Readers Letter,

Reader,

 

Well it's the end of the month and we made it. I have wrote an article everyday for the last 31 days. I plan to continue that as long as people keep reading. I mean it would be a little silly for me to take a hour to three hours out of my day if I only have two readers left. It would just be easier to send the two of you a text. Don't misunderstand me, I don't plan on giving up anytime soon and if you know me personally you know I'll try to keep her a float. I am very thankful for my good friends keeping this blog from going down in flames. You reading and almost just as important your sharing of this blog is the only reason we are still there. Congratulations on making 1000 hits. I know in this day and age of video's going viral that doesn't seem like a lot but for a blog just starting out and for people to actually take the time to read it is a huge accomplishment. It is extremely important if we want this to continue that you read and share this blog. Don't worry I'll continue to remind you to remind them. If your also on Google plus you should befriend me on there. Well tomorrow is a new month and I look forward to writing a new article then,I wonder whats in store. Just in case you were wondering I think up all my subjects myself and a lot of times I don't have any idea what is going to take shape until I start typing. Just like everyone else I have a hard time sometimes coming up with something to say. I know, right, never thought that would happen. If you ever have something you want me to discuss or a type of story you want me to write don't hesitate to let me know. As I get more stats on different stories I will get a feel for what people want to read and then I can tailor the blog to fit my readers better. So as always if you like something a lot let me know and if you hate it let me know. For now I say goodbye but I'm looking forward to seeing you tomorrow and by the way I have to say you are looking great tonight.

 

Thanks Again,

 

Brad

Stop Crying!

Nothing is impossible if you really want it. People say all the time oh I wish I could lose weight or I wish I could quit smoking or I really wish I could save money and these are just a few of the things we strive for. Now I know there are medical conditions when you take certain medicines or you have a bad thyroid or what ever that it is next to impossible to lose weight but this isn't what this article is about. If you are 100% completely honest with your self you enjoy what ever it is that you are doing and don't want to quit.

I have lots of bad habits, I drink alcohol, I smoke cigars, I chew snuff, and I love any food that is terrible for me. but the reason I have these bad habits is because I would rather eat then be skinny.  I love to drink every once in a while, sometimes I smoke a cigar everyday for 3 or 4 strait and sometimes I don't touch them for a couple of months, usually because it's cold outside. I'm the same with alcohol. So you may say well if you can go a couple of months then your really not addicted. You are absolutely right I'm not addicted to cigars or alcohol or even chewing even though I do it everyday most of the time.

I smoked a box of Marlboro's almost everyday unless I was sick for 16 years strait. I was as addicted as you could get.  I tried to quit a couple of times for my wife or when my daughter was born and I failed because deep down inside I got pleasure out of it and I didn't want to quit and that's what most of us do. We make an effort to quit but we fail because deep inside we don't want to quit. I was in the military that whole sixteen years. I had seen hundreds of guys try to quit and fail. At one time I worked with 97 guys and only 3 didn't smoke or chew. Thank God we got past that era.

Then one day I noticed that not only did I have to smoke for my addiction but my body was so dependent on nicotine that I had to smoke just to stay awake even if I had 8 hours of sleep. Well I don't know about you but that pissed me off. and so on my next days off. I quit cold turkey and no I didn't start chewing. Now I'm not going to lie, I had the same cravings everyone else gets and even a year later I would get cravings so bad it would drive me crazy but the longer I went the less I had and eventually they stopped all together. What was the difference? The difference was that I decided to quit because I wanted to quit.

Now I know if we were face to face and you smoke or have another bad habit you would argue until you died that you had special circumstances that you couldn't quit no matter what  . . . . blah blah blah. Have you ever noticed that most of our younger people are never guilty of anything. Ya, they learned it from us! Not only do we not take responsibility for our actions we make excuses for theirs.
Now I know that my parents were not perfect but my mother was damn close but we were always responsible for our actions and sometimes we were found guilty by association.

If you did something wrong at one of your friends houses it wasn't uncommon for their parents to punish you and if you were smart you didn't say a word about it when you got home because if your parents thought you had embarrassed them by making an ass out of yourself when you were a guest you would get punished twice for the same crime. Not even murders serve double jeopardy but we did. Did we lie to keep from getting punished? You know we did, we weren't idiots but our parents would be just and when no guilty party could be found we would all got what for. Oh the good old days.

Do the kids have different problem then we did? The short answer is no but you just didn't get special treatment back then now we give everyone special treatment. Well I'm going to go old school on you and just tell it like it is. If you have a problem and you don't quit the actions that are causing the problem then you just don't want to change. Oh by the way if you ADHD, ADD, OCD, CFYAWBH, that's last one starts out with Cant Find. It doesn't matter. They didn't have medication for that when we all had it and some of us did turn out to be serial killers but most of us did pretty good. So when you decided that you really have had enough come join us but until then we don't want to hear how your special.

Damn Whipper Snappers

The world will never change if you don't led by example and pay your do's. (And yes I realize that the dues you pay is spelled dues and when you do something its spelled do but I meant it like I spelled it. . . . Sorry that was for my OCD readers.) One day we will all be old unless of course you leave us early. Lots of elders are lonely and don't have too many people to talk too.

When I was stationed in Abilene TX. We use to go to the mall . . . . . a lot. There was not much to do in Abilene at the time. Sometimes I would just sit on the benches and watch people go by while my wife would look in some clothing stores. After a while I notice that every time I was there this elderly man was doing the same thing I was. So one day I just happen to end up on the same bench. I was a lot younger then and there was a lot more WWII vets around.

Any way the older man told me this story that I'm about to tell you. He was in the Army during World War II in the European theater. They had been marching for a while when they came up to this bridge. Now if you have ever watched a WWII movie you would know that bridges where a big commodity. We fought for them, we blew them up, but the most dangerous thing was crossing them. So he and his small squad spread out and crossed the bridge cautiously. The bridge was large and crossed a river. Every thing was going fine until their first guy reached the end and that's when it happened.

The Germans opened up with their machine guns in a perfectly executed ambush. Bullet were everywhere and he said his comrades where falling all around him. There was no where to go so he jumped over the side of the bridge. When he jumped he was thirty to forty feet above the ground and he plunged down through the trees and bushes when he hit the steep hill he rolled down and didn't stop until he was at the edge of the river laying partially in the water. He heard the firing stop. minutes later he could hear the voices speaking German above him. He dare not move.

Eventually he couldn't hear the voices anymore but he was so scared of being discovered that he didn't move for what he said was a long time. I don't think he really knew how long he had waited before he got up. He said he finally got the nerve and rolled over and checked himself out. He moved everything and miraculously he only had a few bumps and scratches. He climbed the steep hill up to the road and finally after watching for a long time he looked on the bridge and discovered that he was the only one that had survived, When he told me the story he got a little chocked up at the end.

Not too long after he had finished his story his wife came up and told him it was time to leave. A couple of weeks later I sat down beside him again and He told me the exact same story. later on his wife asked me if he had told me the story again and I said he had and she apologized but I didn't mind because I got to meet a bonafide war hero.

Now I know you young Whippier Snappers might say all he did was jump off a bridge but that's not your fault. You haven't lived as long as I have and you don't realize that he not only survived but he flourished, and that right there is what makes you a hero.

You know I saw him two more times and he told me that same story again both times. By that time I already knew the story by heart so I sat quietly as he told his great story and I watched the other people going by in both directions.

I never saw him again after that but it's safe to say that we had both benefited from our short relationship. If you don't slow down every once in a while to listen to a elder what makes you think your kids will do it on there own. And Oh Ya, even when you are 90 you will still want to be heard but it won't do you any good if the younger generation acts like you did when you had the chance to make a difference.

Thanks for listening to my . . . . his story.

Sister's Shadow

First of all I want to apologize to my readers for skipping complete fabrication. I got my days mixed up so today I'm going to make up for it right now so here we go.
 
Her twin sister was perfect in everyway. She was sweet, smart and beautiful and even her parents couldn't help themselves when it came to playing favorites. It had been like that since she could remember and she excepted the fact that as long as her sister was around she was never going to have her moment. Of course her sister always included her in every way she could but she knew she was only invited to every event because they wanted her sister there.
 
Katie her sister would light up a room when she walked into it. people where drawn to her like moths to a light. Her sister always sit with her at lunch and their table would be instantly filled within a few minutes. Sometimes Kristy would sit at different tables just to watch the regulars pick up their trays and come over to be with Katie. Katie had never met a parent or a peer that didn't love her. They both where in dance since they were little and Kristy knew she was the better dancer and cheerleader for that matter but it didn't make any difference. Kristy would come home with a trophy and everybody would still flock to her sister.
 
