Cold Turkey Workaholic

Hello,
My name is Rick and I am a Workaholic. All I can think of is when I can get a job and start working again. I have had to quit cold turkey. It is one of the hardest things I have ever had to do...

Are you unemployed and seriously looking for work? Do you have a family dependent upon your income to survive? Have you been laid off of work a month after getting a positive review and raise? Have you been told you will be called back to work, but two years later see your benefits expiring and no jobs available?

Yeah, me too! I have read countless articles saying that there is no real shortage of jobs, just people unwilling to work. I have seen numerous broadcasts describing the wonderful drop in the unemployment rates, mainly due to benefits expiring... The United States government proclaims that they are building new jobs daily. Where?

I started this blog to help relieve some of the stress that I feel about being unemployed. I have been told that I still do not have a job after 2 years of being unemployed because I am lazy. I am far from it. I love working. My wife was, more often than not, upset with me because I spent so much time working. Yes, I worked over-time whenever possible to earn more money to pay the bills, but also because I loved being able to do more work. I enjoy working hard because it gives me a huge sense of self-worth. The more I can accomplish, the better. Being unemployed for 2 years has been hell. I WANT to work. I seriously look for work. I enjoy working long days and feeling like I have gotten something done.

My unemployment benefits are going to run out in about one month and I still do not have any good leads on a job. I can do nearly anything, given minimal instruction. I have great problem solving skills, good people skills, the ability to communicate thoughts and ideas well, and an aptitude for learning. One thing I am lacking is an opportunity. Every job I have ever had I have taken pride in doing. Another thing I am lacking is a degree. This I am in the process of remedying. I am attending online courses with the University of Phoenix and maintaining an A in every class, thus far.

I am trying to increase my value as an employee by getting a degree, but for how much longer can I attend classes? As I have stated, my benefits run out at the end of the year. How am I going to pay for internet access to attend classes once my benefits expire? Better yet, how am I going to pay the rent, the utilities, buy food, pay for fuel to take my son to school in a county with no busing? Do I sign up for welfare and be labeled as an even bigger failure by those who actually have a secure job?

I wrote a letter to my local Representative explaining the situation my family is facing and actually received a reply. Basically, the reply sympathized with my families problem and offered a promise to try hard to find solutions to the economic problems of the country. Very comforting. Not that I really expected a lot from government officials that gave trillions to the companies that caused the collapse of the economy. Has there ever been a time when our government officials actually concerned themselves with the average citizen?

I understand that there is a common goal of wealth building the world over. But if you become rich only from stealing from others, who will you look to for support when you fall into hard times yourself? Our government only seems interested in offering support or help to those that are financing their campaigns. Where is the special interest group for unemployed workers? Oh, yeah. You need funding to become a special interest group that the government will listen to.

I know this entry has a bitter sound to it. I can not say that I am not bitter, but I mostly just feel frustrated and terrified. I want to work, not only because I love to actually work, but because I want to support my family and carry on with my college classes. Looking at a future, approaching very quickly, where my family will not have the income to pay our rent, buy food, or heat the house for the winter is more terrifying than anything you can imagine. Unless you are one of the millions of Americans in the same situation.

Racism, Opinions, and Recriminations

As an American I am not only given the Right to voice my opinion, I am also subjected to other people's Right to voice theirs. I say "subjected to" because many people are so ignorant about the topics they so strongly vocalise opinions about.

Now, do not misunderstand me. I greatly value our right to voice our opinions. What I do not agree with, as my opinion, is peoples insistence that voicing racist comments is also a right. My understanding of the bill of rights is that as long as you, exercising your rights, do not trample others' rights, it is allowed. If you, in the exercising of your own rights, keep others from theirs, it is unlawful. It is my belief that when people demonstrate person views of racism through voice or action, it impedes others right to equality. On the same note, creating organizations or offering assistance based upon race, is also unconstitutional.

Isn't the whole basis of equality to be equal with no distinction made regarding race? If people wish to make race specific organizations, they should be subject to the laws pertaining to racial segregation. Some organizations have adapted, such as the United Negro College Fund which offers assistance to all races. To discriminate against any race, for any reason, in the United States should be considered an illegal practice. This includes favoring minorities, namely race, by our own government.

