Damn Spammers.

Since I've had a rash of comments in Asian....looks like Japanese........on one particular blog entry that are basically spam to some kind of pseudo Porn link I will be turning on Word Verification for all comments. I hate doing that but oh well. Funny little tidbit I noticed this morning:

On the back of a bottle of Target Brand Men's Daily Multi-Vitamins.....now mind you, in large white letters it says "Men's Daily Multi-Vitamins" so no mistaking as to what sex of human those vitamins are designed for.......it says "Warning: If you are pregnant or nursing, please see a doctor before taking these vitamins". Why? Why is that on there? Are there many pregnant and nursing males? Or is that for the illiterate women who can't read the label to know what vitamins they bought....oh wait, if they are illiterate than they wouldn't even know what the hell they bought let alone be able to read the warning label......

It's time to cut through the Bullshit!

http://my.barackobama.com/page/content/settingtherecord

Click the link, then tell me if you still think the President is going to have a "Death Panel" to decided the fate of Seniors or if he's going to force you out of your current health insurance plan (which probably sucks anyway). To all you Birthers and ignorant fucktards out there who keep up the rumors and lies......to Hell with you. Choke on it.

Oh and for a bit of humor about this serious situation:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xNuCfD5bICQ

Is it Just Me? Part 6

In this installment I'd like to discuss Labor Unions.  I will wait for certain people's hackles to rise on that one.  As far as I'm concerned, there are only two Unions that are worthwhile still: Teacher's Unions and Police Unions.  Why those two?  Because those are the two professions that are still grossly underpaid for the shit they have to deal with on a daily basis.  You want Teachers to teach your children?  Then how about paying them a decent wage so they can actually work on teaching those children.  Or how about doing away with tenure so that those sucky teachers who don't even bother anymore can be replaced by teachers that actually teach.  Trust me, I had my share of Teachers who "phoned it in" basically.  You expect Cops to protect your ass yet you still only want to pay them 50+ K a year to do so.  These folks Unions really try to get their people a good deal without strikes and without costing the State (whichever State that may be) a ton of cash.  The other Unions on the other hand......we can honestly do without.   What prompted this was the Jackasses at BART threatening to go on strike again.  I remember the first BART strike.  I was commuting from Walnut Creek to SSF then and when the trains weren't running, there ended up being so much more traffic trying to cross the Bay Bridge in the Morning that it was more of a nightmare than usual.  God that sucked!!!!   The folks on strike?  The Station Agents.   First off, for those that don't know what BART is, it's the Bay Area Rapid Transit system...basically the San Francisco Bay Area's version of a Subway.   Like the Metro for those that live in the DC area.  The Station Agents are the lazy asses that sit behind a glass cube and basically say the same things:  "The Bathrooms are over there".  "No I don't have change, you will have to go find some change somewhere." "The next train is on the schedule over there on the wall."  "Look at the map and it will tell you the best route to take."  And various other non-helpful statements like that.   Back in 1998 they made about 50K a year to do this.  Of course they made that money because they were part of the Union and part of their salary went towards Dues.  Still, they got great benefits and a decent salary for a job a trained monkey could do.  You sit on a damn stool for Christsake!  Behind a glass cube and talk to people via a Microphone.  Recently these same pricks were threatening to go on strike.  But in the age of the Blog and Comment sections on electronic versions of news articles, the public's downright Outrage at the thought of those with "a stable job, with decent pay and great benefits" threatening to walk off their jobs because they want MORE....in this economy affected the quick outcome of not striking.  I remember back in 98 when the strike first happened.   When the Agents came back from their strike they were greeted with derision and hatred.  There were reports of passengers walking up to the Agents and saying "I wish you would die."  Basically these greedy assholes are threatening the livelihoods of a large number of people in the Bay Area who depend on their trains to get them to work in a timely fashion.   Without the trains running, folks would be late for work, or not make it there (some folks don't have a car) and could possibly be fired.  Unions are also the biggest contributor to the fall of the Big 3 US Automakers.....the other contributor was making piece of shit cars no one wanted, but I digress.   An UAW worker makes about 70-100 dollars an hour....but the moron only takes home about 30-40 dollars an hours salary.  The rest goes to the Union for Dues.  Maybe that's why they were cranking out shitty cars.  They were spending so much money on payroll, there was no money left for research of any kind.  Back home, especially in SF, there's a union for everything.   San Francisco could be a huge cargo port if it wanted to be, but the Longshoreman's Union put a stop to that.   They insisted that every cargo ship coming into port needed to be offloaded by hand.  Oakland said screw that and built huge cranes.....lots of them....to the point that Oakland is a hugely busy cargo port.   The one that gets me is there's a union for Hotel workers.  Really?  Is that really necessary?  You clean hotel rooms....not saying it's a horrible job but it's not worth 25 bucks an hour!!!!  It's not worth having a Union over.   Grocery workers back home have a Union.  Cashiers....yes the folks that scan your groceries over a red laser....make about 30+ K a year.  To pass your groceries over a scanner!!!!  For skilled labor, i.e. Carpenters, Electricians, Plumbers, etc I can see a Union, if only for the training that said Unions insist on.  Constant training.  What I think is wrong is the rates these guys get paid.  It's absolutely ridiculous.   Unions really don't have a place in our society today.  There are so many regulatory commissions out thee right now that keep the American Worker safe and sound.   Make them go away and I bet things might get better.....

