Whats in the water?

You often hear the saying, I wonder what’s in the water down there. Usually referring to some rare feat of mystery or just plain oddness or crazyiness. Here is a place I’m beginning to wonder just that….what’s in their water??

Meet Clovis West High School down in Fresno, CA. They have the crazy distinction of having pitched THREE no-hitters in their first six games of the season by THREE different pitchers. High School or not, that’s one hell of  a feat.

J.D. Salles, Sean Silva and Jared Lee are making up one heck of a pitching rotation for Clovis West. You really need to be cringing if you’re in their conference. Remember those names, I’m sure you’ll see them again. Just hopefully for not getting busted doing steroids, eh?

“Someone’s Gotta Go”

The Fox network is letting employees of some troubled small businesses decide which one of their colleagues will be laid off and turning the results into a reality show.

The series, “Someone’s Gotta Go,” is in production, but Fox wouldn’t say on Wednesday when it would go on the air.

Each episode will feature a company with about 15 or 20 employees that needs to cut costs because of the economy. Instead of the boss deciding who is fired, the company will open its books to show everyone’s salaries and let the employees make the call.

In an inverse to “The Apprentice,” the chosen one loses, instead of gets, a job.

Courtesy of The Associated Press

Does anyone really think that someone loosing a job on national TV is a good idea? I mean, seriously…on a reality show? Cause…umm…like no one would possibly ever go postal and shoot anyone after getting fired on national TV?? Right…?? Gee, crazy things like that never happen. WRONG.

I’m a fan of reality TV but sometimes they go too far. I don’t see entertainment value in a family loosing a breadwinner when unemployment is as high as it is.  The Bureau of Labor reported that March, 2009, unemployment rate hit 8.5% nationally. Wow, now Fox is going to make loosing your job trendy and hip. Cant wait. Not.

Poppin Joe’s Kettle Korn

Meet Joe Steffy. Joe is the 23 year old owner/operator of Poppin Joe’s Kettle Korn. What makes Joe so special is that he is autistic, has down syndrome and is non-verbal. But Joe and his parents didn’t let that stop him and they set forth on a long process. That process will lead Joe to sales of $100,000 in a few years and not to mention a staff currently of 5 part-time employees.

Gee…I think we could all learn from Joe. Successful, employs workers and the best part….”Joe is no longer on Social Security disability payments; instead, he pays state sales tax and state and federal income tax“.  Ok, maybe that’s not the best part but hats off to Joe! We could all learn something from him.

Conflicker? More like Confuder.

Were you infected by the Conflicker virus? Aka Confuder aka Confluker aka Conflunker or as known by Symantec folks as Conf**ker? (Ok, I made that last one up, but you know they said…I mean, come on…you know it right?)

I have 6 computers here and I was 0-6. That’s a good stat to be “oh-fore” on. I’ll gladly take it. But I wonder if we freak out too much. Conflicker was schedule to blow up on April 1st. Perhaps it was the programmers goal…a huge, expensive April Fools Day joke? If it was, it was a good one. I think they should have changed your screen saver to say…”Gotcha!” and that’s all. That would be funny.

I haven’t seen this much hype since Y2K or the “I Love You” virus. Oh…look at me going old school. That was 9 years ago. In Internet years, that’s like 40 years. 

Oh…umm…yeah. About that. I love you!

Escape from Reality…

In this crappy ecomony their are reports that people are going to the movies more. Perhaps to escape the reality we are really living and enter a fantasy world. A little getaway from the daily pressures and stresses in life isn’t a bad thing is it? What do you think?

Life in the fast lane….literally.

South Carolina Highway Patrol

I’m pro-police. Tried and true…pro police. So this post shouldn’t be construed as police bashing. It’s more like bashing one single guy and his lack of good ole common sense. His name…John McGaha.  His title…Senior Trooper. His employer…South Carolina Highway Patrol.  For now.

You see, Trooper McGaha got caught speeding…by another trooper. Not really so weird, it happens I would gather when your off duty and all. But you also need to understand is that Trooper McGaha was actually on duty, in his unmarked patrol car. His speed you ask? Good question, try 131 mph in a 70 mph hour zone.

Ummm…like…WOW! Holy crap Fastman! That’s an insanely fast speed. Apparently Trooper McGaha was called to another area of the state to work a special event and was running late. What I wonder is that how many times he heard that excuse, “Sorry Trooper, I’m running late”.

To be fair, another trooper clocked him, radioed ahead (how possibly can you catch someone doing 131 mph anyways?) and pulled out to get him. That’s when Trooper McGaha activated his pull lights….just to let the other boy know that…”Hey, I’m one of you”. The other trooper then radioed to advise other units that it’s ok, it’s just a crazy cop when a supervisor said “No, pull him to the side of the road and give him some paper”. And that’s exactly what happened. He received a reckless driving ticket for his actions driving and a three day unpaid suspension from work. I tend to think that cops generally receive harsher, not lighter punishments. They get the legal end like we all get but then their agencies tags them again with additional punishment.

Personally I’m fine with this punishment because it’s going to last a lot longer than the 3 days unpaid MaGaha got.

