2 quick things

I heard a guy on the radio the other day equate the Democrats and the Republicans to Coke and Pepsi. I'm not sure what his point was with that comparison but I'll use it and push it a little bit further.

The democrats and the republicans are like Coke and Pepsi, but what we need is significantly more Dr. Pepper.

Take from that what you will.

Secondly, So Some cop busts a hot shot professor for breaking into a house only to find out it is the guys house. The guy claims its because he's black. Obama calls the police stupid for doing it. Now all three of them are having a beer together at the White House? How many arrests or police interventions occur on any given night in the U.S.? Maybe a few hundred thousand? I must have missed Obama's comments on all the other ones. If I was a cop I'd make a call to the white house to find out when it is my turn to have a beer with the president.

I really don't picture Obama drinking Budweiser either but I guess its possible. It's also possible that this is all being turned into some sort of ridiculouse PR stunt. One thing is for sure, it has definitely taken the media's attention away from the real issues the president should be working on. Who knows though, maybe a beer with the guys will help clear his head.

Resistance to change

I have heard a hundred times how hard it is for people to change. The reasoning usually runs along the lines of how we get set in our ways and there are a lot of risks and unknowns that come with change so its easier to stay the same.

I'd like to look at our resistance to change from a different angle. I think we make it very difficult for each other to change. Let me give you an example. Let's say Ace is adamant that no beverage will every be as tasty and satisfying as yum yum orange. Gary is Ace's friend and coworker and while he is not as fanatical about a beverage as Ace he is quite certain that sippy sippy grapey grapey is much better than yum yum orange. The two have lunch everyday and Gary insists that Ace it being stupid and stubborn because he won't even try sippy sippy grapey grapey. He assures Ace that he'll love it but Ace always refuses because he knows his yum yum orange is the best. This argument goes on day after day for 10 years. Then one day while at a Get the foods quickly store Ace decides to try a sippy sippy grapey grapey. He is stunned by how good it is. Now Ace is in a jam.

If you're ace to do go tell Gary and the rest of your family and friends that you like sippy sippy grapey grapey and that yum yum orange is not the best and you'd like to branch out in the world of beverages? Or do you keep it a secret, continue to drink yum yum orange when around others and privately enjoy some occassional sippy sippy grapey grapey?

My point is this. The pressures we put on each other and the ever lurking, pride flaring, phrases like "I told you so" that we are so quick to throw out play a big role in our resistance to change. We are afraid of dealing with the reactions to, or the things that will likely come with the change we are going to make.

Can you relate to this? What would you really do if you were Ace (besides change your name)?

Universal Healthcare

I don't know all the details but my basic understanding is that the government wants every person in our country to have healthcare coverage. Rather than try to fix the current system they are trying to setup a system where all healthcare is run through the government. So basically a MediCare program that encompasses everyone. Like I said I don't know a lot of the details yet but here's a few thoughts on the subject:

Healthcare is a business, and the government really hasn't shown they know how to run any kind of business let alone something as massive and complicated as healthcare for everyone in America.

The people who currently don't have healthcare probably don't have it because they can't pay for it. Since the goal is to provide healthcare for everyone who will pay for it?

It seems like employers would no longer have an option to offer health plans to their employees and often times these type of plans are better than the cheapy options.

What would the impact be on pharmaceutical companies? If the government controls all health insurance then the pharma companies would be forced to offer their drugs at whatever the government offers to pay. Some may say that big pharma charges too much as it is and that may be true, but big pharma is also the ones coming up with our cures and treatments, what happens if they aren't pulling in enough to continue current levels of research and development?

Chime in on what you think about universal healthcare. If you know more about it than me you're welcome to give me more info.

14,000 things to be happy about

I saw in an article the other day that there is a book called 14,000 things to be happy about. So I searched Amazon and sure enough there it was. The author is Barbara Ann Kipfer. She is also the author of The 1325 Buddhist ways to be happy, 1,400 things for kids to be happy about, and 4,000 questions for getting to know anyone.

Here's my thoughts. Thinking of things to be happy about, great. Making a list and spending some time focusing on them, great. Sharing those things with your friends and family and finding out what makes them happy, great. Writing them in a book and charging people money to read them, lame.

I applaud Ms. Kipfer because she has found a way to make money for herself and she probably feels like her books are uplifting and help people out. However, if I ran a book store I would never carry this book or any of the other three titles I mentioned. I bet any of you reading this blog could write any of these books and have them finished in a week or two. If I was an author I would probably be very frustrated that books like this would make it on the shelf next to mine.

