Rice & Beans

MMMmmmm Rice & Beans, when done right is a great meal, and usually goes over ok here and there are always left overs (making good food stretch). Food is not what I am here to write about, but it is what brought me to this topic today. Kinda. It started from a post on Google+ from someone in my circles. Cara Schulz originally posted this, and a friend of mine re-shared it today which was the first time I read it. Cara touched on something that I have had thoughts on for several years now. The economy stinks, it really stinks right now. Being unemployed makes it just that much harder. People have told me to go apply anywhere and everywhere. Why? Here is an example: I applied at certain world wide known fast food chain that is the but of many menial job jokes. They never called me back even when advertising that they are hiring. I have been turned down from a major retail chain as a cashier because I am "over qualified." So I am too qualified to earn a paycheck?
Damn.. did it again, off on a tangent.

What I propose is something like as follows.

As conditions for qualifying to run for any elected office of governor or higher, they should have to do this for a year.
First, be stripped of their legal and/or business degrees (seems to me that most have one of these), move into a rental house or apartment, have little to no money in a bank account (by little, I mean under $100), no credit cards, no wait, yes, give them 2, both maxed out. A cell phone bill a month or 2 past due, 1 modest, high mileage car that does not fit the entire family. Now, they will start off with their utilities on, electric and internet. No land line phone, instead, Magic Jack (because there are some local gov't agencies that can NOT call to these numbers). They will need to get oil, for their heat AND hot water, propane/gas for their cooking stove. I will be nice and let them be on well water, and have a septic system, so there is no water bill or sewer bill.
 Their challenge, make it 365 days after this start with out going homeless or losing a MAJOR utility. Also they are starting off unemployed.
Here is what they will find. Being broke sucks. EVERYTHING costs. want to go to a job interview? find money for gas to get there. Need a copy of your resume to give? Well guess what, your printer is broken, now you need to go to the library to print it, .10/page. Stamps cost to send back an application. Your assistance that you thought you could get to help get you by until there is employment? Sorry, the assistance is broke too, there is none.
Once they get a job, (if they get one) it might be 40 miles away and because they have no real experience in anything that is hiring, they have a $14/hr job, but hey, its employment right? Its great, they think they have won until they realize that what they take home is much less than that and all benefits/assistance is based on GROSS wages, not NET, but they now make TOO MUCH to get most assistance that is still out there. Dont forget the kids, which means that they will BOTH have to work, and opposite shifts, because day care is too expensive and they need to schedule it so that they can still do it with only the one vehicle. Until it breaks. There is no public transportation, because where they live is too far outside of a metropolitan area that uses it. Remember the job that was 40 miles away? 

How many presidents, have lived like this as an adult? How many congressmen, senators, state reps or governors have lived a life living on rice & beans because they have $20 left to feed a family of 6 for a week?

Having them read about it does nothing, they will not see the reality of it. Joe the Plumber means nothing to them except publicity, because they have not lived like Joe the Plumber.

Just think what would change and how fast it would change if everyone from state rep up to the president had to do this?

They talk about creating jobs, but for who? Where? What kind of jobs? Employment is only one piece of the puzzle, what needs to be fixed is everything else too. No one sees this unless they see it from the inside. Chances are, if you have enough income to run for one of these offices, this life is alien to you.
We need to turn this around, have them see it for what it really is for any real change to happen.
"They should be forced to feed their family on $20 bucks and ask a stranger how to cook some freaking beans..."

Maybe it would not take all of them, maybe just a few of the RIGHT ones. Maybe. Just maybe.

Now to go have a bowl of home made fried rice, I need to find some way to use it all.

New Junk

Let's see.. where to begin with this. First, a warning, this is a RANT! I am blatantly complaining here. Second, I will be speaking in generalizations, I KNOW that what I am complaining about is not absolute and not the case EVERY time, just in my experience, so please dont tell me I am wrong just because you have had a different experience. Ok, disclaimer done. On with the rant.

