Who Needs Betty Ford

So I challenged myself this weekend to not drink alcohol at all. It was a success and I actually learned some valuable lessons. I have a tendency to go out to much, mainly because its the main ways of perhaps meeting someone to date. When I get to drunk I have what you would call a brown out. I was awake and aware of what I was doing but when I wake up in the morning I have no recollection of a lot of the evenings events. I have met people and not remembered and even worse kissed people I didn't even know. However this weekend of sobriety I was afraid I would be incredible bored and have a horrible time. On the contrary I had one of the best weekends in a long time. Friday night I had dinner with a friend and just sat back and relaxed and talked. Saturday night dinner with a different friend and lengthy amazing conversation afterwards. So the lesson learned from this weekend is that alcohol is not a necessity for a good time, in fact I preferred this weekend to other weekends I have spent hung over all day and out all night. Every once in a while we need to cut loose with some adult beverages, but like everything else in life should be has in moderation. Sorry this one is so short.

Busting Mine to Pay for Theirs

It should come as no shock to most people reading this how I feel about certain things, especially those of a political or governmental program nature. So I have many great ideas about how certain things should be handled and fixed. Below will probably spark many arguments and may even cause people to think poorly of me, but with that being said these are my opinions and if you don't agree with me then stop reading, its a simple as that.

1. If you are on a government program such as welfare, medicaid, disability, etc. then you should have to pass a drug test every month, and if such test comes back positive then you will no longer receive government assistance.

2. If you are on these same government programs then it should be coded into your id and you should not be allowed to purchase cigarettes, alcohol, lottery tickets or gamble at a casino. Resulting in such will forfeit your right to government assistance.

3. If you are on medicaid or welfare, we will pay for contraceptives and birth control because having a baby while on assistance will result in you loosing this assistance. This should stop unwanted and un needed pregnancies for those aiming for more assistance by increasing mouths to feed.

4. Welfare will be a staggered approach, and over time, such as into the 2nd/3rd years the amount is decreased slowly

5. You will only qualify for government assistance if you either have a job that does not support your family or you can prove you are actively seeking work. No more free money for people sitting at home watching soap operas.

6. Health insurance will be government provided for children until 18. The stipulation is that you should remain in school to receive this insurance. If you choose to attend college then this insurance will continue with you through college. This does two things. It lowers the cost of health insurance by companies for their employees by removing the children from the equation and it also encourages more education.

7. No more three strikes rules. You mess up once, then you can be paroled. You mess up a second time you are a prisoner for life. Prisons will no longer be what they are today. Everyone will be required to perform daily work, call it hard labor if you must. Have them building roads, picking up trash, working in garage dumps pulling out recyclable materials, anything that would create a better society and cleaner/safer earth.

8. Social security is going to be corrected to include a better prescription drug program

9. Pharmaceuticals will be better regulated and tested as well as having a standard set of pricing to help lower the cost of prescription drugs at the expense of the ill.

10. A standard allowable will be determined and issued for all procedure and diagnosis codes that currently exist that would eliminate one hospital charging $500 for an x-ray while another hospital bills $75

11. Physicians will receive tax breaks and other perks for the quality of service they provide not the quantity.

12. We will purchase domestic goods and crops before we import from other countries. This means growing our own food, making our own cars and clothes, and exporting our surplus. We can import things we are not proficient at or are lacking in quantity. This will in-turn create more jobs in our country and improve our own economy.

13. Educational institutions will be required to provide the same amount of funding for athletics and they do academic and fine art programs. Also English will be the primary launguage and students must pass a oral and written exam with grammar, pronuciation and comprehension before advancing to the next grade. Remember if they dont stay in school they loose their insurance.

So that is all I can think of for the time being. I am sure later more will come to me so we will see where this leads.

Until Next Time...

