Are Cell Phones Taking Over Our Lives?

  OK I hate cell phones plain and simple, my wife owns one, my twelve year old son wants one, most of his friends already have one, some of my friends have more than one and there numbers change every six months why in the hell do we think we have to be connected to everyone every second of the day and night you'd think everyone in the world was a heart transplant surgeon waiting on a call from medivac.

  When cell phones first came out I thought they were a great idea something to have in case of an emergency you know in case the car breaks down or your wife goes into labor while your not at home, but more and more often the cell phone is the cause of the emergency because someone drives there car into a ditch or up a tree while trying to text, drive, and watch their in car dvd player all at the same time.

  And another thing I'm old ok, I'll be forty-five next month and I remember when there weren't cell phones back when my phone bill was only fifteen dollars a month for local service. I rarely ever make a long distance call, but now my phone bill is over fifty dollars a month for local service plus another forty-five for my wifes barebones, no internet, no text, cell phone service. and my car hasn't broke down in years, but my wife calls me from the grocery store to ask me if we need toilet paper, and calls me from Wal-mart to let me know she decided to go to Wal-mart, and on the rare occasion that I call her for something she has the damn thing turned off or the battery went dead or there's no signal.

  Can you hear me now!!! HELL NO!!!!!

And guess what I don't belive the rest of you like cell phones anymore than I do thats why everybody wants the text now, so you can screen your calls text back im busy call ya later or just ignore it altogether did you text me? I'm sorry I never got it, the networks been a little screwy lately, ofcourse we will say all this in another text because it's so much easier to lie when you don't actually have to speak to someone.

  And finally internet on a cell phone please, it's slow it's ugly it's small and hard to read and touch screens are diagusting what with all the germs and the hamburger grease and god only knows what else might be on that screen just give me a good old plug in the wall ma bell phone with a rotary dial no less and when I go fishin I'll leave you a note Be Back When the Fish Quit Bitin OR THE Mosquitos Start. 

      OK  maybe there is at least one cell phone I'd like to get my hands on!

                            I wonder if she's got it on vibrate !?                           

Milestones (Major and Mini)

  So today is my tenth blog a milestone I've reached double digits, okay it's a mini milestone but what constitutes a major one a 100, maybe 1000, isn't every milestone in life just a series of smaller ones.

  I thought about this for awhile and decided to try and list the major milestones in a persons life, so starting with Birth, Birth itself has to be one right it doesn't get much more epic than that, Walking is another talking, using the pot, driving, graduating from school, getting laid, getting a job, getting married, having a kid, reaching retirement, and dying.

  So these are the major ones I came up with maybe you can come up with more, but even these seemingly major milestones can be broken down into mini ones.

  Birth is just the culmination of nine months of gestation, Walking started with turning over, rolling, creeping, crawling, standing, Talking the same way from coo coo to do do to da da to Daddy where's my allowance and can I borrow the car.

  Using the pot I really don't want to talk about this one but there were steps, nasty smelly, gross, and ocassionally very humorus steps.

  Driving we had push cars, then pedal cars, trikes, bikes, lawnmowers, go-carts way before it was Dad can I have a Camaro.

  Graduating school and getting a job, just a long series of classes and tests, grades, and chores, odd jobs, part time jobs, so whats that leave us getting laid, getting married, having a kid.

  Well obviously there's a whole slew of things that lead up to getting laid and getting married in fact getting laid is usually a step towards the getting married part and you certainly can't have a kid without it.

  So having a kid while there are certainly plenty of steps leading up to it, it is probably the closest thing to a major milestone most of us will ever achieve.

  Reaching retirement really shouldn't even have been in the list it's more a goal than an achievment or milestone, and finally we come to death, which is just a culmination of everything we did in our lives, so in my opinion there are no major milestones in life just a long series of a lot of mini ones so my advice would be.

  Enjoy each and every one, each and every day, and stop waiting for something big or great to happen that's gonna change your life because it's happening now, RIGHT NOW!!!

                                                                                 PEACE

Top Five Rock Bands of all Time

  Let me start by giving my definition of a rock band a rock band should contain at least three members and at least two contributing talents as far as music and lyrics go, all members should play an instrument with the exception of the lead singer and only if he's really freakin good, a real band does not rely on drum machines,DJ's scratchin or choreographed dance routines in other words New Edition, The Backstreet Boys, and NKOTB never have been and never will be considered a real band in my book.

  So now that the criteria has been established who makes the cut.

  5. U2 While I'm not a huge fan of there newer stuff they have proven themselves to be a band that can change with the times yet remain true to themselves and there music and be distinctly original.

  4. LYNYRD SKYNYRD This may seem an odd choice but the band essentially created the southern rock genre and continue to play to large crowds depite not having a hit song in more than twenty year, rock anthems Freebird, and Sweet Home Alabama alone make them worthy of the number four spot.

