Some useless ramblings for you...

So today during a calm moment at work, I started perusing through today's Times-Argus and found an interesting little article about how there's this monster asteroid that is supposed to be passing uncomfortably close to the earth in the year 2029. Apparently NASA originally figured that there was a 1 in 45,000 chance that said asteroid was going to hit our planet in that year, but it seems a 13 year old German school boy checked their math and found out they got carried away and added a couple extra zeros. So make that 1 in 450. Speaking of checking math, I'd like to know how one source came up with some statistics saying I have a 1 in 26 chance of dying before the asteroid even gets here, while another one says I have a much more comfortable 1 in 1063 chance. hmm. One more reason to appreciate each day as it comes...

Quote of the week

"...not good at work if the boss can tell I think he's an idiot"

Advice?

So I just turned down a guaranteed $500 per week job in favor of my current job that pays $305 per week plus commission. So far my first 5 weeks as a car salesman have been $405, $405, $427, $505, and $405. I'm told it only gets worse from here, until things generally pick up in March... but who knows this year, what with the economy and all. On the other hand, that $500 per week job holds no potential for increase. So the question is, am I stupid? I think while it may be tougher in the short run, my decision to stay will reward me in the long run... but please leave your thoughts.

The Optimist

So I'm beginning to realize that becoming a car salesman is not just a new job, it is a new way of life. There is so much to learn that refusing to do any studying to improve my product knowledge and sales techniques after work in the evenings would put me at a serious disadvantage. Being new is already a serious disadvantage from what I've experienced/heard/read. So I certainly don't need two disadvantages. On top of that, the training videos I've watched and the sales books I'm reading all stress that the top successful salespeople always stay involved with their customers both before and after the sale, with phone calls, letters, and even attending social events with them. Joe Girard, who is believed to be the greatest salesman of all time, claims 65% of his sales every year were from repeat business, a fact he attributes to the effort he put into staying in touch with every client after the sale.

I'm not going to settle for second best...

Quote of the Week

"So are you the skinny guy with the baby face?"

Gov't turns "R" word into "D" word....

So now that the national debt has been increased by $1 Trillion (or more than 10%) in just 2 months, and the wall street bailout is well underway, we are reaping the rich rewards of that sacrifice in the form of a skyrocketing stock market and booming economy... snap out of it politicians!!

That was the warm fuzzy dream you had last night, not reality. Our taxpayer money has as much as been thrown out the window of a jumbo jet flying over the middle of the pacific ocean, the economy is still tanking, the stock market closed at a 5 year low, and all you did was fatten the pockets of corrupt (ok lets be nice and just call them naive) corporate executives.


What you did, Misters and Missus' lawmaker, was to remove the incentive for companies to make the painful, but necessary, steps to downsize, reorganize, and restructure their businesses into new, competitive forms that would take them forward. Instead, the old, destructive ways will remain thanks to the influx of ill-gotten cash.

And now, the Governors of CT, NY, and NJ want $50 million in grants so they can give 82,000 out-of-work financial services workers up to $12,500 EACH to "help them relocate and find jobs" !!!!! pssst. secret here. rewarding workers with money when they lose jobs removes incentive to find jobs.

Case in point: An acquaintance of mine who shall remain nameless, lost his job in mid-summer. I lost my job early October. I didn't take unemployment payments, and as such, with money running out fast, I went to great lenghts to find a new job, and fast. One month to the day, after I lost my job, I was hired to a new one (and turned down two offers of part time work to take it), and that includes nearly 2 weeks of no job hunting because I came down with pnemonia. My acquaintance, living comfortably on unemployment, "can't find a job because of the tough economy" hmmm.

Meanwhile, the "Big Three" automakers are clamoring for a $25 Billion bailout. Same principle applies here as in the financial companies, Misters and Missus' lawmakers.

So do EVERYONE a HUGE favor, and just say NO to any more bailout proposals. "Bailout" is the fancy term for "deficit spend the economy into depression."

Special thanks to everyone who actually read down to here. Double thanks if you are a congress person. And 100 thousand thanks if you heed this advice.

Its been a good week

and an even better day :) I spent most of my first week being trained and getting up to speed on our inventory, which is going to take a while to complete. But today I got a couple of house deals delegated to me so I will have a bit more in my paycheck this week, and there are still 5 days of it left! So things are looking up.

