Apparently the Federal Government (aka the big stupid ass) is halting large-scale solar power projects for two years. (NYT) Why?

They want to make sure it isn’t hurting the environment or the animals. Oh, they are so thoughtful and caring. Either that or greedy bastards that want to delay alternative energy sources even longer. I wonder if they ever thought about the environment or the animals before they started using fossil fuels…yeah right!

Meanwhile the search for oil continues even if it means more harm to the environment, animals and the air we breath. Brilliant, just brilliant.

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Having worked at newspapers I have experienced countless frustrations when dealing with sales people. I came across this video that was hilarious and yet so true. You can substitute other jobs in place of the web dude as well.

Sometimes I seriously wonder about the sanity of sales people (and if they have a soul). Many people argue that sales is a hard job and that you have to be very good at it to succeed. My 2 cents is that sales people are not good at what they do, they are just the only people left who are willing to do it. Everyone else was smart enough to go get better jobs.

If you’re a sales person, try not to take offense to that. It’s just because my experiences with sales people have been worse than the scenario in this video. This is a prime example of why Stupid Sucks!

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***WARNING*** this is a long read

Quite awhile ago I mentioned I would share some of my personal stupid stories with all of you. I think today I will do just that and share my 4-wheeler adventure from high school.

For those of you who don’t know me personally, I am a bit of an adrenaline junkie. Unfortunately getting the high of adrenaline for me is best achieved by fast moving vehicles. Just to be specific, it doesn’t have to have some form of propulsion. I have manage to get bicycles going much faster than what is safe using just my legs and the assistance of gravity (maybe using more gravity and the assistance of my legs?).

So, of course over time the speed attainable on a bicycle was less and less thrilling. Although I had a few accidents I was young and my body snapped back much too quickly for me to actually learn my lesson. I moved on to bigger and better things. Cars!

Now, the stories I have from the stupid (very stupid) things I’ve done in my car are for another time (I could probably write a whole book from them). But this is about the next step…. a 4-wheeled vehicle that exposes your body to the elements, goes fast, goes almost everywhere and is very dangerous (if you’re like me).

When my cousin got the 4-wheeler all I could think about was when I would get to ride it. As often as I could I would ride it. But, that wasn’t enough. I didn’t want to be limited to a back yard or a dirt road. I wanted to explore the jumps, fields & hills of our little town.

Riding is fun, but riding alone gets boring really quickly. So a really good friend of mine from high school borrowed a 4-wheeler from one of our friends and I borrowed my cousin’s. We headed out early in the morning so we could go 4-wheeling all day. Oh, if we only had known what was in store for us.

At one part of the day I took the 4-wheeler as fast as I could off a jump that launched it so high I thought I was going to fly off. Then it landed so hard the side of my jaw smashed into the handle bars. Wow, that was painful but I was young and dumb, it would take more than that to stop my adventure.

When we had enough fun we wanted to bring more people in on the fun. Our girlfriends! What could be better than showing off our utter stupidity?!

My friend’s girlfriend couldn’t come so instead he brought his sister. Once my girlfriend (well, we were getting back together after we had been caught goofing around… :wink:) arrived we headed out. We showed off our ridiculous acrobatics on the jumps, hills & dirt roads. We ended up at what we called “the beet dump”.

The beet dump is basically just a giant, flat, open field that sugar beets are dumped each season. Of course there weren’t any beets there so it was just open space to play. At one point when spinning cookies in the dirt I rolled the 4-wheeler when it caught enough traction. I jumped off just in time so it didn’t roll over me (awesomely stupid acrobatics again :roll:).

The day came to a grinding halt when my friend and I were racing from one end to the other on opposite sides. The two girls were standing in the middle so we wouldn’t get too close. When you’re going fast on a 4-wheeler in a dirt field after a long day, your eyes get watery, dusty, etc. and the last thing you would expect is for someone to be running into the path of the 4-wheeler.

Exactly what I didn’t expect is what happened. My girlfriend was running across the path of the 4-wheeler, but I thought for sure she would continue running out of the way. When she stopped I knew something bad was about to happen. I cranked the handle bars hard to the left with all my might and hit the brakes (the big mistake). The wheels locked up and instead of actually turning, I slid right into her..

To make a long story short, we both ended up in the hospital with injuries (hers were much worse than mine) and everyone scratching their heads wondering how in the world the accident had happened. They were that confused and they thought she was on the 4-wheeler with me.

Think about how confused they were when I told them that she wasn’t. How do you manage to hit someone in the middle of a field? Of course at the time my memories were fresh and I knew exactly what happened. Years later though my memories of the event has faded and I will forever wonder how I manage such a tragedy. Somehow my friend and his sister didn’t see it happen and my girlfriend forgot nearly the entire day because of her concussion.

Her injuries: fractured skull in 3 places, fractured eye socket in 2 places, broken nose, shattered wrist, broken fibula (non-weight bearing bone in the lower leg), 4″ laceration between the hairline and forehead, fractured hip and severe concussion.