Age, price, and mileage mean NOTHING to the quality and reliability of a used (no, not "pre-owned" that is just a marketing way of saying USED) car. Weather you buy it "certified" from a USED car dealer, or private party paying cash, makes NO difference. I have bought a $300 23 year old (at that time) car with 150+ thousand miles on it, and sold it with over 175K on it still running great with only routine maintenance. I re-built a few things on it out of choice.

 I have had a slew of under $2000 vehicles that were pretty good and we got our monies worth out of them. I personally have had several under $500 that I drove into the ground. Most recently we (my wife) had purchased a 2004 vehicle for roughly $14,000 with 110,000 miles on it. From day one there were things wrong with it. The heated seats did not work, the dealership delayed getting it to us because there was some sort of glitch getting it inspected. Leak in the sun roof, strange noises (coming from under the car, no where near the engine like neither one of us have heard before and the dealership service department says its "normal"), oil leaks, and we have even had to replace the transmission. When we bought it, part of the deal was new tires, this was done, but there was something they missed. Several months later, we had a side-wall about to let go on one of the new tires, come to find out the dealership never replaced (or even checked) the tire pressure monitor inside the wheel. This needed to be replaced, and the "extended warranty" they sold us did not cover it. Turns out they are supposed to be replaced when tires are. Now, there is a leak in a valve stem and we MIGHT have to replace another tire pressure monitor ($90). Now there is something, somewhere draining the battery when not driven for 2 days, almost to the point of having to jump start it (and the battery is new). We have had this beauty for just a year now. It is junk. Plain and simple. New, plastic, over engineered, junk that gets 1980's big car fuel economy.

TANGENT

Let me just say that the D.O.T. (in my opinion) is totally run by the auto manufacturers. Why they mandate that ALL vehicles come with some things is beyond me. The 3rd (center) brake light, I can almost understand, but not totally, and now this stupid TPMS thing. Some useless gadget put on an expensive vehicle as a "safety feature" (how does this make the car safer?) and now everyone has to have something that adds to the cost of a vehicle, costs about $360 to replace all 4 (which is recommended to do when replacing tires). Thanks D.O.T. you have made my travels SO much safer.

So my latest purchase, $1600, 19 years old 180-some odd thousand miles on it and the biggest repair was a $30 timing belt (that I was able to do myself) and i still get nearly 50% better MPG than the newer expensive one.  I have had this just about as long as my wife's POS.

I have to say, she didnt really choose to buy this particular car, its not what she wanted or even likes, I will just leave it at that. Her car was bought so that she could have "dependable, safe transportation" for her self and the kids. Something that is newer, "so it will not have to be repaired all the time" like an "older," "cheaper," car would have to be. hmmm...

This is why I have always hated that argument, that price/age of a vehicle = dependability and minimal repairs. OLD does NOT = broken, unreliable, costly to fix, or anything else of such derogatory terms used towards "older" vehicles.  So far, in my life time of owning MANY vehicles newer/more expensive does not guarantee good value.

This also depends on the vehicle itself, our particular 4 wheeled mechanism of hatred, has stopped being made after only a few years, and I can see why.

If given a choice between an 19 year old with over 100K miles for under $2000, or a newer 7 year old car I would happily NOT go in debt and buy the much more reliable and safe, economical car.

There is also the "green" factor; people are so concerned about re-using and re-cycling, well, why not do that with cars? If more people just put 10% of the cost of a *NEW* car into an older car, there would be less cars made, right? Here is another little secret, many old cars got good (even by today's standard) fuel economy, and even BETTER than most SUV's that are on the road right now. There was more steel on them and less plastic, steel is easier to recycle and in a very real way, greener than most new materials in cars now. So for get the new hybrids that they still have not figured out how to safely make GOOD batteries for (or how to dispose of them), for get the shiny new cars that get about the same mpg as that old "clunker" in your drive way that needs about $1000 in repairs because we know that $1000 is more expensive than financing a $38,000 car, right?

