This is my space

Saturday, August 23, 2008

Lately the topic of conversation between Lynne and I has been about what I am going to do with the rest of my life. As you know, my true aspiration is to be a writer, but since that is a very iffy profession I feel that I need to major in something and get a full degree and although writing is my passion I am trying to think of a more grown up aspiration for myself. I have been recently considering becoming a lawyer. I feel that I could use my understanding of the written word to help me in this career and Lynne says if anyone can argue a point it is me. I guess I have always been an excellent debater, even back in high school, but I just never really thought of it as a career path. I know that I could never handle being a car accident attorney, but I could definitely see being a divorce lawyer and working for a top law firm. I don’t settle, I wouldn’t settle. If I am going to do this, then I am going to be an attorney who works for a well known law firm. I might go into personal injury but I am not sure. I want to do something where I feel that I can do the most good for people. Really help them, and really make a difference in their lives and in the world. I guess I could consider criminal law and defending the innocent, but I think that sometimes it would weigh on my mind whether or not a person was innocent or guilty and whether or not they were lying to me. I still want to be able to sleep at night that is very important to me. I just think that too many people turn to law as a profession just to make a lot of money. There are so many people who could use some real assistance, that although I aspire to be one of the best attorneys, I am not worried about the money, that is just a bonus for a job well done. I am really leaning in this direction for now, but there is no way I will tell my family until I am absolutely sure. I know that they would love the idea, but I don’t want them to think that I am just going to be a mainstream person or anything like that. I am not going to wear a suit except in court, and I am still going to be me, trying to right the wrongs of the world as I see it. If I can’t do it my way, I can’t do it at all.

Saturday, August 23, 2008

Lynne and I have several of our own credit cards each and we share the expenses and just take the money out of our joint account to pay for everything. This is the way we have decided is best to do it. Well, the other morning when she left for school she left a pile of bills on the table and while I was having my morning cup of coffee I decided to thumb through them. I picked up one of the bills, Lynne’s Visa and it was over $3000 and I almost fell over. I know we had some additional expenses with moving in together and all, but I never realized that she was putting all this stuff on credit. Needless to say, we had a long discussion about this over dinner. I didn’t start a fight about it or anything, but I told her she needs to let me know when we get in over our heads or when we can’t afford something. I told her I didn’t have any problems turning over my credit cards to her, I only have an American Express and a Master Card, but I assured her I would be fine with using our debit cards and paying cash for everything until we get on a little more solid ground, I also told her that I could pick up a little bit of extra work with my friend on the weekends to help pay the bills down quicker.

She thanked me and said that she was afraid that I would be upset with her for spending so much. She said the excitement of the new place took hold of her, and she just kept swiping her card and when the bill came she almost flipped herself. After reviewing all the charges thinking that it must be a mistake, she realized that she had spent that much when we were setting up the new place. We both decided that it would be better to put our credit cards in the safe deposit at the bank for now and only use them for emergencies. We will start working to pay down debt and saving money again. I guess for now we will have more quite dinners in and less nights out on the town, but that is fine by me. I am really glad that I took a look at the bills on the table, and told Lynne never to worry about my reaction to anything, we are a couple and every problem we have we will face as a couple together.

Wednesday, August 06, 2008

A New Business Venture

As part of my branching into independence and to strengthen my bond further with Lynne, we are starting our own online business. I don't really know much about the online world, but Lynne is a near expert. She can do anything on her computer and she has an amazing mind. We will be starting our own website to sell prints. We found a place to get them at a really good price and Lynne has a real eye for the good stuff.

She has already taken care of coming up with a purchasing a domain name and she has begun working on the web design. She knows about programming code and has to be one of the top web designers I have ever seen. She is so far creating the perfect site and she is constantly trying to get me involved which is one of the things I really love about her. Even though I can't really do much at this stage of the game, she is always asking me my opinions about what she is doing and she tries to show me how to do some things, but I just don't really follow what she wants me to do.

She says that her job will be the setting up of the website and mine will be to run the site once it gets up and running. I have an excellent business sense and Lynne knows that I can handle running the business while she maintains and improves the technical end of things. We really do make quite a team and that helps. It is nice to finally have a relationship where we are both equals and one doesn't have to out do the other. Balance is one of the things that suits me best about this relationship. We each have our strengths and our weaknesses and we are both good with letting the other pick up where we fall short.

