Comments

Great comments- keep them up! I do go back and add responses in the comments section- as I go back and read. I like 'em!
As far as the old lady, Mark, I did let it go- I was more angry at the security guard for being a retard.
You are totally right- the DMV was that way before and as a teenager I did suffer from form problems and waste lots of time. In fact I thought this system was good until the line for info stretched all the way across the DMV. Guess what- idiots gather there and choke it up too- strange thing is that idiots can gather anywhere at any time and hinder progress. Heck- check out congress- it seems to attract the largest number of idiots who get nothing done and hinder progress.

Vast Left Wing conspiracy at the Grocery store

So I have uncovered a conspiracy designed to annoy and frustrate us good citizens. It appears that the left wing has researched and discovered products widely used by my family. They in turn destroy the supply channel for these products thus making me waste my valuable time going from store to store trying to find them.
Products affected are:
Aveno Shave Gel
Oatmeal Breakfast cookies (chocolate chip- however ALL flavors have been effected)

It is a strange occurrence but I have gone to multiple stores (of different types) and they are out of the exact same products. At the exact same time. So either it is just as I said above or some crazy distribution channel problem at the manufacturer. The cookies and the gel are two different manufacturers so I am guessing it is a distributor problem. Alas I am not an expert in grocery store supply chain so I must simply guess that this is a vast conspiracy against me and my family. I will keep the world updated on the war in the grocery store (hey that rhymes).

At the DMV

First- how annoying that I cannot write a post on my blackberry. Maybe my next smart phone will be smart enough to write a blog post- but not my current one.
In any case- an egregious disrespect of the customers at the DMV took place. This may upset some- it may outrage others. My opinion is that everyone, EVERYONE should wait in line the same way. No special privileges should be given. Why? Because it is not FAIR. We all pay the same and it is a government service- so no special privilege should be given. Today I waited 30 minutes in the INFO line. That's right- before I ever got a NUMBER I had to wait for all the illegal aliens, teens that had suspended licenses (I know because I could hear the questions being asked) and general population like myself. 30 minutes to say- please give me a number so I can get a new title. Finally I get my number and sit down. a minute later a poor old woman with a walker makes her way across the floor with the security guard in tow. She had just gotten there and asked for help. He took her to the front of the still very extensive line and made her "next". As he walked by me I heard him say to her- no you do not have to wait- I will take you right up here. She asked- In front of all those people? He said "yes". I was glad I already had my number because if I did not I would have been asshole of the the year when I complained about this practice. Here is the problem. The DMV should know and understand the customer base. They should KNOW and understand that lines will form. They should know and understand that people that come in may not be able to STAND for 30 minutes in a slow moving line. They should compensate somehow so all people are treated the same. Back in the old days you just took a number and sat down. Now you have to wait in line to take a number. WTF? So I guess we will need to take a number to take a number because there were MORE than enough seats for people to sit in. That nice old lady could have waited just like everyone else.
It seems wrong, but in reality it was wrong for her to cut in line and it was wrong for the security guard to make her.
Thoughts? Who else would sign up to be a massive a-hole? Who would stay silent? Who would welcome her to the front of the line so they could wait even longer to get a number?
Sound off.