Customer (dont) Care

WARNING: VENTING RANT TO FOLLOW

I have now (as of tonight) developed a love/hate (leaning more towards hate) relationship with Sprint. I had Sprint back in the wonderfully simple analog days in the late 90's, then went a few years w/o a phone and then back to sprint again in 2004 and have continuously been with them since. That is customer loyalty. I have little to no complaints, even going so far as highly recommending them to others. I love the devices & services they offer. Their plans are great and reasonably priced too. Did I say I love the devices they offer? I currently have the HTC EVO 4G and LOVE it (but have thought about rooting it). This is my 3rd HTC phone (Mogul, Snap, EVO, in that order). This is the love portion of my relationship with Sprint. They dont love me so much anymore. They have just essentially gave me the we should see other people line. In the mail to day was a love letter (of sorts) from them. They will terminate our service if we continue to use roaming at our current rate. Sprint is wonderful, we have not been charged for roaming in the 4 months we have lived here. We have to use roaming, there is NO sprint service where we live, which means for us to have any signal, we must roam.

You see what is highlighted there? "Off Network Roaming" That is where we live. You see that dark green labeled "Best" Its a lie. I drive up Rte. 1 every day, and am roaming the whole way, into Bangor, even IN Bangor.

Here is the Hate. I have been paying a $160+/month for my wife and I to have service. Now because we are roaming so much, and we are not on Sprint Network enough, the dont want us anymore. We have to switch carriers, buy new phones, and all that lovelyness that comes with it. I will have to pay a security deposit to start a new service. Have you seen the prices of new phones? For 2 phones, + deposit + first months bill we are looking at close to $1000. Just because Sprint does not provide service where we live. We do NOT have a land line phone, so these phones are our ONLY phone lines. But Sprint WILL waive the early termination fee so that we can switch carriers. How nice of them.

So lets boil this down
I pay $160/mo for Sprint service.
Sprint does not provide service here.
So they have not been giving me what I have been paying for and I am the one who has violated the terms & conditions of the contract?
They will not refund the previous 4 months that I have paid for a service that I did not get.
Hmm... in the rest of the world, if you pay for something, and dont get it, it is considered theft or fraud. I spoke to the fraud dept. They only deal with identity theft, that is their definition of fraud.

 Fraud

noun

1.

deceit, trickery, sharp practice, or breach of confidence, perpetrated for profit or to gain some unfair or dishonest advantage.

2.

a particular instance of such deceit or trickery: mail fraud; election frauds.

3.

any deception, trickery, or humbug: That diet book is a fraud and a waste of time.

4.

a person who makes deceitful pretenses; sham; poseur.

 Synonyms:

counterfeit

duplicity

extortion

treachery

charlatan

blackmain

chicanery

Our best option is now US Cellular. They have comparable phones to what I have but not what I really want. I have also been told there is no way to re-use the phone I have on another network (even if I root it).

Sprint, you now are a douchecanoe.

Featured by BradyBooks

I was asked by the good people of Brady Books to write a blog for them. This is what happened.

http://bradybooks.wordpress.com/2012/02/24/unaffiliated-un-uniformity/

Why I Do What I Do

I have been meaning to say this for a while, I represent no one selling a product nor any agency, just me. First off, nearly all of my adult career has been some how involved in Fire Protection. I have been and am once again a volunteer fire fighter, I have been and am once again a fire sprinkler installer (sprinkler fitter). The most loved job I have had (paid) has been as a fire protection design engineer. I have worked in the manufacturing and sales of fire sprinkler devices, I have grown up with a entrepreneur father who was a distributor of fire protection and standpipe equipment and even ran his business for a short while too. I have designed and installed special hazard suppression systems (non-water based suppression systems). I have been in buildings (as a fire fighter) where there have been sprinklers activated and in buildings (houses) without them. So, my whole life has been about fire protection. Now that that is out of the way, onward.