Lynne says it will probably take us a few months to get this site running the way we want it and to build web traffic the way we want, but like I said Lynne is the genius and if anyone can get our site to improve search results and page ranking, it is Lynne.

Lynne has assigned me the ever important job of writing the mission statement for our company and writing out all the policies and other customer service statements for the site. I am glad that there is something I can do to help while Lynne gets the other work for the site done.

Wednesday, August 06, 2008

Transition to Adulthood

I am making a conscious effort these days to cut the apron strings and start taking care of my own stuff. In doing this I felt that as an adult I should take care of all of my own financial obligations myself and therefore decided that it was time to get my own health insurance policy. I contacted a few of the big companies like State Farm and Allstate, I even tried Nationwide and a few other no name companies on the web. As a last resort, I called my parent's company just to see how much they would want to write me my own policy. They wanted so money for a policy just for me, that I really thought maybe I should just leave my health insurance on my parent's policy and save myself the hassle. This was just a fleeting thought, however, and so I dug my heels in and kept looking. Lynne suggested to me that I consider looking into a health insurance policy through my car insurance company. I thought that she was crazy, I had never heard of someone doing that before, but I did it and it really helped. I would get a much better deal on my health insurance if I went through my car insurance company. The rates were still a little more than I wanted to pay, but they were so much better than when I was cold calling companies, I couldn't get over the difference. I tell you it saved me on the average about $2000 per year. Talk about phenomenal savings they were not even in the same ball park as the other companies.

When I finally got my health insurance policy established, I called my mom and told her that I didn't need to be covered on Dad's policy any more and that I had purchased my health insurance through my car insurance company, I think she almost fell over. She insisted that I didn't have to take care of my own insurance, but I assured her that I wanted to do it. My mother is still struggling with this whole me being a grown up thing, which is what makes it so important for me to continue to take steps toward making myself a completely autonomous human being. It helps her and me to realize that I am grown now with a life of my own and an insurance policy to match.

Friday, June 06, 2008

Okay, so the call from Mom finally came in and she was totally going off about Jeff and this Elizabeth girl, as my mom kept referring to her as. Well, this was quite the one sided conversation. She had told me that she had just gotten off the phone with Jeff, and he told her about him now living with Elizabeth. I am not sure if Mom doesn't like the fact of us growing up, or just doesn't want any other woman to steal her boys away from her, in any case she was very unhappy with Jeff's new living arrangements. I told her that it was no big deal and that he was a man and that he could make his life decisions without her interference. She asked me if I had known about Elizabeth, and I told her yes, that Jeff had just told me about her moving in with him. I reminded her, that Jeff and Elizabeth had been dating for several months now, and that this was a natural progression of their relationship. She went off about modern day morals, and how the kids of today (meaning especially my brother and myself) did not even have the common decency to get married, they just want to "live in sin", as my mother calls it. I informed her about the inflated divorce rate, and how she should be happy that they were giving it a test run first, but I don't think she was really seeing my side of this thing, or should I say Jeff's side? She went on and on, saying the divorce rate only went up because of people's lack of commitment to marriage, which in her mind is exactly what living together is, all the perks and none of the responsibility.

Then after her rants about Jeff and Elizabeth, she jumped on me about not traveling with them to Europe this summer. She started going on and on about how this whole family was falling apart, and how we would never vacation together again. I assured her that was not true, and that we were all just focusing on our own lives right now, and getting things in order in that respect. I told her that I was going to be taking some extra business classes over the summer, which was a total lie, but I didn't want to burst her bubble and I definitely didn't want to boast that I was thinking about having Lynne move in with me, I already knew how she would feel about that. I really am picking up a second job for the summer and putting some more money aside. I really need to think ahead for next semester, so I don't have to work so hard while going to classes.

