This is what Christmas is all about

Yup, This is Christmas! Thanks to everyone for a wonderful Christmas.

What is Christmas to me?

What is Christmas to me? As I look back, I can clearly see how Christmas has changed through the many cycles of my life. In my youth Christmas was very predictable. Just like many people, I grew up with long standing traditions. Then, before I knew it, I was grown and out of the nest. From that point on I had Christmas traditions that changed with the cycles of my life.

My choice to have a career in the Navy led to many Christmas seasons spent away from home. Looking back from this point in my life, I could have spent more time with my parents but for whatever reason I chose not to make the extra effort to get home. Had I been a bit more mature in my decisions, this would have never happened. Now it is an issue that I deeply regret.

I was fortunate to spend Christmas with Debi and the kids for 28 years. Fortunately I was only away from them on Christmas 2 times. We as a family had the good fortune of celebrating the holidays in many places. We adapted our traditions to the place we were at the time. One of the most memorable was celebrated in a hotel on Guam. A decorated Palm tree and a promise of toys in a month to the kids since all the toys on the island were gone made it unique.

This will be Christmas #3 with Meg. The blend of her Scottish/Canadian traditions with mine makes for a great holiday.

Over the years I always put a priority on the gift giving aspect of Christmas. Many years were spent maxing out credit cards to make Christmas as extravagant as possible. Now that concept appears to be such a waste. I’ve learned the greatest gift of the season is spending time with the ones you love.

My priority now is the logistics of spending the holiday in two countries with my ever growing family. Merry Christmas!

I Need A Job

At the age of 59 I find myself in a unique situation - I need a job! Being twice retired, I didn't think I needed to work. Financially, I can squeeze by on my retirement income, but not live the lifestyle that I've grown accustomed to over the years. Additionally, I'm probably one of the rare individuals that gets up in the morning expecting to have a job to do.
Now you might think, "No problem get a job". That's the solution to this problem, but not something I seem to be able to do.
I've saturated the local economy with my resumes (both online and hand delivered). It appears that there are a couple things preventing me from finding meaningful employment.

• Age discrimination. Yes, I know it doesn't exist in America. Pfft! There are too many reasons an employer can give for not hiring you besides saying you are too old.

• Too experienced. After spending 43 years in the working world, I've gained a number of what should be marketable skills. I've had a number of prospective employers say I'm over skilled for the job they have and the wage they are willing to pay.

I wish employers would let me decide if it's worth my working for them for the wage they offer. In no way do I expect to earn what my last employer paid me. I'm not looking for a 30 year career with a company. All I want is the chance to work a few more years and get paid for my efforts. Employers fail to realize that a person in my position can be an asset. I'm not totally dependent on their job to survive. If they have a slow period and don't have work for me for a few days or even weeks it's not a problem. I can be much more flexible than a person with young children at home. I have no problem with work related travel. I consider myself extremely flexible.
So, as I continue on my search for employment, I'm open for any comments or suggestions you leave here.

Wake up Walmart

With all the news we see about unsafe Chinese products, Shopping at America's largest retailer is scary. Especially when you consider 70% of their merchandise comes from China!

I've long had a strong dislike for their merchandising methods. The labor problems at Walmart have long been the subject of news stories. I'm not alone in my views. WakeupWalMart.com
will take you to an organization that gives a true view of the Walmart corp. I urge all readers to check out this site prior to doing your Christmas shopping.

This video sums things up

CompUSA Closing, not a surprise.

CompUSA is closing their doors. Gordon Brothers group is liquidating their assets and CompUSA will ride off into the sunset. This isn't a big surprise. The electronic big box stores are going through the same process the Home Centers went through a few years ago. Only the strong survive is the factor.
Unfortunately those that survive aren't always the best from the eyes of the consumer. Case in point, BestBuy. They are on top now, but not my store of choice for technology. I normally can beat their price elsewhere, The only good thing I see in them is convenience. When you need something in a hurry, they are usually close by. But you pay for that convenience. The online stores that have quick shipping and good customer service are going to come out on top. Where do you shop for technology items?

A Different Type Of Friends, But Still Friends

Online friends are just that Friends. Living a life that involves a large amount of human interaction with friends online seems foreign to people who have little or no online activity. Chat rooms, Social Networks, blogging are all forms of communicating with others. In the process of doing any of these activities, friendships can be established on many levels. These friendships can be anything from the most casual comments (quite like the neighbor down the street that you wave to and say "Hi"), or become so involved that you and the friend essentially open up most of your life's activities to each other. Online friendships are as real as "in person" friendships. The only difference is the ways they are developed.