For my B-day

So I was putting together my Birthday list today and realized there is not that much that I want. At least not that much that is cheap that I want. This makes it hard for other people to purchase gifts for me. I do apologize. I do not think there was one thing on my list for under $100. I guess there comes a time in life when your wants exceed your friends and family ability to buy.
What people do not understand is that I am totally OK with no gifts at all. A simple happy B-day makes me happy. I plan to get all the little gadgets and cool things in my own time.
So Here is the short list- A new receiver for the family room that can handle HDMI switching- why? Because I have devices that are not compatible on the HDMI spec- some turn on and off when they are switched past HDMI- others do not- this makes it impossible to program my harmony remote with any ease. So to have an HDMI switch up to the TV would make things so much easier. The TV is the real problem.....
I also want a new harmony remote to replace my old Osiris remove in my media room- of course I have to have the PS3 attachement so I can again have single use remote capability down there.
I want new timberland shoes (not boots). They are waterproof and they feel great. My old ones are getting too old.
I want a Storm 2. This is a tough decision but I made it with a lot of trials and typing on the touch screen. It is nice enough so that I can type an email in 90% of the time it takes on my curve and I expect I will be even faster as I get used to it. What I really like is the fast scroll capability of a large touch screen. I also like the additional real estate on the screen for looking at attached documents- like spreadsheets.
I really wants some nice screw drivers. I am sick of having lame screw drivers. Hey- maybe this will be cheaper than $100?
Of course I want a new ATV as well- but that is NOT on my B-day list. I have to go out and buy that myself. But first I have to find what I want.
I want a big bore- which means 600+CC. I want a newer model- recent. With low miles and low hours. I do NOT want Polaris, Arctic cat or Kawasaki. All have reliability concerns to me. I do not think I want a Honda either- they are under powered and do not offer a front Diff lock- GET WITH IT HONDA
I want either a Suzuki King Quad, a Yamaha Grizzly, Can-Am Outlander (yeah right- crazy expensive). The problem is that all ATV models have issues. With the Suzuki it is a battery drain/hard start issue- but with the 750 (out in 2008) that solved those issues- so 2008 or newer. With the Yamaha it is a boiling gas/pressure issue. Apparently a check valve solves this- so either I do not that myself or find one that has already been fixed. Right now I cannot seem to find one inside of driving distance that fits my criteria. The search continues.

Negative?

So my wife has been kind enough to point out how negative I am. Strange since I always thought I was positive. I was positive that I was positive. Oh well. It would seem that I do focus on negative things. It bothers me to know how negative I can be. Is there anyway to change that negative feeling that creeps up inside every time I see something annoying? I have friends that appear to me to be more negative than myself. At least I notice the negativity and focus on it. Maybe that is the key, I only see negative behavior and negative actions because that is what I look for. Is this hard wired? Where does it come from. It is strange because I am truly happy. I would not change a thing about my life- it is wonderful. I am truly blessed and I know I am blessed. But in my day to day life I want to kill people who cannot drive, I want to smack idiots who do not know how to use the self checkout at the store, I want to shake people I overhear talking about things they have not the slightest idea about. Is this negative or is it just me?

Our Government

So for those of you who do not know. I graduated college with a government and international politics degree. I went after this degree after realizing that I could not pass calculus in my business degree. I also had issues with accounting, primarily because I did not pay much attention. Either way I went to government as a degree because it has always interested me. Because of my parents I grew up with conservative values. Due to this slant I have been a registered Republican since I was 18. My issue is that the more I learn, the more I dislike our government. Not what it is supposed to be, but what it actually is. Our government is a sham. We have fallen for a power struggle by a small group of rich people that run our country. I doubt very much a total underlying agenda to manipulate. I really think that in this two party system we have created for ourselves that we have allowed a VERY small group of people to have most of the power. The reason I dislike this is because a majority of people in office are wealthy. This does not make any sense since the mean income in American income is right around $50k according to Wiki. So my issue is that a congressman makes around $165k plus benefits. Granted they do have to work in a very expensive city but adjusting for this fact should put the income MUCH lower. I think the only way to fix our government is to elect people who work in every day jobs. People have to be educated to a certain extent, but I think the pay check should be lowered to the mean- $50k. The president should also not make as much as he does. The reason is due to public service. Our government officials are serving us- and yet we pay them a crap load and give THEM all the power. It should not be this way. The people should keep the power. It is hard to do this with an electoral college but we can do it with local elections, we can do it with national elections for local districts. We just cannot do it for the president. So here is what I propose. Do not vote for any candidate that is in a "party". Vote for an independent. It is easy these days to find all about people on the Internet. It is crazy cheap to start a blog. So I propose that we vote for those who do not belong to our corrupt system of politics. We vote for those who share our core values. Not for those who SAY they share our values and then go to Washington only to become corrupt the very same day. I ask this question. If an uprising where to ocure and no one was to vote for any of the candidates proposed by the parties- what would happen? Could we not dissolve the political parties and start over?
Cleaning house has to start at the foundation. Our method for elections is wrong. We keep ending up with the same problem. The people are never served.
Help me fix it.

