I am inspired by this.

There is a nice guy with a blog called Zefrank. I love his positive attitude on there. He lists all kinds of projects that he works on. This one in particular really moved me. I think we can all relate to the feelings expressed by the song.

I love that he did this just to be nice. We could all use a virtual (or real) hug sometimes, it is nice that someone is willing to.

Let me know what you all think.

I should get an honorary degree

I am sitting on the train as usual. At this point I don't even pretend to avoid people on the train, the dumbest people are drawn to me like a moth to flame.

I find myself unabashedly listening to the discussion of two people across the aisle from me. A large bearded man and a woman in her late forties(ish?).

Man: "Did you know that cocoa and cocaine come from the same plant? Amazing that such different things can come from the same source!"

Woman: That is astounding! Are you sure?

Man: (leaning over toward me) She doesn't believe me, you know that don't you? You tell her!

Me: Well, actually they aren't the same at all. Cocoa comes from the cocoa bean and Cocaine comes from the Coca plant. They aren't even in the same genus.

Man: What, are you some kind of botanist?

Me: For the purposes of this conversation? Yes, I am.

Aren't there rules for this?

So on the train I noticed something that has been in my periphery for some time. I attribute the oversight to always having to watch out for that sociopath...

Anyway, the train goes right past these subsidized/Income restricted housing(also sometimes called a ghetto) and I noticed that 3/4 of the apartments have a satellite dish. Now I am not certain of the cost of those dishes, but if I have to guess I would put the cost at about $100 plus the Monthly payment that has to be close to what cable is (which in SoCal is about $70-$100). So... these people are in such dire circumstances that they are not able to afford housing on their own. Because of this the government steps in and helps to the tune of 50% (and sometimes more), but they have enough free cash flow to pay for extra TV channels?

That doesn't sit well with me. Here is why:

• the government only has that money to subsidize because they took it from someone else.
• if you are in need of charity, than you should have exhausted your own resources first.
• Cable/Satellite is a luxury, not a need. So are cell phones, computers, Internet, etc.

I am not saying that these people aren't in need. I am simply perplexed that the government doesn't have any rules in place to restrict frivolous spending. California might be able to close that budget deficit by a fair margin if it applies a few common sense rules... but who am I kidding? The government (Federal and State) does not have common sense. If they did, they would understand that you can't spend what you don't have. There is NO SUCH THING AS A FREE LUNCH. Everything has its cost. Shoot we don't even want to think about how much interest we are paying for our current deficit. It is ridiculous... I am going to go cry in the corner for a little while. Someone come get me when they decide to reimburse the tax payers for everyone's cable/satellite.

Entitlements

I have been thinking quite a bit about the younger generation, my generation, and those old people that think so poorly of us. While this has been on my mind for a few weeks, and in no small way influenced by this post by The Big Bags, the catalyst is really a cranky old lady that said all the people that are under 30 are "rude, arrogant little S#!@s." This was said to me while I waited for my flight out of Austin on Sunday night. That statement bothered me.

Here is the thing. Yes, we have a feeling of entitlement. Yes, the generation that is even younger than mine feels even more entitled. Can this be a detriment? sure, but not always. Even the older generation feels entitled (they all feel entitled to respect that they don't always deserve, among other things). I mean, really, if we are rude it is because our parents didn't teach us better manners. I happen to know that my mother would STILL slap me if I didn't offer to help someone (anyone, of any age), or if I was rude to an older person. Probably even if I was rude to someone that was rude to me first. Most of my friends of my age are the same. So what 30-year-old pissed her off so much? Turns out, according to her, I am just like her grandson. Well, if her grandson didn't turn out the way she wanted, I would say part of that is her fault. But if her grandson really is like me, then she needs to calm down. Being sixty DOESN'T entitle you to skipping an entire airport line, just because. If you want to get through the line faster, then get a walker or a wheelchair. As long as you can perambulate on your own, then you can be an adult and wait in line like the rest of us. None of us want to wait in line, it is an airport after all.

And as a little note to these type of older people, I work really hard for what I have. I am not entitled to what I have, I have EARNED it.

A few things to get used to...

Well we came back from Texas. Generally we loved it. We met some of the best people ever that will be in the MBA program with me. Great family and they will be our neighbors as well. Beautiful country, the air is so clean compared to LA, and the prices of everything compared to SoCal is just... awesome.

But I will have to get used to the following things.

• people really do use "y'all" and "howdy" multiple times in every conversation
• Not only do people buy "bedazzlers" but they use them... ugh!
• There is a 2:1 ratio of Trucks (with a capital "T" to denote how freaking big they are) to cars
• They only seem to drink coffee or ice tea
  

But these things are definitely overshadowed by the awesomeness of:

• no State Income tax
  
• Mutton busting (which I think Hudson will be doing)
  
• no traffic
• great ward
• I can get a pair of cowboy boots and wont stand out
• Tex-Mex
  

What are you talking about GB?

Some one please help me. Why is this even an issue? The US census is part of the Constitution. It has been around since freaking 1790. Bachmann is a retard and I am questioning the intelligence of the people who voted her into office. She doesn't want *further* government intrusion? This is not further at all, the Patriot act was intrusive, but this is just par for the last 2 centuries or so.

To answer some of the questions that were posed:

Yes, the government needs to know how many people are in an area in order to determine not only Federal funding allocations, but also how many seats will be in the House of Representatives (they also use this data to determine the size and area of these districts).

No, they didn't include the question about legal residency because those that are not legal wont actually fill it out and return it. So I suppose this isn't the perfect time to find out how many illegal aliens are in the country.

No Glenn, don't be completely asinine, they can't use this information to take away your gun permit. The information in the census is information that you have already provided in order to legally own a firearm. This means that they already know who you are and where you live if you have a permit to own. Now... if you don't have the gun legally, that is different. But I still don't see how they could know that you have the illegal weapon from the questions in the survey, so they STILL can't use the census as a "loophole" to take away the gun.

Instead of trying to stir up trouble over something that has been done for centuries and has done little to no harm, try actually reporting the freaking news. I know that GB is an "opinion" show, can you have some logic in there somewhere? I mean, how did Glenn make the "logic leap" from "there are 3 people that live in this home" to "the government will take my gun"?

Each day I lose more faith in not only our politicians (there wasn't much to begin with) but our media are only a bunch of attention whores. They don't actually care about reporting anything worthwhile, only about what will get other brain dead people to watch. 5 minutes of thought would let you know that the census is FINE. Please for the love of all that is right in this world, fill out the census. If you choose not to, that is fine as well, so long as you have a logical reason for choosing not to. "I am lazy" works better than, "they will take my gun" or "they will know where I live."

Just a note.

I saw the psycho actually going through the trash can today and collecting something that a lady had just thrown away. It is times like this that I am legitimately concerned for the safety of people in Southern California. I mean, this guy is still allowed to take public transit and creep people (mostly women) out, even after he has had the LA county Sheriff's speak to him about this type of behavior. So, our law enforcement can't do anything about this type of behavior... but we have people in prison for 30+ years on a marijuana possession charge. Seems like we have priorities in order.