Is It Just Me? Part 4 A and Part 5

I forgot a couple of examples in the "how not to run a business" installment.  In the City I live in there are some ancient little strip malls still standing.  These were built with poor planning and have bad access to them.   One is built in a gully basically, you can't see anything from the road at all and getting in and out of one of the driveways is like rolling the dice that there is going to be a head on collision or not.  Bad planning.  A new pizza place opened up called Sir Pizza....well that was the original name anyway.  Apparently there is a Sir Pizza that has been opened already for years in another nearby City as is quite crowded most of the time.  We thought that this was either another location or they were closing that one and moving to our City.  Well as a name change within the first week of this place being opened proved, they had nothing to do with the other place.  The name changed to Sir Pizzaria.....like that is any different....  It was never crowded, from what I heard the food sucked, then tried to reopen under new management and it is now closed.   This was a record....six months I believe.   Here's the problem: Don't try and steal a name or pretend you are someone else.....the original place will find out and you will be ratted out as the schmucks you are.  If you are going to open a restaurant like that, be freaking original!!!!  Don't steal a name or style, just do your own thing.  Jeez, use the freaking creative mind you were given.  I can tell you of two successful Pizza restaurants back home that do their own thing: North Beach Pizza (with about 4 locations) and Mountain Mike's Pizza (with a few of their own).   These guys do delivery and sit down service, and they do it well.  The food's good too.  Mountain Mike's is a "go to the counter and order" type of place...it's very well stated when you walk through the door.  No guessing, no being seated then being told to go order at the counter.  You order at the counter then go sit where you want.  If they aren't busy they will sometimes bring your food out to you or call you to come get it.   North Beach Pizza is a wait to be seated, order taken at the table, food brought to you kind of place.  Both have great pizza and great service.   So why can't someone around here do the same?  It's not that hard.  The problem is that the wrong people tend to open businesses around here.  I should say independent, non-chain businesses.  All the chains are great, except O'Charley's but that's corporation wide issue because every single one I've been to so far sucks, but the majority of the independents opening up fail miserably.   They go the cheap route.  Buy the cheapest supplies possible and crank out a crappy product....then they wonder why they fail.  Another one is Big Bad Wolf eatery...apparently they do BBQ or whatever.  The Real Estate Office the Wife worked at had them cater lunch one day.  Wifey said the food sucked.   That would explain the lack of people in their restaurant every night.  Seriously, I have not seen a single person sitting in there eating, yet they are still open.  Why?  These folks probably have found the cheapest cut of meat they can find to cook, thus the crappy food.   When will folks learn?  You can't cut corners, especially if you are selling food for folks to consume.   If I had the cash I'd open an Deli.  Other than a Subway and a Quizno's there are no other Deli's around.   Oh sure, Kroger's has one, but good luck trying to have them make you a sandwich.   I tried to get one once and got the lamest excuse ever.  It was like the little bitty behind the counter didn't want to.  They have several condiment bins on a prep area but yet there's nothing in them.   The lady literally told me it would take 15-20 minutes to make a sandwich and then stalked over to the produce section to find tomatoes, etc to put on the sandwich.  I looked at her and the whole process with my chin on the floor.   It was surreal.  Like some kind of Twilight Zone episode.  I was thinking to myself, it's just a damn sandwich for christsake!!!!  I walked away.  We told the manager and he was pissed he said "we will get you a sandwich made sir".  I told him that it was okay, that I really didn't want it anymore and I was afraid the lady would be pissed enough to spit in it or something.   Even though the bitty was told, their policy still hasn't changed.  The only Deli sandwiches you can get at the Kroger Deli are the one's made up already and packaged.   Jeez I remember going to the Safeway Deli and getting a fresh, hand made sandwich in about 5 minutes with no hemming or hawing or looks like I was asking the person to cure cancer or fly to the moon or something!  I'd make a mint with a Deli especially if I played up the "Italian Deli" part.  Have the big ol' jars of vinegar with the layers of herbs and veggies in them, or the big collectors bottles of chianti (although with our stupid alcohol laws I probably couldn't sell that). 

