It's been quite the week for me here in Snellville, GA. We celebrated my daughter's 2nd birthday just yesterday, in fact. Hooray for terrible twos! If you weren't able to keep up with her while she did all her birthday shopping, just go to my Facebook or Twitter page, and you can see all the highlights.
Anyway, as you can see, my blog page is going through some ch-ch-changes. I was absolutely mystified when Google Adsense wouldn't approve my account because of my page being "too confusing." They also said something along the lines of promoting discrimination, or something. Maybe they were mad that I mentioned bad driving by some of NASCAR's finest. Anyway, I thought this was mostly interesting because this is a Google site and I used all of Google's tools to put it together. So Google gave me the tools to create a mess! Thanks Google. No, it's not their fault. So I spent, probably a little more time than I should have, in re-configuring and redesigning my blog site. I brushed up some of my Adobe Photoshop skills and added a nice new banner. I had a very colorful background for about 4 hours, but it did some real damage to my brother's eyesight. After he recovered, he kindly suggested a more professionally appealing glow for my page. And since I'm all about being professional (o.O) I went ahead and made some adjustments. If you have any changes or recommendations, feel free to share them. Keep in mind, I'm a rather simplistic person with not too much technological prowess. In other words: Keep It Simple, Stupid. Eventually, when this site starts bringing in the visitor counts that I want, I'll run off to Go Daddy or some other host site to park it in the "big boy" parking lot.
Just so I mention it before I forget it, I didn't get to watch the entire Kobalt 400 yesterday. I already mentioned it was my baby's birthday, but also, I had an assignment that I put off for too long during the week. I did catch the last three laps, and only did so because of the helpful Tweets I received to keep me informed of Tony Stewart's whereabouts on the track. If you haven't watched Tony throughout his racing career you won't recognize just how much he's changed over the years. I am particularly impressed by his running so far this season. I've noticed since he was a rookie that he really did nothing during the majority of the season. Most of his wins didn't happen until they started really counting. This season, though we're seeing him really go for the win in every race. I love it! That's the champion we're looking for in racing. Someone who knows that you race to win every race, not just some. I'm glad Tony Stewart's really shining on the track, and I hope he keeps it up.
On a side note to NASCAR racing, is everyone aware that Trevor Bayne needs a full-time sponsor? You know I'm all about Tony, but Trevor is young, good looking, and he can race! Tony Stewart is still all those things, too, but he's got sponsors. You can follow Trevor on Twitter, and you can show your support for his team by hash-tagging "SponsorTrevor" or by adding @SponsorTBayne21 to your own tweets. Remember, fans are the only ones capable of keeping NASCAR racing alive and well. There's a lot of drivers out there trying to make something of themselves. Trevor is one of the good ones. However, this post is long enough, so I'm going to stop blowing up people's skirts. I will get another blog posted shortly. Sit tight. And as always, thanks for following! Feel free to leave comments.
Monday, March 12, 2012
Wednesday, February 15, 2012
The American Dream: Once Upon a Time
If you really stop and think about what has been making America such a miserable place--you needn't look any further than your personal mirror. I'm not saying you personally make this country a horrible place, but I dare you to suggest you are not somehow a part of the reason. Think about what you've done in a lifetime. Something? Nothing? No matter how you slice it, your actions or lack-thereof have impacted more than just you. Take for instance voting for the president. You either did or didn't vote. Who cares, right? Your vote doesn't mean something, right? Wrong. It does. It means you either want someone to run this country or you couldn't give a rat's patooty about your own well-being.
Where am I going with this? Well I recently heard (for the umpteenth time) about big businesses shattering the American Dream (apparently more than our current president). Wait--back up. What the heck is the American Dream? Here's a wiki link that will tell you all about the American Dream if you're confused. The general gist of the American Dream is that anyone from any walk of life can achieve in America, simply because this is America--land of opportunity. By the way, I believe in this concept, and I hope to achieve my own American Dream, but I digress. Some have taken this concept to mean 'land of the opportunity to collect from other hard working citizens.' Again, I digress. Anyway, I ask you this: what is a big business other than a small shop that is living the American Dream?
People are whining left and right about companies like Wal-Mart, Home-Depot, Lowes, Target, etc. moving in an blowing the mom and pop shops out of the water. Sure some people do something to stop these companies from building in their neck of the woods, but what are they really doing? We'll get into that. First, let me ask this: Does anyone really believe that Sam Walton woke up one day and said "I'm going to open thousands of stores worldwide and kill many small businesses." No. In fact, he woke up one day and said "I can bring products to people for less." So he did. The consumers were the ones that decided this was a good company. The consumers were the ones that decided to go to Wal-mart and begin building the empire that it is today. In fact, I have never seen any company that starts up as a huge entity. If you know a company that made millions and franchised on their first day, please let me know--I'd like to shake that person's hand.
Anyway, now consumers (no not all) are upset. The evil Wal-mart is building stores, creating jobs, bringing crappy products for dirt cheap, delivering poor service and low wages. You would think gripes like that would cause any company to fall. Yet, it doesn't... Why? Because that's what the American consumers want! That's what your voice or your lack of opinion contributed to the world. Does anyone cry when Coca-Cola expands its products to the world? No. But what about the mom and pop soda shops in those areas? No one thinks about that, but it's the same: building the business to make larger profits. Not to be confused with greed, this is living the American Dream.