Boo ya!

So about the smartest decision I made yesterday was to go visit my former boss to catch up with him a little bit. Since it was Thursday, his buddy Steve was there as well. When I told them about my interview at Walker earlier that morning, Steve asked who the sales manager was at Walker and I told him it was Kevin Murphy... well, Steve used to work with Kevin in the military, having met as students at Norwich U! So apparently Steve called up Kevin yesterday evening and told him some nice things about me, and Kevin hired me on the spot today following my interview (I didn't meet with Mr. Walker because he was not feeling well today). So I start Monday!

More good news

So yesterday I got confirmation that UPS does indeed want me for the temp job starting on the 14th, and then I got called by the sales manager at a local Ford dealership asking me to come in for an interview today at 11.

Well. Interesting story there. I had gone in last week to ask for an application and was told the dealership was not hiring at the moment. Well I figured I would fill it out anyways and I dropped it off yesterday. It was only about 2 hours later when I got the call. Hmmm. Well after my interview today with the sales manager, he asked me to come back for an interview tomorrow at 11, this time with the owner! Sounds promising to me. I'll update tomorrow on how it went.

On a more personal note...

I had an interview with the owner of Tool Warehouse Outlet in Barre and he said he would really like to take me on in February when one of his workers is leaving to join the Air Force. And it seems pretty likely I will be offered a part-time temporary job working for UPS until Christmas (I interviewed with them on Friday). Now I just need to find something to complement my UPS work schedule and fill the January gap.

The Day of Reckoning

FREEDOM LOVERS VOTE FOR THIS MAN! (LIBERTARIAN BOB BARR) ... OR AT LEAST SOMEONE OTHER THAN ROB-YOUR- PAYCHECKS- GRAB-YOUR- GUNS OBAMA

This is why I won't vote for any politician who supports gun control

I've got it back

My positive outlook on life that is. Yes, job hunting is, well, a job, but I know God will provide for me, even if I end up doing something that isn't at the top of my priority list. I am pretty confident at least one of my applications I sent out last week will result in a job offer, and if none do, well, I am planning on sending out round two this coming week. Persistence is the name of the game.

Job Hunting...

Scouring newspaper after newspaper, filling out application after application, writing cover letter after cover letter, I am discouraged already. I know, I know, lots of people lose their jobs, and lots of people come out of college with no experience. I am just having a hard time convincing myself everything is going to be okay. I think I will spend some time tonight in prayerful reflection as I seem to sorely need it. Any job seeking advice or insight would be much appreciated. Even better, tell me what my dream job would be. LOL. Oh well, hopefully I'll figure it out.

Update

Today I went to the doctor finally. My bad cold turned into pneumonia. Wonderful. I'm young, otherwise healthy, and have no history of the disease, the perfect profile for someone who isn't supposed to get it! Well I just hope the drug regimen gets me well enough to look for a job soon or I'm gonna be flat broke (More so). On the other hand I say its a good wake up call to start paying more attention to what I eat, and to get back into an exercise regimen, like starting my running up again. Even 15 minutes a day should help I figure. But its going to be a long road back.

Just Because I Needed a Lighthearted Post

Blah...

So the plan was my next blog post was to be all about my wonderful Houghton weekend visit. Which it was that. But this has been one of the lousiest weeks of my life. So Monday I woke up sick and I've spent a large amount of time in bed since then. Oh, and I lost my job Monday too. Hopefully by the start of the workweek coming I'll be well enough to start the job hunt.

Songs you just can't turn off Volume 4

The Animals' House of the Rising Sun

I've sung Amazing Grace to this tune. Really. Works well too.

And Now, my GOP hero!

McCain nails Paul in the face, then pummels him when he's down!
But no fear, the bulletproof Texan shakes it off and comes back with the nastiest one-two I've ever seen, with the match ending in a technical K.O. for our champion of freedom!

(Also check out the "Hitler caused WWII" clip that comes up at the end)

So I had a hard time finding a Barack Obama Ad attacking John McCain where I didn't think "gee, whats so wrong with that?" or "and you think your plan is better Obama??" Really. And I despise McCain. But I guess I will have to forgive you for your McCain vote since Obama and McCain both seem to be running pro-McCain ads. Anyway, at long last, here is your McCain's-dirt-brought-to-you-by-Obama ad. They must have screwed up and ran this one by mistake!

