Doh!

My degree is actually worth less, if possible, than it used to be.

First question wrong on Millionaire

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The Stuff

Something made me think of this movie today.  Maybe becuase it is Halloween.  I remember this movie being pretty scary when I was in about the 4th grade.  I haven't seen it recently so can not attest to how well it holds up over time.  The concept behind the movie is great.  A yogurt type substance that people are eating is taking over the world. 

 

Live cultures!

 

The Stuff

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Moving!

I will be moving my blog to my Vox site.  I will still post here, but my Vox site will have more content.  If you are interested you can join me at Vox.

My site is http://budd.vox.com.  You can get your own account at www.vox.com.  Come give it a look see. 

Noy-vus

So Nanowrimo is two days away.  Will I make it?  Will it drive me nuts?  Follow me through and cheer me on.  Below is the link to my page.

http://www.nanowrimo.org/userinfo.php?uid=136113

QotD: Ghost Story

Do you believe in ghosts?  Have you ever seen a ghost? 
Submitted by Nancy.

Of course.  I believe in the Holy Trinity.  This includes the father, the son, and the holy ghost.  Christian theology lets you know that demons and demonic possession are real things.  I live near Adams, TN., and the Bell Witch is a truly freaky story

Bellwitchplaque

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Noy-vus

Pgi0073

So Nanowrimo is two days away. Will I make it? Will it drive me nuts? Follow me through and cheer me on. Below is the link to my page.

My Page!

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You think you know cute

My oldest is in Tae Kwon Do (TKD), and in last nights class they did sparring.  Ashli has been in the class for a week and this was her first time to put on the gear and actually fight another student.  She was scared.  I am proud to say that she was able to conquer her fear and actually enjoyed the experience.  In her second match, she was very aggressive and dominated the match.  But this isn't what was cute. 

There are two three year olds in the class and they were matched up against each other twice.  If you have never seen three year olds sparring in TKD tournament gear, you have not seen cute.  They look like people in those giant sumo suits that you can get for parties.  These three year olds are completely serious and are trying to land their punches and kicks.  Whenever one of them would actually land a punch or a kick they would both fall down.  Three year olds yelling "Hiya!" with every punch and kick is also a funny sound.  All the parents were laughing and going into diabetic shock. 

You think you know cute

My oldest is in Tae Kwon Do (TKD), and in last nights class they did sparring. Ashli has been in the class for a week and this was her first time to put on the gear and actually fight another student. She was scared. I am proud to say that she was able to conquer her fear and actually enjoyed the experience. In her second match, she was very aggressive and dominated the match. But this isn't what was cute.

There are two three year olds in the class and they were matched up against each other twice. If you have never seen three year olds sparring in TKD tournament gear, you have not seen cute. They look like people in those giant sumo suits that you can get for parties. These three year olds are completely serious and are trying to land their punches and kicks. Whenever one of them would actually land a punch or a kick they would both fall down. Three year olds yelling "Hiya!" with every punch and kick is also a funny sound. All the parents were laughing and going into diabetic shock.

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Adopted again

So, I am at the grocery store, and my daughter wants a free cookie sample from the deli.  I wheel the cart over with my youngest daughter inside.   There are no cookies out and I am about to tell my daughters this when the lady behind the counter sees them.  She offers them both a cookie and then has tells me they are beautiful girls. 

She should have shut her dumb redneck mouth at that point.  She then tells me that there is another couple that come in sometimes with A-D-O-P-T-E-D kids.  She then asks if they are S-I-S-T-E-R-S.  All I can do is grin and nod as I want to reach over and rip the ladies eyes out of her head. 

Yes, my children look exotic.  They have a darker skin complexion and almond shaped eyes.  The both have my exact color of brown hair, the oldest one in curls.  Not just any curls but matching crazy curl tangles the mimic my own hair.  The oldest looks least Asian, but the youngest looks more like me.  I guess A-D-O-P-T-E-D kids kind of start looking like their new parents after a while. 

