Tanle’s Blog

So a long two weeks it has been since Shannon and I have arrived in Germany. The sloth in me had been meaning to type some kind of journal-like chronology but I have not gotten around to it until now. Perhaps I will be able to keep this as a weekly thing? Oh how time shall tell.

Stepping back a long bit, Shannon & I got orders for Geilenkirchen NATO Airbase, Germany following my assignment at Tyndall AFB, FL. This was in August. Since then time has flown, I completed UABMT (my AF tech-school) and earned my flier wings. Our graduation was on 5 October 2011 and we were privileged to have Maj Gen Lori Robinson as our guest speaker for the ceremony. She is pretty easy going and exceptionally friendly, and also has the distinction of being the highest ranking ABM in the Air Force.

Fast forward a touch to 12 October and I got to go to SERE (without official PCS orders, thanks a lot Air Force Personnel Center). SERE is short for Survival, Evasion, Resistance, Escape and runs for 19 days with no breaks. Prior to the long course I had a 2 day, non-parachuting water survival course which was actually great deal of fun (yay for swimming in Eastern Washington in the fall season). SERE itself was also fun except for the death-by-powerpoint which began the course. We have a week in the classroom learning how to survive, then we hit the field for 6 days (4 of which are survival, 2 are escape-oriented). After the field (which is basically camping and hiking in the woods of Northeastern Washington) we return to the Resistance Training Lab, aka ‘Happy Camp’, where we learn the finer points of resistance in captivity. As the saying goes: SERE is the best training you never want to have again. I agree. I returned to Florida on 5 November, orders in hand (or email, whichever) and ready to take on Europe.

Stepping back a bit less, we had TMO (the Travel Management Office) arrive on 7-8 November to pick up our goods, both an “unaccompanied baggage” (which will arrive via air about 30 days from pick up) and our mass shipment of goods (which will take about 2 months) to get to Germany. From there we moved from our cute little apartment into a massive temporary lodging duplex (ie: 3 bed, 2 bath compared to our 1/1 apartment). The kitties were freaked out by the change and, likely, by the ambient dog/cat smells littering the place we were staying. From that point it was a simple matter for me to get out-processed from the 325th Air Control Squadron, which was my school at Tyndall, and prepare to depart. Due to some bits of drama we had to scramble with a few things but all-in-all were able to resolve everything. Our pitiful amount of household goods are en route to Germany and my little 1997 Toyota Tacoma has been donated to a new home (soon) with a loving family (2 awesome folks, 2 awesome kids, 2 ok cats, 1 sinister cat =)) to look after it.

We left Florida on Wednesday, 16 November to Columbus, OH via Memphis to visit Shannon’s father, brother, & dear friends for a few days before our hop across the pond. We spent the time at her father’s house with her dad and brother (whom I finally got the pleasure of meeting), hung out a good bit, watched some movies, enjoyed copious amounts of delicious foods that Shannon praises & speaks of often which of course we could not get in Florida. An additional highlight was meeting (again, finally) Shannon’s dear, old friend Michelle of whom she speaks often (and wants to visit, *nudgenudge*). We also reunited with Shannon’s other dear friends Lauren & Eric which was again awesome to just hang out and enjoy good company. The kitties joined us our our flight to Ohio and suffered remarkably less ill-effect compared to the short drive to our temporary stay in FL before we left. Weird cats. We did drug Ketchup a bit for the flight as a test but left Meatloaf be as she was coping quite well.

So, on we left Ohio on the noon-ish hop on Saturday the 19th down to Atlanta, again kitties in tow, for our long haul over to Germany. This was neither Shannon or my first trip overseas but the excitement was in the air and quite palatable. We arrived in Atlanta in the mid-afternoon and our flight to Dusseldorf, Germany left at 17:45L. If you have ever flown overseas you know that these flights are long and can suck — fortunately we had the option to upgrade our seats to Delta’s new ‘Economy Comfort’ which has a lot more leg room, more recline, and (best of all) included cocktails! It was only an 80$/each upgrade for an almost 9-hour flight — well worth it! We also had the positive fortune with our seating assignment adjacent to a now-friend in the Army at Shinnen, the Army guard post, in the Netherlands. We tapped her brain for a bunch of the flight and received some great insights into what to do, what not to do, who to see, the people, culture, etc. Awesome gift to receive!

Now, cue the time change, over-night flight, already lack of sleep, cocktails, and excitement … and the journey truly begins.

