We Americans are Stupid!

Okay, maybe not all of us.  What I’m referring to is the idiocy surrounding certain current events; gas prices and food costs.

Let’s start with the gas prices!

• Everyday I read some article about people whining about gas prices or hear about them in person at work or wherever I’m at.  Typically, the people that are whining are driving non fuel-efficient cars.  Duh!  Flippin’ morons!  The price of EVERYTHING goes up!  It’s called inflation.  I don’t know how it works, but when is the last time a price dropped on something and stayed down?  NEVER.  If the American public bothered to buy their cars by doing research and picking the best one rather than just buying what “looks pretty”, we wouldn’t be in this pickle!  I hear people complaining that their car gets lousy gas mileage.  Duh!  You bought the thing, you should have known.  Then they say that there aren’t any good mileage cars out there.  That’s because you idiots bought all the low efficiency ones so the companies stopped making the efficient ones.  Here’s an example: My 2002 Saturn SL1 gets 41 MPG highway.  The current Saturn ION get 31 MPG highway.  Frikkin’ stupid people stopped buying the SL1 because it was underpowered.  So now you can’t by a car that gets good fuel mileage BECAUSE YOU IDIOTS WOULDN’T BUY THEM!  STOP COMPLAINING!  You’re the reason!  Duh!
• On another note.  Idiot Hybrid Drivers.  Okay, you bought a Prius.  Yay for you.  Here I am driving to work at 60 MPH (5 below the limit) as you fly by at 70+ MPH.  You’re a moron.  Speeding in a hybrid is an oxymoron.  It defeats the purpose.  Slow your butt down and drive correctly.  I know a guy that gets 70+ MPG in his Prius.  I could find several more if I looked.  It’s not hard.
• SUV’s.  Do you live in the jungle?  No.  You’re driving your full-size SUV back and forth to work and putting darn near $100 in the gas tank each week.  What kind of dolt are you?

Now for food costs!

• We’re in a food shortage you morons.  Not enough stuff, price goes up.  Simple economics.  Duh.  Add in fuel costs (see above rant) and it goes up more.  Quit being wasteful idiots and it would help.

In conclusion:

So instead of being smart, us Americans are stupid.  We buy HUGE SUV’s and drive them at 70+ and wonder where all the money’s going.  Duh.

Note: I know some of you (if anyone reads this) are going to say, “Hey, I need an SUV because I live on a dirt road and have 5 kids!”  Okay fine, some people may “need” their SUV.  That’s fine.  I’m talking about the idiots that buy them just because they can.  I’ve purchased sports cars because I like them.  However, I won’t then say “OMG, the gas prices are so high!”  Why?  Because I know that sports cars use gas like mad.  It’s my own fault for buying it.  Hence why I own a fuel-efficient economy car.  I’m geeky.  I’m a data analyst.  I track my fuel mileage every fill up.  And guess what?  The gas prices have been steadily rising.  I knew this over a year ago!  You folks who are just now complaining are stupid.

Want to know what your mileage should be?  Go to this site: http://www.fueleconomy.gov/ and check!  Then add the City and the Highway and divide by 2 to get a general average.

Want to know how to make your car more fuel efficient?  Go to this site: http://www.gassavers.org/.  The most effective way to increase your fuel efficiency however is to adjust the nut between the steering wheel and the driver’s seat (You).

Movies, movies, movies!

It’s the summer of movies!  Man, the list is long, the action is never ending, this is gonna be AWESOME!  Here is a list of the top movies I want to see this summer:

May

• 5/2 - Iron Man (Awesome!)
• 5/9 - Speed Racer (Awesome!)
• 5/16 - Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian
• 5/23 - Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull (I loved the Indiana Jones movies!)

June

• 6/6 - You Don’t Mess with the Zohan, Kung Fu Panda
• 6/13 - The Incredible Hulk, The Happening
• 6/20 - Get Smart, The Love Guru (Both look hilarious!)
• 6/27 - Wall*E (This just looks AWESOME!), Wanted (Agelina Jolie anyone?)