The worse thing about it was the fact that Kristy had had two boyfriends that had tried to date Katie behind her back. Kristy would be furious when Katie told her that her boyfriend had tried to sneak behind her back but she knew it was true because the girls had always been honest with each other.
 
Now it was their senior year and Kristy was seriously considering not going to college with Katie. She felt bad about applying for colleges without her sister but she didn't know if she could live this way the rest of her life. She loved her sister more then most siblings but a girl could only take so much. Of course she did apply with her sister also and she hadn't made up her mind what she was going to do. It was the first time she had not told anybody something that was going on and she felt very lonely.
 
Her parents didn't have a clue anything was wrong but Katie had asked her several times what was wrong and it killed her every time she had to lie and say nothing. But really, what was she suppose to do? Tell her sister that I can't trust my life with you in it. She imagined that this would be like if you won the lottery, not knowing if people really liked you for you or if they were just trying to get to your money.
 
Katie was waiting for her when she got out to the parking lot and as always a large group of people stood around the car laughing and carrying on. The boys always put on their best show for Katie and Kristy did think it was funny how the fell all over themselves to get her sisters attention. She had to nudge people out of the way as she made it to the passenger seat. The car belonged to both of them so her and her sister always drove or rode shotgun, the other girls knew better and rode in the back of the convertible.
 
They sit in the parking lot for another 20 minutes after all it was Friday and nobody was in a hurry to get anywhere. Finally Katie told them they had to get home even though they didn't but they needed time to relax before getting ready for the party over at Shane's house. Shane's parents were in Europe but he always had the parties, they were just a little bit wilder when his parents were out of town.
 
They took the other girls home then went to there own house. Their mother was in the study typing on the compute when they walked in the door. Hey girls I'm in here. They both went into the study and gave their mom the mandatory hug. They were required to hug mom whenever they got home or left, except when they came in late they just knocked on the bedroom door to let their mother know that they had made it back safe. Their father didn't like them coming into the bedroom when he was already down for the night. The girls knew this was a rule that he had enacted when they were eleven and use to come and jump on the bed every night.
 
"What are you girls up to tonight" their mother asked
 
"We are going to Shane's." Katie said in her upbeat sweet as apple pie voice. Katie always answered their parents whenever they were together. It was just another thing Kristy had gotten use too over the years. Besides it always worked out in there favor when she did.
 
"Ok you girls be ready for dinner at six tonight."
 
"We will Mom." and with that they both turned and went up the stairs to their separate rooms. They both took the same classes but at different times so that was one advantage to high school. Kristy was doing their chemistry homework and she knew Katie was doing their calculus. They had learned at a early age to always get one wrong apiece and always a different one so it wouldn't be evident that they were cheating. Kristy finished hers first and went into her sisters room just to find Kenny their little brother sitting on Katie's lap with a smile from ear to ear. Even their little brother couldn't resist Katie's spell.
 
Kristy rolled her eyes to her self "Are you done yet?"
 
 
"No, but almost, give me twenty. Kenny and me are counting to a hundred. Kenny was only five and the only other child. Kristy felt sorry for him that he would be all alone with mom and dad after they left for college.
 
"Ok but hurry up, we need to take our showers before dinner." Both of them knew that dad insisted that dinner be a family thing and it was a minimum of an hour even if you finished in five minutes. So that meant even if they were ready they wouldn't make it to Shane's until at least 7:45 and that was if dad didn't hold them up just to be a pain.
 
The night went exactly as planed and they had a great time. Katie had had a few whine coolers and so Kristy was driving them home. They were on the way to drop off Linda and had already made a couple of turns when Kristy passed the turn. "Hey you missed my turn!" Lindy slurred a little as Kristy sped up.
 
"I think this car is following us." and as the words fell from her lips the other three girls all turned at once and squinted into the headlights.
 
"It's probable Jimmy, he said he would come by tonight." Lindy said sounding a lot more sober now that she was excited. "Pull over, I want to talk to him."
 
"That's not Jimmy Lindy! Kristy said as she sped up a little more and squealed the tires a little bit as she rounded the corner. The car behind them sped up also and squealed the tires so loud that they heard it in their car.
 
"Slow down" one of the girls from the back said but Kristy was scared now and all she wanted to do was get rid of whoever it was. She floored it and the Mustang leapt forward and pushed all four of their heads back into the seat. Now the only thing they could hear was the roar of their own engine. Katie had already decided not to go to Lindy's house because she lived with her mom and she was scared that whoever was following them might not be deterred by a middle aged women.
 
Katie pulled the cell phone from her pocket. "We should call the police." but the two girls in back said they didn't want to get in trouble for drinking under age so Katie just held the phone in her clammy hands as her long hair blew wildly around the cockpit.
 
Kristy looked into the rear view mirror and saw that the car that was following them wasn't catching them but it wasn't falling back either. "Hold on! she yelled as she braked hard and this time the car's squeal was deafening as she turned right again onto the main road. There was no other traffic because Lindy's suburb was in the boonies. The two girls cussed as they tried to get their seatbelts on but both of them were locked from Kristy throwing the car around the corner. Kristy decided this was too much and she slowed way down. After all it was probable just some boys messing with them.
 
The beat up black Mercedes flew up beside them and two guys in black hoodies with white mask turned toward them. One had a baseball bat and picked it up above his head as he leaned out the window, the Mercedes swerved toward them. At this Kristy slammed on the brakes cranked the steering wheel toward them. The Mercedes flew by and the passenger in the mask looked back as the girls slid around and ended up in the opposite lane facing the opposite direction. Kristy gained her bearings and slammed the gas to the floor and the mustang growled deep as the back tires caught and launched them forward. Luckily for the Girls the mustang had belonged to there older cousin before he had got a corvette and it had more power then either one of them thought they would ever use.
 
Kristy looked into the rear view mirror and saw the other car trying to catch up but they had a good jump on their attackers. "Call the cops!" she yelled at her sister and Katie snapped out of her shock long enough to dial 911. Kristy didn't let off the accelerator and the when she looked down the car was doing 120 mph and climbing. The wind was so loud in the car the Katie could barely  here the 911 operator so she just started talking. "Some guys are following us and they have a bat." she blurted out. "What? I can't hear you. Ok hold on." What street is this she was screaming to be heard above the engine and the wind.

"Tell her we are on Chestnut going right, I mean left, oh shit, east, we are going east!" Lindy yelled above the noise.

Katie relayed the message and was told by the operator that they were sending someone and to stay on the phone and keep her updated. The operator was yelling also by this time because it was the only way she could be heard by Katie.

Kristy had never been this far out on chestnut and didn't know the road at all so she was really surprised when she saw the two red diamonds in the middle of the road in the high beams. She looked down and she was doing every bit of 160 mph. She slammed on the brakes and the anti lock brakes took over as the signs lingered ever closer. Kristy realized that she wasn't going to be able to stop in time and at the last second she swerved to avoid hitting the signs. luckily for her there was no curb and she hit the brakes again as she hit the wet grass of the park. She was turning and pumping as fast as she could as she weaved and fishtailed through the trees at one time the car did a full 360 but kept sliding down the hill "Were in the park!" She heard here sister yell and one of the girls from the back let out a cry as they barley messed a tree.

Kristy got into a small clearing and slammed the brakes down and kept it down as the anti lock brakes fought against the pressure. The finally slid to a stop and Kristy didn't wasted any time turning the car around but when she got it squared up she saw the head lights coming threw the trees. From here she really couldn't tell you what happened but something took over her and she was just plain mad. She stepped out of the car and ran around to the trunk. popping the trunk she grabbed the mat and raised it up. she grabbed the small jack and the tire iron.

The other girls were whimpering inside the car and her sister was begging the operator to hurry because the boys were coming. Kristy ran to the front of the car just as the Mercedes cleared the trees. the driver drove right at her and Kristy waited until the last second and heaved the car jack at the car. She darted out of the way and the Mercedes slammed into the mustang. just as the jack bounced off the hood and smashed the window. The passenger of the Mercedes air bag went off and the bat flew out of his hand and slid into the darkness somewhere behind the mustang. Kristy didn't hesitate and slammed the tired iron down on the guys outstretched arm. she heard the bones snap as he let out a scream that didn't even sound human. She ran around the back of the Mercedes but the driver was already out and facing her despite getting a face full of airbag himself.

