Four more years

We've got four more years with President Obama and then all of the registered voters can get back out and vote once again for who they want as the 58th President of the United States. Until then, you'll hear loudly from all thoese who feel that the wrong man is in office now over these next four years.

What is really sad is the build up to all of this and the plain lack of true support to begin with. True support from those who have the legal right to vote to begin with is sad. Looking over the history of past elections as far back as the 60s at least, we've only really managed around a 50% voter turn out each election.

We have a two party system here in the United States and for the most part and the norm is either a Republican or Democrat will take the White House for those four years. Other parties have tried to gather support and in most cases those votes have done nothing morn than steal away from one of these two major parties.

What about that 50% who didn't turn out to vote though? What if those who didn't come out to vote during the election, because they didn't care about one or the other and who like to say instead that "I'm exercising my right to not vote, because I don't support either one of these nominated candidates", came out and voted for a change anyway?

What if a true third party could actually come about in the United States? The Change party perhaps and where people decided to vote for something different and not the lesser of the two supposed evils. The clip above comes from one of my favorite TV shows, The West Wing, and was aired on October 4th, 2000 and is titled In the Shadow of Two Gunnmen: Part I. It sums up what voters should really think and feel when they go out and cast their vote.

I'm not writing this in a protest or saying that I'm against President Obama being our next President, in fact I voted for him in the past two elections. Is he perfect for the job? Nobody is really perfect for the job or has no flaws, but it was my right to vote and it was my selection at those times. In the past elections I've even voted against the two party system and for Change and it more and likely just upset one party over the other in the end.

We now have four more years until we get to do this all again. Four years for someone in the Republican and someone in the Democratic party to gather enough support to become the next candidates. We also have four more years to find that good man or in fact a good woman for this job and they don't really have to be from one or the other parties for a change and just maybe in four more years we'll have more than just a 50-60% voter turnout as well for a change too.

Change 10-11-12

Well it more or less took me by surprise today and I'm still trying to grasp the reality of the situation. I've kept quiet since the start of this school year about a few things and I don't have to anymore really. I'm so looking forward to my wife coming home tonight, she plans to take care of a few things for the most part, it means an extra day the family gets to spend with her tomorrow and over the weekend too.

See, she's been teaching in Athens, Texas for the past few months now and in doing so, she commutes during the week and returns home on the weekends. Its been tough in a lot of ways, but I'm very proud of her and this is allowing her to focus on school and teaching. The first year for teachers is always the hardest they say.

So I've only told a few of the people that I work with about my situation. Pretty much my boss and I let him know from the start about all of this, "I don't plan on going anywhere and like working for APHA." It really doesn't concern them (Management) as to what my family does in the end I feel. I didn't want them to think, well he must be planning on quiting soon in the end.

What I didn't expect, was APHA being finished with me so soon. I was surprised after taking a couple of approved days off this week, to take care of my kids and I even did some work from home during this time; only to be lais off upon returning to work this morning. That was how things went for the past few years. No real vacations and still being called upon and asked to work on stuff from home when I'd take my days off.

So over the past few years I've seen a lot of my co-workers leave for various reasons, some on their own terms and some not ready to go, but being asked to leave like this? Looks, like today I join the ranks of those being asked to leave now. It's still a shock, having worked for APHA since January 2000 and I'll miss a lot of things over time I think in the end.

Well this marks only the 2nd time if my life that I've been let go from a job, actually being laid off is different than the first time. Perhaps I should have took a page from my past co-workers and left along time ago and on my own terms. I think I really enjoyed working for the Association in the end and for the members and that is why I held on as long as I did.

Change came early at the start of this year and now I'll be looking hopefully towards better things to come. I think in time I'll see some relief, I mean I'll get my summer months free again as well as the fall and not be tied down to those long hours of working at a horse show anymore. Then again, that was the part of my job I had really liked the most, seeing the members and being around the horses.

The Walking Dead from page to screen

I started a little early this year with my Halloween entertainment options; knowing full well that AMC The Walking Dead would soon be returning and that hopefully season 2 would soon show up on Netflix too.

My first introduction to the whole series was with season 1 on AMC and I soon learned that it all had started out as a comic book. I figured I'd give the comics a read while I waited on season 2, and picked up a copy of the Compendium One from my local library and I was hooked from the start.

Now I've read way ahead of the current show in many aspects and at the same time I've found that the show and comics are on very different paths all together. I can only think that writers for the show have decided to change up a few things and introduce some newer characters for TV show.

Some characters didn't make the cut in the comics and some have lasted longer in the show. The comics are very adult in nature and full of pages that have tons of shock value. Some of the stuff I've read, I don't even know how AMC will even pull it off on the screen. Then again they might not even bring some things from the comic to the screen.

I'm glad that I've read the comics and have become a huge fan of the work. I also like the show and it makes me wonder what they have in store for future episodes and which path these characters will take in the end.

