Dr. Frankenstein of computer repair

Hard learned lesson in avoiding PC repair rip-offs and what to do if it happens to you.

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Remembering Grandma

I recently returned to the mountains where I was born and raised to remember a hell of a lady that I knew as Grandma. Grandma died in April at the age of 88, but requested that in lieu of a funeral, her family and friends gather on her birthday and remember her. It was a casual event and I was reunited with many people I have not seen for many years. Her six children are pictured to the left - twins Larry and Linda, Roxy, Ed (Ron), Chet and Bonnye.

Grandma's ashes were committed to Earth next to Grandpa in Paradise Valley, Montana. Afterwards, at a picnic in Sacajawea Park in Livingston, Montana, family and friends looked through a box of photos that Grandma had taken and collected throughout the years. The one below sums up my Grandmother in many ways.

More than a Grandma, Ruth DeYoung was a friend and adventurer to me. We were close, as I was her first grandson. She cheated at pool, built her own cabin and loved the color red so much that her entire kitchen and bathroom were filled with it. She gave me my first ride on a motorcycle, tied her toboggan onto the back of her Buick for rides through town, raised rabbits that we killed and ate and gave me the first issue of Playboy I ever saw with someone's permission.

Grandma was a unique spirit and made the World she travelled in a better place to be.

“Here’s to the crazy ones. The misfits, the troublemakers, the round pegs in
the square holes, the ones who see things differently. They’re not fond of
rules, and they have little use for the status quo.

You can quote them,
disagree with them, glorify or vilify them. About the only thing you can’t do is
ignore them, because they change things – they push the human race forward.

Maybe they have to be crazy…because the people who are crazy enough to
think they can change the world, are the ones who do.”

- Steve Jobs --1997

OpEd News Article Addresses Propaganda

In a recent article on OpEd News, author Robert Raitz uses the 1936 movie Reefer Madness as an outstanding example of how propaganda was used to manipulate the actions of the American public.

"Tell Your Children, A Paradigm of Dope" gives a pretty good description of the movie that was instrumental in getting marijuana outlawed in The United States. Unfortunately, its outrageous claims of the effects of marijuana left anyone in the know swinging from the chandeliers. The movie has become a cult classic and has recently been turned into a Broadway musical.

The point of the article is to illustrate how the government and special interest groups still use similar types of propaganda to instill fear in the American public which results in knee-jerk reactions based on emotion. These reactions are as unwise now as they were then, and the article leaves me wondering if the masses will ever quit falling for it.

Painting my World a Better Color.

For the last several months, as I've been exploring ways to use my experiences in life along with journalism, broadcasting and public relations to earn a living wage, I've been forced to work in the trade I went to college to get out of -- painting. Not the artistic kind of painting, but the kind where you wear white pants and improve the appearance of peoples residences.

Honestly, the work isn't that bad and I was always proud of the work I've done to beautify a persons surroundings. And painting a luxury home can earn a guy some pretty decent financial rewards. Most importantly, it always gave me a good feeling when I left a home in better shape than when I found it.

But I don't want to do that for the rest of my life. I want instead, to take my creative skills, education and experience, and use them to help make our world a better place than when I found it. I think the best way I can do that is by communicating with the masses, utilizing my writing, reporting and personal communication skills to bring people together.

Beautifying the world one house at a time is nice, but I think I am intended to beautify the world on a much larger scale. Now if I can figure out how to earn a living in the process, I can retire my paint brushes for good and start paying for that education...

Scooter Libby's Get out of Jail Free Card Recieved

When the Vice President's Chief of Staff, Scooter Libby, was convicted of committing several crimes against the American people, I wrote a blog entry comparing him to the other Republican scapegoat in the not too distant past, Ollie North. I predicted then that Scooter Libby would be awarded a get out of jail free card from Boy George for keeping his mouth shut about who else was involved in his criminal actions.

I'm not gloating, but writing this instead to explain the future prescription drug addiction that I'm now predicting I'll be afflicted with if someone doesn't stop this madman named Bush. He didn't even have the decency to wait until Libby started serving his time before commuting his sentence.

How long will the American public tolerate this administration thumbing their nose at the Constitutional laws that define precisely how this country should be run. Who is going to stop this crap? Maybe his mom, Barbara, or his brother, or anyone? Beuller.... Beuller....?

Transgender Wife Killer Wants Free Sex Change Operation

Some lunatic who's doing a life sentence in Massachusetts for killing his/her wife has the courts tied up trying to decide whether taxpayer's should pay for a sex change operation for the guy/gal. He/she filed the lawsuit claiming the state is violating his/her Eighth Amendment rights. Is this cruel and unusual punishment?

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Blogging for Bucks

Well, in my never ending quest to not only promote political reform and honest communication, but to somehow eat and maintain shelter, I decided to give blogging for bucks a try. Recommended by a friend that is admittedly full of hot (and aromatic air), www.payu2blog.com will pay me $5 to strategically place a link in whatever I write and post here. They haven't provided an assignment yet, but I'm going to give it a try nonetheless. I'll let you know how it goes.