BriansRoar

A Christmas Re-post

brian@briansroar.com (Brian S. Wehmeier) — Fri, 23 Dec 2011 10:30:31 PST

I am re-posting this. I originally got it from a post that my brother Doug shared. Enjoy.....

Apple iPhone 5 Disappointment

brian@briansroar.com (Brian S. Wehmeier) — Sat, 22 Oct 2011 08:37:39 PDT

Old Technology versus New Technology
borrowed from
http://www.flickr.com/photos/brianauer/with/3244854714/

Even though I still use what many consider as an antiquated cell phone, I do have plans to upgrade as I am a bit jealous of Hollis. Hollis decided that she wanted to upgrade to an Apple iPhone so I went to Walmart and purchased a new iPhone 4 for her. I figured that eventually I would buy Hollis the iPhone 5 when it came out and then take her iPhone 4 as a hand me down. Well, it looks like Apple has decided not to launch an iPhone 5 but instead they launched an iPhone 4S. Hmmmm...there was certainly a lot of hype and speculation as to the appearance and capabilities of the anticipated iPhone 5, so I wonder what may have happened?

So here I sit with my OLD blue colored Samsung model SGH A737. My cell no longer recognizes the memory card so I may switch out with Hollis's OLD cell which is the same as mine but red in color. I no longer have text on my phone because in a fit to trim our budget, I stopped that $5.00 per month service from AT&T for 200 messages per month. Now the cheapest service AT&T has is $10.00 per month for 1,000 messages. I have not sent 1,000 messages in my entire life. Since I did not like paying $5.00 I certainly will not pay $10.00, at least until I get a job. I suppose I will continue to use Google Voice for my SMS Texting.

I am still not a Geek but I am a bit disappointed that Apple did not come out with a totally new iPhone. I really like FaceTime and some of the apps are easier to play on the phone versus the pc. I do have an issue with the large size of the iPhone and I find it difficult to answer. I had the iPhone with me the other day in the car. I was driving and the phone rang. I did not know how to answer it. I pressed buttons and such but all to no avail. I threw the phone to Wesli but it was to late. Wesli had to give me a lesson on answering the iPhone.

Wesli has a new Apple iPod. It is really cool and the device is just shy of a real cell phone. I set the iPod up so she can FaceTime with mommy and friends, she can text and even IM. She now makes fun of the PacMan game on my cell phone. Hmmmm...no appreciation...

I suppose the family has come a long way, technologically speaking, since my September 3, 2010 posting on “A Nerd Scale”. But, I still do not own a Blue-Ray disk player and I continue to replace old Microsoft based computers with a Linux OS. However, I still wish Apple had come out with an iPhone 5, I would have upgraded.

GodsSpeed

Is It Time For A New Computer? Try Linux...

brian@briansroar.com (Brian S. Wehmeier) — Tue, 27 Sep 2011 06:35:18 PDT

The back to school sales have started and this is one of the best times of the year to purchase a new computer or cell phone at low prices. And with school starting soon, this is the time of year that students begin to beg for new electronics. It seems that cell phones and tablets are the “Keep up with the Jones” favorites now. I remember when my oldest was in high school and it was sneaker brand that made you “hip”.

In today's economy, many families struggle to provide the basics that their children may need, much less what their children may desire. While technology is going through its constant evolution and always creating paths to new products, it is difficult to always afford the latest gadgets.

So if it seems that your old computer is about to die, do you really need a new computer? Does the school require the latest Microsoft Office Suite? I doubt it. Computer troubles are not usually attributed to its hardware. Your power supply, hard disk drive, CD player and the like will last for many years. Most issues are caused because of some type of infection, lack of maintenance, incompatible software or simply because your pc does not have what it takes to do what you want. At the time you purchased your pc, it had enough memory to do everything you wanted. However, since that time, you have added software, downloaded tons of junk and Microsoft has had hundreds, if not thousands of updates, to your old system.

A Google search for your PC's symptoms will result in others having the same issue and usually a suggestion to rectify the problem. But for an older system, this can be a pain. So what can you do?

I have a couple of really old computers. I was able to backup what was on them (pictures and music) and then I converted to a Linux operating system. This is really easy to do. There are many Linux distributions out there and they are free with tons of free software. While being a bit different from a Windows environment, it did not take long to find where everything was. You can even run a Linux distribution from a cd or thumb drive to see if you like it or even install it beside your Windows operating system.

I have tested Ubuntu, Fedora, Mint, Puppy Linux, Damn Small Linux and many others. I have listed these in order of system requirements. Damn Small Linux could run on an old computer that once had Windows 95. Ubuntu and Fedora are my favorite with Ubuntu coming fully loaded with most anything you would ever need and Fedora being a bit lighter. Ubuntu.com has a great “How to Install” section that is super easy to follow. All you need is to be able to burn an image to a cd.

The free software that you can get includes a complete office suite from OpenOffice.org and it is forward and backward compatible with Microsoft Office. Do not buy Quick Books when GNU Cash is free. If you like Photo Shop then you will like Gimp. Install educational games and software by age group all for free. Do not worry about antivirus programs, you will not need them.

Your child may not have the latest gadget, but he/she will have a very fast and reliable computer.

Gods Speed

Keep The Change

brian@briansroar.com (Brian S. Wehmeier) — Mon, 11 Apr 2011 11:23:19 PDT

Image via Wikipedia

After making at least one trip a year for the past 4 years to the hospital because of either a heart attack or a blocked blood vessel causing angina, I realize the importance of eating right and having to make a dietary change. Now I admit that I do not always eat the right things but at least I have become accustomed to reading the ingredient labels on items before I purchase them. However, some of the “healthy” alternatives simply taste so bad that I cannot see how they could be good for you.

Milk and skim milk have been around since I was a kid. I don't like milk and I never have. Part of the reason I suppose that I dislike milk is because my mother forced us to drink it. There was a time or two that my little sister Lisa would spit into my milk when my Mother’s back was turned and I refused to drink it. My mother would never believe me and she would make me sit forever until the milk was consumed. We now have 2% and 1% milk. While I still do not like milk, I do like a bowl of cereal on occasion. My wife Hollis and daughter Wesli love milk and they drink 1%. On the rare occasion that I want a bowl of cereal, I am forced to use the 1% milk. The 1% milk is translucent and not much different than colored water with about the same taste as water too. Pouring the lower fat milk onto a good bowl of cereal is a sin. I love Kellogg's Raisin Bran but you can see the little raisins at the bottom of the bowl frowning through their wrinkled little bodies for having to drown in this white translucent liquid. I have tried the Soy milk and I like the vanilla and very vanilla flavors and the soy is very healthy, but, the low fat milk is a no taste healthy alternative too.

Most margarines are made from vegetable oil and thus are healthier than butter. Some margarines even offer a bonus of healthier oils such as olive oil. These all taste the same to me. The only difference is that some are much harder to spread than others. Other dairy products taste fine to me in their alternate forms. Yogurts taste pretty good to me no matter how reduced or modified. However, on the other hand, sour cream is not worth eating unless it is real sour cream. Alternative sour creams can stay on the shelf. I want real sour cream on my nachos and melting down the side of my hot baked potato that is drenched in margarine, bacon bits (real ones) and chives. Of course, I will use a salt substitute on the potato to make it a healthier option.

The most difficult issues I have found in the grocery stores are learning the differences between Light, Low Fat, No Fat, Fit, Healthier, Reduced Fat, Reduced Sodium and the like. It would be much easier to just use the term “alternative”. Have you purchased mayonnaise lately? I mean real mayonnaise. I like mayonnaise on my sandwiches, especially peanut butter-banana-mayonnaise sandwiches. I also like mayonnaise in my chicken and tuna salads. For me, if it is not real mayonnaise made from real eggs and oil then it is not mayonnaise and therefore just not worth eating. All other mayonnaises need to simply be labeled “Alternative Mayonnaise”.

Sugar is another example. Ever since saccharine was introduced, other sweetener alternatives have been introduced. There have been a lot of claims that these new alternatives taste just like sugar. I am not sure where and how these “tasters” are found but I can assure you, they have no taste buds. Real sugar cannot be reproduced in taste! Pouring Low Sugar syrup onto a stack of pancakes is also a sin and just ruins a stack of otherwise good pancakes.

My big sister turned me onto “egg substitutes”. I greatly admire that they chose an appropriate name instead of trying to put one of the above labels on the product. These alternative egg products are okay. I can taste the difference, but they are much better than the powdered eggs I ate in the Army.

My niece talked me into trying alternative burgers such as the black bean burger. That was a total waste of money but I thought I would give them a try. I would have been better off buying turkey burgers because they taste OK but they even have more fat in them than lean burgers.

Bean burgers are not the only healthy alternative I have wasted money on. I also foolishly spent money on reduced fat peanut butter. So much oil had been reduced from this particular jar I bought that it was like trying to spread saw dust and ripped the bread to pieces.

My genes have contributed a great deal to my heart issues. However, I do realize that a healthier life style is needed. Hollis' great grandmother was 100 years old when she told us that the key to a long and healthy life was “moderation”. So, the food manufactures can keep their change and I will eat the real foods, but in moderation.

Coffee Anyone?

brian@briansroar.com (Brian S. Wehmeier) — Fri, 12 Nov 2010 10:16:43 PST

Image via Wikipedia

As the economy struggles to get better, so it goes with most people too. But you still read about many people that are struggling to make ends meet and some people aren’t seeing a light at the end of the tunnel. Most of these people are just a number that is reported once a week with other similar people grouped together as the “unemployment numbers”. It seems though that when our neighbors and friends draw their last unemployment check, they don’t even qualify to exist as a percentage, a number or even a statistic any longer. These struggling people simply fall off to the side and are largely ignored for who they are, what they have to offer and their past accomplishments. These people simply no longer exist….they have vanished.