We arrived at Dusseldorf at 08:20L on Sunday, 20 November 2011 with four large pieces of luggage (mostly all clothes to include all my damn uniforms), two kitties, and ourselves. Great.

The first trial we encountered in Germany was not customs, which we walked to, said “hi” to the agent, got our passports stamped, and simply walked through. No, our first challenge was figuring how the the hell to get one of the little baggage caddies to release so we didn’t have to hand-carry said four large bags and two cat carriers. Long story short? Sure. The stupid credit/debit card readers on the machines were not functioning. How the F I could possibly have figured that out not speaking German nor having any smart-phone on which to Google the mystery words, I will never know. I ended up asking someone, hoping I was not ringing up massive swipe charges on my card for being retarded, who said “oh, the card readers do not work any more.” Really? Really? You couldn’t cover them up, turn the light off, something? Nope, apparently not. So I went and bummed a few Euro off our friend from the flight over (again, she was a gift).

So, yay, four large bags, four carry-ons (I did mention those, right?) and off to find two kitties … oh shit. And everyone else has all their stuff by this point so it is basically just us, a cart, and baggage. Fortunately I saw a sign on the wall saying something about “Karussell 12″ next to the picture of a dog & cat. Hrm, so we walked over to baggage return 12, fingers crossed, and started looking around. Well, there was a small customs room there and a few customs officials standing out front so I boldly? Daringly? Audactically? walked up to one and asked if he spoke English, which he did not well but enough to get through that we wanted our cats. He looked over our vet/immunization papers briefly (all of 45 seconds for both cats all while seeming entirely disinterested in the whole thing … well, he IS working on a Sunday, more on that later) and took us to get the beasts back where we had started. Sure enough, two happy and soon to be purring kitties alive and well (and probably individually fairing better than Shannon & I together).

The next step? Correct, I said a small prayer that 1) our sponsor was there and 2) that he hadn’t left yet since this is almost an hour after we landed. He was there. I got to meet Warren finally who was immediately friendly and cracking us up (in part because he gets lost easily and Dusseldorf is not a driving-friendly city). So, we pushed our cart and made it to his car which is a slightly out of place early 2000s Hyundai. Somehow we fit our 4 ginormous bags, 4 carry-ons, and 2 cat carriers in and buckled in for our almost hour drive back toward the Geilenkirchen area. We cruised along, chatted, got to experience the autobahn for the first time, and enjoy the lay of the land.

We arrived in a town called Gillrath and met up with the owners/operators of Karin’s Guesthouse, which is kind of like an upscale apartment but in an intimate, non-hotel setting. We have one main room (pictures to follow … somewhere, some time soon! Promise!!) which has a fold out bed (as in “fold down from the wall”), small kitchen complete with mini (read: normal German-house-style refrigerator, dishwasher, and stove). There is a little sofa and chair as well and fortunately plenty of storage & room to ‘move-in’ for our 30 days of allowed temporary lodging (while house-hunting). The bathroom is awesome and comes complete with a strange German toilet sticking out from the wall with no visible tank, and a whirlpool bath (big enough for two — woo woo!) and separate shower.

We got to Karin’s at about 11-11:30 and Warren said he would let us get settled and come back around 15:00 so we could run to base an grab a few essentials (food/etc) to get us through the next day or two. Shannon & I were in the little bed promptly and passed out until I woke us up around 14:30 to get up and going. That was definitely a much-needed nap but may have hampered the jet-lag-adjusting a bit. From there we ran down to base which is mercifully only 10 minutes from where I am staying, hit up the NATEX (which is a Canadian (eh?) version of a Commissary/BX setup) and got some food, briefly toured the base, and headed over to Gangelt for (early) dinner. We scarfed some schnitzel and a crazy-delicious mozzarella-tomato-pork dish at a restaurant I cannot pronounce let alone remember the wording of and enjoyed ourselves some water & beer (and to Shannon’s delight her first German cappuccino). From there we returned to our guesthouse room, “got settled”, and were promptly asleep for probably close to 12 hours (who remembers when they fall asleep anyway??).

Now me, being the good little Airman that I am, went in to work directly on Monday the 21st to begin in-processing at my new base. Warren had meetings. It was (gag) Blues Monday. It was “you now live on a parallel north of Maine” cold. I had to walk around base to in-process. Thankfully (& mercifully) the base is pretty much, what’s the term … tiny? Yes, that will work. Warren dropped me at the Training Wing (where I will undergo my Basic Qualification followed by Mission Capable training prior to my placement formally in squadron 2) where I couldn’t find anyone I needed. Eventually I made my way, with some help of running into a familiar face from Tyndall (Jesse Witmer) up to the US NSU (National Support Unit) a few blocks away and got started on my in-processing with the base. The first major order of business was attaining a NATO ID card for getting on to GK (which was much more enjoyable than turning in my passport for a visitor badge every time).