  3. BLACK SABBATH The name alone screams rock, not rock and roll, just rock, and every hard rock or metal band from then until now must credit Sabbath for paving there way.

  2. LED ZEPPLIN OK so Robert Plants instrument of choice was the tamborine but setting that aside the classic rock voice of Plant is the standard by which all others are measured to this day, and his onstage presence can be described in one word ROCKSTAR besides with guitar god Jimmy Page and the savage drum pounding of John Bonham there was no need for Plant to do anything but sing, do I even have to mention Stairway to Heaven, I think not the only argument against them holding the number two spot is why not number one and the answer is simple.

  1. THE BEATLES Lennon and McCartney's song writing was unmatched in it's ability to produce hits and the volume of there work was enormous from there early 60's hits like I wanna hold your hand, and Love Me Do, to the trippy Strawberry Fields, and Lucy in the Sky with Diamond, the Beatles explored and experiment with their music even more than they did with drugs and the rock ballads Yesterday and Let it Be have become the most remade songs of all time.

  John, Paul, and George all went on to have fairly sucessful solo careers but none of them ever matched their Beatles success, which in essences describes what a great rock band is, it is a whole that is greater than the some of it's individual parts there will never be another band as popular or prolific as the Beatles.

  Thats my opinion as always comments are always welcome good or bad I can't wait to hear your opinion
                               
                                                                        PEACE

Holiday Wars(gotta love family)

  So my blog is late I know I fell asleep last night after the holiday debacle, actually it probably wasn't that bad I just noticed it more after writing the suck it up and be thankful blogs lately.

  I wasn't in the middle of it this year anyway, I've learned over time to nod my head and hide in the corner and not try to fight battles I can't win arguing is a sport in my family and every member is undefeated in every argument they've ever participated in.

  So the good news now I can just sit back and watch and then write about it in my blog later, Don't have to shout over anyone to get a word in here.  

  but seriously why argue politics and religion with anybody especially family, I guess it's the thrill of the fight you already no the others hot spots and how to push all there buttons, anyway I refuse to do it so I'll just try to relax and enjoy the 29 day reprive until round two CHRISTMAS .

  Sorry for such a short blog still in a tryptophan stupor from to much Turkey so until tomorrow.

                                     PEACE

HOPE REMAINS

                 OK short blog today just a few pics to let you know
                                         Hope Remains  
                                     just like the title says.

These Ethiopian kids struggle to survive and get enough to eat but there smiling

HOPE REMAINS

These afghan kids smile and play while war rages in there country,

HOPE REMAINS

These Filipino kids play in the flooded streets after the recent typhoon.

HOPE REMAINS

All over the world kids are growing up in desperate situations where food, clean water, and a roof over there heads is often more than they can afford or hope for and yet they smile and play just like our kids do.

Now I'm not asking you to send money or even feel sorry for these kids just remember the smiles and when you've had a bad day or you feel like life is just to rough, stop and think about what there going through ,and what there lives must be like and yet through it all.

HOPE REMAINS

HOPE REMAINS

HOPE REMAINS

PEACE

Thanksgiving Blog (Are You Kidding Me???)

  Turkey Day is almost here and I know what your thinking another cornball holiday blog about how to cook the perfect bird or make the ultimate pumpkin pie but your wrong, I don't care how you cook your bird you can have cheeseburgers and fries for Thanksgiving if that's what makes you happy.

  I was almost not going to mention Thanksgiving at all but it just happens to be my absolute favorite holiday so at the risk of sounding cliche or cheesy I have to say a few words.

  Thanksgiving Day is about family and friends and getting together and enjoying what we have to be thankful for in fact it's alot like Christmas except without all the B.S. but I'm not here to bash Christmas it's far to easy a target, as is Easter and Haloween.

  So back to Thanksgiving and being thankful and giving thanks and no I'm not getting ready to break religious on you I'm not talking about praying although if thats how you choose to do it I support your right to do so and do so to any god you choose be it Christian, Muslim, Hindu, whatever, lets just be thankful for what we have because there is always someone out there who has it worse than you do.

  So help yourself to another plate of turkey and dressing, or another cheeseburger, tofu wrap whatever.

  But mostly help a friend or neighbor and be thankful your able to do so.

                                                         HAPPY THANKSGIVING

PEACE.

Jimmy Johnson (Best of the Best???)

  OK from the title you should have guessed I'm gonna talk about Nascar but before I do I promised a friend that I would post a warning whenever I blogged about Nascar, Huntin, Fishin, or Country Music that my inner redneck may begin to surface, and my voice may begin to twang.  So here you go

                                        WARNING REDNECK CONTENT BELOW !!!