What do you think? Would you be interested in reading these books or do you think you could write them yourself? Am I being to hard on her? Any other ridiculous books out there that you've seen?

No Privacy

I was reading an author's blog the other day and he was referencing a world without any privacy to make a point. It got me thinking that people value privacy to different degrees. Some people keep as much private as the possibly can. Things like pay, what they spend their money on, their past, what's in their closet, what people see them doing, their naked body, their feelings about things...etc. I all areas of our life we all determine how much we keep private and if something we want to remain private gets out then we would be pretty upset about it.

After considering what type of stuff you like to keep private now think about a world with no privacy. This is probably not possible because some stuff you could keep privately in your head but bare with me on this. Imagine everyone knows how much you get paid, how you spend all of your time, what you have purchased and what you paid for those purchases, what you eat, how long you sleep, how well you brush your teeth, your routine in the shower, what you watch on TV, what you look at on the Internet, what is said in your conversations, what you read... etc. The list could go on forever.

In thinking about this no privacy concept I think it could be very liberating. I think a lot of stress comes from keeping things private and if it was all out there on the table you could let go of a lot of feelings and emotions like pride, shame, fear, envy and so on. Everyone would be completely exposed and we would see everyone's shortcomings or oddities as well as things that would probably impress us. It could also enhance all those feelings and emotions because they would not longer be held back by our not knowing certain things.

Not sure if this makes sense but here's the task for you to consider. Think about various areas in your life and where you draw the line when it comes to what is public and what is private. Feel free to explain why certain things are private but I would challenge you to not use the reason "because it is no one else's business". That may be true but I think maybe that isn't the true reason, it is just the easiest one for us to give.

What people are capable of

In Genesis 11 we are given an account of the people of Earth deciding to build a city with a tower that reaches toward heaven. God then has a very interesting reaction.

He says "If as one people speaking the same language they have begun to do this, then nothing they plan to do will be impossible for them. Come, let us go down and confuse their language so they will not understand each other."

The implication here is that if all people are united, no matter what the purpose, we could accomplish it. Nothing would be impossible for us. Things like peace, the end of any starvation, curing cancer and stopping genocide are all possible if everyone wanted them.

The impossible task seems to be getting everyone in the world to come together behind a common cause. The world is so riddled with division that it seems near impossible to get even small groups united behind a cause.

I forget the guy's name but I was reading about him the other day and he believed that the growing population was destroying our advancement and keeping us from ever reaching our highest social and economic goals. A lot of people disagree with that believing instead that more people equates to more mind power and labor that can contribute.

What do you think? Could the world ever overcome its many differences in order to pursue a common goal? Is the constantly growing population hurting mankind or helping it? Take a few minutes to read the account of the tower of Babel, it is in Genesis in the first part of chapter 11 and see how it strikes you.

Wienerschnitzel

Last Friday Amy and I rounded up our co-workers and headed off to Wienerschnitzel for lunch. This was a bid adventure because neither of us had every been to one before. I have always thought the whole premise of a fast food place focused on hot dogs to be a bit silly even though I love hotdogs. So here's my report on the wienerschnitzel experience.

I was surprised but there was actually a line to the door so apparently there are a lot more people going there than I originally thought. The guy who took my order seemed pretty friendly. I'd say the wait time to get my food was about average for a fast food place. The menu was good because there is some variety but not like a hundred options like some places. I went with the 2 corn dogs, fries and a drink meal. The corn dogs were pretty average and not that big, the fries were average, the drink was great because they have Dr. Pepper there and a lot of fast food places don't. The price was ok, but I kind of had it in my head that hot dog based meals should be cheaper than a burger meal. We were able to find adequate seating for our group so that was nice. The drive from work was further than expected but we all got in, got our food, ate, socialized and made it back to work in time so it worked out well. One thing that I think could use some work is the pictures of the food. It all looks pretty fake and not very appetizing, the resaurant's whole look seems very stuck in the 70's or something. I guess that is maybe part of their brand but I'm not sure I like it.

Couple facts from their website: It was started by a 23 year old in 1961 with a single hot dog stand. Now has 340 locations in ten states. They sell over 120 million hotdogs a year. Their site has a page called "Wiener World" which is kind of funny, also they say on the site "Love wieners? Join the club!", I laughed at that.

Have you been to wienerschnitzel? How do you like it? Are there any common places you haven't been to? Let me know, maybe this posting will inspire you to try out somewhere new.

Lastly, What is interesting is that if I thought about the places Ihad never been to before I moved to Riverside for college the list would have been very long. My home town had a Foster's Freeze, that was the only fast food place. A couple town's over I think there was an A&W.