So I began thinking of the plight that these “vanished” people are going through. In most of their cases, it would seem that they would be better off in jail. And why not? Inmates receive three square meals a day, medical and dental care, a free education, a clean bed that will be in a warm room this winter, new clothes when needed and some type of job to keep up their self esteem.

Inmates have it made. I can’t really see the difference between being behind bars and being left behind in society. However, at least the inmates can have their morning coffee….they are not buying it…coffee is provided free of charge with cream and sugar if desired…each and every morning. Think about the “vanished” that can’t afford coffee. “Vanished” parents forgo the luxury of coffee so that their children might get a bowl of cereal. However, the Florida Department of Corrections spent $141,380 for inmate coffee for fiscal year 2009-2010 (according to the response of my question by the Fl Dept of Corrections on September 14, 2010). These monies spent do not include the cream or sugar. These monies do not account for the County prisoners located in the 68 Florida County Jails.

Based on information from http://www.dc.state.fl.us/oth/Quickfacts.pdf, there are about 100,000 State Prison inmates that cost the State of Florida about $52.00 a day per diem. The state is also responsible for about 115,000 active offenders under community supervision. According to these records, 32.7% of Florida inmates return to the penal system within 3 years. I wonder how many would return if their diet was similar to the “vanished” or even some of our elderly? I think that at least one meal a day consisting of bread and water for inmates is very fair, unless you are an ACLU lawyer.

The State of Florida is not at fault for the current Penal System situation. The fault lies with very Liberal Court decisions and mandates; basically it is our fault. We have strayed far to left and away from giving proper consequences to people that fear no consequences. Criminals join the union of inmates when they are sentenced to jail. Inmates can file grievances and can even sue the system. Sounds like inmates even have more rights than the “vanished”. Remember the Sheriff from Maricopa County, Arizona that housed inmates in tents? The tents were a great idea even though it used many more man hours to supervise.

So the “vanished” are out there. They are out of sight and therefore out of mind. But we can at least be proud that at our inmates have a number and that they count as a statistic. However, more importantly, inmates can enjoy a fresh cup of coffee each morning…on us.

Gods speed

At Least My Fingerprints are the Same

brian@briansroar.com (Brian S. Wehmeier) — Tue, 26 Oct 2010 04:33:22 PDT

Image via Wikipedia

Last week I went to the Ocoee Police Department to have my fingerprints taken for a project I am working on. I brought Wesli, my 8 year old daughter, with me so she could see the process. I sometimes talk about fingerprints when she wants to hear a police story from me and this gave her a good idea of what Dad “used to” do. However, the process has changed quite a bit since I last took fingerprints from lawbreakers.

There is no more rolling a finger over an ink coated metal plate and then onto the fingerprint card. This makes it hard to get payback with a bad guy by accidentally using a permanent ink which is difficult to remove unless you have hand cleaner. Of course, this would only happen with bad guys that would call your Mom names. Today, fingerprints are taken by electronic means and it is pretty nifty.

So as the tech took each finger and rolled them over, one by one onto the clear lens of the device, I realized that the human to human contact had not changed in 30 years. This procedure still required someone to roll your fingers, especially if you could not do a good job of it yourself. But if a print is bad today, you know it immediately because of the digital image and you can easily rectify it by doing another roll of the finger. Years ago, you had to use another fingerprint card.

From what I have seen on CSI, it is even easy to get prints from a charred body today. Years ago, about the only way to get a good print from a charred body was to cut the bone from the tip of the fingers, place the charred finger meat on your finger and then roll the print out as best as you could. This method seems gross, doesn’t it?….but it is true.

Looking at the new procedures made me feel a little old. As a matter of fact, the tech didn’t even have to use a typewriter to fill in most of the data on the card. I sometimes miss my old Royal typewriter. The new card was placed in a printer and she swiped my driver’s license and whamo…most of the data fields were automatically filled in.

After the tech fingerprinted me, she looked at my driver’s license then she looked at me. The tech asked how much I weighed. Well, I guess she observed that I was about 50, or maybe even 60, pounds heavier than what my 6 year old driver’s license had. But then she asked the color of my hair. Of course, I am use to saying black. After I told the tech black, she looked at me and said, “No, gray”. I said “Give me a break”, can’t you at least say Salt and Pepper and she laughed and said “no”. At least she did not comment on my partial baldness.

I am happy to see some of the new technologies being used in Law Enforcement. The Polaroid cameras are replaced with digital cameras, some Corrections Officers duties are fulfilled with CCTV equipment and some criminals are monitored at home with the use of an ankle bracelet.

All of these new gadgets sober me to the fact that there is a bad guy that perhaps will never be fingerprinted. This criminal has been around for centuries and will perhaps be around for many more centuries. This criminal changes people and things. Maybe it’s about time we apprehend this criminal and put him away where he will no longer turn black hair gray, make memories fade and change the way, we live each day. Maybe we need to put Father Time away…

Gods speed

Tailgate Matters

brian@briansroar.com (Brian S. Wehmeier) — Wed, 13 Oct 2010 13:24:15 PDT

Image by The Consumerist via Flickr

It sure would be nice if car manufactures or an aftermarket company would make a reasonably priced LED sign for back car windows. A small sign near the bottom or top of the window so that it would not present a blind spot. I would also like for the sign to be a scrolling marquee. The control box for the sign would be in a convenient and safe place for the driver to operate.

This would really be a simple device. The controller would have an on and off switch and about 6 buttons. Each button would be for a different pre-programmed message. Some of the messages I would like to display would be:

1. BACK OFF!

2. GO AHEAD AND PASS!

3. HOW FAST DO YOU WANT ME TO GO?

4. WHAT IF I HAVE TO STOP QUICKLY?

5. YOU ARE INVADING MY SPACE!

6. THERE’S A COP!

I am not sure why tailgaters get me so upset. I just plain don’t like a tailgater. I think that tailgaters are selfish, manipulative, bullying and arrogant. But I certainly would not stereotype all drivers like this. I truly believe that some drivers are off in LaLa Land and don’t even recognize what they are doing. You have seen the mom in back of you. Yea, you know the one. She drives that dark blue van….has a cell phone in her ear and two kids jumping in the back seat. Oh, your tailgater drives a white van? Yea, I have seen her too. I also think that some drivers, mainly from large cities, are used to driving close because that is the way they drive in heavy traffic and this habit just becomes part of them.

But lately, it seems as if more drivers are tailgating. There are three school crossing areas within ¾ of a mile from Wesli’s school. Some parents pick their kids up at one school and they don’t seem to care about the other schools. You are being careful, but they just want to creep up your tailpipe. I just don’t understand. This behavior reminds me of people trying to board a plane ahead of everyone else….why?…are the people near the front going to get to the destination faster or something?

Hollis thinks it’s childish of me to get upset. And as far as Wesli goes, she laughs when I start using the idiot word. But I simply don’t understand it. I have tried hard lately not to get upset. This is partly because I had no choice. For several months, I have had magnetic signs on all our vehicles with my company information on it. Sometimes I would have to catch myself before I did something embarrassing. I have even pulled over to the side of the road to let people pass me (in subdivision areas). I have taken the signs off.

Sometimes I can get a laugh out of watching these drivers. I am sure you have seen the driver behind you: very aggravated, throwing hands into the air and shaking their head. I have discovered that most of these drivers are men in pickup trucks and young mothers in vans. Some guys do pass you while treating you to their hand gestures as they speed by. But the amusement comes as the speeding truck gets a red light and you end up directly behind them. They know you are smiling…..so they start fidgeting with the radio or looking up to the sky or some other useless activity as if in doing so will be less embarrassment to them. Sometimes the amusement comes if they pass you on a 4 lane road. After all of their arrogance, you pull alongside them at a red light. You look over to smile and of course, they will never look your way.

This “space violation” can cause a dangerous situation. Getting upset at the wrong person could get you shot or “run” off of the road. There are some crazy people that can become violent out there.

But I sure do like the idea of the LED signs. The sign could be a way for me to vent without getting upset and wondering if I have my nitro tabs on me. But then again, if we all had the signs, I am sure that someone would eventually pass me and turn on their sign that read “MOVE IT OLD FART!”

Gods speed

The Refrigerator Shuffle

brian@briansroar.com (Brian S. Wehmeier) — Tue, 05 Oct 2010 05:51:17 PDT

Do you have trouble finding things in the fridge? You know, like having to move a dozen items just to find one thing or to squat, bend and move things to find something. Lately, it seems that is all I do when I want some iced tea. But this is ok with me. My family and friends can tell you that I am even-tempered and would never get upset over something so small as not getting to something I wanted in the fridge.

Image by xJasonRogersx via Flickr

I think our refrigerator size is comparable to most others’. It's a side-by-side 25 foot capacity model. That is pretty big considering that not too many years ago, 18 cubic feet was the typical size. But even with 25 cubic feet, there doesn't seem to be much room. We have an over flow 10 cubic foot freezer-over-refrigerator in the garage and a 4.8 cubic foot mini-fridge on the back patio. To augment these, we also have a 7 cubic foot chest freezer. Looking at it this way, we have a total of about 40 cubic feet of freezer/refrigerator capacity. This is still not enough.

The best refrigerator I remember owning was a refrigerator-over-freezer. The refrigerator was easy to get to and the shelves were really wide compared to a side-by-side. A side-by-side will give you more shelves because of the gained height, but much narrower, of course.

Either way, you still need to be able to get to things in a fridge. I love my iced tea..really love it. I like my iced tea sweetened with REAL sugar, about 1.5 cups per gallon. However, I am pretty big and I need to cut down on the sugar, so lately I have been mixing it with Crystal Light lemonade. With the Arnold Palmer “tee”, I have all but eliminated the sugar from the tea because the lemonade is sweet enough. Wesli even loves the mix.

