Continuing election coverage

So, I was remiss in not mentioning the other candidate for Sheriff here in Roseau county. I found his flyer in the door - his name is Mike Siems. His has a much more professional flyer, and he is involved in several community organizations. Once again, though, he doesn't offer anything that I don't already have, so why entertain changes?

I have asked around at work about the current sheriff, and the candidates, and ambivalence seems to be the watchword. Apparently, all three candidates are "really nice guys." I guess in keeping with the apathy of the area, I'll leave well enough alone. I still keep coming back to the old addage, "If it isn't broken, don't try to fix it."

It's election time again - Who is Steve Gust?

I was sitting quietly watching television this afternoon when there came a rather authoritative knock on the door. I answered and was met by a person named Steve Gust. He is apparently one of several people running for Sheriff here in Roseau county. He seemed affable enough, introduced himself, shook my hand, and handed me a xeroxed sheet with his name and picture on it.

So, being myself, I asked him what his plans were for changes at the Sheriff's office. He couldn't tell me what should be changed, but his response was a rather serious sounding "Umm, Ahh.." I made a mental note to delve deeper into the political undercurrents that were surrounding the sheriff's race.

I asked him why he was running? All he was able to tell me was that he has been a deputy for 12 years, and that he's lived in Roseau county for his entire life.

I guess I can't tell you why I won't vote for him, but I've worked at Marvin for three years, and lived in Roseau county for the same length of time.

I had to look up the name of the current sheriff, Jule Hanson, and since Mr. Gust can't identify what should be changed, then I guess I'll leave well enough alone. One of those "If it isn't broken, don't try to fix it" things where more often than not there is no positive outcome.

I have to wonder, honestly, what possesses people to run for a political office if they are only going to offer status quo? The incumbent apparently intends to continue in office, and I haven't heard anything detrimental about him. Apparently the other candidate sees no particular reason for change.

[note - this is not a paid political endorsement of any candidate. No committee or organization had anything to do with this. It is merely my personal observation.]

Added this after the original post:

** I hate to modify posts once they are up, but in this case, I'd rather do this than add a second verse to the whole blog.

I was just sitting here reading the flyer that Mr. Gust gave me when he was here.
At the very top of the sheet it says, "The WISDOM to know and the COURAGE to change for the INTEGRITY of the people.

Other than the fact that he got wisdom, courage, and integrity into the same sentence, I can't figure out what it means. I think I know what he meant on some level, but it is just poor phraseology.

It also states the following, and I quote:

• 12 Years Experience Roseau Co. Deputy
• Honest, Caring and Dedicated
• People and Solution oriented
• Lifetime Resident of Roseau County
• Hard Working
• Self Motivated
• Family Man-Wife Melissa, Son Colten

For a Better Roseau County Elect Steve Gust Roseau County Sheriff





I'm sorry Steve, I think that you could have done better with the flyer. You are probably a pretty decent guy, but you could have had someone proof read the flyer before you went with it.

The book report

Got this in my email today, thought it was worthy of the blog:

Students were assigned to read 2 books, "Titanic" & "My Life" by Bill Clinton.
One smart-ass student turned in the following book report,
with the proposition that they were nearly identical stories! His cool professor gave him an A+ for this report:
Titanic:..... $29.99
Clinton:.....$29.99
Titanic:..... Over 3 hours to read
Clinton:..... Over 3 hours to read
Titanic:..... The story of Jack and Rose, their forbidden love, and subsequent catastrophe.
Clinton:..... The story of Bill and Monica, their forbidden love, and subsequent catastrophe.
Titanic:..... Jack is a starving artist.
Clinton:..... Bill is a bullshit artist.
Titanic:..... In one scene, Jack enjoys a good cigar.
Clinton:..... Ditto for Bill.
Titanic:..... During ordeal, Rose's dress gets ruined.
Clinton:..... Ditto for Monica.
Titanic:..... Jack teaches Rose to spit.
Clinton:..... Let's not go there.
Titanic:..... Rose gets to keep her jewelry.
Clinton:..... Monica's forced to return her gifts.
Titanic:.... Rose remembers Jack for the rest of her life.
Clinton:..... Clinton doesn't remember Jack.
Titanic:..... Rose goes down on a vessel full of seamen.
Clinton:..... Monica...ooh, let's not go there, either.
Titanic:..... Jack surrenders to an icy death.
Clinton:..... Bill goes home to Hilary...basically the same

