Thank You!!!!

Thank You!!!!!

In 1995 I enetered on a journey I never wanted to take. I was forced to take a job as a travelling contractor teaching operators for nuclear power plants. The job kept me away from home most of the time.

For most of the 13 years I have been doing this I was 5 hours away from home and could make it home at least every other weekend. Then came the assignment here in Mississippi and that meant I could only get home to see Smokin like every two months.

Now don't get me wrong. The money is nice. But I miss my wife and its not just the sex. The cuddling and talking. Hell we can't even argue like normal a normal couple.

Manyh of you have been praying for me during job interviews and the wait has finally paid off.
I reached an agreement in principal with Entergy Nuclear to become an full time company employee. The "in principal" means that the annual compensation has been agreed to. There are still benefits and relocation package stuff that need to be worked out.

So the deal could still fall through. So please keep praying. There are telling me that the remainder of the process will take about 2 weeks before the final offer is tended. But at least there is a reason to get a little excited.

So thanks to all of you and may God Bless!!!!

On the Internet

There have bee many celebrities over the past few years that have learned a very valuable lesson. Any photo or video that you take of yourself or have taken with the intent of being private will not be private for long.

The internet and the ease of digital photographs and video make it easy for even the novice computer user to post pics and video.

Now out of Santa Fe. Texas comes the story about a school system that is confiscating student cell phones because of the transmission of nude photos of underage students. But most of these pics were taken by the individual and sent to a boy friend. The boy friend then sent them to his friends who sent them to their friends who...now they can end up on the internet.

No aside from the obvious argument that confiscating these cell phones may be against the law, what the hell are these girls doing taking nudes pics and sending them to anyone? Oh...and did I also mention that many school systems have rules stating that cell phones are not allowed in the school?

Parents...get a grip of your children. No parent can stop a teen from taking a nude pic and sending it to a friend any more than we can stop teen sex. But we do need to school them on the facts. Any pic that you take may wind up on the internet and be viewed by millions of people. If that doesn't embarrass them, then I guess we don't have much hope to stop it.

We have been trying, as a society, to do away with Playboy...Penthouse...Hustler and magazines like them for ages and have not even made a dent. There are always going to be women willing to show off their stuff to get the easy pay check. But this doesn't need to start when the girl is 13.

That is how I feel. What do you think?

What's in Your Wallet?

For years US paper currency has been essentially unchanged. Oh there have been changes recently. A few new colors have been added. Most changes have been in an attempt to make it harder to counterfeit the currency.

A US Appeals court ruling may change all that making the government make major changes to the way paper currency is designed.

A case was brought against the federal government stating that US paper currency is discriminatory. When I first saw the article I thought is had something to do with the old "God in We Trust" issue. But the suit claimed that US paper currency discriminates against the blind and the Appeals Court agreed.

With US coins the exact denomination can be determined by size and feel. Not so with the paper currency. There is no way to determine whether a bill is a twenty, ten or hundred. They are all the same size and all feel the same. So a blind person is at the mercy of the clerk to see that the correct amount is paid and that they receive the correct change when making a purchase.

Not being blind I would have never thought of this loop hole in our currency. It may cost me money (estimates are 100 billion to re-design and produce replacement cash) in terms of taxes but I applaud the Appeals Court ruling.

One person left a comment on a news sight stating that the blind people should use debit cards for all purchases. Well aside from the fact that requiring blind people to use debit cause is discriminatory in its own right, there is still the issue that the blind consumer is still at the mercy of the cashier to tell them the honest purchase total and that the card is debited the correct amount.

I think the paper money issue is just the tip of the ice burg. How do blind people know that the total that the cashier tells them is correct. Even if they can do math in their head they have no idea how much an item costs. That bar code ain't in braille.

Should we make changes to our paper currency just to make it easier on 10 million Americans? I say yes we should. What do you say?

Ban all kids sports!!!!

Here is a story out of Wayne, New Jersey.