 

Now on to part 5.  Health Care Reform.

Is it just me, or does it seem like the most vocal opponents of Health Care Reform are all conservatives who hate change and are opposed to the idea because President Obama wants this to succeed?   Seriously, I don't understand the anger from the most average of citizens to the whole idea of Government Health Care?  These old geezers scream Socialism but benefit from the biggest piece of socialistic process called Medicare.  Yeah we the People pay for your health care old fart....yet you don't want me to have any.  No it's okay for you to suck off the Government Teat but if I want to I can't.  I also don't understand why the average citizen is vocally defending greedy corporations?  Seriously folks, even those with health insurance are finding it harder and harder to get that insurance company to pay for anything!!!  Yet they will keep upping your premiums....basically taking more of your money but giving you less for it.  Yeah those folks are so worth defending.   I don't get it.   I see too many drinkers of the sour grape wine on the right.   They don't want to cooperate, or even offer another solution.  They come up with some kind of scare tactic...."Death Panels" comes to mind....completely false by the way.....and harp on it.  Apparently the uneducated, easily swayed voter on the right loves simple statements they can chant over and over again....remember "Drill Baby Drill" yeah that was such a great solution to the problem..... You don't want the government involved, yet you're okay with getting bent over and rapped by Insurance Companies while you grow fatter and fatter and dumber and dumber and die earlier than you should.   Yeah the "Free Market" is sooooo great.  I think not.  The problem I see is that the Free Market jettisoned all form of ethics and honor and emotions a long time ago in favor of PROFIT!!!  Profit at whatever means possible.  If that means killing people with an inferior product but not fixing the issue and covering it up because "its only 1 out of 100" then hey let's just keep making that shitty widget.  The Ford Pinto comes to mind.   It was determined, and this was put in writing which is a stupid idea to begin with, that it was cheaper in the long run to pay the wrongful death suits for people dying because the gas tank in the Pinto exploded than it was to fix the issue.   The issue was a bolt placed in a bad place that in the event of a rear end collision would cause the gas tank to scrap against it, causing sparks and rupturing the gas tank in the process which lead to an explosion.   So instead of moving the bolt or whatever they would just let people die and pay the grieving families.   But hey, let's keep defending the Corporations okay.  They have our best interest in mind right????  Right????  The more care the Insurance Companies deny you, they less they have to pay out to the Doctors and the more of your money they get to keep.  They make money off of you being sick.  Don't tell me there is competition either.....try shopping for individual/Family insurance online sometime.  I have.  There's no difference in price for similar policies at all.  They all cost around the same.   There's no competition.  Hell there's more competition to get a freaking shirt and a pair of pants than there is to go get your blood pressure taken.  It's no secret either, the costs of health care is one of the biggest causes of companies going bankrupt but yet these monkies show up screaming and yelling to Town Hall meetings energized by the Beck's and Hannity's of the world to cause havoc basically.  These people aren't disgruntled Americans exercising their First Amendment Rights, no these people are easily swayed, uniformed Assholes who think the President wasn't born in this Country and that he's going to "Take yer guns" and he's going to turn American into a Communist Country.     Oh and they're pissed because he's Black......actually these folks love to point out how "he's only half Black....so actually he's White too...."  It just pisses me off.  It really does.  These folks don't care about the truth or the facts, they just want to yell and scream and be bullies.  Plain and simple.  It's a mob mentality that is ruining our Country.   If you don't agree with the Bill before the Senate and House because you think it's going to cost too much money or disagree with some portion of it, that's fine.  Please call your Congressmen/Senator and tell them.  But discuss it in a civilized fashion.  Yelling bullshit and acting like an uncivilized Asshole isn't going to do any good.  It's just going to lose your side another election.  Honestly it is.  The Senators and Congress Folks are worse.   They bitch and moan about everything the Pres wants, but yet won't offer any alternate solutions of their own.  Seriously, these jokers just bitch because it's a knee jerk reaction (Jerk is the operative word here) to a Democratic President.  Enough of this shit.   Seriously folks, let's sit down and have a civilized discussion without the bullshit and frothing at the mouth.  If not then the Corporations are going to win and they are just going to keep screwing us over until we beg for it because we know nothing better.   Wake up America!  Stop thinking with your politics and start using your freaking head!

