.: bistan.net :.

I just want to add a few thought on the oil spill:

• First of all, it is NOT a spill.   Nothing was spilled. It is a natural substance bubbling up from under the ocean floor.  God made oil, not man.
• Nobody intentionally caused the disaster.  It was an accident.
• Due to the complex distribution network of petroleum projects, it is NOT POSSIBLE TO BOYCOTT BP.  Oil is used in plastics, jellies, paints, detergents, film, ink, etc.  The gas stations are owned by small businessmen who are simply marketing the BP brand.
• We all share responsiblity.  BP would not be drilling at such depths if we weren’t so addicted to oil.
• Did they ignore proper procedures? Does it matter? We ALL ignore proper procedures at work.  That’s life.
• Do we owe the gulf coast anything? No. Their economies have been stimulated by oil companies for years.  That’s our money already going to support them.

If you look at company stocks in the years after disasters, you’ll see why I will be buying BP stock while the price is low.  Just look at how Exxon stock performed in the early 90′s after the Valdez spill.  Other disasters produced similar results.

Earth Day is right around the bend, and everyone seems to be on the green bandwagon lately.  It seems respectable to want to save the planet.  I’m all for it when the price is right.  I’m just not going to buy a “green cleaner” when the regular cleaner is half of the price, especially when the regular cleaner has been used for generations without the earth imploding.  I did make a choice to buy a vehicle with better gas mileage, although that was more for financial and political reasons, so the environmental reasons are just icing on the cake.

Businesses are jumping on the bandwagon as well.  Hotels don’t want to wash your towels and sheets every night, but again, that’s probably more for financial reasons than for environmental reasons.  Other business decisions, such as recycling are practical and noble. There is, however, one place where businesses should not “go green”: the restroom.

My biggest pet-peeve about the whole thing is when paper towels are eliminated in favor of the air dryers in restrooms. The paper towels that most public restrooms have are the brown ones anyway, made from previously-recycled materials.  So by providing them, you aren’t completely anti-Earth.

First of all, they are loud and they scare the crap out of small kids.  Trust me, I know.  If the kids were to dry their hands before using the restroom, it would make them wet their pants.  It’s a good thing they wash their hands afterward.

Yesterday, we visited Stone Mountain and Tristan had an accident.  I’ll spare you the details, but let’s just say that the accident was so bad that I lost my lunch during the clean-up process.  That is not an exaggeration.  Some messes can not be cleaned up with cheap toilet paper.  When we left, that restroom stall was thoroughly violated.  I honestly would have cleaned up the mess had paper towels been around.  Unfortunately, some minimum-wage employee had to do it.

I was once, in my grocery store days, the guy who had to clean up comparable messes.  I always wondered how someone could “violate” a restroom like that.  Now I know.  In this case, it’s because someone tried to go green.

I temporarily removed the previous post (Why I Hate T-ball) until I had the chance to add this one. I was a little harsh on the coaches and other parents.  Not all of them are like I described.  Many of them are very nice and giving people, unlike me.  After all, they are putting in several hours a week to make the experience for my child.  They should be commended for that.

I was just mad about having to fundraise for the little league organization because I don’t like asking people for money and I don’t like being asked for money.  I was also mad about the fact that we still haven’t received a schedule and the games start in 2 days.  I also exagerated some Lizella stereotypes to add humor to the post. Again, there is nothing wrong with the coaches or other parents.  They are just different than me.

I’m not making this apology post out of fear that one of them has read or will read my blog.  That’s very doubtful.  I just felt I needed to right a wrong.

Hopefully the next post will be more positive (and therefore not about t-ball). It’s also been a good while since I’ve included pictures and/or video.  Let’s see if I can change that.

About a month ago, I blogged about Tristan trying out for t-ball.  Let’s just say that the whole experience has been less than fun.  Here is why:

T-ball should be a learning experience for kids who are interested in trying out a team sport or learning the game of baseball.  Unfortunately, it is not.

When it is 40 degrees outside and the wind in blowing 30 miles an hour, practices should be cancelled. Unfortunately, they are not.