I have listened to countless people lecturing that race does make a difference. Or that "everyone" is racist in some way. I do not believe so. Personally, there are only two beliefs commonly exercised that immediately anger me. When people believe they will fail before even attempting something and when they say that one race is better, or worse, that another for whatever reason. I believe people are people and should be judged by their own actions. Jerks are jerks, no matter what color their skin or where they came from.

The only true difference is a persons financial starting point. I say this because not everyone has the same "chances" in life. If you come from a rich and well connected family, your chances of having getting a college education are much greater than someone from a poor family. The laws in our country favor the rich to such an extent that if you are rich and do not need money, you can get a loan easily. Not only easily, but with a much better interest rate. Take two people with the exact same credit score, one being rich the other being poor. The poor person will get a higher interest rate on their loan than the rich person. The poor persons interest rate will be raised without notice, due to the social group they are in. How is this lawful? Because rich people financed the laws pertaining to this.

I know, it is rather obvious that I fall into the poor group. This does not mean that I am in any way wrong. Martin Luther King Jr. is touted as a civil rights activist for helping do away with racial segregation. That was not his goal at all. He believed that alleviating poverty would solve the racial problems. Not that changing the constitution to make every race equal would solve anything. If our economy were adjusted in such a way that everyone stood on fairly equal footing, the racial issues would greatly decrease. I believe this wholeheartedly.

Many people wrongly focus upon the subjugation of black people in our history. Blacks, Asians, Hispanics, Polish, Irish, Native Americans, they were all horribly subjugated. Basically, anyone that was anything other than British were subjugated. As I've said in earlier posts, I am Bohemian. My "homeland" is not even on maps any longer. Should I be bitter and blame the Germans and the Russians? Why? It is in the past. What we do now, as a nation, is more important than what was done to our ancestors in the past.

My family is going through some very difficult financial difficulties at the moment but I do not blame those problems on race. I blame them on our nations focus on allowing the wealthy to write laws securing the wealth of the rich by making sure the poor "stay where they belong". I am not what anyone would consider to be "dumb". I have not had the opportunity to attend college but I have always had a passion for learning. With my socioeconomic status I have not been able to attain an education that would allow me to climb the ladder to a higher standing. Because of many reasons, race and age included, I have been passed over for financial assistance for living expenses and an education. It is actually quite funny, in a sense. Being an able bodied, white, male, with good motor skills and a decent IQ, I have been told I do not need assistance. Even as I have been unable to find employment without a college degree and with my family on the verge of being kicked out of our house.

I am not a greed driven person, maybe to my detriment. My wife and I do not wish to be wealthy, only to make enough money to provide for our family and be free from the stress of unpaid bills and no food in the pantry to feed our family. Whenever I am employed, I am considered a workaholic, but the moment I was laidoff I was considered lazy. Because I could not find a new job. Understand, in my area of Michigan the unemployment rate is nearly double the national average. Michigan's unemployment rate is 15-17%. In my county it is nearly 30%. I have been told many times to relocate. Where to? With what money? I have looked all over Michigan for work. In order to provive the minimum support for my family I need a college degree... in anything. Many job listings out there require a degree to apply but do not care what the degree is in or whether it applies to the work. There are just so many people unemployed in Michigan at the moment that just having a degree in an unasociated field is a minimal requirement. For those of us without a degree it is nearly impossible to find employment.

I degressed from my topical rant a bit there at the end, but I guess I needed to vent a bit.

Rain and Country Music

I love the rain. The sound of the rain drops hitting the leaves in the trees. The pitter patter of the drops on the roof or pavement. That refreshing smell all around me after the clouds have cried their last tear.

I hate the rain. The dampness that reminds me of living in an old rundown camper in a scrap yard. The sound of the rain on the roof and windshield of the car I lived in. The never ending reminder of tough times then and now.

I love the rain. It livens up the surroundings. Turns the leaves and the grass green. Washes everything clean. Gives a sense that there will always be a better day tomorrow. That the clouds will clear and the sun will warm our faces once again.

I hate the rain. The way it chills you to the depths of your being. It reminds me of all the tears I cried in loneliness and sorrow. When the rain is pouring from the sky, I am reminded of all the family and friends I have lost through the years.