Does anyone want to hear the trials & tribulations of in-processing over the next several days? Didn’t think so. We shall proceed with a few observations in no particular order since we have been here:
* Germany is pretty awesome. The villages (too small to call towns) are everywhere, as in every 1-4 kilometers there is another one with a different name, new street numbers, etc. We are in the true countryside of Germany, complete with cows, sheep, horses, piles of rutabagas, and fields ripe for harvesting. Tractors hauling it down the road are not an out of place sight.
* Geilenkirchen the Airbase and Geilenkirchen the town are distinct entities. The town is quaint with a little centro of shops, train station, and several restaurants.
* German people are very rule oriented. If this is the rule, that is how it is done. Exceptions are looked at with confusion.
* If you are hungry for lunch you better go before about 13:30-14:00 else everywhere is closed. They may not even let you in and serve you if you show up that late. Most eateries re-open for dinner. Fast food basically does not exist, at least not in these smaller towns & villages. The closest thing to fast food still takes 10 minutes to get your food and that is a Turkish “donner” diner (think gyros but with turkey meat rather than lamb).
* 90% of work on base is done before lunch. Lunch is 1.5-2.0 hours typically (don’t forget to enjoy your post meal cappuccino).
* I got to see my first E-3A take off and land on Geilenkirchen Monday my first day, it was exciting I must admit. Air Power!
* I learned that I basically do not exist on base until I start training. They (the training wing) technically kinda owns me but not really. Squadron 2 which (tentatively) will own me after I am mission qualified does not own me. I have no one to report to. There are no casual jobs. My job right now is house-hunting and in-processing. I am done in-processing (except for a few “once a month” things that have not come up yet).
* Everything gets done twice here … I have a NATO flight physical and a US flight physical. Every year. Ditto dental check up.
* Amazon.com won’t ship a new Kindle Fire to an APO. The BS response I got via email when I challenged this was laughable.
* Dual voltage electronics is suddenly a concern & factor in my life … The electrical system here runs on 220volts where as the US is 120v. Some electronics are dual voltage and work from appx 100v-240v so work state-side and here. Dual voltage items I own: laptop 1, laptop 2, external hard drive, all the power supplies in the new computers I built this summer, most of our chargers (cameras, etc). Non-dual voltate: my 60″ fucking television we shipped. *mutter*. Most small electronics (toasters, microwaves, hair dryers, etc) are not dual voltage.
* Oh, German washing machines take a long time. German clothes dryers can kiss my ass they are so slow. So slow we will be hanging a lot of our wash (when pragmatic anyway).
* Food: Schnitzel is awesome. Pork is not prepared in a paranoid/overcooked way as in the US. They serve pommes frites (fries) with damn near EVERYTHING. Potatoes are like heroine here, everyone does it.
* Prices: The economy is not bad for the day-in, day-out, or food items. Most costs are the same here as in the US (although they charge 6euro here for something we would charge 6$ for, so factor in the 3:4 conversion the 6euro is 8$ but still close). Houses & utilities on the other hand are exceptionally more expensive.
* We have been frequenting a little pizzaria called Il Genios (which is one of two walkable food places in Gillrath where we are staying, with no car … pay attention!) mostly go get drinks (read: cappuccino and/or beer) They recognize us already. The other we just tried yesterday (Saturday the 4th) is called “Grill Master” but is basically a schnitzel/gyro-type place. There is another little cafe and a bakery also but they hold weird hours.
* Shannon got a haircut at a local salon. Half of their business card is “We Speak English!”
* I passed my USAFE drivers test, now have to go to Heinsberg to get the actual International License lined up … I have a temp for Germany at least.
* Cold-calling people trying to arrange to see a house/duplex/whatever sucks, especially when you don’t speak their language and are just mentally praying that they speak enough English to set an appointment and show you around.
* Anthony Mafnas, another Tyndall-mate of mine arrived last Tuesday.
* There are little churchy/Jesus corner things EVERYWHERE (again, you’ll see the photos some day soon).
* Shannon & I have been walking nearly every day and enjoying the countryside.
* Oh, we have German cell-phones. Both Shannon & I have the new (and free) iPhone4S with t-mobile over here. Facebook Messenger and “WhatsApp” are best for text-message type communications, but otherwise my email. If you want our phone numbers shoot me a FB message or email so we can ‘text’. There is also Skype if you have it and FaceTime (which I have yet to actually try since the internet where I am staying is …. poor) if you have an iPhone. GoogleVoice is being a bitch right now but will get ironed out.