July

• 7/4 - Hancock (Looks hilarious!)
• 7/11 - Journey to the Center of the Earth, Meet Dave
• 7/18 - The Dark Knight, Space Chimps
• 7/25 - The X Files: I Want to Believe

August

• 8/1 - The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor, Pineapple Express (basically because I like Seth Rogen)
• 8/15 - Tropic Thunder, Star Wars: Clone Wars (Star Wars, need I say more?)
• 8/22 - Fly Me to the Moon, Bangkok Dangerous
• 8/29 - Babylon A.D. (Vin Diesel FTW!)

 

New Post Tuesday!

Augh!  It’s frikkin’ New Post Tuesday already and I haven’t got a flippin’ clue what to write about!

FAIL

Umm… Iron Man was awesome!…  ?  No, not good enough.  What the heck, during the week, I’ve had a million things run through my mind.  Now they are all gone.  WTF?

Well, I haven’t been writing nearly enough.  My book sits untouched since last week.  I need to find a way to not only stay motivated, but to keep it in the front of my mind.  My life is very “out of sight, out of mind”.  If it’s not right in front of me, I’ll forget it.  NO MATTER HOW IMPORTANT IT IS!

In the meantime, I can recall lines, actors, plot points, and discrepencies in a movie I saw 12 years ago.  I hate my frikkin’ memory.

Well, on to news:

• Back to the doctor last week.  ALT and AST (liver toxins) are mildly elevated.  Joy.  Back to another year long treatment of Prednisone and Imuran.  Mix in weekly blood tests for a while then just monthly.  Liver disease, liver disease, go away.  Liver disease me some other day.
• Daily workout at the gym.  NOT.  Still can’t get the gumption up to go.  I don’t get it.  I’ve gone before, I feel better (other than my damn feet), but I can’t seem to shake the fact that “I don’t feel like going to the gym”.  What the f*ck?  Why do I have no control over myself.  That brings me to…
• Weight - 330lbs.  Too much.  Must lose weight.  While I am all for “fat acceptance” or more appropriately, proper self-image, 330 is too much for me.  I am uncomfortable in my own skin.  For reference I am 5′10″ tall.
• Every day I make a mental list of all the ways I’ve failed in life.  (Idea!  I need to blog about all the ways I’ve succeeded in life!)

I don’t know what else to say.

Keep in touch!

How often do you though?

I think often of my brother Chris.  We’ve barely spoken in recent years though.  We were great friends when we were younger.  Less so as we grew older.  He hung with the “wrong crowd”, listening to heavy metal music and drinking a lot.  I hung with the “pocket protector crowd”, geeking over Wierd Al Yankovich and playing a lot of computer games.  Time went on, he joined the Army, went to various colleges, went to visit my parents in Texas (another story someday), and ended up living there.  Married a lovely woman named Nichole and had a son, Aidan.  I went to his wedding reception and met Nichole a few years ago, but that’s about it for contact.

My best friend Randy married my cousin/sister (another story) Heather.  They have two lovely kids, Christie and Dylan.  They have a house in Alaska, though Randy is never there.  He’s in the Army and gets deployed a lot.  I’m not sure why I call him my best friend.  We’re barely friends anymore, hardly ever talking.  We met in the 5th grade so that would be somewhere around 1980.  We’ve been friends ever since.  Though after high school, he went into the Army and from there our friendship dwindled.  We’ve probably only seen each other 3 or 4 times since high school.  Well, not counting the year he took off from the Army and he worked in the same garage I did.

Of my other relatives, I only keep in touch with a few.  And again, rarely.  Grandma and my parents I talk to regularly (I live with them).

Walter my cousin/brother who lives up in Albany.  I at least see him about every two months.  We’ve grown apart as well, it feels like he lives in a different world than I do.  He’s going through a messy split with his girlfriend, made messier by two children involved.

Myriam my cousin who lives nearby in Vestal, NY.  We get along great, usually emailing about once a month.  Sometimes we meet up for dinner or the like.  For a while she lived in Texas and then Italy, so we’ve grown apart as well.