So is Jimmy Johnson the best of the best well in my humble opinion I'd have to say yes and no. The best chase driver yes, the chase itself seems to be custom made for Johnson seven of the ten tracks are historically Jimmy's best tracks and they run the same ten tracks every year.

  But here's the real problem I have is that Jimmy has never won a non-chase championship in fact he's never even been the points leader going into the chase Tony Stewart had a 200+  point lead this year over second place Jeff Gordon only to have it erased and end up starting behind Mark Martin and Johnson when the points reset, the same thing happened to Gordon in 2007, so without the chase Jimmy would probably have one championship making him good but far from being the best, but in all fairness every driver has to compete under the same rules and Johnson and crew chief Chad Knaus have made it work for them.

  But in my opinion some changes need to be made to the chase format, and no I'm not talking about Jimmy proofing the chase but in past years Nascars emphasis for winning championships was all about consistency we can site Matt Kenseths and Terry Labontes championship seasons as proof of that ofcourse people complained enough to prompt nascar to swing it's focus to winning races and installing the current chase format, Unfortunatly when they swung they swung for the fences and the focus has shifted to far the other way essentially making 26 weeks of hard work for nothing.

  Now I understand that it's a playoff format but the points leader after 26 weeks needs to be rewarded to some extent regardless of the number of wins he's had, I think a 25 point bonus would be appropriate another thing everyone who makes the chase starts with 5000 points and then the bonuses are awarded and the field is set this is stupid to say the least, your base points going into the chase should reflect your finishing position after 26 races and then add your win bonuses, it should look something like this.

 
  1st Tony Stewart   5000+20 win bonus + 25 leader bonus= 5045
 2nd Jeff Gordon     4990+ 10                                            = 5000
3rd  Jimmy Johnson 4985+30                                             = 5015
4th Kurt Busch        4980+20                                             = 5000
5th Denny Hamlin    4975+20                                             = 4975

And so on through the 12th position while this change most likely would not have effected the championship it does seem like a more logical and fair way to award points, in addition to this I would like to see some different tracks in the chase instead of all the cookie cutter mile and a halfs.

  Lets add Richmond and Bristol short track racing is more exciting anyway also get rid of the wildcard Talledega race and replace it with a road race preferably Sonoma these changes would make for a better more competitive chase and be a more acurate measure of a drivers skill, then if Jimmy wins four in a row I'll happily raise his hand in victory and declare him the greatest driver of all time.

  Until then I'd have to say it's a toss up between Gordon and Earnhardt, Senior not Junior.

P.S. Sorry but Petty is over rated even with the untouchable mark of 200 wins.

























                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                         

Blog on Blogging (BLOG ON!!!)

   OK blog four day four I'm hoping to post one blog a day so, so far so good.

   I'm happy to see I have a follower and I'll thank my little sister for that, Unfortunately I've modified my site since she became a follower and now my follow tab has disappeared it appears to have been replaced with a subscribe to feed tab when I added Feedburner to my blog this is supposed to be better and apparently the two can't coexist or more than likely I haven't figured it out yet.

   If anyone happens to see this and knows what I'm doing wrong please post a comment and let me know.

   So maybe your wondering what makes a forty-four year old man with no formal writing experience suddenly decide to start writing a full time blog, I know my wife is she thinks I'm nuts she's probably right,
well it's like this Iwas sitting at my computer about a week ago aimlessly surfing the web, bored to death, and sick of the T.V. and Video games.

   I needed a hobby something to stimulate the stagnating gray matter between my ears I decided I needed to start writing again, I say again because I used to write quite a bit back in my high school days but have only written sporadically since then, so I began searching for a venue to accomadate my sudden desire.

  I came across a site called associated content and decided to give it a try, I signed up, found an article idea to write submitted it and was QUICKLY REJECTED.
TIP: Always read the submission guidelines BEFORE Submitting your article, so I went back read the guidelines made the necessary corrections and added a couple lines to meet the minimum word count resubmitted and my article was published.

  It was about that time that I realized I didn't want to write that way, I mean I can but I don't want to, I guess I lack discipline, I thought about Twitter but that just seems more like a family chat room than a true Blog site, so after a few more searches and a brief education in Blogging I ended up here and quickly found myself awash in Layouts, and Templates, RSS, Feedburns, live feeds, smart feeds, feed subscriptions, feed readers, live feed feedback, feed, feed, feed, feed, feed... and links to everything and everyone, everywhere.

  WOW!!!!!!!!!!   That took care of the stagnating brain problem anyway in fact my organic processor is overloaded and there's smoke pouring from my ears, but hey I'm writing and it feels good and I'm broadcasting loud and clear to my audience of one and even that feels good so I'll be back tomorrow and the day after and the day after...