Can I say more snow again?

OK- so I said it all last time and I cannot repeat myself. Yes- we are getting MORE snow.
I just did something really stupid and this time I did not suffer for it. I was trying to knock down some wicked long ice sickles from my house. I decided a nice long aluminum rod (off subject but I think it is cool how the brits say aluminium) anyway- I achieved my goal for a few- then went for more. I decided I would throw the rod because the larger ice pops were too far away. Well I was stupid because there was a giant bay window right behind this ice sickle. How stupid can you get!? Well I was lucky- I missed the ice and lost the rod in a snow bank- but DAMN lucky I did not break a window right before the impending storm....
In other news VDOT sucks
In yet other news Verizon wireless seems to listen to complaints and does not do anything about bad policy but apologize. I guess that is better than nothing.....
I am now jealous of the other BLOG I read- Bobbo's blog. It looks much nicer than mine- sadly I do not care enough to change mine.

Review

So I figured that with the qty of times my family and I eat out that I should start reviewing the restaurants here on my BLOG. For not other reason that I have experienced a lot of food and restaurants and I always like a sounding board.
As a preface Northern VA is the land of chain restaurants so a lot of the restaurants I re view will be chains. This sort of defeats the purpose on the food front but not on the most important front- service.
Last night we all went out to eat to the local Ruby Tuesdays. There is nothing more "chain" than Ruby Tuesdays but due to recent experience we decided going back again was worth a shot. The food is always just OK. And in fact we did not order much- just soup and salad- BUT. The manager of this particular Ruby Tuesdays is the best manager I have ever seen. She is keenly aware of all customers needs and gets involved. There was a period of time when our waiter was not by to check on us and my water glass was empty. The manager came by to ask if I was waiting on a refill- I told her no, the waiter had not been buy. In about 30 seconds she had someone bring me more water. She then proceeded to come by later when we were looking for the check and tell us our meal was on the house. I told her no way- I would not accept it because overall the service was fine and the meal was fine. We paid and told her we very much appreciated the attention.
The points are:
1) She knew who we were from only being in there twice before
2) She made sure we (and all the other customers) were taken care of
3) She made our meal pleasant with conversation and being involved.

These actions turn a normal run of the mill chain into a friendly local establishment. More restaurants could learn from her and of course we will return.
The sad fact is that generally these fantastic managers end up moving on up and we never seen them again. I hope she gets a promotion but I also hope others can learn from her lead.
CHEERS!

More Damn SNOW!

OK- so I have lived in the DC area for most of my life. Moving here when I was around 5 years old. I find the weather to be nice. We get all 4 seasons and each has it's own wonderful aspects (well except winter I guess). The summers are hot and steamy- hot enough at night to drive with windows down and to wear shorts. I love the summers. Granted the 90+ degree days with high humidity can be tough- but overall the summers are nice. Springs are usually a bit cold but lately they have been crisp, clear and with great sunny weather. Perfect for jeans and a T-shirt. Fall is a favorite- the trees change and the weather stays nice and reasonable for a long time- from Sept through the beginning of Dec. Now lets talk about the winter. Normally we get a little snow- I say little because it never amounts to much- maybe 2-3 inches 2-3 times a season. Maybe some ice. Mostly rain and a bunch of bad forecasts. Something has happened this winter. We have already had 1 bad snow fall and a few minor snow falls and winter is only half over. Now they are saying this weekend we will get hammered by another 2 feet of snow. This will be close to 5 feet total this season. As far as I can remember this is the worst winter we have had in this area. I can remember several significant snow falls over the years- usually every 5 to 6 years, however this is the first time I remember so much snow in the same season. It is killing me. I hate it. Thank god I decided to break down and buy a snow blower before the first huge snow. That was the best $400 I have ever spent. So I have to give credit where credit is due. I have complained for years that the weathermen in the DC area suck. Well, they generally do. In this case they have predicted EVERY last snow fall and the amounts almost perfectly. Good for them. So they should be proud and happy that they know before the rest of us (actually know).
So I guess I am sick of snow, sick of cold and sick of Winter. Because of this I will be burning extra fossil fuels, doing my part to bring on global warming. The reason? Because if it is actually possible for humans to impact the environment SO easily and we are the cause of global warming, then I wish it to happen faster. I really see no problem with it. What happens? My environment gets a few degrees warmer, the sea level rises a bit (which means I am close to the sea), and I get less damn snow. More rain is OK- but less damn snow is what I want. I honestly think if all of us tried to impact the environment to warm faster that we would be in better shape from the mid-Atlantic states on up.
What I do not get is that most liberals believe in evolution almost entirely. If this was the case then why have we not adapted better to lets say:
1) The cold- we LOST all our hair rather than growing more. We have lived in places like Alaska and Siberia for thousands of years with no base level change to a simple thing like hair.
2) The sun. For as long as humans have lived on earth we have had the Sun. It provides life as well as warmth. And yet if we look at it we go blind. You would think our eyes would have adapted to such a powerful thing. Cave dwelling animals give up eyes after only 3 or 4 generations- but those of us in the sunlight have not done anything to adapt to the strong ass sun blinding us if we simply look up for any period of time. Not to mention more melanoma rather than less. I know, I know. The melanoma is because we have destroyed our environment letting the sun in through the Ozone Layer. BS.