There is no praise for the kids.  No “Good Job, Tristan”.  Nothing.  Just screaming non-stop at kids who don’t even understand the game.  One kid ran off of the field when told to “Run home”.  Tristan walked around in circles when told to play shortshop because he was never told where or what that was.  No explanations, just expectations.

The “coach” coaches a “kid-pitch” team as well, so he’s at the field at least twice as much as we are.  That’s how much these folks love little league.  For me, it’s just one of the “balls” that I juggle.

Speaking of balls, Kimberlie and I are the oddballs at practices. To fit in better with the other t-ball parents, I would need to do at least a few of the following:

• Get a blue-collar job.  So blue-collar that it would borderline red-neck.
• Trade my CR-V for something that consumes much more gas and has much bigger wheels.
• Get a trophy-wife who is a stay-at-home-mom or who works a dead-end job.
• Give up grocery shopping. Apparently all necessary food can be found in the woods.
• Preserve the unetible portions of said food and display them in my home.
• Grow facial hair and a beer-belly and get lots of tattoos.
• Start smoking and communicate using more colorful language.

I’ve discovered that little league system has been designed to nickle-and-dime you.  We paid $110.00 for registration, thinking that would be it.  It included the hat, shirt, and socks and I was to provide the pants, cleats, etc.  No problem.  Then they decided that they needed an additional $5.00 to have the letter put on the back of the shirt.  If every kid is required to pay that, why not just include it in the registration fees?

Yesterday, we were handed ten BBQ plate tickets and told that if we didn’t sell them all, our name would go on a list for everyone at the ball park to see. What???  If it truly costs $150.00 per kid to run the ballpark (for the entire 3 months of the year that it is operational), then charge us $150.00 up front.  Or give us an option to pay more instead of sell BBQ plates.

I told Kimberlie we should consider quitting now and we would only be out $35.00.  We paid $115.00 but we could then sell the $80.00 worth of BBQ plates and pocket the cash. She wouldn’t go for it.

Thankfully, I never had dreams of retiring early thanks to a professional-baseball-playing-son.

As a hobbyist photographer, I always want the best picture – especially when my child is performing.  We learned a hard lesson at the preschool open house last year: Don’t get there on time . . . get there very early!  So this year, we did.

Here is a question for the reader(s): Suppose you arrived somewhere an hour early to get a good seat.  You rushed home from work, rushed to change clothes, and had to entertain two small children for that entire hour.  All of that just so you could (hopefully) take some decent photos of your three-year-old child singing carols.  After sitting for 45 minutes (and trying to entertain those two small kids), the room is about 90 percent full.  There are several seats in the back and one seat next to you. A man with a cane sits in the empty seat next to you.  His overweight wife then asks you to give up your seat so that she could sit next to her “handicapped husband”.  What do you do?

Now I certainly have ranted before on this issue.  I hate it when handicapped people attempt to exploit their disability to gain something.  I politely suggested that they sit together in the back, however, the thoughts going through my mind were much more colorful.  Throughout the entire evening, the man kept making remarks to his wife about how sorry he was that she didn’t have a seat and how inconsiderate people can be.  I bit my tongue . . . so hard.  I haven’t had a reason to show anyone at Mackenzie’s preschool the ugly side of Jonathan and I certainly didn’t want to do it at the Christmas Open House.

Should handicapped people have reserved seating at the front when there are clearly no visual or hearing disabilities?  Parking is one thing, but seating is another.  Like you, I may have left my “What Would Jesus Do” bracelet back in the nineties, but I would have given up my seat to a blind or deaf person.  I will not, however, give up my seat to someone attempting to exploit their perceived handicap.  Notice I say “perceived”, because I doubt that toting around a cane makes you handicapped.

So that’s what Jonathan did.  What would you do?

Why is everyone so surprised that Tiger has been cheating on his wife?

Tiger Woods is a human being — a member of the animal kingdom. He has the same non-manogamous desires as a dog or a rabbit or a . . . tiger?

