Monday, April 23, 2007

First Day of Work

I woke up at 5:50 am to get ready for work. Took a shower, drank coffee, drank more coffee and was on my way. I left my house at 6:30 because i didn't know how long it would take to get down to harrisburg, but it seems like it takes an hour and 5 minutes although I'll be leaving an hour and 15 minutes just to be safe.

I drove down 522, to selinsgrove, to stop at the bank and get some money, and continued my journey down 11&15 eventually making the turn onto 322 with little traffic. From there I continued my journey although traffic was beginning to pick up. Constantly in the left lane i avoided the slower tractor trailers and grannies driving down the road and was able to navigate my way to 81 east toward carlile. I decided to take the 581 exit to camp hill instead of driving to mechanicsburg and discovered that i successfully cut 7 minutes off my trip time instead of driving all the way up carlile pike.

But from there i turned right, onto sporting hill drive, drove to the end and made a right. At the next intersection (light) i made a left, until i came to a street called simpson street and promptly made a right. The building i work at is probably 2 blocks down on the right where rite aid fss is located.

I was early obviously so i had to wait to get inside the building. There were 5 other individuals in my class so i took this time to chat with them and get to know the people. As for the actual work we did, it was mostly orientation things, company policies, procedures, training videos, and paper work. Although at the end of the day we got to listen in to the calls to see what we were going to be doing later on.

I was happier about going into this job because I'm actually getting trained, instead of like penteledata where they didn't show you anything (unless you did it wrong).

But It turns out I'll be in training for 3 weeks and then have an assessment on how my abilities are. From there, I'll be placed on the second shift 12-9 with an hour lunch (unpaid) and two breaks (15 min paid). Its actually required to take a break unlike ptd where you could fit one in if you had time.

I also found out that its going to be a lot easier, considering i won't have to work with 3rd party vendors and everything we have (equipment) some sort of documentation for. So I'll just say right now I'm excited but I'll have to elaborate more later on in the week when we do something more exciting then orientation stuff....

Peace kids..

Tuesday, April 17, 2007

Around the House

The husband wakes up early to do his weekly property maintenance because after a certain hour in the day it becomes intolerable to work outside in the summer heat. He mows the grass, tends his garden, and on certain days does something out of the ordinary. On this day there was two particular areas on his property that annoyed him greatly, and both had to deal with bees. Every time he moved his lawn mower by a particular bush and tree on his property they would greet him with a friendly sting. He would run away from the area about a good 20 yards with his hands waving wildly in the air swearing at these little creatures. And gradually they settled down back in the hive. But for some reason today, the the husband was tired of them.

He couldn't settled down as he would any other day and like a hiccup occurs in your brain; he formulated a plan to be rid of the bees once and for all. Instead of going to the store, and getting a spray repellent, or some sort of tool to help him in his endeavor, he marched straight into the basement. The husband needed 4 things, but it would take him a half hour to find because his wife just moved an assortment of files downstairs that threw off the entire organization of the basement. Instead of clearing out an area for them, she simply placed them in the walkway area so that he would deal with the problem. The wife never went downstairs but when she did, her arms were loaded.

Now the husband could of been tired after waking up early, doing his outside maintenance, and organizing files, but he was still determined to deal with the problem. After a few moments of wondering around trying to remember what he was doing he found what he was looking for: a stick, a cloth, some gas, and matches.

The husband must have formulated this plan while watching Sunday morning cartoons when the coyote's was trying one of his schemes to capture the road runner. Grinning to himself and crazy eyed he emerges from the basement, sits down, and places his tools on his open carport. The husband then proceeds to soak the cloth in the gasoline and wrap it around one end of the stick. Holding the opposite end of the stick much like a cave man would, he strikes the match and lights the cloth on fire.

Across the way, the neighbor lays in his hammock content with the work he accomplished. He sips his lemonade relaxing in the summer breeze, soaking in the sun. The neighbor took notice that the husband was acting quite weird and cast a gaze over in his direction. Noticing fire, his attention was immediately consumed with curiosity as to what the husbands motives were. Still sipping on lemonade he began to realize he could use some popcorn.

The husband walks over to the first beehive located in a tree on his property. He takes the stick and lights the hive on fire. There were some leaves that were singed but because there was still some dew left on the leaves the hive took the brunt of the damage and was completely destroyed. A triumphant look came across his face as the first hive was destroyed. "Take that you little buggers" he exclaimed.

