Crazy Dream

My head was compositing things I saw and talked about into this crazy dream that woke me up feeling startled and abit bewildered.

Over the weekend, I was watching some TV show that profiled a man who was a scamming women out of thousands of dollars. He initially made contact with women through the online dating website called millionairematch.com. He had posted a photo from about 20 years ago to create interest in his looks, but ultimately what you got to meet in person was someone old, overweight, disheveled, jobless and homeless. He preyed on women to feed his gambling habit. The show had mentioned that he at one point while in Pennsylvania left a duffle bag with some of his belongings in a park that he was sleeping in.

Similarly, yesterday was also a day in which I had talked about my purse. You see, my purse was stolen from my home when it was burglarized a few years ago and all of my keys were inside my purse at the time. I was talking about my purse to my co-manager because yesterday I noticed that the strap on the purse I'm currently using was beginning to fray and I had mentioned that the purse I had before this one (the one that was stolen) was one I had bought from Stein Mart and was made of Spanish leather. It matched the leather coat I wore at the time and had white stitching and braided strap and chain links on it, too. I liked it a alot and I think it was the first purse that I ever bought that was over $100. Figures it would get stolen?? So anyway... on top of that, when I was online chatting with my new guy friend, I saw that an old 'boyfriend' (I say that in quotes because what do you call a man in your life for five years who is married to someone else? Asshole, bad news, cad, jerk, pig, fraud or the good old fashioned word adulterer? Pick one.) popped online for the first time since last August and I was agitated to say the least because I did not want to chat with him at all knowing what hell he can put women's lives through. I was so upset that I had mentioned this to a girlfriend who I was chatting with on line at the time and she simply said "ignore him". Her perspective got me to lighten up some, but not much.

My dream was in color and it was of me in a park, where kids were playing on a jungle gym in the sand but I didn't recognize them. I fell asleep in the park under a tree but still kind of in the sun, too, I don't know for how long. Later, the kids that were with me woke me up to go home. I couldn't find my purse. I looked for my purse in a panic underneath a jacket or a blanket, then I stood up and looked for my car (again one I didn't recognize... some small gray four door) and I couldn't see it where I parked it. One of the kids said Ochoa put my purse in a locker. I didn't know who this Ochoa person was nor where the locker was located. And in that panic, I started to walk toward a school? made of red brick with the kids. Most likely, I woke up in a jolt startled and feeling panicky about the dream.

I tried to make sense of the dream, like I am now writing it down, but in my head while I tried to get some more rest. I had woken up at 3:30 AM and that is too early for me to do so. My alarm goes off at 4:45 AM each morning for work.

Stalkers

Now that I know for a fact that there are men who are stalking me by reading my blog, I've made the damn thing 'invite only'. Oh, they say they are checking up on me, but it just feels creepy - even from a distance.

Silly Internet Users

I reserve the right to moderate any comments that anyone may make to my blog. Just because you write a comment to something I post on my blog doesn't mean it's going to be published. I am the ultimate editor of my blog. It's my blog and I'll do what I like. It's also one of the reason I choose blogger.com over any other.

Southern California and the Presidential Town Halls

President Obama will arrive at the Long Beach Airport (LBG) at 3:00 PM on 3/18/09, and then, I imagine, he will board the Presidential helicopter, Marine One to get to Costa Mesa in order to speak at his 'Town Hall Meeting' at the Costa Mesa Fairgrounds (most likely the Pacific Amphitheater) at 4:00 PM, because he probably cannot make it in time to the location with all the rush hour traffic in an hour on the 405 freeway. I'm also guessing that he will be staying at the fabulous Irvine Hyatt Regency located at Jamboree and Main tonight. Why? I know former presidential candidates have stayed there 1) because there are helipads on the parking structures nearby, and 2) that hotel has only one driveway in and three going out. And it's like a fortress inside.

Thankfully, he will be in Los Angeles County on Thursday, 3/19/09, on the same day I took off from work for a doctor's appointment. In Pomona, he will tour the Edison's electric vehicle plant (that makes nothing for the public's consumption). In 2007 according to Edison's Web site, they reportedly tested "advanced battery technologies that could further enhance the emergence of future energy storage applications in the utility industry.". Southern Californians have yet to see anything advanced come from Edison other than the advanced notice required by the PUC before raising the rates on every one's utility bills. See: California regulators approve Edison rate hike I know for a fact he will be in downtown LA at 1:00 PM at the Miguel Contrera Learning Complex which is situated at 322 Lucas Avenue, and then will tape an appearance on the Jay Leno show which is surely going to mess up my co-worker's drive home if the President chooses to commute on the same roads I usually drive home. They tape at 5:00 PM. Again, hopefully, he will be sporting the helicopter to avoid the hellish road conditions around that time. I will me at home watching my local digital station to make double sure I'm as far away from that mess as I can possibly be.

We need those jobs here!

I read this article today:
US firm to close branch due to lack of employees

... and then I thought about all those mortgage companies that closed in Orange county over the past few years (such as the one I used to work at), and all those people who are still struggling to find a decent job because the unemployment rate in California is over 10%, and then I put two and two together and said to myself, "Why can't they move that branch office from North Dakota to my town?" We have ample people who need jobs and enough office space to house a branch off of Redhill Avenue. What can we do to bring this company to California?

