Catchup

OK, so I hope to soon be back to posting regularly, if not daily, again soon.  The garage claims I will have my car back by early next week at the earliest, the house was closed on this past Friday, the crazy week at work has passed, and things are starting to settle again.  There are a few other things up in the air, but I'm not ready to discuss them here yet.

Stay tuned though, more excitement to follow!

Light Posting

My apologies, but I will not be posting much for a few days.
I was in a severe car accident.  While I am physically fine, I am suddenly facing more challenges than I prefer to face.  Getting to and from work without a car is difficult, let alone handling everything else I need to do. 
Oh well, time to tighten the ol' belt buckle, and get cracking!

Life is Busy

This is more of a 'light posting' apology than anything else.  Life has become hectic!
I've been extremely busy with various things I'm working on with my fiance, not the least of which is planning a wedding and buying a house.  We started a new sermon series at church this weekend, which meant I had to spend some extra time getting the lights set for that, and the list goes on.
All that said, I'm planning to step up the posting again at some point in the near future.
Please bear with me, I am only human, after all!

Busy Weekend

I had a very busy Memorial Day weekend.  It included interviews for reception halls for a certain upcoming event, as well as the other party of said event putting an offer on a substantial investment.

What did you do this weekend?

What Does it Mean to be Aware of Your Surroundings

Source:

http://3bxsofbs.infamousanime.net/?p=4379&cpage=1#comment-18379

I have always made it a special point to be alert to my surroundings.  We have a responsibility to ourselves and to our loved ones to be aware of danger, alert to trouble, and the like.  This can be exhausting, if you don't apply your methods correctly.  

To use the definitions used here I have personally primarily used a combination of two levels of awareness: 

1 - Relaxed Awareness - when in places where I spend most of my time, and it's easy to be alerted to something being out of place.  The office, the house, church, etc.

2 - Focused Awareness - when in places where I am not familiar, and as such things out of place are less likely to stand out to me, as 'everything' is out of place by my perspective.  New settings, new city, job interviews, special social occasions, and public areas which change frequently due to layout and visitor changes such as malls, restaurants, stores, garages, and the like.  

I have constantly encouraged this concept (though not worded nearly so well, or so detailed) to my loved ones.  

In what level of awareness do you typically find yourself?  Do you pay attention to what's going on around you?  Would you be taken by surprise if someone unexpected walked in the office?  Would you be unable to react if you witnessed a mugging while shopping?  Would you see that box sitting somewhere that it shouldn't be?  

It's very easy to be aware of what is going on around you without draining yourself.  I encourage you to try!

Part of a Greater Whole

Source:
http://www.weerdworld.com/2011/blogroll-of-the-antis/

When I started this blog, all I knew was that I had a lot to say about various things.  As I started writing more, I learned what grabbed my attention most often, and ran with it.  Today, I consider this blog to be a mashing of several topics, but primarily Liberty, Politics, and Firearms.  It's only over the last several weeks that I've come to realize just how many other people are passionate enough about these topics.  It's intimidating to try to read everyone.
Last night I attempted to read all the 'current' posts listed on the Black List.  I fell asleep long before I get far into it.  The worst part, I felt badly about it.  This community is filled with people who have a passion for these things, and really understand what it means to be American.  And as I look through this list, and find other similar blogs, I realize how much of an honor it is to be included in such company.  At the same time, I am also humbled and a little intimidated as there are people far more talented, many who have been writing far longer, and those who are able to find stories and information far more efficiently than I am.
Weer'd says it best:

Meanwhile Gun Blogs you simply have to play favorites, because there is too much for any one person.

 The opposite side of the issue (I would say the "wrong" side of the issue) seems to have the opposite problem.  Take a look at the information Weer'd provides.  Quite enlightening, and frankly a bit amusing.  I know it's not polite to laugh at the expense of someone else; but sometimes I just can't help myself.

Blog List

I have finally joined the 2000's and added a list of the blogs I read daily in the sidebar.  There are a few others I read less regularly, but there's a reason these blogs are in the bookmark folder called 'daily.' 

I hope you all enjoy them as much as I do!

Union Thugs - Making Life Interesting

I received the e-mail alert below yesterday at work.  Names and locations have been altered to protect the innocent.

Picketers on [Company's Name] Road

We are aware that Glazier’s Local Union 751 is picketing today on public property along [Company Name] Road, near the entrances to Building 1, 2 & 3 and 4, 5 & 6.  Our understanding is the union is protesting a subcontractor's use of nonunion personnel to renovate some buildings on campus.  We respect the union’s right to gather and picket on public property.  [Company Name] is an Equal Opportunity Employer and does not discriminate in employment and personnel practices on the basis of race, sex, age, handicap, religion, national origin or any other basis prohibited by applicable law.

Please refrain from engaging with picketers, and exercise caution as you enter and exit onto [Company Name] Road, as always.
Any safety or security concerns should be reported immediately to [Company Name] Security  at xxx-xxx-xxxx.

So, here I am, a lowly office drone when I see this e-mail.  My initial thought when I saw the headline was that someone was protesting some product or other that we manufacture.  Then I realized it's picketers, not protesters.   So when I read it, and realized it's a union thing, I couldn't help but laugh.  My company didn't not hire unions (intentional double negative), they hired a subcontractor who did not hire unions.  This is so that they could compete with other offers, and actually get the work done at an affordable price to us.

The part that really boggles my mind, however, is that a local union group would come protest that.  If your unions didn't artificially raise the cost of doing business the way they do, and understood the importance of a free market, you would have actual work to do, perhaps even here on our campus.  Instead, you get to go hold signs outside a business that couldn't care less about your petty squabbles, making yourselves look like nitwits who have nothing better to do than...well...stand around holding signs, annoying people. 

When will the unions realize that they have outlived their usefulness, and at this point are merely just digging their own graves deeper?  I absolutely understand the importance for the unions to have been formed when they were, and that they served a wonderful purpose.  However, laws in America have been changed, and there is such a foundation of precedent in court for employees rights that I would say the effort and intent of unions was a success long ago.  Since that has been the case, they have done nothing to better the system, and have begun to have a negative impact instead. 

Maybe we should all picket union shops, and demand that they go away.    Oh, right, the rest of us have jobs we have to do.

Light Posting

Sorry for the light posting.  I've had a very busy couple of weeks, the last week being especially so.  I'll provide more details in the future as to what I've been busy doing in the future.
Stay tuned, I'll be writing some posts this week.

Introduction

     I have a myriad of thoughts go through my head on any given day.  This is going to be an attempt to log the more significant thoughts, to give some of the randomness within my mind a place to call home.
     Sadly, my schedule will prevent me from being able to post as frequently as I have these thoughts, however I will post things as they are impressed upon me.
     My topics will be a wide range, some of interest to any given person, others of interest to a different subset of persons.  There is no requirement or pressure to read every post.  I also suspect that the quality of my posts will vary tremendously as I explore this aspect of writing.

End Entry