Bachelor Times

New logo

2011-08-23T07:47:00.000-07:00

Not on the site yet, but I've been working on a new logo. I'm not sure if someone else is using this configuration, but it scales down to icon size very nicely. I may consider changing the colors later.

So-called "experts" on low and middle income

2011-01-29T07:08:00.000-08:00

In today's Illinois State Journal-Register (dated 01/29/2011) the first headline of the City/State section reads "Experts: Tax hike will hurt families with low, middle incomes most." The subheading reads "Structure of taxing everyone at same rate 'disadvantages poor people.'

The second paragraph starts with the following quote:

It's especially going to hurt lower-income folks -- those who are just starting out in careers or are struggling for whatever reason, who have incomes in the $20,000-$40,000 range.

Excuse me, did you say struggling with incomes in the twenty to forty thousand dollar range? Where did you get your experts, Panther Creek? Fox Meadow subdivision?

The minimum wage here is $8.25 per hour. Full time that's a gross annual salary of $15,840. After taxes and deductions I'm lucky if I bring home $850 a month. Gee, what do I do? I'm a security guard at a hospital. Do you feel safe now?

The newspaper article continues with a profile of a family that moved to Springfield from Florida only a year and a half ago because the wife got a job at Memorial Medical Center, Miraculously, the husband got a job with the state. I guess the fastest way to a state job is through Memorial Medical Center. So that's the secret, well isn't that just wonderful.

The husband said between him and his wife they make less than $50,000 a year and they have two kids, yet they must ride the bus to make ends meet. Give me a f###ing break!

The good news is that they are planning to move back to Florida so some positions for local people might open up soon.

Before the election, Governor Quinn promised only to raise the tax from 3 percent to 4.5 percent and include exemptions for low income earners. NOPE! Exemptions were left out entirely and the tax went to 5 percent. Oh, he also promised to "fumigate" the state of employees hired by ousted governor Rod Blagojevich, he didn't do that either as far as I can tell.

Meanwhile, Michael Madigan who holds the record for term of service and who leads the Illinois Legislature, has stood by for more than thirty years there, and watched the state spend itself into oblivion.

The voters keep electing the same people who have been spending the states money like there is no tomorrow.

Here is a link to the timeline showing who they are.
http://www.dipity.com/spfldnet/Illinois-Legislature/

Health care options out for bachelors

2010-05-07T09:40:00.001-07:00

I'm single, over 45, and have no health insurance because I only work part-time. Recently I had some shooting pains in my right foot which kept me in bed for about 36 hours straight. I was only able to get to the bathroom by shimmying across the floor balanced on my left foot. The pain was excruciating.

I went online to see if I could qualify for Medicaid, no dice. You have to be over 65 or pregnant, or have children under the age of 19. I can't afford health insurance, and my quality of life has been bankrupt (without being in debt, luckily) for a decade. I would rather be dead than let the medical industrial complex diminish my quality of life further by making me an economic slave to them.

When you have nothing to lose, you may want to take with you those who would see you lose even more in the future, the quality of life from treatment forward will be a life of near starvation and deprivation. This is why we need the public option. Without health care reform, there will be a vicious backlash against those who gouge the infirm and helpless.

One solution for bachelorhood

2010-04-24T09:06:00.001-07:00

As a bachelor I have nobody to impress with my money. The months and years went by before I finally found a solution to boring solitude in Springfield; trading stocks online.

I've been looking enviously at other people's belongings, other people's junk, stuff they don't need, wondering if they derive happiness from possession, or the act of possessing. Some research shows that more perceived value in an object is created from the effort and expense of attaining it than its actual extrinsic value.

I had my fair share of junk over the years. Getting laid-off, selling my house, then selling most of my possessions on Ebay and garage sale was a depressing experience. Later I wondered what got into me, to want such things as I had in the first place.

Today I'm bent toward utilitarian minimalism but the boredom is excruciating. I was about to lose my mind because I was torn between consumerism as a medication and the disdain for the very act of purchasing something I know I do not need.

Driving around Springfield, swimming in shear boredom and irritating consumer messages, it finally dawned on me that I can actually do something that actually builds wealth and provides a modicum of excitement in the process. Building a stock portfolio and trading stocks gives me something to look forward to each day.

The secret was laid out before me over the course of attaining my degree in communication. The underlying messages that came with it were cultural conditioning, consumer behavior, and the frailty of the human mind. Weaknesses the marketplace has taken advantage of for generations.

Warning! There are two sets of consumer messages involved with the world of finance, a multi-layered consumer paradigm. You must be careful not to rely on information gathered for you by your online trading host.

Always keep in mind that any single source of information was generated to serve the source. It's a natural rule of behavior. If you get your business news from one source, you might as well quit while you can. Keep in mind that most of the business news on the main-stream media has been distilled for public consumption, it will be to your advantage, especially when panic sets in and some controversy is aired about a business and its stock price plummets.