Off to Wal-Mart

Well, for most folks a trip to Wal-Mart isn't a real event. Since the nearest Wal-Mart is 90 miles away from here, it takes a bit of planning and some list making to go. I know that some people are not that fond of Wal-Mart, and they feel that it destroys local businesses. Well, if the local businesses were reasonable in their pricing, I wouldn't probably go either. My present reduced circumstances dictate that I try to spend my money as wisely as possible.

I can buy Hamburger Helper at Wal-Mart for $1.53/bx or locally for $3.88/bx.
I can buy Campbells Soup at Wal-Mart for $0.55/can or locally for $1.59/can.
I can buy an 8-pack of paper towels at Wal-Mart for $4.50 or locally for $8.00.

The list goes on.... In just those items I save enough to pay gas for the round trip, so I'm going. I'll crank up the Sirius Satellite radio and just zip down there. Did I mention that here in Red Flannel country we have two radio stations? One is an FM cryin in your beer redneck country station (yuck) and the other is an AM station that fades in and out and plays classic rock from the 70s. Sirius is awesome!

Any jobs out there?

I have finally come to the conclusion that life here in Red Flannel country just isn't for me.

I miss being able to go to a movie when I feel like it. The theaters up here are open Friday and Saturday evening, and there is one 20 miles away, and the other one is 40 miles away. They play nothing other than G or PG rated movies.

I miss having a place to go and get a bite to eat whenever I want one. The restaurants within a 100 mile area here close by 10:00PM on weekends, and usually at or before 9:00PM on weekdays.

I miss a grocery store that carries more than just a few items, and a place where there is some competition for business. The store here in town has no competition within 100 miles, so the prices are insane. "It is because of the higher freight charges.." I just can't see why I have to pay for fuel for a whole truck with one can of Campbell's Cream of Chicken soup.

I miss Wal-Mart, Best Buy, and the host of other stores that sell things I really want to buy. We have Alco (I know, I'd never heard of it before either, kind of like a Pamida, but smaller) and Ben Franklin. A new release DVD in either store will cost $26.99 usually, whereas the same DVD in a Wal-Mart will cost $15.00.... again, I pay for a whole truck's worth of freight with just one item.

I miss having a place where there is something to do when I feel like doing it, not just community events geared towards children on special holidays.

I miss having a bank capable of online banking. The bank here is open for a total of 35 hours per week, is closed on Saturdays, and there are only two ATMs affiliated with them. Deposits can take days to clear, but when you spend money that is almost instantaneous.

I miss working with the skills that I developed for the past 20 years. If anyone who reads this can tell me where I can find a job working with Systems Administration, please, for the love of all that is holy, email me!

Enough for now, I have to go to work...... I am honestly at the point where I am considering being a homeless verteran as a positive career move.

Changes, changes, changes

There is an article on slashdot.org about some changes to the blogger publishing and some new templates. I am going to dive into that and start making some changes on here once it is available. I am truly enjoying the coding and learning the javascript and things to make these pages work. So, from time to time you may load the page and get some messy stuff, but bear with me, I'm learning here....

If you do find something you like/dislike, please let me know.

"Demotivators" I like em.

I really like the sense of humor involved in making these "demotivators". Anyone who has been anywhere near a corporate office in the past 15 years has seen the "motivator" posters everywhere... teamwork, success, etc... and it just got to be ridiculous out there. Anyway, these fit my sense of humor about right... There are a ton more of them out there, so look in on their web site at despair.com.

Mediocrity
It takes a lot less time and most people won't notice the difference until it's too late.

Mistakes
It could be that the purpose of your life is to serve as a warning to others.