I am self taught. I work in a highly specialized field, also, a relatively low paying career (compared to many others). I have had opportunities to do other things that may, in the long term, have paid much better, even to the point of not living pay check to pay check, but I stuck with what I love. Lately, I have been involved in many "discussions" about sprinklers in houses. I really do get angry when I hear the argument that it is a "waste of money" and "just another pointless building code" or worse, "if I am already spending $200,000 to build a house why should I spend another $5-$6000 on something I will never use?" Even worse (to me) is my co-workers, some of them, hate their job, and are just doing it for the pay check. They could care less about what they do, even one, who has stated that he sees no point in putting them in new construction. Really? Maybe he needs to find a new career.

Well here is why *I* design/install fire sprinkler systems in nearly every type of building you can think of, INCLUDING houses. I am passionate about what I do for several reasons below are some of them. 
The following are links I have found in my twitter stream:

http://marietta.patch.com/articles/sprinkler-saves-house-11-people

 http://fox4kc.com/2012/02/05/fire-quickly-extinguished-thanks-to-sprinkler-system/

 http://www.lasvegassun.com/news/2012/feb/17/fire-prompts-partial-evacuation-santa-fe-station-h/

 I see these headlines EVERY DAY. Yes, every day. They are examples of what I do for a paid career saving lives.

 I dont get paid anywhere near what my job is worth, but I still do it, every day. If just ONE of the systems I have either installed or designed does its job, just once to help people evacuate, hold back a fire or save a life, then my career will have been worth while.

There is another side to this that so many in the industry over look; sprinkler systems are NOT intended to EXTINGUISH the fire, but only to CONTAIN it so that the occupants of the building can evacuate and until we, my brethren fire fighters can get there and do our job. In reality though, many times they do extinguish fires before they can spread and become a tragedy. Here is how I see it, I would feel so much safer going into a structure fire knowing there is a sprinkler system there, and active than with out one. Sprinklers save fire fighters lives too. Here is one painful example: who remembers the Worcester Cold Storage fire from December, 1999? I do. I was on a fire dept. in the adjacent town. The building had been abandoned for MANY years. The owners CHOSE not to maintain the  dry sprinkler system. 6 Fire fighters died. Had the sprinkler system been able to function, that building would not have turned into the inferno that it was.

I am searching for a second income. I will NOT leave the fire protection industry, it is too important to me and what it can do. I am a certified EMT-B, but not in the state I live, more on that one later.

Install sprinklers.

Hug a fire fighter.

If you see anything in the news about laws for mandating installing sprinklers in houses, do everything you can to support it, it may save your life or the life of someone trying to save your life.

Blocked

There are many things I wish to say. The words used to be able to just flow from my pen, like it already knew what I wanted to write. There are thoughts, ideas and fragments bobbing around in my mind like apples waiting to be bitten but that is all they are, fragments, thoughts, nothing complete, from beginning to end. I WANT to write again, but first I need to figure out what this block is, so that I can take the ideas and thoughts I have and form them into something complete.
So there it is.. . now what to do with it... any suggestions?

Thrown To The Wolves

Seems like I keep getting "tested" here at work. Pushing me to see where/when I will fail. Now, I have a crazy deadline, what should take a crew of 3 to do in 4 days I am left to in 5 by myself. Now, my future employment is on the line if I don't finish. So, lack if help, lack of tools, lack of time. I have always said I love a challenge, I don't ever give up or quit because something is too hard, it just means I have to work harder. I've had this attitude in nearly all aspects of my life. The problem is, I am getting no feedback on these "tests" I am given. This feed back is critical to me, to know both how far I have come and hoe far I have to go, and also weather or not I am going in the right direction.
So once again, I sm thrown to the wolves, and I'm wearing steak pants. When thrown to the wolves, I do not become the sheep, but the wolf that gets the sheep.

