Monthly Archives: February 2012

I’ve been exhausted when I arrive home the last few months, and while part of that is due to the Florida Department of Transportation nitwits and imbeciles screwing up every highway in the two county area, that can’t account for it entirely. Sure, spending another extra 20 minutes in traffic does not help. But I am exhausted before I leave work now.

I finally figured it out. Stupidity. Fighting stupidity takes an awesome amount of internal energy. And that is pretty much what I do all day long.

Fighting stupidity means dealing with stupid people. There are many things that are stressful with that:

1. Holding back from socking the ass weasels right in the nose. That takes spiritual, mental and physical energy!
2. Figuring out a politically polite way to convince them that their plan is not just rotating the chairs on the Titanic but also spray painting each one!
3. Listening to their defense of their plan and then trying your very best not to grab the nearest stapler and staple their nuts or other organs to the coffee machine.
4. Dealing with those above you and having to cave in at times to keep your job. This can take a tremendous amount of internal energy!
5. Working at a college, I work with faculty, PhD nitwits and others who could never make it in the real world, but in this environment one must exercise the most respect toward. How do you offer that respect wile holding their head under the water in the gold fish pond????

Today was an especially stupid day. There is a reason I call my job “The Stupid Factory”. They generate more stupidity here than a dozen boozed up squirrels driving scooters through July 4th traffic.

Man, stupid tires me out.

Some Blogging Guy

A friend of mine volunteers to take photographs of grave markers for people researching their genealogy. Others do the same for him in other states. I tagged along and even brought my camera. What the heck, eh? The particular cemetery was in Miami-Dade county so I figured it would be a nice ride and we could engage in some conversation. Guy time,

Anyway, when we arrived, I was fairly surprised by several things I discovered.

1. The condition. The grass was about 40% weeds, some of the grave sites were missing the top memorial, others were skewed, trash was scattered here and there. Not a mess but not what it could or should have been.

2. Organization: There was none.  People were not even buried alphabetically. Nor by year of death or any other method. You could have a Smith who passed in 1950 next to someone who got creamed by a dump truck last week.

3. Organization, Part 2: I suggested we log onto the cemetery website and download a detailed map of the entire cemetery with each grave site clearly identified. My friend laughed at me. I suggested going to the office and requesting the map. He laughed once more.

Apparently, many cemeteries are unmapped. The office will research one or two names and tell you which section they are in, but that is about it. We had 31 sites to find and photograph. And no clue where they were among the hundreds and hundreds of sites.

So, we walked up and down the rows of grave markers hoping to get lucky and find one of the names we were seeking. I was short of time, so we only located two.

This is ridiculous.

I imagine since the majority of people in the cemetery died long before computers, the records are kept in books, logs or index cards. Who knows. To computerize the entire place would be expensive, and no doubt not good business. At least, in their minds. I mean after all, these are the guys burying bodies in $10,000 containers! In the ground!

One mystery that which still tugs at my mind is this site here:

This was a child that was barely two years old when he moved on to a better place. 1963. This summer that would make it 50 years. A whole half century!

It appears the toys, a channel 8 truck and a Santa were secured with plastic ties. I assume they were placed several weeks ago during Christmas. But fifty years? Wow! His parents would be in their 70′s or 80′s by now. Fifty years!

I always enjoyed cemeteries, as they are part of history. Plus there are few convenience stores or interstates on them, so they are close to being out in nature. They are also very quiet.

Anyway, that was my adventure yesterday.

Some Blogging Guy

At least, so far as I have found, the Solar Comfort brand has proven to withstand my daily use.  Before discovering these sunglasses I would go through about four to five pairs a year. I would purchase them at various drugstores for anywhere from $9.99 to $17.99. I then purchased an expensive (for me) pair of Oakley’s which worked good enough. Yet, I was always losing them, and at $100 that was not a good thing. I spent more time looking for them than wearing them.

Yes, I tried the cord and the case and everything else except Velcro.  So, the expensive sunglasses did not break but caused me an equal amount of stress. Assuming one can actually become stressed over a pair of sunglasses.