And the answer is, "Not a damn thing." The governor has raised taxes again for businesses and employees alike making it unattractive to bring new companies into California from other states. If anything, call centers like the one described in the article that is closing in North Dakota would be located in remote areas like Lancaster where companies can keep the costs and wages low being located in generally depressed areas.

I like the fact the President Obama is throwing money at the problem of unemployment, but I wonder really how it's going to get to the tens of thousands of clerical office workers who need it. People who build roads won't hire me or my friends to do a man's job. People who build houses such as framers, drywall, tile, paint and plumbers, rarely want to take on concrete or asphalt work. And then there is the "We have a job for you *if* you have the experience". The golden question surrounding that is, "How do you get experience in a field you've never worked in before in order to get a good paying job?"

Sometimes, I think the free market economy we live in is highly over-rated.

President Obama and I

President Obama and I are similar people and that I think is why the country is having a hard time dealing with some of his actions and his decisions. I think that based upon the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator, both of us are INTJ. It's just my observation, but I'd be kind of surprised if he wasn't.

He has creative ideas to solve problems. Sometimes, people don't like this. People get used to the status quo of fixing things and when you throw a different idea out in the mix, it sometimes doesn't go over very well. It seems everything is subject to criticism but more so when the decision comes from someone who is a leader and an INTJ.

I read something in the news today that didn't make sense to me. President Obama cancelled a meeting with a English politician due to snow, but he said 60 people from a street repair company located in Pennsylvania will be working in Maryland to repair a highway. I wonder what the street repair companies in Maryland are thinking. I wonder if there was any competitive bids process. And I wonder when the job will actually start because yesterday, there was a nor'easter that came through the area. I don't think anyone is working on roads when they are frozen, Mr. President, sir. Maybe that announcement was a little premature. And then I read he's talking to Russia about missile defense. Oops. I know the old saying, "Keep your friends close and your enemies closer", but where is Hillary? And who's scheduling this stuff?

The Next Job

What am I going to do about my employment situation? It's been almost a year since I took this contract and all bets are off that it's going to turn into a permanent position because of Bearingpoint's bankruptcy filing. At first, my manager said I'd go permanent and stay on the contract. Then the story changed to one of I'd go permanent and then go onto work on a different contract, but that never came into being. And now I'm getting a story that sounds something like when I can think up of more ways to extract money from this one company, then you will get on that contract. Don't get my wrong, I am grateful to be able to bring home a paycheck with still so many of my friends not working or underemployed, so if you think I'm badmouthing this position, you're wrong. I actually like the job, I just wish it was closer than 70+ miles away from my home. And I also have heard the statement, "Why don't you just move there?" Well, for one, I own a condo that has a mortgage payment that is cheaper than rent, so why move? Secondly, Simi Valley does not feel like home to me. It feels very similar to Fontana and I left there in 1992. I don't want to move to a place that brings back memories of the place I left years ago.

I'm looking for other opportunities, but I'm not finding anything that is a good fit for me. I'd like to find another MERS job, but those are hard to come by in California. I keep seeing those positions come up in Texas and other states I won't even consider living in due to their harsh weather. I'm tiny and I get cold so anyplace with snow is a 'no go'. I'm just going to have to keep looking until I find something or the opportunity to go back to school to become a bookkeeper/accountant presents itself again...

The Urban Dictionary on Bad Relationships

See: Tool, Guido, Narcissist on www.urbandictionary.com

I have suffered from just too, too many of these men as a result of being on Match.com and Yahoo Personals who sought me out. I understand you have a 50/50 chance at most anything in life you try, but you have to keep trying when you fail. Everyone deserves a little happiness, every single day.

Lunch @ Oggi's in Orange

I took my son out to lunch @ Oggi's in Orange on Saturday afternoon while we were out running errands. He had a custom calzone and a Coke and since I had already ate, ordered a plate of onion rings and a lemonade. This gladiator was staring me down, so I thought I'd take a picture with my cell phone. Note he's missing his sword. I'm guessing drunk patrons and long sharp objects don't mix well.

The Digital Divide

When I was in my senior year of high school, I took a general aptitude test for military service not knowing exactly what I wanted to do with my life at that point. The results were that I tested in the 99th percentile. The Army wanted me to go into computers and I basically laughed in the recruiters face. I wanted to fly and if they weren't going to offer that to me, I would not enlist. This was 1984. Fontana High School barely had a computer class located somewhere on campus in a temporary trailer and I didn't know what the internet was back then even though it was already 15 years old.

I did not even touch a computer of any kind until 1988 when I went to work for Wells Fargo. In 1995, in my third career by then, I bought my own personal computer.

Now, as I prepare to attend my 25th high school reunion, I'd like to reach out to my classmates and make sure they are aware of the event. So when I try to look for familiar names and faces of my past, I'm coming to this place called 'the digital divide'. Many graduates of 1983 somehow avoided the internet and computers either by economics, choice or career. A lot more from 1984 and beyond are on the internet. It feels odd to me to come across a person who says, "I'm not on the internet" in 2009. I expect this from someone my mothers age who is in her mid 70's, not mine.