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Sunday, June 24, 2007

My Greek Mythology Personality

Yet another personality test. Some how I alway end up basically the same no matter what test. Shrug

Your Score: Hermes


0% Extroversion, 33% Intuition, 0% Emotiveness, 23% Perceptiveness



You have a very keen intellect, are interested in the facts and the truth, but you don't have the antiauthoritarian streak of The Oracle or Prometheus. You are most like Hermes. You are dependable to a fault, and you can develop feirce institutional loyalties. You can seem outwardly cold, and very calculating, and any display of emotion is extremely taxing for you. You are, above all else, dutiful, punctual, and reliable.

More rebellious types will see you as a toadie and a stiff, but they're unreliable iconoclasts anyway. You are very pragmatic, and you aren't easily distracted from the task at hand. You can be counted on to do your job without being hampered by personal interests. You are extremely traditional, and are most likely to use "We've always done it this way" and "Those are the rules" as justifications for hanging on to the status quo. Most of the other personality types will have a difficult time relating to you, but will work something out. Prometheus and The Oracle freaking hate your uncritical position regarding established rules and procedures, and they'll let you know it. You'll get along well with Atlas and Apollo if they're your boss. You'll probably get along with Icarus, too.

Famous people like you: Judge Judy, Andrew Johnson, Herbert Hoover, Harry Truman, George H.W. Bush, Ronald Reagan
Stay clear of: The Oracle, Prometheus, Dionysus, Pan, Orpheus, Aphrodite
Similar Personality Types: Atlas, Icarus, Apollo, Nemesis

Link: The Greek Mythology Personality Test written by Aleph_Nine on OkCupid Free Online Dating, home of the The Dating Persona Test

Wednesday, June 13, 2007

Am I Speaking in Tongues???

Do I speaking a foreign language, speak in tongues or was I born on another planet. Sometimes it is so freaking frustrating to try to talk to people at corporate "help" desks. I think I'm being pretty clear but I get the feeling that I must be from another planet.

Trying to set up bill pay through my bank so I can pay on line. My concern is: when will the company I'm paying get my payment. Are they going to send a check through snail mail? Sheesh...I can do that! or is it going to be an electronic transfer from my bank account to the company I am paying the bill to.

At least if I send the snail mail check myself I will have a copy for my business records and KNOW that it was sent off. Electronic would be great, since I am currently going into each site and making a payment. This means I have a zillion passwords and user names for multiple websites. In fact I have an entire Rolodex of passwords for personal and business purposes.

So I call and ask........ How can I tell on these accounts that I'm setting up if they are going to be paid electronically or if you are going to be sending a check?

Sounds like a simple question....right? Evidently not.

So I ask the help desk:

Help Desk (HD): you should allow 4 business days for your payment.

ME: Ok... but how do I know which are being sent electronically and which are being sent by mail.

HD: When you click on the payment, the little calender will have a blue date which is the first date the payment will be sent out.

ME: OK. But how can I tell if you are sending it by mail or by electronic transfer?

HD: you should allow 4 business days.

ME: RIGHT....but is there any way to know which way you are sending the payment? For example if I have a bill due on the 20th and today is the 13th and the calender says it will take the money from my account on the 14th. How do I know if the payment is going to be received by the 20th or of it is going to go by mail which can take up to 7 business days??

HD: You need to allow 4 business days.

ME: So you are telling me there is no way to know how the payment is being sent out?

HD: You can ask the company recieving the payment after the payment has been sent.

ME: So in other words if my payment is sent electronically I will be on time but if it is sent by mail I should send it earlier, but I have to take a chance because until I make a payment and it is past due there is no way to know HOW YOU ARE GOING TO SEND IT OUT??

HD: You should allow 4 business days.

ME: AAAAAAAGGGGGHHHHH. Forget it. I'll just send a check

HD: Thank you for calling have a nice day.

Friday, June 08, 2007

Misheard Lyrics........wut?

On a lighter note from the doom and gloom of my last few posts.



I've been afflicted with blocked eustachian tubes due to seasonal allergies for the past few days and my hearing is muffled. As Joni Mitchell says "You don't know what you've got till its gone" Or in my case just impaired for a while



This video of misheard lyrics fits in perfectly with my current and thankfully temporary condition. Muffled and mumbled lyrics.


Potato Wave... LOL

Paris Hilton and Illegal Immigrants: two sides to a coin

What do Paris Hilton and an illegal immigrant have in common? .............Neither one of them has to obey the law. da dump rim shot.

Too bad this isn't really a bad joke. The reality is that the rich are privileged. They are different from you and me. They don't have to play by the same rules and get special treatment. Apparently that privilege now extends to the people who are here illegally in the United States. They are two sides of the same coin.