Now for you and I this story would end there…right? Right, of course it would. But The State newspaper did their handy work and filed a FOIA (Freedom of Information Act) request for Trooper MaGaha’s driving record. Shocker of shockers what do they find?? That his license was suspended for failing to pay vehicle taxes. Oh. My. Gosh! A Trooper? For how long??? Well…from December 3rd, 2008, through February 20th, 2009. Oh. My. Gosh!!! What was he thinking? He even received a notice in November advising him to pay the fee of $179.98.

Sorry Trooper MaGaha but you have to go. You did right by getting online and blogging at The State’s website stating you were wrong for speeding but come on…this is too much. There are other good people out there looking for jobs and you…should probably loose yours. You are the weakest link. Goodbye!

I’m baaaaack!!!

After a VERY long hiatus…I’m BAAAAACK!

HA! Not sure why I left…I enjoy commenting on silliness. So, I shall return. You are doomed with me forever. Or until I disappear again.

Happy Thanksgiving – 21st Century Style!

I received a bunch of Happy Thanksgiving and Happy Turkey wishes from my friends. But…not like days of old, more like days of NOW via the ‘e‘ or electronic way. I probably got 10 text message wishes and several more on my MySpace page.

I remember when it was in bad taste to email someone a birthday card. It just wasn’t considered personal enough but it seems that times have changed. I wonder if they’ll ever change back?

 Until then, lets do lunch sometime, just text me. K?

From the “What were they thinking?” file…

Or in this case…perhaps they weren’t.

In America, if you’re a victim of a crime would you expect to be punished? I certainly wouldn’t and would expect most others wouldn’t as well. Especially if that crime is rape. You should be assisted in many, many ways….to recover. Right?

That’s a wrong anwser if you live in Saudi Arabia and most especially if you’re a victim of rape. Why? Well not too long ago a rape victim was sentenced to 200 lashes and six months in jail. What?!? One question only…WTF?!?! Are you kidding me?

Oh…oh…but wait, just you wait. It gets better.

The controversy relates to an incident in March 2006 when the woman, then age 18 and engaged to be married, and an unrelated man were abducted from a mall in Qatif, Saudi Arabia, by a group of seven men. She was later raped.Umm….that’s called gang-raped? And she is punished?!?!

But the kicker is why. Why was she punished? Maybe…just maybe she had some weird at fault thingy…right? Wrong.

The man and woman met so she could retrieve an old photo of herself from him, according to Abdulrahman al-Lahim, her lawyer, who cited phone records from the police investigation that said the man was trying to blackmail her. Al-Lahim says the photo did not show his client in a compromising position. In October, the men were convicted and sentenced to two to nine years for the assault. She was convicted of violating the kingdom’s strict Islamic law by not having a male guardian with her at the mall.

She was sentenced to 90 lashes but when she appealed, they more than doubled her sentence to 200 lashes. Yeah, cause that makes perfect sense. Way to go Saudi Arabia. Three cheers for you! Morons. I mean, I understand you are your own country with different rules, customs but come on…be for real. There is NO logical sense or good custom to punish the victim of a gang rape. This is sad state of affairs for a county and Saudi Arabia’s women. I hope a huge in-country backlash occurs. Internationally it is but something internal needs to happen for some real change and soon.

What your saying is that you don’t have to be homeless if you don’t want too?

Twenty-three year old Adam Shepard is a man I who’s hand I would like to shake. Why? Because he proved that with only $25 and some determination, you don’t have to be homeless if you don’t want to. What does this mean? Simply that homelessness is fixable for some people. However, you have three main types of homeless people.

1. Those who have a mental illness and end up homeless for several reasons, mainly, they don’t function or fit elsewhere and no one wants them.
2. Those that chose to be homeless and like it.
3. Those that don’t want to really be homeless but are too lazy to fix their situation.

Of the three, I think groups 1 and 2 are the largest and most predominant. But Adam brings up an interesting point and that’s….it can be done. Homelessness for those that want to be fixed, it will be fixed. Of course there are other groups mixed in there…but those are few and far between. The National Coalition for the Homeless says that 22% of homeless single mothers are homeless because they were escaping abuse. What they don’t say is what percentage that single mothers make up of the homeless in America….and that’s an important statistic. Number trickery.

But lets get back to Adam…

He started out with some goals: Find a job in a brand-new city, get a furnished apartment, a car and $2,500 in savings within a year. How did he do? Well…he gave himself a year but only needed 6 months. And it wasn’t easy…not by a long shot. Adam slept on the floor of a homeless shelter for 70 days. Obviously he didn’t quite but why?

“If you’re making $8 an hour, you’ve got one of two choices,” he said. “You can cry ‘Life is tough,’ or you can say, ‘Man, in two years, I’m not going to be doing this.’”

Spot on Adam, life can be tough, it’s not always fair but it is what you make of it. Black or white, rich or poor, life is what you make of it. You don’t have to live where you’re from or do what your parents want you to do….you just have to do IT. Whatever IT is. As Nike says…Just do IT!

The article is an interesting read, so check it out. I’m not saying homeless people are horrible, lazy or anything else. What I’m saying is that for those who are able (healthy and not mentally ill), I fully believe that homelessness is fixable for them.

What’s your take?