I am rough on glasses. Here is why:

• I yank them off my face by grabbing one arm and pulling real hard. Not good for the arms.
• I put them on my face usually with one hand, catching one arm on the side of my forehead and then stretching the arms apart to push them over my eyes. Not good for the arms.
• I walk back and forth between buildings for meetings so am constantly putting them on, taking them off, putting them on, taking them off. Not good at all.
• When indoors but not in my home building, I stick one arm of the glasses inside my belt on my right side so I can carry them there, hanging. If the arm of the glasses is not made from one solid piece, part of the arm will be pulled off when I yank them off my belt.
• The lens, be it real glass or plastic, will always pop out.
• The nose guard would become so twisted that they would just become inoperable.

Several months ago I accidentally discovered this brand, which appears to be quite rare among the drugstores in my neighborhood. They fit me perfectly in so many ways:

1. UV Protection.
2. Polarized
3. Screws, actual screws hold the lens into the frame! No more popping out.
4. Solid noise guard that never moves or becomes misshapen.
5. Solid arms, so nothing to separate when I slide them in and out of my belt.
6. Cheap enough that I can purchase a few pairs.
7. They come in my favorite style.
8. Comfortable.

They generally go for $19.99. Hard to find, so once I do locate a place that has them, I buy as many as I can.

Caution: As with every topic today, there seem to be only radical opinions about sunglasses. Some people say you must pay $500 for sunglasses in order to have real UV protection, proper glass construction and so forth. Some people swear by Oakley’s. Others by Ray-Ban. Some Brooks Brothers. What they do not know is that a company in Italy, Luxottica, makes 70% of the brands of sunglasses in the world. Including Oakley and Ray-Ban and dozens of other well known brands.

Generally speaking, after you remove the cost of manufacture, shipping, packaging, advertising, and business lunches, there still is about a 52% mark up for these designer glasses. If they cost you $200 you are paying about $100 just for the fancy brand, which as we’ve discovered, is not all that special since they are all made by the same company.

In fact, my now favorite brand, Solar Comfort, is actually owned by a bigger company, Dioptics which manufactures over twenty brands of sunglasses.
But wait! Dioptics is actually owned by FGX International, who manufactures brands such as Foster Grant®, Magnivision®, Gargoyles®, Anarchy®, Corinne McCormack® and plenty of others.

But wait even more! FGX is a subsidiary of Essilor International!

OK, OK, but are cheap sunglasses actually harmful? If you do not buy ones with the proper UV protection they can be. Do you really get more for your money? Doctors seem to think so, to a degree. The lens and the UV protection are often somewhat better than your $9.99 pair. But then again, there are many cheap sunglasses that are doing a good job.

I am not recommending anything. I am just saying I found what works best for me, I am not a ship captain on the water in the sun 10 hours a day or in some other profession where my eyes are exposed to bright sunlight all of the time. I wear mine while driving and walking between buildings at work. So, they spent more time sitting on my desk than sitting above my nose.
A Wall Street Journal article from July 2010 discusses the pros and cons of expensive glasses. It is a good read if you are interested.

Some Blogging Guy

Luxottica

I woke up at 2 AM this morning for some reason, and took a quick look at the news headlines. MSNBC headline filled the page. “What would happen if Iran did get the bomb?”  Since Iran has made it clear their purpose in life is the total elimination of Isreal I thought this article would discuss the real possible outcomes. Instead, the reporter, Scott Peterson from the Christian Science Monitor, pretty much said Iran wouldn’t do much with the bomb. In fact, the reporter seemed to be defending Iran’s right to develop nuclear weapons.

This directly contradicted what Iran has said numerous times. For instance, these are the words of Ahmadinejad:

The real cure for the conflict is elimination of the Zionist regime.” [9]

“The way to peace in the Middle East is the destruction of Israel.” [10]

“Like it or not, the Zionist regime is heading toward annihilation. The Zionist regime is a rotten, dried tree that will be eliminated by one storm.” [11]

“We must prepare ourselves to rule the world and the only way to do that is to put forth views on the basis of the Expectation of Return [the return of the Mahdi].” [4]

So, I researched Mr. Peterson and read several of his other articles. Turns our Mr. Peterson’s stories always take an Anti-American, anti-west slant. I am sort of a news/reporter junky. I like to find other articles published by reporters/writers and follow them. Most reporters, even for MSNBC and CNN, are fairly objective writers. It is sort of rare to find someone who takes almost every article they write and slant it the same way. Most just report the facts as they have them.

So, in reality, MSNBC huge main story this morning is not news at all, but an opinion piece written by an anti-west writer on his own crusade.

