Politics

Can someone please clean up the Gulf already?

I realize that it’s difficult to accept responsibility sometimes, but its an achievement we all have to face at some point in our lives.  Until this mess is stopped and cleaned up, it doesn’t matter who’s fault it is… really.  Just fix it, pay the bills, the fines, the PR, etc…  and if it was the fault of Haliburton, or Joe Plumber, or whomever, you can take them to civil court and try to get your money back.   In the meantime, clean up the mess..  Oh, and thanks for not paying in money in US taxes last year, that was awesome… Oh, and thanks for raising gas prices right now even though the price for a barrel of oil is dropping.. Oh, and stop being so lame.

Here are a couple of interesting notes from the web:

10 Things You Don’t Want To, but should, Know about the BP Oil Spill – Very informative article!

courtesy of 9gag.com

Here is a great video by Rachel Maddow of MSNBC talking about the unfortunate coincidences between this oil spill and oil spills in history:

Life

Here’s something we can fix about Health Insurance

Most insurance policies provide coverage for claims arising from a loss that occured during a policy period.    When I say most insurance policies, I mean to say all that I can think of with the exception of health insurance.

For example.   If you are in a car accident, but your policy lapses 2 days later.  That accident is covered.  They are responsible to pay for the damages, medical bills, etc..  (all within your limits of course!)…. but it doesn’t matter that you no longer have insurance with them.  You paid for coverage during that period of time.

Liability insurance?… you betcha 🙂  They are responsible to for any claims stemming from incidents that occurred during your policy effective dates.  If I have liability insurance for two years, and then I switch companies.   If a claim comes up for something that happened during the time I had insurance with the first company  (lets say someone waits a few years to sue me..) then the company I had coverage with at that time is responsible. Continue reading Here’s something we can fix about Health Insurance →

Consumer Alert

Gateway LX 6810 Desktop PC

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I recently purchased a refurbed Gateway LX 6810 Desktop PC on a pretty sweet deal <500.  I’m not a fan of buying a built desktop, but this one had a lot of great components and a few features I was looking for:

  • Gateway PC OverheatsNvidia GT120 Graphics Card with 1gb video RAM.  DVI, CRT, and HDMI output.
  • Intel Quad Core processor
  • 8gb RAM
  • HD TV Tuner Card
  • 7.1 Dolby surround
  • Built in memory-card reader
  • Free 64-bit Windows 7 upgrade
  • Expandable
  • Slick looking case (living room friendly)
  • Keyboard, mouse, speakers, etc..

Anyway, the one thing it is lacking are case fans.  There are 0 when you buy it.  There is a CPU fan and a fan on the video card, but thats it.  If you buy this computer, you will need to install at least one 120mm fan in the back of the case… I recommend adding an 80mm in the lower front.  It will cost you about $15 and 10 min, but it will save you all the trouble an overheated PC offers.

Humor

HP Update to Fix Error of Update Won’t Update Because of Error while Updating… lol

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Every once in a while I run across an error that cracks me up.  In this case, I’ve been trying to install updates on an HP computer, and keep receiving an “installation cancelled” error… even though I am definitely no cancelling this install.    I researched the issue, and found that HP was releasing an update to fix the problem…………….  HOWEVER… I can’t install the update to fix the problem because the problem of installing updates still exist..  Oy vey!


Install-Update-FAIL

Politics

Thoughts on the Current Education Problems

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Update 10/27/2010 – WATCH THIS VIDEO – https://jakebohall.com/sir-ken-robinson-on-education/10/2010

Read a cool article at the NY Times – The Case for Working With Your Hands – about education and the important role of a child’s/youth’s direct interaction with the things they are interested in pursuing.   Loved it…

I started writing this post end of May, but never finished.  I read another article today about a Professor losing his job over grades, and his lack of desire to acknowledge their value.

“Grades poison the educational environment,” he insists. “We’re training students to be obedient, and to try to read our minds, rather than being a catalyst for learning.” – University of Ottawa professor Denis Rancourt

I don’t necessarily agree with his opinions in all of the conflicts that Prof. Rancourt has had, I must say that I agree with him on this one.  It is extremely important that the education systems not discourage struggling students by giving them poor grades.  Encourage the students to find their own paths, question everything, be imaginative, and not be weighed down by years of psychological self-confidence issues because we have a societal judgement that we pass in the form of letter grades..

I started writing the following on 12/14/2007… in an effort to express my distaste for our education system.  I went to a private school, received great grades, learned many things.   But I saw others who did not. I discovered how much of my delusioned “superiority” was biased based upon my years of perception deprivation and lack of exposure to those who could/did challenge/beat me.  I discovered how several years of early life experience with “hands-on” training proved to have taught the most valuable lessons.  Please enjoy, crtique, add to, duplicate, share, proselytize, etc as long as you give me a link/reference  🙂 Continue reading Thoughts on the Current Education Problems →

Life

Back from Vacation

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I’m getting ready for my first day back at the office in a week… Vacation was awesome. I’m so happy that I got to spend time with my parents and some of the family. Most importantly, I had time to relax.

My back is feeling a lot better. Bought some Birkenstocks from Sole Sensations in Bloomington, In.. wow, that place is awesome. Buy a pair of shoes, and they have a specialist (the place is owned by a retired MD) that checks out your weight distribution, foot size/shape, and then custom builds an insole.. for free. I’ve always known that I had funny flat feet, but its nice to know that I can accommodate them without going to a great expense.

ttfn.. gotta go to work.

Life

we’ll see

So I’ve decided to take an interest in blogging on this site..  I’m even thinking about importing my myspace blog from early college days.. would be funny.  I’ve gone through the phases of write, enjoy it for a bit, get bored.  I think the biggest difference this time is that to me, my life is pretty exciting.  I truly enjoy life, the people I’m surrounded by, etc. etc…

It’s so easy to sit down and reflect on the day. Certainly I have my stuggling moments.. like today for instance, it’s my last day in the office for a week.   Busted my ass to try and get everything done.. FAIL. So tomorrow I go in extra-early so I can get a few things wrapped up before my Dr. appt with the Osteopath…

So, I fell through my buddy’s ceiling on Sat.  OUCH!  Caught myself before I fell completely through, but did not avoid sizeable damage.  How do you fall through a ceiling.. well.. Monday, I went to a  6am cycling class, and aftwards, my right leg was numb from the mid-thigh down.. feel slowly trickled down until now only my foot remains “asleep”.. (original reason for Dr. appt.).  Now my everything minus my face is in pain.