Biden

Biden provided us with another doozy on Monday:

"Part of what being a leader does is to instill confidence is to demonstrate what he or she knows what they are talking about and to communicating to people ... this is how we can fix this," Biden said. "When the stock market crashed, Franklin Roosevelt got on the television and didn't just talk about the princes of greed. He said, 'look, here's what happened.'"

Not only Did Roosevelt NOT get on the barely-invented-and-nowhere-near-widespread-use television (estimates put existing TV sets in 1929 between 3 and 4 digit numbers WORLDWIDE), but Roosevelt didn't even run for president until the 1932 election season, more than 2 years AFTER the 1929 crash. As icing on the cake, Biden was talking about how a leader needs to KNOW WHAT THEY ARE TALKING ABOUT, which he OBVIOUSLY DOESN'T. But the media likes to point out all of Palin's "problems". Did we already forget Biden's plagiarized speech that sunk is own bid for the presidency not that long ago??

Bailout

So the Feds want to bail out wall street, proclaiming how we have to stabilize the economy to prevent a horrific disaster. Well I'm all for said "horrific disaster" if it means the Government won't be spending nearly $1 Trillion of taxpayer money (that means hard-earned money you and I have stolen out of our paychecks every week) to bail out corporations failing because of poor management decisions to lend money to people with terrible credit. To give you an idea how much money this is, my friends over at the Libertarian Party came up with a nice little list:

One trillion dollars ($1,000,000,000,000) is enough money:

• To buy everybody living in Los Angeles at least one Lamborghini Gallardo.
• To buy 88,052, 394' custom mega yachts; enough to stretch around ¼ of the world.
• To buy everyone living in Belize and Malta a Manhattan apartment.
• To get half of the Democratic Party into a fundraiser for Barack Obama at the $28,500 admission price.
• To give one out of every two men in the United States a Men's Presidential Rolex watch.
• To buy every woman in the United States a Tiffany Diamond Starfish Pendant.
• To get two Mitsubishi 73" HDTVs for every household in America.
• To buy four copies of The Office: Season Four on DVD, to every person on earth.
• To send everybody in America on an all-inclusive vacation to Tahiti (and some people can stay a few extra days).

AND…
$1 trillion is enough money for everyone in Buffalo, NY to buy their own 65-acre island in Panama. This is how much the government is going to cost you (roughly $3,278 for every man, woman and child in the United States).

Barack Obama is for it. John McCain is for it.
But, Bob Barr and the Libertarian Party are against it.

But Obama and McCain are so... Different. Right?

Apple picking!

Today I got to go apple picking in South Hero once again :) Because of college, I haven't been since 2003! I picked up my friend Jon from UVM campus before heading north to the Champlain islands, where I met my mom at Hackett's orchard. We picked up some fresh apple cider and apple cider doughnuts at the farm store before heading down to the orchards to pick 3 1/2 bushels of Cortland and Macintosh apples. Even better, while we were there it went from complete overcast to nearly all blue skies with warm sunshine! Afterwards, we stopped at a little gift store a ways down the road for some more goodies and ice cream cones... what a wonderful afternoon of simple pleasures :)

Ad Spoof - Hope For America!?

Are you too ineffectual at work to be secure from losing your job?
Do you have too few friends and coworkers that can give you positive references?
Are you too indolent to have to think about looking for a new job?

Do you have trouble saving for retirement?
Money just burn a hole in your pocket?
No plan for that rainy day?

Do you feel cheated by those big corporations and their fat cat executives?
Are you outraged by their seeming lack of work in return for huge sums of money?
Do you wish you could get your hands on some of that money?

Then do we have the solution for you! Just vote democratic come election day! Barack Obama, Joe Biden, and the rest of their crew will make everything easy for you! They will steal that unfairly earned money from those rich corporate executives and put it in your pocket if you happen to lose your job. Don't worry about finding a new job, just hop on the next bandwagon that happens to pass your way because there will be that comforting safety net of unemployment payments. Don't worry about retirement either, the Obamaites will take the rest of that stolen money and put it into the failing Social Security system to make sure you will have money to retire on. And rest assured, Obama and clan won't make you feel bad for being a useless worker, a terrible money manager, and an accomplice to armed robbery from hardworking entrepreneurs. Instead, they will put your conscience at ease by telling you everyone is entitled to a certain minimum standard of living and that we need to take care of America's poor. And no, they won't even mention how America's poor live like kings compared to a large chunk of the world's population.

