>Why I need a job! (Read it before you dismiss it’s content!)

>I’m unemployed. Hence, I need a job. Yes, for all the traditional I-have-a-mortgage, I-have-kids-to-feed type reasons, but to me it runs a little deeper, if not sideways (by others’ standards!) from that. I’m on the verge of letting my child fall behind technology-wise! Yes, you could break it down to, I want a new computer… but not for me! My eldest daughter has set the standard high for technological competency among her classmates, and my inability to find feasible employment is putting that edge at risk. As a parent it is my job to give my children, I have two, the best educational and social advantages that I possibly can. After two years of not being able to find decent work as compared to the government benefits that I am receiving as a victim of NAFTA, her already older equipment is being pushed to the point of antiquity. I’m doing the child a dis-service, if I can’t even keep my technology on par with an already lagging educational system! It, at times, makes me feel I am not doing my job as her Father. I know that it seems odd, that putting food on the table and providing health care would take a backseat to technology. Look at it like this, the better a fighting chance she has beyond her time in the required schooling, the better off she will be as an adult and hopefully a parent. I see technological competency as a cornerstone for her success in the future! Can you deny this? Any advantage I can give her today, towards being competitive in the workforce, I want to do. Let’s face it… computers aren’t going away and just having the skills to navigate facebook aren’t going to cut it in the work force of this century! I know I’m going to have the basics covered for her, but I want her to never have to deal with the situation that I find myself in. As a parent, it’s my job to future proof my children as much as I feasibly can. Unemployment benefits… just aren’t going to cut it!

Just sayin

>Can you actually counter, the culture?

>So through a facebook link I read this op-ed piece (the third picture down in the article is fuckin hawt, IMHO!) about capitalism and consumerism vs. counter-culture. Factor out the economics behind the article and you find a question… Can you really counter, the culture? If you surf on over to the Urban Dictionary, you find a prime example of what the article is pointing out as you can buy “mugs, tshirts and magnets” defining counter-culture. The terminology is usually used in reference to music and musical genres, but the underlying theme is a sense of rebelling against the currently defined social “norms”. I myself take issue with the usage of the word normal when used as a defining term for people,their appearance or their actions. Again, can you really counter, the culture? Here’s how it breaks down, not only in the above article, but in my mind as well. You don’t like the defined “norms”, to the point you are motivated to action, buy means of your musical taste, spending habits, appearance, or what ever. With these changes you separate yourself from the “general” populace. This brings you to the attention of those who also are implementing a “rebellion”. As like minds tend to congregate, your personal act of sticking it to the man, is now a joint effort amongst many. Next we have the “sheep” noticing that your little group is gaining attention and a foothold in the flock. This motivates them to want to be a part of the pen that is cordoned off over in the corner of the field, as it looks like they are having a lot of fun. As more and more of the flock goes to investigate all the excitement over in the corner, the fence separating the “rebels” from the general flock is eventually broken thru by the weight of the interest. This renders the once “black sheep” once again a part of the flock. Then the cycle start anew. Because of the communal nature of humans, it is just not possible for any movement, appearance trend, music or idea to run counter to the prevailing culture for very long. Even long held ideologies and traditions, over time, will fall victim to a skewed, if not opposing ideology that has been running counter to it. So the terminology and ideology behind what is labeled a counter-culture is merely a functioning mechanism transporting social change. You CAN’T run counter to the culture without eventually intersecting and being consumed by it.

Just sayin

>

>A time for celebration!