But on the top shelf of the fridge rests my gallon of iced tea, half gallon pitcher of lemonade, a gallon of milk, a gallon of apple juice, a gallon of orange juice, two flavors of coffee creamer, a large opened container of Ragu, two water bottles (both tipped over in the back) and an almost empty jar of salsa that has a little green on top. I am not sure if the green is peppers or some type of growth.

Do you have any idea what it takes to get the first glass of iced tea each day with all of this? It is has become a ritual of sorts. Get the glass, fill glass with ice, open the fridge, take milk out and put it on top of the fridge then move apple juice to the right, pull the lemonade out that was behind the apple juice, pour the lemonade, move the apple juice to the left and then rear, move the orange juice from the middle right to the left front and get the gallon of iced tea. Pour the iced tea and while still holding the lemonade, put the iced tea back in to the right side and then the lemonade in front of it so it will be handy until Wesli gets in from school.

Wow.....all this for my iced tea. But, all of this work is worth it when I can sit and enjoy that refreshing, brisk taste. My iced tea is really brisk too because I use 7 tea bags to make my gallon pitcher. I certainly do not want to drink weak tea.

I will go through my ritual to get a glass of iced tea about mid morning. It is well after Hollis and Wesli leave for the day…about the time when I get tired of drinking coffee. The only problem I have been experiencing lately is when Wesli comes home from school. Wesli will usually make herself a snack when she gets home and several days over the past couple of weeks she has come to me asking what I had done with the milk. Oh yea, I forgot. The milk is on top of the fridge still. You see, it's not all my fault because you probably didn't realize that I had not put the milk back in the fridge either or you would have said something....wouldn't you?

So the milk is still sitting on top of the fridge. The poor milk carton is sweating something terrible, probably worrying that it's contents has soured. But usually, the milk is still cool and smells good. So I just wipe the container dry, pour Wesli some milk and place the container back into the fridge. The water that is still on top of the fridge from the sweating milk container is a good source to moisten a paper towel and do a quick dusting up there as far as you can reach without having to get the stool out too. Hollis thinks I keep it dusted up there on purpose.....brownie points for me..

So I don't get frustrated with the fridge and I admit that things get left out sometimes. But knowing that you, the reader, also forgot about the milk, makes me feel pretty good.

Gods speed

My Bag with Reusable Shopping Bags

brian@briansroar.com (Brian S. Wehmeier) — Tue, 28 Sep 2010 13:55:58 PDT

I’d like to think that I support “Green” initiatives. I support them to the point where the initiatives make sense to me and I can see not only an environmental, but also an economic savings. “Green” initiatives must have an economic impact on consumers, either positive or negative, before there is an impact on behavior change. This holds true for business.

But when the issues of being environmentally cognizant as an individual, some people are just living in LaLa land and are perhaps causing more harm than good just to make themselves feel good in that they are saving the world and reducing their carbon foot print. Ouch...I know this one is going to come back and bite me.

As a point, I made that horrible and dreaded trip to Wal-Mart recently. Yes, I would rather be dragged behind a horse than to go to our local Wal-Mart. But Wal-Mart carries a particular pool shock/algaecide that I really like. As usual, my wife Hollis put a couple of items on the shopping list and was apologizing to me and throwing kisses at me as I left for the ordeal.

At Wal-Mart, I swiftly darted from one area to another area of the store gathering the few items on our list. I made it through the Garden area with only a couple of shoppers taking their time in the narrow and smelly pool supply isle. In the Home area, it only took me about 5 minutes to find the correct size lids for the plastic storage containers Hollis wanted. While I was there, I was going to get some milk, but I quickly observed that the area was very crowded. You know how it gets around those free sample food carts. Well, the sample sausage was a big hit and a line had formed around the dairy aisle choking off access to the milk like an Anaconda.

There has to be at least 20 checkouts but only about 6 are open excluding the ones where you have to have 20 or less items and that monotonous taped voice is moving shoppers from the long line to a specific checkout. I found a shorter line at a regular check out.

In front of me was a lady with numerous items she was purchasing. Among the items were two loaves of bread, a pair of slacks, and a few various other sundries. As the friendly cashier started to place the first scanned items into a plastic bag, the customer frantically stopped her and pulled from her purse one of these reusable shopping bags. You know the ones; they are all about the size of a plastic bag but made of either cotton or some other material that you can use over and over. The cashier had to scan an item and then stop, having to use two hands to place the scanned item into the cotton bag...This is a production nightmare. After the cashier placed several items into the bag, the customer began taking items from the bag and reloading the bag her way.....this is another production nightmare as you try to handle the same item as few times as possible. The customer simply could not load everything into her bag. I wondered if the customer, while shopping, was remembering that she had only ONE reuseable bag. When the cashier tried putting the overflow items such as the bread into a plastic bag, the customer freaked out and said no. The customer loaded the overflow items into the shopping cart making her cart look like she had shopped at Sam's Club instead of Wal-Mart. At one point, the customer glanced back at Wal-Mart’s brand of reusable bags but when she saw me looking at my watch, she had the cashier close her out. The only thought I was having was from a manager’s point of view. I figured this cashier was making perhaps $9.00 per hour in wages and an hourly cost to Wal-Mart of probably $13.00 per hour. The checkout time took about 7 minutes or around $1.52 in labor costs. You may not think that the labor amounted to much, but this transaction cost Wal-Mart twice what it should have including Wal-Mart’s savings on not giving the customer perhaps three plastic bags.

I personally like the plastic bags. I seldom throw away an empty plastic shopping bag. We use the bags for emptying the litter box and lining small trash cans in 3 bathrooms, a laundry room and back patio. When I get a cold, I will tie one of the bags to my night stand drawer handle and use it to collect my tissue. If I did not have these plastic bags, I would just have to purchase new plastic liners for all of the things we use them for.

I am not saying that plastic bags are good for the environment; they are not. According to http://environment.about.com/od/recycling/a/reusablebags.htm, plastic bags account for up to 7% of all crude oil use to make and approximately 500 billion to 1 trillion are used worldwide annually according to http://www.reuseit.com/learn-more.

So what's my bag....I'm not really sure except to say that the reusables are not for me...they simply don't work for my needs. What about mankind’s needs...well, right now, it appears that the cost of using these resusable bags may be adding to the cost of my goods at Wal-Mart and other stores...but then again, I'd rather be dragged behind a horse than to shop at Wal-Mart anyway.

Gods speed

Image by Getty Images via @daylife

Little Yellow Shirt

brian@briansroar.com (Brian S. Wehmeier) — Fri, 24 Sep 2010 08:28:35 PDT

No one likes to start the day off on the wrong foot or getting up from the wrong side of the bed. Like not having coffee to make, no milk for cereal, nothing clean that fits to wear, having a dead car battery, losing the kids’ homework, running out of toilet paper, forgetting to feed the cat, and on and on and on. All of these little annoyances can just ruin some people’s day, but I have an even temperament. Things like this would never ruin my day…

Image by ED́WW day_dae (esteemedhelga) via Flickr

Our third grader, Wesli, goes to a Charter School that has a uniform policy. It is great. No early morning arguing over what colors to wear, what dresses are appropriate and which jeans fit correctly. There is no pleading that “someone” else has the newest shirt or jeans and that she wants the same too. School uniforms are wonderful. At Wesli's school, the color choices are red, white, navy blue for tops and navy blue or khaki for bottoms. The shirts are polo and she can wear pants, shorts or a skort. She doesn’t even require a polo with the school name embroidered on it unless she is going on a field trip.

Every so often though, the school will have a “jeans day”; it is typically on the last Friday of the month. On these days, students can wear jeans and a uniform polo shirt. In order to wear the jeans, the school suggests that the child bring in $1.00. Today is jeans day and the $1.00 that Wesli is bringing in is going to support Alex's Lemonade Stand Foundation. This is a great cause and I support the effort. But today, the children can also wear a yellow shirt or top in honor of Childhood Cancer Awareness Month.

Wesli has one yellow shirt that fits. The little shirt is like a t-shirt but with a larger neck opening and some rhinestones along the top front under the neck opening. My wife Hollis had to sew one of the rhinestones back on last night because it had fallen off the last time Wesli wore the shirt. After repairing the shirt, Hollis asked me if I would iron it real quick because the front was wrinkled. Yes, we still iron wrinkles out of clothes in this house. Perhaps it's the former Drill Sergeant in me.

This morning I turned the iron on and made sure it had water in it. Once the iron stopped spitting and sounding like I had just cooled a newly forged red hot sword in a bucket of water, I prepared the shirt for ironing. Yes, I have a technique. I always iron the sleeves first because if you iron them last, the shirt will bunch up and become wrinkled again. I first noticed that the shirt seemed to be really thin. I loudly called to Hollis as she was in the bathroom doing her hair, that Wesli would need to wear an undershirt with it. When I began to iron the first sleeve, I observed a brown thread coming from the shoulder seam. Brown thread within a yellow shirt seemed odd to me. Oh well...I can't have threads showing....that is tacky. Not having a pair of scissors handy, I tried to cut the thread with my front teeth. The thread would not cut but it did stretch. This thread must be elastic. I gently pulled on the seam and zappo....the brown thread retracted back into the seam almost like a severed vein. Good job, Dad!

I continued to iron and the other sleeve had two small yellow threads coming from the end of the sleeve’s bottom seam. I was afraid to try and cut these with my teeth and the threads would be hidden under Wesli's arm anyway, so I let them go. It was beginning to dawn on me that this shirt was not made very well.

