An idiot is born every minute

I saw down last evening to watch my home town baseball team on television. I had been flipping channels as the basketball team was also in action. The basketball game came to an end and I started focusing on the baseball game. All of a sudden I was completely annoyed by what I was hearing from the TV speaker. It was this “clank clank clank” noise driving me absolutely batty. It was catching the attention of the broadcasters too. It appeared that some dude in the crowd was taking a metal spoon and banging it against a metal frying pan. He is looking around smiling as if he was providing some fine service to the paying public. Mind you the few sitting around him in Yankee Stadium were merely shaking their heads. As the time went on I was getting more irritated. I start asking myself some critical questions like “Is this poor excuse for human being allowed in every night?” and “How did he get that frying pan in when people cannot take toothpaste on a plane?” and “When will someone take that frying pan from him and clean his clock?” What crosses the mind of someone when they tell themselves “I am going to the baseball game tonight – I should bring a frying pan with me”! I am done.

Smart People?

I am trying to figure out what a smart person is in this age we live in today.

I encounter people who have spent their whole life educating themselves, earned titles but still not be smart. When they are faced with a situation, they don't do a good job of figuring it out. They even work in teams and no one from the team can come up with the right answer.

I know some people who are in grad school working on being a future CEO in corporate America and all I think as I talk to them is "I would not trust you with a bake sale." The Titanic is interesting because none of the obvious things are done to correct the ship and the focus is put on items that mean nothing in the whole scheme of things.

When all is said and done does smart measure really anything or is it all based on what you accomplish? Can smart people even get to do anything in this world? Does politics get in the way like construction cones during a Michigan summer?

This goes for types of organizations. Corporate America is riddled with politics. Government can bog things down and make innovation very difficult to even take place. It does not even matter what organization you are part of it is difficult to get good ideas through successfully.

What changes need to take place for really smart people to be allowed to navigate their way through things? Is it even possible?

End of April after a small "spring nap"

Several items to comment on after an elongated period of sitting...

- My last entry got some weird comments. I am still not sure how that took place.- This story is great. Is it really possible that this person was that ignorant? Is it possible that the father was that much in the dark?
- Are the Democrats ever going to decide on a candidate? This has been going back and forth for months and I see no end in sight. I think it is possible that it may go to the convention this summer. Actually it is probably likely. I saw one commentator on TV this weekend (something I did a LOT of) this weekend even say it could go past the convention. I asked myself when I heard that when then does the candidate get selected if that is the case?
- In the meantime, John McCain, who a year ago was out of money completely, will have more time to collect more donation contributions from various Republican contributors. I am trying to think how the drawn out Democratic race hurts him?
- You wonder aloud if he will collect money from Democrats?
- I am getting close to spending sometime just Youtubing Rev. Jeremiah Wright.
- I have to think that Justin Verlander will be thrilled to see April come to a complete end. I am thinking the whole Tiger’s team will be happy to see April come to an end.
- One guy that is not funny in the least - Mo Rocca. He was on TV this weekend and I was amazed he even has a career in front of the camera.
- I have to admit that I have zero desire to see Yankee Stadium. Tigers will play their last set of games there this week. Yankees will get a new home next season and Yankee Stadium will no longer be used as their playing venue. I don’t know if my lack of desire has to do with the city, the team or combination of it all.
- I am feeling decent that 85 wins will be a good number.
- I am feeling REAL good about my Piston's prediction unless they lose in this round.
- Tax rebates supposedly will be delivered to bank accounts beginning today. I wonder if people have been logging into their bank accounts more than usual today? I wonder even more if people even know?

Pennsylvania Single Women

I know you think based on the title this is a plea for single women in Pennsylvania but that is far from the case.

This CNN article outlines what women in Pennsylvania are looking from their Presidential candidate. It appears they are looking for a miracle worker with more powers than anyone on this earth possess.

The article points out that the voters who will factor in economics will be women who make less than $30,000. In other words, those people looking for free hand outs believe the President of the US will help out. Never mind there has only been two instances of this taking place in recent history of “free” handouts – FDR and LBJ. (On a side note, I will discuss one day why I love LBJ). The president will somehow change the fact that they don’t have an education. The President will change the fact they picked professions that were low paying. The President will change the fact they had children when they could hardly feed themselves.

The article continues saying single women earn less than married women and three times less likely to have health coverage. They add 20 percent of unmarried just happen to be single moms. So let me guess this is a plea for their children who are suffering from your lack of employment and somehow not using good contraceptives. (Before I continue on this rant I do want to point out in my book they are 50% responsible in this specific matter. It always takes two to tango.)

Now the article starts out with a single woman who is a lawyer in Philadelphia. She is stating her number one issue is the economy. She is a first time homeowner and she still owns her Nissan Sentra from college. She is 28 which means she just got out of law school. She is just starting out in her career but still owns her home. Is her life that bad? She is brand new in the legal field. Was she expecting to be balling with in seconds of leaving law school? Is she misinterpreting those friends around her driving $40K cars but debt up to their chins as being better than her? Sheesh – I have been out of grad school for almost four years and I am still driving my car I got coming out of undergrad.

She quoted in the article of saying there is little money left over after she pays her bills. WELCOME TO THE REAL WORLD! You have to make choices. OH MY GOD!! So she is looking for the President to help her out. How that is going to happen is beyond my comprehension.