Kristy looked behind him and said "Hit him" but he wasn't fooled and instead of turning around he ran at her. He wasn't ready though when she threw the tire iron end over end and hit him hard in the head with the socket end. He sprawled backward and landed on his butt and from their onto his back. Kristy ran over and kicked him between the legs but he didn't react, he was out cold before he hit the ground.

When the cops arrived 10 minutes later the girls had the one man on the ground threating him with the baseball bat and the other was still out cold. It was a very long night and they discovered that the two men had beat up several people and stole their cars along with all their valuables.

All the girls parents came and picked them up at the hospital and police station. none of them had been seriously hurt. The paper held the girl's names out but everyone at school heard what had happened and Kristy never walked in her sisters shadow again.

As weird as it sounds Kristy was happy about their near death experience and their freshman year at college together was their best experience yet.

Jackass!

A couple of years ago a man in his late 30's or early 40's lost his temper because he got cut off on the highway by some guys that appeared to be around 20 years old. Now the older man who was with his wife followed the three younger guys for several blocks until the younger guys pulled over to the side of the road. At this point the bigger older guy pulled over behind them and got out of his vehicle. He then proceeded to the driver window and started an argument with the driver. The driver then verbally defended himself and the older man punched the driver through the window. The rear seat passenger was filming the whole incident on his cell phone.

At this point the young driver and passenger got out of the vehicle, the older and younger drivers went at it but the younger one managed to back off the older one. The passenger ran up behind the older driver and threw him on the ground and then both young guys jumped on the older man and hit him four or five times. Both young guys got off the older man and walked back toward their vehicle. At this time the older drivers wife gets out as her husband was getting up, she runs over to him and gives him a gun. The older man starts talking to the younger drivers again and points the gun at them. The young guys turn around and just keep walking and the older guy shoots the gun into the dirt no too far away from the young driver.

The young guys get into the vehicle and leave. Now as I sit there and watched this whole thing play out on national news I had never been so happy to see someone get their butts kicked then this jackass. Lets go back in time and take a look at how many chances this jackass had to advert his butt whoppin'.

1. young kids cut him off, Don't react, but he does.
2. Kids yell back or flip him off or whatever, ignore them, he does not.
3. Kids pull off highway, stay on highway, no he follows them off.
4. Kids pull over, keep going, no he stops
5. Kids stay in truck, change mind and pull off, no he gets out.
6. Kids still stay in truck, turn around and go back to car, no he walks up to drivers door.
7. He says his piece and Kid says whatever, go back to car, no he hits kid.
8. Kids get out and whip his ass, get back in truck, no he takes gun from wife.
9. Kids walk back to vehicle, put gun away, no he starts following them with gun pointed at them.
10. Kids turn around and see gun and still walk back to vehicle, get in truck, no he fires into the dirt.
    

Where did this idiot come from? He had ten chances and probable more to divert this situation and he chose not to and then he has the audacity to tell the cops he didn't mean to fire the shot. Everybody loses their temper sometimes but don't be like this jackass, get out of your own way and if you get a chance to correct your mistake, do it. By the way this guys such a idiot I'm going to tell you who it was, his name is Bradley Turner from NC. He was facing 4 years in prison but true to the news nobody followed up so I don't know if her was convicted or not. If you find out let me know. Oh by the way I found out that he was 40 and the younger guy was 20 and he followed them to their house.

If that wasn't stupid enough him and his wife had their two year old with them and they still only faced four years. I think I can honestly say courts are ass backward. If this isn't enough to convince you to use your head then I can't help you. I must say that if you are a friend of mine I will come visit you in prison but just don't' ask me about what I think unless you want the truth.

The Uninvited

Usually unless your very humble and when I say humble I mean salt of the earth humble. (If you don't know what salt of the earth humble is then your not but don't worry about it most of us don't even come close.) You have relationships in spite of yourself. Some people are an acquired taste like me and some are easier to swallow bet regardless we are our own worse enemies when it comes to most things but especially when it comes to relationships. Now I know that most of you are like me and when it comes to relationships that everybody else has the problem but I want you to realize if you have very few to no relationships it's your fault.

I, as you can tell from reading this blog, have a issue of just saying what ever I think is right because I have very thick skin and want to help people then I just blurt out the truth because that's what I want to hear myself, strait and to the point. That's why this is the perfect forum for me because you get to read my thoughts then you can turn around to somebody you know and say this Brad guy doesn’t have a clue. Which is fine but I don't know how many times I've said something to someone either kidding or trying to help them just to turn around and try to backtrack after seeing the hurt in their eyes. My family was famous for ruthlessly teasing someone as long as everyone else was laughing and you better not cry about it either.

Of course most people are not thick skinned and regardless how tough they act, they do have feelings and get angry and if your the one that brings that out in them then they are probable not going to want to be around you. So if a relationship is important to you then try not to step on it. Think before you speak. It doesn't matter what my true intentions are, until somebody knows that you are interested in their best interest and trust you no matter what then you have to mind your manners and don't overstep your bounds. Now I know that some of you are saying I'm not like that at all but how many of you only do things that you want to do with your friends, or do you talk about other people all the time or maybe you just want them to come to your house all the time and when your suppose to go there something always comes up and your either late or don't show up at all.

If you want to get on my wife's bad side don't show up to the house after she's been cooking all day. Now she is a lot nicer person then I am and she will probable never say a word about you not showing up and calling a hour after you where suppose to be there but don't be surprised if your never invited back and suddenly we are too busy to make it there. Just something to think about when you claim to be perfect and blame everyone else. Just saying. So now that I've pissed you off to the point that I'll never be invited over again maybe you won't have the same problem.

Mini Sabbatical

Sometime we get so rapped up with the everyday that we forget how to live. Sometimes regardless of what people will think or say you have to take a break and do what you want and if your a real parent you tell your kids they are coming with you dispute them acting like you just told them they were being shipped off to military school. So you may say if I take my kids to the park how do I entertain them. You don't. You do what our parents did. You tell them to get away from you and go play or your going to wear out their backsides. lol.

Your kids need to get away from it all also they are just to stupid to know it. Sometimes a teenager sitting by a tree bored out of their mind with their lower lip sticking out gives them a chance to consider life. But if you don't have kids and just working all the time you still need to force yourself to turn off  the TV and go do something that you normally wouldn't do.

I recommend building a snowman, walking in the park, sledding, fishing, hiking or if your just not healthy drive to somewhere where you have a great view and roll down the windows. In this case time is not a factor, as a matter of fact I would recommend you do it until your sick of doing it and then that will be about the right amount of time needed to recharge your batteries.

Now I used outside examples just because I think nature heels better then anything else but you may prefer to sit by a indoor water fountain or at a aquarium. Just make sure that no matter what it is that you don't rush it. Let yourself relax and take a life breather.
It's important that you don't stay inside your house because just because your security blanket makes you fell secure doesn't mean you don't need a real hug every once in a while. So if you don't mind me being so bold. TAKE A BREAK!

If you still don't get it listen to sitting on the dock of the bay or I'm just sitting here watching the wheels go round and round. If listening to a song can relax you just imagine what doing the same things that the writer did can do for you. Have fun on your mini sabbatical.

Swagger

Perseverance pays off. There are a lot of things you can't control in this life and a lot of times when things don't go our way we give up. We like to feel sorry for ourselves and in the process convince ourselves that we had it harder then anybody else. We make excuses and want people to feel sorry for us and you don't have to look far for somebody to support your wallowing. No of us like to fell as if we are alone in our failures.

Fear is you worse enemy and it controls almost everyone I know to a certain extent, including me. I'll be the first to admit that I have been scared into inaction. We all have at one time or another. We come up against diversity and we freeze because we are scared to make a decision that will be wrong. So we don't make one at all. Sometimes we are so scared of failing or what people think that we fail to start in the first place.

I would even go as far as to say that fear has a bigger impact on our lives then any other emotion. Now you could say that's ridiculous, Love is much more powerful then fear and you may be right but I do know one thing for sure, fear has destroyed love since the beginning of mankind. Fear has shaped everyone's life to some degree. Fear can keep you out of trouble and for that it is a necessity of life and we all have it but lets put it were it belongs. Just think if we all lived the best we could with no fear we would never go to a movie about somebody making it big or overcoming the odds or having a great life or romance because we all would be living our dreams.