He began to walk over to the bush located just a 30 yards to the right of the tree where another hive was located. Just about the time he was going to light the bush on fire the neighbor shouted "I wouldn't do that if I were you". The husband looked up and said there was still enough dew on the plant that it wouldn't be effected. The neighbor shouted back, "we use evergreens to start a fire in the middle of winter when snows on the ground, they're more flammable then you think". "Well we'll see what happens", so the husband haste-fully lights the second hive on fire before another word could come out of the neighbors mouth.

At first the hive caught fire, and the husband turned to the neighbor with a smile on his face. It was starting to die out but before it did the insides of the bush started to spark. Before he knew it the husband foresaw a problem arising. The husband ran across the yard to get the hose, grabbing it with his right arm and sprinted back across the yard. Around the halfway point his feet slipped from underneath him and his limbs flailed wildly in the air before coming to rest on the freshly cut grass.

To his dismay, the husband saw the hose was tangled, and unable to go the entire way across the yard. If he had more time he could untangle the hose, but time was short for his bush so he decided to let the hose rip and created an arc of water that would travel over a tree and generally splash the area where the bush was located. This Protected the rest of the area from fire but didn't help the poor bush. Black smoke filled the air, and the bush was consumed in a blaze.

Still spraying the area with water the husband watched the last of the fire die out. The neighbor shouted "I told you so" as he could hear the loud slurps from the end of his lemonade. The charred black branches were all that remained of a problematic area.

The husband tired and distraught would wait till tomorrow to cut down, because the summer heat finally took its toll.

Sunday, April 15, 2007

theantidrug.com

This is a letter i wrote to the antidrug. I guess i need to find a new topic besides drugs but i really don't like that American political system defines drugs as a criminal problem rather then a social problem.


Letter
-------------------------------------------------------------
We honestly do not have the ability to keep every American off drugs. We can tell them it’s wrong, we can tell them their friends will come down the street and just say “hey I have something for you to try”. But in the end they’re going to have to make that decision.

My major concern isn’t keeping drugs out of the county. I don’t believe that’s the problem. What I dislike is the drug war that’s happening in the United States. And by allowing violent drug dealers to thrive in our atmosphere; or to allow a no knock policy for our police force because a violent drug dealer could be in a house in a bad neighborhood. Innocent people die in this war because we are too focused on purifying humans.

You know what we should do. Educate our children. Not just by having people come in and say drugs are bad, they’ll ruin your life. But also by people who used drugs safely throughout their lives. They only smoked pot maybe 1-5 times a year, and say its ok but don’t go crazy with it; just like alcohol. We have charts to warn individuals based on body weight if they’d be a safe to drive but you have no charts available on other drug usage which would help people better understand what is safe and what is not. In the end children will have to learn responsibility with drugs with or without you and the only way they learn that now is by experience.

By not educating people on safe drug usage, people don’t realize the danger zone their approaching and become addicts. True this might happen if we educate them or not, but at least we gave them a chance.

Billions of dollars are being spent to fight this, jail cells are being built, and for what? People who are simply balancing the supply and demand; there is demand and their always will be. The responsible thing as a society for us to do is educate, take the drugs out of violent drug dealers hands, and declassify this criminal act as a social problem much like alcohol abuse.

Brian Vincent

Friday, April 13, 2007

abovetheinfluence.com

I like writing to random people and stating my opinion; so here's a letter I wrote to abovetheinfluence.com in the comment section to improve their website.

Letter
----------------------------------------------------

We are privileged to live in this world of black and white, right and wrong. Constantly in balance with the other side. But I can't help noticing a shade of grey that exists between lines. That shouts out loud like a fallen tree in the forest.

This grey area is constantly moving back, receding into the white and laying claim for black. We slowly lose our balance, and throw children in cells, who are trying to profit from the supply and demand of a multi billion dollar industry. Living in a capitalist society, you can't deny the profitability, but you defined it as wrong and build more jails.

Are these individuals truly criminal? Our friends, our fathers, our brothers and sisters, trying to survive, working minimum wage in areas where moneys tight. Are they horrible people? No, it seems to me that crime occurs more often when poverty is the central issue an individual life.

But let’s get back on the trail; I believe drugs are a social problem. Where individuals are not properly educated on the effects of drugs other then "just say no". There is no alcohol consumption chart that shows you where your cutoff point is. Individuals have to figure these things out for themselves and thus develop problems. Your black and white politics are hurting American society and wasting billions of dollars fighting the drug war.

