Snce oil reached $50.00 a barrel it will be interesting to see how high a gallon a gas will go. The crazy thing is various economists are casually observing that oil could conceivably reach $60.00 a gallon by Christmas time.
Heating costs will go through the roof. Everyday costs of living continue to rise but income levels are unchanged, that's a formula for failure.
We will see if this is a harbinger of worse things to come.
Thursday, September 30, 2004
Wednesday, September 29, 2004
Counting to 40 - Part I
I will be 40 years old in February. I am just sitting here thinking about the differences that my son will have that I did not enjoy but have seen come to fruition in my lifetime. I know this is nothing new and generation after generation have the same speech but now I do see the wonder of it as technology and societal mores change and advance. I want to catalog this so when I give my son the "In my day" speech I'll have footnotes to review since I don't have the sharpest of memories right now and don't see that as reversing any time soon.
The first thing I will mention is television, or I should say: Television. I capitalize it because Television is such a mainstay in my life.
As a youth it was television, a large wooden piece of furniture housing smaller tubes and little electronic components surrounding a large picture tube. You would have to walk to it to turn it on, waiting the few minutes it took for the CRT to warm up. Our family was on the low end of middle class so we had a black and white set instead of the nice color sets. When the picture would start to lose its horizontal or vertical hold a slap or kick on the side of the set would fix it.
Once it warmed up we had a smorgasbord of options to view, within the 3 major networks, 3 smaller local networks and 3 public television networks along the VHF and UHF airwave spectrums we had availble to us. Television began broadcasting between 5:00 and 6:00 in the morning and stopped at 3:00 or 4:00, and those were the major stations, the smaller ones began later and ended earlier.
That was broadcast television in the 60's and 70's. There was no cable television, with Manhattan being the sole exception. All sports events were aired on regular broadcast television. The only major cable station was HBO which was captured with an antenna, hundreds of antennas sprewn about the outer boroughs aimed towards the Empire State Building. Our first color television was a small 9 inch television which sat on top of the big black and white set.
Friday and Saturday nights was for Creature Features. Saturday mornings was the day for cartoons. All morning long, cartoons. Sunday mornings was for the Bowery Boys (East Side Kids) and Abbot and Costello. On Thanksgiving day, cartoons would air as well. Christmas was the season for Rankin-Bass, the company that seemed to only work with claymation. Also on Christmas was the venerable March of the Wooden Soldiers: Laurel and Hardy, and It's a Wonderful Life. All day long on any station that you would turn to you would find It's a Wonderful Life.
Television is a bigger thing now, a media Juggernaut that sweeps along at 500 channels. A multimedia conglomerate that pushes itself along lobbying for regulation and then lobbying for deregulation and then lobbying for regulation again in 12 year cycles, each time saying it is for the consumers benefit. In all these years the only people I've seen benefit are the television and cable stations. The consumers always end up paying more and more. It's always the consumers that foot the bill for television's expansion, both in the form of monthly fees and taxes. That's why I now call it Television with a capital T.
The first thing I will mention is television, or I should say: Television. I capitalize it because Television is such a mainstay in my life.
As a youth it was television, a large wooden piece of furniture housing smaller tubes and little electronic components surrounding a large picture tube. You would have to walk to it to turn it on, waiting the few minutes it took for the CRT to warm up. Our family was on the low end of middle class so we had a black and white set instead of the nice color sets. When the picture would start to lose its horizontal or vertical hold a slap or kick on the side of the set would fix it.
Once it warmed up we had a smorgasbord of options to view, within the 3 major networks, 3 smaller local networks and 3 public television networks along the VHF and UHF airwave spectrums we had availble to us. Television began broadcasting between 5:00 and 6:00 in the morning and stopped at 3:00 or 4:00, and those were the major stations, the smaller ones began later and ended earlier.
That was broadcast television in the 60's and 70's. There was no cable television, with Manhattan being the sole exception. All sports events were aired on regular broadcast television. The only major cable station was HBO which was captured with an antenna, hundreds of antennas sprewn about the outer boroughs aimed towards the Empire State Building. Our first color television was a small 9 inch television which sat on top of the big black and white set.
Friday and Saturday nights was for Creature Features. Saturday mornings was the day for cartoons. All morning long, cartoons. Sunday mornings was for the Bowery Boys (East Side Kids) and Abbot and Costello. On Thanksgiving day, cartoons would air as well. Christmas was the season for Rankin-Bass, the company that seemed to only work with claymation. Also on Christmas was the venerable March of the Wooden Soldiers: Laurel and Hardy, and It's a Wonderful Life. All day long on any station that you would turn to you would find It's a Wonderful Life.