Then she said it, the dreaded "your father and I are coming to visit next weekend". I just froze. I really didn't want her to come; she and my father made me feel like such a little kid. I knew what was coming next…"So let me know when Lynne will be available to come to dinner and meet us". The dreaded meet the family dinner. Now don't get me wrong, Lynne is a wonderful woman, and my mother knows about her, but I guess I really don't want them passing judgment on Lynne or on our relationship. In any case, I will hold off a little while on asking Lynne to move in with me, at least until after finals and my parents visit. After all, once she meets my wacky family face to face, she may want to run for the hills. We'll see.

Wednesday, June 04, 2008

I was watching TV last night, and I happened upon a documentary on 9/11 already in progress. I found the information in this documentary astounding. The whole documentary was about the fact that 9/11 was a carefully well thought out attack, planned by our government to send a ripple of fear in short to allow the President to take over all aspects of our government. I have heard before that since 9/11 advisors had informed President Bush that because we were in a state of national emergency, that basically he can act as chief in charge and do whatever he sees fit in the name of national security.

Now this documentary touched on many things that I found interesting. First, they went through eye witness accounts of the events as they happened. The showed the interviews with several first responders who all reported multiple explosions followed by flashes of light immediately proceeding the collapse of each tower. Basically, they then showed several other building demolitions and the similarities were uncanny. They said that the only way these towers could have fallen in the way that they did, was if it were a planned demolition, not an accident.

Secondly, they showed the pictures of all the “terrorists” that supposedly hijacked the planes and died on September 11th. Of these pictures of the supposed terrorists, 9 are reportedly alive and well, have no known terrorist connections, and have no idea why our government is pin pointing them for these attacks.

A third item I found particularly interesting was a statement released by Osama Bin Laden 2 days following the 9/11 attacks. What he said in this statement, according to this particular documentary, was that he in no way had anything to do with these attacks and that his government would not allow behavior like this. He too said that he has no idea what has indicated to our government that he was in any way affiliated with these attacks.

Another strong point of interest was the fact that they believe that money may have been a motive for these buildings collapse. They said that the person who owned the twin towers on 9/11 had only purchased them in July 2001 and that he made a large fortune off the insurance payoff for these attacks, using the fact that each separate explosion in each tower was its own terror incident and therefore was a separate insurance payoff.

Another thing they pointed out about 9/11 and its inconsistencies, was the fact that there is no indication that flight 93 ever went down in Pennsylvania. They said that there are no eye witness accounts and the coroner who arrived at the scene said there were no bodies to examine and no need for a coroner. All that they ever found in PA was a pile of scrap metal in a ditch. There wasn’t anything burning or anything. They could prove however, that there were records indicating that that plane landed in Ohio, during a time on 9/11 when the airport was completely evacuated and records indicate that the people from that flight were taken to a remote end of the Ohio airport to the NASA research center. There were also issues with the cell phone messages received by these passengers and the indication was that these phone calls would have only gone through with a .001 percent of accuracy, therefore it is nearly impossible that almost every person on that plane was able to leave messages from their individual cell phones in a 20 minute span of time. Also, the one flight attendant who did phone for help had spent 23 minutes on the phone with the operators at 911 and yet, there was only a 4 minute voice recording of this conversation. During this conversation with the attendant, there were no sounds of turmoil in the back of the plane, only quiet. Also, this documentary stated that there is a technique called voice cloning and this can be done with as little as 10 minutes of recording of a person’s voice. They believe this is how they got messages to the family members using this voice morph technology.

The last piece of damning evidence was a picture that was shown on the TV immediately following the 9/11 attacks, showing Osama Bin Laden eating and threatening the US. This picture shows a man eating with his right hand, while Bin Laden is left handed. This picture when put up against other pictures of Bin Laden although similar is obviously not the same person. And to add to the doubt the person pictured is wearing a big gold ring on his hand, something that Bin Laden himself would not wear as it is contrary to his beliefs.

I thought the whole documentary was a bit frightening. Are we really so naïve that we will believe things as they say they happened?

Monday, June 02, 2008

Cash. Money. Dough. Whichever way you say it, it's on the tip of everyone's tongue, all of the time. Particularly these days, what with everyone's credit going to the dogs. Honestly, I know very little about this kinda thing - never was too hot at maths - and I would usually keep well out of it all, wait for the storm to pass. But the other day I bumped in to an old friend of mine, Pete, and we got talking. Reminiscing about the old days, exchanging notes on girlfriends etc. (I told him about Lynne and what a ride it's been this semester) You know the kind of thing.