While some humans, in fact, have the ability to demonstrate self-control, the vast majority do not. Let’s take food and exercise for example — 64% of adults in our country are obese. No self-control there. Then there is alcohol, drug, and prescription medication addictions . . . no self-control there. Oh yeah, credit card problems and other money issues . . . no self-control there either. I could go on and on.

And today, over 50% of marriages end in divorce. The vast majority of those divorces are the result of infidelity. On top of that 50%, not all instances of discovered infidelity end in divorce and on top of that, I would bet that a good number of affairs are never discovered. So take the facts above — humans do not possess self-control and infidelity is rampant.

Now add in the temptation factor. Look at rock stars, politicians, and athletes and their groupies/fans/advisors swarming around them constantly. Lots of temptation there. And being on the road constantly away from his family probably didn’t help the situation.

If the math equation isn’t enough so far, add in the clubbing.  There are three reasons to go to clubs — to people watch, to be seen, and to hook up with people.  Enough said.

I’m not condoning his affairs, but seriously people . . . you’re surprised?

Now watch, the media that made him is the same media that will dismantle him. Let’s just hope he can still hit a golf ball after this.

I can’t think of many phrases I hate hearing more than “But I just . . .”.

Any sentence that starts with “But” is most likely an argument or a whine.  I don’t want to hear either. If the phrase is injected in the middle of a sentence, the person saying it most likely assumes that you don’t want to do something, yet is still attempting to justify their request.
Argument example:
Homeless man: “Got a dollar?”
Me: “No”
Homeless man: “But I just need . . . ”

Whine example:
Tristan: “Can I stay up 10 more minutes?”
Me: “No”
Tristan: “But I just . . ”

Assumption example:
Law student: “I know you’re at lunch, but I just need . . .”

I really can’t think of an example where you could use the phrase “but I just” in a statement that I want to hear.

“I’m sorry, but I just . . .” (they aren’t really sorry)
“I know I shouldn’t, but I just . . .” (they knew they shouldn’t)
“I don’t mean to interrupt, but I just . . .” (they meant to interrupt)

I initially planned to write more about my least favorite phrase, but I just have better things to do.

Six years ago when we got married and moved into this house, we did what was pretty normal at the time: we got a telephone line.  From the time the line was turned on, we were inundated with calls for the P… family.  I’m guessing that they had our number before it was assigned to us.  

My first clue was that Georgia Power wouldn’t let us use our new number to have power turned on for our address, because the number was associated with a delinquent account.  After that, it was credit card companies and even Gillead Christian Academy (a local extremely conservative private school).

Joel and Sonja P… are the main culprits and their son Jonathon gets almost as many calls.  Here is how the conversations for Jonathon would usually go:

Bill collector: “Hello. Is Jonathon there?”
Me: “This is Jonathan.”
Bill collector: “My name is blah blah and I’m calling about the money you owe me blah blah.”
Me: “I’m sorry, you have the wrong number.”

Do you think the bill collectors bought it?  Of course not!  Once they confirm there is a Jonatha/on here, they think I’m changing the story when I tell them they have the wrong number.  So here we are, six years later, still getting harassing calls for the P… family.  

So how am I smarter than the bill collectors and why all of this tonight?  Using my common sense approach to researching on the internet, I’ve found them all.  Joel works (or worked) at the local Honda dealership, Jonathon is currently in the Marine Corps and Sonya (and possibly the others) attends a baptist church that is 1/2 mile from my house.  The latter two are on facebook, along with extended family, cousins, etc.  Why can’t the bill collectors use google?  It certainly would increase their recovery rate.

The number actually forwards to my cell phone now — our land lines are long gone — and when this AT&T contract is up in 2011, the number I’m referring to will be gone as well. 

Now, even though hardly anyone reads this blog, I’m calling these people out.  They deserve it after years of telephone calls and dinner interruptions.  I did hold back a little.  I haven’t published their address here.  They moved into their current house (which they paid $84,000 for) in November 2002, about 5 months before I got stuck with their number.  It’s all about research!

What’s up with all of this talk about a bad economy?  Seriously, I have no idea what these folks are talking about.  Maybe it was just all a ploy to put Democrats into office.  As for us, Kimberlie and I are at the top of our game.