Innocent people die in wars (that includes the drug war), and I think its time to take the drugs out of violent drug dealers hands and become more grown up as a society. You can't live in a world of complete darkness, for you'll never see. And you can't live in a world of light, for you'll never open your eyes. Only in a world of grey can we see the full spectrum of colors and the beauty before our eyes.

Be diplomatic, there are responsible ways to use drugs (other then a war). Moderation is key. Don't be the droning voice that teenagers won't believe.


There’s millions of websites out there against you and millions for you.
Simply define in between.
Eye to Eye.

Brian Vincent

Writing Exercise

I want to do something different today. Instead of writing a story, a poem, or something philosophical i want to post an exercise that individuals can do to increase their writing potential. Seeing as i don't want this exercise to take a long period of time I'd like individuals to write a paragraph. Simply 4 to 5 lines on the best word of life.

Just post your response in the comment section..

Tomorrow I'll write mine

-------------------------

Update

If i had one word to choose,
   I'd choose love above all the rest,
 Without it there is no legacy,
    No hope,
        Only Stress.

Tuesday, April 10, 2007

stoprosie.com

I wrote a letter today to http://www.stoprosie.com/ . You have to check out the website because he defines his argument really well and i can respect him for it.. but his definition of free speech and anti-americanism gets me. Below is the letter i wanted to send... and below that is the actual letter because he only accepted up to 500 words...

First Letter
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
I don't know where to begin with this letter. So I’ll simply make a statement

Terrorism is a word, and doesn't exist in the real world beyond a society of individuals who deem another society’s action is inappropriate toward their standard of living. If the action is minor, it is deemed criminal, and as the intensity of the crime increases it goes up a scale until you commit crimes against a nation which we deemed as terrorist. (Which doesn’t make sense because a nation can't be held accountable for crimes only individuals. Why should a entity that doesn’t exist have immunity for action? Why did we create this scapegoat of nations and groups?)

But I’ll continue.
In the terrorists view they are solders fighting a battle against a suppressor. But in our view we are fighting a battle against a group of terrorists who will strap bombs to their body and blow themselves up to make a statement. Disregard they don't have enough money to buy suffocated weapons to fight us. Their fighting the only way they know how.

But you know all this
Your calling for a boycott against a TV show that has brought you some media time, some fame, and concentration on an issue. (Whether you wanted it or not). It seems that you simply want people to stop watching and turn a blind eye to the show. Not only that, you most likely would want to just shut up anything you deem as unpatriotic or anti-American if you had the power to do so.

Well tell me sir what is un-American? Do you know? Do you have a degree in unamericanism (yes I totally made up that word)? You say she has the right to say whatever she wants, but then state in your reason that you will no longer enable an anti-American individual to occupy our network television airtime.

So does this mean people still have the right to state their opinion in this country? (Obviously not if you feel the way that you do). Its kind of funny how this happens you view this as anti-American, I view it as patriotic.

I simply see the book 1984, or Stalin as the dictator covering the media from what he doesn’t believe needs to be said.

But I’ll stop here… I’m sorry your turning your back to the world and not seeing the 360 degree scale of issues. I can only hope that these lies, can lead to research into to the issue that no one knows the answer.

Brian Vincent

Actual Sent
-------------------------------------------------------
tell me sir what is un-American? Do you know? Do you have a degree in unamericanism (yes I totally made up that word)? You say she has the right to say whatever she wants, but then state in your reason that you will no longer enable an anti-American individual to occupy our network television airtime.

So only americans can make american statments in this country. To be honest I simply see the book 1984, or Stalin the dictator.

I’m sorry your not seeing the 360 degree scale of issues
peace

Thursday, April 05, 2007

The Magic City

I hope you guys enjoy this one, this describes my trip to nyc (with some fun thrown in). although it changes from beginning middle and end as to how i wrote it. Mostly because i wrote this on 3 separate days.

Over the hills and far away to a land of concrete. We pass through a tunnel, 6 dollars a car load, to the land of red soxs meat. We enter this city, 5 miles per hour, it warns us against beeping with a hefty fine. 350 dollars i say, outrages.

Precious seconds pass, they turn into minutes, gridlock entraps our little vehicle. Some cars turn left, a red light occurs, and the cars from the adjacent street fill in the last remaining spots available on the other side.

We wait, patiently for the light to turn down the street, while ours is green. A few more spots open for us to turn, but an experienced driver cleverly beeps their horn in our direction, maneuvering his car around ours to take the spot away.