My friend Alban mentioned something about keeping in touch at lunch on Monday.  It got me thinking a lot.  These people, my family, are people whom I enjoy to be with.  They always make me happy, never judge me, and are just comfortable to be around.  Why don’t I talk to them more?  I have their email addresses, their phone numbers, and addresses.

Why do I distance myself from them?

Just your average update!

Okay, news time!

Life:

• Last Friday I got new glasses!  Yay!  However, the doctor treated me like a kid (I’m 37), never bothered to even have me look through that fantastical gizmo to check my eyes, and decided to alter my prescription a bit.  I can now see fine close up and lousy far away.  Nice job.  Now I gotta find time to take these things back and tell them to get their sh*t together!
• Due to NYS Child Support Collections making a mistake, I’m now bleeding 25% of my paycheck to my ex-wife in child support.  That’s a frikkin’ huge amount of my paycheck!!!  This has put a severe cramp on my ability to go see some kewl movies coming out. 
• The lack of money is also keeping me from getting my damn car fixed.  The check engine light has been on for over a month now.
• Found a neat duplex available for rent, just waiting on info from the owners to see if Heather and I can move in!
• My bloodwork is better (I have chronic-active autoimmune hepatitis) though my doctor still wants me to take more steroids and immunosuppressants to keep it from flaring up.
• I re-read all three Halo books, Halo: The Fall of Reach, Halo: The Flood, and Halo: First Strike all in about 5 days.
• Still working on my “Halo Storybook”.  Writing takes longer than I remember
• I’m continuing to gain weight slowly despite a strict diet.  I need to exercise more.  It is tough though.  I’m sure everyone says that also.

I feel like I’m in a rut, spinning my wheels and going nowhere.  There is so much I want to do and so little time to do it.  Life feels like a constant chore, I’m not getting the excitement and adventure that I need to make it feel worthwhile.

Vehicles, lots of vehicles!

I decided to compile a list of vehicles I have owned over the years.  I’ve had quite a few and some if it is starting to get blurry.

Pre 1st Vehicle: (When I turned 16, I drove a few of my parent’s cars, so here they are)

• 1972 Dodge Dart Swinger - It was 70’s green, with a vinyl top and vinyl interior with an aftermarket A/C system that would literally throw snow at you.  It had a thin-rimmed steering wheel with power steering so strong, you could steer with your pinky finger.  It also had a lot of rust and duct tape.
• 1980 Volvo Wagon - It was white and very rusty.  It had been in multiple fender-benders resulting in dents at every corner of the car.
• 1983 Ford F150 Pickup - It was my grandfather’s old truck.  It was baby blue with a wood rack on the back.  Eventually it rusted badly and we replaced the bed with a wooden flat-bed.  It steered poorly as in 1986 or ‘87 I hit a stump with it, badly bending the frame.  The right front tire had to be replaced every 6 months afterward.

1st Vehicle and after:

• 1972 Honda Scrambler CL175 - A lovely maroon on/off road motorcycle.  I bought it at a garage sale for about $150.  It needed lots of work.  It had been sitting for years.  I spent quite a bit of my savings on it, replacing the chrome, tires, hoses, wires, etc.  When I was finished it was in 100% museum condition.  The Honda dealer at the time wanted to buy it and display it, but it was my only transportation at the time.  Shortly after restoration, I had an accident on the highway.  The engine siezed and I went into the grass (no guardrail luckily).  Badly damaged my leather jacket, ruined my helmet, and scratched the bike’s paint.  I wasn’t hurt at all.  Lucky me.  Turns out it was a split-pin that had slid out of the transmission shaft.  Apparently after years, the dissimilar metals caused the pin to expand and contract, working its way loose.  The Honda dealer safety wired all the pins in the engine and gave it back to me.  Unfortunately, I traded the bike for a pair of Chevettes.  They both died within a year
• 1966 Pontiac Catalina Convertible - Black with green vinyl interior.  Never did get it on the road.  Kept the engine and transmission, eventually gave them to my brother-in-law.  A Pontiac 389 with a TH400 tranny.  Potent combo.
• 1976 Buick LeSabre Bicentennial Edition - It was Bicentennial Red with a white vinyl top.  I bought it for $75 from a yard sale.  They had done a tune-up and it would no longer run.  After looking it over I gave them the money, turned the distributor cap around 180 degrees, started the car and drove it home.  I drove it too Oklahoma during my year at Spartan School of Aeronautics where it died due to a blown seal (lost all its oil).
• 1978 Subaru GL Sedan - I got this little blue clunker for $400 while in Oklahoma after my Buick died.  It needed tires which sent the price to $600.  It lasted about 3 or 4 months till it blew a cylinder head.  It never did like to climb hills either, a bad accelerator pump.  Very annoying.
• 1985 Chevrolet Camaro - My parents informed me that a friend of their, Mr. Seeley wanted to help out.  He loaned me $5,000 to buy a decent car.  I went to a Honda dealer to try and get a new or nearly-new Civic.  They couldn’t approve me so I went to the used car dealership on their lot and fell in love with a beautiful Charcoal Gray Camaro.  Luckily it was just under $5,000.  Unfortunately, it blew a heater hose that flooded the on-board computer.  After that was replaced, the transmission went.  My parents helped with the rather large bill.  However, I had missed too much school due to running around trying to get the car fixed and was expelled.  I came home and ended up selling the expensive sports car.
• 1983 Dodge Aries K - A pretty blue 4-door sedan.  Luckily it was a 5-speed, I hate automatics, especially after the Camaro incident.  This car was great, however it suffered from my stupidity and carelessness.  It eventually died of severe rust and neglect.
• 1984 Ford Escort GT - A shiny gold sporty escort.  It was cheap, and needed work.  With a friends help, and parents $$$ it got a new gas tank, alternator, rims & tires, brakes, and other needed work.  Due to a wiring issue, it had an electrical fire.  Me and my friend re-wired the entire engine compartment and interior with Radio Shack supplies.  Hit a deer with it later on that took out much of the front.  We fixed it again, but the computer was damaged.  Went to another friend, a mechanic, who told me it was an ultra-rare prototype car and the computer would cost about $1,500 to replace.  I couldn’t afford it so we wired in a regular computer and bypassed quite a few systems.  I sold it to a young man for $500.  And no, I didn’t lie to him, I told him what we did.
• 1981 Chevrolet Chevette (2) - Traded the motorcycle for these 2.  One ran well, the other was parts.  Had to swap a transmission out, and got used to changing the timing belt as one gear was worn.  Could do it in 15 minutes flat!
• 1981 Yamaha SR-500 - Traded a car stereo from Escort GT for it.  Ran like a bat out of hell!  Bad swing-arm bearings were too costly to replace, so I sold it to a guy who raced one.
• 1965 Triumph Spitfire - I found this green little gem on the roadside for $1,200.  I bought it and fell in love!  It needed a lot of work.  I replaced all the suspension components, rebuilt the engine, purchased new top for it, put in a radio, changed the old 12-volt positive ground generator to a 12-volt negative ground alternator from one of my old Chevettes.  Many stories around this car.  Eventually I sold it to a neighbor for $1,500 as I needed a good all-weather car.