Before we go further I have to make it clear that fear and respect are two different things. You can be fearless but still respect the law. You can be fearless but still respect other people's right to be happy. Being fearless isn't the same as being selfish. In all reality its kind of the opposite of being selfish because if your fearless then you are not scared to take on the worlds problems and do something about them in stead of just writing a blog about them. Hehe.

If you have started something then you are already ahead of the game. Sometime starting something is the hardest thing to do. I can tell you from experience after you start something it's not going to be smooth sailing from there. As a matter of fact if you ask anybody that's done anything of significants, they will tell you about all the times that they thought about quitting and all the bad things that knocked the wind out of their sails.

You just have to realize that the only difference between them and you is they didn't quit, that's it. Now They were not fearless but they overcame the fear and kept moving forward. Oh and another important thing is they didn't listen to their "friends" when they said you can't do that, that will never work. I'm not saying if you want to become a famous movie actor but have no talent that all you have to do is just stick with it and it will happen. I am saying as long as you do something you believe in, then it can happen. Let me give you one example on how powerful fear can be.

Their are people right now risking there lives in a job they can't stand because their afraid of doing something different. When I went to retire out of the military to keep from going to war again, I had friends that I respected and admired that told me not to retire because there wasn't any good jobs out there. Do you know how crazy that is? They were more scared of uncertainty then they were of leaving their families and fighting in the desert with the very realistic chance that they would die. Now I don't want you to take this the wrong way, I wasn't scared of going to war, I had already been several times but I just didn't want to leave my family any more and therefor I made a decision and stuck to it casting fear aside along with my good friends advice.

If you decide you want something in life go after it. If you fail that's ok, just make sure you didn't fail because you quit.

If you take the bull by the horns you better hang on but if by chance he throws you off don't run for the wall because he might catch you. instead face him down  and when you get the chance grab him again and when he's given up don't just walk away, Swagger. PS it

Spit That Bit

This is geared toward the younger crowd but can really apply to any age. Now a days people have a lot. Nice houses, nice cars, great furniture, great electronics, the best clothes and great vacations. Now when younger people get out of the house they are use to the best of everything. What you have to realized is your parents or parent has worked long and hard for these privileges that you have known all your life and they don't come without a cost.

Everyone talks about what life is going to be like when they get out of the house and on their own but when you have unrealistic expectations you are easily taken advantage of. Now I know this doesn't apply to everyone but most of your parents started out with very little. We roomed with friends or if we got married we moved in a cheap place to live. It wasn't uncommon for us to buy used furniture. That's right I said it. Furniture that wasn't new. Sometimes we even found a thrown out coffee table or night stand or a lamp and put it in our house.

I don't know but I thought the best thing about getting out of the house was the unlimited potential that lay before you. You have an opportunity when you first move out of the house that you will never have again. Before you have pets or kids or bills or serious jobs you are truly unlimited on what you can do. You can go anywhere you want without worrying about anything but what great thing your going to do tomorrow. You can go on mission trips, join the peace core, start you own business, Live in a camper. Some of this doesn't appeal to you but these are just a few examples of  the unlimited possibilities. You are truly only limited by you imagination.

When you leave the house or graduated college or both, people have a tendency to want everything their parents had and more but when you do this, what you really accomplish is limiting your life. You will have plenty of time to have four cats or three kids or a 80 inch television or a great career and so on. I'm not telling you not to do these things and frankly some of these things might be the best part of your lives but take your time to learn something they don't teach in college before you become a real adult.

When you run out into the world with this attitude I have to have this, that and the other the credit card companies, banks and rent to own places are only too happy to let you get whatever you want. There's a reason they send you credit card applications in college. The want all your money for the rest of your life and they will get most of it eventually unless you go against the grain and only get what you have the cash for.

In America we throw out perfectly good things all the time, so it should be easy for you,  so go Get that used furniture, take every thing you parents offer you and if you want something you cant afford save up until you have the cash to pay in full. I promise you, if you do this, your life will be a lot better than getting everything you want ten minutes after you walk out the door. The memories you make backpacking through Europe will last forever just like the credit card bill when you put all new shiny things on it that will last five years if your lucky.

I just have one more thing to say and this will probable not be very popular. Ladies I know that you plan your wedding all your life and it's a very important day but lets be realistic, spending enough to buy a new car or even a good used car on you wedding day is a waste of money and even if you don't agree with me it still is. If it makes you feel any better, I will be very happy for you no matter how much money you spend on your wedding.

A wild horse can be broke but a broke horse cant be wild.

Brave New World

Lets talk about eating and if you know me then you know this subject holds a special place in my heart (stomach). Today I'm going to contain myself and not talk about steak, ribs, Hot apple pie with cold vanilla ice cream, or homemade mack n cheese.  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . sorry I had to go get something to eat. What I really want to talk about is eating together, whether that be in a restaurant or at home at the dinner table. I think you are seriously stealing a opportunity from yourself and the other members of your family if you don't get rid of distractions. That means turning off the TV and shutting down the cell phones.
 
If a two hour movie is worth turning off your phone for then I don't think 20 minutes is going to kill you. If you are the parent and you can't make your kids put down the phone then I think you should reevaluate your parenting game plan. There is nothing more important then to spend real time with your family and if that's only 20 minutes a day then that's better then nothing. You might be asking yourself how is this helping others. I think you should try it for a week and it will be quite clear on the benefits for everyone in your family.
 
Now I know this is a uphill battle because their are a lot of parents that are just as addicted to their phones as the kids. You have to look at it this way. That text is still going to be there when you done with dinner along with that tweet, Instagram and Facebook message. IF you turn off the phone for 20 minutes you social status is not going to change any. The people that liked you will still like you. The people that don't still won't and you will be looked at the exact same way in your social circles the next day. The only thing that might change is you might be envied more for the real time you spend together but don't expect them to tell you that.
 
So now that I've insulted your whole families sensibilities I hope you can look past that and maybe start a new family tradition. I don't know, maybe we are destined to walk the earth being socially available at all times without ever physically talking to someone. Sometimes I even leave the house without my phone, oh yes I did. Come join my brave new world.  PS if you eating with your family right now, stop reading and start talking.

Mad Max?

No one knows for sure. In our lives we have people telling what's going to happed but the truth of the matter is nobody knows the future. I'm going to make this short and sweet because it's very easy to understand. Some of you have people in your lives that really care about you and you are truly blessed but if you wouldn't trust them to take care of your kids if something was to happen to you, then don't trust them with your money. I just want to tell you something that you might have learned the hard way. If somebody has a true fire way to make money then they don't need you. If someone needs your money then there secret is they are going to get rich by selling you a way to get rich which is just information on how to do things you could find out on the internet are your local library. Again I repeat, if somebody needs you then they don't have any money making power. When is the last time you saw Bill Gates selling something on late night television. Or Donald trump for that matter all though I wouldn't be surprised if trump did it. Hehe.

Just like when I talked about investing In your future. I don't know what is going to happen and neither do any of the "Experts" So as fare as anyone knows the stock market could crash tomorrow and by Sunday you could be living in a Mad Max movie. Now you don't have to take my advise but you do know that regardless of what you do, you know I'm trying to look out for your best interest.
So you may ask "How do I know that?" It's simple really, I don't want anything from you. You see that's the difference, If someone really wants to help you then there is truly no strings attached.

Spectrum, All the Rave.

James walked up the steep steps of the counselor’s building. These were some of the only steps left in the United States that had been left here to add to the grander just like they always had. When he got to the door he laid his hand on the glass. A guard with a field spectrum 3 D imager plugged into his head stood completely still for a split second and James knew he was reviewing his sheet that had come up into his viewer via the optical nerve. "What can I do for you?" The guard asked and it sounded like the glass didn't exist between them.


"I have an appointment" and the guard was skimming the sheet overlying his vision. The words flew past as the guard thought about finding an appointment and when it got to that section of the sheet it stopped moving and there it was. James wasn't worried because he had made the appointment two years before. That was the great thing about the spectrum you could bring them up anytime you wanted and it automatically kept track of your whole life; kind of like cell phones did in the old days but a lot more efficient. James hadn't needed the spectrum to remind him of this appointment because that's all he had thought about for the last two weeks


The guard pushed a button and the glass turned blue and James walked through it. Real glass hadn't been used for fifty years now though people still called it glass. The unofficial name for it was Nano Glass. Once they had figured out how to mass produce Nano's there wasn't anything they couldn't replace except food and water of course. They had found another way to synthesize food and water. Which was every bit as delicious as the real thing but the rich still paid millions for the real thing cooked by Gran Chefs who pretty much made more money then anyone these days.