Clever bastard i thought. But no need, we'll be next. We finally get off the street, and start going uptown. But glancing at our map, we realize we needed to go down town. We wait for a street to turn right, which would be every other street, with the others turning left. At the next light we turn right, and right again. This takes us, directly downtown, although only in direction without the urgency of speed.

The lights on the street are all in unison, but a bladder troll jumped my girl friend which delayed our impending trip downtown. We decided to cut the trip short and park where we could so the troll couldn't cause a mess.

Parking in the smallest lot in the world, a clever man could stack, pile, and park your car any which way so that he could maximize his profits of owning such a small establishment. Grinning ear to ear he simply asked when we were to return and processed a reciept for us.

We left in haste for the trolls were still attacking my girl friends bladder. Finally finding shelter in a near by newsstand, individuals pay a small fee to use the bladder reducer machine. A troll asked me for a quarter, which i gave to him so he could buy booze from the moonshine man down the alley way.

With the trolls bought off, we continued down the street with a stiff wind at our backs improving our progress downtown. We would go through a light right when it turned, and reach the next light just as it turned green. It was as if we became synced with the grid work of the city system. Like some master planner watched us walk down the street, calculating the amount of steps and velocity it takes to get down the street just for us.

Approaching 17th street we decided to indulge in the local atmosphere. We found the Chelsea brewing company, a place where individuals relax to a intoxicating beverage and forget their belongings. Around the bar you'll find little items individuals forgotten by drinking this forgetful potion, most memorable being a old volume of the oxford dictionary.

After enjoying a good beverage we decided to head downtown a bit more to the magic bakery. I knew it was magical because people were waiting in line to get inside of the place. Almost as if the soup Nazi was real but a baker. So waiting in line, we saw cupcakes fly off the shelf. They flew into boxes of customers, like they were destined to be choose by that particular customer.

When we entered the little establishment a man with a cupcake tray head appeared. Singing softly his rap and moving through the crowd with his soloist beat, he restocks the cupcakes. But by the time his cupcakes are on the shelf 3 have already been placed in our own box.

We leave the bakery before more cupcakes could fly into our bellies, and walk across the street to see what these cuppy cakes were all about.

The pigeons noticed the behavior of the humans a few hours before our arrival. And were awaiting us patiently, noticing our dropped crumbs they'd fell, developing a plan of attack to gain the crumbs before the other birds noticed what happened.

Of course these cupcakes were amazing, and were instantly devoured inside our mouths. The crumbs provided a nice snack for the rats with wings. But again, once we were done the bladder trolls came and attacked my girlfriend. This time they attacked in the middle of the street as we were making our way back toward 17th street.

A kind catholic priest, holding a bible in his hand and preaching the good word saved my girlfriend once again from the bladder trolls by allowing her to use the holy reducer of bladder pain. This of course forced her to go into church, where she had to repent her sins in the urinal confessional. Upon leaving she had to say 3 hail Mary's and 5 our fathers.

With the trolls successfully battled off yet again, we approached a street fair in union square. The-booths were owned by tricky souls who donated money to save the cities farmers. However if you looked around, there's obviously no farmland in sight so their over charged prices were quite suspicious.

We continued our journey by walking around the square until we noticed another individual complaining about the overcharged prices. He started getting in an argument with one of the local shop keeps and after a brief exchange of words he was chased out of the market and started a fight across the street.

A man in a life guard chair in the middle of the winter signaled for the police to break up the fight over a crowd of hippies. These hippies were lazy and didn't regurgitate the mans request so it took several minutes for his plea to reach the officers ears. Meanwhile the argumentative individual was now surrounded by a crowd of city folk and was forced to fend for himself like a homeless person fighting over a piece of meat.

The police officer did finally take notice to the problem across the way and started to stroll while the entire city block was stopped, gazing in the direction of the disturbance. It was quite odd to notice that a part of the city stopped to see a bunch of idiots fight, but I guess its something to talk about around the dinner table.

With the disturbance silenced, we walked to the northern corner of the square and entered the biggest book store i have ever seen. There wasn't just one level either, nor two, or three, just one more then four existed. And the books, while organized into section were difficult to locate. The organizers with their master computers were the only ones who knew the exact location of all the books, but then again if you asked them which book you wanted, you would be obligated to buy the book, or at least be moderately interested in purchasing it.

It was at this time that my girl had to go and complete some business with the city folk. During this time i visited the heartland brewing company, which honestly wasn't that great. 6.50 a beer, give me a break, chelsea's a dollar less just down the street, and its better, not incomplete.