• 1981 AMC Spirit - Technically dad’s car, but I drove it after the Spitfire.  It was gray, and had an invincible little 4-cylinder in it.  Eventually died of rust.  Used for the infamous “Christopher Rescue Mission”.
• 1981 Toyota Corolla 2-door - A little gray beater I bought for $40 from a friend up the street.  Had been hit hard in the driver’s side.  Door was smashed in as was the side of the car.  Using a jack and some wood blocks, I pressed the side back out and replaced the glass.  Drove it for quite a while until it blew an oil pump.
• 1985 Nissan 4wd Pickup - A dark blue little 4×4 with a 5-speed.  Great little truck.  After getting stuck for the first time, I upgraded to BF Goodrich A/T’s.  Added a front brush-guard (homemade) and a rollbar with lights (thanks Kelly!).  Eventually the frame broke.
• 1979 Triumph Spitfire 1500 - Traded in the Nissan pickup for it.  Had been in an accident.  Bought replacement parts for the suspension, but never did fix it.  I did have a custom driveshaft made though, the original was unrepairable.  Sold it and the parts to fix it for $2,500.
• 1970, 1971, 1972 Honda CB/CL350 - Bought 3 wrecked bikes for $75 and built one running one.  I loved this thing, probably because I built it.  SOld it due to it kept dying on me.  Turned out to be an easy fix, and am pissed at myself for not keeping it (them).
• 1981 Mercury Zephyr - A blue 2-door that I picked up for $400.  Drove it for about 2 years and sold it to a friend for $400.
• 1981 Yamaha Maxim 400 - “Purplish” according to my oldest daughter.  Got it free from my brother.  It was in bad shape.  It was in bad shape when he got it.  Forks leaked, engine leaked, carbs needed work, tank was smashed in, handlebars where bent, sprockets and chain were worn.  Ran like a top!  Sold it due to title destroyed.  NY State thought the bike had been totalled.  Would have cost too much to re-title it.  The guy bought it for parts so he was happy.
• 1991 Ford Escort 4-door - Got it from my then wife when she bought a new car (1997 Ford Escort Wagon).  Had 150,000 miles on it.  Drove it past 200,000 and sold it for $500 to buy the van.
• 1985 Chevrolet G20 Conversion Van - A well spent $800.  Took it on many trips.  Eventually died of transmission trouble (damn automatics!).
• 1990 Chevy S10 Pickup - Red, white, black, and gray.  Always started.  Even after it blew 2 cylinders.  Good and reliable.  I miss it.
• 1992 Mercury Sable - Paid $30 for this car.  Bad wiring, doors wouldn’t latch right, sunroof was stuck open.  4 hours in my garage fixing the wiring and lubricating latches, etc. got it working perfectly.  Died of rust after being given to the wife after we seperated.
• 1991 Pontiac Bonneville - Nice big 4-door sedan.  Paid $1,000 for it and drove it quite a while.  Hit a guardrail at 60 MPH during an ice storm.  I bolted on a pair of plow-truck headlights and drove it until the damage caught up with it.
• 1981 Yamaha 900 - With a nice full fairing and fiberglass saddle-bags.  Never rode it, ended up selling it on ebay due to financial crisis before I had ever even paid for it in full.
• 1988 Yamaha Riva 200 Scooter - Blue, badly wrecked, and FREE.  Previous owner had flipped it at 40 MPH.  Lots of duct tape, zip-ties, and jury-rigging.  Has Kawasaki Ninja mirrors, a headlight from a 1981 Chevrolet Monte Carlo, a milk crate on the back, and cheap vinyl seat cover.  Truck running light replacing the front turn signals.  Quite a bit of caution tape too.  Still have it.  Runs like a champ.  Too bad it’s been in storage for 3 years with a full tank.  Gonna take some work to get running again.  Only 2,000 miles on it.
• 2001 Saturn SL1 - A little gold 4-door.  Bad transmission (manual this time) had to be replaced for $1,100.  Went again while on business in Baltimore, MD.
• 2005 Honda Civic Si - My first new car!  Traded in the Saturn and got a great discount as my brother worked for Honda at the time, about $6,000 off sticker!  Got hit in a parking lot (made me sad).  Was fixed up nicely though.  Had to sell after I could no longer afford it (more sadness).
• 2002 Saturn SL1 - A little charcoal gray 4-door.  My current car.