Is it Just me? Part 4

This installment will be about folks who open up businesses but have no business running a business.  Say that five times fast.  Anyhow, I've always been of the mindset that if you don't have any clue of what it takes to run a business, then you should go get yourself a clue before you open one up.  Learn about inventory, pricing, location, advertising, hours of operation, etc etc..... In the City I live in, we've had several examples of "what not to do" when running a business.   There is a chain called NYPD for New York Pizza Deli.  One opened up in the Providence Mall near my home.  They were advertised as being a deli style pizza restaurant where you could order by the slice or the pie.  Things were bad when they first opened as they were only open the first week to friends of the owner.  Excuse me?   Bad form.   When they were finally opened to the public, there was no ordering by the slice...or if you wanted by the slice it would take several minutes....say 15.....it was like they were saying "it's an annoyance for us to do that even though our Franchise says we have to".  We went in the sign said please wait to be seated.   There was a dozen folks working but no one sat us.  An employee on his way out the door told us to go sit wherever and someone will come to take our order.  Okay.  We did, and the waitress who's section it was just kept giving us funny looks.   Didn't come over and ask if she could help us or nothing, just kept giving us looks.   Finally she came over and said something to the effect of "Did someone tell you to sit in my area?"  Which I interpreted to mean "I don't want to have to work real hard tonight so why did someone seat you in my area?".    She took our drink order and food order (we had waited long enough that we actually decided on what we wanted at that point) and we never saw her again.  Oh, she came by to the other tables, but didn't once ask if we needed refills, how the food was, nothing.  Other wait staff delivered our food and drinks.  Hell I even had to get another waitress to get our check.  I went up to the counter to pay (it looked like that's where you paid) and the owner gave me a funny look like "why are you up here to pay?".    We chalked it up to new restaurant, shitty staff.   We went again a few weeks later.   We had to wait to be seated again, this time someone actually sat us right away.   The waitress then gave us our menus and said "When you are ready to order just go up to the counter and order."  Okay, last straw.  We left.   If I have to wait to be seated, and you have wait staff, then you are going to take my order and bring my food to me.  If I have to go stand in line and order it, then I get to sit where I want and don't expect a tip.  They have since changed their name to NYYP or New York New York Pizza.  I think they got their franchise pulled on them so just fudged the name to stay in business.  Honestly, it could be a crowded place, but it's not.  They suck that much.   Prime example of know what the hell you are doing before you open a business.  Now it may seem like I'm being petty, but honestly make up your damn mind.  What kind of restaurant are you?   It's like I won't go to a Korean BBQ restaurant.  I'm sure the food is good, but I'm not paying for food and service at a restaurant where I'm expected to cook my own damn food.  If you are not familiar with a Korean BBQ restaurant, they work like this.  There is a hibachi grill in the center of the table.  You order the food you want and it is brought out to you raw.  You are then supposed to use the grill to cook it the way you like it.  Of course their prices are still the same as if a chef cooked it for you and the waiters still expect a tip.  I know Papa Murphy's pizza is cheaper because you take it home and cook it.  That's fine by me.  If I have to do some work then you cut the price.   It's cheaper to wash your car yourself than go through a car wash. 