The Fire-Bringer

 This is a story I have heard, read aloud many many times in my youth. Always on a friday night, in a glen, around a VERY large fire in the summer time. This is because it was part of the closing ceremonies of the summer camp I went to from the age of 8 to 18. I am now 37 and am still friends with people I met there. In some ways it did shape who I am today. Maybe I will tell this story to my kids, around a fire some summer night. 

Enjoy.

 The Fire Bringer

This is the Indian story of how fire was brought to the tribes. It was long long ago when men and beasts talked with understanding, and the gray Coyote was friend and counselor of man.

There was a Boy of the tribe who was swift of foot and keen of eye, and he and the Coyote ranged the wood together. They saw the men catching fish in the creeks with their hands, and women digging roots with sharp stones. This was in summer. But when winter came on, they saw the people running naked in the snow, or huddled in caves of the rocks, and most miserable. The Boy noticed this, and was very unhappy for the misery of his people.

" I do not feel it," said the Coyote.

"You have a coat of good fur," said the Boy, "and my people have not."

" Come to the hunt, " said the Coyote.

" I will hunt no more, till I have found a way to help my people against the cold," said the Boy.
"Help me, O Counselor!"

Then the Coyote ran away, and came back after a long time; he said he had found a way, but it was a hard way.

"No way is too hard" said the Boy. So the Coyote told him that they must go to the Burning Mountain and bring fire to the people.

"What is fire?" said the Boy. And the Coyote told him that fire was red like a flower, yet not a flower; swift to run in the grass and to destroy like a beast, yet no beast; fierce and hurtful, yet a good servant to keep one warm, if kept among stones and fed with small sticks.

" We will get this fire," said the Boy.

First the Boy had to persuade the people to give him one hundred swift runners. Then he and they and the Coyote started at a good pace for the far-away Burning Mountain. At the end of the first day's trial, they left the weakest of the runners, to wait; at the end of the second, the next stronger; at the end of the third, the next; and so for each of the hundred days of the journey; and the Boy was the strongest runner, and went to the last rail with the counselor. High mountains they crossed, the great plains, and giant woods, and at last they came to the Big Water, quaking along the sand at the foot of the Burning Mountain.

It stood up in a high peaked cone, and smoke rolled out from it endlessly along the sky. At night, the Fire Spirits danced, and the glare reddened the Big Water far out.

There the Counselor said to the Boy, "Stay thou here till I bring thee a brand from the burning; be ready and right for running, for I shall be far spent when I come again, and the Fire Spirits will pursue me."

Then he went up the mountain; and the Fire Spirits only laughed when they say him, for he looked so slinkin, inconsiderable, and mean, that none of themthought harm from him. And in the night, when they were at their dance about the mountain, The Coyote stole the fire, and ran with it down the slpoe of the Burning Mountain. When the Fire Spirits saw what he had done, they streamed out after him, red and angry, with a humming sound like a swarm of bees. But the Coyote was still ahead; the sparks of the brand streamed along his flanks, as he carried it in his mouth; and he stretched his body to the trail.

The Boy saw him coming, like a falling star against the mountain; he heard the singing sound of the Fire Spirits close behind, and the laboring breath of the Counselor. And when the good beast panted down beside him, the boy caught the brand from his jaws and was off, like an arrow from a bent bow. Out he shot on the homeward path, and the Fire Spirits snapped and sung behind him. But fast as they pursued, he fled faster, till he saw the next runner standing in his place, his body bent for the running. To him he passed it, and it was off and away, with the Fire Spirits raging in chase.

So it passed from hand to hand, and the Fire Spirits tore after it through the scrub, till they came to the mountains of the snow; these they could not pass. Then the dark sleek runners with the backwards streaming brand bore it forward, shining star-like in the night, glowing red in sultry noons, vioet pale in twilight glooms, until they came in safely to their own land.

And there they kept it among stones and fed it with small sticks, as the Counselor advised; and it kept the people warm.