The simple fact of the matter is that God put us here and our adaptation is not fast enough to change to the environment that is perfect for us to thrive. It seems rather strange to me.
So on that note- Burn more fuel- change our environment to much warmer if you can and maybe we can stop all the damn snow. It is good for NOTHING (unless you like skiing).

True Justice

I have to give it to Darwin on this one.....
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20100203/od_nm/us_slovenia_dogs_odd

Taxes, Taxes and More taxes

So for those of you who do not follow my daily craziness I wrecked my ATV a few months back. I had a good friend who helped me sell it - but for only a fraction of what I would need to replace it. So I had been waiting for a bonus check to come in so I could afford to replace it- bingo the check came in last week and wouldn't you know it- taxes killed just enough to leave none left over for ATV luxuries. The interesting thing is that I finished up our Tax return this morning and found that hey- there may be enough to replace the ATV fund that was missing from the taxes taken out of the bonus check. I guess you can call me even Steven. Either way I am totally excited about getting a replacement ATV that has better technology (and is hopefully safer for it) in the near future. Maybe even Friday! My issue is WEATHER. So what the hell- I live in the DC area and we are going to get hammered by ANOTHER snow storm. I did not sign up for all this snow. We need to send it back to the great white north.....

Responsiveness and other things

Responsiveness - it would seem that responsiveness runs in my family. A simple post, email and comment have gotten my Dad's attention and he now follows my blog. No response to any of the three except action. I like it.
I tend to respect Responsiveness because those who respond are generally those who care. I have built my career on being responsive. So what if you do not know the answer- respond and let people know that you will get it. Or just say that you are working on it- whatever- JUST RESPOND.
With that being said I think I will continue with cars.
We purchased the Mazda CX9 (2010) to replace our Jeep. If you do not know what Jeep I am speaking of then start reading posts in order dammit.
I narrowed down the vehicles based on my wife's criteria and my own. The Criteria is as follows:
1) It had to have equal to or greater cargo space than the Jeep.
2) It had to have reasonable get up and go- with the knowledge that with better gas mileage we most likely will not get equal performance to the Jeep
3) It had to have all the feel good features that make a vehicle nice to ride in- things like dual or Tri-zone climate control, memory seats, keyless entry and exit, keyless starting, power liftgate and so on
4) it had to look decent
5) The service center had to be somewhat close.
6) It had to have some towing capacity for my ATV habit.
So after reviewing most options out there I came to the conclusion that the CX9 was the best possible choice. The interesting thing is that towing capacity ruled out certain vehicles I really liked and the interior options ruled out most of the rest. All Toyota products were ruled out because they do not have Memory seats- crazy! You have to buy a Lexus. Nissan was out because they did not offer the get up and go and handling aspects- or the interior space, GM was out because all the options they offer were HUGE to drive and crazy expensive. Oh yeah- did I mention that cost was a driving force too?
Ford had a good option in the new flex but the cost again was much higher for all the options and features (of course the boosted 6cyl was the engine choice). I would have chosen the ford if I could have gotten the boosted engine and all the same options the Mazda had for just a few thousand more- but I could not. It came out to about $7-8k more!.
The Mazda out the door price LOADED was $36k.
We have had it now for about a month and I have to say it is such a nice vehicle. It has some quirks that you would not otherwise know unless you bought it. Like for instance the memory seats are JUST for the seats- not for the mirrors- which is different than most.
It handles so well- and the pickup is just fine. It is REALLY comfortable and the stereo is not bad for BOSE.
My first Mazda is so far well liked. But I liked the Jeep in the first month too- after that it went downhill fast.....