Right behind the blue glass was a red glass. James never got tired of seeing his vision go from purple to red as he walked through it. The same security check points were everywhere of some importance. As he got through the red glass the Guard told him to remove all his belongings; which he did. The guard had already seen each item on his spectrum but he had to make sure none of the items where Nano's, so once James had laid the items in the tray with holes in the bottom the tray moved down and a clear gel like liquid pushed the items up and then they sank slowly to the bottom. The tray moved up again and the gel rolled off the items leaving no trace.


"Have a good day." the guard said as James picked up his items and put them back into his pockets. Now a days there was a thousand ways to carry items but most still preferred pockets. There was just something comfortable about them even though they weren't very efficient. James walked down the big polished marble hallway with the columns flanking him on both sides.


James closed his eyes and took a deep breath he could smell the age of the building and as he thought about it an image popped up as he opened his eyes with the numbers 1935. There were only two buildings left in the whole world older than this one. Of course, they could simulate everything down to the smell in the new historic buildings but something about just knowing that it had been here all that time was remarkable.


Usually James would have been elated to have the privilege of walking in such hollowed grounds but ever since he had woke up dread had pressed down on him. "What if I fail" was all he could think about and now he was trying to calm himself. Not because he couldn't do the job or because it would affect his performance but just for his own sake. He was sure that millions of people probably walked down this hall with that same feeling since this had been the U S supreme court building before it was the Grand Council.


He found the public restroom and looked around. He had set up him appointment early so there was hardly any one in the building at this early hour. Unlike the Supreme Court the Grand Council was a 24 hour operation. He looked at the wall and thought 12 feet from left 6 feet down. A black x appeared he then took out his pin and started chipping pieces of the wall out. He silently prayed to himself. If someone walked in now it would be all for not. You couldn't kill somebody without the authorities being notified since people had started getting spectrums implanted.


He didn't realize he was holding his breathe until he broke through the wall and exhaled . He knew the bag was there because he had put it there a couple hundred years ago during a renovation project. Security was a lot easier to get through back then. He was in his medical chamber for 4 months after that trip. It had almost killed him but now it was all worth it.


He pulled out the bag and pushed another button on the pen and a foam the same color as the wall came out and filled the hole. You could tell it was a patch when he got done but that would give him plenty of time before somebody figured out that it didn't belong there. He swept up the debris and then went into a stall and locked the door.


He sat on the toilet and opened the small bag he saw that the content was intact and he shoved it in his pocket. He hoped this would work. He didn't think he would survive another trip. He put the bag into one pocket and the small spray can in the other and left the bathroom. He headed down the hall and checked the time which he had up in the upper right side of his field of vision. This made things a lot easier since he would have to have his timing down to the split second. This event had never happened before so the outcome was unpredictable. One fact he knew for certain is he couldn't afford for the target to see him. Well he could, but James knew his life wouldn't be worth much after that. After all, if he was successful there would be no way of proving he had just saved the world.


He only had ten seconds left so he sped up his walk just slightly and as he made the numbers huge in front of him 9, 8, 7,
He arrived at the door a little early on 2 but it shouldn't make a difference cause the last person left the hallway 2 seconds before. He pressed himself up against the wall reached into both pockets grabbing the bag and the spray can. He had the bag in his strong hand. This was going to be one and out. He knew he had already completed his mission now it was just a matter of would he get away with it.


1 appeared and his body tensed up just as the Supreme Counselor’s opened the door. He never saw it coming. James sprayed the contents into his eyes and grabbed him by the throat before he could make a sound. James slammed him to the floor and when the Counselor opened his mouth from the air rushing out of him James slammed the bag home shoving it tightly into his mouth. Then James push all the extra materiel into his mouth so it would take a while for him to work it out. James stood up and shut the door behind him as he straightened his suit.


He didn't have to worry about security cameras. Anybody who was anybody had all the camera's removed from the inside when the perimeter security had became impregnable. They had gotten tired of the security tapes helping to prosecute them in the tribunals. When he got to the front doors he walked through the blue glass and was back outside in the crappy weather and never felt better.


Three months later the world was still there so he knew he had been successful. He was so thankful that he wouldn't have to make that awful trip again. Of course, they were able to restore the counselor’s eyesight, but it had been enough to rattle him and sometimes when people discover they are vulnerable, that's enough. He had ascertained the idea from the Bible, since Jesus had done it to Saul he figured it would be good enough for the counselor.

Aretha Would Be Proud

If you want people to respect you then you have to respect yourself. Really if you get that I can quit right here. There is a little more to it then that but it's a good starting point. Another ingredient that you need is to get respect you have to give respect. People will only treat you with the standards that you hold them too and If you don't treat them right they will probable decide it's not worth their time to care about what you want. Just remember some people have respect for no one and if your smart you'll stay away from them. Don't worry about them, they've been looking for a replacement since they got you.

Now there's no law saying you have to respect yourself or anyone else but it does lead to a happier life if you at least try to have standards. Just make sure your standards are not so high that it's impossible for anyone to qualify. I heard a quote about 30 years ago and I never forgot it. "No matter how good looking (he or she.)  is there is someone somewhere tired of putting up with their crap." It basically says don't get caught up in the hype. Easier said then done.

Now I know that a lot of you think the reason older people date younger people is because of their looks and this is probable true but another reason I think might be just as important is younger people haven't been around long enough and it takes longer for them to realize that the older person they are dating is full of crap. Young people I hate to be the barer of bad news but the reason you think you know everything is a survival instinct so you won't be afraid to take on the world at a young age. The true measure of maturity is when you realize you don't know everything and never will. Don't feel bad we all thought we did too. "One reason no one is smart enough to know everything is because the truth changes with every new element that is added including time." I put that in quotation marks to let you know I just make that up and it's mine now so feel free to repeat it but don't print it on t-shirts. Hehe.

aaaaaah . . . . . what were we talking about? Oh ya respect, I almost forgot. Now to pass this test your going to have to be humble. If you want him to open the door for you and pull out your chair then you might have to bring him something to eat to the living room in front of his friends. Also If your in a relationship for the long run. This goes for both parties, don't talk your partner down to others and always build them up to your friends. We are only jealous of or put people on pedestals when we don't know everything about them. I've told my daughter for a long time if you want to be disappointed envy a person.

Now if you do your part and they do their part then your relationship will become stronger along with your love for each other and that my friends equals all most perfect happiness. I hope I've given you something to consider. Oh and one more thing I want to say before I go is a big difference in age in a relationship doesn't mean your partner is full of crap, it just makes the odds higher. I've known several couples in this situation that are happily married.

A Little Dope Goes A Long Way

I think the United States of America should be ashamed of it's self for having more people in prison then any other country in the world. Now this is a story that has picked up some speed in the last six months or so. I have known it for a long time just because I heard the statistics on a talk radio show about four or five years ago. Now I would give them credit but to tell you the truth I don't remember who it was that enlightened me on this subject.

If you read my article Oz, I told you about how this all came to be. I'm going to touch on the highlights as fast as I can so we can get to the meat of this article. In Oz I told you about the politicians giving corporations the contracts to build and maintain new prisons and to make the story really short, they got really tuff on drug sentencing to fill those new prisons during the war on drugs. I just went back to Oz to verify that was the article that I talked about the prisons in. I skimmed through it and if I do say so myself its one of my best rants yet.

Now I just want to make one thing clear, it doesn't matter if your for drugs or against drugs because I don't care and this isn't what this article is about. Now if your for drugs (I mean all drugs not just weed) you think they should let everyone out of prison that got prosecuted for any drug offence. Now if you hate drugs you think we should let them all rot in prison but lets be realistic and come to an agreement that the real answer is somewhere in the middle.

I have this friend and he grew up in a small town in Oklahoma, several years ago his best friend that he grew up with got caught with drugs and was arrested, prosecuted, and went to prison. I think he was around 23 at the time. Ok so the town he was at was seeing a rise in drug traffic so they decided to set the example early and they gave him 25 years. That's just plain stupid no matter which side of the coin your on. Now if you have lost a love one too drugs and a lot of us have you might think that it's not enough time but lets face it drugs will always be out there and filling our prisons isn't going to fix the problem. I think we have already proven that.

Lets just say you are sitting home one night and your teenager comes home acting suspicious. You confront them and press them for information but of course the deny, deny, de-lie, so eventually you give up and let them go to their room but this is your third kid and your not a rookie so when they go to school that next day you turn their room inside out and find a pretty good size bag at what looks like crack that you saw on cops one time.

