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Safety versus Gas Price
Tuesday, April 29, 2008 Around my area the price of gas has risen to as much as $3.75 a gallon. That's the slightly higher grade of gas my car requires. The summer driving season hasn't even started yet! I'm reading reports that per barrel "experts" predict prices as high as $200! Thank goodness I don't have far to drive. I've noticed that the dealers nearby have removed all of their big trucks and SUVs for those new, fuel efficient and amusing golf carts. I believe in fuel economy, yet I value my life more. I'd rather pay more for gas in a full sized automobile that will protect me from bodily harm. My car has air bags everywhere, and one of those crash zone impact frames what-have-you. I live in the state with the worst drivers in America. I care about careful driving and evading car accidents, not high gas prices. Labels: automobiles, fuel efficiency, gas, high gas prices, oil, safety posted by GoldenAh
email this! | article source | 0 comments | post a comment New York Auto Show 2008 - Slide Show Sunday, April 27, 2008 Labels: automobiles, cars, new york auto show posted by GoldenAh
email this! | article source | 0 comments | post a comment I Am An Unforgiving Consumer Wednesday, April 23, 2008 At times, I am a really slow shopper. Good shopping is like a hobby, or enjoying a good snack. It's to be done without haste, and with much leisure. I browse, looking at nearly every item of interest to purchase. I can linger for long periods of time in hair, skin, makeup, and especially pain / cold remedy aisles. I like to look for particular products, check the prices, ingredients, and the smell. Does that make me a criminal? Or is it because I am a black woman? Are these the most shoplifted items? They must be. I can only surmise this from the behavior of store clerks. I wonder where they think I can hide these items on my body? Apparently, these geniuses need to pass directly in front of me a million times, or linger closely without so much as a "Hello, can I help you find something?" Guess what I do? I'll abruptly put down the basket chock full of items. I head for the exit. My money stays in my wallet. (Yeah, I carry a wallet, not a purse.) And I am out. I am not coming back. Ever. There's too much competition for my money. I don't need these clowns, they need me. I want to shop without some minimum wage nitwit shadowing me. I want to toss my 12 oz hair conditioner at them. I want to read the ingredients without someone breathing down my back. I should be able to check that this item is on sale without the sudden store clerk traffic coming my way. If you cannot respect my shopping habits: Adios. I will never return. Labels: angry shopping, customer service, CVS, Rite Aid, store clerks, Target, Walgreens, Walmart posted by GoldenAh
email this! | article source | 0 comments | post a comment A Bitter April 15th Tuesday, April 15, 2008 Flat Tax Why wont this stupid government pass a flat tax and be done with it? Let me pay what I owe once. Don't tax me every time I touch my own bloody money. Nothing angers me more than when I have to pay a second tax and third tax, after an income tax, on money I had in savings. Why is this okay? Why is this even permissible? I don't expect much in the way of the electorate demanding simplicity, but couldn't a brave, and hopefully intelligent, politician see the way? Couldn't one of these elected geniuses offer some kind of two-track tax plan? There should be one for tax payers who love paperwork, and a one-time, once per year tax only on income. And that's it!! Why must there be thousands of pages just to pay taxes? Is the purpose of these byzantine tax laws to ensure a domestic works program for financial planners, accountants, lawyers and their ilk? A flat tax would certainly reduce the demand for these "professionals." A better course of action would be to pass the flat tax, then have all these accountants auditing government spending on entitlements, domestic programs and defense. Bitterness Forget about the opiate of the masses, excessive taxation is legalized slavery. If the government has its citizens in debt to pay taxes, there is no moral difference. It is indentured servitude. Just what do my taxes pay for? Here's an example: a "stimulus" check, where the same money we sent, is returned to the taxpayers. How about not confiscating so much in the first place? If you want to talk about a bitter citizen, then I am your woman. I haven't embraced guns yet, but I'm almost there. 'Cause right now all there is to cling to is God. Labels: bitter, debt, flat tax, IRS, taxes, US posted by GoldenAh
email this! | article source | 0 comments | post a comment When a Computer Dies Tuesday, April 8, 2008 My file server just had to die on me. It's an old box - over 7 years old, which I use to print, scan documents, grab additional disk space via my external hard drive for the other computers I have. The file server is not critical, yet it is necessary. Procrastination caused this mess: that might as well be my middle name. I make backups, but the files I have on my backup drive are not the most recent. It's been over a year and a half since I copied files to the backup drive. Damn. Fortunately, I don't erase files off of my camera's SD card. I usually copy the files from my SD card directly to the backup drive. Yet, lately I was solely using the file server. Why!?! I wish I knew. This thing has been screaming in high pitched death throes for over three years. Lately, there was a burning smell, which I thought was one of the printers. I didn't know it was the file server. Duh. I sent it off to be repaired. I know the power unit was what died. I only hope that was the worst of it. The machine runs on Windows XP Professional. I don't want a new box with Windows Vista. I'm not in the mood for that kind of time wasting agony. Labels: backup drive, backup files, file server, windows vista, windows xp professional posted by GoldenAh
