Randall’s Rants
By The Shamrock | November 20, 2008
I heard a couple of police-tazer stories this morning and it got me thinking. (Yes I know a dangerous phenomenon.) Who did the test the tazers on to determine they were safe for everyone else? Did the call the labor pool up and ask them to send over ten guys? Then did they adjust the power setting after each one was tazered?
Once again another rant about the news, yesterday they had a story letting us all know that stores who are going out of business jack the prices up so that when they offer 50% off, they still make a profit. Let me guess, next week’s missing story will be about how rent to own furniture stores jack their prices up too.
Also on the news this morning was some more doom and gloom about the economy. We get it, it’s bad, going to get worst, not getting better for a while, people getting laid off, and people have little or no money or credit to materialize Christmas this year. It’s bad, we know! Apparently someone has money to spend because I’m barraged with ten commercials an hour about Jared’s jewelry. Not making light of it, but just tired of hearing about the bad times. House sales are slowing down, so home builders are slowing down. Is it really so bad that people have to learn to live within their means? Maybe you don’t need a 60 inch plasma screen. Yes we all want one, but we don’t need it. The fact that we are not buying more means we’re spending money on essentials. I’ve been hearing about the apocalypse in church since I was a little kid. Not making light of it either, but if doom and gloom is all you ever hear, eventually you become jaded. Consider me jaded. I am fully aware of how bad things could get, but until I see the mall parking lots stop filling up every weekend, and people stop lining up to throw down hundreds of dollars on the newest mobile phone. Until I hear about people getting rid of cable/satellite plans that cost $100.00 a month because they are using the money for food. I am not going to take people’s word for how bad it is. It may be bad, but this is not the great depression two (yet). We live in a generation of pansies. Not going to say I don’t worry about some things in life, but the economy is not something that’s keeping me up at night. And no I don’t say this from a position of someone with a bunch of money to hold me over. If it gets great depression bad, I’ve got my tent ready. Which reminds me of something I wrote about a while back, a question for you gold diggers out there, how many people are actually financially stable? It’s a pretty subjective term.
Oh and on a related note. Congratulations to all of you corporate geniuses and government people who were all so giddy to tell us the importance of globalizing the economy. Oh yes, those plans to keep exporting jobs overseas has worked wonders for America. This just in, while you were taking away all of those American jobs, you also took away the money those workers would be putting back into the economy. Let’s just make the problem even worse and extend everyone’s credit some more. That will fix everything.
I finally received a bill from Direct Energy. The last bill I received was August 21. To avoid a huge electric bill, I’ve been paying them every month what I thought the bill might be. Right I still have a $50.00 credit, but will keep paying as I have. When you see “Actual Estimated Meter Reading” on the bill, it doesn’t sound too reassuring. Especially since there was nothing notating what the meter was estimated to read. I never thought I would complain about not getting a bill, but this been an annoyance. Although, if they don’t have the time to come read the meter. How can they have the time to send someone out to cut it off? Somehow I’m sure they would find someone.
That’s all I have for now, these rants may not be right, but they’re mine.
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Let’s try this again
By The Shamrock | November 19, 2008
For those wondering what the heck happened to RandallMurphy.com. Well you’re not the only one. I lost the ability to login to wordpress (the software the site is run on). After tinkering with it for several hours. I decided to start from scratch and reinstall everything.
“If it ain’t broke, fix it till it is.” Except in this case it was broke, just not completely broke. I’m working on getting as much of the past content back on. However, the last export from wordpress was a few months back, and my old database seems to be hosed. So pretty much everything I posted since mid September is gone. If you look at the imported posts, you’ll see a lot of messed up text formatting. It looks like this happened everytime the quote marks were used, and I’m a big quote mark offender. If I get really bored I might go back and gradually fix the posts. No immediate plans to do so though.
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Hayppy Birthday Gaylyna
By The Shamrock | November 18, 2008
My sister Gaylyna turns 28 today. Here is a pic from long before she reached 28.
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Remember those who served
By The Shamrock | November 11, 2008
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Happy Birthday Addisyn!
By The Shamrock | September 13, 2008
The youngest niece turns two today.
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“If money can’t buy happiness, I guess I’ll have to rent it.”
By The Shamrock | September 9, 2008
(The title is from that lyrical genius, Weird Al Yankovic.)
Ten years ago I delivered drugs (for a pharmacy, it was legal) I spent most of the work day driving around Houston, so there was nothing much else to do than listen to the radio.
Back then I started listening to Steve Drake out of Houston. Now I catch him for 15-20 minutes during lunch. You can read his bio, by clicking here. The jest is he knows what to do with money, specifically if you are retired and want to stay retired.
He’s represented several lottery winners, and as an aspiring lottery winner. I find the process of claiming the jackpots interesting, more so what the winners do with the money. How they invest, whether they change their lifestyle, etc. I was listening to him the other day and he was talking about giving a talk to a group of people on the lottery winner subject. Steve always points out that most of the millionaires he represents are blue collar people who worked hard and saved automatically, and lived a modest lifestyle. So that while a lot of we may hope to win the lotto, we should also plan on not winning it.
In this speech he was talking about how most people give the “right†answer when asked “can money buy me happiness?†He says most people do the “no way, family is way more important†when talking out loud to people, then privately think “I’d sure like to tryâ€.
I’ve thought about this many times myself. Money cannot replace someone, but I’d love to have money to help the people I love chase their dreams, and my own of course. Obviously you can chase your dreams without money, but it sure makes it a lot easier. At that Martina McBride concert I went to in July, she said “Thanks for letting me chase my dreams, I didn’t have a backup plan and the only other skill I have is working at Dairy Queen.â€
I don’t care about being rich just for the sake of being rich. Have no interest in having an exotic car collection. As for a house, just give me a barn with a roof that doesn’t leak, good water pressure, and a septic system that doesn’t back up. Travel would probably be my biggest vice. For the first couple of years, I would probably live out of a suitcase.