Thismessagenotapprovedbybarackobamaforpresident.
Infacthewouldprobablyslammeasarightwingextremestif
heevercatcheswindofthismessage.

New List

So I am now starting a hall of shame: Second Amendment Weasels - those politicians who took it upon themselves to pass laws contrary to the Second Amendment using underhanded means. The first inductees are House Representatives William Hughes (D-N.J.) and Charles Rangel (D-N.Y.) for their parts in amending the because-of-them misnamed Firearm Owners Protection Act of 1986. Also, negative thanks going out to my former hero President Reagan for actually signing the bill.

Long Day

Today I woke up at 4:15 after not catching up from Monday night's sleep (which is a whole story in and of itself, involving a big party, fights, police, an arrest, and a hospital visit, among other things, at least from what I gather). I spent a total of 8 hours in a car today, 3 riding and 5 driving, only 2 on my dime though. My boss and I spent 6 hours at the auction in CT, selling 1 car and buying 2, which was only our bare minimum goal, and the second car ended up having transmission and motor mount issues... hopefully not too expensive to fix; we did get the car cheap enough to cover some repairs and still make a profit though. The car we unloaded had some significant issues to fix and we sold it for only about $200 less than we had in it so my boss figured good riddance. Anyway, after we got back I went to my parents to pick up some shocks I had ordered last week so I can put them on tomorrow after work, just in time to be all ready for my alignment appointment on Friday...

Favorite list

FAVORITES:

State: New Hampshire (closely followed by Vermont)
Car: Mitsubishi Evo X
Attire: Stained, but clean, jeans & T-shirt
Color: Purple
College memory: The night a couple friends and I went... oh right the statute of limitations isn't up
President: Ronald Reagan
Drink: Raw milk
Olympic sport: Super G
Ski resort: Burke Mountain
Word or phrase: "Minor details" (said dismissively)
Vermont resident (current): Rusty Dewees

LEAST FAVORITES:

State: California (closely followed by New York)
Car: Chevy Aveo
Attire: Turtleneck & sweatpants
Color: Brown
College memory: The Saturday night I was kept awake until 4am by the party in my suite when I had to get up at 8 for church.
President: Franklin D. Roosevelt
Drink: Dr. Pepper
Olympic sport: Curling
Ski resort: Anything in western NY.
Word or phrase: "Compromise"
Vermont resident (current): Bernie Sanders

Catch me if you can...

So the only angle from which my Saturn appears to have a complete fresh gloss black paint job is from the rear (having just painted the rear bumper and trunklid this evening). There is also one shiny black headlight cover and a shiny section on the right front from cover-up work this weekend. But no matter. The only view you're going to get of my car once I turn it on is from (you guessed it!) the rear. Heh heh. Seriously though, if I did what the guy in this video did, that wouldn't be any joke.

Caledonia Fair

So I went to the fair on Sunday to watch the demo derby as is my tradition every summer. However, after asking various friends and family members, no one wanted/was available to go with me. So I went by myself. Mistake. Going to the fair by one's self is absolutely no fun. The one exciting looking ride I wanted to go on required pairs of people so I had to wait around for several minutes and ask several people before I found someone willing to go with me. The ride did, indeed, turn out to be exciting, but also nausea-and-headache-inducing. Luckily I had not eaten any food for several hours so I did not lose my cookies, but it effectively ruined my already-starting-to-wane enthusiasm for the fair. Ah well. I did make use of the nice weather to do some work on my Saturn (installing new speakers and some painting).

New Car!

I am now the proud owner of a 1994 Saturn SC2 2 door coupe. The 124 horsepower twin-cam engine has 138,000 miles on it, the fiberglass body panels will never rust, the frame is solid, the car returns mid-30's milage figures, and I paid a whopping $900 for the car. Only things it needed to make it road-worthy were new tires, windshield wipers, a coolant temperature sensor, and an oil change. Oh, and I have to figure out how to unplug the drain lines on the sunroof so it doesn't leak. But so far it seems like a heck of a bargain.