So why is it, to the general consumer, that one day a company is great and the next they are just too big. My opinion: Jealousy.That little monster that makes many Americans hate the success of others. It's this same line of thinking that has contributed to the downfall of our country and the election of really bad presidents. I know I'm travelling into those political waters, but I have to go here. Right now, America is completely divided. Partly it's the rich vs. the poor; the black vs. the white; but mostly it's the doers vs. the takers. This country has lost its sense of the America Dream. More people are willing and content to sit on their butts and want so much handed to them. These are the people who think paying 60% of your earnings is not "fair share," when they likely put less than 5% of their own earnings into the pot--I'm just saying. My definition of "fair" (which my argument is generally that fairness doesn't really exist as much as it is a concept of "what suits me best") is that all sides contribute or receive the same exact portion. Yet the people crying these ideas of fairness most likely have not paid attention to how much of their own portion is not contributed and how much of someone else's contribution is actually received. Of course, they could just be real Communists, I suppose. What you get with this line of thinking is Obama and companies either scurrying to other places to do business--where they can actually make a profit; or companies who swoop in while the economy is at its weakest to fill whatever needs of the people at better rates than a little guy can. Sorry that was run-onny.
Anyway, by the logic of such people who have obviously forgotten the American Dream (or maybe never learned it), we want the rich people to pay for everything while we sit on our ass. BUT we don't want mom and pop shops to expand and become big chains, or get rich on pursuing business-like ideals. That's just not right. In fact it's greedy! Yea, that's what we'll call it. Greed! Because if success is not given to me for nothing, no one else should have it no matter how hard they work for it.
...Really?... How about we all wake up and smell the reality? America was established on having freedoms; choices. You have the freedom to get off your butt and do something, just like you have the choice to do nothing at all. Stop demanding for others to take care of you, get off your butt and live the real American Dream. Be a voice that says I want my friggin' country back! If you say nothing at all, you are essentially saying that you don't care what freedoms you will have (or not have) tomorrow. So get educated.Get an opinion. Build your voice. And say something worthwhile with it. Do something that makes you as big a business as you ever dreamed of being.
Where am I going with this? Well I recently heard (for the umpteenth time) about big businesses shattering the American Dream (apparently more than our current president). Wait--back up. What the heck is the American Dream? Here's a wiki link that will tell you all about the American Dream if you're confused. The general gist of the American Dream is that anyone from any walk of life can achieve in America, simply because this is America--land of opportunity. By the way, I believe in this concept, and I hope to achieve my own American Dream, but I digress. Some have taken this concept to mean 'land of the opportunity to collect from other hard working citizens.' Again, I digress. Anyway, I ask you this: what is a big business other than a small shop that is living the American Dream?
People are whining left and right about companies like Wal-Mart, Home-Depot, Lowes, Target, etc. moving in an blowing the mom and pop shops out of the water. Sure some people do something to stop these companies from building in their neck of the woods, but what are they really doing? We'll get into that. First, let me ask this: Does anyone really believe that Sam Walton woke up one day and said "I'm going to open thousands of stores worldwide and kill many small businesses." No. In fact, he woke up one day and said "I can bring products to people for less." So he did. The consumers were the ones that decided this was a good company. The consumers were the ones that decided to go to Wal-mart and begin building the empire that it is today. In fact, I have never seen any company that starts up as a huge entity. If you know a company that made millions and franchised on their first day, please let me know--I'd like to shake that person's hand.
Anyway, now consumers (no not all) are upset. The evil Wal-mart is building stores, creating jobs, bringing crappy products for dirt cheap, delivering poor service and low wages. You would think gripes like that would cause any company to fall. Yet, it doesn't... Why? Because that's what the American consumers want! That's what your voice or your lack of opinion contributed to the world. Does anyone cry when Coca-Cola expands its products to the world? No. But what about the mom and pop soda shops in those areas? No one thinks about that, but it's the same: building the business to make larger profits. Not to be confused with greed, this is living the American Dream.
So why is it, to the general consumer, that one day a company is great and the next they are just too big. My opinion: Jealousy.That little monster that makes many Americans hate the success of others. It's this same line of thinking that has contributed to the downfall of our country and the election of really bad presidents. I know I'm travelling into those political waters, but I have to go here. Right now, America is completely divided. Partly it's the rich vs. the poor; the black vs. the white; but mostly it's the doers vs. the takers. This country has lost its sense of the America Dream. More people are willing and content to sit on their butts and want so much handed to them. These are the people who think paying 60% of your earnings is not "fair share," when they likely put less than 5% of their own earnings into the pot--I'm just saying. My definition of "fair" (which my argument is generally that fairness doesn't really exist as much as it is a concept of "what suits me best") is that all sides contribute or receive the same exact portion. Yet the people crying these ideas of fairness most likely have not paid attention to how much of their own portion is not contributed and how much of someone else's contribution is actually received. Of course, they could just be real Communists, I suppose. What you get with this line of thinking is Obama and companies either scurrying to other places to do business--where they can actually make a profit; or companies who swoop in while the economy is at its weakest to fill whatever needs of the people at better rates than a little guy can. Sorry that was run-onny.
Anyway, by the logic of such people who have obviously forgotten the American Dream (or maybe never learned it), we want the rich people to pay for everything while we sit on our ass. BUT we don't want mom and pop shops to expand and become big chains, or get rich on pursuing business-like ideals. That's just not right. In fact it's greedy! Yea, that's what we'll call it. Greed! Because if success is not given to me for nothing, no one else should have it no matter how hard they work for it.
...Really?... How about we all wake up and smell the reality? America was established on having freedoms; choices. You have the freedom to get off your butt and do something, just like you have the choice to do nothing at all. Stop demanding for others to take care of you, get off your butt and live the real American Dream. Be a voice that says I want my friggin' country back! If you say nothing at all, you are essentially saying that you don't care what freedoms you will have (or not have) tomorrow. So get educated.Get an opinion. Build your voice. And say something worthwhile with it. Do something that makes you as big a business as you ever dreamed of being.
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