The part that pissed me off is that she didn't even ask; she just assumed.  Then to spell out words in front of my 5 year old, who is starting to break that code already, that could pass for a 7 year old size wise.  The poor Asian adoptees may learn to speak English but they will never be able to spell in it.  Idiots!

Why, you ask, does this piss me off?  Because they are mine and I am proud they are mine.  Like Mr. Sinister in the X-Men, I am proud of genetic experimentation.  If I altered the genome correctly, they should be superior to just Caucasian and Asian people.  I will call this new race Cauc. . . Crap the word Caucasian already has the word Asian in it. 

They are my kids, my seed.  Their beauty and brains come at least partially from me.  I will take credit for it. 

Family Ties

What keeps certain families and certain members of families together?  I ask this because my sister has now come to the conclusion that she isn't really a part of my brother or my life.  I have known this for some time.  I have tried to rectify it on occasion.  I am nine years older than her and that makes a difficult situation that much harder.  She lived with her father isolated from me and my brother since she was about five or six.  So it has been fourteen to fifteen years since I have spent more than a week a year with my sister.  Most years I did not see her at all.  This is in no way her fault, as she was a child at the time. 

Now entering adulthood, it would seem that she could enter into my family as a presence, but we don't have that much in common.  Situations from our childhood we remember differently.  We did not have the years upon years of teasing and torturing that nurtures a brother/sister relationship.  It is almost like I never knew her.  Truth is, I don't.  How much of that five year old is left.  I have never known her friends and she was raised in a family different than the one I was. 

I don't have this problem with my brother.  We are only three years different and I lived with him most of my childhood.  We were split up when I was about fifteen.  We continued to see each other during summers and have made every effort to stay in contact with each other.  We have always shared friends, and, to this day, we get along with our each others friends very well.  Instead of growing apart while not together, we actually developed and became more like one another.  Independently we grew the same direction. 

I think my sister is jealous of this bond.  She feels left out and it hurts her feelings.  My brother and I grew up really fast and my sister still comes across as very immature to me.  Maybe as she grows older and becomes more responsible our connection will become tighter.  Maybe we will always be cordial to one another but never be close.  I still love her, but I don't know who it is that I love anymore.

Death Notice Update

I decided to fight back against the email happy people that happen to work in the same building as me. 

Here is the email that broke the camels back:
Funeral  services for XXXXXXXX's niece, YYYYYYY will appear in tomorrow's paper. Services will be held tomorrow from 6:00 to 7:00 P.M. at QQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQ

This email went to everyone in our agency.  Around 4-5 hundred people.  This was the second of three total emails we received about this person; not to mention the other emails of death and sickness that I get on a daily basis.  My email to my supervisor that was hence forwarded up the chain of command is below:

I hate to complain about something so sensitive as bereavement, but the tirade of emails that I have be receiving lately are forcing my hand. 

I can understand an announcement of the death of current or former employee of DDS.  I can even understand a notice of a loss of an employees immediate family under limited distribution.  I don't feel it appropriate, however, to get notices of the death of an employee's extended family.  Especially when said notice is titled so eloquently as "Death Notice." 

These "Death Notices" originate from a third party that sends them out indiscriminately.  Not to sound crass, but if you didn't know the person beforehand, you likely do not care to hear about their loss.  There are so many people that die worldwide every day that I could not possibly feel a loss for a fraction of them and keep my sanity.  We deal with people that are disabled and dieing every day here at work, we do not need the additional trauma of being reminded of our own mortality through these "Death Notices." 

Again, I apologize for the sensitive nature of the email.  If I knew the employees that incur these losses, I would hope to know from them first hand.  They would have my sympathies and prayers.  I would be the first to try and comfort them in their time of need.  Agency wide email is supposed to be reserved for messages that impact everyone.  The death of a family member of someone I did not know does not fit that criteria.  I feel that it is also insensitive to the person with the loss.  They may not want their loss advertised, especially to those that they do not know.  