My next couple posts I'll go into more detail on the comics and then later a review of the show. I'll more and likely have a few spoilers, in case you haven't seen the show or read the comic books.

Happy Monstober

It's that time of year for the family and I once again. We love the Fall months and kicking things off with Halloween coming is the best. October normally brings colder weather as well, something people in Texas look forward to as well. But it's also the start of all things spooky and fun as well.

 

The kids of course love Trick or Treat time and we enjoy helping them celebrate as well. Its something I've always loved I'd say and something I've shared with my kids over the years. As an adult we've enjoyed Halloween parties and its the one time of the year I watch scary shows for a change.

 

Now I'm adding some video games like Left 4 Dead 2 and reading some Horror books and even a few graphic novels of The Walking Dead to the mix even. From now until Halloween arrives, its all kinds of things that go bump in the night for my entertainment pleasure.



The magic Eight hours of the day

I've been thinking about time lately, how its spent, how its used, and how its wasted for example. So we have a total of One Hundred and Sixty Eight hours in a full week that is a given. Most of the world has to work and gets some days off, normally two days a week. This leaves us with One Hundred and Twenty hours for the work week.

Most people work a five day work week and that brings us back down the normal Twenty Four hours in a day. OK, I can do simple math and perhaps I could have just stated plainly, there is Twenty Four hours in a whole day. Everyone knows this and it makes for a boring post to just kick things off like that and I'm not looking to stop here at just Twenty Four hours in a day.

So its been said that people should get at least Eight hours of sleep a day. What is said and what really happens is two different things of course. So our day is knocked down to just Sixteen hours that we are, say awake and engaged in the world and others all around us. The time we are asleep is our time to rest, recharge, dream, and reload for the next day.

OK, your awake and what is next, well we are talking about a work week, so lets get some things done and earn some money. The goal and most of the world works... oh, we work Eight hours a day and Five days a week for a total of Forty hours and get paid for doing all of this.

There goes another Eight hours in the day. So we've used Eight for rest and Eight for work and know we have a magic Eight hours left for other stuff. What is so magic about it? For starters, I'd say most of us don't have a full magic Eight hours to ourselves, family, and/or friends.

Lets get back to work for example, we are paid for the Eight hours, but we are there longer than that and for most people at least an extra half hour each day. This is so we can take a lunch break and we don't get paid during our lunch break. So this half hour has to come from someplace, guess it comes from the left over Eight hours.

Are we done? Of course not and I'd say we have more of a time leak to the magic Eight hour day. Fact is most of us don't work at home and have to commute to work and that is going there and back. I'm willing to bet a good average is at least a half hour to drive to and a half hour to drive back home.

What's left over, take our magic Eight hours and subtract One and half hours and we are left with just Six and half hours out of each work day to take care of other things that don't require work or sleep. This means our work day is truly a Nine and a half hour work day and this is provided we all work only a standard Eight hour day, what if we stay an extra hour or two each day.

That time has to come from somewhere and that means we sleep less or give up more of the, lets call it free time. Is it really free? I suppose it is. Our magic Eight hours a day might really be closer to only half of that depending how hard we work or we sleep a lot less and that makes it harder to work or stay awake during our free time.

It was Robert Owen (not related to me, as far as I know and I don't want to spend my free time to find out if he is really) who coined the phrase "Eight hours labour, Eight hours recreation, Eight hours rest" in 1817. Funny thing is back in 1810 he really wanted a Ten hour day.

I'm sure glad its not a standard Ten hour day over the Eight hour plan in place, we'd only have about Two or Four hours to ourselves. I guess there's not much magic to an Eight hour day the more I think of it. I can tell you this, if I'm not working or sleeping, then I want to make the most of the hours I have to myself, my family, and/or my friends.

Resturcture creates new opportunities

I've seen a lot of change over the past year or more where I work and I've had a number of things I would have liked to write about in regards to change. But some changes have come so fast, its hard to even grasp what might be happening to react or respond even.

Today I've found myself in the middle of restructure where I work and no longer a part of the team I've enjoyed working with for the past 10+ years. In someways I've come full circle even, having started in Marketing back in 2000, moving to Information Technology, and now finding myself joining the Graphic Arts & Service team.

My job & duties are still the same, I've just been asked to report to a new manager and be apart of a new team now. My skill set appears to fit closer in line with this Department and I look forward to learning from my new team members and hopefully sharing some of what I know a do with them.

In addition to joining my new team, I've also been asked to take an active part with the rest of the Marketing Team and their efforts as well. I'll still help out in a few areas with the Information Technology team and look forward to future development of our web sites and working close with them still.

It's been said that change is good and can create new opportunities and I can honestly say that I can not think of more change than what I've seen over the past couple months. New things have to come out of all this for sure. I have to think we can only go up from here and reach new heights now.

Pinterest for men?

