Monday, March 18, 2013

Come Monday, it'll be alright

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mQCP8h_NmLM

That's a good way to start the day.  Hard to believe that next year will be the 40th anniversary of the release of that song.  If I didn't feel old before hearing this, I sure do now.  Actually I've been feeling old and tired for more than a couple of days now.

Yesterday I went to get my car's oil changed after work.  Normally it runs about $45 to get it changesd, because I use that "special" oil for cars with high mileage.  But I needed other stuff and it was more than I'd hoped to spend.  But cars are like people.  The better you maintain them, the longer they last.  If only I'd spent more time properly maintaining my body rather than my cars.  Once again, hindsight is 20/20.

Yesterday was a slow day at the office for most, but I had three clients in the four hours we were open.  What's really great is that all three were referred by other happy clients.  So my hard work is paying off in generating more business for me as an individual.  That's just how things work in business.  Work hard, work smart and remember that without your clients you have no reason to be working (unless of course you're in a clientless industry).

Tuesday night I have to go to an interview to see if I can land a position working in the "pre-season" (which most of us just call the off-season) in one of the year-round offices, and/or teaching continuing education classes.  I'm missing two screenings to go on that interview (actually I'm only missing one of them as both were scheduled for 7:30 so I could have only gone to one in any event) but priorities must be observed.

I usually refrain from commenting on things Lindsay Lohan does or doesn't do but I'm truly puzzled by the news that she waited until the last minute to return to L.A. for a mandatory court-date, and then at the absolute last minute, she got off of the airplane.  So far she's fired the lawyer who did well for her, hired an idiot to replace her, refused a deal where she'd do no jail time, and now this.  Time for serious psychiatric help.

The argument continues to rage over who, if anyone, are the victims of the presence of illegal immigrants in this country.  Remember, I'm in favor of one final amnesty but only if at the same time we do our best to seal the borders, and make sure that anyone entering the nation illegally in the future will be summarily deported.  That would put us in line with every other civilized nation, none of which permit illegals to remain within their borders.  But there are victims.  They are others who wish to come here who can't because they're trying to do so legally and are frustrated by quotas.  Quotas that could be larger if we didn't have such a large population of people here illegally.  Taxpayers are victimized by this population because we provide public services to them even though they don't contribute to the INCOME tax base.  They may pay social security and medicare taxes for benefits they are ineligible to receive, but only because they engage in employment fraud to work.

The Pew Research Center has released a report that shows the partisanship among cable news networks is only increasing, especially on CNN and MSNBC.  They are claiming that 85% of MSNBC's airtime is devoted to opinion and only 15% to factual reporting.  On Fox, that ratio is 55% commentary and 45% factual while CNN is 46% commentary to 54% factual.  This must be what they think their audience wants.

This Date in History:

On this date in 37, the Roman Senate annulled the will of Tiberius and made Caligula the Emperor.
On this date in 1241, Mongol hordes overwhelm the city of Krakow and plunder it.
On this date in 1766, the British government repealed the Stamp Act.
On this date in 1850, American Express is founded by Henry Wells and William Fargo.
On this date in 1892, Lord Stanley pledges to donate a silver cup as an award for the best team in hockey.  Today, the L.A. Kings possess the Stanley Cup (and will repeat as champions).
On this date in 1922, Mohandas Ghandi is sentenced to six years in prison for civil disobedience.
On this date in 1959, President Eisenhower signs into law a bill granting statehood to Hawaii.
On this date in 1968, Congress repeals the "gold standard".

Famous Folk Born on this Date:

John C. Calhoun
Grover Cleveland
Rudolf Diesel
Neville Chamberlain
Ernest Gallo
George Plimpton
Charley Pride
Wilson Pickett
Luc Besson
Irene Cara
Thomas Ian Griffith (the man who said "your karate's a joke" to Daniel-san)
Mike Rowe (no more Dirty Jobs for you)
Vanessa L. Williams
Bonnie Blair
Seymore Butts
Dane Cook

And on this date five years ago, Anthony Minghella died all too soon, of complications from cancer.