Sorry I left that whiny-ass post up for so long, & Happy Independence Day
Posted by TFG on July 4th, 2009
I didn’t realize I hadn’t posted anything since I cried about my poor miserable life. I’ve had my head down, or up my ass, essentially the same thing, for two weeks, going to town on some new product ideas. I’ve got three of the four prototyped with baling wire and chewing gum, and the fourth gets here next week sometime. They’re all just COTS parts cobbled together in something of a new way, for an industry that doesn’t do a lot of ‘new.’ I could stand about $100,000 of OPM right about now to do this right & well, but I have precisely zero intellectual property (due to being a hayseed), so a real investor would not be the least bit interested, as there’s pretty much no barrier to entry (except for how the jigsaw pieces fit together in my head, and good luck with all that.) So, I’m gonna have to bootstrap this bitch some more, which is fine by me, except it’s frustrating at many points along the way. Other people have done it, though, I can, too.
I’m going out this afternoon to the San Antonio Tea Party. First, because I get a real Media Pass from Sgt. Mom, and second, because I can’t take another day/night of sitting here in this house or the Bitter Old Man Bar. I’ve worn a rut in the road between here and there, and I’ve worn a rut in the floor between this desk and the coffee maker. Point being, if you see me and say the magic word (“junebug”), I’ll buy you a beer. I reckon I’m safe — I don’t think anybody in San Antonio reads this. Why would they? Third, though, Marcus Luttrell is speaking, and that guy is a real badass Texican-American hero, and he’s an inspiration to my fat, safe ass. Joe Wurzelbacher, aka Joe The Plumber, that cat who had the unmitigated gall to ask Obammy why he’s a freaking loser socialist back during the election, he’s speaking, too, but frankly, I’m surrounded by JTPs here in Texas, so his story is mainly interesting because of the utterly tired and worn-out LameStream Media involvement in trying to hammer him down, and really, is that inspirational, in any way, other than to spit in the eye of every journalist you have the bad luck to meet?
Outside of that, precisely nothing is happening. I wish it was, but I’d probably be sleepy by the time all the fun stuff starts, so I guess that’s for the best. That’s what I tell my almost-50 self, anyway.
Have a happy & thoughtful Independence Day, everybody. Pray that it’s not our last.
PS I might have something to say about the Palin situation, and I might not. There’s plenty of overactive gas-bagging from all the pundits out there, though, if you’ve a need for that. As noted at the very tip-top of this corner of the intertubes, I am Not-A-Pundit. Big Bill Quick does a fine job of elucidating most of my considerations here, though.
July 4th, 2009 at 10:33 am
What you need to do is move your bored ass back to Dallas. We may be old now but we can still be fun in short burst.
By the way am getting tired of Palin. The I hear her talk the less I like.
July 4th, 2009 at 11:19 am
You, my dear, need to get back where people get things done.
I ain’t all crazy about the South. We went to a local store the other day and couldn’t find a person at a register.
We imposed on a social conversation with a friend, then found a checkout point. A simple, short, frank, financial transacion took too much time.
July 4th, 2009 at 12:15 pm
Well, yall, if I could sell this house tomorrow, I would move back, but since I can’t, I uhhh can’t. I’m working on it, but it’s not going to be easy or simple. I kinda stuck in the position, and it’s my own damn fault, but that’s the deal.
Otis, I know you’re tired of Palin. She can be a real grind, quite unlike the other leaders of the conservative side of the aisle, like John McCain and Newt Gingrich and Mike Huckabee and so on. The thing is, I’ve still got to make my way in this world, not being a lettered professional in the criminal justice system, so I’d kind of like to have the markets still operating and the capital still flowing and the penny-ante mercantile business being done that was America for the previous two centuries. I understand it’s my fault for not going to college…it’s one of my biggest regrets, like Marlboros.
July 4th, 2009 at 3:27 pm
Don’t be a fool now, and give up on Sarah. She’s the only one worth a damn anymore. She’s going to be doing a lot of campaigning in the Lower 48 soon to get the Congress away from the Dems, which is the only way to stop some of the BS Barry is running.
July 4th, 2009 at 6:56 pm
I’d just note that Sarah Palin is no more of a longshot now than Barack Obama was four years ago today.
July 4th, 2009 at 10:56 pm
I’m most definitely not giving up on Palin. I still think she’s got a long way to go and a lot of good to do. I hope she decides to go and do it.
July 5th, 2009 at 2:28 am
Too soon to say what’s what with Palin and what it means for her in the long run.
In the meantime, you’re entitled to a piss and moan session whenever you want. It’s your blog and everyone needs to vent.
July 5th, 2009 at 9:45 am
Is a college education the holy grail? Why is it so many kids are starting out with massive student loan debts and making 25K a year if they can find a job at all?
I’d rather see some of that scholarship money going towards actual “learning” like auto mechanics and machinists.
I think I’m going to encourage my daughter towards the military and if that doesn’t pan out, welding or some other trade. At the most she’d need a business degree when she gets some experience under her belt and wants to start her own business.
Of course, she may need to do that in another country by then…
July 5th, 2009 at 10:38 am
Back in 1978 it was a stupid decision not to go to college. I made it this far on luck & guts. Seeing how employers weed out applications these days, I’d say it would be career suicide not to have a degree of some form. Lawyering seems to be especially lucrative these days, with supply and demand having been suspended for that profession.
Having said that, I personally believe that a person should follow their heart and do what they love and try their best to build their own business out of it. I don’t see much of a future for the corporate grinder these days (not that there’s one for the medieval literature types, either.) And yes, just a smattering of formal business education would have served me immensely. Still would, in fact.
I also regret not joining the military when I was young. I feel like I missed a whole hell of a lot of learning there.
July 5th, 2009 at 12:03 pm
I’ll go with the military angle. Four years of Army helped me, even if it included one in VN. College, it was and it wasn’t useful. It got me in the door, and gave me options, but it cost too damn much and took too long for the actual reward.
Course I majored in English, which was stupid. Liberal Arts, so-called, are useful, in that they give you the ability to go in any direction. They teach you, among other things, how to find your way through a research library, which is the key to everything. But business courses (accounting, marketing, etc.) would have been a lot more direct.
I’d recommend at least two years of community college.
July 5th, 2009 at 1:35 pm
I’m seeing (yeah, I’m STILL looking for work) where they want a Masters degree to pay you under 50K a year for a job that you barely need a high school diploma to do. It’s a racket, and a highly lucrative one – regardless of the whining we hear from academia about them being broke. I guess it just pisses me off. And I do have a degree – that does me no good whatsoever.
No one uses research libraries anymore, it’s all on the internets!
I wish someone had suggested I go in the military – but they didn’t and it never occurred to me.
July 5th, 2009 at 3:18 pm
The biggest, i.e. university, libraries are not on the Net. Their card catalogues are, in many cases, but not even all of that. The Net is invaluable, but…