In 2008, we contributed more towards retirement than ever before.  We were able to contribute more to non-profit organizations (church/charities) than ever before.  We dined out more than ever before.  We are even still saving more than ever.  We certainly aren’t hurting.

As for spending, we are spending more than ever.  In the last six months, I’ve bought a Nintendo Wii, and iPhone, annual passes to the happiest place on earth, and pretty much anything else we’ve wanted.  Usually, I NEVER splurge like that.  We are always doing some sort of entertainment.  We’re travelling more as well.  In 2007, we spent 14 nights in hotels.  In 2008, we spent 16 nights away.  This year, we may hit 20 nights. 

My salary and benefits are currently higher than they have ever been, but of course that’s usually the case.  (I’ve only stepped down into a lower paying job twice, but I proved myself both times and it payed off.)  The president of the University has also said that employee compensation is the top priority in next year’s budget.

Kimberlie was planning to negotiate a 5% raise for 2009, but she missed her regional manager because of our holiday trip.  That’s probably a good thing, because she ended up with a 20% raise!  She doesn’t really use any of her benefits because mine are so generous.

I guess we ARE employed in some pretty solid industries: health care and education.  Those are two areas that continue to boom, even when the economy tanks.  Information technology generally flourishes as folks tend to replace overpaid workers with computers and occupational therapy is growing fast thanks to the demise of the baby boomers.

Now sure, in the last 6 months my retirement savings has taken a nice hit, but at my age I expect volatility.  I don’t need those funds for at least 35 more years.  With that much time left, I’m supposed to be into those riskier investments.  And there are stores dropping like flies, but then again I HATED Linens and Things, Circuit City and KB Toys.  I am glad to see them go.  Car salesmen and the entire American automobile industry?  Good riddance!  They suck anyway. 

I’ll take UPS over DHL, Lowe’s over Home Depot, and John Deere over Caterpillar.  Last night, we were trying to predict what major chains would be next.  I say Quiznos.  They suck and they are overpriced and there are way too many sandwich chains.  Let’s see if I’m right. 

What about all of these job losses?  I doubt the people chosen to be laid off were the good, productive employees who pull their own wait.  If I was an employer and had to pick people to can, it would be the ones who take 800 smoke breaks a day and drive up my health insurance costs.  I know of several nice technology jobs at Mercer (one in my department) that need to be filled.  Don’t send those laid off folks our way though.  If Microsoft doesn’t want them, neither do we.

This stuff isn’t all bad though.  This the way a free market trims the fat.  Down with the oversized banks who have their computers answer the phones!  Down with companies that have bad service!  Down with sandwich shops that charge extra for cheese!  (I would love to put Down with Wal-Mart! here, but that’s not going to happen.)

Of course, if the economy has nowhere to go but up, I’m ready for the climb!

The only negative thing about our Christmas week trip to Walt Disney World were the supposedly handicapped people.

At Disney, you can rent a power chair for $69.00 for the day.  That seems pricey, but that chair acts as a dream fastpass, allowing you to advance to the front of the line with an unlimited number of your friends/family.  Apparently the word is out on that because there were countless people who had no noticeable disability riding in wheelchairs.  Then you have your usual overweight lazy people who are perfectly capable of walking but would rather sit on their fat @$$ and be pushed around.

If you had a disability, would you pick Disney’s busiest week of the year to visit?  I wouldn’t.  I would come a few weeks earlier or later when there are few tourists and plenty of room to move around.  That way, I wouldn’t inconvenience myself or others.

If you were confined to a wheelchair, would you really be interested in riding the Rock ‘n Roller Coaster or Expedition Everest?  Those rides certainly would not improve you ailment.

Now I have no problem with people who are truly disabled.  They have just as much right to enjoy the Jungle Cruise as I do.  But when normal people have to wait two hours for the ride, the disabled people should as well. Make them wait, THEN accommodate them.  If I can wait in line with a two year old and a tired five year old, then you can wait in line with a broken leg.  At the very least, Disney should require them to show a little blue sticker (like you need for parking) before advancing them to the front of the line.