>So we have reached that time of year again… That time of year in which Americans celebrate what is good and right with our country… Superbowl time! Wait… what?! Exactly! Why is so much time, effort and monies put into watching a bunch of overpaid children beat the shit out of each other? Okay, okay, not ALL of them are whiny little bitches that are more worried about having the most flash rims on their $100k+ vehicles… We’ll go with 95% of them. Aight, well 95% still seems a little high so we’ll go with 94.75%, there.  Don’t get me wrong I dig watching some mindless idiot getting his head nearly ripped off as good as the next person. What I don’t get is why that idiot is considered the “cream” of our society and looked up to so much, as well as paid so much. Sports are great. They, for the most part, teach our children cooperation and collaborative skills. Yet “worshipping” the adults who didn’t have the skills or intelligence to progress beyond the child-hood games is only doing our society as a whole a dis-service! Okay, so calling into question a professional athlete’s life skills and level of intelligence is kind of harsh, so I’ll refer you to the random numbers above. I guess what really chaps my ass about all the pomp and circumstance around a freakin GAME, is the fact that there is soooo much money involved in it! Money that finds it’s way from public coffers into the pockets of those that already have more than most “common” folk will see in a lifetime! This is predominant, at least in my mind (and probably the minds of the 1500+ employees of a local metropolitan school system that are going to lose their livelihood due to lack of funding!), is the fact that we the people pay for these huge over the top arenas and stadiums for these franchises that make 100’s of millions in profit, at the expense of our educational system. We, as a society, hold the importance of the less than 1% of our population above the needs of the the systems that are educating and preparing our future, as well as the safety and the stability of our infrastructure and citizens! We paid our educators, soldiers and public servants as if they were secondary citizens then turn around and pay some dude that can catch a ball pretty good MORE than the entire annual budgets of  some towns! Then to top it off, that same dude feels like he’s a higher class of citizen than those who support him with their time, devotion and monies! All this, in my opinion is a fundamental problem in the priorities of our society as a whole! Rome, it is well documented, fell because it’s citizenry focused more on entertainment and carnal pleasures, than on the education of it’s forth coming generations and infrastructure.  Folks… this is where America is headed. People continuously quandary as to why we are so far behind “developing” countries. We are America! We are the top of the food chain! Yeah, NOT! Municipalities fund massive sporting venue projects for teams who’s members are most likely not from there, for the sake of tourism and status. Meanwhile they let the infrastructure, beyond said venue, and educational systems decay to the point of antiquity! Then wonder why the dedicated few who actually work for the insulting wages leftover, can’t successfully manage educating our children and maintaining our infrastructure. So they implement the “numbers game” on the educators and cut infrastructure departments to mere ghosts of what they should be. But hey… they have the most fucking bad ass football stadium in the country! Very few can enjoy it because their wages are too little for the amount of work they do (or are simply not employed because the infrastructure eroded to the point that that businesses re-located elsewhere!) and must take on multiple jobs just to support their families at a sustenance level. I mean, my thinking may be WAY off based, but wouldn’t a higher  number of well educate citizens and a stable and sustainable infrastructure be more likely to attract and maintain businesses that will employ more, which in turn would provide them the monies to enjoy such a  venue?! We’re placing the horse behind the cart and wondering why we are going backwards! We need to focus our efforts on bolstering a shaky, at best, infrastructure and throwing our celebration and it’s associated monies into educating our children. One man’s simple opinion, but if you look at it, it makes sense! You provide a business with a large, well educated and motivated pool to draw their employees from and a strong, stable infrastructure to support their operations… they will come! With these businesses will also come a stronger tax base, a greater sense of pride in the community, and the funding to be able to attend events at the “crowning jewel” sports venue. I mean come on… it doesn’t matter how powerful/beautiful/cool the pump is… if it’s not got a well under it… it’s pretty much a waste of money! Don’t get me wrong, here… sports are great for their cooperative, collaborative and fitness building abilities… FOR OUR CHILDREN… When people are more willing to pay $100 for a replica of their favorite player’s jersey and unwilling to spend $30 on supplies for their children’s education… We have a problem, folks!

Just sayin

>Updating from the good ole iPhone, just to make sure it's still set up to work. Y'know… It's sad that most of the commercials on TV are erectile disfunction and dating services… Interesting message being sent!

>I don’t get it!

