So Cool

My new car is so cool, it calculates the miles per gallon for me. Lately, I've been getting 22mpg - from a mid-sized SUV! I don't think my 2005 Equinox was getting mileage as good as that.

Reagan? Why??

I'm at work monitoring the electrical contractor and asked a question about the location of an exit sign he's installing. I recognize the fact that the space surely needs an exit sign, but I'm unfamiliar with the idea of placing it on the outside of a steel filing system.

He gives examples of other work in the building. Then, out of the blue, he tells me about how he does done a lot of work at the Ronald Reagan Library in Simi Valley and how they have lots of orange trees planted on the property. Nancy Reagan, every time she would go on trips flying in Air Force One, she would take an orange and roll it down the isle of the plane.

What this has to do with exit signs in my file room is beyond me. Why do people feel the need to talk to me like this?

This is sad

This is sad, but it's not about me. I watched a documentary entitled "Autism Every Day" over the weekend on the Sundance Channel or IFC. Anyway, what it did was briefly showed a snapshot of these children born with autism, their family, level of disability and how the parents coped with the daily struggles. It also asked some pretty hard questions like, where did this come from and why if 1 out of 166 kids are affected by autism, it's not considered a national epidemic.

This is sad to think, but the women's liberation movement and in some way the invention of birth control pill brought on this wave, this higher than "normal" statistics for autism. The need for women to be treated equal in the work place, to strive in their own goals for themselves outside of the home and then after college and then after working for some time they want to have children after age 24, which is the peak time to have a child for a woman, is what brought this wave mental illness.

How does this tie into me? Once again, I put up an ad again on Match.com with the hopes of finding a soul mate, but more over any suitable mate because being single bored and lonely is getting old. I'm 42 and I had my son at 21. I do no want to start another family, mainly for my own health concerns, but moreover because I do not want to bare a child with mental developmental difficulties or be almost 60 when they graduate from high school. My golden years financing a college student is not in my future plans. And yet, I see all these men who now in their 40's want to start the family they put off having while they pursued their goals and dreams.

Never in the land of the free and the home of the brave have an age limit to having children, licenses for the birth of a child and genetic testing seemed so meaningful to me. Otherwise, eventually as this tragity progresses as it will, autistic children will become lifetime wards of the state.

What Chemistry.com said about me

"You are a BUILDER/director

You are an executive. You are consistent, reliable, thorough and persevering. You can also be socially charming. So you are good at managing others at home, in your social circles and at work.

You are efficient too. You have high standards and take your duties seriously, focusing carefully on your assignments with sensible and concrete thinking.

You are somewhat traditional. You like people and are generally comfortable with them. You work hard to build and support your family and social networks. You are very protective of those you love.

You respect schedules, rules and routines. Appropriate behavior is generally important to you. Yet you have a streak of the independent thinker in you. As a result, you have a good balance between conventionality and originality.

You are also a good leader. You acquire the perks and status of rank more easily than most. And you handle your possessions gracefully. You also enjoy time alone, pursuing your personal interests."

Oh yeah, and all this was BEFORE I took the contractor position with BearingPoint. Ha ha ha. But to me, it sounds more like a personality profile to base a career upon, not like terms you'd look for in a relationship. What the hell??

Mobsters!

MySpace finally got with the program and developed apps to add to their online experience.

So the other day, my online friend Bill the Drummer from The Night Creatures invites me to join his mob on the Mobsters app. Sure, O.K., Bill's a cool guy, so sure, no sweat, I'll join in.

It's some type of RPG with a Mob theme. Today is the first time I've played it. Bill sent me a link to read - thank you, but on my own, I think I'm doing O.K. so far. I've used all my energy, but if you hangout on the app, you earn energy back. I've got a crowbar and a .38 special and $4329 in cash after 6 missions, as well as 12 experience points.

www.thebadseed.net

Don't feed the monkey in the cage

For breakfast, I ate banana today in my yogurt cup and now I wish I didn't. I'm walking around the office with a case of gasssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssss.

Stop the free ride NOW and shut the door.

DID YOU KNOW??
Nearly two-thirds of all immigrants in 2003 settled in six states: California, New York, Florida, Texas, New Jersey, and Illinois. Immigrants tend to be more geographically concentrated than the rest of the population. In addition, they tend to settle in metropolitan areas. The top destination cities for immigrants in 2003 were the nation’s largest cities, like New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, Washington, D.C., Miami, and Houston.

1. Did you know non-citizens of the USA are eligible for Pell Grants?
Your tax dollars hard at work to educate someone who very possibly may take that education you paid for with them and return to their country.

Result: brain drain and less funding available for US citizens.

The Fix: USA citizens are only eligible for government grants and loans.

2. Everyone who comes to an emergency room gets treatment whether they can pay or not - no exceptions.

Result: Equates to free medical and the current healthcare crisis.

The Fix: Everyone pays for health care on a sliding scale based on your income tax returns. Those who don't pay income tax, have the US government pay and the US government gets reimbursed from the home country of the non-US citizen.