So now, boredom temporarily averted. I only wish I thought of this last weekend, because today's Saturday and I have to wait probably until next Tuesday or Wednesday to hear back from my trade branch about getting money into my account. Meanwhile, do the research. Pick some stocks, go to www.sec.gov and check out the company's annual statements. If you have an email account with Google, Yahoo or MSN, you can set up a fake stock portfolio and watch your stocks until you get your online account set up.

The site moves!

2010-04-22T14:40:00.001-07:00

Not in the sense that it's changing location, just that there is actual activity taking place. I've been experimenting with Spry tabs while coding the website but I'm still on the fence about whether or not to use it. It might look very cool, but I like to keep things simple and cross-platform compatible. I have such little time to work on it, plus the fact that I am single and have very little money to spend on such things as entertainment that this site has been neglected. A new approach may be in order.

I may have to write a book first, and then publish it as online content later. I definitely need the content first, with luck we'll get advertisers. I would prefer to have paying subscribers who need to be shielded from the predatory marketers who peddle trash. I may convene a panel of responsible bachelors to decide the best course of action. Some time, somewhere.

The important thing is the content. I may simply seek out relevant content from local bloggers and freely link to their blogs. They could advertise anything they wanted on their blogs, that wouldn't be prudent; they might turn out to be predatory marketing spammers.

I have so little time to think about this, so I'll end it before it turns into a nonsensical ramble.

Dating

2010-04-20T16:50:00.001-07:00

I'm not going to date like it's some kind of game or ritual, which basically leaves out bars on my list. I don't like to drive someplace and drink, then try to drive home either.

Most of you who fall into a relationship were introduced by mutual friends. I however, have no such advantage. Nobody will look at me then look at someone else and exclaim "Say, they would make a great couple, let's get them together!" Not possible. So I am destined for bachelorhood forever.

What will become of us?

2009-09-03T17:33:00.000-07:00

Well, I have some ideas.
Publishing a guide to the taverns of Springfield. That would take forever and I doubt I would find them all.

I have yet to come up with a decent format. I've been so busy with other things. Hopefully I will be able to settle down and really dedicate some time to the site.

I'm off to look at the website layout, do some tinkering.

Pay attention

2009-06-09T01:12:00.001-07:00

Watch this video
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=7886780711843120756

Inactivity

2009-04-25T09:36:00.000-07:00

Sorry this blog has been inactive for so long, but it is after all, Springfield, Illinois.

National Condom Week

2009-02-14T08:32:00.000-08:00

Planned Parenthood just emailed me about National Condom Week. They wrote that I might have missed it. I totally appreciate the need for condoms. You just can't do it without them.

Not another dating website!

2009-01-09T06:58:00.000-08:00

Another dating advice website has emerged through advertising on Facebook called "DatingAdviceSecrets.com." The site attempts to attract men by making the following claim:

Are You Making These Mistakes With Women?

"The Ten Most Dangerous Mistakes YOU Probably Make With Women- And What To Do About It…"

Here Are The Top Ten Reasons Why Men Fail With Women- And How To Make Sure YOU Avoid Every One Of These Deadly Common Mistakes…

You can go to the site if you want, but I challenge this claim by a making a claim of my own:

"Men don't make mistakes, they make choices."

Sorry ladies if you walk away from a man and think to yourself that he made a big mistake. Wrong. He made a choice.

The site lists the ten mistakes, but they are really not mistakes, they are real and functional methods of vetting companions.

You cannot alter your behavior or use psychology in a way that allows you to pursue someone you find attractive on a shallow level, because you would need to keep it up forever.

That form of deception requires you to divert energy and resources that might ruin you financially, or in ways that you can't even imagine.

So when anyone tries to tell you you are making a mistake, guys, you are not making any mistakes. Always be yourself.

Saturday Night

2008-11-30T07:02:00.000-08:00

Saturday night in Springfield the line at D'arcy's out on Stanford was out the door, so we went to the Dublin Pub at Town and Country Shopping Center. The wait there was going to be twenty minutes.

I heard the shriek of a toddler, the kind of shriek you get from a child that has just discovered his or her voice. Then I head another.

There were at least three small children in the Dublin Pub amid the throng. Those young twenty-something married couples and their children, unable to shake the old free-wheeling lifestyle, come back to the old haunts, inappropriately with their new kids.

There were several large flat-screen televisions on the wall showing sports, and the music was competing in volume with the conversation. Every table was full and the crowd in front of the door waiting was making it difficult for people coming and going.

It was early, only about six o'clock in the evening. We decided to try the Tasti Thai restaurant just a few doors down. The place was nearly empty. It was quiet. There were a few people at another table, but that was it.