Southern Auto Auction

Yesterday my boss and I went to SAA in Connecticut for the 4th time since I've been working at Morse Auto. Our mission? To buy a Chevy Suburban for a customer who owns a surveying company, and buy a Honda CR-V for a new customer wanting a car update.

Buy a Suburban? "Oh my goodness, I don't know if there will be any available!" my boss says. LOL. "More like holy cow which one do we choose?" he continues.


There's 20 Auction lanes that sell 5,000 cars in about 4 hours!
Dozens of trailer-trucks to bring 'em here and then away.
Administrative wing.
Entry and exit lanes.
2004 Black Suburban and 2004 Black CR-V we bought. The Suburban sold new for $41,000, the CR-V for around $25,000. Tomorrow we will be selling the Suburban for $10,500 with our profit built in. Talk about depreciation!

The CR-V, meanwhile, will go out the door for around $15,000. Even with gas prices in the $4 range, that kind of price disparity means you will have to drive the 25 MPG CR-V well over 60k miles before it repays the initial extra cost with fuel savings over the 18 MPG Suburban.

Text Message Delete

I never thought I would have the material for a Job Tate grade post of this title, but I managed it tonight:

Audrey: so why are you growling at me?

me: cuz you are encouraging me to be a better person when i dont feel like it
Audrey: hahaha that is the best quote ever!

Apt pix

District of Columbia v. Heller

Second amendment supporters like myself were given some encouragement by this decision this week. It scares me to think this was a 5-4 decision, however, and even the opinion of the court contained some questionable reasoning.

Good:

Held:
1. The Second Amendment protects an individual right to possess a
firearm unconnected with service in a militia, and to use that arm for
traditionally lawful purposes, such as self-defense within the home.
Pp. 2–53.
(a) The Amendment’s prefatory clause announces a purpose, but
does not limit or expand the scope of the second part, the operative
clause. The operative clause’s text and history demonstrate that it
connotes an individual right to keep and bear arms. Pp. 2–22.
(b) The prefatory clause comports with the Court’s interpretation
of the operative clause. The “militia” comprised all males physically
capable of acting in concert for the common defense. The Antifederalists
feared that the Federal Government would disarm the people in
order to disable this citizens’ militia, enabling a politicized standing
army or a select militia to rule. The response was to deny Congress
power to abridge the ancient right of individuals to keep and bear
arms, so that the ideal of a citizens’ militia would be preserved.

(Emphasis added.)

Amen.

But...

Bad:

(f) ... United States v. Miller, 307 U. S. 174, does not
limit the right to keep and bear arms to militia purposes, but rather
limits the type of weapon to which the right applies to those used by
the militia, i.e., those in common use for lawful purposes. Pp. 47–54.
2. Like most rights, the Second Amendment right is not unlimited...
The Court’s opinion should not be taken to cast doubt on... laws
forbidding the carrying of firearms in sensitive places such as schools
and government buildings, or laws imposing conditions and qualifications
on the commercial sale of arms.

(Again, emphasis added.)

What?! Are you guys smoking crack? Did you miss that part that says "shall not be infringed"? Last I knew, that phrase meant you can't place restrictions on the right here and there as you see fit.

And don't even get me started on Stevens' dissent. Oh Boy. Yeah. I'm really trying. Not. To. Say. Something. Really. Nasty...

Moving Weekend...

was busy and complicated, but I bought a nice computer desk at a yard sale that was conveniently going on nearby that weekend, along with a bed frame and box spring (I already had a couple mattresses). I spent my evenings all week cleaning the place and putting things away, but its looking decent now. Pics to be added next week (this post updated 6/28).

And now,

I have an apartment lined up :) I'll be starting to move in this coming Friday. It is a studio apartment but I have a private bathroom and kitchen and the living area is a pretty big room. Plus, even though I have to pay for heat and electricity separate from rent (which is only $400), the owner told me that last winter, even thought the apartment was empty and the heat left off, it never dropped below 65 because the tenant downstairs apparently appreciates 80 some-odd degree temperatures. So it sounds like my heating bill will be minuscule.