Well, I think that sums it up!  There are some stories buried in there that I think I just may have to go into more detail on in the future.

It’s life Jim, but not as we know it…

Recent Events:

• Paid my 2007 Taxes!  I hate paying Taxes.  Especially since I live in Pennsylvania and received income from New York.  They both want to tax me.  Bastards!  Usually what is taken out during the year is fairly close to what I owe.  Not this time, I ended up paying a total of about $400.
• Have NOT been working on my book enough.  Need to get more done ASAP.  One minor setback is a technical issue.  I installed Halo on my PC and found that it won’t display correctly on my Dell LCD.  I’m gonna have to hook up my 19″ Dell Flat Screen and see if it displays better.
• Work has been on-and-off stressful.  It’s not a bad job, I do enjoy it, however sometimes it feels as if we are shooting ourselves in foot.  We take 2 steps forward and 1 step backward.
• I’ve been playing “Command & Conquer: Red Alert 2″ quite a bit.  I was over at my friend Rob’s recently and he was showing me some of his “Command & Conquer” collection (he got the boxed set).  It brought back old memories and I realized how much I enjoyed playing “Red Alert 2″.  So he gave me an old copy he had and I started practicing up.  When we got a chance, we were finally able to play 2 games online against each other.  I got romped twice, but it was a fun time.  I decided to order a more recent game, “Command & Conquer: Generals” in the hopes that it would be as fun and also hoping it might be something my father might like.  He is a bit of a war buff.  I can’t wait till they come!  Amazingly enough, I was able to  pick up both copies for about $12 from Amazon.com.
• Heather’s 1st accident (hopefully her last and only) is still an annoyance.  The driver of the car that hit her changed her story when she talked to the insurance.  So know it’s our word against theirs.  Since that holds no weight, the insurance said they won’t cover the damage.  So we talk to our insurance, Esurance, and they state that we can put it against our insurance to get the car repaired.  Then Esurance will battle against the other drivers insurance to get their money back.  For future reference, ALWAYS get the police to come out and take a report.  Even if there are no injuries.

Well, I guess that sums up what’s going on :)  Stay tuned!

Still Here!

Yep, I’m still here!  Still working on my book idea, though time does not seem to favor me.  I never seem to have the time I need to write.  MUST MAKE MORE TIME!  I am taking time here and there to read “Halo: The Flood” by William C. Dietz to help me along.  Since both books are the story of Halo and I am simply writing a shorter one with pictures, having the book to reference is helpful. 

Self issues still exist.  I seem to have a constant struggle with everyday things.  Remembering to get groceries, pay bills, do chores, etc.  I do not know why these things burden me so.  I feel better today, there is a definite correlation between me listening to music I like and me feeling better.  Note to self: listen to awesome music every day.

In Heather news, her car is still a bit bent up from the accident.  The other person’s insurance refuses to pay since it is our word against their client’s word.  Joy.  Now it’s down to a knock-down drag-out fight to try and get the money.  The part that bothers Heather the most is that it’s her first car, she only had it 4 days before it was hit.

Life comes at you hard…

Okay, life sucks!

Now what the heck do I do?

Let me explain, no, let me sum up: I went to Consumer Credit Counseling.  After looking at my bills, and deciding the best course of action; they came up with a plan.  I pay them $250 a month for 34 months.  Then poof, my debt is gone.  Sounds easy enough.  However, with my current budget, I don’t have the extra $$$.

I need more $$$.  My parents say, “It’s all in your attitude.  You can make it work if you want it to.”  Yeah, that’s nice in an imaginary world.  This is the real world.  My attitude is not gonna pay for $7,000 in medical bills.

On to other things,

As I stated in my last post, I want to create a “Halo Storybook”.  By storybook, I’m thinking of a book with pictures.  A picture on the left hand page, and a section of the Halo story on the right.

I want to keep it short, like 60 pages, but my first draft is coming up on the 120 page mark.  I’ve got to do some trimming.  I basically want to capture the main plot points that underlie the story so that someone can sit down, read the story of Halo and have some key pictures to help with that.

After this one is done, I plan on doing the same with Halo 2 and 3.  Halo 2 will be hard as my PC won’t run it, and I don’t have a video capture card to run my Xbox through.  I may need assistance on that one.

Anyway, I hope to have a sample up on my other blog in the next few days.

Short Post

Well, this will be a short post.  I’ll fill in more details tomorrow I hope!

Quick sum-up:

• Heather’s brand-new (to her anyways) car was in an accident on Saturday.  Mere days since she got it.  Not kewl
• I’m working on a Halo Picture Storybook.  What is a Halo Picture Storybook you ask?  Well, I hope to have a preview up soon!  You’ll see!

Later!