Marketing Basics

So school started this week and I am getting back into the swing of things. One of my classes is Marketing and in the first evening I heard two things that have really stuck with me. One is disappointment is the distance between expectations and reality. This is such a simple explanation and yet an incredible statement. We are so quick to get disappointed in this day and age perhaps because we set our expectations extremely high without regard to the realms of reality. When did we grow to expect so much from everything. Everyone wants something for nothing because we have conditioned ourselves to expect only the best. Would we even know the best if it was right in front of us, probably not. We instead become easily discouraged and disappointed when we are met with our reality.
The other thing that I heard, which to me is the greatest explanation I have ever heard is simply this. If you hit on someone or ask someone out and they turn you down, its not that big of a deal, obviously they are not the right boy or girl for you. I mean seriously I have listened to tons and tons of good advice over the years but for a professor in front of a class of about 50 to just rattle this off without even so much as blinking an eye, leaves me astounded. I have heard similar things from others but this wording and such made it make a lot more sense. I have always been one of those people that is devastated when someone turns me down or blows me off, I always take it personally. I know its just their preference but for me its a hard blow to my self esteem, what little of it there is. So next time I put myself out there and get turned down, which happens all of the time I will stop and think this is just not the person for me and take it with a grain of salt. And for the record if I was to ask you out, be a man and be honest, do not lie or avoid the issue, just give it to me straight.

The Gift That Keeps Giving

No I am not talking about herpes. I found this program after watching a talk show this morning and it peaked my interest. Normally I think gifts likes these are incredibly stupid and generally a scam. Call me cynical but if someone plants a tree in my name, buys me a star or adopts and endangered species in my name, I immediately think, this is a con. They are selling people the same star, pets and trees over and over again and people keep forking over money for it. What the hell is someone going to do with a star anyway? Move to it? Stars are not endangered and yes people they do die. The web site if found today is along the same lines as this but takes it much deeper and is a lot more likely to receive my money. WWW.Heifer.Org is a website where you can gift an animal, whether it be: cow, goat or even water buffalo to a poor family anywhere in the world (even in the US). They use these animals to build a livelihood, by using them to farm, to haul or carry things, selling their products (not their meat but things like milk, eggs and wool.) This to me is a lot smarter than just dumping food in their laps. This makes them work for a livelihood with a small helping hand. It teaches them how to provide for themselves instead of becoming reliant on free food and help for governments. The interesting part of this whole process is that once the person has established a livelihood, and perhaps have bred their animal and have babies, they then give the baby or even the animal given to them to another family in need, so it creates a pay it forward methodology worldwide. What a novel concept, that people who receive help, once stable, help others. This website got me to thinking about our government and assistance. What if instead of giving free money via welfare to people, we provided them with a means to make a livelihood instead of them growing dependent on free money. Hell, give em a lawnmower, get em mowing yards, give them anything that allows them to earn a living for themselves so that I do not have to bust my ass working to pay for them, when they are not applying themselves to stand on their own. I will blog later on my revolutionary idea for welfare reform, but thought that this website deserved mentioning. They have smaller cheaper gifts for as low as $20.00 for a flock if chicks or geese, so its not extremely high and actually to me is doing a lot more good than Sally Struthers hocking a starved child on TV that I could assist by sending 10 cents a week. What a crock. Pay 20 bucks, get those starving people a means to succeed instead of dropping bags of rice at their front doors. I welcome and would love comments on this. Until next time...

Shallow Waters

Something that has always bothered me, is how shallow the gay community is; mainly gay men. I was thinking about this the other day when reading an article about beauty being skin deep. Its cliche but I have to agree with it. There is so much emphasis on appearance that often some pretty amazing guys are over looked. I will admit that I am just as guilty of this as anyone, I guess its just gay human nature. Maybe that is why gay couples do not have a very high success rate, because we are always looking for something in a prettier package. What happens when those looks begin to fade and your stuck with someone who shares no common interest except that they used to be pretty. I have discovered this though, that many of the really good looking ones are A) not very bright or good at conversation and B) are generally not good in bed cause they have never had to work at it. This is just a generalization, there are always exceptions to every rule. I know by no means am I considered on the attractive side, but I don't think I am some hideous monster. I actually think I have a lot going for me, I have a steady job, am educated, consider myself fun to be around and other redeeming qualities. I am not a saint nor perfect by any means but due to the fact that I do not come tied up in a pretty package I am "just friend" material. I wonder why if beauty is only skin deep does it play the major role in attraction.

The Start of Something New

So this has always been something that I wanted to do so I thought no time like the present. I will go ahead and tell you that I am very opinionated. I respect others opinions but have my own and hope that you will respect mine. I am not an expert at anything, I just have a lot to say, so this is an organization of my meanderings. Feel free to leave comments if you dont agree with me, or even if you do. Nothing is better for the mind than a healthy debate. With that said I hope you enjoy what I have to say.