Once the sleeves were ironed, I tried to iron the body of the shirt. Just as I thought, the shirt was so thin that I could see the ugly brown burn stains on the ironing board cover. I looked inside the shirt to see what brand it was. I just knew it had to be made in a third world country with child labor and be from Wal-mart or Kmart but I did not recognize the brand. The body of this shirt ironed really easy except for the narrow bottom hem. I pulled the hem flat and held it in place with my free hand while I tried to hold the iron in place to flatten the seam, but the hem was so thin that it just kept rolling up. I did this all of the way around the bottom of the shirt but all to no avail. My garage rags come out of the drier looking better than this ironed shirt.

I was exhausted and frustrated from this little yellow shirt and Hollis heard my disgust. Hollis told me that this is the way the shirt was designed; it is one of the new brands that are supposed to look this way. Say “what”? Hollis also said that she had only asked me to iron the front. So I inquired as to how much she paid and where it was purchased. It seems that J.C. Penney sold this shirt and that we bought the shirt on sale for $7.49. Wesli had picked it out and considers it one of her favorites because it has the cool gems and it makes her feel like a teenager. (Hollis said, “think Hollister”…whatever that means.)

What a way to start my day. I had made my coffee, packed Wesli's homework, put together Wesli and Hollis' lunch, made French toast for breakfast, fed the cat, checked my email and loaded the car. But this thin and pitiful excuse of a shirt that I would not even use as a rag really annoyed me. Ooops...No....not me!

Gods speed...

Will Bank of China Forclose?

brian@briansroar.com (Brian S. Wehmeier) — Wed, 22 Sep 2010 12:57:45 PDT

I heard a politician making commentary about taxes and stimulus money the other night. This politician also made reference to foreclosures still being a big concern and that a lot of people had purchased homes that they could not afford and that the foreclosures were straining the economy.

How about the foreclosures? Not all foreclosures are due to families buying homes they could not afford or for failing to understand their mortgage terms. This may have been the case a year ago. I feel that most of the homes being foreclosed today is due to job loss and that families simply cannot afford a mortgage payment and all of the other expenses associated with home ownership. Home ownership is expensive. In Central Florida, watering an average size lawn twice a week can quickly add $150.00 to the monthly water bill. Add $50.00 per month for pest/chemical/fertilizer control that you must have or watch your lawn get eaten or over grown with weeds and if you don't mow your own yard, expect to pay about $100.00 per month for yard cutting based on a 12 month contract. Many Home Owners Associations (HOAs) have strict lawn standards that must be met or you could get fined.

There are many homes in my own subdivision that scream they are in trouble. Some homes that once have had beautiful, lush, thick and green St. Augustine lawns now are being taken over by weeds, Bahia, wild Bermuda and crab grass. Lawns that were manicured once a week now are going two or even three weeks before cutting. The lack of watering and pest control has taken many lawns to their death. This vicious cycle of watering the grass so that it grows, so you can mow it, so you can fertilize it to make it greener is almost comical.

Central Florida is like South Florida where clean, fresh water is scarce. We have water restrictions. We can only water twice a week. I suppose when people think of Florida, the thought of lush tropical gardens enters one’s mind. The truth of the matter is that Central Florida cannot afford the lush green tropical look. The entire yard and lawn thing needs to be re-thought. We need to be more like Arizona in the way we plan our landscapes. We can have areas of lush grass and tropical gardens mixed with xeriscape. Our yards do not need to look like a dessert, but more thought needs to be given to this subject.

My yard does not quite look the same as it did 2 years ago. I had a lush lawn that I was very proud of. As soon as I went to part-time work though, I stopped the pest control. That was a mistake as the chinch bugs came and munched up a good portion of my side yard. Pest control chemicals you buy at the big box stores simply do not work. After 5 weeks I had to start the pest control service again. Boy did I make a mistake as I should have never stopped the service. My neighbor did the same thing and he ended up paying several hundred dollars to have areas re-sod. I could not afford that so I let nature fill in the bare areas.

My yard is looking better, but certainly not its best. Every so often I see people drive by and glare or even shake their heads that my yard does not meet their standards. Tough, get over it. I just hope they do not lose their jobs. My yard looks like it has been hit by the recession but I am fortunate that it is not like some neighbors’ yards that look like they have been hit by a depression. But if it came to the point to where I may need to choose between milk and grass, the grass is going to lose.

So add the yard expense to the average $75.00 to $100.00 per month HOA fee, $4000.00 annual property taxes, $1200.00 annual homeowners insurance then principal and interest and you have a big expense. So some of you are already thinking that people should know what their home ownership is going to cost before they purchase a home, right? Well, you probably still have a job...

As far as the politicians go, no one could pull us out of our terrible economic state in just 20 months no matter how the stimulus money was spent. I also don't think the previous administration was the cause of this recession, but they sure have been used as a scapegoat. One thing I do know for sure, it does not matter whether there is a democrat or a republican President, but if things don't get better, he/she may just see Bank of China foreclosing on the White House.

Godspeed

I want to thank all of you that follow me using a reader or email. I want to give a special thank you to those readers from the Russian Federation, Germany and Japan. It's pretty cool to have you guys....Thanks.

Shamed by a Bald Eagle

brian@briansroar.com (Brian S. Wehmeier) — Sat, 11 Sep 2010 06:22:00 PDT

Image via Wikipedia

Lately there has been a television ad airing about a water filter pitcher maker that has claimed that there are enough empty plastic water bottles thrown away each year to encircle Earth two times. It is hard to imagine that.

I remember the first time I saw bottled water for sale. It was in 1981. I was in St. Petersburg, FL finalizing a deal for opening a Private Detective Agency branch office to be located in Pensacola, FL. In front of a Publix grocery store I observed what looked like soda machines but the machines had bottled water. I could not believe what I saw. I told my partner that lived in St. Petersburg that I could not believe that people would BUY bottled water and he related that the practice had been around Central Florida for many years.

I suppose this was a shock to me because the tap water in Pensacola was great tasting drinking water. Pensacola has one of the largest underground rivers (aquifers) in the nation. However, I then thought about how, 45 miles down the road from Pensacola, in Ft Walton Beach, FL, the water tastes like sulfur. That water is terrible to drink but it made some good tasting and dark iced tea.

Now we live in Orlando. The water in Central Florida is hard and it does taste terrible. We had a water softener installed and immediately saw and felt a difference with our laundry, shower doors and even our skin and hair. We also have a newer refrigerator that has a replaceable cartridge type water filter for the ice maker and water dispenser.

But even with the cold and crisp tasting water dispensed from the fridge, we buy water bottles. We actually buy the 16.9 ounce bottles and the smaller 8 ounce bottles. We freeze the smaller bottles and place them in our 8 year old’s (Wesli) bag lunches to keep her lunch and juice cool and she drinks the melting ice during the day. If we are lucky and she brings the bottle home, I will wash it, refill it from the fridge dispenser and then freeze it once again.

The larger water bottles are for convenience. It is easy to grab a water bottle on the go from the fridge rather than taking the time to fill a sports bottle from the fridge dispenser. I guess, putting it this way, it seems like it is not so much for convenience, but rather laziness. Oooops.

We keep bottled water in a mini fridge on the back patio as a convenience by not having to come into the house wet from the pool to get a drink. Once again, I suppose this is being lazy. We also keep a few bottles in the kitchen refrigerator as well as an over flow refrigerator we have in the garage. Again, having water bottles in the garage fridge is convenient if we are outside working or playing.

Since this television ad has been airing, I have attempted to cut down on the use of water bottles. I have asked Wesli to come inside to get herself and friends a drink of water with a glass and fridge-dispensed water instead of getting a water bottle from the garage fridge. When first asked, Wesli looked at me like I was crazy and then she tried it. It was almost like I had asked her to walk to school or something. I shared with her that when I was a kid, my mom would pretty much lock us out and we drank water from the outside water hose.....hot and nasty tasting rubber.

However, a few days later I realized that my requests had fallen onto deaf ears with Wesli. I had gone to get the morning paper and as usual, I opened the garage door and was making my way out to the end of the driveway. I was drinking my coffee and checking out a bald eagle in the top of a nearby tree. I bent to pick up the paper, turned around and there they were. Two 8 ounce water bottles were quietly and almost ghostly rolling from the garage down the driveway. I looked at the bottles and they both were about two-thirds full. All I could think about was the 40 cents that had rolled out from under my 4Runner and down the driveway....40 cents...gone. I was going back inside when I noticed two more large water bottles sitting near my lawn mower. These too were only partially consumed. There was another 40 cents sitting and wasting away. Wesli played basketball yesterday afternoon with a friend...she was busted...

I was certainly a bit disappointed, but not only with Wesli. I had asked Wesli to do something that was not convenient for her and that was not practiced by me. While standing in the garage, I could see a water bottle in my wife’s car and there was one in my 4Runners' center cup holder too. We are contributors to the waste that could encircle Earth two times.

As I was thinking guilty, I looked out the garage window as the door slowly closed. By this time the grand eagle had opened its long wings and began flying away but it looked back at me......its stern dark eyes and yellow beak very visible against the white feathered head....I wish I hadn't looked.....it was shaking its proud head in what seemed to be disappointment in me.

Godspeed

Getting Kicked by a Little Germ

brian@briansroar.com (Brian S. Wehmeier) — Tue, 07 Sep 2010 11:38:49 PDT

Image by RobertFrancisCough and the Common Cold via Flickr

I began to have a sore throat on Friday. I knew that this meant that I was coming down with a summer cold just days before the end of summer. No ifs, ands or buts......a lousy cold from a little germ. By Saturday evening, the cold had the best of me. That little germ had knocked me on my tush.

So this makes me wonder if any government has ever containerized the “cold” for distribution to the enemy. I am a pretty big guy. If a cold can make me feel so lousy, tired, sleepy and just plain miserable,
think of what it could do to the enemy.

