Probably The Last Post of 2010

Well I certainly hope everyone has had a pleasant holiday. I can say with certainty that we in Hickersonia have, in spite of a few stressful moments and gripes here and there. We did end up spending more than I originally wanted on Christmas related things (doubled our Christmas budget at the last minute, actually), but we still kept our total expenditure well below the $658 amount the so-called “average” American has apparently spent this year and made absolutely no purchases on credit. I guess I'd call that a financially successful Christmas.

So, moving on, I do have a certain disappointment to share with this post. I have found some surprise in who has chosen to contact me this season to wish me a Merry Christmas and the like, while certain others have, well... not. I understand many of us our quite busy, but I think most of us still have time to shoot off a text message or a wall post on Facebook. Many of my friends didn't even do that.

Okay, I'll admit there are people that I didn't contact too. I guess what that means is I understand first-hand why I was “forgotten.” Not that I don't care, or that they don't care, but that we obviously don't care enough, so while I can accept some blame on the matter as it comes to those who might point a finger at me, that doesn't make me any less disappointed with those who I hoped to hear from, at least briefly, this season.

Moving on again, I wanted to share something of a lighter nature. This year, my son's “Christmas haul” included a NERF gun. I noticed it at Meijer a couple months ago and decided that it was about time he be introduced to some projectile fun (that didn't involve large, heavy objects flying around the rooms of our 800 square foot apartment). The model we purchased is the Maverick Rev-6, a six-shooter which included six plunger darts (at least one of which my son has already misplaced) that will, using the amazing power of suction, stick to many flat surfaces.

Of course, after our son opened this thing and started playing with it, I decided that I had to have one too... but I wasn't about to be out-done by a mere six-shooter. I browsed online for the right foam firearm and, after reviewing some of them close up at the store, chose the Raider CS-35.

As the name might suggest, this thing is designed to fire 35 darts prior to reloading, and for that purpose carries a drum magazine that reminds me of the combat shotgun from Fallout 3. That similarity may actually even be one of the things that attracted me to this particular design...

And so, hilarity ensues. Well, not for you because you aren't here to witness it, but my son absolutely loves this stuff and I've found that apparently I do too.  Once in a while it is nice to share something fun with one's children, right?

Anyway, I hope everyone has enjoyed a blessed Christmas, and I hope the new year is good to everyone as we move forward.  Maybe the new year will bring me more things to blog about, eh?  Hopefully fun things, if so.

The Forgotten Employee

My company has been touting a fourth-quarter bonus over the last 10 weeks, repeatedly stressing to us it's basis on our productivity individually and performance as a facility. That is all fine and good, and I appreciate any such bonus simply as a matter of gratitude because clearly there is no reason why a bonus has to be granted in the first place.

Well, yesterday the bosses were meeting with employees one-on-one to inform them of what dollar value their bonuses would be. I wasn't too concerned about it because I'll know on Friday regardless (yay for payday), but I was asked to visit with one of the bosses so I dutifully complied. Of course, it was pointless because the boss in question didn't have any information about me because I apparently don't technically work for him.

Furthermore, I've already been told by “my” boss, who I haven't seen much over the last two months because I don't really work for him either, that he doesn't have any information for me either.

So I guess I'm kinda curious about what sort of bureaucratic crack I've fallen into to be forgotten so completely... I mean, I still draw a paycheck so I am still employed (I guess), but no one knows who the hell my boss really is anymore. No one really ever bothers me about anything unless I make a major mistake (such errors are, thankfully, few and far between), and then it sometimes takes a few days for anyone to bother tracking me down about it.

I suppose I'll be fine as long as I'm not forgotten by the payroll department, right?

Financial Comedy

12 cents each. That's all, I swear!

You want 1.1 billion of them? That's great!

There is just one catch. Some random percentage of them will be defective due to faulty equipment and sloppy processes, and those will have to be destroyed and new one will need to be made, all at your expense.

http://www.cnbc.com/id/40521684/The_Fed_Has_a_110_Billion_Problem_with_New_Benjamins

That's pretty much what is happening in relation to the newfangled, so-called “high tech” $100 Federal Reserve Notes. Aparently there is a defect that will cause some number, as of yet undetermined, to be useless, and each one of these worthless pieces of “high tech” paper costs 12 cents.

I guess it is OK to waste so much money when you consider that the money used to pay for it is also worthless... but that doesn't make it sound any better when you consider all the stuff people can still, for now at least, buy with it.

I sometimes wonder if we waste more money implementing new anti-counterfeiting measures than we'd waste simply dealing with the counterfeiting directly. 12 cents doesn't sound like much, but that's 12 cents for each of 1.1 billion bank notes... totaling 132,000,000 dollars. If these were one dollar notes, each one would cost 12% of it's face value to create, but regardless of the tiny fraction of the cost involved with these $100 notes, 132 million dollars is still a lot of money to see disappear into thin air.

Of course, I'm sure they printed enough to compensate for it...   

Federal Regulations on... Bake Sales?

Alright folks, my wife brought my attention to an article that I want to make sure gets noticed by as many people as possible:

http://www.daytondailynews.com/news/nation-world-news/hold-the-brownies-bill-could-limit-bake-sales-1020132.html

So, let me get this straight... there are “public health” organizations that believe that the items commonly available at fundraisers such as Bake Sales (among others) are “bad for us, mkay?” Alright, I'll bite – sure, I can't argue for any nutritional benefit to most such foodstuffs, but how does that become an issue for the Federal Government? Why does some random organization, no matter how well financed or intelligent it's members may be, have the right to forcibly interfere with my food choices?

From what language in the Constitution does the Federal Government derive the power to write any such legislation at all? If someone says the “Commerce Clause,” it serves only to illustrate just how ridiculous interpretations of the Constitution have gotten.

If a particular school district wants to enact health rules on fundraisers, by all means, let them, but tell the Fed that their help is neither needed nor desired.