Anyway, he finished college a coupla years back, and got himself a proper job. Earning pretty good money and heading towards a nice, comfortable life with his long-term girlfriend. Trouble was, he was borrowing a lot of money to make ends meet. I mean A LOT. In the end, he was juggling a serious amount of credit cards and loans, shifting debt all over the place just so he could keep afloat. Then, when all this credit crunch stuff started happening, and interest rates starting climbing, he couldn't cope. Sad thing is he lost his girlfriend in the process. Kept his job, but had to move back in with his parents and start saving again. That sucks.

Close call, really - could have been worse. Still, I swear that kind of story is happening the country over. The world over - debt has completely spiralled out of control, and we're all having to front the bill. I'm keeping my head above water though. Mainly by avoiding any debt like the plague. I've become a real tight-ass - hoarding and saving money wherever I can.

That's not to say I can't let my hair down and part hard like the best of them - it's just that I'm also good at knowing when I'm ahead. Working long, hard hours over the breaks means I can put a little away in savings accounts and ride this economic phase out! Seriously - any opportunity to gain some legitimate interest, even tracking down a good current account, is worth doing if it saves my skin later.

It really put the fear into me, seeing my friend. He looked ok now, but he told me it took him a long time to get his life back on track. Got another girlfriend now, but this time he's in no rush to buy those things that are out of his league: a car, a house, a wedding - these things can wait until he really does have the money - or the security - to pay for it comfortably. Me, I'm still a student so I've got nothing to worry about. Yet. Let's just hope this whole debt problem gets sorted by the time I have to worry about mortgages, insurance and family. Wow! Let's not even think about those things! I'll sign out. Out with Lynne tonight. I'll try not to spend too much...

Wednesday, May 21, 2008

What is this garbage with the democratic nominees? Don't they realize that they are doing more harm to their party than good? They need to stop their infighting and start behaving like potential President of the US. I know that Bush did not set the bar real high for what we expect of a president, but still somehow that you would think that these two individuals who are definitely more well educated than the current president could figure all this out.

Now that it seems that Obama has the race sewn up, why is it that Hillary refuses to concede and allow Obama to have the party's nomination? What is it that she is truly trying to hold onto? I mean it is definitely not her dignity. There is no dignity in holding on to this thing too long. She has rallied her supporters and has tried to turn them against Obama. Best I can figure that this was all a strategic plan to split the party and force Obama into taking her on as a running mate. Look at it like this, the Hillary supporters don't like Obama because of all of the bickering and infighting. Now the only way that Obama can win the race is to take Hillary on as a candidate for the vice presidency. If he chooses not to do this, then I would guess that most of the Hillary supporters will vote for McCain, which will make Obama sure to lose in his race for the Presidency. If he takes Hillary on, however, then he not only has all of her supporters on his side, but his as well, which will definitely beat the McCain camp out.

This however, is a no win situation for Obama. There have been no bones made about the fact that Obama and Clinton are both strong figures and both seem to harbor a bit of resentment towards the other. I know that Obama has stated over and over again, what a worthy opponent Hillary Clinton is and what a strong political figure, but I really think that he is just saying this to keep the public flowing with him. I think that the underlying animosity between these two is just a destructive force that we don't need running our country. Let's face it, Hillary doesn't want to be Vice President, she wants to be President, and will probably do everything that she can to undermine his power and take control for herself. I wouldn't be surprised if she tried to do him in, just to get to sit at the head of this country. I am all for women in politics and I know that historically they have been a very powerful driving force in other countries, but I do believe that this woman will destroy our country to further her own devices.

I just think that Obama should take his chances against McCain and keep Hillary off the ticket. By doing this, he will at least insure the fact that if he becomes President, he will actually have some power and say so in the future of this country. The other way, may be deadly for him as well as for the fate of this great nation.