Big ticket items remaining include: finding a car (gave mine away, didn’t you read above???), locking down the house we found (cross your fingers, hold your breath, and hope we can get that finalized tomorrow Monday, 5 December).

We found a house yesterday (the 4th) and I am saying a prayer I can lock it down tomorrow. It. Is. Perfect. We love it. It is in a small town called Tuddern (with two little dot things over the ‘u’ and I am being too lazy to figure out the ASCII-code for that character right now) in Germany which is literally spitting distance from a large town called Sittard in the Netherlands.

Okay … I have run out of steam. Bo Edmonds is kicking my ass in fantasy football right now, I am tired, it is 23:30, and I have to put on Blues tomorrow.

That said, standby for more frequent updates. Anyone think it would be a good idea to start a site dedicated to ‘living vicariously through Jeff & Shannon’? Also, taking suggestions for a non-Facebook place to place & organize photos for everyone’s viewing pleasure.

Lastly: Everyone is encouraged and invited to come visit. All you have to do is get here, we will pick you up and show you the sights!

Once again let me say thank you to everyone for the kind words & responses to my Note about joining the Air Force.

Now, we are off on a road trip prior to departing. My last day at The Silks will be 26 June 2010 and I am planning on leaving Clearwater, FL on 30 June. Below are the tentative dates & destinations for our road trip. Keep in mind these dates are definitely tentative but this is pretty close to the plan.

30 June - Clearwater, FL to New Orleans, LA - stopping in Panama City, FL on the way
1 July - New Orleans, LA to Dallas/Ft Worth, TX - staying with my cousin Raquel
2 July - Dallas/Ft Worth, TX to Denver, CO - staying over the weekend, staying with Jeanne & Brian
5 July - Denver, CO to Salt Lake City, UT - Staying with Dad & Step Mom, visiting Ntl parks with Brother

From SLC my parents there, brother & his girlfriend for several days will be journeying between SLC and some of the national parks (Bryce, Zion, other?) throughout Utah. From there:

10 July - Salt Lake City, UT to Bozeman, MT (staying with Janet & Jonathan)
11 July - Day trip from Bozeman to Yellowstone National Park
12 July - Bozeman, MT through Glacier National Park
13 July - Glacier to Spokane, WA (home)

On 17 July we will be having a party at my mom’s house, details of time/place/etc forthcoming but please keep the date open. If you can make the trip over to Spokane you are welcome!

From there I swear in on about the 19th or 20th of July, depending, in Spokane, and will depart the day after for Montgomery, AL for OTS. Along the way:
Day 1 to Bozeman, MT
Day 2 to Casper, WY
Day 3 to Lincoln, NE
Day 4 to ? ? ? around Kentucky or Tennessee (time permitting)
Day 5 to Montgomery, AL. I would like to be there no later than the 26th, shooting for the 25th.

OTS runs 27 July through 26 October. Then I am commissioned as a 2nd Lt.

Dear Family & Friends,

I am joining the United States Air Force. I am currently in the Delayed Entry Program (DEP) and have a class date for OTS (Officer Training School) set for 27 July 2010. Currently I am committed to some degree (such as I am currently subject to the Uniform Code of Military Justice). OTS runs for nearly 3 months.

This process began in earnest in the Spring of 2007 (quite a while). I began preparing my application packet, filling out forms, etc. I took the Air Force Officer Qualifying Test (AFOQT) in December of 2007 at Nellis AFB, NV. I completed a hand-eye coordination test necessary for a “rated” officer position in the fall of 2008 in Orlando, FL.

Throughout this process I did have some hesitation but was fairly committed in grand-scope. My singularly largest challenge was losing weight (at 5′11″ - 6′0″ my max weight for the USAF is 197-202lbs). I have lost over 50lbs since moving from Las Vegas to Florida and at this point have passed all of my weigh-ins, including the weekend of 24 January 2010. I have also successfully completed & passed my Class III Flight Physical, in February this year.

