Rat Race

It’s been exactly two weeks since I started the new position in my company. A few months ago I got notified that my old position was eliminated and I had to find a new one or hit the streets. I managed to get a transfer and now here I am.
Driving to work everyday where in my old job I traveled. I sit in a cube where in my old job I sat mostly in hotel rooms.
However, this new position I must say is pretty interesting. The first thing I noticed was the cube next to mine had a window!
cubical

That’s right, a cube with a view! I have worked ungodly hours at numerous corporations’ headquarters. Not once have I ever seen a cube with a window. I know, you might say “you’re blowing it out of proportion”. Maybe I am. However, I still find it quite, interesting.
I wonder if anyone ever requested the window to be on the inside wall? You know, facing the inside of another person’s cube? That would be great!
Maybe the window is given out as a bonus to those who excel at their job.
“Bob, for your 15 years of good service we will be installing a window on your cubical. You only have one exterior wall facing the water fountain. Hope that’s ok.”

Cubical with a view

Cubical with a view

Enough about that.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Since I started this position I haven’t wondered around the building or explored my surroundings. Today I decided that I would do my recon and find the break rooms, printers, etc. I found the break room with this pic:
microwave

Someone really loved their microwave or food. I guess they could have been bored also. To write an epitaph, print it, post it in the break room take a little bit of effort.
I must say, I think I might like it here.

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Surprise inside

First, I must say I don’t know if this is considered interesting or weird but I thought it was worthy of a blog post.

My kiddo is into race cars, big engine and tractor pulls. Several years ago we bought a set of these little Dale Earnhardt bears. They serve no purpose what so ever except to sit around and look cool.

Dale Earnhardt Bear

Dale Earnhardt Bear

Well, we were moving shit around the house last week and my wife accidently broke one. I was in the other room when she called for me “Honey, there’s a naked girl inside this bear.”

In all honesty I had no clue what she was talking about. She showed me the one bear that was broke. The break was right on the bear’s ass and sure enough there was a girl head inside the bear. Now, she wasn’t naked but it sure looked like it.

Bear's Ass

Bear's Ass

I decided to operate! See what kind of sick and twisted bear this was! His appetite so far was for semi-nude Lara Croft dolls. However, there could be a Ken doll, maybe some remains of a G.I. Joe or even undigested parts of a Bratz doll! I had to find out!

Below is my photographic journey into what is really inside a plastic animal figure that was made in a foreign country.

It is very tempting to crack open the other bear and see what secrets he has inside… literally.

Dale Earnhardt Bear with something inside

Dale Earnhardt Bear with something inside

 

 

 

 

 

 

 I see more victims!

 

Dale Earnhardt Bear with three dolls

Dale Earnhardt Bear with three dolls

 

Seems he likes the ladies!
What a way to go.

What a way to go.

No more secrets!
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Obama, Racism, and Ignorance.

The whole purpose of my blog was so that I could write what I want regardless of what other people thinking or say.

I speak my mind and offer opinions when as I feel like it on this blog and in real life. I try not to hurt peoples feelings intentionally but sometimes I do. It’s usually because I don’t realize I have hurt or offended someone.

A long time ago a college professor told me that if I get my feelings hurt then it was my fault. That I am the only one who controls my feelings and if someone get’s to me then I deserve it.

He is correct. Now, to put this type of self control to practice is difficult to say the least but I’m there.

Now, I had to get that out of the way to write what was on my mind.

I’m not a raciest and never had been. My mom and dad raised my sister and me to tread everyone as an equal. Even through we ‘see’ they are not treated equal … everyone should be.

So, here I am a poor kid going to school in Oklahoma. I watched at the first of each school year how all the Indian kids got new basketball shoes, books, school supplies, and clothes from the state.

They also received free medical care, paid vet services, and discount on new homes.

Yet, I didn’t get anything. My mom and dad had to work their ass off to get us what little we had.

So, we go through the years and not one time in school when an Indian class mate didn’t make it on the basketball team… did I hear it was racism.

