Archive for January, 2010

Releasing The Inner Demons

Thursday, January 14th, 2010

Words! They can make you feel better, they can make you feel worse, they can make you move or they can stop you dead in your tracks. It all depends on how you use them. I am finding that this little area called a BLOG is the perfect place to air out those “inner demons” that make me doubtful and fearful of what my future holds. Everybody has good days, everybody has bad days, it’s how you react or respond to them that defines who and what you are.

You look at life like this: My dad used to tell me two things about it.
1. Nobody said life was going to be easy
2. The first 100 years are the hardest

As a child or a teenager this statement can be very devastating. It can make you do one of two things, press harder or give up. For a very long time I just gave up. I figured that my life would not amount to anything, I would never make much money and I would never really be happy. All those thoughts were wrong! Wrong thinking can keep you from getting anything that you want from this world. Everything begins with a thought, then progresses to a belief, then it becomes an action.

A great song by a group called Def Leppard was “Action, Not Words.” You can make so much happen in your life just by infusing some action into it.
Rich

Online Bill Paying: Can It Be Trusted?

Thursday, January 14th, 2010

I have sworn by online banking for the past 12 years. In almost that amount of years I have never had a problem. After getting a shutoff notice for the water bill today, I think I am going to start sending out checks again.

In the past six months, I have had several online transactions go astray. Since September of 2009 I have had four major mishaps. Not only did the bill not get credited, that money had to be recovered, through very time consuming phone calls, emails and assistance from various government agencies. It seems that more technologically advanced we get the more careless others become with our hard earned money.

Rich

Rising Gas Prices Again? OPEC the Oil Cartel, just sounds wrong! It’s worse than drug cartel!

Thursday, January 7th, 2010

Here we go again with the Oil Cartel telling us what we have to pay for gasoline, because they hold us hostage, with their illicit OPEC organization. In any other country in the world these people would be considered criminals. Why is there no one to police their immoral business dealings? IT IS AN OUTRAGE!

Lets look at a few words that don’t really sit well with anyone that I know anyway. One word is “cartel” it does not even have a good sound about it. Any time I hear the word I immediately think “criminal organization”. Cartel is defined as: A group of businesses that collude to limit competition within an industry or market. Collude another word that does not promote a good feeling when you hear it. I liken it to hostage taking, market manipulation, monopolizing an industry, and essentially withholding an abundant product so they can overcharge. Why is there no one to oversee these criminals? Why is there no one to prevent these countries from holding the rest of the world financially hostage? Supplies are high, demand is down, but prices are going up. Equates to: “sounds illegal to me”. If somebody did this with stocks they would be in “federal pound me in the butt prison.”

Who caused the world economic downturn that we are currently living through? Who caused the recession? OPEC! OPEC! OPEC! No other source in my opinion had a bigger role in causing it. With $4 plus gasoline prices, all you can afford is gasoline to get to and from work. You have no money left to buy durable goods. Durable good sales are what keep the markets afloat and the economy in balance. Hell, just buying groceries during that time was challenging. Forget about going out to dinner or the movies, there was no money at all for that. Well, one thing about being unemployed is that I do not have to put gasoline in my vehicle.

On another note I guess that someone forgot the old adage “to the victor go the spoils of war” If someone in our God blessed government had any brains they would be siphoning off every last drop of oil to pay for Iraq’s liberation from the tyranny of Saddam Hussein! If it was me Americans would have reasonably priced oil until every last dime was paid back from Iraq.

A day of reckoning is coming! Mark my words! When an oil rich country like Dubai goes bankrupt because they want to have an indoor ski resort and a hand built island that looks like a seashell, I certainly am not going to feel sorry for them or foot the bill for their debt out of my pocket.

You want to hurt a terrorist, take away the money that funds them. The Oil Cartel Money and OPEC! Have a great day everyone and watch your gas consumption.
Rich

Food around the ‘Burgh, don’t take it for granted. Anywhere for that matter!

Tuesday, January 5th, 2010

It is so good to be back in the city. We take so many things for granted like good ethnic food for instance. It should be appreciated always!

I was living north of Pittsburgh in a town called Tarentum. Most of you may know of Natrona Heights and New Kensington. They are bordering towns to Tarentum. There are a few good home style places. A wing place that puts the wings through a pizza oven so they taste like they were done out back on your grill. There is one Italian place that makes you think you have flown across the ocean to “the old country”. There are even some good Chinese places around the area but, the one thing that you could not find if your life depended on it was a good middle eastern or Indian restaurant. No Thai, no good delis, just your basic every day comfort foods. There were even a few really good mom and pop pizza places. Nothing in comparison to what you can find in the inner city. I have only been back in “the burbs of the Burgh” for two weeks but have visited a few old haunts and I must say they were still the same and sorely missed.

The point I am trying to make is that no matter where you go, there is going to be food you will love and food that you left behind that you will miss. Always enjoy where you are, when you are there, you will miss it if it’s gone!

Now I find that the shoe is on the other foot, I am missing the foods of the north. Guess it may be time for a road trip! Talk to yinz guys later!
Rich

Happy New Year 2010!

Friday, January 1st, 2010

Wow, the year 2010! The weather was wintry here in Pittsburgh so what a great day to stay inside and watch sports all day long! The Winter Classic hockey game was a great one as usual. Watching the great coverage in HD without having to pay anything extra, priceless. Penn State won their “MUD BOWL” game. Who would have thought that the technology to move us forward into the land of free HD would actually take us back to using the infamous “rabbit ears’.

What a great day this New Years Day was! The pork loin I cooked turned out perfect! Mom made fresh lumpy mashed potatoes, mmm, mmm. My sister and her family came over to spend the day. What could have made it any better.

I am sticking with my New Year’s Resolution from last year to not make any more New Year’s Resolutions. I will instead evaluate my life, analyze what I need to fix and set a goal to fix it. The best way to achieve a goal is to put a little pressure on yourself to get it done but not enough to feel like a failure if it does not happen immediately.

Just one more holiday to get through for a while and that is the Orthodox Christmas this January 7th.

Looking forward to the great new year of opportunities that will hopefully present themselves to all. The economy is supposed to rebound, joblessness is supposed to diminish and prosperity will once again return to our great nation. Have a Happy New Year!
Rich