I got my application in the “rated” officer board, a highly-competitive selection process which meets twice per year which is designed to assess leadership potential, test scores, experience, etc and select the best candidates for the positions of pilot, navigator, and air battle manager (ABM). I placed each of these as an interest in my application and really was not interested fully in a position outside of a flight position (but I mean come on… who wouldn’t want to fly a plane for the USAF?).

The board met in October of 2009. Results were published on 5 December 2009 at which point my recruiter excitedly called me to inform me that I had been selected for my 1st choice as an Air Battle Manager (ABM) and was one of only 10 such officer candidates selected in the entire United States from this selection board.

When I enter OTS and begin my training I will be classed as a 92T2 - Air Battle Manager Trainee with the preliminary rank of E-5. Upon completion of the 12-week OTS course, located at Maxwell AFB in Montgomery, AL I will graduate as an O-1 (2nd Lt). From there I will have between 8-10 months of training at Tyndall AFB in Panama City, FL, at which at some point (unless I suck worse than normal) my new AFSC (Air Force Specialty Code) will become 13BX - Air Battle Manager. At this time I will receive my “wings” and call-sign. After this I will have subsequent training, such as SERE (Survival, Evasion, Resistance and Escape) for about a month at Fairchild AFB, and ASBC (Air & Space Basic Course) for 6 weeks.

I will fly though my primary job is essentially that of an Offensive Coordinator, such as for a football game. The position essentially is a key coordinator position between air, land and sea forces and is thus typically a ‘joint service’ field. Primarily I will be working on either an E-3 Sentry (better known as the AWACS) or the E-8 Join STARS both of which are combat-control/surveillance/weapon-systems control centers… in the air.

That just about covers the future. As to my current situation…
My business partner Curt & I are attempting to sell our business and if we cannot by the time I depart we will liquidate the assets and close it. Business is ok (yet a pain in the ass) but we both know and accept that it is a go-nowhere, break-even business. In addition I have been working at the Tampa Bay Downs as a Shift Manager in the poker room. My last day here will be 26 June 2010.

I am planning on a trip prior to my report date of 27 July which will lead me from Clearwater through:
Panama City, New Orleans, Dallas/Ft Worth, Denver, Salt Lake City & some national parks, Bozeman, Yellowstone Ntl Park, Glacier Ntl Park, Spokane, and then must swear in around the 19th or 20th of July (at which point I am fully & formally committed) then drive from there through Bozeman, Casper, Lincoln & finally to Montgomery.

I think that covers it. I will send out more information as I learn it. Beyond that I will not be changing my phone number which is 509-869-6352. Best email is: Lordtanle@yahoo.com (and I, as always, will respond to emails and don’t move them out of my inbox until I have done so). Skype is “lordtanle”. That should be enough to get ahold of me during my time away.
Love all,
-Jeff

Hola y’all. So it has been around a month and I am figuring on catching up on my “what have I been doing” trend.

Working backwards from today though not really specifically with any rhyme or order in mind … It was UFC 100 last night, some fucking KICK ASS fights which I must say was an absolute pleasure to watch. I went to Buffalo Wild Wings with several coworkers and some others because they show all the fights for free. I drank belligerently, shocking I know, and altogether had too much whiskey and beer. I managed to beat the resident best-beer-chugger with my power-chug of a 23oz beverage. Absolutely obliterated him. I woke up today finding myself as part of a sandwich and feeling pretty damn good about life. I got to work a little late which was fine and just kind of puttered through the day. All points considered I actually, literally, danced a little jig today. A couple times.

Been kinda seeing someone the last few weeks. Shannon is a pretty damn cool gal but she will be moving and traveling here soon (like, in a month). We knew this going in so no trouble but she is good people and enjoyable to spend time with.

Speaking of time … I have had none (last night excepted). We had our first auction since we moved to the monthly schedule this Thursday. I hauled furniture a week ago Tuesday & Wednesday, my days off from the track. And this week sucked balls. I left the house at 8:30am Monday to haul furniture, got to work at 3:30pm and proceeded to work until 1:30am. Tuesday and Wednesday were much the same sans the working at the track but we had to get set up for the auction Thursday and haul more and do the ad and all that stuff. Got home Tuesday at like 10:30 and then completed the ad, Wednesday was an early day at 8:45pm. Then of course Thursday, auction day, I worked at 9am until 5pm then the auction from then until about 11pm. Nothing like four consecutive 14+ hour days. Fuck me.

Over all the auction was pretty good. It did what we were hoping it would financially, and by that I mean that we made as much off one good/solid auction as we would have in four weekly blah auctions. So in that sense, less work and same $$ == WOOT! Yet, still tired. I need me some sitting at home with no one here alone time.

