no point here-just ramblin'

I know it has been a while, but I have a new job and I am working my butt off. Litereally. I have lost 6 ponds in 4 days and I have been on my feet for 9 hours out of 11 everyday. I am in training and I get to do all of the jobs in the restaurant from hosting, serving, cooking, managing and dishwashing-which I did today-and I'll do on Tuesday.
Dishwashing is a thankless job but a great diversion. You can just veg out and wash dishes and my favorite part is getting to a goal, a clean area. I am goal oriented. I like to see the finished product that I had a part in. I like to see my ideas flourish and I like a little recognition. I truly dislike constructive criticism. If you do not like what I am doing, tell me and give me a way to fix it. Don't beat around the bush and don't be a jerk about it. But above all, don't coddle me. I am a grown man and I can take it without holding a grudge or negative attitude. I have a really weird brain that forgives and forgets, mostly forgets and I realize that alot of what I do won't mean a hill of beans in 100 years. What will make a difference is if I am a good father to my daughters and set them up for success.
I could have done that in spades had I won that $207 million dollar Mega-millions. The winning ticket was sold about 40 miles from where I live. I didn't win so I guess I will go back to work and hopefully, lose another 10-15 pounds before New year's eve.
Although I do love my new job, I have been sitting on my netherparts for a good 2 years and I have gained 20 pounds NOT being in the restaurant business. That is almost impossible. I just like food and comfort food is my favorite. I likes me a lot of starches and grease and fried whatever. Of course I eat my vegetables and dairy---fried pickles and fried cheese---a lot of fish---fried catfish and tilapia sauteed in butter and the everpresent BBQ categories. I have tried dieting but that is not me. If I die a year or two earlier because of a pulled BBQ pork sandwich I had when I was 40, so be it. At least I won't spend that last pointless year of my life eating bland veggies and baked, dry chicken or bribing my army of caretakers to sneak me a Philly cheesesteak in with my nitro pills. I'd rather die fat & happy than skinny and miserable for the last 20 years of my life.
So in moderation I go. I am not giving up anything, but I will spring for the occasional Steak 'n Shake double steakburger with cheese, cheese fries and an extra large chocolate milkshake & smile.

Mmmmmm...Fried pickles
SF

Ramblin man

* rant on* Well I am gonna ramble. Ramble on & on & on. I will undoubtedly show my ignorance here, but I am not in shock that we are in this financial mess. I mean what is the stock market but a giant casino? Everyone knows the house always wins. So the media coverage that the news outlets are giving this crisis is making the little guys nervous and they are pulling out their money and putting it under their mattresses and in mason jars in their back yard. I say it is time to stop the madness. I am sure the $700b dollars will not help. We have now privatized gains and socialized losses. It is a win/win for any bigwig that has the mucho dollars to go nuts and start buying up the little guys. I have very little in the stock market and I really don't care about this mess. I feel we have been living off of the motto " the business of America is business" for too long. We need to get back to manufacturing and creating jobs-in the private sector- that doesn't charge " what the market will bear".
Up here in my little bubble, the GM plant will close Dec 23rd. This is not good news for the people that support the economy I live in. What you are not gonna hear on the news is that these workers made an insane amount of money for unskilled labor due to labor unions. I am talking in the neighborhood of 50-75k for standing on a line and WATCHING parts go by. A great gig if you can get it. I have heard from people that work there that on Sundays you were making time and a half, some around $47 an hour and they have a contest to see who could go the slowest. So...that's why a stinking Chevy SUV cost $30,000 for a piece of crap. The unions complain that all the jobs are going to other countries and they are not paying them well. IF you are in another country and you are used to making $20 dollars a day and GM comes in and wants to pay you $8 an hour-more money than anyone you know has ever made-you are gonna work you butt off and try your hardest not to get fired. There are waiting lists in Mexico for these jobs and the slackers get fired. No guaranteed jobs. You gotta show up and work hard. OF course, GM doesn't lower their prices, they try to cover their losses from the plants in the U.S. that are still losing money.
I am just saying, I don't have all of the answers, I might not have any. I just know if I was in charge and I ran a company into near bankruptcy, I would not get several million dollars when I got fired. I also know if I had a company and the workers wanted to make 50k to sleep on the job, sabotage the line so they could all take a break to play cards and have contests to go slow so they would have to be there for more overtime, I would move that company to Sri Lanka or Canada or Mexico to escape the piss poor workforce I had been forced to have. * Rant off* Yeah, probably Mexico for the carnitas, margaritas and senoritas"


S-minimum wage-F

Well...here we go again.