We had a good conversation and good food. Unfortunately it wasn't a date for me, I was out that night with my mother and my sister. Still, an excuse to get out of the house. Otherwise, I have no reason to go out because I'm single, and my friends don't live in this town.

Someone my age, 44, doesn't make friends easily, and it's worse when you live in a town where you once had a history as an elementary school student, but then moved away and lost track of everyone over the years only to move back and discover all your friends have left town.

I always wind up asking this question: What can a single middle-aged man do in this town without feeling scrutinized by people who know each other? It wouldn't turn out like the movie starring Steve Martin titled "The Lonely Guy," maybe I should revisit that movie for tips.

Back to the Tasti Thai restaurant. I'm wondering if all the other Asian cuisine restaurants in town are like this on a Friday or Saturday night? I'll need to bring a date to find out because I don't imagine they would seat one person at a table. They definitely don't seat one person at the Buffet King on Veterans Parkway.

Wish me luck. I'll work this map into my site soon too.

View Larger Map

Site changes

2008-11-28T14:04:00.001-08:00

I'm going to change the look of the site. It will take a while because I have far too many irons in the fire, or my iron in many fires, he he he.

I'll come up with something. If anyone has a suggestion, you can post a comment on this blog.

What is an eligible bachelor?

2008-09-21T10:49:00.000-07:00

The word "eligible" applies to bachelors who are wealthy, handsome and successful at cultural activities and businesses that conform to the expectations of those who think they qualify for marriage. I don't hesitate to identify the term "eligible bachelor" as derogatory.

Bachelorhood as a way of life is in no way culturally "eligible." We thumb our noses at the alleged "conventional wisdom."

Some quick notes

2008-03-14T07:06:00.000-07:00

I worked for six months in a room populated mostly by women who often forgot that I was there and comfortably spoke their minds. I noticed some interesting differences between men and women after listening for quite some time.

Managing money:

Most of the ladies with whom I worked were married and spoke generously about their nuptial financial arrangements. Their husbands always seeemed to have the same responses during shopping. "We can't afford that."

One woman said that her husband ordered something in the mail and wouldn't tell her what it was. She was furious. Somewhere in the conversation she said "I keep track of every penny so I know exactly what I can spend." That got me thinking.

Men manage money by pretending they don't have any at all, until they see something they really like. Women manage money by keeping track of every cent, knowing immediately if an item they see is affordable.

Which is the lesser of two evils? No clue.

The odor:

My room sometimes has an odor that lingers even after I clean it. Turns out it's my laundry.

I once was lazy and started buying extra underwear on weekends I didn't feel like doing laundry. I accumulated a large quantity of socks and shorts and would neglect them until the dresser drawer was empty.

Just having a laundry basket with more than one week's laundry can be offensive to others even if you get used to it, and believe me, you do get used to it. Throw all your extra socks and shorts out. Don't keep more than will last between one laundry cycle.

House and Senate on Break

2007-08-07T05:18:00.001-07:00

Our U.S. Senators and Congressmen are on their August break. You might see them around your district. We, the people expected change after the 2006 election, and the rumors going around are that the Democrats have rolled over and have not been effective since they have become a majority.

But, we, the people rolled over. We only gave the Democrats a simple majority, not an overriding majority. For the Democrats to be effective against the onslaught of warmongering predatory capitalists, an overriding majority is needed, a better than two-thirds majority that can override a Presidential veto or some other arcane parliamentary procedure.

So we have nothing to complain about but our own inability to elect an effective majority of legislators different from those who dominated our government for the last six years.

The Legacy of our Fathers

2007-04-24T16:05:00.000-07:00

In a culture with highly reinforced gender roles as is ours and has been for centuries, men were expected to provide a clear path for their families survival. Men were expected to teach their sons how to hunt or manage the flock and sons were expected to take up the bows, arrows and swords of their fathers, or learn from their fathers a traditional craft and direction for its use.

The fathers of the last generation were expected to pave the way for our future by providing the means with which we could afford an education. More than that, fathers were the expected role models for their sons, creating a legacy of tools for success as well as secret back entrances to the castles of opportunity, where the front doors of those palaces are bolted securely against the rest of the huddled masses.

The living fathers of my friends and distant relatives are well in their retirements, and basking in the glow of their healthy grandchildren. Their legacies constructed comfortably in ways that may protect them financially for many generations.

My father’s legacy for me was a precarious footpath shrouded in smoke and dimly lit along a precipice of extinction by the glint of shattered dreams and discarded bottles, leading directly to early pauper’s grave. I was forced from that path when I joined the military and found new mentors. For the rest of my time I scratched and clawed my way through life with no gain at all until finally my mother realized what should have been done so many years ago. She paid my way through college.

Now at age 43 I am finally a college graduate. It turns out that I’m not so stupid after all. I’m not the family member that failed anymore, I’m now the family member with evidence that points toward someone else as the cause of my problems.