Sunday, May 18, 2008

Coincidentally Lynne and I both wound up being off on Saturday night, which never, ever happens. We decided to spend a nice relaxing evening going to dinner and then just spending time together, which we both really enjoy. I drove to dinner at our favorite restaurant, which is barely a restaurant, more of a little bar and grill, but we both like the fact that it is a quiet spot set away from the campus. We had a nice relaxing dinner, and each had a glass of wine, which is not our norm, but we kind of felt like celebrating now that finals are done with and school is out for a while. It was good to spend time and after dinner as we were driving home, I suggested that we just take a ride down to the beach. It was such a nice night, and Lynne didn't have to be at work until Sunday night. I think that she thought I was a little bit out of my mind, but she agreed and we were off. The two hour ride to the beach was a blast. We cranked up the music and stopped for Slurpees and sang most of the ride.

When we got down to the beach we pulled our trustee blanket out of the trunk and set up a little camp on the beach. We sat and talked and walked on the beach. I finally spoke to her about my parents visit as they were coming in this week. She said that she was looking forward to finally meeting them, and seemed excited at the prospect. I on the other hand was a bit more uneasy, but perhaps that was because I knew the fury of the firey dragon that she was about to come face to face with. I talked to her about us moving in together over the summer and she said that would be amazing. I am really glad that we are on the same page about the whole thing. I was a little bit afraid that she would think that I was rushing things a little. We talked about her graduating next spring and how it would affect our relationship. We agreed to cross that bridge as it came without worry, we would find a way to work it out. She really has not decided where she will go after college but I assured her that she was my only real attachment to this school and that I could finish college anywhere. After all, since I have not landed on a major yet, that would make transferring really simple. Well, we talked and talked and talked some more. I think we dozed off for a little while I am not really sure how long, then next thing I knew the sun was coming up. We sat and watched the sunrise and then stopped at a little coffee shop for a bite. We started heading back about 8:30am and although we were both a little weary we were having a really good time. The trip home had a bit quieter tone to it than the ride down, but it was still really enjoyable. We got back to Lynne's place and crashed about 11 and woke to the alarm at 5 so Lynne could get ready for work. I went back to my place when Lynne left for work and began cleaning up for my parents visit. I was so looking forward to it. (JK)

Saturday, May 17, 2008

Can you believe that President Bush is going around to other countries and telling them that the Democrats in our country are Nazis? That's right, this man who has worked so hard to destroy the American dream, foreign relations, and the US constitution and who has ruled as an absolute dictator is accusing the current democratic candidates of being Nazis. What is this guy up to? Does he not see anything past his rose colored glasses? This man has been the decline of the UN and the entire world, and yet stands up there an has the nerve to call other people Nazis. Okay, so I know we all thought at first that he would be an okay president for this country, but people we were really wrong.

I think the thing that scares me the most about this guy is the fact that he thinks that he is running a God driven mission. That is so bizarre. I don't know what God he is tapping into, but it surely is not a trusting loving God, that is for sure. This man is devious to the core. Undermining so many systems that were put in place in the country and in the world to help protect all people. And his evil counterpart Dick Cheney who keeps feeding the monsters ego, just to push through his own agenda. Part of me thinks that since this presidency has gone so badly, we should definitely be requiring IQ tests of each individual running for office. It is obvious, at least to me, that the only way this man made it through law school and the bar, was with the help of his father. In order to be a ruler of any country, you need to be able to think through your actions and the consequences down the road. I don't know whether Bush is this evil, confused, mentally ill, or just lacking the IQ, but there is definitely a problem with this man's thinking processes. It could just be that the power went to his head. I heard in a news report that immediately following 9/11 Bush wanted to do something, and the Congress wouldn't let him, so someone told him that he could do it anyway because in times of crisis the President is also Commander and Chief and has absolute power over the country. Well, I personally think this guy saw his opportunity to become a dictator and took it. He has made some really big mistakes, and thank goodness this guy can't run for office again. I mean I would like to think that he couldn't win again after all that has happened, but I know anything is possible.

I am not sure whether it will be Clinton or Obama who will run against McCain, but in my opinion to vote for another republican after this mess would be a sad choice. We definitely need a change, and I think the first woman president or the first African American president would have to be better than what we have now. As for them being Nazis or Nazi like, I think I will take my chances if the only alternative is another Bush.