My Own Father and other things

So I just realized that my own father reads Bobs Blog and not mine! What does this say about the status of my relationship with my father? I guess either I am not that interesting or, much more likely, he just lost the email I sent that had my Blog address. Or he forgot, or whatever. Either way it bothers me. In other news I am super excited because we turn in our worthless Jeep Grand Cherokee this week and wash our hands of it for ever. It was a 39 month lease and we are way under on the miles we bought so hopefully we will be one of the rare cases where we get money back rather than cutting a huge check.
Reasons why I hate our 2006 Jeep Grand Cherokee 5.7 Hemi:
1) Gas mileage- it never achieved better than 13.8 on average. This is the worst gas mileage of ANY 8 cyl engine I have even driven. It is supposed to have cyl cut off for highway mileage but I never saw ANY difference on ANY highway trip EVER. The funny thing was I could tow a couple thousand pounds and it would STILL be 13-14mpg. WTF?
2) The design of the rear seat. It made it highly difficult for a normal baby seat (front facing) to be installed properly! Why? because the headrest was affixed permanently to the seat and was designed to fold down automatically when you fold the seat down. IT WAS NOT REMOVABLE. In addition the seat could not be tilted back. So what did I have to do to get a baby seat to fit? I had to stick a screw driver up into the foam of the rear headrest, find a hidden release- remove the headrest and then turn it around and put it back on to cover the large metal SPIKES sticking out of the seat. I like to cover large metal spikes that are right over my baby's head and designed to fold in on him. So even in doing this it was difficult to get the seat to sit properly. I had to FORCE the seat BACK against the jeep seat to get it at the proper angle.
3) A wind leak in the windshield that was never fixed by the dealer- not until the windshield broke and was replaced did the wind leak go away- this means the windshield FROM THE FACTORY was bad and the dealership was too stupid to replace it
4) the Nav system- what a PIECE OF CRAP
5) The seats were hard and thin
6) The shocks that hold up the hood FAILED and will no longer hold the hood up- I have to use a piece of wood
7) the battery died- and the brand new expensive battery I installed not more than 6 months ago seems like it is dieing- this means there is either an electrical draw, the starter is sucking WAY too many amps or the alternator is not charging properly- either way for a 3 year old vehicle this is just crazy
8) Not enough room to ride shotgun in front of my kid
9) It handles like a truck and yet it is a unibody construction- It also is not that great off road to warrant such horrible suspension (yes it is trail rated)
10) Combine all these things from up above and I get the last reason- RESALE value- I could not get out of the lease earlier because the Jeep is worth nothing- probably because the rest of the world knows all these things I mention above and does not want to own it either.
What a nightmare- I am so glad that this vehicle was leased and not purchased. I am also glad that it is going away for ever.

We replaced the Jeep with a Mazda CX-9. I will publish soon about why this is such a nice vehicle and the buying process.

Finding Time to "blog"

So I have found it hard to keep up with blogging. Although I enjoy putting my thoughts here for anyone to read I have found little time to actually do it. The reason has been:
1) Business travel
2) my son who takes a lot of my free time when I have energy
3) Other hobbies which include reading, watching TV as well as gaming and movie watching.

Because of all of the above I have found little time to put anything up in the past week or so. Also I have gigantic hands so typing a blog message on my BlackBerry would be a waste of time. I am not sure how people keep up with things like this. I think I just created another job for myself....