My injuries: sprained ankle, my chin was split open from side to side and my left vocal cord was severed from its controlling muscles (my voice box was hit really hard).

After being checked out and stitched up at the local hospital (aka: death valley) I was life flighted to Utah to have a specialist fix my vocal cord (the life flight was because my throat could have swollen up suffocating me).

She was moved to the Boise hospital after she was stabilized and stayed there for almost 2 weeks.

That was the first time I realized just how expensive stupidity was and just how dangerous “toys” can be. You can imagine how this story ended with angry parents and big bills. I was 17 at that time and 4 years later we have gotten back together! We have no hard feelings and are very very happy together.

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I have done plenty of stupid things in my life. In fact, I have had a couple people tell me I should write a book about the stupid events in my life…

I haven’t really been able to post much lately and I have been having trouble not only coming up with good things to write about but also writing about those things once I’ve come up with them. One thing that’s easy for me is my own personal stupidity!

I have made fun of enough other people at WinCo or WalMart that I think it’s time I share stories about myself.

So what stories are on their way?

• Police encounters & youthful ignorance
• 4-wheeler mishap, one in a million
• Motorcycle bliss and the inevitable

Plus I am going to try to get my domain portfolio posted as well as get a workout/diet setup which I will share. Stay tuned!

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Recently I took a flight down to Boise, ID from Spokane, WA and although it was a very short, empty and uneventful flight I noticed some things that bugged me.

1. Keep your shoes on unless you are specifically asked to do otherwise by a TSA employee (the security guys). The last thing I want to smell on a cramped plane is your stinky feet!

2. Tone down your strong smelling scents like perfumes, lotions, etc.. You’re going to be in close proximity to other people and you although you want to smell attractive for “Mr. Right”, you also don’t want the rest of the plain looking at you like you just came from Bath & Body. I know it only takes a few minutes for me to be overwhelmed by that place.

3. Don’t bring your giant duffel bag or suit case as a carry on. Again, cramped spaces, limited storage and thats not what the overhead bin was designed for to begin with. Just check in the baggage, it’s very unlikely anything will happen to it.

4. Don’t fall asleep on the person next to you. Not only is it very uncomfortable for them but you’ll be just as uncomfortable when you wake up, especially if you drool while sleeping.

5. If your kids aren’t taught to behave themselves then either tie them up or give them tranquilizer. Believe me, on a long flight the last thing I will put up with is some little runt who refuses to stop kicking the back of my chair.

6. Don’t ask if it’s ok to use my space. If you want to rent my drop down tray then we can negotiate that but otherwise, don’t ask if it is ok for you to use my tray to put your food, papers or other crap. The space in front of my feet was for me, not your extra baggage. If it doesn’t fit, thats not my problem.

Other than that stuff, I love flying! I always try to get close to the jet engine or prop. since that stuff is very interesting to me. I have my flight procedure down pretty well so it’s usually a pretty painless and quick process through security and a comfortable trip.

Just be aware and considerate of others.

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About six months ago I designed my first business cards and was pretty happy with them. Sent the designs off to the printer and a few days later had my first set of real business cards. Printed on a sturdy 15pt stock, full color and glossy on both sides with a pretty accurate trim.

That was with OverNightPrints.com - I was happy with the service, the quality and the price. I paid about $20 with two discount codes. One for free shipping and one for $10 off the order. $20 for 250 nicely done business cards seemed good to me.

Well, one of the business ideas I had which was what the cards were for had been set aside. So I had to get new business cards that are more personal and not quite focused on a project but more on the services I can provide.

I decided I would give a different company a shot and hopefully get a little higher quality (not that there was anything wrong with the first company). This time around I went with PrintsMadeEasy.com

Their website was a little off putting but from what I had read from around the internet, they did a good job with their prints. OverNightPrints.com had some negative feedback around the internet, thus the reason for trying someone else.

So I designed a new card and sent it off. This card would be more widely used so I figured I would need a few more. I ordered 300 and forgot about a big no-no rule. Unless they have been proven, test the waters first, then order the bulk.

300 really isn’t all that much but 100 would have been cheaper. With shipping I spent right around $55. So almost 3x more than the previous company for 50 more cards. A few days later the cards show up and I was so disappointed!

The print quality was poor and the stock used was flimsy and cheap. To make it worse, I assumed they did front & back glossy but was wrong so the back had no gloss coating. The cut job was done well but other than that I was not happy. Even the gloss coating was poor compared to the previous printer.

So back to OverNightPrints.com I go! I sent in the new designs today and only ordered 100 cards since I have 300 cards to waste…

Sorry PrintsMadeEasy.com but your stock used was cheap and flimsy, print quality was lower & gloss wasn’t as glossy. OverNightPrints.com congrats! Looks like you have a returning customer! Thick, strong stock that gives the cards a solid quality feel, print quality was sharp and gloss was fantastic on both sides.

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