Even after the Boy was called the Fire Bringer; and ever afterthe Coyote bore the sign of the bringing, for the fur along his flanks was singed and yellow from the flames that streamed backward from the brand.

* Adapted from "the Basket Woman," by Mary Austin

Playing with my meat!

Yup, all day, in the kitchen. Making jerky, (what were you thingking?)! Here is what I will be making:

No. 9
A glorious blend of sweet heat. Starts off sweet, quickly gets hot with lots of wonderful flavors coming out with every piece. 
*This one will be a very small batch, as I can no longer find the recipe for it. It may have to be retired.

Phoenix Fyre
Much like No. 9, but with less sweet and more heat. You will be consumed by this fire.

Tropical Heat
Firey hot, with tropical citrus fruits and a hint of rum. This one may even scare the Phoenix.

SoCo Special
One of the few with out heat, an addictive blend of BBQ, honey and Southern Comfort.

Blueberry (new)
Still needs a name, Fresh picked local blueberries and a hint of lemon. The taste of summer here in New England.

Wisdom (new)
This is a chicken jerky, as the name says, its sunny citrus fruits and wise old sage to balance it out.  

The Frustrations of Being Homeless

Ok, well not really living in the streets homeless, but instead, living with Volante's Parents. The house is too small for all of us and we are tripping over ours and their stuff. Then there is the non-physical side of it, the various "rules" and the comments and general attitude sometimes, and MAJOR lack of privacy. The kids are sleeping in the living room, and we are sleeping in what was at one time, the dining room, which really is too small to be a bedroom for 2 adults. As for the "rules," I have nothing against living to other peoples rules in their house, but its how they are presented and enforced that get to me. This is no way to live let alone raise our kids. Dont get me wrong, I am GRATEFUL to have a roof over our heads, really, I am, but its time to go.
There is another side to it; house hunting, particularly, rental house hunting. Buying or renting, house hunting can be a PITA, no, it IS a PITA. There are (obvious) differences between looking to buy, and looking to rent. Probably the most frustrating part of renting is that it the own can pick the renter. Lets look at some of the issues, first there is credit checks. Really? Credit? To rent?  Ya, I get that you COULD use a credit report to see if they pay their bills, but at the same time, what if MOST of what you have paid in the last 7 years is NOT on a credit report? (They required a credit score of 600 or better).You can NOT judge someones ability to pay NOW against what happened in the past. Then there is work. Ok, I have been employed now for a month and a half, so does that mean that I do not have good employment history? I can see if I had 7 jobs in 3 years. Yes I know it does not look good that i have been unemployed for 2 years, but look around, how many other people are in that situation or have been in that situation. Does that mean they can not keep a job?
We went up to Maine 2 weekends ago to go look at a house. That same day there was to be another family to look at the house as well. He seemed to like us, we asked all the right questions and gave all the (assumingly) right answers, and a few in particular such as his very anti-pesticide stance for his yard, we completely agreed on that. We went home and filled out the application and emailed it to him. The only response we have been given is that there are "othere applications we're going to go over." When buying, if you have the $$, its jsut a matter of some legal paperwork (mountains of it) to be done and its yours. I can remember (while in my previous marriage) looking to rent and it was pretty much "first come first served." there was no "competing" to rent a house. Another frustration; obviously there is a large demand for rental properties, otherwise we would not be waiting like highschool grad waits on hearing from a college. With such a demand, you would think that if you have an advertised (on-line) rental property you might want to respond to emails from people wanting to rent it! Oh, and include a damn phone number! Unless of course you really dont want to rent it. I have no idea how many emails I have sent out inquiring about houses, asking for pictures (for those that include NO pictures, ya there is a smart advertising idea) with 0 responses, that's right, 0, not one. People keep asking me how it is possible that we have not found a place yet, well that's how. The internet is a wonderful tool for moving to another state, but only if everyone uses it the right way.