Thank you for your time and attention on this matter,

Rich Dad, Poor Dad

Go to school, get good grades, get into college, get a job with a big company, climb the ladder.  This is the advise that most parents give their children.  This is the advise that Robert Kiyosaki will never give you. 

This book is about money.  It is about making it, keeping it, and, most of all, learning about it.  This book will make you reevaluate your financial situation and likely the actions that you have taken to get you there.  It isn't a sell everything, work six jobs, ride a skateboard to work, and live in a cardboard box strategy that Kiyosaki is suggesting but an active learning approach.  He wants you to learn about money and to save money.  If you wait till all your bills are paid to start saving it might be too late. 

Kiyosaki also suggest working your money.  Don't just sit on it in a savings account or CDs, but put it to work so you are getting a return on that money.  Kiyosaki suggests that big risks are not so big if you are educated about the products and companies that you invest.  He states that most people are so caught up in the rat race that they fear losing money, and that this fear keeps them from making money.

This was a great eye opening book.  It should light a fire under the reader to get active about their money and education.  Kiyosaki makes the book easy to read and easy to understand.  If something is important he hammers it home several times.  In fact, that is one of the only flaws of the book; it repeats important parts to the point of annoyance sometimes.   I would recommend this book to anyone, but especially those about to embark on the rat race of life or about to start investing.

Lazy Bums

Having a 5 y/o and a 2 y/o, I have now reached the time in my life when I need to start saving for their college for them.  Society dictates that to become a good parent I must look out for my children's future by saving for college.

Why!?!

No one ever saved for college for me.  I had to get out in the rough and tumble of the world and find my own way.  Know what?  It made a man out of me.  I took my lumps early and learned from the mistakes while I could still afford to.  There was no calling mommy and daddy for some extra money so I could eat.  I worked or I starved.  It made me understand that I didn't like being a wage slave. 

I did what a lot of people do to get money for college.  I joined the military.  I grew up a lot there too.  I learned from my own mistakes and more often than not the mistakes of others.  I not only earned money for college but how to lead men. 

Yeah, deep down I wish I would have had the normal college experience of partying until I failed out of classes, experimenting with drugs, dropping out, then back in, then back out, and paying back student loans for forty years.  Yeah, I envy those guys. 

I will save some money for my children's college.  Probably not enough, but I will save.  This will give them the ability to make their own way, at least partially.  If they need more, I will encourage the military over student loans.  Public service is a virtue.  Maybe my kids will be gifted in athletics or scholastics and they will get that free ride.  Maybe the lottery will still be around and they will get lottery scholarships that pay most of the bill. 

I guess all I can do is be a good parent and save.

Vas o No Vas

Flipping through the channels, I stopped on Telemundo.  Vas o No Vas was on.  This is the Spanish version of Deal or No Deal.  I was intrigued and immediately starting joking that the payout would be really low. 

They did the whole interview the contestant thing, but it took like 10 minutes.  "now that we have met your entire extended family, your neighbors, your coworkers, your kindergarten class, and some guy that doesn't know you, go ahead and pick your first box."

The show was an hour long,  this lady was a new contestant at the beginning of the hour and had picked half of her boxes by the end of the hour.  "Stay tuned for the exiting conclusion manana."  You see what they did?  In the amount of time that the American show will have gone through four two -three contestants, the Spanish version has used one. 

What was the payout?  Was it a million like on NBC, or was it much, much lower.  Highest payout was cuarto de millon.  Yeah that's right $250k for us gringos.  That is crap.  I was expecting either $100 or a cool half mil.  $100 would have been comedy gold and a half mil would at least be somewhat dramatic.  Here is your $250k, after taxes that comes to $160k.  Hope you can live your dreams on that.  The show is taped in Miami, so good luck paying off your mortgage.

