On Convenience

Convenience is not the goal of my life. In fact, it is not even high on my priority list. Convenience is the enemy of my quality of life.

All the best things are very inconvenient - going to the museum, a long dinner with good friends, walking to do errands, learning a new skill, making art, riding a bicycle to work, rescuing a friend in need, etc, etc, etc.

What kills jobs?

I hate it when people say "Job Killing Tax Hike." Maybe we should be honest and say "Job Killing - million dollar CEO bonus." Maybe if these companies, who want us to believe that they have to lay people off to pay their pollution-penalties, would stop giving ludicrous bonuses at the top level, they would have enough money to hire more workers. Hmmm, regulate those bonuses and everybody else can probably have a raise!

As we've seen with the banks, giving companies more money to corporations (ie - tax cuts) has not created more jobs!

Put your money where your heart is!

... you may not realize... every time you open your wallet, endorse a check, or sign a credit card receipt, you're making a statement about your spiritual values. In other words, money spent is a personal testament - the receipts absolute proof of your priorities."

Gary Keller

If you cannot learn to love real art, at least learn to hate sham art.

William Morris

Terrorist Threat Level Elevated

The English are feeling the pinch in relation to recent terrorist threats
and have raised their security level from "Miffed" to "Peeved." Soon,
though, security levels may be raised yet again to "Irritated" or even "A
Bit Cross."

The English have not been "A Bit Cross" since the blitz in 1940 when tea
supplies all but ran out. Terrorists have been re-categorised from
"Tiresome" to a "Bloody Nuisance." The last time the British issued a
"Bloody Nuisance" warning level was during the great fire of 1666.

The Scots raised their threat level from "Pissed Off" to "Let's get the
Bastards" They don't have any other levels. This is the reason they have
been used on the frontline in the British army for the last 300 years.

Belgians, on the other hand, are all on holiday as usual, and the only
threat they are worried about is NATO pulling out of Brussels.

The Spanish are all excited to see their new submarines ready to deploy.
These beautifully designed subs have glass bottoms so the new Spanish navy
can get a really good look at the old Spanish navy.

Americans meanwhile are carrying out pre-emptive strikes on all of their
allies, just in case.

New Zealand has also raised its security levels - from "baaa" to "BAAAA!".
Due to continuing defence cutbacks (the air force being a squadron of
spotty teenagers flying paper aeroplanes and the navy some toy boats in
the Prime Minister's bath), New Zealand only has one more level of
escalation, which is "Shit, I hope Australia will come and rescue us".

Australia, meanwhile, has raised its security level from "No worries" to
"She'll be alright, mate". Three more escalation levels remain, "Crikey!',
"I think we'll need to cancel the barbie this weekend" and "The barbie is
cancelled". So far no situation has ever warranted use of the final
escalation level.

I could only find this on a ton of blogs and couldn't find any credit given. I thought it both accurate (with regards to the only country I really know about) and funny - worthy of a repost.

Researching the Unconventional Life

I've spent most of the uncommonly sunny day exploring the gypsy life of VanDwellers, a term that's new to me. Although, we spent 4 months living in our Westfalia van and another 5 months living in a monster tent, I was not aware that so many people were living a seasonal traveling life.

Mostly, this research is to forward the purchase of an airstream to house my family for a year-long tour of the continental U.S. and Alaska. This trip will be dedicated to quality family time in the outdoors and searching for the right place to build my tiny architectural dream village, raise a child and make some friends. Basically, we need a home-base that we actually want to return to after our seasonal travels.

Right now, though, I am searching for the airstream that I can customize and a vehicle to pull it. If you have any ideas or know someone who is doing this, please post some info.