What you pay for is the atmosphere, and while its crowded, the people are nice, and i talked sports with out of townees like myself. I sipped my beer, but didn't order another, because the price was ugly.

But i glanced at my watch and no sooner I arrived, I had to leave, and meet my girl across the street. She wasn't there so i walked on Broadway, up to 22nd street. Down the way i realized i went to far and she was actually on 23rd street.

We kissed upon my arrival and began to walk back, our car parked across town. She suggested the subway, but i rejected the suggestion, and we enjoyed the emitting lights from vacant buildings. Only the cleaning clues remained.

It was 4 blocks that i realized my feet were starting to hurt, the trolls seek revenge for giving them the slip. They littered the ground with nails and tacs, fire and knives. She suggested the subway but i fought them, only to complain 15 blocks later.

Hardly walking the trolls almost got me, but we found a restaurant. Thai food filled, our starving bellies, from a man who had little English speak. Their food was good, but i forget the name and we paid our bill to leave. The trolls still on me, the garage insight, sweet relief for the man had the car ready.

Sitting silently, the trolls kept bothering me, all the way back to s-grove. They attacked me they attacked us, we said bad things, and we had our first fight by all stupid means.

The end

Tuesday, April 03, 2007

No regret

I want to yell at the people who put this in their profile "No Regrets".. They look back at their lifes and analyze their lives.. realize what they did they did they did for a reason and say life should be lived without regrets because at some time or another its exactly what a person wanted to do.

Now i don't know what tree you crawled up, what outfit didn't work for you, what boyfriend/girlfriend broke up with you, but to live life without regret. Well that's just not human.

Your looking at the miniscule problems that mean jack shit, regret isn't the word your looking for. Your actually thinking of the phrase "no worries". Worrying means your tormenting yourself by past thoughts. Regret means to feel sorrow or remorse for (an act, fault, disappointment, etc.): He no sooner spoke than he regretted it. (dictionary.com)

An example of worrying is like, i had a bad day, i got in an accident and i don't know what my family is going to say. (you can add regret in here by saying if i didn't drink and drive tonight i wouldn't of been in an accident, which is something you probably shouldn't of done in the first place.)

Regret.. Is a whole different can of worms.. Its on a different plateau from from worrying. An example would be a convicted murderer awaiting his death sentence over steak, potatoes, carrots, lobster, shrimps, and a Klondike bar. And once he finished his meal, had his after meal cigarette, he lies down in his bed, and realizes his impending doom could of been averted if he was a better person. If the gun wasn't there, the man didn't mouth off to him, if he just listened, if i didn't pull the trigger.

Regret makes us human, and individuals who choose to live their lives without regret are stupid. Regret helps us learn, to degrade the meaning of a situation is to block out a portion of your life. To not deal with it, would be irresponsible. Don't degrade a lesson that could help you with the rest of your life and promote your own way of life that's idiotic.

Learn, live, love. Regret what you need to, and carry it with you. Let it bleed from your heart so others will understand the mistakes you've made beneath your mask. Or you'll go through life a ghost, blind to make the same mistake over and over like a newborn baby. coming up with a clever excuse why to not learn the regretful lesson and continue living your life in sweet oblivion.

Sunday, April 01, 2007

Sickness

Sickness

I've been sick the past couple of days. Well actually the past week.. It started with a stomach virus that began when i got back from new york. It progressed into a fever, and vomiting. After a few days of this my throat started to get sore and i had a hard time swallowing food/water.. Needless to say its something you defiantly don't want to get (and hopefully I'm about done with it)..

When your sick you just don't care about your usual daily rendition. Instead a nagging reminder constantly rotates into your vision. You might not pay attention to it right away, but it'll hit harder. Start eroding your consciousness until your laying in bed just thinking about it. Hoping the ache will go away with a nights rest. But its still there. Your other priorities fade away when alls you want to do is consume a food and beverage without pain. You think it will run its course and wait it out. One day, two days, three days, and finally you start to feel better (only because you magically attacked the beast with the right over the counter drug method and sleep). But it returns and you finally make that trip to the hospital.

You see others with the sickness. Their eyes look at your disheveled hair and unshaven face they smirk but they also understand. For they too are in the same state.

So i sit around, wait for my name to be called, go back, get my drugs and come home.

I realize the drugs made me feel better. thus if you want to feel better sooner, go to the hospital right away instead of being a schmetlap like me and waiting 5 days to go to the hospital...