I knew a number of classmates (one in prison now) that are full blood Indian that got pulled over and never once screamed or said racism.

And… not once did I ever say the treatment the natives received over the non-natives was reverse discrimination or racism of any type. Now, I thought it… but didn’t say it.

We all got along ok. Then my sister starts dating a black guy from a neighboring high school. He was a nice guy with good morals and ethics. After a few weeks of dating he came over and broke up with my sister.

The reason was his family didn’t think it was right to date a white girl.
Now, how fucked up is that?

Anyway, I got off on task on what I really intended to write. Everyone in the news has heard the latest Obama story that involves the white police officer and the black home owner.

I’ll be honest, I like Obama. I could care less the color of his skin or his nationality. We teach everyone in today’s job market that characteristic doesn’t mater. Yet, everyone holds the president to a different standard.

As long as he can do the job, he could be any one in my book.

How ever I think Obama sealed his doom on reelection and support from the people. Police Officers have hard job and every day have to worry about weather they are going to live or die.

Here’s the kicker… you would think that the President of the United States would have enough advisors to tell him:

“Mr. Pres, the officer was following protocol. There were reports of two black men breaking into the house and the responding officer found a black man in the house. He was doing his job.”

Yet, it seems that Mr. Obama decided to speak before actually finding out the true facts. I am almost %100 certain that if the police is called because two white guys were seen breaking in to my house and they showed up and found me… they would detain me until they figured it out.

It’s a safety factor.

All I can say is that the home owner is a fucking asshole. Yes, I said it. You’re an asshole. To take a situation that could have been resolved so easily and make into something about racism is appalling. It just goes to show you can go to Harvard and still be a complete prick.

Then to bring the president into this mess makes it even more despicable.  I know it was the Pres. Choice to get involved. Yet, I’m pretty sure that Mr. Homeowner called him up with only half the facts.

To make matters worse was that Al Sharpton and Jesse Jackson had to mouth off about how bad this racial profiling was.
It amazes me that the four prominent people:
1. The Pres.
2. The Homeowner (Harvard something or other)
3. Al Sharpton
4. Jesse Jackson
who should know all about the due process & police SOP; yet acted so ignorant in this case.

In Denver a few years back I was grabbed by two cops and thrown up against a wall and handcuffed. I was told that I ‘looked’ like a white felon who was staying at the same hotel. After they reviewed my ID they let me go.

Is this ‘racial profiling’? Fuck no.

You see a black man in a house where it was reported that a black man was breaking & entering and you hand cuff him… is that ‘racial profiling’?  Fuck no.

If any one set back race relations 30 years … I can tell you this it wasn’t the white guy.

Also, to all the Obama haters out there, you really need to thank Mr. Gates. His actions alone will be the single cause that will keep Obama out of the White House for a second term.

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Movie Critics don’t know shit.

 

Yeah, I said it… movie critics don’t know a damn thing about movies. I decided to write this after reading two movies reviews last night. The first review was over the new Transformers movie which was trashed. The second review was over the film The Chronicles of Riddick which was also trashed.

 

Before I get into my trash talking I need to explain a little bit about my background. When I was around 12 years old I got into horror movies big time! It wasn’t the ‘thrill’ of being scared I was interested it. It was the how they did the special effects in the movie. Coming from a poor family my ‘movie’ watching was very limited.

 

VHS just took off and movie rental places soon followed. For my birthday my mom and a close family friend took upon a task to record 100s of movies for me. They had a friend at the rental place who loaned them movies and in turn they recorded them.

 

It was awesome needless to say. However, I had 100s of tapes with 3 movies on each tape. The bad thing was there had no movies details; you had to watch the movie to find out what it was about.  Every genre was represented, martial arts, horror, sci-fi, romance, comedy and some I have no clue how to classify them.

 

I watched them all; the good and the bad. Good or bad, it was great. I didn’t get to watch many movies after those since going to the flicks were expensive and renting was too.