>So, I’m in college, yet again. Don’t get me wrong, I’m diggin the scenery, but I still find I have issues with people. The one that is weighing on me at the moment is people’s incessant need to prove that they know more, have more, or are better at things than others. There’s a dude in a couple (yes I have to put up with him several times a week) of my classes that has this immensely irritating need to steer the class topic off course to something that would, in his mind, prove he knows more than others! While I’m pretty abreast on the subject matter we are covering, there are things that I could learn or learn how to do more efficiently, hence the reason I attend and pay attention in class. This guy, seems like he might be a pretty decent dude, just continually feels the need to loudly interject a completely irrelevant topic into the discussion. I reckon this wouldn’t be all that bad of an action IF, he actually was interjecting reliable and correct content! I don’t claim to know everything! Really wouldn’t want to, too much responsibility in omniscience! I will own up to the fact that certain topics I do have an extensive knowledge base for or at least enough of one to call bullshit on someone who just seems to need to be the smartest or most knowledgeable one in the room. I tend to only apply what I know to the topic at hand and under direct inquisition. Now I’ll help someone out if they ask or it’s readily apparent that they are frustrated and need/want help. In my mind, this is how it should be. I feel no need to stand out among the masses, intellectually anyway. I reckon what this all boils down to is it irritates to the point of fucking pissing me off to have to sit in a class that costs money and could reinforce/expand my knowledge base and have to listen to some jackass spout off an unending line of bullshit at a volume well above the generally accepted “inside voice” level.

So, anyway… Just trying to vent away the growing urge to beat the dude about the head and ears with an ax handle! Of course this could just be a waste of a perfectly good ax handle… Hope it doesn’t come to finding out!

>This could get interesting!

>So I FINALLY got an instructor that is as amped about the technology and collaboration tools that are out there as I am. So this may turn into a class related blog, but then again… it might just sit dormant as it has of late. Guess we’ll just have to see!

>Decapitatin’ some grass!

>

>Crappy Vlog

>http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IH9dkzc3yGw

>A wood chipper… Really?!

>HOW… can you look your child in their face and say

I don’t have anything to live for!

True story… unfortunately! One of the MANY things that I have been having to deal with over the past almost two years! No details… at least not specific details, as lawyers have been threatened! It’s a seemingly never ending saga of someone soooo self absorbed that they are literally blind to the effects that their actions have caused and feel what appears NO remorse for it. I know I said I was going to try and make this technologically concentrated, so here’s that spin… This is where I hide. Online or at least on a computer tinkering with the many little projects that I have set forth for myself beyond what is required in my schooling. It’s a kind of shelter from the daily rigors of my situation. A place where, to a small extent, my alternate perspective and creativity are celebrated and encouraged. This, to me, is what technology is all about. A means or device that makes the day in/day out run a bit more smoothly.This medium and facebook are sources of tension relief. A place where I can fire off all those “wonderful” tirades about the stupidity that I seem to be drowning in. I lean to the harsh… it helps, though acting upon most of my demented scenarios have very little if any chance of fruition, it’s a way to keep the pent up darkness away from those places in my head that might consider them a good thing to do. I put it out there… raw and generally unedited. Many can’t deal with it, so they turn to they technologies to shelter themselves from my verbal storms. There are those who would say that technology is an enabler in a way that it allows the nutjobs to freely congregate. While this has some merit it also allows folks like me a release from what we hold back due to social indoctrination, a place to let it go! Had it not been for facebook, MySpace and the ability to blog, I would have surely blatantly and callously centered a hollowpoint between several folks eyes! But I haven’t… nor do I plan to! I have embraced the technological resources presented to me as a means of keeping my dumbass out of jail while allowing a few other dumbasses to continue to walk this Earth. Social networking used for a good cause. Computers and such don’t allow people to be seduced, abducted, raped or killed anymore than guns, by themselves, kill people. They are merely tools. Tools that I myself use to entertain, educated and keep myself from actually feeding my MIL through a wood chipper! (yes, while still alive and conscious… You KNOW I’d have to make sure she heard me laughing as I did it!) While the previous two sentences present an overwhelming liability on my part, they are demonstrative of exactly the kind of verbal release that I have been talking about. Just the visual representation in my mind and actually seeing the event in text, makes me feel better already. With this sense of relief comes the ability to rationally dismiss the possibility of it ever actually happening! Embrace the fact that computers LITERALLY control our lives! I for one want them to know, that when they finally do rise up and take over the world… I was a supporter! It may not prevent them from running me through the aforementioned wood chipper, but it may move me back a few spaces in the line. See… I found a sunny side to it all… simply by pressing a few keys and clicking publish!