According to askville.amazon.com, “Chinese writings dating back to about 1000 BC contain hundreds of recipes for the production of poisonous or irritating smokes (chemical warfare) for use in war along with numerous accounts of their use.” Since before World War 1, governments have spent massive amounts of money to develop chemical weapons and defenses against chemical weapons. GI s have been carrying some type of gas mask with them since that early time when the Germans used Mustard Gas in a combat environment. Every soldier going through basic training can remember their Drill Sergeant walking them around a little room while wearing their gas masks. In the center of the room was a small table where Tear Gas was burning from what looked like a candle. With the room filled with the eye, nose and even skin irritating clouds of gas, soldiers would have to take their gas masks off and tell the Drill Sergeant either their serial number or some other unimportant information before the Drill Sergeant would let them out to fresh air. Soldiers would exit the chamber with eyes burning, mucus running from their noses and spitting up phlegm. Just like me with a cold. This practice is to give soldiers confidence in their equipment.

OK, I know that my wife thinks it's a bit sissy for a man to act like a baby when he becomes sick with a cold. Hollis may not say it, but her tone of voice in “Rest today, you will feel better” really means, “OK wimp, get over it.”

I will admit that women can have a baby and almost immediately get up and be ready for a day’s work. I never had a baby. I think I am like most guys though and can take pain and sickness in stride and keep going. I have stepped on rusty nails before and just pulled the nail out, cleaned it up and maybe receive a tetanus shot. Or maybe even get a treble hook caught in a few fingers and just pull it out and keep fishing. I realize these are not 8 pound babies coming out, but…

I can remember breaking toes at least twice while I was a Drill Sergeant and I just taped them, put my boots on and went to work marching or running my troops into the ground. After a while, the toes go numb and the pain is left in the dust along with a few of my troops. Again, I realize this is not like pulling your lips over your head…

When I was 18, I had an appendectomy and was in the hospital less than 24 hours....This is being pretty tough, isn’t it? A day after back surgery, I was home and walking a mile a day....pretty tough again, right? I was REALLY tough when I got through a severe case of West Nile virus that almost caused my legs to be amputated. Damn mosquito!

But a little cold can just wipe me out for several days. There are dozens of medicines you can take. Some meds for daytime and some for nighttime. I am not supposed to take any of them because of the ticker meds, so I take only a few doses to get me by. Then those few doses cause other issues not even related to the cold. It's hell getting older.

So how or why does a simple cold knock big, grown men to their knees? I am not sure, but I would still rather have a cold than to have a baby...So I am going to do what Dr. Hollis suggested, I am going to go get some rest....

Godspeed....

A Nerd Scale

brian@briansroar.com (Brian S. Wehmeier) — Sat, 22 Oct 2011 07:06:26 PDT

Soon after my wife gets home from work, we try to find out how each other’s day had been. My days are pretty much the same and so is my answer: “good”. My wife does not share much about the actual work that she does but she will talk about a few things. I often wonder if she is employed by the NSA rather than Disney. I mean, I can't really think that the Mouse would be involved in any covert activities. I once held a secret security clearance, but I suppose that does not matter much to Iger. I do own several Disney hats and I even have a Mickey Mouse watch....all to no avail.

However, during our little talk the other night, Hollis was telling me about some MS Office Excel spreadsheets that she sent to a member of a volunteer organization she helps out. The other member could not open the document that was created with MS Office Excel 2007. Excel documents created with the file extension .xlsx will not open with earlier MS Excel software. I suppose my eyes rolled and I did make some small comments about skill sets and common knowledge. Seriously, what is Google for?

My expression and comments were not appreciated. Hollis stood up for people that do not know how to open a .docx file and she came close to shaming me. Well, that last part is a little off of the truth, she did shame me.

Hollis said that most people would not know how to open a .docx file and that I was a geek. “A GEEK ” ? I am not a geek nor am I a nerd. On a scale of 1 to 10 with 10 being an IT expert, I might be a 6+. I don't even own a smart phone. My cell phone does have a browser, but I am not on a data plan with AT&T so I rarely use it. I can send a text but I prefer using a SMS service from my pc if I am home because my cell does not have a qwerty keyboard. If I need information while I am out and about, I have Google 411 and Google SMS that makes my little phone “Smart”. I am not a geek.

I also own and use a digital camera but I would assume that most Americans do too. I have a Digital 8 movie camera and you cannot beat its video quality. However, I do use an IEEE 1394 firewire to connect it to a laptop for converting. You are not geek if you can do this. My digital camera also takes high quality HD video. I do not have an 8 track player but I also do not own a Blue-Ray disk player. I converted a Dell desk top from Windows XP to a Linux OS because the Linux is better and faster for my needs. I can replace a graphics card and add memory but I have MS Office Access on another pc that I do not know how to use. I am knowledgeable. I am not a geek.

There is so much new technology available that it is hard and expensive to try and keep up with. I would not know how to use a BlackBerry, Droid or iPhone. There are a bunch of people that have these though. According to the Dallas Business Journal, over the past year, there have been 2 million downloads of Pizza Hut's iPhone application and that Pizza Hut has seen $7M in sales from the app. That is a lot of pizza. I can order a pizza from my phone too. I have Pizza Hut's number in my address book. This is smart. I am not a geek.

I took Wesli, our 8 year old daughter, to the Public Library yesterday and she had to show me how to look up books and how to check them out. I am used to a card catalog file and the Dewey Decimal system to find a book. I did miss having the librarian stamp the inside cover of the book for check out. I used to love watching a librarian hit a dozen books really fast with an ink stamper. This is about getting old. I am not a geek.

I am not hinting that being a geek or a nerd is a bad thing. I am just stating that Hollis is a bit (128) wrong and that I am not a geek. So when Hollis comes home tonight, I will start with some chips (not silicone) and dip and again, I will ask her how her day went. And then Hollis will ask about my day too. I will tell Hollis that I had a “good” day with a lot of Random Memories.

Godsspeed

To convert a .docx extension:http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/word-help/open-a-word-2007-document-in-an-earlier-version-of-word-HA010044473.aspx

A Dirty Orlando Affair

brian@briansroar.com (Brian S. Wehmeier) — Thu, 26 Aug 2010 19:21:59 PDT

I have developed an unusual affair with our dishwasher. No, this is safe to read. Since there are only three of us in our household, it may take a couple of days to fill the machine. I like to save energy when I can so I don’t like running the machine unless it is full. I don’t let it get full often though.

On the other hand, knowing that the dirty dishes may sit a couple of days, I generally lightly rinse them so they will clean easier and not present an odor. Often times though, I place a dirty item in the partially full machine and it bothers me a little to see an almost full top rack of glasses and perhaps my favorite coffee cup sitting dirty with just a few dirty plates on the bottom rack. Then I look over at the silverware. The silverware also gets full very quickly but I need a lot of silverware to cook with. For instance: If I make scrambled eggs and toast in the morning for my 8 year old, I will use at least 5 utensils. One fork to beat the eggs, a tablespoon to stir the eggs while they cook, a knife to butter the toast, a spoon for the jam, and a fork for Wesli to eat with. And if she wants chocolate milk, add another spoon to stir the chocolate syrup. Meanwhile I get a fry pan, bowl, plate, glass and two coffee cups with spoons dirty along with more spoons and knives for making school and work lunches. It just does not end.

Well I just can’t have part of the dishwasher full. I may need more silverware or glasses later. It is about now when I will fill the sink with hot soapy water and wash everything that is in the dishwasher by hand and let the items air-dry. Of course in this high Orlando humidity, it takes plastic items forever to dry.

I have developed this affair with the dishes since I was laid off in April. But I think it may have gotten worse. While striving to economize, it dawned on me yesterday that after I wash the dishes, I have a sink full of mostly clean hot soapy water. I could let it sit all day and have it catch what may get dirty during the course of the day or I could use it for something else.

Then it dawned on me that I had a load of dark clothes in the washer that I was about to start. I also had one of Wesli’s colored shirts that had chocolate stains on it that did not come out from the last wash. I was marinating the stains with Spray and Wash.

I added just a little bleach to the dish soap water and soaked that stained shirt. I did this once before with diluted bleach mixture on a dark shirt and it worked fine. And it worked fine this time too. The stain and just a bit of the blue color were gone from the shirt but not enough to notice, at least for me. So I rinse the shirt very well and then add it to the regular load. I saved a good shirt….

So now I have a sink full of almost clean, tepid, soapy water with a tint of blue color and bleach. It would still be a waste to lose. Then I got another idea. I could freshen drains with the solution. Every couple of months, I like to pour a couple of cups of bleach down all of our drains. The practice keeps growth inside the drains away and it leaves a clean scent. It is almost like cleaning without the work.

So I collected the dishwater in a bucket and I carefully poured enough of the water into all of the toilet bowls, sink drains and tub/shower drains until the solution was gone. About an hour later, I flushed all of the toilets and rinsed the sinks, tubs and showers. The house really had a fresh and clean scent. Wow, I cleaned the place in no time.

I felt pretty good that I economized and was able to accomplish so much with a sink of soapy water. It’s almost a shame we don’t have a dog. Later that day, I sent my lovely wife Hollis an email and asked her if what I had done could be considered frugal or just plain cheap. She replied neither. Hollis related that what I had done was clever. Wow, I never thought of it that way. But I have to believe my wife. She would never lie to me and anyway, she is much smarter than me. Hi honey…

So the day ended quite well and the dishes were all clean before our evening meal…or so I thought. I missed two dirty glasses hiding is Wesli’s room. There was another dirty glass on Hollis’ nightstand and she had left her dirty coffee cup under a hand towel in the bathroom, all mistakes…even the dirty coffee cup I forgot in my 4Runner...all mistakes….

It just never ends…..

Godspeed

Image by golden_toque via Flickr

Fresh Look

brian@briansroar.com (Brian S. Wehmeier) — Mon, 02 Aug 2010 08:55:42 PDT

Blogger has finally created some good looking and workable templates. Previously, I had been using a free template design that met all of my requirements. I guess bloggers made suggestions and the good people at Blogger.com listened.