Punishing your kids

Alright who can think of some creative ways to punish kids when they act up?

Here's a couple I have in mind:

- Make your sons or daughters share a twin size bed.
- Keep those super spicy peppers on hand and make them eat one if they are acting up.
- If they won't share a particular toy, sell it.
- Make your sons put on a ballet performance for the family.
- Mow the lawn using scissors
- When they get into a fight, make them participate in a prolonged hug with each other, something like 10 to 15 minutes of constant hugging would be good.
- Make them go Christmas caroling in Halloween costumes regardless of the time of year.
- Give your daughters a boy's haircut, like a crew cut, bowl cut or a mullet.

Let's see what you've got. Keep it humane, no cutting off fingers or anything but I'm sure you have some that you've always wanted to use on your kids, or you plan to use when you have kids.

The Salaries we pay

I was listening to talk radio the other day and something was brought to my attention that outraged me so I'll share it with you and see if it fires you up.

They were using a specific police officer, I'll call him Steve, to shed light on the craziness of the pension system that a lot of public employees are entitled to.

Steve worked for 20 years as a police officer and retired when he was 45. At the time of retirement he was making $90,000 a year. He then went on to work as a small town chief of police or something to continue earning income.

Now I'm fine with paying Steve the $90,000 a year. I think that's a fair salary. My problem is with the pension that Steve is entitled to. After "retiring" (since he went on to work another job it isn't completely accurate to call it retiring in my opinion), Steve's pension paid him $65,000 a year for the rest of his life. To fully grasp the amount of money being paid out here let's say Steve lives to be 85 years old. So from his retirement at age 45 until his death at 85 he will be paid $2,600,000.

So guys like this get to retire 20 years earlier than people working in the private sector, and they are guaranteed a sizeable income for life. All of this is on the taxpayer dollar. The bigger problem is that when Steve retires some one has to be hired to take his place and that person is going to get the same deal so now we are paying the new guys salary plus Steve's pension.

In my opinion this is absolutely insane that for some reason we think public employees need to be this taken care of. Big companies used to have pension plans for their employees, then they realized it was going to bankrupt them and they had to stop doing it.

Is there any legitimate reason to keep a system like this going? Public employees get better pay, better benefits, more holidays and more vacation than the private sector and have much higher levels of job stability. It seems like we are trying to bankrupt our local, state, and federal treasuries for this craziness.

Or maybe I'm crazy and am missing something here, feel free to weigh in.

Crazy tag games and what not

Ok, so Bekah Reed is apparently into all these crazy online games that have some how found their way out of the Myspace world and onto people's blogs. I've been told that I have been "tagged" and that I have to post the 4th picture from the 4th folder in my pictures on my computer. Amy has been begging me to actually do it so here is the picture. I am desperately hoping this doesn't make me some sort of "teenie bopper" for participating. This is from our holloween party this past year, it is Holli and Tim in their cactus costumes.

The predictable life vs. a life of variety

I was reading one of R.A Salvatore's books the other day and in a sort of journal entry one of his characters brings up an interesting observation about the lives we lead. This is probably not the case for everyone but it is something to consider when you look at your own life's ambitions. People live their lives trying to avoid changes or get through them quickly and move past them. They want to reach a point of routine and predictability in their lives so that they can feel comfortable and settled. Once this comfort is achieved Salvatore points out that people often find that their life is boring. Now obviously there are tons of factors that can play into this to make it hard to set this as a law of human nature or anything. Some people will certainly maintain a life of variety and always make new things happen in their life, while others will be perfectly content with the predictable life they have worked towards. It just got me thinking that maybe we spend a lot of time working towards things that we might not really even like. I guess that's all the more reason to try and be sure of what you want, though how to do that I can't be certain.

On a related note. I think some of us secretly like interruptions to our plans. When things like car trouble, jury duty, holidays, vacations, getting sick etc. come up we often put off other things that we intend to do or that we know we should do. I wouldn't say that its from laziness that we secretly enjoy the opportunity to put those things off longer, I would attribute it more to being unsure of what will come of those things. To clarify those things would be stuff like, getting a job or a new job, getting more involved at church, serving the community, pursuing relationships with friends and family, dating, exercising, studying, whatever. This thought just occurred to me so don't put too much stock in it, but I would encourage you to give it some though. Do you think you hope to attain a life that is set in routine and comfortable or will you always want new things to be happening and curve balls to come your way. Also, do you feel like a small part of you appreciates things that interrupt new undertakings because they serve as a sort of excuse that is out of your hands?