looking for another job...

I'm at the LDS employment agency and looking up my blog. There don't seem to be any custodial jobs available at the moment. It's weird how the auto-correct works differently on different devices. Well, I better get back to what I was doing.

December Update

The baseball bat place had a bunch of high volume weeks in a row, now nothing. When signing up for healthcare I think they looked at the last few weeks of work when deciding how much I would pay and how much the government would cover. Since I got tons of overtime, I'm afraid they decided I must make that much all year. When I get my tithing updated I'm going to check on this.

I'm also getting Christmas decorations put up around the house even though it's only for me and my dad. I have almost all the presents bought and I think I might put up the little Christmas tree on the coffee table. This is only because everyone keeps bugging me to do it.

YouTube channel notes

I think it would be OK to do a YouTube channel on guitars and related items. Watchmojo has a video on how to do videos and one thing they stressed was that you need to do videos on stuff you enjoy. I keep thinking about all the things I thought would be more worthy of a channel and I don't feel any passion about them. Maybe a little about some of the more religious things, but not other things. I will make a point to pray about this.

Still working at the baseball bat place

When I went back to the baseball bat warehouse I felt excited, like I was going to work at the best place they could send me. Armando, Yolanda, John and Monica were still there, as well as a new gal named Lupe. Among the bosses were Phil, who never speaks very loud, even though it's a loud warehouse, Maria, who makes lunches and sells them, and Sherry, who's about my age. Every one else is new, and temporary.

Poem about poetry

I have an idea for a poem about poetry. It starts by describing a boxcar with graffiti on it and compares it with poetry. The graffiti is said to be temporary, it lasts "till someone paints over it." That's the last line.

Back at the baseball bat place

Well, I'm back at the warehouse that ships out baseball, football and other sports stuff. The first day there I realized how much I liked that job compared to the other jobs I've been sent to. I am going to try to do everything I can to keep this job

Another job bites the dust

The potato chip job is over. The good news is that the guy that hired me for it asked for my coworker and my phone numbers. He says that when he calls the temp agency it always takes a few days to actually get people to start working. This way he can get us to start working that day and not have to wait.

The hard thing about that job is that the people who work full time work 12 your days. I can't do that. I tried it at the yoghurt factory and it was a disaster. They claimed that the workers decided to work those hours. I don't believe it. If they mean the white collar workers who don't actually have to work those hours decided that, then maybe. But not the people who at work them. You don't have any time to do anything else those days.

Helps

1. Prayer, twice daily
2. Church attendance
3. Scripture study
4. Temple attendance
5. Church lesson manuals
6. Gospel videos and podcasts
7. Church magazines
8. Exercising priesthood through church callings
9. Other church books from church bookstore

Yet another new job

Been working for the potato chip factory some more. Everyone who works there full time has to work 12 hour days. After the yoghurt factory job I'm sure I can't work those hours again. Especially at night. They get about 15 dollars per hour, but I can settle for 10 and a steady 8 hour day.

One thing I've decided definitely is to write full time. I'm going to have to work as many hours as possible and write as much as possible, then when I can I'll quit and write full time.

Job Over

Well, the yoghurt job is done.

Last week was spent back at the potato chip factory.

I don't have anything going on this week yet, so I guess I'll clean the house. Also look for a job.

Another new job

I started another Kelly job at a yogurt factory a few weeks ago. The hours are really long, 12 hour days, and I don't have time to do anything else the days I work. I need to get back into the habit of applying for jobs and following up on them.

Been thinking about the YouTube channel I want to start. I think the first thing I do would have to be to make a speaker isolation box. That way I can play loud without bothering my dad.

There are a lot of photography and sound videos that talk about how to make videos. I need to watch more of them and decide what gear to get and how to make vids. I hope I can keep making videos as long as possible. I hate finding channels that are really interesting and seeing that they stopped making videos a year or two ago.

Forgiving Jane Fonda

I was a child during the Vietnam war, so the trials associated with it don't hit me as hard, but I think there are a lot of things about it that I am qualified to comment on.