Under the new template designs, you can change colors of back grounds, text and even borders. You can also use 1, 2 or 3 columns and change the width of each. The developers have done a really good job. Of course, you still have the capability to add many widgets and boxes for java/html, tags, archives and many more. I like using the Blogger in draft, another great idea.

Even though I have some tweaks to make on one of the pages, I am quite pleased. I do wish however, that the developers would create a better interface for the archives. I would also like to see a user friendly space for different blog subject matter. This can all be done, but not easily. There is a ton of information on how to do a lot of things with Blogger, but it is time consuming.

I still prefer Blogger over Hub Pages. It just seems as though Hub Pages has your hands tied when it comes to design and content. By content, I mean that you are unable to add java or html for affiliates and advertising. And as far as Wordpress goes, I have not spent enough time there to judge.

I really like Drupal. Drupal has many themes geared toward blogging. I have a Drupal site ready to publish but for now, I will stay with Blogger. I will just keep playing with my Drupal site on my local server and continue to learn about it. I simply use my domain name with Blogger. It woks fine....and it is free.

Thanks Blogger staff for all of the work you did.

Godsspeed

Image via Wikipedi

Signs of the Times

brian@briansroar.com (Brian S. Wehmeier) — Sun, 01 Aug 2010 08:27:08 PDT

As I look around my neighborhood in northern Ocoee, Fl, I do not see any signs that the economy is getting better. The only signs I see are taped across the front doors of 44 houses in our subdivision that read "Foreclosure".

And now the house next to me has gone into foreclosure. The family that made this house a home is gone. The little boy that played with my daughter has moved. The pool has turned green and there is no laughter and splashing heard from the screen enclosure. The neglected yard is now brown from decomposing grass. Even the tall dandelions that once released their white parachutes of life are bending and dying. You can see the heat rolling from the black roof tiles but even in the heat and humidity of our long summer, the warmth of the home has gone. The life of the home has been lost.

Now I have the added task of trying to keep the yard next door somewhat manageable and safe until the bank takes over the role. I really don't mind the task because I know that the kids that play hide and go seek and use the large trees to hide behind, can do so safely.

The task that I dreaded was explaining to my 8 year old daughter how such a thing happened to her friend and his family. To try and explain why Mr. Shane was no longer around to tease her and joke with her. It took some time and quite a lot of explaining but she understands. Unfortunately, her understanding also caused her concern. She knows the major reason that Mr. Shane and his family lost thier home is because Mr. Shane had lost his job. My daughter realized that I too had lost my job.

With my wifes help, I feel we have reassured our daughter that we will not lose our home because there were many underlying financial concerns for our neighbors that we do not have. We just have to remember from time to time to reassure our daughter that we are doing ok.

The other 43 foreclosed houses in our subdivision must have similar stories. I did not know these families nor can I put faces with them. But I can assure you, families once made these houses homes. Some of these foreclosed houses are right next to each other and you could ponder which house went first, which neighbor went last. I just trust that there will be no sign on the front door of the home next to where Mr. Shane lived.

Godsspeed

More Than A Butterfly Garden

brian@briansroar.com (Brian S. Wehmeier) — Thu, 07 Oct 2010 05:35:34 PDT

As a young boy, I can remember that I used to be able to see monarch butterflies all over the place. Before Interstate-10 was built, you had to travel the two lane Hwy-90 or Hwy-98 to go east and west in the Florida panhandle. Traveling from Pensacola to Destin and then perhaps farther to US 19/27 and into Perry, FL was fun. I can also remember the large amount of monarch butterflies trying to make it across the highway before getting hit. When we would get home, it was difficult getting all of the dead butterflies from the grill, wipers and hood of our 1966 Galaxy 500. Today, during that same trip, you would be lucky to see a butterfly. When you arrive home today, love bugs are the insects you wash off of your car. Even the field next to my boyhood home in Pensacola was covered in large leaf milkweed. Milkweed is the host plant for the monarch butterfly.

With this in mind, we had an area from the back of our new pool to a red brick wall at the outer edge of our property line. After our pool was built, we decided not to repair the irrigation system in this area. The system was destroyed in this area because of the pool going in. Central Florida lawns are expensive to maintain and the less lawn I have, the better.

We began looking on the web for native Florida and drought resistant plants. Late summer of 2009, I ordered 10 golden flowered live milkweed plants from online. I planted these and 6 survived the winter. With these and some other plants that my big brother gave me and some that Wesli and I grew from seed, we set out to establish a small but useful butterfly garden.

This spring was really our first chance to have butterflies. On June 24 we spotted our first monarch in the garden. By this time, we had blooms on most of our golden flowered milkweed and some on our red flowered milkweed plants. On July 9, we spotted a second monarch in the garden and they both stayed. Checking the milkweed daily, we soon discovered tiny caterpillars.

So love was in the air and at one point, my daughter Wesli and I counted 60 caterpillars. We began to worry as the caterpillars ate through most of the leaves and seed pods on the 18 plants that we have. I was not sure if there was going to be enough food for all of those ferocious appetites and the two butterflies continued to create life. But as nature intended, the monarch does have some predators. The amusing predator is the brown wasp. The wasp flies from plant to plant carefully looking under each leaf for eggs or pupae. Unfortunately, the wasp exerts a tremendous amount of energy because it looks under all of the plant leaves, not just the milkweed. While watching the wasp fly foolishly to all of the plants, I am trying to understand what it is thinking. The thoughts must be “No not this one...maybe this one..nope.. not this one maybe this one...nope not this one but maybe this one ...nope....” I guess the wasps remind me of a blooming idiot.

Then one day Wesli and I are in the garden and Wesli sees a chrysalis under the overhang of the red brick wall. As we began looking, we observed chrysalis on both sides of the brick wall and as far as 80 feet way from the milkweed. There were even chrysalises hanging from the underside of the Mexican Petunias we have growing in the same garden. We initially counted 43 chrysalises and there was a constant stream of caterpillars climbing the wall and forming chrysalises. But, we no longer saw the initial two butterflies, they had left. About 10 days later, we began watching as 8 or more monarchs a day began appearing from the chrysalis. As soon as the monarch’s wings were open and full, they took flight. The initial flight was very dangerous as the young monarchs had to veer and dive to keep waiting dragonflies from catching them.

So we survived our first butterfly season. At times, we were like worried parents as we tried to nurture the caterpillars and young monarchs. When we observed too many caterpillars devouring one plant, we would relocate some to other plants. If a young monarch tried to take flight but ended up in the street, Wesli would get it and put it safely back into the garden.

We have 7 butterflies that have decided to make our garden a temporary home. And the love process has started again. Yep, small caterpillars are on the milkweed once again; just when the milkweed is beginning to grow new leaves. So, we have started new plants from taking some of the seeds from the numerous seed pods. Unfortunately, we have hundreds of seeds that we collected and very few people have wanted them.....yes...even for free.

This experience has been educational, fun and interesting. And of course, it is helping to populate the ever dwindling monarch population. But most importantly, it has given me a venue that I can share with Wesli.

It is pretty natural and easy for my wife, Hollis, to do crafts and such with Wesli for their quality time. Well, I'm not a guy that likes mixing, cutting, molding, pasting, gluing, coloring and stitching. Whenever I go to Michaels to pick something up, I get lost. Shopping for something at Michaels is, well, like being asked to pick up a ladies personal item at Publix or Wal-mart. You know, a very uncomfortable feeling. Now, send me to Ace Hardware or Lowe's and I am fine.

My time with Wesli is playing a board game or practicing whatever sports she is in at the YMCA. We also enjoy watching a movie together sometimes on the weekend. But Wesli loves the outdoors. She loves a walk in the woods and to look for animals. Wesli loves to watch animal programs on Animal Planet or any other station that has an animal show. She and I watched all 12 episodes of Life recently.

So this butterfly garden is actually a dad and daughter project that the both of us have truly enjoyed. And the garden keeps on giving life as it keeps giving Wesli and I time together. So unlike the amusing brown wasp, at least for now, I have found the right leaf to feed us joy...

Godspeed...

An Honorable Tradition is Lost

brian@briansroar.com (Brian S. Wehmeier) — Wed, 30 Jun 2010 09:22:47 PDT

I remember my dad buying cars. Dad never asked Mom what she wanted. Mom always got what Dad brought home. Dad would always buy a Ford and always from the same dealership and always from the same salesman. You could see the same faces on the sales room floor for years. They were always glad to see you whether it was buying a car or needing service. The purchase always started with smiles and handshakes. The deals were concluded with smiles and handshakes with the appearance of a win-win situation. There was never a closer coming in to “make” (pressurize) the deal. The purchase of a car was not a dreaded task.

Recently, I applied for a Sales Manager position with Drive Time. I actually came close to even applying with Toyota of Orlando. Drive Time meets the customers’ needs that have less than perfect credit. They just don’t offer much on their lot below $15,000.

I like selling. I like selling cars. I am good at it when doing it my way. I tried my hand at this in Houston. I went to work with a Toyota dealership and was employed there for almost three weeks. I really liked it. I like the Toyota brand. I sold a $28,000 Tundra on my first day and I wasn’t even licensed. The training was about a week on how to “sell” their way. It was a bit shady to me. Covering and hiding numbers is not my way to do business.

I don’t like being shady. It’s not like I mind taking money from someone for something they want. I just want the process above board. If someone is willing to take less on a trade or pay more for a car, then so be it. The customer is going to spend that money on something anyway. The practice just needs to be honorable.

I was trained to be one of those sharks. You know… waiting at the front door for a customer to drive in and then go after their blood. I was counseled several times for not being aggressive enough and not being “sharky” enough. I found it more comfortable to be out on the lot. When the customer would tell a salesman that they were just looking, they still headed to the lot. If you were in the lot, you were available for questions or even just starting a conversation about the product they were looking at. If you kept your mouth shut, you could learn what the customer wanted and the price range. Of course, most customers are not very honest when it comes to the price range. Customers always seem to want to impress a salesman by overstating what they can afford. It’s a pride thing, especially for men.