Being active in the chat community, we see people trying to be something they're not. They usually don't stay around long. Real chatters seem to have a type of 6th sense that sees through these artificial people. This problem seems to get compounded by the press that loves to report on online people attempting to be something their not (for whatever reason). Fortunately we have been able to actually establish real friendships with real people. In times of a life crises these friends are as supportive as any lifelong friend you could have.
I was fortunate to meet my wife online. We became good friends without ever meeting. Once we met the relationship grew to a love and ultimately a commitment to marry and spend our lives together. Meeting online forced us to communicate. Unlike "in person" relationships, body language can't be detected, so communications was essential.
Illness or death of an online friend is hard. That person was in your community of friends and in an instant can be gone.The pain of the loss is also real.
Chris Pirillo, who has an extremely large presence on the internet expressed the loss of a couple friends in an extremely classy way. Please take a few minutes and watch this video.

Yes online friends are real!

Father Allegedly Strangles Daughter Over Head Scarf

Strangling your daughter over the way she dresses? This is not normal behavior for any father. Doing it in the name of your religion is even more abnormal. As reported all over the press, Muhamed Parvez, strangled and ultimately killed his 16 year old daughter Agsa. Parvez was upset at his daughters refusal to wear the traditional muslim scarf (hijab) in public. This disgusting act of violence took place in Mississauga Ontario (a Toronto suburb). The greater Toronto area is one of the biggest multicultural melting pots in the world.
I have several questions in regard to this.
1. Can a religion have a person so brainwashed that they are able to kill their own child in the name of religion? If so I view this as a cultist behavior, not religion.
2. At what age should a child be able to decide what religion they want in life and how deeply involved in the faith do they want to be? At the age of 16 most children are actively finding themselves in life. If it means choosing not to practice the faith they were raised in or for that matter not practicing any faith, the choice should be theirs!
3. Can a parent be so absorbed in their faith that they can't see the effect it is having on their children? Obviously so in this case.
When we bring a child into this world, the health and well being of that child should be our top priority in life. Religious belief, family traditions or any other factors should be secondary? Would you raise a child this way?

Will the Immigration Crackdown Work?

Employers of Illegal Immigrants cry that illegals are the only workers they can get to work for $10 an hour. CNN recently posted a story on their website interviewing employers that actually go to Mexico to recruit workers. This is an insane practice. Did these employers ever consider going to areas of the United States with high unemployment and attempt to recruit workers to relocate to their area for work? I doubt it for one reason. What they don't talk about is how they can exercise unfair labor practices on the illegals that they know they can't get away with on legal workers. The illegals aren't going to complain out of fear of being detected and deported back to Mexico.
The article went on to explain how the Internal Revenue Service only contacts employers if they file 10 or more illegal W-2 forms. Does this mean that if an employer only hires 9 illegal workers, he can operate forever without detection?
I think it's time for the crackdown to get stronger!

Merry Christmas Means Merry Christmas

Contrary to all you politically correct people, MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!! That's been my seasonal greeting all my life and no one is changing it now. Over the years, the majority of people I've encountered have been Christian and openly accepted the greeting. I've also greeted people of other faiths the same way and it never was an issue.
I spent Christmas 1990 in Haifa Israel. While there, out of habit I would greet people with a big "Merry Christmas". Never once did I receive a negative reply. In fact I usually got a "Merry Christmas" greeting back.
So to sum it up, "To Hell with politically correct", I'll stick with Traditional correct!

Merry Christmas

Dealing With Grief

Dealing with the loss of a loved one is different for us all. The recent loss of my brother has caused me to think long and hard on grieving the loss of a loved one and finding a way to move on in life. We all seem to give and receive advise from everyone. The intentions are always good, but there isn't a universal answer or method that works with everyone. The grieving process that works for the loss of one loved one might not work on another. The way I deal with the loss of my brother is far different than it was when I lost my wife of 28 years.
I find comfort in thinking about all the good times we shared. At the same time, I realize life progresses in cycles. Each time we gain or loose a loved one, another of the many cycles of life either starts or ends. Segmenting life into cycles makes the pain tolerable.
While at my brothers funeral service, I looked over at my 5 month old grandson and thought "How ironic, as one cycle ends, another is just beginning."