There is an improvement over the English language version.  The banker makes an appearance and she is hot. 

Army of One

The "Army of one" slogan is dead.  It is about time.  I hated this slogan.  Why, you may ask?  Because it was wrong.

Movies may show Dolph, Arnold, Sly, or Chuck wreak havoc on an entire civilization single handedly, but the real Army does not work that way.  A soldier depends on the soldiers around him.  Basic training is all about teamwork and battle buddies.  To be successful in the Army you have to have to be able to depend on your fellow soldiers and your fellow soldiers have to be able to depend on you.  Army of one just doesn't represent that. 

The new slogan is Army Strong.  I am not sure how I feel about this one.  By itself it sounds kind of Neanderthals.  "ooh, ooh, Army… Strong."  I could definitely work with it in ad campaigns though.  I can almost assure you that you will see, "mentally strong, physically strong, Army Strong."  The will work it into the college money ads too.  "Too survive college and the real world you need to be morally, mentally, physically, and disciplinary strong.  You need to be Army Strong."  Even in the Army ads that emphasize post military employment.  "Training, discipline, organization, fitness, aptitude.  Employers are looking for these traits, and that is why they prefer candidates who are Army Strong."

If I had to come up with a recruiting slogan it would be "Come and see what you are made of."  Of course, "Be all that you can be" was the best slogan.  It was pure genius.

nanowrimo

I signed up this year.  The closet story, if anyone was reading it, will likely go away until December.  If you want to follow my progress, my user name is Budd921.  If you are also writing and want me to follow yours let me know.

I wonder

If fish discriminate against turtles and snakes?

Ender's Shadow

You would think retelling the same story from a different perspective would be a recipe for a terrible novel and low sales.  Think again. 

Card tells a story on the same timeline as Ender's Game and the events of the world mirror each other.  Ender's Shadow is able to break free of the shadow of Ender's Game by mesmerizing the reader with the tale of little Bean. 

Card weaves a retelling of his best selling award winner in with the new stories that Bean brings with it.  It is almost a behind the scenes look into what was going on inside the school.  If the reader has read Ender's Game he sometimes finds himself routing against Bean. 

Card nails the story as original as a retelling can be told.  He also makes it self sufficient so that readers may pick up Ender's Shadow and then decide that they would like to read Ender's Game as well. To say that the book was a success is selling it short.  This proved to Card that he could write and sell other viable stories within the Ender universe. 

Highly recommended!

Ender's Shadow

Ender's Shadow (Ender, Book 5)

Orson Scott Card

You would think retelling the same story from a different perspective would be a recipe for a terrible novel and low sales. Think again.

Card tells a story on the same timeline as Ender's Game and the events of the world mirror each other. Ender's Shadow is able to break free of the shadow of Ender's Game by mesmerizing the reader with the tale of little Bean.

Card weaves a retelling of his best selling award winner in with the new stories that Bean brings with it. It is almost a behind the scenes look into what was going on inside the school. If the reader has read Ender's Game he sometimes finds himself routing against Bean.

Card nails the story as original as a retelling can be told. He also makes it self sufficient so that readers may pick up Ender's Shadow and then decide that they would like to read Ender's Game as well. To say that the book was a success is selling it short. This proved to Card that he could write and sell other viable stories within the Ender universe.

Highly recommended!

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That's right, Hermione. Go ahead and laugh!

Lookalike

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QotD: I Should've Been A Contender

What gameshow or reality show would you kick butt on?

Kid's Jeopardy.  I mean the questions are so easy.  Wait!  What do you mean I am too old? 

I could so win "Who Wants to be a Superhero."  I have been reading comics and studying for it my whole life.  I probably could have beat Feedback out and Fat Momma wouldn't have stood a chance. 

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What? No Updates!?!

I am in training this week and when I am not I have to catch up on the work I missed because I was.  Needless to say, my posting will suffer.