Jane Fonda once visited North Vietnam and was young and foolish enough to make statements about how evil GI's were to fight against Communism. She obviously regretted it and made statements to that effect for years. I think she should simply be forgiven. I really hate Communism and Socialism, so much that I have always voted with the conservative voters, even when I was first old enough to vote in 1980. I have never regretted it. But enough is enough.

Let's just forgive and forget.

That Bill Maher video

I finally figured out how to create a link with this internal contradiction. Inscrutable contraction. Infernal contraption! (Gotta get the full size keyboard next)

I must warn you that this video is not safe for work, due to language and content. But it is interesting.

Real Time with Bill Maher: Middle Class Economics…: http://youtu.be/d3wWia09UC8

April fools day

I'm going to have to come up with an April fools day post. Next year, I mean. There are a bunch of vids on YouTube like this. There were a bunch of posts on Usenet over the years as well.

Socialism? Really?

I've been putting off writing this post for a while because it concerns a topic I feel strongly about. Bill Maher has a show on TV called "Real Time" where he interviews people and they discuss issues, and he does comedy bits called "New Rules" where he just talks to the camera. In one of his recent shows he discusses the rise of the middle class in America during the '50's and '60's and says it's not a byproduct of capitalism. It's actually a fluke. It was caused by the government issuing massive taxes and redistributing the wealth throughout society. Unfortunately, he's right. Without someone twisting the arms of capitalists they won't all do much good with the freedom they have. We just have to look at child labor 100 years ago as an example.

The only thing I disagree with is his premise that it was socialism that solved it. Perhaps I confuse socialism with communism, but there was far too much capitalism going on during this time for me to say we were a socialist country.

We do need a more responsible capitalist class, and by capitalist class I don't just mean the rich investors. These days it's not uncommon to have middle class and even some poor people with a little money in stocks. These people need to use their stakes as shareholders to vote with a conscience. We need to create jobs through responsible investing. People need to be paid a good wage, not feel hopelessly impoverished at the same time they are working their asses off trying to get out of debt and into a lifestyle that would otherwise require illegal activity to pay for.

The ideal situation is to have everyone free to do what they want, but have them do good.

On Charity

One thing I think I should write about is charitable giving in general and charities in particular. The scriptures specifically state that we are supposed to be charitable people, but give us strict guidelines on how we are supposed to carry it out. Matthew 6:1-4 says, "Take heed that he do not your alms before men, to be seen of them: otherwise ye have no reward of your Father which is in heaven. Therefore when thou doest thine alms, do not sound a trumpet before thee, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, that they may have the glory of men. Verily I say unto you, They have their reward. But when thou doest alms, let not thy left hand know what thy right hand doeth: that thine alms may be in secret: and thy Father which seeth in secret himself shall reward thee openly."

It's impossible to pick up a paper without seeing a charity function advertised. These charities go 180 degrees against what God wants us to do. The fact that they are set up specifically to operate this way is evidence of how sick and sad our society is. People who donate this way aren't specifically damned, according to what scriptures tell us. Simply put, they have their reward. I would much rather be rewarded by God in the next life.

America is known as a very charitable society, and the vast majority of charitable giving is not through these public charities, with their publicity and trumpeting, but people quietly writing checks to real charities.

Mother's birthday

Today was my mother's birthday.

I've been thinking about writing a story about a bad woman that is NOT based on my mother. I wanted to call it ,"The Pretty Girl." It would sorta be a female version of "The Rich Boy" by, um, whoever wrote it. Then I started wondering why write about bad people when I can write about good people.

So I started thinking about my mom and all the good choices she made in life. All the choices the pretty girl made in my original story would be made correctly in the new story. Maybe I'll call it "The Redhead." My mom had red hair. In fact when I grew a beard it came out reddish brown. I used to tell everyone I got my dad's eyes and my mom's beard. One of my standard gags.

Fortunately she had a sense of humor.

Started a new job

I got a job through Kelly services. I'm working at a sporting goods warehouse. It should last till April or May. The warehousing is pretty easy, but it causes muscle cramps in my back and pain in my shoulder. I'll see how it goes. After it closes down I think I'll try to find a custodial job.

Wordsworth quote

An old post says that I had a Wordsworth quote, but I appear to have deleted it. It went, "rapine, avarice, expense, this is idolatry and these we adore. Plain living and high thinking are no more." I don't know if it's a quote from one of his good poems or his bad poems, but it sounds good to me.