So you go to the local prison and you tell them you need to check out a couple of murders, rapists, and child molesters. So you come home with your brew of bad guys and you wait. finally around 4pm your teen walks through the door and stops cold staring at the crazies in the living room. "Mom what is going on." Without hesitation you say "I found this in your room and you hold out the bag."

"Mom that isn't mine! I was holding it for a friend." they try to explain

"Doesn't matter this is a drug free house and you brought drugs into it so I'm grounding you for 25 years." you say as some men come walking down the stairs covered in dust.

"Mom what's going on?" your child says with tears in their eyes.

"Gentleman would you take care of this." and the dusty men grab these chains of the criminals and take them up stairs and then two others grab your kid and they scream and cry as they get dragged up the stairs. You hear the heavy metal door slam into place and the guys with the dust covered jumpers come back down stairs.

"Here you go mam." One of them says as he drops all the chains from the prisoners on the floor and walks out the door with the others. You set in your chair and start reading a article on how to maintain a home prison and if you listen real close you can here some screaming coming from up stairs.

Ok I just want to be the first to say that I think I crossed the line on that one but I just wanted to know if you wouldn't do this to someone then why is it ok for our bought and paid for government. I have seen murderers get a lot less time then 25 years. Well I think that we need to discuss this more. Write your congressman and just explain to them that your horrified that we have more prisoners then Russia, China, Cuba, Iraq, Germany, Saudi, Africa, and any other country in the world.

If you feel the need to start a petition. I would venture to say almost anyone would sign it when they were made aware of the numbers. Heres a article with some numbers that should shock you. http://www.nytimes.com/2008/04/23/world/americas/23iht-23prison.12253738.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0.

Well it's Sunday so I'm going to go enjoy the rest of my day not to say that I don't enjoy my time with you but the weather is nice and I need to get outdoors. Leave a comment if you have something to say. I'd love to hear from you.

Will the Real Tuff Guys Please Stand Up

When I was a lot younger there were tough guys that everybody knew of and you avoided if at all possible because you knew even if you were their friends you would probable get in trouble just being around them. They always commanded the room and most of the time out of fear. Most of the time it was their sheer size that would set them apart. Sometimes it was just the fact that they were crazier then what we all knew to be normal but then we grow up and move on and we led different lives.

Now I don't believe that there is more tough guys then there use to be just like I don't believe there is more good people then there use to be. I believe that even though are society as a whole changes there or just as many evil people as there ever was per capita. (means percentage wise to the population.) So I must have missed something because when I go out now I see tough guys everywhere. They have tattoo sleeves, neck tats, they wear leather and some ride motorcycles.

Lets not get ahead of our selves I'm not judging any of you for doing that. You can do what ever you want, after all this is America. If you want to get a prison tat of a teardrop under your eye to signify that you killed someone that's your prerogative. The thing I want to address is the way people are starting to behave around others. If someone says hi to you, you say hi back. If someone holds the door and you walk through it you say thank you even if they were holing it for somebody behind you.
If somebody waves or nods at you, you do like wise and the most important thing to remember is just because you've blurred the lines of society by looking like a tuff guy doesn't mean those lines cease to exist

Now I know it makes you fell better about yourself to act like a tuff guy and I'm not here to take that away from you. I just want you to realize that getting tattoos, dressing a certain way or riding a motorcycle doesn't make you tough. Real men take care of their families above all else. They take time to pay attention to their kids and have respect for others and yes sometimes they have tattoos, wear leather and ride bikes.

So just a word of caution to you, if continue to walk around giving people dirty looks or just plain being an ass, one day your going to run into a real tuff guy and he's going to teach you a life lesson you soon won't forget. So the next time someone puts forth the effort to be nice to you I would suggest you return the favor because the person holding the door for you might just be the real tuff guy. This is dedicated to the real tuff guys, my brothers who through their brave actions caused me to wear my dress uniform with my white gloves so six other brothers and I could shoot our guns three times into the air. It was an honor, God rest your souls.

Little Dinghies

Have you ever noticed that we seem to have a lot more common sense when we are Judging someone else's actions and most of the time it's in hindsight. Also their are things we won't do because we have a fear of a specific thing. Sometimes a person is perfectly safe but we judge them on our fears. Now lets just agree right now that no place is perfectly safe and if you have watched any of the Final Destination's then you know you can die anywhere.

So one thing I want to talk about is large animals. If you mess with certain animals then you are taking a big chance. First lets talk about Shamu the killer whale. IT'S IN THE NAME! Killer whales are killers, hints their names. They kill all the time. They've been know to kill other whales, sharks, dolphins and there is nothing that kills them. So lets stop acting shocked when they kill a person. people have no business swimming with or being around them. The only reason Sea world has killer whales is they make money from it. They always say they do research but the truth of it is Killer Whales don't need SeaWorld to survive. Sea World on the other hand needs Killer Whales so they can make money.

Know something that is in the news today and is in the news for the last several years is whales hitting small boat and people acting like they are surprised. Lets not get it twisted, it is our fault. It wasn't good enough for people to go out in a big boat and see the whales. No there in KAYAKS AND RUBBER DINGHIES! What in wrong with people. This latest one on the news said the tiny rubber boat was moved 5 feet are you kidding me how in the heck did this even make the news. that's the equivalent of you touching somebody shoulder with your pinky.

Do we even have to talk about lions, tigers and bears. Now don't get me wrong I love looking at tigers at the zoo when they are behind that bullet proof 6 inch window. The same kind they use for gorillas. Did you know that people are paying to go out in groups and visit the silverback gorillas in the wild. So what they do is drive out there in a big caged bus . . . NOOOOOO! They don't use a bus, they walk into the jungle and thick brush on foot. Then they get close enough to see them though that thick brush.

Now I don't have anything against horses. When I was younger I rode them several times but I don't anymore because they can kill me. Now I know there is a lot of horse lovers out there and that's fine but let's be realistic, their is no need to ride a horse unless your a rancher cutting cattle and such. If you ride horses, you have to not only worry about yourself but now you have an animal that can do anything it wants and you can't do a thing about it. If you think you can control a horse that doesn't want to be controlled you are delusional. The truth is a lot of times ranchers and farmers do things to their horses to make them behave that you would never consider doing.

Lets talk about big dogs and now you have dogs that don't feel pain. lets face it dogs are like kids. Now try to imagine trying to teach a child that doesn't speak your language, doesn't feel pain, doesn't care about what you want and may be able to kick your butt. Also you have to take into consideration that a lot of dogs will challenge you for the pack leader position once or twice a year because it's built into them. That means at any time you may have a fight on your hands you didn't expect. Now we all know that dogs can be trained and some dogs wouldn't hurt a fly. I just want you to think about this because people buy dogs like furniture. They decide they want a certain type of dog and they just go out and buy it, not even thinking about there kids and spouses.

I had a Chow Chow when my daughter was a baby. We had the dog since it was a puppy and long  before we decided to have a kid. We loved that dog but it was never alone with my daughter until my daughter was a lot older. When my daughter wasn't even a year old yet her and my dog both loved to look out the back sliding glass door. One day the dog was minding it's own business looking out the window when my daughter sidestepped down the door until she got to the dog. She grabbed the dogs ear and pushed it away from her because she wanted to look out the window. The dog growled and I immediately jumped up and grabbed the dog and when I got done with that dog it never growled at her again but if I hadn't been paying attention it could have been a very different story.

OK, OK I know I know I have made some of you mad and for that I apologize but only because you are an animal that could kill me. Hehe. I hope you have taken this in stride and didn't take it too serious. We all know we have to keep an eye on those cats too.  If I have made you upset please feel free to leave a comment and tell me about it. As long as you use clean language so the kids won't have issues I will leave it up.

Ripple

I don't know if you've heard the saying if a butterfly flaps its wings it changes the word. Well I guess in some degree that's probable right but I think it is too far from everyday life to affect us. Know don't get me wrong it is of course said to cause the listener to examine life and if you take the time to consider this, it is very profound. Now I'm going to do something that no sane person that writes for the public in the Midwest should ever do. I'm going to disagree with an ancient Chinese proverb. Well not really.

