Saturday, January 28, 2006

Playing boom box "music" loudly is a violation of constitutional rights

Ahhh, the peaceful quiet of a well deserved weekend.....for a moment at least. That was until some single digit IQ moron broadcasts his idea of "music" from half a mile away. Boooom boom booooom bom booooom. The new rythmn of the heathen nation of misguided youth we have raised up. What is just primal rythmn with no lyric sense is called "music" by the uninitiated, unwashed masses of an ignorant generation. Music "designed" to maximise the booooominess so as to broadcast acoustically one's simple minded idea of "culture" to those surrounding them. Other than that, boom box music truly serves no purpose to society. It neither uplifts or pulls at the emotions. It merely shakes one into feeling it for the sole sake of feeling, there is no soul to it at all.

I must applaud those (few) cities who have taken action against such wanton disregard for privacy by way of rolling boom boxes, Liberals would have us believe that to limit such assinine behaviour would be "unconstitutional". How wrong they are! By allowing such an invasion of my space, by acoustic volleys, without my permission is in fact a violation of MY constitutional right to privacy as much as if they were to walk through my living room uninvited.

It is about time American society starts accounting for the folly of liberalism. This is the harvest of a poorly planted crop- society out of balance-

Friday, January 27, 2006

Finally it's Friday....and I don't have to be at work tomorrow.

A chance perchance to rest me weary feet from the long toils of the day.

I'm always amazed at how time flies in the evening when I get home. I work like crazy for 10 hours in the day, yet when I get home, those precious 5 hours I have left over go by in a blink! Half of it is just recovery time, the other half is busy time getting ready for the next day.

When I first started working in the working world, I had more time, what happened in between? I know! The cost of living was lower relative to my wage back then.

Hmmmm, inflation as a model for an economy....Lets see. If the demand for products goes up, so does the price. As the prices goes up wages should keep up; except when the economic model is taken to global extreeeemes when major corporations relocate to third world companies thus eliminating jobs domestically, reducing production costs dramatically, and still charging ever higher amounts for products that the now unpaid US workers can ill afford! While competition is healthy there exists the realm of unhealthy competetion which could be equated as corporate greed. The demand for ever lower prices on goods by consumers partly comes about due to wages not following the inflationary pattern of growth. Look at the housing markets to see examples of such a model. Housing prices have soared to dramatic and historic highs while the average wage comes nowhere close to competing. In 10 years the US will be a debtor nation instead of a producer nation with jobs being outsourced and direct living/housing costs pushing workers into bankruptcy.

The model only works if one can control how the game is played, but when other markets play by altoghether different rules, then all the "old model" markets get stuck in a sink or swim situation........




Thursday, January 26, 2006

There is something to this "blog" stuff that seems to have a calming effect after working 11 hours in a LOUD factory. A chance to speak what is really on one's mind without the covert and overt censorship of the management waiting within earshot. Management already knows that we workers are frustrated by those everyday stupid management decisions that make little sense to most rational beings.

At least there are weekends to look forward to....

Monday, January 23, 2006

Love that 7 day work week! or What ever happened to the concept of "weekends"?

Hmmmm.

7 day work weeks just to scrape by because of (mis) management screwups in planning! What next? Will we just live at the factory with no concept of a free weekend for our families? Oh, Yes! This is the new age of "lean manufacturing" in America where fewer employees are working more grueling hours to satiate the demands of faceless shareholders who demand more "value" from their stock. Made more frustrating by the sheer incompetence of management that surely thinks the motto is "Work harder, NOT smarter". Is it any wonder why some companies founder while others succeed? After 11 years and one stint of being laid off at my current company, I thought I would have got the message: "time to look for less stressful work". The big question is...where? It seems that this is the new American business model fashioned after the sweatshops of Asia with whom we compete with utter futility.

It is said that 'you will never grow rich working for someone else'. These days it seems more true than the last 75 or so years. The harder one works for a company, the more the company expects from you with less return (pay raise) than the year before. It is a huge step to go naked before the world and start your own business. Little wonder why so many fail! Competition is absolultly fierce! One day I hope to be brave enough to set forth in such uncharted waters, but for now I go to sleep to be ready for the next work day closer to the dreaded 'End of The Month' which plagues so many manufacturing jobs.

Steve,
Who has many dreams yet to be lived.

Sunday, January 08, 2006

Just another Sunday

Finally have about half the office furniture moved back in.I'm not sure I'll move all the stuff I used to have crammed in back in. Seem that projects like these help identify what one really needs in a house or room. (or can do without).

Friday, January 06, 2006

Finally moved back into the "office"

After a year of slooowwww progress, I have finally managed to re- ready the back room as my office after repairing damage from last winter's almost record breaking rains. At least one MAJOR project in my life is wrapping up. It will be good to be at a proper desk rather than working out of the living room. Ow my aching back!

2005 was one of those mixed years for me. I didn't do much at home the home front, but did go on some memorable trips. I'll post a few more highlights later...back to moving the computer, Yay!

Wednesday, January 04, 2006

Some fun last year operating a locomotive


Last October, as a birthday present I went out to Ely, NV with my brother Frank and operated an honest to goodness steam locomotive. T'was Like being a kid all over again! Gotta have fun some time in between the rat race of 11 hour days at work and end of the month deadlines. The trip was intense as we only had a weekend to drive there and back. Fortuantely we had planned to take an additional day off to recover from the 14 hour drive.

On the way up we drove parallel to the White River along highway 93 which is beautiful country in the heart of Nevada. One sometimes thinks all of Nevada is Las Vegas or Reno. I was pleasantly surprised that there is more than just desert, mountains and area 51.

Some day.....when i win the lottery. (I'm soooo confident, aren't I? ;-) )....Maybe I'll have a big enough backyard for one of these.

Introduction

Be patient.

It's a new year and I am new to the blog world....

Soon to come, my thoughts and ramblings on whatever subject comes along. Mostly photos of the shop, projects, and things that interest me and perhaps a few others out there.

Wishing all a happy 2006!

Steve