The family of a boy who suffered brain damage after he was struck by a line drive off an aluminum bat has sued the bat's maker and others saying they should have known it was dangerous.

The young man was 12 years old and was pitching in a Police Athletic League game when the batter hit a line drive that caught the 12 year old in the chest right above the heart. His heart stopped beating and his brain was deprived of oxygen for 15 to 20 minutes. The result was the young man suffered brain damage.

Now I feel for this family and for this 12 year old boy. But in all seriousness accidents happen. Unfortunately this was just that...an accident.

The family is suing Hillerich & Bradsby Co., the maker of the bat. Also named in the suit are Little League Baseball and Sports Authority. The bat in question was purchased at a Sports Authority store.

Little League Baseball is named in the suit because the organization gave its seal of approval to the bat stating it was safe for use in Little League Baseball.

I hate to be the bearer of bad news here but I have a news flash. ALL SPORTS ARE DANGEROUS!!!!! Play any sport and you run the risk of serious injury. We cannot take all the risk out of life. Accidents are going to happen. We will never be able to stop them from happening. Yet if this lawsuit is successful we will take away another activity for young men and women and leave them with nothing to do but roam the streets and get into trouble.

But in this day and age someone has to be held accountable. So we sue the manufacturer of the bat, the place that sold it and the organization who tested it. Hey...how about we all sue the family of that 12 year old for allowing him to play such a dangerous sport. Lets arrest the family for putting that 12 year old boy at risk for injury. Yeah...arrest them for child endangerment.

Wait...how about the batter who hit that line drive. Why does he get off scott free? Then we have the 12 year old boy who was hurt. This would not have happened if he had not pitched the ball where the batter could hit it. Where does this end?

This was an accident. There was no malice by the bat manufacturer or little league baseball. There was no malice by Sports Authority for selling the bat. No one wanted to see a 12 year old get hurt. But in life...things happen.

Now I do think it is odd that the family of the 12 year old did not include the Police Athletic League in the lawsuit. Is it because they are afraid of all the traffic stops they will get by the local police? I wonder.

If you really think that this family should be awarded a judgement in this case then you should be the ones shouting from the roof tops to ban all kids sports. Baseball...football...soccer...motor cross...hockey...skate boarding...you name it, let's ban it.

We can certainly do that. But accidents will still happen.

That is my opinion...what is yours?

This is Difficult

I have not blogged since April 28th. The reason that I haven't done any blogging is a simple one. I have been putting all my energy into stopping a habit that I have had for 30 years.

I was in the Navy in 1977 when I transferred to a new command. I was part of what is called a pre-commissioning Unit for the USS Bremerton. On that crew we several people who had the habit that I am now trying to stop. Chewing tobacco.

I guess it started as a joke. We had an officer that would get sick to the point of throwing up when he knew people were chewing tobacco. Being an enlisted person meant that we had to take full advantage of that. And we did. We would parade one new person after another in front of this officer while doing some novel thing to show him that you had started chewing or dipping. I was one of the first "new people" to start. That was 1978 and I decided it was time to stop. So on April 28, 2008 I stopped at a gas station and discarded all of the tobacco that I had left. At 2PM that day to got rid of my last chew and started on the road to being tobacco free.

I used to drink a lot of alcohol. I was never a real constant or heavy drinker but I had my share. My health made me stop. No problem...I just put it down. That is not to say that someone who is an alcoholic can just put it down. It is a hard thing to do.

Let me tell you that stopping tobacco use is not an easy task. Those that have stopped smoking or chewing will tell you that it ain't a simple or easy task. This is by far one of the hardest things I have ever done.

So I stopped blogging to put all of my energy into the effort. Thus far it has paid off. At 2PM today it will be 3 weeks. I have chewed a lot of gum and ingested nearly a big bag of hard candies, but I am still on track.

So I hope to be back on these familiar pages more often. Might even continue to chronicle how my efforts to stop tobacco use are proceeding.

I just want to thank all of you that have been praying for me as I try to quit. I also want to thank all who read and comment on my blog.