3. Non-citizens go to public schools for free.

Result: poor test scores
teachers that can't teach unless they know the language
less funds for schools, teacher lay-offs
over crowded schools

The Fix: Instead, they should pay for the privelege to go to school here since illegals don't pay income tax. They should go to private schools to learn english and stop dragging down the test scores of the kids that already know the language. They should be forced to become citizens as well as their parents 5 years, or be deported to their home country.

4. Current Problem: If a US citizen and a non-US citizen bore a child within the United States, that child becomes a US citizen automatically and is considered an 'anchor child' which ties a non-US citizen to the child and makes them elligible to stay in the country.

Result: People who may not be elligible for citizenship on thier own due to disease or criminal history get a free ride on the road to citizenship.

The Fix: Only, two US citizens as parents only bore US citizens. One US citizen and one non-citizen bore a 'qualified for citizenship' child, but both the non-citizen parent and the 'qualified for citizenship' child must immigrate within 2 years, or be deported to their home country.

5. Current Problem: adopting a child in a foreign country results in instant citizenship for that child upon entering the USA with the US citizen parent.

Same problem as 4 except this is an 'anchor parent' situation.

The Fix: the non-citizen adopted child must immigrate within 2 years, or be deported to their home country.

SECURE OUR BORDERS AND STOP THE FREE RIDE NOW!

That's Hot

A 700 HP electric car? Is this for real?

See article: Lightening GT

Oh, drool. Just gorgeous. *This* model would definitely make you want to drive an electric car.

When life gives you lemons...

So previously on July 23rd, I had written about being in an auto accident on my way home from work. This event actually totalled my blue 2005 Chevy Equinox LT, so said my insurance company. O.K., I can live with that. I'm not so emotionally invested nor attached to my vehicles like some people that I cannot get over the loss quickly. I mean, it's just a car! So on Saturday morning, I went out to breakfast with my son and then headed over to the body shop and gave the blue beast a final once over to make sure all personal belongings were removed and retrieve my GPS mount from the dashboard. I brought my dad's old pocketknife to pry it off. After, it felt kinda weird because I did not have to sign anything to release it. All it took was my verbal O.K. acknowledging that the insurance company was going to pick it up.

The bigger issue here is now I have no transportation other than the rental and I really, really dislike the rental. It's a Chevy Cobalt, it sucks gas worse than the Equinox I'm used to and since it could be considered a small or even possibly a compact sedan, it feels like I'm sitting in a hole in order to drive it. Yuck. It makes me nervous driving the Cobalt on the freeway with all the big trucks I eventually get stuck driving around after having been rear ended by a large Ford work van. So what to do about a new ride?

Well, since I was still paying payments to GMAC, I carried comprehensive and collision insurance, which is good for me in this situation. I still owed about 7k and with the settlement, that gives me around 8k to put down on a new vehicle. I'm glad this portion of the process is over because it was worrying me that I really didn't know what money I was going to get as a settlement. I was able to talk to the total loss agent on Friday, and we went over the numbers then. I was happy with the settlement amount and was told the papers for me to sign are in the mail. Now lets get to the car shopping!

GMBuyPower.com has never failed to provide me all the details I needed to have choices and make an informed decision about buying a new car. I was able to locate a used 2007 LS model that appealed to me in Huntington Beach. I emailed the dealer and they called me back to discuss some of the features for the car I was interested in. I was able to ascertain from the Carfax report online it was a previous rental and the mileage. But you never really know the features nor the condition until you checkout the vehicle yourself. I went to the dealer on Saturday after I cleaned out the blue beast.

So to make a long story short, my hunches were correct. The vehicle was immaculate, and everything else was in order. They had lowered the price recently, and I thought it was fair for an almost 2 year old model, so about an hour later, I was the proud owner of the actual car below. Nice, ehy?

Yes, it's not the blue, I know, but it's 2 years newer and about 20k less in mileage, and drives just as nice as my old one, so was very happy to locate this as quickly as I did.

Upgrades to my previous ride include: leather interior, heated front seats, OnStar, integrated XM Radio, speed compensated speed volume, mp3 cd player, audio on the steering wheel, cruise control on the steering wheel, remote start, wood grain console, an improved driver information center, electronically monitored tire pressure, 17 inch chrome wheels, flip down arm rest with cup holders in the back seat and an aux plug for my IPOD! woohoo!

Photos from my Cell Phone

Self potrait at 5AM on July 1st. Happy smile on my face before even the birds woke up on that day. Sicko. My hair is even longer now, even though I got it cut after this photo was taken.(see 'Venice' blog entry.)

Desk fodder at 7AM on August 1st. Apple fritter from Donut Time, drinking green tea in my Nessie mug direct from Scotland, scratchers for $6, but I won SQUAT! Grrr.

Not in photo: me stressing out over calling the total loss department at Mercury Insurance after they left a voicemail on my home phone yesterday.