Planning
Much work remains to be done before we can announce our total failure to make any progress.

Quality
The race for quality has no finish line - so technically it's more of a death march.

Teamwork
A few harmless flakes working together can unleash an avalanche of destruction.

A quiet night of surfing the web

Does anyone but me ever wonder what happened to honest to goodness space exploration? Back when we had the promise of brave new worlds, and we were boldly trying to go where no one had gone before... I miss Gene Roddenberry, but we will always have his blueprint for a fine future. I took the following from the NASA site, it is always a nice place to stop by and just surf.


Thirty-five years ago this Christmas, a turbulent world looked to the heavens for a unique view of our home planet. This photo of "Earthrise" over the lunar horizon was taken by the Apollo 8 crew in December 1968, showing Earth for the first time as it appears from deep space.

Astronauts Frank Borman, Jim Lovell and William Anders had become the first humans to leave Earth orbit, entering lunar orbit on Christmas Eve. In a historic live broadcast that night, the crew took turns reading from the Book of Genesis, closing with a holiday wish from Commander Borman: "We close with good night, good luck, a Merry Christmas, and God bless all of you -- all of you on the good Earth."

For more on Apollo 8, visit:

http://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/planetary/lunar/apollo8_xmas.html

So, I'm not certain how I feel about this

I search monster daily to see what jobs are available out there. I ran across this one today, and I just wonder whether it is legal. Seems to me that in the US there isn't supposed to be any discrimination based on race, creed, color, sex, religion, or national origin..... I'm trying to get my head around how you can have a technical position that is a ministry....





MRINetwork is one of the world's largest recruitment organizations. Through our Accelerated Recruitment™ approach, we find and place Impact Players, those individuals who arrive faster, fit better and stay longer. Providing our clients immeasurable return on their hiring investment by bringing them the people who make a difference in their business every day. The combination of our global reach, industry expertise and streamlined methodology allows MRINetwork to match companies with their Impact Players - the right candidate for the right position.
Position ID: 2565

Job Category: Information Technology

Type: Employee

Minimum Education: Associate Degree

Our client is one of the larger Christian evangelism focused organizations in the world. They have standardized their technical environment using Peoplesoft technology to support/track financial information. Because of the specialized nature of their operations, they developed a custom solution, written using Peoplecode/SQR to handle the disbursement of the donations they receive that are designated to one of their over 70 ministries. They are seeking an accomplished Peoplesoft Programmer/Analyst that has an expertise in using PeopleTools, Peoplecode, Applications Designer, SQR, Batch Server, and some of their other utilities and prefers new development versus maintenance support activities.

Because this client is a ministry organization they require their employees to be dedicated to the Great Commission as defined by Jesus Christ in the Holy Bible. If your are a bible believing follower of Jesus Christ and want to marry your technical aptitude with the cause for Christ, this is an outstanding opportunity.

This organization is willing to provide relocation assistance for any candidates that have previous programming experience with the Peoplesoft tool set.

contact: Jim Shelton 330-497-0122

jim@mrnc.com

Company: Management Recruiters of North Canton

Contact Name: Jim Shelton

Address:

7300 WHIPPLE AVE. NW P.O. BOX 2970 NORTH CANTON,OH 44720

Email: jim@mrnc.com

Phone: 330-497-0122

Fax: (330) 497-9730

Anyway, sorry it is so messy, difficult to edit html within html... copied it off of Monster.com.

So, let's recap

I guess we should recap this past week.

I quit smoking this week, and I've made it 56 hours now. A record! I have gotten a lot of support from the folks up at work, especially hugs@random - thanks!

My job satisfaction level has moved from tolerate to loath. I'm pretty certain that it will slip again next week, taking me to the bottom rung on the ladder. I guess it would be different if there was any kind of appreciation for things up there, or even acknowledgement of the things we do. Did I mention that we get one 15-minute break, and one 12-minute break per shift?

34 hours so far

And I'm doing fine.

OK, I think I'm going to try it....