Television is a bigger thing now, a media Juggernaut that sweeps along at 500 channels. A multimedia conglomerate that pushes itself along lobbying for regulation and then lobbying for deregulation and then lobbying for regulation again in 12 year cycles, each time saying it is for the consumers benefit. In all these years the only people I've seen benefit are the television and cable stations. The consumers always end up paying more and more. It's always the consumers that foot the bill for television's expansion, both in the form of monthly fees and taxes. That's why I now call it Television with a capital T.
Tuesday, September 28, 2004
Friday, September 24, 2004
Baby dates
Today my son is 10 weeks old. Not a major milestone but a nice even number.
It looks like we have a quiet weekend ahead. I'm looking forward to it.
It looks like we have a quiet weekend ahead. I'm looking forward to it.
Thursday, September 23, 2004
Drats!
I got a speeding ticket on the way home today.
Damn, that's gonna give me a boost to my insurance payments.
Damn, that's gonna give me a boost to my insurance payments.
Visitor
We had a meeting with the President from a sister company to show them our methods and practices with document handling.
It seems we have become the standard that all the companies are following. We follow the principles of Claims Management: Every document is important!
We track every piece of paper that comes into our office and maintain a redundancy factor of making sure every piece of paper is duplicated or triplicated.
It greatly increases our paperwork, but when you have to file a multi-million dollar claim, it pays for itself.
It seems we have become the standard that all the companies are following. We follow the principles of Claims Management: Every document is important!
We track every piece of paper that comes into our office and maintain a redundancy factor of making sure every piece of paper is duplicated or triplicated.
It greatly increases our paperwork, but when you have to file a multi-million dollar claim, it pays for itself.
Wednesday, September 22, 2004
Monday, September 20, 2004
Bad morning
My wife wakes me up at 4:30 in the morning, just as I should be getting ready for the workday. She needs me to take care of our son, she's exhausted. I spend the next 2 1/2 hours getting him to sleep.
I got to work late. This is happening more often, not just on the weekends.
I got to work late. This is happening more often, not just on the weekends.
Sunday, September 19, 2004
Better day
Today is a better day for our son, his fever finally broke and he's handling things better.
We went to Babies R Us to get him a few things, among the things we picked up was a baby monitor. Wow are those things sensative. I don't know how but we managed to spend $200.00 on a few things.
We got home after a short drive. Today was a beautiful day and I wanted to just drive around a bit. We drove around for a short while until our son started getting cranky, we went home shortly afterwards.
The rest of the day way a boring day. Just the way I like my Sundays.
We went to Babies R Us to get him a few things, among the things we picked up was a baby monitor. Wow are those things sensative. I don't know how but we managed to spend $200.00 on a few things.
We got home after a short drive. Today was a beautiful day and I wanted to just drive around a bit. We drove around for a short while until our son started getting cranky, we went home shortly afterwards.
The rest of the day way a boring day. Just the way I like my Sundays.
Saturday, September 18, 2004
Day 2 Vaccine
We didn't do a damn thing today. Our baby boy had a fever all day at 100.4. Light by any standard. Waiting to see how it goes. So far so good.
Friday, September 17, 2004
Restless sleep
He managed to sleep tonight, but it was a light sleep. He had a fever the entire day after getting his shot.
Pediatrician visit
Our visit to the pediatrician was typical and atypical at the same time. He peed on her, that's the typical part.
He is now 23 1/2 inches long and 13.12 pounds heavy. That's almost twice the weight as he was at birth.
On a more painful note, he received his first round of vaccinations today. 3 needles for 4 different diseases, Tuberculosis, Diptheria, Hepatisis B and something else that i'm not sure of.
He's due for his Polio shot next month.
He really cried when he got the shots, but after a little crying he fell to sleep. We took him home and he's somewhat better now. A little crankier but he'll be fine.
He is now 23 1/2 inches long and 13.12 pounds heavy. That's almost twice the weight as he was at birth.
On a more painful note, he received his first round of vaccinations today. 3 needles for 4 different diseases, Tuberculosis, Diptheria, Hepatisis B and something else that i'm not sure of.
He's due for his Polio shot next month.
He really cried when he got the shots, but after a little crying he fell to sleep. We took him home and he's somewhat better now. A little crankier but he'll be fine.