My parents divorced when I was in the third grade at elementary school. Following that, my mother fully expected that I would still learn what I needed to know from my father. His business went bankrupt when he was the age I am now. Ironically, he and I both moved in with our mothers at or near the same age. In my case I was laid off and couldn’t find work to sustain my own home anymore.

He finally found a state government job, bought a condominium and was eventually forced to retire. He racked up credit card debt and finally drank himself to death. Would such be my legacy? Is that what is expected of me? Am I pushed toward that end by the expectations of others?

I’m left with the feeling that I have no path, yet I also see evidence of being pushed along the old one. I have a newly acquired education, but it may be too late to make a different path for a son, or even myself. This means that I will never marry because I refuse to perpetuate a legacy of failure. This branch will fall from the family tree never to bloom.

In reality, most of us scratch and claw our way through life and find ourselves at the end of a cattle ramp waiting for the final slaughter that comes in the form of taxes and funeral expenses, never having really lived at all, but only worked.

We find ourselves at the locked front gate of the castle every time we apply for a job because it was advertised in the classifieds, not because our father’s friends were making offers of employment. But remember, there are many more of us, and castles always have weaknesses.

Illinois a "HOT TIME" state for AFF

2006-09-30T07:13:00.000-07:00

Adult Friend Finder is definitely not for the faint of heart. The amazing hidden underbelly of America's "stuffy conservative" culture is seething with craven hedonism.

Adult Friend Finder, however, is slightly more tame than Eroticy.com, which pushes the limits of expression by including links to truly weird stuff like adult oriented animation and web-cam shows.

Eroticy caters more readily to fetishes and experimentation, while AFF is more focused on its members' self-expression and finding kindred spirits.

To be a member, it costs money, and there are social rules that must be followed.

These sites create a socio-sexual educational curriculum for those who either fear that they may do something wrong, or who do things wrong but think they know what they are doing.

There are many surveys and polls on both sites that tell alot about what people like and don't like, so it is important that these sites not simply be dismissed as Internet pornography.

Pornography is exploition through depiction of exploitation, where the party or person being depicted (is/are) being depicted in a manner against his or her wishes, either through obvious ignorance of being captured on a medium (clandestine surveilance), or through proven mental inability to agree to be depicted because of missing information used in the process of making a decision or agreement to such activity (including age, mental defect, or deception).

Anyhow, that definition beats the Supreme Court Justice who said "I'll know it when I see it."

New Speak Dictionary

2006-09-21T20:13:00.000-07:00

I wanted to buy a thousand copies of George Orwell's book 1984, to give out at local high schools, because that book by now must be banned from public schools. But to my astonishment, I don't need to do that. Just visit the following web site!

http://www.newspeakdictionary.com/

Tip for bloggers with sore wrists

2006-08-25T06:08:00.000-07:00

I found a mouse option in control panels that will save your wrists if you fear Carpal Tunnel Syndrome.

It's a little hard to get used to at first because you lose track of the cursor, but it is definitely well worth it.

Go to Start > Control Panel > Mouse

It's under the "Pointer Options" tab.

Don’t be dissuaded by stereotypical notions.

2006-08-23T10:30:00.000-07:00

The public is under the impression that university campuses are no place for the old bachelor, but that is not necessarily true. A Bachelor should always be a good patron of the local arts, and the first highly respectable place to become known as a bachelor and a patron of good culture is the local university theatre and art program.

Sangamon Auditorium in Springfield, Illinois is a good place to start. They don’t openly advertise for patronage because that would have a negative impact on their prestige, and certain other patrons are very selective with regard to their social associations.

It is important to carefully cultivate one’s image in a university situation. This means literally making small-talk.

There are many meanings behind the term “small-talk.” University type small-talk is 75% listening, perhaps 90% for those of you who are entering the social arena for the first time.

For example, tonight is the UIS Chancellor's First Week Picnic on the campus quad next to Sangamon Auditorium from 4:30 p.m. to 6:30 p.m.

If you miss the event, you may want to check the schedule for more events at the following link:

http://www.uis.edu/facilityservices/weekly.html

You may need a reservation because there may be a limited amount of food prepared for the event. It would be respectable to crash the event and not eat anything unless you are certain there will be food to be thrown out later. It would also be respectable to not drink anything but water.

Welcome Gentlemen

2006-07-30T16:46:00.000-07:00

Here at Bachelor Times, our motto is "we won't hook you up, but we will get you off the couch." We bachelors have resigned ourselves to a life of single living, perhaps through no fault of our own, but there comes a time when you look around and realize that you are truly free.

Freedom from an institutionalized and economically influenced burden of debt and obligation. Freedom from a litany of rituals and forced posturing. We do what we want, whenever we want.