After all of these years (27 to be exact) I think I am going to quit today. Fair warning to everyone, I will probably be ornery for a while.

It's a thankless job

It just is. Memories of job satisfaction are becoming vague, perhaps it was just a dream.

BP and shutting down an oil pipeline

I saw the initial reports that due to corrosion British Petroleum was shutting down their 22-mile oil pipeline that feeds from Prudhoe Bay to Valdez in Alaska. So, I googled up some research on the pipeline, wondering how old it was and how it was made, etc. I discovered that this is not recent news.

Apparently, these pipelines and their feeder lines have been experiencing a series of cascading failures for quite a while. There was a spill that went largely unnoticed or unreported in March with over 250,000 barrels of oil released. There have been reports of faulty valves, as well as many reports of corroded lines. BP was actually permitted to continue to use the lines even though mandated corrosion tests could not be completed.

I guess I just wonder why things are allowed to get so out of hand. Haven't these people heard of preventative maintenance? Now we are faced with what appears to be an eight percent reduction in our oil supply due to this problem. Of course, never missing an opportunity to make money, the oil companies will welcome the additional money that they make due to decreased supply and an increasing demand.

Perhaps we should make the oil companies pay for the reparations and absorb the additional costs. They have certainly made enough money in the past several years to pay for it.

More Education Cogitation

So, I slept on it and began to look into our education spending a bit more. I used figures from the 2006 budget last night when I wrote the last post. Come to find out, I was a little out of touch, and the 2007 amounts are available. I can only hope that this has not been approved by Congress yet. I am already convinced that Education is in jeopardy, but this could put the last nail in its coffin. Once again, on the Washington Post web site I found a pie chart just like the one for last year.


As you can see by the pie chart, education remained at a steady three percent. The part that isn't really obvious until you look at both this chart and the one from 2006 (below) is that instead of just education it is now lumped together with training, employment, and social services to get the three percent. I guess we needed to add some programs to keep the three percent of the pie.


Now, I also found another interesting chart on the same page that shows the difference between 2006 and 2007. As you can see, education actually fell an additional 20% as projected. Interest also rose to 12%. This is a result of paying for the war in the middle east and deficit spending that has spiraled out of control since the republican administration took office.

Oh, and did I mention that the budget proposal increased total spending from $2.57 trillion in 2006 to $2.77 trillion in 2007?

Now, with an eye on this chart and the knowledge that the president has been a staunch proponent of alternative fuel development. He spent days and days running around the country on Air Force One touting his support of these programs, yet the energy budget (presumably where the money to fund new research would come from?) was cut by 63%. That is the subject for another post.

Funding for Community and Regional development was also decreased by 46%. In underdeveloped, rural areas such as redflannel country this will not help at all. Again, the subject for another post.

To finish this post off, I think that we need to start contacting our representatives and try to head this off before it gets approved. We cannot afford to degrade an already devastated education system further.

Education and the degradation of our technological advantages

From time to time I get into a mood where I find myself questioning whether the US has a long term plan for anything.... This is one of those times. I am 42 years old, a product of the Kennedy era of public schooling, where tremendous support was given to NASA, and the geeks at mission control were the penultimate representation of problem solvers, and creative thinking. We were able to trust that in a situation such as the one that developed on Apollo 13, that there were people capable of dealing with whatever problems arose. I no longer feel that confidence. This is not meant as a slight to the people in those positions now, on the contrary, I fear that you may never be able to retire for want of replacements.

Over the summer we hire young people from high schools and college students returning home for the summer. I have recently come to work with several of them. One of these kids was recently being shown how to measure a piece of wood so that hardware could be applied. The lady that was teaching this person demonstrated the points to measure, and then said, "You take this measurement and divide by two to mark the hardware." At this point, the student pointed out, "I don't know how to divide, the other people just 'half it'." The lady that was teaching this person was as astonished as I was. There is another student who will be a senior in high school this year who is unable to multiply even single digit numbers.