 

Fast forward to my first year in college in Oklahoma City. I was staying with some relative who did nothing but fight all the damn time. It was a terrible situation to be in so everyday after work and college I’d go to the Dollar Saver Cinema not far from where I was staying.

 

Movies for buck! It was awesome! I watched EVERYTHING!

 

Fast forward to the present where I have a good job making decent green. I have a huge DVD collection and hit the movies at least once a week.

 

Now, I’m not implying that I’m more qualified to be a ‘critic’ than these other bozos. I will say that I’m more open minded though. If you only look for bad that’s all you will find.

 

The purpose of a movie is to try and entertain the most people while making a decent profit. There is no other way around it. Movie companies would go broke if they consistently backed movies that only entertained a few folks and made little or no profit. Sorry, that just the way of the world.

 

Now, for the brainless critics. I’ve noticed a trend in how movies are critiqued by the so called movie critics. It seems, if the movie has positive buzz from advanced screening critics like Ebert or Roper, then everyone else jumps on the band wagon. Other wise, the critics rail the movie.

 

So, the reviews about Transformers made me laugh. Here’s a link: http://movies.yahoo.com/movie/1809943432/critic

 

For instance Roger Ebert (who I thought was dead) railed the movie really bad. Complaining about the robots and the plot line yadda yadda yadda. Then the Boston Globe had the nerve to write “2 ½ hours of tumescence disguised as a motion picture”.

What the fuck does that mean? It gets better; Matt Pais from the Chicago Tribune says “A 150-minute simulation of life in a garbage disposal”. Yeah Matt, you would know.

 

As you read through these critics reviews you’ll realize how fucking ignorant these guys are. They use big words and a lot of really stupid sentences to rag on movies.

 

They seem to forget one thing… these movies are to entertain. Yes, Mr. Ebert we know that it might be hard to believe that a robot could come from outer space and be a semi. However, it’s also hard to believe that a city would let a caped crusader run around town yet you gave that movie an A.

 

I found out along time ago if I listened to critics I’d never see a decent movie in my life. I don’t know about most folks but I go to the movies to escape reality. Bring on the alien robots, the super hero in spandex, and the futuristic cyborg killers. If I want to see comedy and romance I’ll watch any of the local TV shows. There is a shit load of that programming on TV every night for free.

 

Critics have one major issue they cannot put them selves into a normal movie goers place. They have been tainted by all the other critics to the point it’s just a mindless game.

 

“Oh fuck! Rolling Stone said that movie was bad!!!…. Shit! Shit! Shit! I liked it … but if I post a review that I liked it… then I’ll be a laughing stock of the critics wash room. Then I might never get a chance to have my own movie review show! I know.. I’ll write something witty about how bad it was.  God I can’t wait for it to come out on DVD!”

 

If critics only reviewed movies for OTHER critics then everything would be ok. That’s not the case sadly.

 

I will not let any critic’s judgment deter me from going to a flick.

 

If a critic posted a review like:

 

“Personally, I didn’t like the movie. The plot line was really confusing and hard to follow. The actors did a good job of acting but were placed in scenes that really didn’t add up or make sense. There was a lot of foul language and naked people. If you like that kind of stuff this movie is for you. However, parents with little kids be warned.”

 

However, that would be just to simple to do.

 

 

 

 

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It has been almost five years since I had a sit-down office job. I work as an IT consultant that either has me on the road or working in my home office. With the right personality this type of work is blessing. It works out ok with me since I’m pretty much an introvert.

 

Now, I’m writing this article that will touch on several different topics. The ‘reason’ behind me writing this is some social behavior I’ve been encountering quite frequently online. However, before I go into that issue I need to reveal to the world the true life of being ‘social’ when you’re an IT consultant.

 

I don’t speak for all consultants in my field but I will attest for a majority of them. There have been numerous books, articles, news reports over the lives of consultants. In a summarized version we might be at a job site any where in the world for any duration of time. Making friends isn’t out of the question but spending any type of real ‘socialization’ doesn’t happen. You can have lunch with the co-workers and clients, go to a game, something. Yet, you know that sooner or later in a predetermined time frame you’ll be gone. This is classified as “socialization” but it’s not the type I’m referring too.

