Christmas time

It has been too long since I wrote on this blog, and thought that this time of year merits a brief note from me. As I write this, I am still unemployed, because obviously educated, well-spoken, experienced managers are not in great demand. That's ok.. it is their loss. It is still frustrating, but as long as I continue to do what I need to do to find a job, I cannot let it get me down. It is difficult at times, but we are managing, somehow.

I had a recent thing happen on a thread that was started on my Facebook page.. It started with me posting about a controversial new law regarding education in my home state of California... it ended with people I know, love, and respect, from both sides of the argument, calling each other bigots, and taking the conversation to a low level. I do not blame any one person on this, and continue to love and respect them all. However, one of them sent me a personal note saying that this friend could no longer be my "friend" on Facebook because this person could not read posts and responses from people who had so much hatred. I responded that I understood, but I find it interesting that when this person's beliefs are questioned, it is hatred, but when the other side's beliefs are, it is to expand tolerance and "help" others understand. I don't get it. I hear things from all over the place that go contrary to my personal beliefs, but I try to answer with measured responses and facts that support my point of view. I try to not call people names or belittle them, though sometimes people who are overly sensitive may take it that way. I try to respect the opinions of others, but I feel that respect needs to be reciprocated. If it is not a two way street, the reason for being respectful of others starts to fade.

In politics, this need to happen as well. If one side doesn't like what is passed by the other side, it is pronounced "dead on arrival", and never even gets consideration. This is why Washington is broken, and it will never be fixed.. we keep sending the same people back to Congress to do the same thing that they do all the time. I saw a poll the other day that said that the approval rating of Congress is in the single digits. No offence to the pollsters who ask this question, but it is asking the wrong question.. the question should not be "do you approve of the job Congress is doing"..it should be "do you approve of the job YOUR Congressman or Congresswoman or Senator is doing". They may not approve of the job Congress is doing as a whole, but the majority of Americans do approve of the job their own Congressperson is doing...if this were not so, so many of them would not get re-elected time after time. When term limits are mentioned, people love the idea, as long as it applies to the other people in Congress, but not their own... if they wanted term limits for their own Congressperson, they simply have to vote them out of office. I, for example, love the idea of term limits when I think of people such as Nancy Pelosi, Henry Waxman, or Harry Reid... but I do not like the idea when I think of people such as Orrin Hatch (I was just thinking of a long-term conservative for the example). Others who think the other way would reverse those, keeping Pelosi and removing Hatch. The fact remains, we do have a way of setting term limits on people in Congress.. they are called elections.

Ok, enough on my soapbox for now.. Merry Christmas to all  you who might read this.

Yards Sales and free Dr. Pepper

Saturday.. the day that our family spends the entire morning rummaging through other people's junk so we can have more junk for ourselves.. it is an ongoing cycle that will continue forever, or so it seems. Some weeks are good, others are not. After running around for a few hours and finding a few things for ourselves, we stopped in at Albertson's and found that they were giving away free Dr. Peppers... what a treat! They coupon off the price of the 2 liter bottle, so all you have to pay is the tax!! We stopped by 5 different Albertson's on the way home (an advantage of living where there are tons of locations) and stocked up for the remainder of the summer! Hey, save where you can, right?

back on track (sort of)

A lot has happened over the past few months, and I ended up losing my info for my old blog. So now, here I am starting over again.. I plan to attach this to my FB account, and Google plus if I ever get on it.

Some of you know that I lost my job in December, and I have had no luck finding a new one. It has been tough on my family, but we are getting by. After a long, drawn-out fight over unemployment, I won the final decision against the company, and have been able to collect that. Right about the same time, Jana got promoted at her job, so not everything has been bad.

Several people have asked me if I might look at going back to school, and I have thought about going back and getting a MBA, or maybe a second degree in something different. The point is that I really do not know what I will end up doing if I cannot find work soon. An advanced degree could mean more money, but it will cost a lot to go back and get the degree.. Same with a secondary degree option.. With Carl being only a couple of years away from going to college, adding a bunch of debt is something I am trying to avoid. There may not be any other options at this point. We shall see...