Now, I am not picking on these kids, they are merely representative of the poor state of education in rural or low income areas. From what I have been able to gather in Minnesota, school districts are horribly under-funded. In order to compensate for the lack of federal funding, property taxes have been raised to the point where people cannot afford a further increase. School districts have done what they can to cut programs, staff, and many have consolidated across vast areas. In these cases, students are faced with long bus rides to and from schools. As fuel prices rise, busing is decreased, so students in outlying areas are unable to participate in the remaining extra-curricular programs because there is no transportation home for them.

With this in mind, I did a little research on the federal budget, just to see whether it appeared that there was adequate funding. You know, to try to get my head around whether we were squandering money in the wrong places or there just wasn't enough of it to go around. I found this graphic on The Washington Post web site. This shows that of the $2.5 trillion budget, a mere three percent goes to education. We spend nearly three times that amount on "Other," whatever that is. We also spend nearly three times the amount budgeted for education on interest for our national debt. I won't even go into the amount spent on national defense in relation to the education budget.

My feelings here are that money spent on education is an investment in our future, and the future of the United States. Our technological advantage has been our strength since the birth of our nation. From mass production of flint-lock rifles, using templates to cut the pieces, to the Apollo program, we have always embraced free thoughts and ideas. With the present administration we have turned our backs on these ideals and have taken great strides towards making it impossible for our country to remain a superpower.

These are my thoughts on this. As I continue to cogitate, I will probably add more to this post.

I've fallen and I can't get up....

So, it is a quiet Sunday up here in redflannel country. We had some thunderstorms last night, no damage, just a little hail. That was probably the biggest event up here in the past week. It seems that if I localize this blog and its commentary to this area I will be sadly lacking material. So, the only real solution will be to expand my horizons and hopefully move on to something better.

I spent twelve years as a Unix systems administrator, then moved into management. When the great tech wreck of 2001 happened I was caught in the vacuum of the job market and just never fully recovered. You see, I gave up some of my technical skills to move into management. I wasn't able to stay current with things, but I had people for doing that. Now what I get when I apply for system jobs is the "You aren't current, we can't hire you." statement.

Nobody wants to hire a manager from outside of their company, so that doesn't work either.

So, here I am making windows for roughly 15% of what I once made, using absolutely none of the skills or skillsets that I have. The company has no need for someone with technical skills, they already have their own people for that. People are chosen for jobs before they are even posted, so no point in applying anymore. "But, don't get discouraged."

Everyone up at work knows that I know how to fix terminals, printers, and generally just straighten out systems. I have now officially adopted the position that I will no longer do that because I am not being paid to do it. They have an IT staff that does it, I am just a production line worker.

As time passes here I am growing more and more disabused with the area. I need to find some situation, anywhere, that pays somewhere in the neighborhood of $30,000 per year (I'm almost making that now.) and I'm open to anyone's suggestions.

Enough of the lamentation.... I'll probably be better tomorrow.

Some jabs at our fearless leader...

Viagra ads

Staff Meeting


The boss at a Madison Avenue advertising agency called a spontaneous staff meeting in the middle of a particularly stressful week. (This is one pretty sharp boss!)

When everyone gathered, the boss, who understood the benefits of having fun, told the burnt out staff the purpose of the meeting was to have a quick contest.

The theme: Viagra advertising slogans.

The only rule was that they had to use past ad slogans, originally written for other products, that captured the essence of Viagra. Slight variations were acceptable.

About seven minutes later, they turned in their suggestions and created a Top Ten List. With all the laughter and camaraderie, the rest of the week went very well for everyone.

The top ten were:

10. Viagra, Whaazzzz up!

9. Viagra, The quicker pecker upper.

8. Viagra, Like a rock!

7. Viagra, When it absolutely, positively has to be there overnight.

6. Viagra, Be all that you can be.

5. Viagra, Reach out and touch someone.

4. Viagra, Strong enough for a man, but made for a woman.

3. Viagra, home of the whopper!

2. Viagra, We bring good things to Life!

And the unanimous number one slogan:

1. This is your penis. This is your penis on drugs.

Just another redneck joke....