 

Another example is a coffee chain we have in our mall.  No it's not Starbucks it's called Billy Goat Coffee Company.  These folks issue is they are too damn expensive.  Hell Starbucks is cheaper.  We had two coffees and two slices of cheesecake...total 18 bucks!  You'd think a place like that who is trying to compete with Starbucks would be cheaper than...but no. 

 

Another example is a place that has seasonal stuff.  Here in Tennessee we have actual winter.  It's not like Michigan, but it gets damn cold still.   One of the first casualties of the new mall is the Keva Juice.  Think Jamba Juice for my California friends.   Healthy smoothies....heck smoothies in general are really only a summer treat.   Even then they weren't that busy.  I chalk it up to the fact that I live in the 3rd Fattest state in the union and smoothies are a "Yankee" invention.  Maybe if they called the Heavenly Smoothies and the cups came with a Jesus fish on them.....but I digress. 

 

Then you've got the NIMBY business folks who have been here for years.  For those that don't know the acronym it stands for Not In My Backyard.  These are the one's that were used to the City being a small, sleepy bedroom community with a smattering of businesses.  Heck the only prevalent businesses were Lawyers, Real Estate Agents, Insurance Brokers and Mortgage Brokers.  Then the mall came in.  It increased the population, okay the new housing that came with the mall helped with that, and increased the sales tax revenue.  But yet, we still have the NIMBY's who have copped a bad attitude and refuse to change to compete.  There's a little coffee/lunch counter place in our City.   I've never been there because their hours are the most inconvenient ever.  Our City is a commuter City.  Folks live here because they work in Nashville but don't want the hassle of living in a major City.  There aren't many office buildings in our City, nor is there the headquarters of any large corp, etc.  People drive away from Town to go to work, not into town.  Yet, this coffee shop is only open Monday - Friday from 8am to 5pm.  The owner has always had an attitude about everything.   I'm sorry, you bitch about no business, or that the "mall is taking" your business but yet you refuse to compete with the mall.  She's also in a crappy location.  A two lane road that is majorly busy and it makes it unsafe to get to her shop from one side of the road, and even worse to try and get out of the parking lot.  Bad location, bad attitude, bad hours=no business.

 

Another example are Hobby Lobby and Chik-Fil-A.   Both run by Christian corporations......neither open on Sunday.   Now one is a Hobby/Craft store and the other is a Chicken Fast Food place.  From what I know of Church around here, you are there the majority of the morning and get out about 11:30am.   Most folks work M-F and do chores/errands on the weekends.   Chik-Fil-A not being open....okay...they are open late and you can get the same food anytime of day.  Hobby Lobby though, sorry, but folks shop on the weekends, even after Church.  Hell people go out to eat after Church...trust me I know this from being at Cracker Barrel at the wrong time of morning on Sundays.......So why wouldn't you be open?  Especially a Known Christian Corporation....guess where the Church folks would flock to eat at......exactly.   Just not a smart idea. Banks too...they've always cracked me up when it came to their hours of business.  I can see being closed on Sunday, heck the Post Office is, but on Saturday?  At least most banks I've banked at had Saturday hours.  They weren't that long, but hey they were open at least.  But what always gets me is that their employees take lunch at the same hour as everyone else in the world.  Why is that dumb you ask?  Well if you have banking to do in person during the week, when do you do it?  You go at your lunch break.  So does everyone else in the world.  But yet, that's the time the banks have the least staff on hand.  Makes no freaking sense.

Town Hall Riots????