Like sunlight trapped within every drop of rain, memories are also full of light and warmth.


The rain reminds me of every sad country song I have ever heard. It has been raining all day today and I made the mistake of listening to country music. I hate the rain, but the sun just pushed it's way through the clouds. Warming the remembered sorrows and glinting off my son's hair and brightening his smile as he turns to point.

Michigan's MEAP Test...

Most people in American will agree that public school education is falling well short of it's goals. Our teachers are blamed. Parents, who grew up in the same public schools, are blamed. Our government is blamed. The blame lies in the methods we use to "fix" the teaching system.

In Michigan we have the vaunted MEAP testing that "awards" schools with higher financing for the schools with the higher test scores from their students. I, personally, fail to see how this increases the performance of schools. All the schools have done is change their structure to teach kids to test well on the MEAP, ignoring all other knowledge. This means that from 5-6Th grades onward, classes focus on teaching students the same classes over and over again in order to ensure higher financing for the schools. Neglecting the further education of the students in new material is a blatant result.

From my own personal experience, I can say that I was disappointed in my teachers from early on. I know I may not have been a typical student. I was a sponge. Never did much studying but always tested very well. Much of this was due to the fact that most of what I was taught from 6Th grade to 12Th was review. Think about your own classes. How many years were you taught who invented the cotton gin? How many years was American History a required class? What was the first year that advanced mathematics became available? How many years worth of public schooling were you learning the basics of cell structure? Every one of my teachers would assign 1-2hrs of homework per day. I had 7 classes every day in high school. That is a lot of homework... Most was review of things I had been taught for the previous 6yrs. I did homework in 1-2 classes. I used tests and quiz scores to pass all my other classes. Yes, my grades were not anything to be proud of. At the time I was honestly ticked off at my teachers and the school system. It isn't that I was a lazy student. I loved learning. I just wanted to learn something NEW! I had 2 teachers in high school that understood and tried to provide new material within their state guide lined curriculum's. I applied myself fully to their classes. I wasn't rebellious and I was not disruptive. Every teacher that asked me why I refused to do homework was given the same answer. "I have been taught the same things since 5Th or 6Th grade. I get it already. Teach me something new. Challenge me with more than hours and hours of homework reviewing the same things I've been taught for the last 6 years. If you are unwilling to teach me anything new, I am unwilling to do pointless review of material I have proven I know." It wasn't said in an argumentative manner. I wasn't being condescending. I was being open and honest. I was informed by several teachers that I was a daily topic in the teacher's lounge. My Economics teacher was the only one to speak up for me in those discussions. He was one of the 2 teachers I had that took up the challenge I offered. He said it was the best thing he ever did. All of his student's grades improved after he started including new material into his class.

When students are faced with the same thing every single day they become bored. They stop trying to remember the materials and focus on blocking it out. Consider this example. The nagging spouse/parent. When you are told over and over again for an endless period of time the same thing... you actively try to block it out. After a while, this starts to stagnate the testing scores in those subjects. Not to mention... do away with grading curves. If a students do not understand the material well enough to get decent grades, do not reward them with a grading curve in order to salvage the TEACHER'S class score average... Put any teacher found using a grading curve under review with possible termination as a result.

How to fix this instead of just complain? It is going to take drastic changes. Nothing else will do the job. First off, I challenge everyone to look at the different education systems around the world. Quit looking at the system in the state next door. Theirs is broken, too. One place to start comparing is Japan. Yes, I have a personal love of Japan. Mainly, due to the fact they seem to know what they are doing in many respects. In Japan, they make schools competitive. If you want into a good college you have to have a good GPA as well as test well on the entrance exam. Right? That is how Japan treats all levels of schooling. If you want into a higher rated junior high school, you need to score well in grade school, and take entrance exams to get into the best junior highs. Same with advancing from junior to senior high schools. What this does is drive the students who want to get the best education to try harder to learn new material. It also drives the teachers and schools to offer a higher level of education. Granted, the driving force in all of this is still money. The teachers in the schools that rank the highest get paid more. All schools will improve because the teachers all want to make more money... right? Also, this method of education introduces what are currently college level classes, into the grade school level classes. This is far from being a bad thing. It will influence our colleges to also increase their level of performance.