Let me see … I need to find a new home for my kitties. Bill and Scott are moving into a smaller place and do not want to have four kitties. Suck. Cannot have them here because of Curt. Double suck. Anyone have an idea?

I have to pay some bills. I can afford it just don’t bloody well feel like the act of doing so. Nothing really new in way of music, games, or TV… Entourage starts tonight I think. Leverage is back Wednesday. I am uber-pumped for the 6th Harry Potter movie opening at midnight on Tuesday. I am going to try to watch the previous 5 before then but who knows… hehe. That is a lot of film. I got #1 out of the way the other night, well, a week ago anyway.

Alright, my brain is mush. I am out.

Hi,
So I am a bit bored and thought it may be fun to type a little … or something.

Moreso I thought I would fill everyone in on my current goings-on…
I am in Clearwater, FL still working at the Silks Poker Room at the Tampa Bay Downs thoroughbred track as a shift manager and am theoretically supposed to be promoted to something akin to assistant director or something.

I also have my business. We have dropped down to our summer schedule and are only doing one auction a month (since the summer is so slow down here in this biz) and hopefully that will cover our monthly need as far as the business goes. I wrote a very large check yesterday paying off the guy we originally purchased the business from and thus eliminating appx 1/3 of our business debt (woot!) and saving us a $675/mo payment (double-woot!). Though it is still a little bittersweet — 1/3rd of debt gone is awesome but it still puckers a bit writing a check for that much.

More on the financial side of life (oh joy) we have my Vegas house. I got a letter a few weeks ago that they were going to try to auction it on the court house steps if I did not take action. I still find it horribly ironic and frustrating that they won’t just take the thing back. I mean seriously, Bert, what kind of sense does it make to threaten to foreclose when the buyer says “I don’t want it any more, here are the keys, take it” as I have? Or, why not work with said buyer as promised when the buyer gets a renter in the property and says “here is every penny he is paying me and a little more but all I can do, what can we work with here?” as I have. Good thing I mentally checked out of this whole ordeal months ago or I am pretty sure I would have assassinated someone by now. As it stands my house is listed for a short-sale so we will see how that goes.

And today is my first true/full day off in what seems like eternity though in truth it is not since my mom was in town visiting with my uncle Phillip over my birthday. Prior to that, however, I have not had a day off since the track was closed on Easter. Yuck. I mean sure, I get two days off a week from the poker room but I still have my auction every-week.

As far as socially goes I have managed to eke together a few friends here. I go out a couple nights a week, sometimes to the bar or something but I have founds some movie-goers too which is nice. Plus any time out on the islands/beach/pools is nice and relaxing. Not much in way of a love life but it is no longer completely dormant. I must say my record of going out exclusively with stunning beauties is in tact =).

I must say though, despite the new friends I have made no one here yet compares to any of you who are reading this, my best, oldest and true friends. I am posting this only on myfamily and lordtanle.com which is a fairly small group of people. Thanks to you for your love, care, and support all these years. I miss you!

I am going to try to kick my ass back into gear losing some more weight, I still have not quite gotten to my goal and want to get there so back on a more limited diet with some exercise this month. Gotta get ready. I have been motivated increasingly strongly to better myself and/or contribute more to society or something.

I am contemplating a few ideas and/or life changes but nothing really solidly. We’ll see what the future holds in that vein. Otherwise we shall see if we cannot get this business paid off and back out of debt. I guess that is my life in a nutshell.

Moving sucks.

That is all.

…

Okay, anyway. I just moved off the beach to a condo on a golf course. I felt a little wistful leaving the beach, like I was moving away or something, but I am still in town and just less than 10 minutes from the beach.

Had to move, our lease was up which made it doable but now I am only 15-18 minutes from my job at the poker room and only 7-8 minutes from our auction gallery, so much better as the commuting goes. 2 bed, 2 bath place but it is pretty huge. The best part is the “Florida room” which is a screen enclosed patio with sliders into the living room and my bedroom. Even better - we are saving $250/mo in rent (and, if we wanted to, could get a golf club membership for both of us for $320/mo … hmmm).

Call for address if you like.

I guess I am feeling a bit fickle. Sigh. I had a few things to say a couple minutes ago but now it is gone I guess. Weird.