You don't think that people (the ordinary tax paying, hard working middle class people) are not paying attention to this? Think again. Everyday we see the inequities and start steaming a little bit more. Like a pressure cooker with a worn out seal, don't be surprised when the top comes off.

Thursday, June 07, 2007

WSJ Sees the Light on Immigration....Sort of.

After their editorial about immigration that drew my ire and evidently the ire of many more who wrote in to them, the WSJ Opinion page re-opines with this editorial.

"The word "citizen" is everywhere in the immigrant discussion, but it blows by as if its full meaning were obvious. But it is not obvious because it's a lot more than just an idea. For many people, being born in the United States is just the beginning of citizenship. Genuine American citizenship is about a lot more than that. It's doing what's required to maintain all the communities, large and small, that constitute the 50 states.
This is what former House Speaker Tip O'Neill really meant when he said "all politics is local." It's about being willing to put in the time to deal with local tax issues, zoning fights, school-board controversies, battles over utility rights of way, traffic lights--all the stuff that runs beneath the Big Media radar but is what really constitutes the bedrock of American politics for most people. This is what citizens do. The problem for many people with the illegal workers, no matter how hard they work, is that they exist entirely outside the complications of civic life for an American citizen. And they appear to do so more or less permanently. For many, this makes the illegal-worker status quo a rebuke to the idea of dutiful citizenship."


It is also about fairness in enforcing the laws. If we can pick and choose which laws we feel like enforcing. And if we can select a group of people who are exempt from enforcement, the public (rightly so) sees the inherint unfairness.

There are many laws that I would rather not obey. From the small to the large. Seat belts, helmets on bikes, transfat ban, mandatory car insurance, registering my vehicle, drinking and driving (kidding on that one).....PAYING TAXES.

If it is OK for immigration laws to be flouted because the numbers of illegals makes it hard to enforce, then I suggest we all cease obeying the laws that we don't like. Our numbers are more than the illegals and if sheer numbers makes flouting the law acceptable........let's go for it.

The laws are for everyone or the laws are for no one. The Government needs to make up its mind or we will make the decision for them. Anarchy is become a more interesting proposition all the time.

The Bitter Immigration Pill and a Spoonful of Sugar

I have been participating and reading the discussion at The Anchoress on the topic of immigration. It is good to see that there remains a section of the blogosphere that can rationally discuss issues without devolving into name calling and hysteria.

As I have posted before; I'm not so much concerned with the actual people who are illegally immigrating as I am with the effect on Society as a whole. Having a background in College, studying Anthropology and Sociology, I see no good in the future for our Country unless we soon get a handle on this problem.

One of my biggest reservations with this humongous everything and the kitchen sink bill is that it is trying to be all things to all people all at once. Any sane person knows it will be impossible to implement because of the current Government inadequacies. Background checks in 24 hours??? Please. Everyone knows that is not going to happen and all who apply will be rubber stamped. The criminals along with the regular folks. What’s the rush?

I believe that if we had TWO separate bills the immigration pill would go down easier with the public.

1. FIRST a bill to address the border security and to fix the INS immigration system. Set up an integrated data base system interfacing INS, FBI, Police records etc in a system that will be able to efficiently track, locate and identify who is entering the country, for what purpose and how long. Create a system that will deport the proven criminal element. Eliminate the illegal practice of "Sanctuary Cities".

If Wal Mart can keep track of its inventory world wide and know to a penny what their profit is, why can't we take a page from their technology book. I know....inventory doesn't have legs. BUT, maybe we should outsource this project to Wal Mart.

2. Once the first bill has been implemented and is showing signs of real progress, THEN a second bill to address the "path to citizenship". Included in this path must be measures to encourage assimilation of the immigrant population into society as a whole. Having isolated ghettoized populations of foreigners who can't speak the language, can't function fully in society and who live by separate cultural rules is a recipe for a fragmented and disintegrating society. Burkean Reflections has a good post on this with many links to ponder.

Those details should include provisions for English proficiency and education. Paying back taxes would be nice, but probably an unrealistic goal. We want to bring the illegals out of the underground economy (that is eroding the economic chances of our own Middle Class) into the mainstream. Punitive measures will only drive people further underground.

The goal is to have productive, legal, participating citizens and not a permanent underclass of un-educated workers who can watch our children, mow our lawns, lay the patio bricks for less money than legal citizens are willing to accept.

If we don't take this problem head on, without the weakness of political correctness we are doomed as a Country and as a society. I have a friend who says: "The trains are in the tunnel. The question is how fast and how soon the train wreck is going to be."

I am afraid that there is no way to stop the trains.