It seems that the latest GOP/Special Interest tactic to stop Congress from doing anything about Health Care Reform is to send out small groups of Jackasses to Congressional Town Hall meetings and have these folks start acting like assholes. It's been in the news lately, how these Town Hall Meetings have turned into the Jerry Springer show with a handful of these fraktards yelling and screaming and generally carrying on to try and intimidate the Congressman into not voting for the Reform bill. That's right folks, the Insurance Companies don't want health care reform because then they can't take your money each year and not give you anything for it anymore. No, they'd actually have to do something for you. Why are people so afraid of a National Health Care system? Why? The reason we need one is to introduce a bit of competition into the free market. Health Insurance Companies all offer the same thing for the same price basically. There's very little difference in premiums. Therefore, no competition. They're in it together. Free Market my ass. For almost a decade now, the Free Market has shelved any form of ethics in favor of making more profit at whatever cost. Look at the current banking and housing situation. Banks and Mortgage companies got so damn greedy that they were talking the average person into getting a loan that was the most riskiest piece of crap yet. But they would talk a great game, nearly "guaranteeing" the property would double in value then you could re-fi to a better mortgage. Now, a smart person, or a thinking person would say that was a crock. You cannot guarantee the value of anything doubling. The market fluctuates so much that all one could do is predict. Now the banks are stuck with worthless properties because of their greed. Health care is the same. The insurance companies have basically increased their rates in favor of giving you any actual benefit for that money. In most cases, for the cheapest monthly rate you can find (usually just shy of 300 bucks a month for a family) you have to incur a huge amount of out of pocket debt before the insurance even kicks in. So you pay 300 bucks a month for the benefit of paying your doctor out of your own pocket the same price you'd pay him if you didn't have insurance. Seriously? But hey, it's the "free market" after all....Government shouldn't be involved. Yeah that's like saying the Police shouldn't bust pedohiles or rapists. After all it's a "free market" right? By basically allowing these institutions to do what they are doing, we the people are allowing them to rape us; molest us. The Government doesn't want to seize control of every aspect of your life, they just want to do the will of the people. We the people want to be able to afford monthly health care premiums without having to not buy groceries that month. We want our insurance that we pay for to actually give us some benefit for the money. I want to be able to pay an affordable monthly rate and have a plan that lets me see my Doctor whenever I need to and only pay a small co-pay for that office visit. Say 30 bucks. Is that asking for alot? No it's not. But the insurance companies aren't going to change their ways. They make money off of our bad health. It's sad but true. What is wrong with paying a little more taxes in order to fund a Government sponsored program that will force the Insurance Companies to compete or die? Everyone will agree that we need to fix our system yet the majority of these people aren't willing to fork out a little extra cash to do so. Hypocrites I say.

Yay it's August....

Boo it's still freaking raining!!!!  Um, I can safely say we've basically had no summer whatsoever.   I feel like I'm living in Seattle here with the amount of rain we've had.   The Wife and I have been dying to get out the bikes and load them on the bike rack and head over to one of the many State Greenways we have near us to go riding. http://www.nashville.gov/greenways/maps.htm Here's the link in case you're curious.   I've been searching online for a pair of bike saddle bags that will attach to the rear rack that came with my bike.   We saw a rider with one and had to ask him about them.  Sure we've had some nice enough days to go riding, but the humidity makes any physical exercise unbearable.  It's just damn hard to breathe, and yes we are both in our mid-40's and out of shape.  We've been trying.  We bought a Wii Fit Balance Board and it's great.  Works your ass off I must say.  We also got Wii Sports Resort, the new collection of Wii Sports games.  You are at this Island resort with all these activities going on.  It's a great game and uses the Wii Motion addon...basically the third gyroscope the Wii remote desperately needed to offset the issues it was having.  What issues?  If you don't own a Wii, then you haven't experienced the Boxing game lag.  Basically in the game that comes with the console, there is a boxing game.  You physically can punch faster than the game reacts.  The original two gyroscopes in the remote can only react so fast, and it was discovered that most humans punch faster than it can react.  The addition of the 3rd gyro has fixed this.  August is also great because the child starts back to school.  Although I'm preparing for grey hairs because she will be 15 and that means a Learner's permit.  I finally own my Scion outright and the child will be driving it..........possibly...although I think I will let her practice on Mom's Focus first.   It's also my birthday month.  Yes I turned 44 this year, and no I don't get all freaky about age.  I look at it this way, there's always the alternative of not having birthdays :)  I'd rather be one year older than dead.  It also means I truly am old enough to say things like "you kids today xxxx" (fill in the blank) or "I remember when you ......." or my favorite "Get off of my lawn!!!"   Speaking of....I finally got a chance to mow the damn thing!  Here's the pattern around here.  You mow, it rains for a week.  It clears up, but you can't mow then because the ground is swampy but you really need to because your yard is now a jungle.   When the time comes around that the ground should be sort of dry it starts raining again and you still can't mow!!!!  You get these narrow windows of time when it's dry and perfect weather for mowing and you hear everyone's mowers going.  Here's hoping we can get out in September.....