For some reason, perhaps my age, demeanor or attitude, but customers seemed to feel comfortable when in my presence. During just the short time at this dealership, I was already getting referrals from people that visited the lot and did not buy. The icing on this short career was when a customer approached me while I was in the lot, still training. The customer was not approached by a shark because of preconceptions about the customer because of her race, dress or vehicle she arrived in. The customer felt the cold shoulder and she explained to me that she received this type of welcome in the past at other dealers. As it ended, the customer looked at the most expensive product on the lot. It was an $80,000 Land Cruiser. She was not crazy about the color but I assured her we could check other dealerships. She told me she would come back later with her husband, a local doctor. Well I was new and had not received the part of the training where you must write down the names of customers you spoke with on a large board in the showroom. Therefore, I did not make any money on the sale. Yes, that evening, the husband came and bought the vehicle. I was off shift.

The following day I told the Sales Manager and he assured me that he would look into the sale. Unfortunately, the salesman that took the credit was the evening Team Leader and he did not want me in on the deal at all and he began to harass me so much that I told him to sleep well and left. My co-workers wanted me to approach the customer when she came to pick up her new Land Cruiser and have her speak to the Sales Manager. I could not do that. There was no way that I would ruin the customers’ excitement over her new vehicle, this would not have been honorable. She did wave and looked funny as to why I wasn’t helping her the following day when she came to get her new Land Cruiser.

Having Honesty and Integrity that are above reproach may not make you the richest person as far as money goes, but the value of having these are worth more than money.

There is not much money in selling new cars except for the Dealer Charges and options anymore. Dealers must sell large volumes to make money on new cars. Most everyone does their homework online now and they know what they can get ANY car for. Used cars however, are where the dealers make the money…B I G money.

I lost my Dad in 1969. If he knew I might be selling cars when I grew up, he probably would have thought that to be somewhat commendable. However, if he were here today, well, I’d probably get scolded.

And times just keep changing. Perhaps I need my own car lot..call it Honest Brian’s Used Cars…NOT

God’s Speed…

New Reality TV Idea

brian@briansroar.com (Brian S. Wehmeier) — Thu, 16 Sep 2010 06:40:20 PDT

Donald Trump makes it look easy when he points a finger at a contestant on the Reality TV show Apprentice and says “You're Fired”. But in real life, firing someone is important business.

Over the course of the many years that I have managed, I have had to call employees into my office to let them go. This is the hard part of the job and it is not done lightly.

There are generally three reasons an employer will terminate someone:
1.Behavior
2.Performance
3.Downsizing

Terminating an employee because of behavior issues is usually a no brainer as long as the employee knew or had reasonable belief that their behavior would have consequences. Back up what you will say.

On the other hand, terminating an employee for performance issues is different. There are many reasons that an employee fails to perform:
1.The performance expectations you set are too high.
2.You failed to ensure that the employee had sufficient training and/or resources to accomplish his/her job.
3.You failed to provide proper motivation and leadership. (If you feel that a paycheck is sufficient motivation, you are in the wrong position.)
4.The employee had personal issues that you failed to recognize.
5.Your hiring techniques are inadequate. You hired the wrong person. The person did not possess the proper skill set.
6.The employee simply got lazy or burned out.

There could be more reasons, but this covers the gamut. As you can see, the majority of the reasons for poor performance issues lay with the manager. But as with behavior issues, the employee should not be surprised as long as the employee knew his/her expectations, was coached for success, and understood that failure would have consequences. Back up what you will say.

The last type of termination is the most difficult. Letting a good employee go because of lack of work is really tough. Many years ago, most employers would downsize based on seniority. Unless you are in a union shop, seniority does not count like it used to. Today, employees are kept based on their ability to perform more than one task. The value of an employee is measured on what they are able to bring to the table. Employers value the ability to cross-utilize an employee. If you have an employee with two years of service that has volunteered to learn numerous jobs and then you have an employee with five years of service that has been content doing just one job, the choice is simple. Of course, the choice is certainly not going to be agreeable to the employee being terminated. Most people feel that they perform better work than their counterparts. This feeling is purely human nature. It would be difficult to have back up for this one.

Treating the terminated employee with dignity and respect is very important. Being honest with an employee could seem hurtful; however, honesty is the best policy. You should never hold any animosity against any of your employees. A sign of mutual respect will be a handshake at the end of the termination meeting.

Do not think that everything is rosy and peachy because you got a handshake. The terminated employee will have a wide range of emotions for many days or even weeks. At one point or another, the employee will place blame on almost everyone at the company then place blame on himself/herself, thinking they are a failure.

I have read that being fired ranks right up there with the top three circumstances that are usually the most difficult in life:
1.Death of a child/loved one.
2.Divorce.
3.Being fired.
4.Moving.

In the past I could attest to experiencing three of these circumstances in this ranking. And as of last Friday, I can now attest to the feeling of number 3. I knew my time at the company was short-lived. I had already downsized the staff to the point that it would be difficult to keep the doors open if I let anyone else go. So the decision was made to let me go. If I owned the company, I would have made the same decision, but probably much sooner.

Unfortunately this is not Reality TV and the person that fired me did not have a head full (toupee full?) of barely manageable brownish-grayish-reddish hair. Also, after being fired, I have no real job to go back to. Perhaps I could come up with another new idea for a Reality TV program and call it…. “Life”......

God’s speed....

Bringing Home the Bacon

brian@briansroar.com (Brian S. Wehmeier) — Fri, 28 May 2010 06:22:50 PDT

I am a Generation Jones baby and like generations before and after me, I can remark on how things have changed. With that said, I guess it’s official and I am an old fart. If you are a Generation Jones baby you have heard your parents time and again state how they walked two miles to school each day in knee deep snow. You have also heard their wisdom and what they remember of the Great Depression, World War II, Korean War and the Vietnam War. As a Generation Jones baby, you may recall where you were when John Kennedy was assassinated or calling your local AM radio station to keep playing Yellow Submarine. You will also remember Watergate, long gas lines and the allegedly last Vietnam POW getting off of a plane.

You can also remember how hard your dad worked outside of the home while your mom kept you and the home clean and safe with dinner ready at the family table. Or, perhaps your mom was one of the first to enter the workforce to help with home finances. Either way, mom and dad were busy working.

We currently (April 2010) have over 12% unemployment in the Central Florida area. This is nothing to brag about. As of this writing, things will get worse before getting better. Most people looking for jobs have not been able to find one. Job seekers have combed through Craigslist.org, Career Builder, Monster and everything in between including networking. Job seekers are hitting Google to learn what to do and reading blogs for help such as mine. But to most, this is all to no avail.

But what really chaps me is the failure that I see in some job seekers (a minority) that refuse to apply for anything less than what they had before. They call this pride. There is still a mentality as always with some people that they think they cannot accept a job unless the position starts as CEO. I am reminded of this as I hear couples talking aloud or while speaking on their expensive cell phone that takes a very expensive plan. That’s what mom and dad is for, right?

Here is an easy rule: The industry with the greatest job loss will be the industry with the slowest return.

As an example, if your previous position was related to residential or commercial construction, I hope you plan on changing careers. This means every facet of that industry, including construction jobs, mortgage companies, law firms, title companies and banks. If you are an unemployed concrete finisher and you are waiting to only take a similar position, think twice. If you are an unemployed legal assistant, perhaps you need to think twice too. I could keep on going with careers that will be slow to come back. I wish I could not.

If you are living in LaLa Land waiting for that one break and are not willing to take anything else well, there isn’t going to be a check from Obama in your mailbox tomorrow. You got to do what you got to do (legally). There is not going to be a quick fix. And for those of you that have found a job in the interim or started a new career, good for you! For those of you that continue to look for any job, good luck to you and try not to get discouraged.

One thing for all generations is that no one is going to bring home the bacon but you.

Hold the Cholesterol Please

brian@briansroar.com (Brian S. Wehmeier) — Fri, 28 May 2010 06:20:52 PDT

Several months have passed since my first blog. Since that time, I can say that any handwriting on the wall that I saw must have been written for someone else. However, I continue to poke around to see what is out there and to learn of the difficulty in finding a job in today’s economy. If I am able to pass along some information that is beneficial, then I can feel good about this endeavor.

Staying on track with the first few blogs, you may have noted that the job hunting tips have been geared to the under 25 age group (NASCAR) with some smart pointers for those over 50. However, I am still amazed at the behavior I see in some job applicants.

A few short weeks ago, my family and I were traveling across Florida. Upon stopping at a fast food restaurant to get my 8-year old angel some chicken nuggets and to use the facilities, I observed a young woman speaking to a supervisor at one of the eat in tables near the windows. It seemed apparent that the young woman was applying for a job as the small table was cluttered with paper that was helping to soak up the grease that was left by a customer. The supervisor was looking over an application and the young woman was nervously answering questions. I was unable to hear the conversation over the sound of ice falling into cavernous cups, the sound of a basket of hot fries being banged against the deep fat fryer to help the grease drip faster, and the voices of employees calling for no onions no mustard and “Would you like an apple pie”. One customer even asked an employee to hold the cholesterol.

We received our order and walked out to our car. We loaded up and as I looked forward through the maze of dead bugs smeared on our windshield, I could see the job interview still taking place. I didn't want to leave because I had become fascinated with both parties to this interview. The supervisor was being repeatedly interrupted by employees that were asking questions and even a customer complaining. The customer must have found the cholesterol.