Got this from my friend Jim....

"Hello, is this the Sheriff's Office?"

"Yes. What can I do for you?"

"I'm calling to report about my neighbor Virgil Smith. He's hiding marijuana inside his firewood!"

"Thank you very much for the call, sir."

The next day, the Sheriff's Deputies descend on Virgil's house.
They search the shed where the firewood is kept. Using axes, they
bust open every piece of wood, but find no marijuana. They sneer at
Virgil and leave.

The phone rings at Virgil's house. "Hey, Virgil, this here is Floyd. Did the Sheriff come?"

"Yeah!"

"Did they chop your firewood?"

"Yep!"

"Happy Birthday, buddy!" (Who says rednecks aren't real bright??!)

You know you're in Red Flannel country if....

ok, so I edited this and localized it a bit....

1. The church finance committee refuses to provide funds for the purchase of a chandelier because none of the members knows how to play one.

2. People ask, when they learn that Jesus fed the 5000, whether the two fish were Walleye or Northerns, and what bait was used to catch them.

3. Opening day of deer season is recognized as an official local holiday. (We call it "Deer Monday" and even the factory is closed)

4. One of the local folks asked to be buried in his 4-wheel-drive truck because "It ain't never been in a hole it couldn't get out of."

5. In a congregation of 500 members, there are only seven last names in the church directory.

6. People think "rapture" is what you get when you lift something too heavy.

7. The church choir robes were donated by and embroidered with the logo from Marvin Windows and Doors.

8. The collection plates at the church are really hubcaps from George Marvin's 1956 Chevy.

9. "Thou shall not covet" applies to hunting dogs, too.

10. The only Saturday of the year that the bank is open is "Bonus Day".

Anyone have any others to add?

Thought for the day

I have no idea who said it first, plucked it out of someone's signature file in their email... I like it.

"Life should NOT be a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in an attractive and well preserved body. But rather you should skid in sideways, chocolate in one hand, martini in the other, body thoroughly used up, totally worn out, and screaming "WOO HOO what a ride!"

Net Neutrality - get informed, get involved.

I have to take a moment to encourage everyone to support "Net Neutrality". On its most basic level it is keeping the Internet free from unfair trade practices.

Here is what it is about in a nutshell. You connect to the Internet via an Internet Service Provider. This can be a dial-up connection, DSL, WiFi, Cable, etc. Presently, these service providers are prohibited from blocking your access to sites (that's why things like net nanny are available, because due to this law your ISP is barred from blocking access to pornographic sites) in any way. Now, large companies are proposing that this law be changed to allow them to "direct" your interests to certain sites, essentially blocking your access to the site you were looking for.

An example would be that if you typed www.google.com, and due to an exclusive contract with yahoo your ISP redirected you to them, or vice versa. This would be something similar to trying to go to the Chevron gas station only to find that the Shell station across the street blocked all access to Chevron and diverted traffic to their station. They are making choices for you, and you cannot over-ride their decision. We wouldn't put up with it in that scenario, why would we on the Internet?

This video gives a bit more detailed explanation:



Another source for information is: available here.

Of course, John Stewart's description of the situation is both entertaining and informative, so here it is as well:



The end result of this is that it is another basic erosion of your freedoms if this is allowed to come to pass. All of the sites recommend that you contact your congressman (for US citizens) to express your views. I suggest that in the spirit of moderation you all support it. Google up some more facts about it while you still can, and make an informed decision as to how you feel about it.

Remember, if we fail to support it, you may never be able to read this or any other blog again.

A message from the grave...

This is an actual tombstone, in Notre Dame des Neiges Catholic Cemetery in Montreal, Canada. Even the stonecutters engraving it didn't catch the "cryptic" message.


So, my only real question here is whether this was something that "John" left to be engraved on his headstone, or whether this was something directed at him by an angry loved one. In either case, it is different.


I think I would like a urinal with the words "Anyone miss their chance?" Not sure whether any decent cemetery would allow it though, so I'll probably end up going with the cremation option.