  P.S. My little sis has agree to do some guest blogs on occasions so I look forward  to that until tomorrow
 
  PEACE

 

If you Crave it Save it

   So my URL is craveitsaveit.blogspot.com
maybe your asking yourself why maybe not but here's the reasoning behind it
First it relates directly to my blogs main title that seemed important to me
Second it rhyms it's relatively short and easy to remember
Third the first couple names I tried were taken but I like it, it makes sense to me if you break it down the simple fact is if you CRAVE IT in other words if it's something you want, need, love, work, or pray for whether it's World Peace, Stopping Hunger, or Saving the Environment, or even something far less profound like wanting a new car, home, or just that big o' piece of chocolate cake after diner.

   Whatever it is you've got to do something about it you've got to SAVE IT save the world, save the children,or just save that damn piece of cake for later.

  Believe me there's nothing wrong with wanting the cake, I want it just as much as anybody else, well actually I prefer pie but I'll take the cake and damn it I'll eat it too.

  But I will share it with you and afterwards we can go to the gym together and work it off and hopefully reset our focus on more meaningful endeavors in life.

  Now I'm not going to get up on a soapbox or worse climb into my pulpit and throw down a bunch of     self-righteous garbage about what you should be doing, or the great things that I'm doing because that wouldn't be true there is a lot more things I could be doing and should be doing.

  All I can say is I'm striving to do better, looking at ways to do more, and trying to make a difference
if we can all do that then eventually it will make a difference and the world will be a better place for our kids to live in.

  So Crave it Save it and then sit back and Savor it knowing you did your part and enjoy your piece of cake guilt free.
  Comments, Critisizms, and/or Suggestions are always welcome and please come back tomorrow.
          PEACE!!!

Can't Stop Rockin

OK in my previous post I promised I'd open up a bit and rant about something but there still really isn't anybody listening, so I'll keep it kind of light don't want to use up all my best stuff talking to myself now do I.

I posted my blog to my Facebook account so maybe at least a few of my friends might see this.

So here's My question for you Why does a concert ticket cost a hundred dollars?

Am I the only one who thinks this is slightly insane, I mean really the average coliseum holds twenty thousand people at one hundred bucks a pop that's like two million dollars a show, maybe three hours work.

Anyway the reason I bring this up is this I was looking through some old junk I have stored away when I came across some ticket stubs from concerts I saw years ago including my first concert VanHalen in 1984 the ticket cost twelve dollars and fifty cents compare that to the AC/DC show I bought tickets for last year at ninety-one fifty a piece, now I know that's 24 years between the two tickets but that's still nearly eight-hundred percent jump in price.

My wages certainly haven't increased that much in fact they've decreased 25 percent from what they were five years ago but that's another rant entirely.

Which brings me to the concert I saw last week I took my twelve year old son by the way and he loved it, I'm talking about the STYX-REO Speedwagon-Night Ranger show and it was awesome, yeah the guys are all looking a little maybe even a lot gray but bottom line 3 bands
four hours of crystal clear vocals and instrument mastery by guys who have been doing it for three solid decades.

I bought my tickets the day of the show the best they had third row just right of center stage right in front of Tommy Shaw's mic stand 42 bucks a piece of course that didn't include tax the outrageous ticketmaster charge or coliseum parking but still 42 bucks 3 bands divide that and it comes to 14 dollars per band only a buck and a half more than that show I saw way back in 1984
and I swear to you it was just as good or better than any concert I've ever been to.

So all you other bands take a lesson I can only hope that some how Jon Bonjovi reads this post since my wife really wants to go to his show in April, I can only imagine what those tickets will cost, two seats in the rafters please and do you have a monthly installments plan, sure wish my wife was a STYX fan.

well that's about it for today I've given you a rant and a rave come back tomorrow maybe you'll find out what I crave probably not though most likely it will be another rant I seem to have found my voice since I started putting pen to paper figuratively anyway putting keyboard to screen just doesn't right, I might try it though maybe the static electricity will blast the potato chip crumbs out from between the keys.

So until tomorrow ROCK ON ! and STYX RULES!!!

My First Blog

Welcome to my first blog I have been wanting to do this for sometime now as I usually have something I need to say and generally no one to say it.

Faced with the reality of being able to do that has suddenly put me at a loss for words, but I'm quite sure this will pass soon enough.

What you may find here in future blogs is anything from my opinions on world economy,politics,and religion to my thoughts on the latest movies, rock albums, or fashion trends in other words anything goes, and please feel free to posts any comments good bad or otherwise as I am a firm beliver in free speech and would love to know what others think even if you strongly disagree with me.

I realize that no one is likely to read this blog at least intially and thats ok as it may take me several posts to get a feel for writing again and am mostly doing this for my own sense of well being as I'm sure many other bloggers do.

blogger thats a weird name who came up with that I should look it up I guess but for right now I need to jump off and get ready for work I know this wasn't much of a post for a blog titled rants and raves but atleast I got something down tune back in I promise I'll find something to rant about in my next post.