A few notes -
*I miss a lot of you
*I am exceptionally SICK of hearing about money, all the time, be it bailouts, being in debt, people at work, everything…
*Dave is here tomorrow, woot!
*Against the Wind is an awesome song.
*I am quite annoyed with how crappy Family Guy has been since the mid-season break, just seems like a lot of time wasting crap and obsession with homoeroticism and pot. What’s wrong with Stewie being EVIL again?
*Watching Dollhouse, Sarah Connor, Family Guy (still), Simpsons (still), Castle, Lie to Me, Heroes … Lost soon but I haven’t started on it yet.
*Signed a lease, moving in a couple days. *big shrug* Closer to work, further from the beach.
*I think I should get a job in a slaughter-house or something — All I seem to revel in lately is the glee of death & carnage.
*I found horrible irony in the Montana plane crash into the cemetery *snicker*
*Yes, I know I am a horrible, heartless schmuck.
*Awesome conversation tonight, thank you my very good friend.
*Doing taxes tomorrow with H&R Block, yay, corporate taxes …
*Tomorrow marks me going into my 3rd straight week of working.
*I love baseball season. I was at the Red Sox / Yankees game tonight.
*Some of my new staff rocks!
*I am being recruited, we’ll see how that comes out.
*Goodbye beach, I’ll come back soon - just after I move I guess.

Amongst everything (and a few things specifically) …
Someone give me courage. Someone give me strength. Someone make me bold.

*S*

So today Obama imposed a salary limit of $500,000 for senior executive pay for financial institutions receiving bailout money. This does not sit well with me. His reasoning is that the American public “gets upset” hearing about these big bonuses and whatnot for executives amid a struggling economy. Fine, I can understand that but that should NOT be the government’s responsibility to delegate. That is a violation of the fundamental principles of Capitalism, damn it! If the citizens of our fine country are that outraged by these huge bonuses there is an easy solution … take your money out of their hands and take it to a bank that is more properly managed in your eyes.

This all comes back to what seems to be an ever-growing problem in the United States - no one wants to take any responsibility for their actions. “Oooh, these executives are getting too much money - government, go make them stop, I don’t like it but I don’t want to do anything about it myself.”

Is anyone looking at the deeper impact that these kind of steps will take. My point of view? Pay caps lead to qualified CEOs and executives resigning for greener pastures outside the finance sector (where they can be paid) which leads to lesser experienced and less knowledgeable executives stepping up to fill the shoes. Now of course the immediate response to that is “but clearly these overpaid executives DO NOT know what they are doing and are not qualified - look how badly these banks are doing?” If that was your initial response, come on … so in recent years past when these very same executives presided over a booming economy and financial sector they pretty clearly knew what was going on, did that change? No, it is a global slip ‘n’ slide. The whole WORLD economy has slipped through various problems.

One might point to the housing crisis and over financing underqualified people. Sure, I accept that the banks should not have financed these people though they did so because other banks were doing so and to not do so would have led to a worse bottom line and gain for their competitors. Some banks did not over-extend their credit, they played conservatively, they are doing just fine - well, better - than the banks that over extended. In a sense this is the tortoise vs. the hare. Conservative banks are plodding along, they don’t get the boon from the economic expansion but on the other side of the coin they are not in dire straights with the economic bellyflop. Other banks raced forward, stocks shot up, investors profited, CEOs and executives get the payoff - the Capitalistic way, but now they are suffering through the collapse.

The huge problem here is: the government is not ALLOWING any big businesses to fail. We bail out the airlines. We bail out big insurance. We bail out big banks. We bail out big automotive. So where does that leave us? Capitalism only succeeds when businesses are allowed to fail because then and only then can the strong hares continue in their way. If there is no penalty for failure what in the incentive to “play it safe?”

We MUST allow businesses to fail.

I am not saying it is right for everyone’s pensions to disappear, nor is it right for these big fund managers to steal and embezzle or anything like that. It strikes me that a far better solution, rather than spending billions and trillions of dollars to bail out these big businesses that have failed, that the money could equally have been spent to directly help out those who lost their pensions/etc. Let these big businesses fail, move the hurt over toward fund and managements in other, more stable banks, and work some re-compensation there.

Small businesses, the keystones of the economy, fail all the time. Employees are out of work frequently and they go get another job. The same would happen if a big business failed. A successful, conservative company would come in, buy up the assets, keep production flowing, and save jobs. As a side question - where are all the bailouts for small business? My small business is in severe debt but we are growing and improving every day in a crappy economy, sure it is a struggle but it is coming along. I would wager that if the government stepped forward to save 50,000 small businesses at the same expense as one of these mismanaged or ill-surviving giants that the economy would flourish much more quickly than saving one business.