I have a third interview with a fast serve restaurant that serves burritos and pays well. I am not really into a restaurant I don't own but it is alot more cash in the pocket. I will also have an internal interview with my company for finace manager...that's the guy that tells you if'n you can buy a car or not. I want the finance manager job. If you can move up and get on with a GM company or a lot that sells several cars a day, you can make 6 figures. I just have to do something...NOW! I would really miss my job now if I had to go back to restaurants, but I do not think I will get it. My resume looks like a restaurant listing in the yellow pages. It is a transient and job hopping lifestyle. Seeing as how I have to make a certain amount of cash before I could consider moving my family, I have stayed in the same place for about 12 years. If I could get into the high 5 figure range, we might just move. There are other considerations, like weather and distance to our families and cost of living. If I had to leave here I would miss our house, my wifes family, the summers, my band, my few friends and my job. Not necisarially in that order. I would also miss the suburb that I live in. It is quaint, unnerving, quiet, relaxed, whitebread, expensive and very americanna. I have grown fond of the place. But like your favorite pair of socks, it is time to go. It is also time to go to bed and dream up a way to convince the wife-my bestest friend to move away from her family and try a new adventure, before we are too old and settled. I fear it may be too late.
Later,
SF

Rant of the day

If you really wanna know what the economy is doing-ask someone in sales, or restaurants, or any service industry. It is not going well. Businesses are cutting back and at the same time demanding that the profit margin go up. I know of a 14 million dollar restaurant that is working with 8 managers right now. Not because they are short staffed but because of cuts they have made. A 14 million dollar a year restaurant should have no less than 14 managers at a time and a couple of trainee managers to fall back on. I work in car sales. Now I know what you all are thinking, but we actually are one of the few that wanna help people get a car. We do not bully people or make them feel pressured. We encourage people to shop around because we have the best car for the price and people remember great customer service. I won't buy from a jackass and I wouldn't expect anyone else to either. It has been soooooo slow and to make matters worse, the soccer moms and the older generation who think that they need to get close to or near what they paid for their 10 year old gas guzzling SUV or Lincoln town car and expect to find a car that gets 40 miles to the gallon with all of the bells and whistles for under 10 grand are coming out in droves. IT AIN'T GONNA HAPPEN!!! We buy our cars from the manufacturer and we pay for them through the bank. Yes, we have a note to pay on them every month-just the interest, but that adds up when you have 100's of cars on the lot. We also mark up the cars about $400 dollars. There- I said it. $400 dollars. All of the people who are out of touch seem to think cars are marked up 3-4 thousand dollars by the dealer. That is true in some cases-Maybe Mercedes, BMW and Land Rovers, but not on little 4 bangers or small SUV's that are marked at 25k. My point is if you are out car shopping and you have not done your Internet research you deserve to get upset and frustrated, but only with yourself. The market has changed so much in the last 5 years. When you are doing you research, please bear in mind that when advertised the dealer will put in the lowest priced base vehicle and add all of the rebates and bonus money in i.e. small print, and no one ever, I repeat ever qualifies for every rebate or bonus. Also when doing your research the price on the manufacturers website never includes taxes, shipping fee, destination charge, title or doc fees, all of which the dealer has no control over. That alone adds up to thousands, and I haven't even mentioned financing charges. So be cool, do your research and expect to be in the dealership for a minimum of 2 hours ( you are not buying a pair of pants-you are buying a very expensive and technical machine) . Average time at my dealership, from picking out and driving a car to leaving the lot is around 3-4 hours. We have to do paperwork, pick a car, gas the car, detail the car, more paperwork, get the tags , appraise your trade, get the financing, more paperwork, finalize the delivery, go through the checklist for the delivery, set the radio stations, check for your insurance, yet more paperwork and then you are free to drive your car off the lot where it depreciates as soon as the tires hit the asphalt. I hope I have enlightened you all. I know I feel a little better. Now come buy a car from me so I can keep the Internet access, will ya.SF

One of my passions

I might have mentioned that I sell guitars. Well here are some that I really like. I have samples...mmm....free samples. My guitar is in the middle picture. ---> If'n you want, need or crave a great/outstanding guitar at a great price ( basically what I could buy one for ) I will get you one...or two. If you want a custom, call me and we can work it out. Certain pickups, neck, color or tone that you like? We will do it. They are called McDonagh Guitars. There is a link over there ---> somewhere. Check it out.
xoxo
SF