 

To fill in this true lack of societal socialization the IT consultant for years have turned to electronic means. Text messages, IMing,  email, phone calls, and pdas have been molded by us to ‘create’ our own social net. For example: I’m at job site X for six weeks. I make a few friends that I stay in touch with. I email and text message, however I’ll never personally see them again.

 

The typical IT consultant will spend time on message boards and chat rooms talking about or researching issues and bugs.

 

A lot of people do not understand this. I think it has created a lot of turmoil and misunderstanding in the home life of individuals but that’s another story all together.

 

So, hopefully this kind of explains a little bit about us IT folks.

 

Now in the past years I’ve seen a lot of electronic social nets grow. MySpace, Face book, Twitter are some of the major players. In the gaming world its World of War craft and Xbox live that dominate. As of present I spend a lot of my time on Xbox live.

 

In the past my experiences with Face book, MySpace, and other forms of electronic socializing has been what I call ‘civil’ in most aspects. I’ve been flamed on bulletin boards and hit on by pervs on yahoo chat. However, over all communications with folks have been decent and acceptable by most standards.

 

That experience is tame compared to what I encounter day to day on Xbox live. At any giving moment you can go to YouTube and look up ‘rants’ for Xbox live and view one of the 1000 videos. Racial slurs, kids being total assholes, threats, everything you can think of.

 

I’m sure this behavior existed on other forms for years. I just never personally encountered it. Honestly, that isn’t what caused me to write this article either. I’ve come immune to the whole trash talking crap that happens on Xbox live.

 

My issue is a little hard to explain but I will try to put it into words. When I get online to play with my friends or by myself I do ‘my thing’. I don’t bag or insult other folks for playing their game. If they suck… then they suck. I don’t tell them what to do or how they should play.

 

Yet, other players feel it’s their sworn duty to control game play, tell you what you should do, how to play, insult you, and even to the point of team killing you if they can.

 

When did an individual get the right to do this? Why does he/she do this?  

For example:

I’d playing my favorite game COD4 on a specific map. I use a stealth build and just sit at a choke point and wait for the enemy to come through. I was 8-2 and my team mate killed me. At first I thought it was a mistake and went on playing. I move to a different spot and continued my strategy of holding choke points. I was 16-5 when I was killed again by the same teammate.

 

I asked him, what’s up? He told me that he doesn’t like campers and will kill anyone on his team who camps.

 

So, what gives a person the right to fuck up my game? I wasn’t hurting anyone? I was actually leading the team. Yet, this asshole took him upon himself to control the why I’m playing.

 

It’s not limited to games either. In the past I was on a local message board. Someone asked me a question about why I let my yorkies breed. I thought it was innocent enough and answered. Little did I know the fanatical assholes that exist in this world. They descended on me like I was Satan. All I did was answer a simple question. Yet, it didn’t matter what I said or replied… they ‘deemed’ themselves right and I was wrong.

 

I’m amazed at the self-centered people who ‘electronically’ are brave. Nothing gives them the right to be assholes and treat other folks online disrespectfully. Is this how these individuals are in real life?

Do little kids from Xbox live talk shit and curse like this on the play ground?

 

In team sports like football or softball does the team killer kick a player off the team or hit them with the ball if they do something he doesn’t like?

 

Do the assholes from critter corner in real life have the nerve to talk shit about my wife or kids to my face?

 

The answer is no. So why treat people like this online if you won’t do it to them in real life?

 

The fundamental truth is that online socialization has created a world of faceless bullies. They can sit in the comfort of their own home and talk shit, insult, and cause all kinds of turmoil with out any repercussions.

 

Not much can be done about it.

 

However, I will say… if you demonstrate this fucked up behavior online then you’re an asshole.

 

 

 

 

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