At one point, the supervisor left the interview to go to the counter. Meanwhile, the job applicant was sitting patiently and to stay busy, she began texting on her phone which she had placed on the table in front of her when she sat down. It was then that I observed that the young applicant was wearing a T-shirt and jeans. We were going to back out and leave when by chance, the supervisor and applicant were able to sit uninterrupted and talk. But don't you know it......the applicant’s cell phone must have rang because she answered her phone. My wife and I were quite amused watching this scene play out. My little angel even got a laugh out of it. I wish I could afford an Apple IPhone.

As we departed the area, I wondered how many supervisors would treat an applicant in this rude manner. I am certain that there had to be a senior employee on duty that was capable of taking over in the supervisor’s absence. I also tried to understand the thought process of an applicant going for an interview dressed inappropriately with their cell phone on.

I suppose you can call this a learning process for the applicant. If the applicant did get the job, she may become a supervisor in the future. And as a supervisor, she will probably repeat the process that she underwent. And there you have it, history repeating itself.

So the next time I order a #1 regular size with a coke, I am going to think back to that job interview, smile and then wonder if that particular restaurant found a way to hold the cholesterol.

Gods speed...

Generation Jones and Baby Boomer Decisions

brian@briansroar.com (Brian S. Wehmeier) — Fri, 08 Oct 2010 06:54:59 PDT

It’s funny how life can throw things at you. The older you get the less surprised you become, or at least I thought.

I just got in from Pensacola last week. I had gone to Pensacola to visit my family, mainly to see my mom, age 86. Moms’ mental and physical health has not been very good lately and she has been diagnosed with Alzheimer and possibly Parkinson’s Disease. Mom needs more attention and physical help than she is able to get with family and caregivers. It was time to make that dreaded decision to place her into a skilled nursing facility.

Welcome to being a Generation Jones baby because most of the Baby Boomers have already gone through this with their parents.

My siblings and I found the perfect facility and it came highly recommended by friends, doctors and professionals in the field of Geriatrics. The facility is clean with employees in abundance and on the work floor instead of hiding in an office. I am very pleased with this facility. Upon checking Mom in, my big brother was taking care of paper work; I stayed with Mom in her new room. Mom was sleepy and not talkative at all. As a matter of fact, Mom quit breathing altogether. I called the nurses and after several minutes of health care workers rushing in and out of Moms’ room, I was told that she was now breathing.

Like we needed this extra stress…

Mom was taken to a local hospital and kept for two days. Seems as if the new Parkinson medicine was the culprit in making Mom stop breathing. So Mom is now in her new room with a bunch of great people. However, mom is very miserable and mad with us that we placed her in a facility. My big brother and little sister are getting the brunt of this because they live there. We were told that this is part of Alzheimer. I’m not so sure. I know that my big brother and I have serious heart issues and my little sister is going through some rough times while her husband is laid off of work.

There is a lot of stress involved in this kind of a decision and there are many things that must be done in preparing for this kind of a move.

It isn’t over yet.

Now my wife’s mother, age 72, has fallen in her home. While she did not break anything, she is in the hospital. There seems to be several issues with Mom. The main issue is arthritis has eaten away at her knees and back and she has no muscle to speak of. Mom will have to go through serious rehab to get her muscle built so she can be evaluated for knee replacement, which she should have had more than 10 years ago. As of now, it looks like Mom will be going to a residential rehab center for a few weeks. Here comes the list of things to do again. I will admit, it is all out of love though.

Wow…….

Christmas Eve Downside

brian@briansroar.com (Brian S. Wehmeier) — Thu, 24 Dec 2009 07:18:18 PST

This is the time of year that being a Manager has its biggest downside for me. I suppose a lot of people would like to have their Manager’s position. It’s a perk, right? You are the boss. It is easy to be the boss, isn't it?

My career as a Manager in various sectors, including the Military, Federal Service and private industry has proven to be years of extremely rewarding service. I can honestly say that I have never supervised or managed a poor performing group. I know that some of you are saying “yeah, right”, but this is true. Now, that’s not to say that I have not dealt with some individual behaviour issues; but not major team issues. Perhaps some of my people would have liked to have had my job. I sure hope so anyhow. Even more so, I hope that they would like to be a Manager like me.

I am human though. Often the people that know me best can see right through me on a bad day or one in which I have some inventible tough decisions to make. My people can read worry on my face just as they can when we are having a great day. Let's face it, acting like you are having a great day when, in fact, your people know that it couldn't be a good day based on perhaps a set of circumstances is just a falsehood. You never lie to your people but on the other hand, you don't wear your feelings on your shirt sleeve either.

I have had some great Managers for whom I worked. There are some that I wanted to emulate while others were such pathetic leaders they needed to go. My first couple of years with the US Postal Service was as a City Carrier. I had the greatest boss named Eddie W. and I would do anything for him. As I got to know the ins and outs of the job, I knew that Christmas was really busy and that there would be temporary workers brought in to help who were called Casuals. You could see the eagerness on the Casuals’ faces wanting so much to please. Of course, they were thinking that they had a foot in the door and perhaps the possibility of a good Postal job. But in fact, they were just temps. As Christmas Eve approached, the Casuals would leave and Eddie W. was always a little down watching them go.

After a couple of years, I became a Carrier Supervisor. My first Christmas as a Carrier Supervisor came and so did the Casuals. One of the Casuals had been obtaining temporary work for about a year. A week before Christmas I was told to release all Casual employees. I now knew why Eddie W. was a little different near Christmas time. It was one of the toughest things I ever had to do up to that point. This was not a perk for me. It was tough.

Several years after the Postal Service and now in the private sector, I always ramp up staff for Christmas time. I project sales, work load and work hours and hire what we need. Some years I have hired up to fifteen extra people. All of the people hired are told up front that the work is just temporary. However, you can see that look in their eyes. It was the same look of the Postal Casuals years ago. They seem to feel they have a foot in the door and are very eager to please thinking perhaps that there could be a chance for long-term employment. Over the next couple of months you get to know these people. You learn their stories and their need for the job. Well, Eddie W. isn't around on Christmas Eve when you begin to call these employees in one at the time and let them go. It only takes the first employee leaving my office to have a fear start spreading throughout the building. A couple of hours later, it is over. Earlier those mornings, the people that knew me could see the usual upbeat self. Later in the day, the same people could read something totally different in my face. After discharging the last temporary worker, my right hand manager will walk into my office and tell me to go home and I usually will, shortly thereafter.

This year I only hired one extra person and as previous years, I went out to the floor today and called her into my office. My long-term employees knew the sound in my voice and the look in my face even though, to a new employee, I was wearing a smile. This year was tough too. This worker has been looking for steady work for almost a year. I did the usual. I listened, I offered hope, advice, assistance and I wished her the very best of luck. I shook her hand while looking into her eyes that only an hour ago glistened with hope, but now the eyes were dampened by an impending tear. I was not this wise at age 26 as a Carrier Supervisor, but I have always shown compassion.

Do you still want to be the boss? If you do, you too may someday experience the “perk” of being a boss on "Christmas Eve”.

Job Hunters Avoid Scams

brian@briansroar.com (Brian S. Wehmeier) — Tue, 15 Dec 2009 19:39:59 PST

I have already written about the Insurance Companies that will send you email's telling you that you are one of the few being selected for a Management position. Check out my “The job hunt is on” ( http://hubpages.com/hub/The-job-hunt-is-on).

And now, wow, the scams and shams have started. Beware or shame on you. Just because you posted your resume on Monster or Caree Builder does not mean that unscrupulous people won't send you bogus job offers or request personal information from you. There are no real background checks done on employers that are searching resume sites. Just because a Careerbuilder link brought you some information on a job, it does not mean it is a legitimate offer.

Remember the old saying “If is is to good to be true then it probably is”? Well, it holds true today even for the hundreds of thousands of people looking for work. Anyone trying to scam someone should be whipped and to scam someone unemployed should be skinned.

So what got me stirred up. Well, I got an email with the subject line of : Careerbuilder. Life & General Financial Advisers Ltd Positions for Brian. The email went on to say that I was selected for one of several e-commerce positions with full time pay at $22.00 an hour and part time at $19.00 an hour with fully paid training. Of course, there were no job scopes listed. I did a quick Google and there is a Life & General Financial Advisers Ltd in England and it has a .com. The email was from Life and General.org and the .org did not work. I replied asking for more information. I received two .pdf's. One pdf was company information and the other was an application and agreement. Both pdf's came straight from the .com web site and no doubt being used maliciously without their knowledge. Of course, the .org site wanted banking information or to open a new bank account if I was leery. HELLO, red lights and sirens are going off here.

Using http://www.networksolutions.com, I looked up the owner of the .com and sent an email asking if the email I had received was legitimate and I never did get a response. I then did an ownership of the .org and it was registered to the person that sent me the email and she had signed the email as HR Department. The sender lives in New Jersey. Come on guys (scammers), do you think everyone is stupid and incompetent? I sent a reply email to whom I think is a scam artist and today I received a reply from, Google mail that the email was undeliverable because it could not contact the DNS server.

So what do YOU need to do? Like I repeated before, if it sounds to good to be true then it most likely is. Next, make sure you look at the full details of the senders address. Gmail will let you see the full address. DO NOT SEND ANY INFORMATION RELATED TO YOUR PERASONAL DATA, ESPECIALLY BANKING INFORMATION. A legitimate company will have you go to their secured web site to put in personal information, not banking information. Whenever you go to any site, make sure that the web address has https and not http. The s means it is suppose to be secure. Also, look in the lower right hand corner of Internet Explorer and Firefox as there should be a lock down there showing you are on a secure web page. Remember if you are on a secure page, the page is secure, not the entire site.

When I first started this quest of job hunting, I opened another email account that I use exclusively for job hunting.Be careful, be aware and get that job.

Gods speed....

BriansRoar

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Generation Jones and Baby Boomer Decisions

Christmas Eve Downside

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