Thankfully we live in a time where we can research and discern the truth.

Some Blogging Guy

Warning – Rant Ahead:

I am 30 pounds over weight and this causes medical conditions if not addressed, and I have a few. Which means prescriptions. Which means Publix Pharmacy, since I love going to Publix and that is where I buy my groceries. But tonight, I was the crazy Ron Paul-Like guy waving his arms about and speaking calmly and pleasantly but loudly and with a point, not to mention those sharp scary eyes I can get at times….

What happened? Glad you asked!

I asked my lovely and wonderful wife to pick up my two prescriptions that I required and had ordered Saturday via the Publix pharmacy website.  Unfortunately, they gave her only one prescription I needed and two other ones I do not need. One was a one shot deal to help me get over that flu I had last month. I am over it, I don’t need it. I did not order it.  It “auto-renewed”

What is this Auto-renew crap? Again, very happy you asked.

Publix has a centralized pharmacy system, controlled like a socialist central government. Two of the prescriptions I do not need were auto-renewed and the one prescription that I do require, was not renewed, even though I ordered it myself last Saturday. Why? Because the auto-renew supersedes manual customer orders.  It auto-renewed for later this week. That trumps my decision and request.

Wonderful.

Lucky for me, the manager was there when I came back and happily withstood my rants and raving. Not that I was rude. I made it clear it was not him I was disturbed with. But I have had to deal with people like me and I know it is not fun. Luckily, this guy did the exact right thing in saying yes to every request and handling my refund on the unneeded prescriptions right away.  My requests besides the refund?

1. Don’t auto renew anything! Ever!!! Not now, not ten years from now!  I am actually over the age of 21 and I am capable of determining when I need to renew my prescriptions. I do not need some socialized central pharmacy doing it for me!

2. Tell that woman from Public Central to stop calling me! Every month or so I get some health professional from Publix Central calling me to walk me through how to take my prescriptions, make sure I am taking them properly and so forth. Every time she calls I politely inform her that

A) I am an adult.
B) I am not retarded (Except for that time I campaigned for Dukakis).
C) I assume personal responsibility for my own body and am capable of understanding the medicines I take.
D) I actually have a doctor and I can talk with him if I feel the need to question my prescriptions, which of course I do all the
time.

3. Stop cramming my tiny prescription bags with three to seven pages of prescription information! I have never read it, I will never read it. I have to spend time shredding that crap because it has my name and address and prescription info on every damn page.

This crap just infuriates me to no end. If it isn’t the corporations it is the government. Both want to minimize Americans and personal liberty. They do this by “helping us”.  If they help us enough, we become slaves and lose our personal freedom.

I am fiercely independent. All I ask is the opportunity to try to be successful in life and to handle my own affairs the way I decide to handle them.  I want the chance to fail too, as one can learn more from that than success!

I don’t need some numb-nut calling me and reading health info to me from a script. I don’t need a pharmacy deciding when I need to order prescriptions and when I don’t.  I don’t need an ‘effing baby sitter!

In an ideal society, greedy capitalist are on one side being kept at bay by the government, and the big bureaucratic government is kept at bay by the capitalists. In the middle free men can eek out an independent life.

But today it is harder and harder to tell the difference between Big Corporation and Big Government.

I think individual personal freedom is going out of style.

I think I might need to purchase more weapons…..

Some Pissed Off Blogging Guy

Note to Rick: No police officers were insulted in any manner in this post.

The Florida Sun-Sentinel has an interesting article about cop speeding in South Florida. We all know that many laws that you and I must obey are only optional for police officers. I drive south from Broward into Miami-Dade every morning, and every morning watch the same off duty police officers driving to their work in Miami-Dade. I admit, I have a heavy foot. I drive about 75 MPH on the Turnpike every morning. But I am always on the lookout for cops. Not that I fear a ticket, as that area from Hollywood Blvd to the Golden Glades Interchange appear to be a ticket free area. No, I fear the off duty cops driving at speeds of 85 or 90 every single day on their way to work, often while messing with the laptop they have in their cars, or like other dangerous drivers, chatting on their cell phone.

According to the Sun-Sentinel article, 21 people have been killed or maimed by cop speeding since 2004. And most of the cop offenders have gotten off scott free.

Go read it.

Some Blogging Guy