Another Ramone passes on.
With the passing of Joey Ramone we lose yet one more conduit to the past, a piece of history of music, particularly the Punk-Rock scene.
The hierarchy of remaining Punk-Rock Gods are dwindling: Iggy Pop, Henry Rollins and John Lydon (Johhny Rotten of the Sex Pistols for those of you who don't have a clue), HR (the qunitessential Rastafari with the fastest vocals in the world, representing Bad Brains and Jello Biafra.
Iggy is the godfather of Punk. Anyone that knows music knows The Stooges is the band for raw, unmitigated power (hm...Raw Power...go figure).
I'm sure I'm missing some other Punk greats but to me those are the building blocks that I want my son to learn about and hear.
The hierarchy of remaining Punk-Rock Gods are dwindling: Iggy Pop, Henry Rollins and John Lydon (Johhny Rotten of the Sex Pistols for those of you who don't have a clue), HR (the qunitessential Rastafari with the fastest vocals in the world, representing Bad Brains and Jello Biafra.
Iggy is the godfather of Punk. Anyone that knows music knows The Stooges is the band for raw, unmitigated power (hm...Raw Power...go figure).
I'm sure I'm missing some other Punk greats but to me those are the building blocks that I want my son to learn about and hear.
Baby dates
Today our son is nine weeks old. We have a doctor's appointment later today. We'll find out how long and heavy he is.
Thursday, September 16, 2004
So much for trust
I didn't attend a meeting i was scheduled to attend because I thought all the issues I was attending for were resolved.
Little did I know the Project Manager on the other side of the table was totally dishonest and completely lied about the agreements reached at the last meeting.
So much for relying on verbal agreements.
Little did I know the Project Manager on the other side of the table was totally dishonest and completely lied about the agreements reached at the last meeting.
So much for relying on verbal agreements.
Monday, September 13, 2004
Long time sleeping
Our son slept for quite a while throughout the day as well. He looks fine, he's not running a fever. I guess he's just getting all the sleep he hasn't been getting all this time.
Between dinner and my checking out my Star Wars Galaxies character it was time for me to go to sleep. I brought the baby in with me since he was tired, that gave my wife some time to be alone.
Between dinner and my checking out my Star Wars Galaxies character it was time for me to go to sleep. I brought the baby in with me since he was tired, that gave my wife some time to be alone.
Good night
Our son practically slept throughout the evening. Maybe he's starting to get used to day and night. We'll find out today.
Sunday, September 12, 2004
Lazy Sunday
We had more company today. My wife's half-sister came by with her son and boyfriend for a little bit. They had a nice time but our son was a little hot and wanted to be alone, he was cranky throughout their visit.
I fed him and changed him and he stayed calm for a short while.
He actually relaxed after they left. They took my wife out for dinner, so my son and I were alone for a bit, we had a nice time. Well....actually, after everyone left our son fell asleep.
My wife came home maybe 3 hours later, sat down on the couch while I was writing checks at the dinner table and fell asleep, our son still sleeping.
I fed him and changed him and he stayed calm for a short while.
He actually relaxed after they left. They took my wife out for dinner, so my son and I were alone for a bit, we had a nice time. Well....actually, after everyone left our son fell asleep.
My wife came home maybe 3 hours later, sat down on the couch while I was writing checks at the dinner table and fell asleep, our son still sleeping.
Saturday, September 11, 2004
Anniversary
We will never forget the events that took place three years ago today.
I wasn't as close to the spot as some friends were but everyone was affected by it. My wife was six or seven miles away in midtown but she too was trapped there.
Manhattan was shut down for hours, she managed to get a ride out of the city that evening. I will never forget reading the newspaper the next day. The powerful photgraph of a severed hand laying among the rubble. That image was removed from later editions of the paper but it managed to slide through. I was stunned that it made it there.
For days we were glued to the television watching the constant replays.
Three years later and the memories are still clear as yesterday.
I wasn't as close to the spot as some friends were but everyone was affected by it. My wife was six or seven miles away in midtown but she too was trapped there.
Manhattan was shut down for hours, she managed to get a ride out of the city that evening. I will never forget reading the newspaper the next day. The powerful photgraph of a severed hand laying among the rubble. That image was removed from later editions of the paper but it managed to slide through. I was stunned that it made it there.
For days we were glued to the television watching the constant replays.
Three years later and the memories are still clear as yesterday.
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