were all over the map. You did eat and filled your hunger, but immediately worry about the next 12 hours how your body is going to react while you digest it?

Most people, at some point in their life, at one time or another, have had those two moments. An amazing meal, or a meal that was basically nothing more than an insult and later, a health concern. :)

Now you are probably wondering where I am going with this, now that we’re on the same page. It is a very distinct point. The title of this blog is “Food – Restaurants – and abuse” and for good reason.

In point form – not for a particular recipe, but for how food is abused in general:

1. Tomato – It’s not the tomato’s fault it was sliced, left in the refrigerator for 3 days uncovered and then served. Meanwhile upon close examination, it was growing white spiney things throughout, has a pungent taste and obviously left to expire from its freshness

2. Chicken - it clucked around, and gave its life to please people. What do people do? They freeze it until its freezer burnt. Or even worse — they cook it until every ounce of moisture is cooked out of the darn thing. Even with a blind fold, you’d have a hard time telling the difference between sawdust and chicken.

3. Tomato Sauce (spaghetti sauce) – on Pizza, on Pasta, etc. Personally, I don’t think anyone even understands tomato sauce anymore. Twenty years ago people use to joke about canned or bottled sauce, RAGU was the comparison for that.. Now, you have every restaurant within 20km having “Chefs” abuse this basic item on the menu. Let’s examine the importance of this — if you RUIN the tomato sauce — the pizza sucks. If you RUIN the tomato sauce — the pasta dish sucks. If you RUIN the tomato sauce — the lasagna sucks.

So how do they do they ruin tomato sauce? Oh that’s easily figured out. TOO THICK, TOO RUNNY, or its unnoticeable things like WRONG SPICES, or even worse, TOO MANY PRESERVATIVES. That’s right. We’re all use to getting Ketchup out of a bottle, because — who wants to make Ketchup? But tomato sauce, just because tomatoes is the main ingredient, doesn’t deserve the same treatment!

If I could teleport myself around the world. I undoubtedly could find 29,000 variations where tomato sauce / pasta sauce was just “nasty”. Didn’t deserved to be just bottled, but sunk to the bottom of the ocean like toxic waste. During that same trip I could probably find a hefty 30 awesome tomato sauces in use today, that deserved attention.

————-

Rather than rambling, here is the point:



IT IS RARELY the raw ingredient’s fault something comes out bad.

 99% of the time, the chef just ruined the food!

 

When you are served something in a restaurant, and it tastes putrid — don’t blame the ingredients – always blame the chef. People sometimes want (or need) to believe that “well the Pizza” in this region of the world just isn’t great because it is “that region” of the world.

Nonsense! With globalization the way it is today, you can get Bananas in Iceland as easy as you can in Australia. Albeit, at a different cost, but the movement of raw ingredients globally is attainable.

So the next time you get a nasty meal on a plate in front of you — realize, it isn’t the ingredients fault – it is the people who prepared it. That’s what food – restaurants – and abuse is all about. It’s about abusing fresh raw ingredients (which goes on everyday).

As the public we need to realize “that’s not a bad restaurant” — instead — “that’s an establishment that abuses raw ingredients and turns out crap on a plate”

It’s all about abusing raw ingredients that took the time to be born, grow, and be harvested, whether it be fruit, vegetables, or meat.

In human terms, we have “child protective services”

In animal terms, we have “animal rights activists”

Who is out there for fresh raw food ingredients who get abused and turned into slush in the frying pan and served on a plate? No one! :)

It sounds like I’m overworking this issue – and I also am self aware that I am – but the point is there.

Next time you are served a bad dish in a restaurant — who do you blame? the restaurant? NO. The ingredients? NO. The person that abused the raw ingredients was given to them? A BIG YES.

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Categories: Rants and Complaints | Tags: , ,

Cost of earning a dollar is expensive.

Posted on November 4, 2009 by
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Here’s a realization:

Sometimes in business we just do things without realizing the impact involved. Let me give you an example. In my business if I invoice someone $100 and they want to pay me via credit card, guess how many fingers there are in the pie:

1. If they keep that balance running on their credit card, they pay anywhere from 12% to 20% each month

2. As the merchant, I pay 1.75% of the fee to the credit card processor

3. In order to process that charge, I have to have and pay for a phone line to do the charge

4. In order to process on something, I either have to buy my own merchant terminal, or rent one each month

5. I deposit the funds into my bank, but at the end of every month, I pay bank fees in order to have an account.

6. By completing this sale, I must pay a book keeper to record the transaction

7. At the end of the year, I have to pay my accountant to file my taxes

8. Finally, the government gets to look at my books, say “oh, you made $100″, let me tax you on it.

I am the one providing the service, I earned that $100, but I must share it with credit card processors, the telephone company, the merchant terminal provider, my bank, a book keeper, an accountant, and the government.

 

By the time all of that’s done, I get to keep what’s left. Maybe by the time it’s all over, I get 50%.

Then what do I do with my half? I go out and buy something, But then I pay sales tax as well.

As business people, and as customers, there are way too many people involved in grabbing “their share” from us. Not only that, but the rate of inflation and cost of living goes up and down, so the dollar I earned is subject to whatever people think it’s worth that particular day.

Too many fingers in the pie I am trying to create for myself.

Anyone feel the same way?

 

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Categories: Rants and Complaints | Tags: , , ,

Cell phone fees are too expensive, here’s why…

Posted on July 7, 2009 by
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I watched a Verizon TV commercial today. They were saying something about 80 million Verizon customers.

(1) The guy hits a pinata and thousands of candies tumble to the ground illustrating how many Verizon customers there really are..

(2) Another variation of the commercial is when he is in an ice cream shop and dumps a whole jar of sprinkles on the counter

STOP – LET’S REALLY UNDERSTAND WHAT 80 MILLION CELLULAR PHONE CUSTOMERS- Really means..

Consider what your cell phone bill costs.

The average cell phone plan is around $20 a month in my guestimate. That’s without bells & whistles and extended airtime. 80,000,000 cellular customers paying their $20 a month cell phone bill is $1,600,000,000.00 a month in cellular phone revenue.

That’s 1.6 billion dollars in service fees a month! By Verizon alone!  How many other cellular networks are in business?

Here’s my question:

What ever happened to supply and demand?  If there is that many of us using these networks, shouldn’t the cost go down once the demand is so high like this? Why isn’t there more competitors undercutting each other?

Why I can I buy a 99 cent cheeseburger, but I can’t get a $5.00 monthly cell phone plan?

The cellular towers are already erected. The connection to the regular telephone networks is already in place. Does it really cost 1.6 billion dollars each month to keep the system running?

Of course not.

I am reading this 2008 financial report correctly, they took in $97 billion dollars of consolidated revenues in one year.

I mean, that’s fine — a company should make a profit.

But at some point, when is profit becoming a little excessive?

While the economy is hurting, how many of these large organizations are still well off? I know many of us are running around trying to keep our bills paid and watch our spending.

Why can’t some of these larger corporations lower their prices temporarily until the economy picks back up again?

I guess I am expecting too much.

But $1,600,000,000.00 in sales each month!

WOW!  If only I could run a business that sold $1.6 billion a month in services.

For now, I’m going to try and pay my cell phone bill.

 

————-

Disclaimer: I don’t want to attract Goliath here. These numbers are estimates and forecasts, done by an uneducated consumer that doesn’t know better. Please enjoy this blog entry as a form of entertainment. Do not take my statements as being actual fact of anything. Feel free to research and investigate what you want on your own. Or better yet, leave a comment.

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Categories: Rants and Complaints | Tags: , ,
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