What's the point here or Pinterest behind this latest form of social networking and is it for men? I'm a social network geek and find it's just a part of life these days, people want or feel they need to stay connected with others. That being said, I had wondered what all of those little boxes I saw scrolling across my wife's monitor really meant.

Her Pinterest had peeked my interest enough and I decided I would give it a closer look. There was something very familiar at the start, but I wasn't quite sure.

My first look into Pinterest came from the Pinspiration App I downloaded on my Windows Phone 7 device. I quickly found out I could see all kinds of stuff, but I would need to actually get invited in, if I wanted to contribute with the masses.

Surprisingly, it didn't take as long as it does to get into some of Google programs and if you happen to know someone that uses Pinterest, then I'm sure you can get invited by them even faster if you like.

Once you've been invited, its pretty simple to select from a few things you find interesting to follow and they'll even give you some suggestions of people using Pinterest to follow and help hook you up with those in your existing social networks like Facebook and Twitter even.

Now its time for you to start pining up some things on your social cork board, so your followers may see what interests you. These interest boards allow you to group things into categories of interest from your real life and place them into a virtual space to share with others.

How you might ask? From web sites to start with and the handy Pin It button they suggest you add to your Favorites Bar. When you visit something on the web that speaks to you enough and want to keep track of it, simply Pin It and place it in one of your Pinterest Boards. It will launch the small window and hopefully find the image on the page you would like to share. You might even find a number of sites have integrated a Pinterest button within their site for you as well.

Smart phone apps is another way and this allows you to create from your very own images taken while your out and about. Its always nice to use your own photos, while out and about for sharing your interests with others.

Is it for men? Well, I can clearly say the demographics appear to be heavily slanted towards a female user base. It does seem to really speak to a person that wants to organize certain aspects of their life on a visual basis. It is very popular with Brides for example and allows them to carry an extreme amount of visual aids, right at their finger tips or add to these wedding planning Pinterests for example.

If you scroll through the Everything section on Pinterest to start with, you'll find an enormous amount of fashion pinned, along with food & drink or home decor stuff for example. Pretty much things that interest women for the most part... nice things to look at for sure, but most of it will not speak to a guy really. I would say you would be hard pressed to find around 5 percent of the pins on the front page appeal to a man.

So what's the point then? Well in a lot of ways its just a visual book marking or collection of favorites of sites and things you like and a means to share these things with others. Twitter is for posting small bits of things your interested in text or sharing perhaps a quick photo, but not a means to organize them. Facebook is similar but it does a lot more than Twitter does. So Pinterest is like a virtual scrapbook & clippings of things you like, but on more of a social level.

Some guys use it, but it's a small number of us I'd say and I'm almost willing to bet, a large number of men sign up and simply lurk and never pin things really. This brings me back to my thought at the start, I'd seen this somewhere before and it was from a site called ImgSpark that lets you create Mood Boards, only two of them and it limits you to only a gig of space.

Sometime back in 2009 is when ImgSpark.Com was created and I had joined their site back around May of 2010. This was only a couple months after the launch of Pinterest. It's only recently now that I've discovered Pinterest.

I think Pinterest clearly does things that ImgSpark is not capable of and it has a much larger user base. Is it for men though? Well, its not like they keep us from using it. It's just really up to the man in the end and if he has any real Pinterest in sharing I suppose.

Family Dinner time

Our family dinner time is headed for real change here in 2012, as we look to try something different for a change. For starters, we are going to try and not eat out and instead prepare our meals at home together as a family more.

In doing this we are going to prepare only one meal that the whole family will eat and enjoy together. We will also plan these meals out in advance for the next two weeks and stick with it. That means no more sitting around and asking, "What do we want to have for dinner tonight?" and it also means we will not make something different for just the kids and us to eat.

When I was younger and it came time for dinner, I was called to the table and we ate what ever was made for the night. There was no pre-planning as far as I knew it and I found out what we were eating as soon as I sat down with the family. Surprise, you get what you get and you don't throw any fits in the end.

Truth is I never had any problems with this really and I wasn't too picky of an eater growing up. So getting my kids to understand that they have to try new things and eat better will be an experience perhaps, but I think we'll do fine and they seem to be receptive so far to this new idea.

To start things off we've themed our dinners and set something different for each day of the week. We've went ahead and decided to keep the same day themes for both of the weeks to help make it simple too.

The girls seem to like the idea of themed meals and are planning to locate music that ties in with each nights dinner theme. I think it should be a lot of fun for all of us. Good food, cool music, and great family time for the evening.

The creation of Sunday Specials should be very interesting and we've decided to select places from around the World. We dropped Six countries into a hat to start with and South African & Brazilian have been selected as our first two Sunday Specials themed dinners. I think these might be the hardest ones to come up with out of the six, but we'll rise up to the challenge.

Hopefully this will also help us get organized a bit where meals come in to play and help us save some money with the buying of our food in advance by eating at home. This should also bring us together more and I think we'll enjoy our meals as a family and perhaps learn about some new places and foods as well.