I am always hearing politicians and teachers saying that our children are our future. Start acting like it. Bite the bullet. Kick the school unions in their collective butts. They are doing the same damage to our children as the auto worker's unions have done to the Big 3. They are trying to treat the union as a business. That is not what a Union is supposed to be. It should protect the teachers and do what it can to make sure those same teachers are doing their jobs properly. If a teacher does not perform well, they should be replaced. I have a firm belief that a teacher that has lost, or does not have, a passion for teaching, should be replaced or re-evaluated. Teachers need enough flexibility in their curriculum's to find the best way to teach their students.

Adding student teachers/interns into every class to provide support and added tutoring is also a must. This will allow for an increase in student's understanding of the material. (There are basically 3 methods to learning. The assistant teachers will help the head teacher implement these on a per student basis if needed.) Schools should offer student tutoring after school. For the advanced students that are tutoring others after school, offer them perks. I am not sure what these could be, but in place of credit for extra curricular activities, they could tutor. Require , or strongly recommend, all students take part in after school "clubs". These clubs could be the sport programs or school newspaper. Leave the different clubs up to the student body to decide. Meaning, if 10 students want to start a bird watching club, allow it. Set up teaching staff to monitor the clubs. This would be a good place to implement the assistant teachers.

I am aware that all this would take a large influx of funding to get going. I also believe that the tax payers would be willing to pay it if their children were being educated at a higher level and the schools were actually taking responsibility for their performance as educators.

Fate, Karma, Destiny, Divine Plan?

Life is seemingly unfair but just. Right? Fate, Karma, Destiny, God's Divine Plan. Throughout my life I've had moments where I have had regrets and wishes that things were "different". Yet, after a slight moment of reflection, I have always come to the same conclusion. No matter how horrible life seems, all events lead to something further down the line. For example, if I had not one through every one of the difficult periods of my life, I would not have had the most wonderful periods that have followed.
You hear people, upon occasion, ask the question, "If you could do anything differently, what would you do?". I have always answered the same way. Nothing. I would not change anything. Even going to prison. Even being homeless on more than one occasion. I would not change those horrible instances in my life for anything. If I went back in time and changed any one thing of any significance, I would never have met and married my wife. I would never have had my son. I would not trade those for anything. No matter how hard things are or have been.
What does this all mean? Is there such thing as Fate? Where no matter what choices we make we will always have the same outcome? If I had made all the "right" choices, I would still have married my wife and had my son? Karma... Did I make that many bad decissions early on to warrant all the hard times I've had? Was I destined to suffer throughout my life and have enough "good times" to kep me going? Now the big one. Does God have a Divine Plan for me that is using all the pain and suffering to make me stronger for something in the future?
Is it all a matter of our personal beliefs, the search for the "reason" all the different things in life happen? Or is it just a matter of "shit happens"? I guess my answer to the question of changing the past answers my method of belief.

Public Transportation

This is a topic in hot debate at the moment by government officials. For me, it's a no brainer. The United States has fallen so far behind in the area of public transportation that it is causing massive economic problems.

I've read a few blogs recently that offer some creative, and common sense, methods of helping offset the costs of revamping and upgrading America's public transportation. The biggest method is setting aside dedicated wind and solar power sources for public transportation. No fossil fuels required... Not to mention the maintenance costs are fairly low on those types of power generation. As long as it is done using a little intelligence.

I love cars. The idea of riding on a train everywhere is a little outputting. Seriously. But. I am not so stuck in my ways that I refuse to take note of a problem. Recently, I have been researching different areas of Japanese culture. I would bet most people would be shocked to find out that every real estate listing in Japan gives walking time to the nearest railway stations. Whether people have cars or not is beside the point. Whether people live in town, or not, is beside the point. Even in rural areas there are railway stops. Yes, it would cost a lot of money to set up this type of transportation system, but the benefits would far outweigh the costs.

