Saturday 31 Jan 09

It is finally going to be a nice day in Dallas after almost a week of ice and cold. The ice was the real problem as Dallas does not have enough sand trucks to cover all the problem areas. I stayed home most of Tuesday and Wednesday. We also ha freezing fog.....I have never experienced that until this winter. Quite a phenomenon.

Business is terrible right now. This is the longest I've gone without a sale in my almost 30 year selling career. Even Frito Lay (one of my biggest customers) is not buying anything unless they have no choice. The North Texas area doesn't have it as bad as the rest of the country for the most part but it is not that much fun. The company I work for employees about 1000 in the USA and for the first time in their 73 plus year history they have had to lay people off, which was 55 people at HQ.I'm sure glad 2008 was a banner year.

The three ring circus known as the Congress, President and Supreme Court as hard at it trying to solve this financial mess along with trying their best to give the terrorist at Guantanamo the same rights as American citizens, never mind that they are barbarians that cut people's heads off on TV and ram planes into office buildings just because we don't worship Allah. The stimulus package is the biggest farce in this circus. Its like mating elephants...lots of screaming and hollering, takes place in high places and you have to wait 3 years for results. V peace my brothers and sisters.

2009 is starting out to be an interesting year from the aspect that my daughter will turn 40, my son in law (her husband) will turn 50, I will turn 60 and my father will turn 90. Kind of amazing that 4 people in the same family has their birth year end in 9. Guess 9 is our lucky number and just for fun I will buy some lottery tickets incorporating our birthday years.

January 20th we will have a new President. Lord knows we need one...and especially someone to provide leadership in the right direction. Obama was not my choice, neither was McCain because we need someone who will do the job and damn the torpedoes. Maybe Obama will turn out to be that person. After all Eisenhower was lost in the background of a cadre of officers directing World War II in Europe and when the need arose became one of our greatest Generals. When the country's need is the greatest is when the great ones step forward from the background of the everyday citizen to do what needs to be done. Let us hope and pray that Obama is that person.

Another fun day brewing, but a little colder than the last few days. But I will take this over the flooding, ice, snow and cold happening in the north country. I think that is why Utah, Arizona and Texas are the top three destinations for people fleeing the northern winter, oppressive taxes and no jobs. New York is talking about taxing the sugar in soft drinks....amazing. Is the fat in food next? I'm very glad I live in Texas where taxes are low, the economy is good and the weather is reasonable.

A few weeks ago I was playing the slots in Shreveport and what I won was above the amount set by the IRS and the casino took out federal tax and Louisiana state tax. I now have to show this on my federal return. But in order to get the $112 held out by Louisiana I have to file a state tax form. Their website did not have the current forms so I had to call and ask that they be mailed,,,which they will on 19 Jan 09. What was amazing to me is the state of Louisiana requiring its citizens to declare what they purchased out of state and then pay Louisiana sales tax on those items. No wonder Louisiana ranks close to the bottom on everything but political corruption. I would rather be celibate that live there. I have filed state income forms in Oklahoma, Kansas, Massachusetts (I didn't live there, just a mistake made by the account of a company I worked for based in Montreal) and now Louisiana. I'm sure glad I live in a sensible state where state income tax is not collected. It is very true that the only thing certain is death and taxes...and one can cause the other.

English Words

More English!

No wonder the English language is so very difficult to learn.  I
sometimes wonder how we manage to communicate at all!

There was a row among the oarsmen about to row.

They were too close to the door to close it.

The buck does funny things when the does are present.

To help with planting, the farmer taught his sow to sow.

After a number of injections my jaw got number.

Upon seeing the tear in my clothes I shed a tear.

I had to subject the subject to a series of tests.

This singer had to record the record.