Someone long ago said that "If you give a man a fish then you feed him for a day but if you teach a man to fish then you feed him for life." All this is very true but I know that a lot of you out there don't have time to teach someone a new life skill. "So I say give a man a fish today and you've changed the world forever. Also giving money to people that teach people to fish is good too but that's what we talked about last week so you might have missed it but it's still there for your reading pleasure. Also can I just go on record and say fish is just a representation for all things somebody needs. I didn't want some of you giving fresh halibut to everyone you meet, talk about awkward.

I guess what i's saying is don't let the fear of what other people say or think take away your glory. If you want to make a difference in this world then you have to stop letting other people control your actions. A lot time we let others tell us what we should do. I say you should do what you think is right. I give you an example. Your walking down  the street with co-workers and somebody asks for money and you give them a dollar. One of your Co-workers says "You know he's just going to use that money for drugs." and another one says "Ya that was stupid."

First of all they might be right and that person might use that money for drugs but you cant live your life if your always letting other people decide everything for you. That man also might take that dollar to the store and buy bread for his family. If you worried about the drug thing carry a can of soup and make sure you have crackers with you also and give them that. I know for a fact that if your a mother you won't even notice the weight change and besides it will give you extra weight to knock the crap out of that coworker the next time he or she tells you something you did was stupid.

You have to realize that when you give anybody anything that it no longer belongs to you and you've done your part to better the world. If you give money to the church and the pastor starts having wild parties and driving expensive sports cars don't take the easy way out and say that's what you get when you trust someone and try to do something good. Just stop giving there and take you blessing to someone that will appreciate it more. Remember you can't control anybody but yourself and controlling someone else isn't your job . . . . that is unless your getting paid to manage other people, then it is your job but that's beside the point. Hehe.

So Make a ripple in the world and sometimes that ripple will become a tidal wave even if your not on the coast to see it. When you do things for others you may never see the benefits but that doesn't mean that those things don't matter. That's why the Bible says "You will reap harvest that you did not plant." or something along those lines. Just remember the more stones you throw the better chance you have of hitting someone in the eye and that would be awesome. Hehe.

Well thanks for joining me today and join me tomorrow when Beth finds out what here bother did to her cousins uncles only niece. I feel like the announcer at the end of a soap opera. As always leave a comment I will ignore it unless you totally agree with me then I will answer you immediately. Just kidding I answer all my comments I just beat around the bush if I get uncomfortable about the question.

My First Exclusive!

Today in Crazy World we are going to talk about something that is really getting out of hand. Now it's not going to cure cancer or feed the hungry but a lot of people are starting to be mislead by them. So as always I'm going to try to help you out. I have noticed nobody else is talking about this con that surrounds us everyday in magazines and the internet so I guess this will be my first exclusive.

A few years ago this type of advertising had a label in small print at the bottom of the page that said this is a paid advertisement but they have figured out a way to avoid this by listing other companies and totally disguising themselves as legit articles.

Here is a good example of how this works, I'm not going to link or show you a specific example because I would be opening myself up to legal actions, not that I'm that important but you always should be careful of what you put out there.

The latest one I saw was disguised as a financial article telling the readers that they should not pay off their mortgages on their houses and if they were worried about the interest rates on their house it was much better to refinance. Now if you know anything about finance you know that if you can pay something off, you do it, unless your going to take money out of play that is making more money then the interest rate. Banks scare us by saying things like if you pay off your bills your credit score will go down. This is total nonsense. I haven't owed anybody anything for a while now and if anything my score has gotten better and it was excellent to begin with. Sorry got sidetracked

So then this article went on to tell you the top five refinancing institutes, Sounds pretty good doesn't it but what gave them away was the financial advice in the first of the article that was not only wrong but steered the reader toward the conclusion that they should refinance their houses. All though they peppered the article with other advice to convince you it was legit, non of the advise they gave would be something you would tell a person that your trying to help.

Now you might ask how do I tell the difference and the bad news is unless you're educated  in a certain subject you will probable be fooled by there false claims that they do a great job of backing up with what appears to be good advice. The best I can do for you is to tell you to take your time and investigate any decision you are thinking about after reading advice on the internet. Now I think you could guess who was responsible for the article that was for mentioned. All you had to do is see who was the number one slot in their top five list and I wouldn't be surprised if the rest of the financial institutes were connected in some way we wouldn't be aware of.

This is just one example that I saw directly under a financial news link on a major web browser. There is many, many more and I would bet that you have read a few that seemed suspicious yourself and probable others where you had no idea. Just be aware that French models on the internet aren't always French models. (How do I know this? I read it on the internet.)  Even the legit news sources only tell you what they want you to believe so you shouldn't be surprised that companies are doing the same thing.

I hope  this article will save you some heartache in the future. Reading these articles is kind of like talking to an ex, just make sure that the person telling you the information doesn't have anything to gain from misleading you. As always thanks for reading and leave a comment and I will answer it.

Life

The old man limped down the street with a black cane with all the paint missing off the handle but a few stubborn flakes that were so thin they look more grey then black. People were passing him coming and going as he continued slowly to make his way down the street. The Jacket on his back was also worn and fayed along all the edges like everything he wore. He looked at no one as he saw their legs dodging left and right around him. He hadn't had their speed for twenty years.

The only thought of the younger people on the street was don't touch him as they walked buy. He wasn't dirty but he didn't look kept either. His clothes were out of date and he had about six days of white growth on his face that he hadn't bothered to groom at all. He hadn't cared about what others thought for a very long time and it was just easier if the world didn't notice you.

He walked to the bus stop and slowly crept down to the bench with one hand on the arm of the bench and the other  was shaking heavily on the cane. With relief he felt the pressure of the bench on his butt and relaxed his arm and he settled into the wood. Sitting down wasn't exactly a picnic but it sure beat standing. He thought he was going to have to stand up to relieve the pressure but he saw the bus coming down the road and he started the long climb to his feet.

The bus wasn't crowded as he gazed out the window through the rain that had just begun to splatter the window. He hadn't watched TV or read a news paper in years. His mind was sharp so he was contently being entertained daydreaming about the life. All the triumph and regrets played though his mind constantly and his mood went up and down with them. You could tell if he was in a good place or not if you knew exactly what to look for but he hadn't had people like that around him for years. All his kids moved away from the big city years ago and had families of their own now. He had been away most of their lives so he didn't expect them to go out of there way to come back after their mother had died.

Every once in a while one of his kids would call and ask him how he was doing and he would always wonder what had made them think of him this time but of course he would never know. They would have small talk until his kid was satisfied that everything was fine and that added up to five or ten minutes every month or so. Lately his daughter had been calling every month for the last three but he didn't know if this was because he was getting older or if something else was going on. He hoped for her sake it was the first.

He was back at his old house with thanksgiving dinner on the table, his wife and kids all with the special occasion half empty plates in front of them. The Australian Shepard laying in the corner of the dining room chewing on a big bone. Everybody was laughing and talking at once Since he hadn't been there for Thanksgiving for five years everyone was dressed up for the occasion with their sweats on standby in their rooms for after dinner football and napping. he was teasing his . . . . . .

The air rushing out and the sound of brakes squeaking snapped him back into reality and on his grim face was one corner of his mouth slightly turned up. He was in a good mood.  He got off the bus and limped down the wet sidewalk squinting his eyes against the rain. He Saw sudden movement from his side but his vision and reflexes were too slow to make any difference. He hit the dirty pavement in the alley hard and his cane smacked the cement with a load crack. He could feel his head, hand and knee burning with pain.

"Hurry up, get his f#$$%$$ money." Somebody said in a low growl that was heavily accented from growing up on the streets.

He heard the one of the perpetrators  coming toward him, he mustered all his strength and rolled onto his side to face his attacker. It was all over in a blink of an eye, a load explosion echoed off the close walls and the gunmen's ears rang as he pulled the trigger two more times. Blood seeped out from under the body as the life did too. The gunman blinked a couple of times waiting to see if there was any movement, there was none.

He took a deep breath and grabbed his cane with both hands and planted it in front of him and he was still struggling to get to his feet as people started coming out of the wood work to see what had happened. Two guys Grabbed him and helped him to his feet as he surveyed the three bodies on the ground. None of them moved. "Get me out of this alley" was all that he could manage as the younger guys helped him back to the sidewalk having to step around one of the bodies. All three of the bodies wear dressed in black jeans with black shirts.

"Your dead old man." a guy dressed in black jeans and a black shirt said from the curb of the street and people started to scream and run as he killed the man right there in the street in broad day light in front of the whole neighborhood. Then he turned around slowly and put one more shot into each of the bodies on the ground never raising the .45 above his waist.