Got that Job

I am now an employee of Morse Auto Sales and Service, LLC, in Berlin, VT. I showed up Wednesday last week and asked the owner if he was currently hiring, having been referred there by a guy at another shop. I was told that he was not currently hiring, since he had had too many bad experiences with employees in the past. I talked with him a few minutes and left my resume along with a couple references, just in case he changed his mind. Well, a half-hour later he called me up and asked if I could come on Friday morning for an interview "sure, no problem." About 3 hours after that, he called me again and told me he had done a reference check, he was very impressed by what he found out, and could I show up tomorrow (Thurs) for a paid trial day? "absolutely." So the short form of the rest of the story is I'm hired.

Job Hunting

...puts a lot of miles on the car. At least my mileage is back up to where it's supposed to be. I hit 430 miles since last fill-up today. This winter I was lucky to hit 300 miles and even since the warmer weather I'd only been getting 350 or so on a tank. Just goes to show how much short trips kill mileage I guess.

Oh yeah. That $@%#!&#! wheel bearing I replaced in September is apparently bad again. So my car flunked inspection. Been illegal half a month now. Hopefully nothing else is bad and she'll pass on my Friday appointment.

Things I Learned Today

A "more than a half hour" trip takes 18 minutes when driven correctly.

But... too many speeding tickets can ruin your prospects for certain jobs.

Salvation army raised their clothing prices.

But... it still beats JC Penny prices.

It costs 6 cents to print one page with the cost split 80/20 for ink/paper.

But... you have to pay for 500 pages at a time.

And... things never go as planned. Well I already knew that. But today I planned on doing more unpacking, visiting the department of labor, getting my car inspected, and opening a checking account at a local bank. None of which happened. Tomorrow is up early to get some all that accomplished and still have time to go job hunting.

I Wish I had $50,000...

...because I've realized $2,500 in about 50 hours of trading on a fifty thousand dollar play money trading account. On my real money account I've realized about $20 on a beginning balance of $84 in the same time period.

AWSHX vs CWGIX

Washington Mutual fund sucks. Big time. So I switched to the Capital World Growth and Income mutual fund. Which has posted almost exactly double the returns as Washington Mutual with almost identical risk. Now thats what we call optimizing. Currently for the week its up-down-up for CWGIX closes and down-down-down for AWSHX. Just thought I'd share.

Tax Freedom Day

Yesterday was Tax Freedom Day for the nation! (The day in which you have finally earned enough to pay the government (federal, state, local) all the money it will grab from you this year)

I did some research on the relative taxes in VT, NH, and NY. Common sense tells me that Vermont taxes are lower than New York taxes but higher than New Hampshire taxes. But, according to CNN, Vermont ranks as #1 in the nation with the highest tax rate of 14.1% of your income going to state and local governments! New York ranks 3rd at 13.8%, and New Hampshire ranks 49th at 8%.

Wait, how can that be?

NY carries higher sales tax burdens (avg of 8.25%), and higher gas taxes (40.9 cents/gallon) than VT does (6% and 20 cents/gallon). So what gives? VT does have a higher maximum percentage income tax (9.5%) but it doesn't kick in until nearly $350,000. Meanwhile, NY's maximum income tax percentage (6.85%) kicks in at $20,000 while Vermonters are only paying 3.6% on up to 31 grand. (figures from Retirement Living) The only thing I could figure out was that VT's average property tax rate is $16.35 on $1,000 worth of property while NY's average is only $11.38. (NH has NO payroll tax, NO sales tax, gas tax of 19.6 cents/gallon, and its 5th in the nation property tax rate still beats Vermont's by 2 cents/$1000)

Well, CNN was using a percentage rate not amount paid. Since I was reasonably sure NY's average income was higher than VT's, I decided to check average AMOUNT paid. Sure enough, NY came in ahead of VT this time with an average per capita taxes paid amount of $6,500, good enough for second place. VT was fifth with an average per capita amount of $5,400. Using this measure, NH wound up 39th with $3,500. While this put NY ahead of VT, I was still stunned at how high VT ranked. My I-like-NH-because-it-has-low-taxes feeling was given a whopping boost.

But wait! Seems our friends at CNN didn't count ALL taxes. For one, I believe they left out business taxes that get passed on to consumers. They may have missed some others as well. In any case, a quick check over at the Tax Foundation website revealed that NY ranks number 3 in the nation for total taxes collected per capita, with Tax Freedom Day falling on -yikes! - May 3.