And back to the ever-growing problem in the United States … personal responsibility.
You are looking to build a retirement, sure you contribute to your 401k and if you are at the same company for 25 years you probably are limited in your corporate diversification options so that I can somewhat understand if you get really caught in just one big bank failure. How many financial advisories have you ever read saying, basically, don’t put all your eggs in one basket? Seems like an old, fundamental axiom. If you have other funds, personal savings, stock & bonds, and everything else that you personally have put aside over the years you should know better than to have everything placed in the same investments, at the same bank. No one wants to take responsibility that they should have diversified. They should have been looking at their money.

How about the housing and mortgage market? Yes, you should never have been given that loan but somehow you took the initiative and pushed to get your loan approved where it never should have been. I was in the same situation. When I closed on my house I was making $41,600 or $800 pre-tax a week, plus some tips, on paper. I should have been able to qualify for a house with a payment in the neighborhood of the 45% debt-to-income ratio level of about $1400/mo at most. I had external, undocumented income but my bank wouldn’t accept that. I had to work and work hard to push them to finance me for a loan for $335,000 rather than the $200,000 max I should have been allowed. The point to my message is that I HAD to convince them, take worse terms, “work the system” or whatever you want to call it to be allowed to sign my name for these funds.

So, where in this is the personal responsibility? Sure, the banks should not have financed me, but they did and I took on the personal commitment to incur that debt and repay that loan. That was my responsibility. If I violate that my signature and my WORD has become worthless and that is MY failing, not the banks. Blaming the banks for these problems is a cop-out of personal responsibility.

Now sure, people lose their jobs, family or other circumstances force them to move, etc and they are going to have to face foreclosure and bankruptcy as is the usual circumstance, these things happen.

However, if you are in the same circumstances as when you closed your loan and you have only lost housing value on paper you have NO recourse to call foul. You signed for the loan, bad terms or not, under the same circumstances as you currently are in. Just because your on-paper value has fallen does not mean you should get a rebate or free money because “the big mean banks took advantage of me.” No, take responsibility for your actions. Sure you may be in a poor situation where you would rather pay less, or move, or whatever, but unless circumstances dictate this it is your responsibility to maintain the commitment you signed for. No one held a gun to your head and said “you better take this loan, or else.” No, rather you saw some gain in such financing, at the time, for you personally so you took it. Now that the colors are not so bright does not mean you can back out of this situation.

Are the banks criminal? No. They are capitalists. They are playing the game and trying to thrive and beat out their rivals, they compete. Any sports fan can tell you that there is no game without a loser. The Superbowl just played out but who would have watched it if they knew in advance there would be no winner from the competition? Yay, we both win, tie! That is not competition, that is not capitalism, that is not a way to regulate an industry - you must allow for failure. (The same argument applies to innovation, take a chance or you become complacent). Where would our country be if the founding fathers had not stood up against England and the tyrannical King? There was a definite risk of failure for them and look at the nation they developed out of it? Fear and risk are fundamental and necessary.

What is criminal? I think inventing credit on a tremendous scale is criminal. The United States does not have these trillions of bailout dollars, so where are they coming from? We are not on the silver- or gold-standards any longer. There is no physical, actual backing to our dollar or this money we are inventing. It is backed by the “good faith and credit of the United States.” What does that mean? All that really means is we are bigger and have a stronger military so no other nation can come and call in their markers that we have with them. The dollar is based on credit but like my house’s value it is all “value on paper” which is NOT even close to what it is actually worth. My house, for example, in raw goods is worth a couple 10s of thousands, the fact that it is a roof to live under with running water and electricity makes it worth a little more, but I would safely say far less than half of what I bought it for. Back on point, the dollar, through this path of manufactured credit has been devalued.

Of course, granted, every other country’s economy is negatively responding to our slumped economy and soon the status quo will be re-established but by bailing out these big businesses and other entities that should rightfully have failed and been consumed by stronger competitors we are headed down the same path we are currently walking. We are laying the groundwork for our predecessors to struggle and fail to fail in the same way we are currently walking.

To end the novel (read: rant) in summary:
We are a capitalist nation. Let businesses fail. Find better and more constructive ways to save the less fortunate. Most importantly, take responsibility for your actions.

Okay, media, we get it. He’s black. Can we get on to him being president and all these immediate sweeping changes he is supposed to be making?