These We Adore would be a good title of a book, even if it's from a bad poem. At worst I think Wordsworth was a little heavy handed.

The bad thing about this is that, well, let me start over. My first car was a 12 year old Lincoln Continental Town Coupé. Someone had to buy it new for 7 or 8 thousand dollars before I could buy it used for 800. By the time I got it new Lincolns were 35 thousand. I don't know what they cost now, but I can find decent used luxury cars for about 25 hundred.

The point is that I don't believe luxury is bad. It is when it's overdone that it becomes evil.

Been watching TV, also...

I saw an episode of America's Test Kitchen yesterday where Chris Kimball said all you need is 25 good recipes and you are a good cook. I decided to find, and maybe modify, some recipes for my own repertoire. I made the following list:

2 soups
1 stew
1 chili
2 breads
1 omelet
1 pasta sauce   
1 curry sauce (maybe)
2 veggie sides
2 potato recipes  
1 gravy
1 casserole
1 roast beef  
1 roast ham
1 chicken
1 pie (complete with crust)
1 cake (and frosting)
1 fish recipe complete with sauce
1 meatball/meatloaf recipe
1 burger
1 sandwich 
1 pancake

Of course the recipes aren't very sophisticated, but they're recipes I can make. I dunno what kind of soups and stew I'll use, but I have some ideas about the chili. Also the potato recipe I haven't seen yet will probably involve baking potatoes first, then mashing them with whatever ingredients I can come up with. Basically, I am trying to add that "baked potato" flavor to mashed potatoes. The casserole recipe should be mostly veggies, and I should also be able to make a vegetarian version of it. I tried haggis once, and aside from the gross stuff it tasted good. So maybe I'll come up with a recipe with haggis spices, oats and onions, mixed with beef or chicken. That might be my casserole recipe.

The gravy has to be something unique, something that can double as a sauce for other dishes. The roast beef, ham and chicken need to serve a small party, and be something I can use on venison or lamb. Meatloaf and meatballs are different, but similar enough that the recipes should be compatible. There are a lot of burgers on YouTube, as well as sandwiches. The pancake can come with its own syrup or compote. You should also be able to turn it into waffles by adding some oil. I realize the pie and pie crust, as well as the cake and frosting, are treated as separate recipes in cookbooks and shows, but since they are eaten together I will treat them as one recipe.

There are a lot of recipes on the ATK show that I haven't reviewed yet. I have an 11 year recipe book of their advice I have yet to go through. Also while this list is exactly 25 items long, I will not keep my ultimate list that short. Maybe I'll have 30 or 40 recipes.

There's been 14 or 15 years of America's test kitchen as well as 6 or 7 years of Cook's country (a show with the same crew), so I have a lot of shows to go through. I need to get the cookbooks for all the seasons.

The problem is obvious

I've been watching YouTube again. Always a bad sign...

One thing I hate about videos that purport to tell the world some of the bad things that are going on is that they go and perpetuate those same bad things. This video started by showing luxurious cars and talking about how they are still making them when the rest of us are in the middle of an economic mess. The video never says what the cause or the cure for that mess is.

The cause has usually been 'get rich quick' schemers trying to soak the middle class, but this time I'm not sure that's all there is to it. The important thing is the cure. People need to save money instead of just spending it.

Obviously, the rich have more money to invest, so they are going to invest more of their money than anyone else, as a percentage of their wealth. The solution is for everyone to save more. When I worked at a local thrift shop, run by a church, that offered career training, I noticed a lot of the stuff we received as donations was junk made in China. I distinctly remember an entire box of nutcrackers where every one of them had part broken off. We had no facilities for fabricating new parts so when things like that came in we just threw them away. This stuff wasn't very old and it was already falling apart. Why did people buy this junk? They could have saved a lot of money, literally saved it, by buying stocks and bonds. Read more about my ideas on investing to create jobs on this blog. The post is called The Purpose of Money, Investment Capital. I just typed that whole phrase into Google and it was the first thing that came up. Till then, here's a link to the offending video:

How The Rich Keep Getting Richer: http://youtu.be/3DT-DTQke58