Ok, about the same as before. What about VT and NH?
Well, well, well! VT's Tax Freedom Day of April 19th gives it a ranking of 24, comfortably removed from NY and landing it in the middle of the pack. New Hampshire gave up some ground under this ranking but still ended up a respectable 35th with a Tax Freedom Day of April 15.

Incidentally, Tax Freedom Day fell on January 22 in 1900, and fell on the 19th day of the year 6 times during the first 15 years of the twentieth century! Taxes were just 5-7 percent of total income. WWI shot taxes to 14.5% in 1921 to pay off the war and reconstruction efforts. Taxes dropped back for a while until the Great Depression-FDR-WWII disaster caused them to skyrocket from 10.7% in 1929 to 24.2% in 1945 (spiking to 25.7% in '43).

This means the increase from 24.2% in '45 to 30.8% projected for '08 could almost be explained away as inflationary adjustments (though it did spike to 33.6% in 2000 (thanks Clinton)). And it doesn't take into account the tremendous budget deficits our wise and thoughtful leaders have built up. But still. On a percentage basis, nearly half of what you pay in taxes this year came from increases seen in a mere 14 years. Thanks, FDR. A lot.

Songs you just can't turn off Volume 3

no, no, no, I did not have love on the mind today... What made you think that?!?!

I'd never thought I'd hear this driving my car...

*Heard today somewhere in western NY, from a cute girl driving a late model chevy*


"HEY HOT STUFF!"








Yeah, you probably don't care. But it made my day anyways.

Should I cry or just scream?

I drove to Rochester tonight to pick up a stranded friend at the airport. My 4 wheeled heap decided to quit telling me how fast I was going. A few miles later the check engine light came on for the first time since I've had the car. This on top of the terrible milage its been getting since last fall. And the dragging brake caliper I just replaced for the second time in as many years. And the two hundred thousand pennies I poured into it last year. And the stripped holes that are supposed to hold the bolts that hold on the exhaust manifold. And the air filter that has holes in it. And the rust showing thru my patch job once again. Then the check engine light went out. Then the speedo started working again. Great! now I'm back up to jalopy status from heap status. And there won't be any way to find a single thing wrong despite the fact I know these problems will recur in the near future.... now why was it I like cars again?

In other news...

I decided I am never eating pork again. After months of admonitions by my roommate that pork is bad for you, I decided to do some research on my own. Turns out God forbid pork for a good reason. Pigs have a high tolerance for toxins (they can even survive rattlesnake bites without much trouble!) and don't have an effective way to get rid of them. Because of this, pork can contain up to 30 times more toxins than beef and other meats. Not to mention pigs are much more likely to get parasitic infections than other animals and these infections can be spread to humans even if the meat is cooked... and I liked bacon too...

warm weather!

It feels like summertime out and I am loving it :) I rode my bike today for the first time since last fall... absolutely beautiful day for it, not too hot and not too cold. Plus it saves on gas besides ($3.47 in Belfast! even $3.37 in Fillmore isn't so hot).

Break

Well here's a list of things I was doing since the time I last posted:

-Went to Easter service at my home church
-Helped my dad tap in the sugarbush
-Went skiing at my all time favorite mountain (bright sun, high 20's, well packed trails with no ice... skiing heaven! )
-Did my federal taxes
-Went to NH to visit my friend Derek (gas was $3.049!)
-Did my state taxes
-Went to a concert where I was promptly hit on by a 16 y/o! (first time I ever ran away from a girl!)
-Came back to NY where I discovered it is suddenly spring (I left 4+ feet of snow on the ground at home!)

Songs you just can't turn off Volume 2

Savage Garden's

Truly Madly Deeply

Quick, what kind of government do we have?

Wrong! (You said democracy didn't you?)

The form of government we currently have stinks like that of a socialist welfare state.

But the form of government our founding fathers gave us was that of a republic. Remember Ben Franklin's response when asked what sort of government the delagates had created? "A republic, if you can keep it." To be sure, it was a democratically elected representative republic. But not a democracy.

"Democracy is three wolves and a sheep voting on what's for dinner."
~D'Arcy JM Cain

Songs you just can't turn off Volume 1

I hate sad songs. But I've just never been able to say I hate this one. Or even that I don't like it. May I present:

Pearl Jam's
Last Kiss




Yes, I stole this idea from Job.