I always find it funny when people think the middle class is taxed too much. One never looks at their spending habits. Does the government force the middle class into credit card debt? Does the government force citizens to buy things so they can keep up with the Joneses?

Even after saying all that, the funny thing is the article gives nothing but stats about those women making less than $30K but use a lawyer who I will go out on a limb and say she is making more than twice that amount.

When you look toward government to help and offer, in any shape or form, it is clear you are not looking in the right direction.

WOW!

Allow me to ask the question – who in their right mind drops out of high school these days. Yes – drop out of high school in 2008. I heard of someone doing this recently and immediately responded WTF. In this day and age where people are filling out MBA programs to capacity across this country as well as other grad level schools and not finding employment afterwards, how stupid is that decision. More importantly -what parents allows that decision to even be considered let alone executed? I am not a parent but would be absolutely mortified if my kid thought it was even an option. I will be the first one to tell you the education process is tiresome but in the end it is necessary – or so I thought. Even when you have the education and you get a job, there is the continuous training and informational conferences you need to go to in order to maintain your status. What do you tell people when there is even an inquiry about what you are doing these days? What do you do with your time? Can you even find a full time job? My head is doing nothing but spinning.

BRUTAL!!

I am typing this as the Detroit Tigers are about to go 2-9. Are you kidding me? All the talk, all the money, all the anticipation and this team is taking the freakin gas pipe. What an absolute debacle this all has become as we sit by and watch this team look like they have zero idea what they are doing out there. The effort seems low at best. The stars have done nothing as evidence they are currently being lead by baseball famous names like Clete Thomas and once potential cast-off Brandon Inge. We have not even got to tax day and history tells us the Tiger chances of even sniffing the playoffs is pretty close to zero.

I said they would win 85 games and did not even think they would make the baseball playoffs but not in my wildest dreams did I see any of this coming this way.

Deep talk

I always find it interesting on how things work out. At the beginning of the year I told the parties involved that we should plan on going to Florida for a few days and enjoy the sunshine and all. The agreed upon weekend was this one we are in right now. As time went on circumstances came up making it slightly questionable whether it was a good idea for all parties. Before long it ended up being a good thing because I found out my time off had already been determined for me ie my vacation was determined for me. Once that decision was made for me, something unexpected came up that needs to be remedied and would have made going on the trip not a great idea in the least. Now I will tell you sure I would have liked to have gone on vacation but in this life you don’t always get everything you want and for sure it is sometimes a good thing.

There are a few things to be said that do get said often but need to be restated on an almost regular basis.

The first is you don’t always get what you want each and every day in this life. The result is we as people tend to focus on the few things we don’t have in our possession and ignore the MANY things we do have readily available to us. Look around at people and see how few are wearing a smile on their face. Never mind they drive $30K (or more) cars, have roofs over their heads, jobs in what they are being told not such a great economy, and countless non material benefits. Nope – you see people who seem to have zero ability to smile in their lives.

The next thing is rewards are best earned in this world. When you earn what you get, the value is way higher. I have met people in this life that want it all but don’t want to put the time into it. They always think there is a better (i.e. shorter) way to get where they want and end up disappointed when it all said and done. PEOPLE – you get what you put in when working toward your goals. I have mentioned in the past I have gone through a fair amount of training and education. IT was mentioned to me that I should be happy when the latest round of training and certification is done. I immediately retorted that my work is never done. I told them there is always something you have to learn or study. That of course it’s the case with life itself. If you don’t work, then things will become difficult. If you want to put in the minimal effort you will get minimal return.

Another lesson is bad things end up being good things. We have all had our share of lessons over time and for sure they were the worst things ever to experience. Looking back at those certain events, we discover though, despite how bad the events were surrounding those moments, the benefits were numerous and truly shape the people we are today.

The last lesson is worry about those things you can in fact change and let those items you cannot change be. Worrying about things that you cannot change is virtually wasted energy. Can you change the weather? If you can, let me know and we can market that ability to SOMEONE "fo sho". There are plenty of examples but you get my point.

Bottom line – smile as much as possible, live your life one day at a time, don’t take things for granted and learn to listen more than you talk.

P.S. I hope to post more blogs this weekend.

Education

I heard on the news this morning that Detroit has a high school graduating rate of 25%. I am one of those people who when they hear off the wall stats try to find out what the real deal is with it. In this case, regardless if there is a real deal, that number is deplorable. It was so low that even if it was off it still is bad.

We live in a world that you need an education to individually support yourself. We live in a world where we need educated people to help this state succeed in getting past this economic slump. The country as a whole needs to figure out what to do because we are just plain losing in education's world wide battle.

Don't fool yourself and think that the Detroit School system is an isolated case. Schools around this country are struggling to educate the children. They are not getting the tax money they need to make it happen. They are not getting support from the parents. Teachers - despite the great effort and big hearts - are not the best of the best since teachers pay is so medicore. No one discusses the great benefits of an education.

Another thing we need to get across in this country is not only the education of the young people but adults as well. I am taking a class right now. I was told recently that once I am done with this class I am "finally done". My response - I will never be done. Education is an ongoing process. It will never end. I will maybe get a small break. I will then have to take another class and spend more evening and weekend hours reading the material. I will finally be done when I take my last breath.