In today's American economy, people are having to live further and further from their place of employment in order to make ends meet. Myself, prior to losing my job, I was driving 45 minutes one way to work. The price of fuel is so high I have had to get advances on my pay in order to just continue going to work. If there were a reliable public transportation system set up, those costs could be cut dramatically. With millions of people in American currently commuting from rural areas and from across town, the benefits to the American public, would be massive. I understand that most areas in towns and cities do not have the space set aside for stations. The space needs to be found regardless. This country is so far behind in public transportation, it rather makes me sick to consider the tax payers money that has been wasted. Instead of pulling up tracks over the last 30 years, the railway companies should have converted the old freight lines to passenger use.

Recycling?

You hear people preaching about recycling everyday. I will agree that it is a great concept. The only thing I don't really understand is why they don't go further with it. Well, they will only recycle the items that are worth a substantial amount for the recycling company. ... OK. Scratch that last comment. I do understand it.
That being said, lets look at a few worthwhile items to recycle that most people don't know you can recycle. Plastics. Yeah, yeah. "We recycle that all the time." Bullpucky! You send it to someone that grinds it up and makes park benches and milk jugs. Awesome... How much plastic still hits the landfills? Forget reusing the plastic once, as is typical. Were you aware that plastics are made of, primarily, oil? Yes, oil. There is only one company, that I am aware of, currently reclaiming the oil from plastics. (Keep in mind, I don't do a whole lot of research. This is what I've read in random magazines.) Why isn't there a huge growth in this area of recycling? Depending on the type of plastic, up to 60% of its make up is oil. There is a lot of plastic just sitting around in landfills...
Here is one that I consider recycling, but that isn't. I consider it recycling, because it is reusable. Indefinitely. Two things, actually. Wind and solar power. Yes, it costs money for the equipment, but why not lower the costs of some of these things so everyone can make use of them? Seriously. I believe that every house and building with a roof, should have solar panels. Not the stupid little black boxes with water pipes like were popular in the 1980's. Actual working, efficient, high output, solar panels. Every building would contribute to cutting down fossil fuel usage.
Spit in the eye of every "naturalist" and put windmills in every area where there is a constant source of wind. Yeah, I said it. I don't care if they are ugly. So is that Prius you're driving. It's about saving the planet, right, tree hugger? Build windmills that require less wind to generate more power, but that can handle higher wind speeds to generate "boosts" of extra energy for storage for later use.
What happened to the big push for electric cars? Make batteries or an energy storage unit that is more efficient. That way, we can have cars with built-in generators that produce enough energy to recharge the batteries and still run the stereo, a/c, head lights, etc.
On that note, why not use nuclear byproducts? The spent fuel from power plants, for instance. Does it produce enough energy to power a car? They say it lasts forever... When you buy a new car, use the power supply from the old one...

I can't believe I am the only person thinking about this. Let's put some government spending into this type of stuff. I am no green freak. I just don't see the sense in all this waste. We need to stop letting the oil companies run this county the way the Big 3 did. This county is focused on money, greed, corruption. How rich would the United States of America become if we did away with our dependence on fossil fuels? If all power were supplied by renewable sources, that cost nothing more than the windmills repair/replacement, solar panels repair/replacement... We would have a bunch of money in our pockets to spend on other stuff.
Inflation is "controlled" in this country to promote growth. My opinion is that it needs to be drawn back a great degree so we can start recycling more. Should the government allow the people of this country to build wealth without raising the costs of living we could flourish with a focused mindset. If we reclaim/recycle/reuse every available resource without using it up, we will be healthier, richer, and hopefully, smarter. If we invest, seriously, in renewable electric power supplies, we could become the country we once were, minus the corruption of the oil companies. ... As long as the companies building the windmills and such are allowed (forced) to keep costs down while maintaining a profit. It is possible. Remember when milk was only $1/gallon? Wasn't that long ago and I believe there is no justifiable reason for our current cost of living in this country.
Where the hell is our railway system? We need to build a nationwide electric railway system. It can be done cheaply... Ya know, considering the size of it... Just keep greed out of the equation and prosecute the bastards harshly that cross the line.

I think I could go on forever on this topic. Recycling isn't about turning newspapers into insulation your attic. It is about making the more responsible use of what you have available. Keeping in mind that "Special Interest" groups are all idiots. If proper steps are taken to reduce the impact on nature, within reason, just do it. The overall benefit to nature will out weight the harm. Zero pollution....