Two months later he was sitting on the metal shelf with the thin mattress cushioning his rear listening to the echoes of the prison from his cell in solitary.  If you looked really hard and knew exactly what you were looking for you would see that one corner of his mouth was slightly turned up. He was in a good mood.

Head Bangers

I mentioned in Wall-E last weak that you can't change other people, So even in a intimate relationship you can only control your own actions. Now of course their are the old fashion ways of getting what you want. Such as not talking to the other until they yield. This is a very dangerous game if you want to stay in a relationship. Just know that if you make this a habit they will probable stop talking to you for good.

Another way people try to get there way is taking away sex. If you are with somebody that is self sufficient then this is really a bad idea. If they can take care of them selves then why would they put up with you. They can not have sex with anyone.

The other way is by getting mad or throwing a temper tantrum. Now they may keep you if your pouty all the time but the truth is none of this stuff works. maybe temporarily but you get boring if you always do the same things.

So you may ask yourself how can I change the person I'm with. I hate to tell you ladies but this is the mindset that you go in with a lot of the time. Not good to go into a relationship thinking I just need to change them then they would do what I want.  Almost guaranteed to fail. I'm not picking on you, a lot of guys do it also, I'm just saying  . . . . . really.

Let me put it this way. YOU CAN NOT CHANGE SOMEONE UNLESS THEY WANT TO CHANGE.

So I'm going to tell you to change someone but it's a lot of work so make sure your spending it on the right person.

Have you ever heard the saying the definition of Crazy is to keep doing the same thing over and over expecting different results. I think this is one saying that we need to pay attention to ourselves. We waste a lot of time banging our heads against the wall. So lets get started. This may take all day and believe me I have other things to do. I hope you brought your Wheaties.

STEP 1: Change yourself.

STEP 2: Repeat step one.

That's it. If you want your partner to change then you have to help them heal by changing yourself.
Now we try this all the time and it never works. Sound familiar. Example would be you tell yourself ok I'm not going to argue with them anymore and they will see that none of this is my fault. So you don't argue for a week or maybe two if your really dedicated but then they cross the line and you can't take it anymore. You tell them exactly what you think and we brake out the always and the never. "You never listen to me. You always throw your stuff on the floor. Of course I'm just being nice, we all know if you just said that it wouldn't be a very long argument.

Now back to the work If you change your behavior I guarantee they will change theirs but it might take a very long time. Whether your a Christian or not you should watch the movie Fire Proof if you want to save your relationship and your out of ideas. If you have already seen it and your still having problems watch it again. Now if this is to hard for you to change then what makes you think they will.

I think the biggest mistake people do when they try this is they do it to prove their right instead of really changing. If you really have to courage to save your relationship then you have to change without expecting any results at all out of your partner. Make sure you don't put time limits on it either. Doing something for two weeks never saved a relationship. Now you may say it's not worth all that so if that's the case, shouldn't you just move along.

Remember your free to do what you want so if you don't want a relationship, then don't have one. If you don't want to be married, then don't get married. If you don't want a kid then don't get pregnant or get someone pregnant. Oh I'm sorry I thought it was common sense day for a second. This is some good stuff. some of you should be taking notes. Well you know I've taken the easy way out and left the bag in your lap. You are probable upset that I would leave you all alone to fix your problems but you know if it's really that important to you maybe you should try something different and I might change too.

Got Money!

Ok today I'm going to talk to you about finances because this is something that most of us never think about when we are young. Now I know that I'm going to sound like every one else when I say you are never too young to start saving. Of course if your too young you have to have your parents on your account so if you don't trust your parents spend every dime you get your hands on until you move out. Their are three major ways to invest and I'm going to tell you about all three. The first way is do it yourself which is the cheapest. It's pretty simple and strait forward you open up a account at one of the cheap on-line brokers. I use Scotttrade but their are several out there to choose from.

Now investing isn't gambling so don't get all caught up in the day to day prices just pick what you believe in and buy a piece of it. That's called Stock trading because you investing a set amount of money into  a single company. Stock Trading goes up faster and comes down faster then other types of investments. The more companies you add to your portfolio the less this happens which bring us to mutual funds. Mutual Funds are put together by brokerage houses but you can buy these funds just like you do stock except most funds you can only buy or sell in the morning or at the end of the day.
Mutual funds are put together in several different ways some are only made up with small companies, some with mid size and some with large. Another way is by Energy, Transport, or companies that make money in construction. You get the idea.

There are some things you need to know about Mutual Funds is the Brokerage Houses make their money by charging you a service free for managing the fund. But all of the On-line houses have screeners for all investments so you can figure out what works for you. Mutual funds don't move up and down as fast as stocks and generally follow the market no matter who puts them together or how they are made up but it gives you the ability to diversify your investment with just a little bit of money. So that is the advantage.

Now when I was younger I invested in stocks through E-trade. I was invested in a single stock for the long term. so I invested about $1000 dollars. 700 in stock and 300 in a money market account which is basically a savings account. Now because it was long term I only looked at it maybe once a month just to see how much money I was loosing. Investing in a company you never heard of is usually not smart investing. One day I noticed about $180 missing out of my money market account. So I called E-Trade and asked them where my money went they told me it was a fee that I had been paying for months for having under 10,000 in my account. They had sent me my notice in the mail that I had just been filing away without opening because of my long term investment plan. They had my email address but didn't bother to tell me on their website or by e-mail.

Now I'm not telling you this to scare you or to keep you away from E-Trade all though I won't ever use them again. I told you this so you can learn from my mistake. Pay attention to your accounts so companies cant get away with robbing you like they did by changing policy on an existing account without my approval. Of course their excuse before I sold my stock at a loss and closed my account was We notified you by Mail.

The next way you can invest Is by Individual Retirement Account (IRA). There are two different types. The first is a regular IRA and this is regulated by the government. You and your significant other if your married can invest a certain amount tax free into this account. I think right now it is 6500 a year if your married. All that info is out there on the web and is easy to find.

You are allowed to invest into the same things that you do with a regular  account with a few minor exceptions but as I mentioned you don't pay tax. The risk is that if you take out money before retirement age you not only pay taxes but a 10% penalty. After all this is a retirement account so the 10% penalty is there to discourage you from spending your retirement on that Audi you always wanted. Usually if you keep your money in a account like this for several years and you have to take some out this 10% isn't a factor for two reasons. If you didn't have a IRA you probable wouldn't have money to pay for whatever problem your having and your IRA historically will make more then 10% on your money invested.

The second IRA is a ROTH IRA and it is different in many ways. First thing you will notice with a ROTH is you pay taxes on your money you invest but unlike a regular IRA you don't pay taxes when you take it out at retirement age where  you do pay taxes on a Regular IRA when you take out. That means in a regular IRA you pay interest in growth but in a Roth you don't.

On both IRAs  the age that you can start taking out for retirement  is 59 1/2. You can leave IRA to whoever you want if you pass away.

Now for the third and my favorite,  401K. The reason I love 401K is because the people you work for are going to pay you more money for the same work. Nothings better than free money. The way this  works is that the company comes up with what they want to do and it looks something like this, 50% of 6%. Which means that they will match 50% of your investment up to 6% of your total income before taxes. So I will give you an example.

 If you make $35000 a Year with the formula above you could invest $2100 and you company would put in $1050 for a total of $3150. Now if you got paid every two weeks you would invest $78 or $39 a week.

Now to some of you that is a lot of money and to others that doesn't seem like that much but the market grows about 7% average that means if you didn't change the amount you invest and they continued to pay 50% you would have invested $21000 in ten years out of your own pocket but your total in your account would be $43521 and in twenty your 42000 investment would be 129.135 but that's not even realistic, because I wanted to keep it simple, you never got a raise so you could invest more. That makes a big difference the longer you invest that faster your money grows because of compounded interest.

 Well I hope I didn't bore you with all these numbers Just remember that if your invested in the market and it falls like it did in 09 you heard all these people talking about how much money they lost. I can tell you that most of them are full of it. You can only loose money if you sell during that low time. Most of the people you know where talking about their 401K or their IRA. Money they were not going to touch anyway. So don't let them scare you by talking about their big losses. IF you know anything about the market then you know that now they have all of that back and more.

you might be thinking what happens if the market crashes and I loose everything. This is just my opinion  but if that happens the only thing your going to have to worry about is how much ammo have you invested in.

I hope I have helped you in some way. Just remember if this changes your life the only thing I'm getting out of this is the satisfaction of  helping you. Something to think about.