Without a doubt, I know money in itself will not make me “happyâ€. However, I also know from personal experience and observation that money problems are enough to make a person miserable. Funny how that works, having all the money in the world will not make you happy, but not having enough of it can make you unhappy. In my utopian mind, I long for the frontier days where you go out find some land, build a log cabin, work the land, and play the fiddle for your wife and kids ala Charles Ingalls. No doubt, it would be harder physical labor than I’ve ever experienced. There would still be hard times, hard winters, etc. It’s my utopian dream, I would.
Back to reality where commercialism rules society and I am not exempt as I do love gadgets, as my iPod has become a constant companion. I’ve written about this before, but ten years ago I would have maxed out the credit cards for a PS3, a big HD TV, etc. Now I just want to pay the credit cards off, catch a few breaks and figure out how not to remain an indentured servant to car loans, apartment leases, and pretty much anything with a contract that says I have to sign my financial life away.
No I don’t think money would make me happy, but not needing it would. Believe it or not, there is a difference.
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Family owned and operated?
By The Shamrock | September 8, 2008
This morning while driving to work, there was an ad on the radio for a local BBQ chain. The talk show host hawking the business read from his script that the chain is “family owned and operatedâ€. If you’re familiar with the Houston area, you know this BBQ chain well or used to before they were “bought” and the name changed. I heard through the grapevine that the “family owned and operated’ owners used a hostile takeover to take over the chain, i.e.; owned a large share of the bank that the BBQ place had loans to, and called the loans in.
Put those fact aside, can you really call yourself “family owned and operated†if you are a chain establishment? Is there a representative of the family working at each restaurant? Its one thing to say your family owns a business, but to operate it is something different. Unless of course you’re manning each location with a representative of the family, maybe they are putting the dad at one store, the mom at another, grandpa at another, and so on. I doubt it though. Wal-Mart is owned by the Waltons, but I don’t see those folks operating the stores. When’s the last time a member of the Walton family checked you out? I can’t say I’ve ever had the pleasure. However, if you follow the logic of the “family owned and operated†BBQ chain, Wal-Mart can say they are “family owned and operatedâ€. To Wal-Mart’s credit, they have more right to say they are “family owned and operated†since Sam Walton did start the company at the store level and work his way up, then someone who just bought a BBQ chain and claims the “family owned and operated†tag.
Personally, when I think “family owned and operated†I think about mom and pop shops. Like when my Grandad ran Down Home Guitars/Briggs Music. If you visited his establishment, you were talking to the owner. On an off chance he was not there you would most likely be talking to a member of his family.
That is “family owned and operatedâ€.
On a totally unrelated note, the Houston Astros have announced a fantasy baseball camp. It only costs $4000.00. This kind of reminds me of when I was a kid and wanted to go to Space Camp in Alabama. It was fun to look at the brochure, but a little too costly.
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On a positive note…
By The Shamrock | September 3, 2008
Finally found something good to say about “The Man”.
It’s great that “The Man’s” henchmen are not in the military. If these people were responsible for leading people into battle, the whole platoon/company/unit/battalion/brigade/you get the idea
would be dead due to being led by incompetent leaders.
The good news is these people work for “the man” and are not leading anyone into battle.
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Straight from my brain’s Crockpot
By The Shamrock | September 2, 2008
Think of this as a roast from my brain’s Crockpot. I put a bunch of stuff in, let it cook for a few days, here are the results. Consume at your own risk.
John McCain’s running mate reminds me of Lynda Carter, aka: Wonder Woman. That’s not a bad thing! We’ve never had a vice-president that looked like Wonder Woman. Think of all the money she can save the country by flying around in her invisible plane.
If I could fly higher than an eagle, eagles would be jealous.
Work still stinks badly, but I’ve been trying not to post anything that could incriminate me with “the manâ€. If I had a pile of cash, I wouldn’t care if they fired me, though I’m pretty close to that point anyway without a pile of cash. Then again, if I had a pile of cash I would not be working here to begin with. My dream is to quit and have REO Speedwagon out in the parking lot playing “Time for me to flyâ€, as I am walking out, they get into the chorus and I bust on stage and help sing it. Hey it’s my dream; I can do anything I want. Of course my dream is also not to work here period, with or without REO Speedwagon in the parking lot. Proof once again that I am grounded as I have really big dreams and realistic ones.
Gossip Girl returned for a second season last night. Watching this show makes me remember those days when I didn’t go to prep school and hang out at social events three times a week. You think your own problems are bad until you watch a show like Gossip Girl. It has to be hard figuring out how to drink underage at so many bars, parties, and social functions. If someone, “kids†especially drank as much as they do on the show, they would all be entered into twelve step programs immediately. When I was in eighth grade I remember some classmates taking up money for beer. Someone’s brother was going to buy a case of Schaefer’s for a weekend party. I honestly never touched alcohol in eighth grade, or in high school (and not much since then), let alone go to parties, but I was the loser who donated to the drinking fund anyway trying to be cool. Yah, I was that guy. Anyway if we had just lived in Gossip Girl land, there would have been no need for a drinking fund. It would have been readily available at all social functions.
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Low Handrails
By The Shamrock | September 1, 2008
Two men left the bar one night after having too much to drink. Their
friends at the bar took them to the railroad tracks, pointed them in the
right direction, and told them to follow the tracks as the tracks would
lead them home.
The men started down the tracks. One drunk man said, “You know, this is
the longest set of stairs I’ve ever walked.”
The other drunk man said, “It’s not the stairs that bother me so much.
It’s these low handrails that are causing me trouble!”
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