email this! | article source | 0 comments | post a comment New York Auto Show March 2008 Monday, April 7, 2008 I just wanted to show some clips of the cars I like. I will add more in later posts. Labels: automobiles, automotive x prize, cars, concept cars, energy efficient cars, new york auto show posted by GoldenAh
email this! | article source | 0 comments | post a comment The Bully at Work Wednesday, March 26, 2008 The New York Times, March 25, 2008, has a rather fascinating article on the bully at work. I find that article to be rather timely. I was talking to my mother about how Corporate America is actually an extension of junior high or high school. The same asshats that you disliked or were bullied by at school, end up being coworkers and supervisors. So the hell of working with a belligerent jerk never ends. In this case, because one needs work to eat and survive this makes the situation worse. With all the debts people have, the difficultly of job jumping, the commute, our personal obligations, health benefits, and so on, sometimes hell is the only place we can work. I'm not surprised companies are losing billions of dollars in lawsuits, people are taking extensive sick time, or just walking off the job. I've walked away from a number of people I wanted to knock the stuffing out of. It's not even just about rudeness, they know you don't want to be labeled a troublemaker. This is about power. Nothing else. This quote from the article, is pretty much standard at every job I've worked at. It's happened to me and I've seen it happen to others. Oftentimes, I wonder why there aren't more shoot-outs at job sites. According to the NY Times: The work bully sets out on a course of constant but subtle harassment. It may start with a belittling comment at a staff meeting. Later it becomes gossip to co-workers and forgetting to invite someone to an important work event. If the bully is a supervisor, victims may be stripped of critical duties, then accused of not doing their job, says Gary Namie.I'm a vendetta minded type of person. Not only do I thoroughly document disgusting and rude behavior, I also retaliate. I don't let people mess with my money. I see that as life threatening, and I respond in kind. People have and will lose jobs after I'm done with them, because I'm willing to lose my job just to get my revenge. Labels: bully, corporate America, work posted by GoldenAh
email this! | article source | 0 comments | post a comment Barack Obama: 10 Rules of Leadership Friday, March 7, 2008 I've been following the campaign for presidential nominee of the Democrat party. I think Barack Obama is a good example and role model for people who want to achieve groundbreaking, or substantial goals in life. It is fascinating to watch and learn from his experiences. These are my takeaways regarding his background and political campaign(s):
Labels: Barack Obama, leadership, networking posted by GoldenAh
email this! | article source | 0 comments | post a comment Future Technology: Cars Tuesday, February 19, 2008 I love to read and keep track of the types of technology that will affect the future. Self-Driving Cars The Department of Defense (DARPA) had this awesome contest, where cars drive themselves. Think of those sci-fi movies like Total Recall with the robot driver. The facts of this race described in the following (text comes entirely from NewScientistTech): A sports utility vehicle with a mind of its own was declared the winner of DARPA's urban robot car race on Sunday. It travelled autonomously through traffic for six hours and 60 miles (100 kilometres) around a ghost town in California, US, to scoop the prize.See for yourself: brightcove clip. Future Car Contest Another contest is for a car that would be light years ahead of what's on the road today. This snippet from EV World explains what it is: The Automotive X Prize is a multi-million dollar international competition to develop a manufacturable passenger vehicle with fuel economy equivalent to least 100 mpg (2.3 liters/100 km).Not as exciting as the self-driving automobile, but still interesting none-the-less. I like the concept of a plug-in car or something easier to charge at home that has a driving range of 100 miles. I would never need to stop by the gas station again. Labels: automotive x prize, cars, darpa, department of defense, plug-in hybrid, technology posted by GoldenAh
email this! | article source | 0 comments | post a comment Things I learned watching the Democrat and Replubican Primaries / Caucauses Thursday, February 14, 2008 Democrat and Republican Nomination Contests It has been a fascinating race. I especially enjoy watching political pundits, people who clearly think they are sages, get nearly every state primary or caucus wrong. They enjoy writing off candidates without funds. They assume candidates with big war chests will win. They make assumptions about the voting preferences of ethnic, racial, religious groups and genders as though it's locked in stone. Reality check: people are unpredictable. The polls only predict what the people who picked up the phone, felt like voting for on that day. I've done polling in the past: there are a ton of people who do not want to speak and never pick up the phone. I'm one of them. Campaign Appeal and Voters Response What voters do respond to are the candidates that appear to speak to them directly. I'm reminded of my small, yet growing town, deciding to go from a committee form of government to having a mayor. One candidate went door to door asking for votes. He even showed up at my door. We had a pleasant conversation. The other candidate wrote letters. He may have gone door to door as well, although I never saw him. I was struck by how civil the campaign was. Each spoke about what they did for a living, where they lived, their families, and their goals. Is there a politician alive that doesn't promise lower taxes, less commercial and housing development? America is Different Watching the current race for nomination of their political party I'm struck by what we, as Americans, take for granted. A stable government. No violence at the ballot. Civility. Free speech and the ability to vote. I'm not saying it's executed perfectly, but it works. posted by GoldenAh
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