Interesting times...

Gold hit $1000 an ounce yesterday for the first time ever. Oil is over $110. And thanks to Bernake's rate cuts, inflation is over 4%.

Wheeee

Seconds 0-3 were slightly fun.

Seconds 3-4.5 were kinda scary.

Seconds 4.5-9 were pure adrenaline rush.

Seconds 9-15 contained the joyful relization that I had just pulled my first 360 without hitting anything.

T = 0 = 55 mph

T = 3 = 50 mph

T = 6 = 30 mph

T = 9 = 10 mph

NOW do you know why I hate NY?

Yesterday a co-worker said something to the effect of "New York has the highest paid money grabbers in the country"... Yep... Why does everyone always think its the snow? What snow? Did you fail to see the green and white plates on my car?

You say you love freedom? Then read this.

Say YES to a woman president in November...













...while saying NO to the demopublican agenda.

D v E

Unfortunately this came a little over 3 months after the Dollar strenghthened and I lost $400 on currency trading....




Dollar hits new low versus Euro

Saturday!

Yesterday was the first day in a long time I actually did nothing all day except play computer games. Pat and I played probably 4 or 5 games of Age of Empires at 2-3 hours each... ah yay for doing nothing :)

Swain

Today I went skiing for the first time this season! It was a beautiful day out and the temp was just right, mid 20's. I hit the two biggest jumps on the mountain - oops I mean hill - on the same run and just barely managed to aviod crashing on the landing of the second one. I did bang my elbow and calf somehow on the rough landing though. There was some ice showing through the 3 inches of powder we got yesterday, but overall conditions weren't bad. And there was an awesome view :)

Almost!... but not quite

Last night was our best water polo game of the season, with our team winning the second half of the game 2-0... unfortuneatly we lost the first half of the game 4-1 so we ended up down 4-3. But we had our team spirit going, and we were fighting hard and working together well and having all kinds of fun, which is the point anyway, right?!

Dean V McCain

That would be an interesting race wouldn't it? Liberal republican versus conservative democrat. And guess who I would vote for? Dean. Yep. Thats saying something, since I voted for Michael Badnarik in 2004 and fully intend to vote for Christine Smith (or whomever the Libertarians pick) in November. So sad that some overenthusiasim caused Dean's campaign to fall flat on its face in his '04 race because he was one of the better qualified candidates. In 12 years as Vermont's govenor (the second longest tenure ever), the state had a balanced budget 11 times, lowered income taxes twice, and the state maintained its lack of restrictions on gun-toting (while Dean's 2nd ammendment stance may in principle be questionable, he has garnished several endorsements from the NRA and is opposed to any new federal laws, which at least shows some respect for state's rights).

Meanwhile, McCain would have you believe he is a strong supporter of the 2nd ammendment when in reality his actions have gained the ire of both the NRA and Gun Owners of America. In addition, McCain co-sponsored the bipartisan campaign finance reform act, which handily muzzles private individuals and organizations for 60 days prior to a general election, a blatant violation of freedom of speech. As far as I'm concerned, the November election is already irrelevant, our next president will be a socialist.

Sun! ...and daytime photos of the cabin :)

Woops

So last night I was replacing the wheel bearing in a truck right... well I was having fun putting the truck back together (and this was after even more fun getting it apart) when I decided to use a 2x4 to prop up the spring arms to push the pieces back together (trying to keep the explanation non-technical here), while I lowered the lift a few inches. Well so apparently it took more force to lift that spring arm than the truck weighed and the 2x4 started shifting the whole truck off the lift!! Yeah so that was my excitement for the week (the year?).

And for the umpteenth time...

The swim club team got steamrollered in water polo last night... We were saved from the extreme disgrace that is a shut-out only by the kindly ref handing us a goal when the ball was only questionably close to being in the net.

On the plus side, our team has had 2 victories this season! welloksotheywereforfeitswhocares.

The Cabin

Its snowing, yay!

For the first time in 21 years....

I can touch my toes! Yes really. Monday night during my post-workout stretching I managed to touch my toes without bending my knees for the very first time ever. Sweet huh.

Just so you patient people out there know, starting now I will be posting at least once a week. I do miss doing this. I just need to make it happen.