Just a Guy

These days I spend a lot of time writing movie type stuff. I write for www.rustylime.com and my own blogger blog. Because of my extensive movie knowledge and the way I view the medium and provide my feedback, I was recently invited to join a couple guys from the bay area to join forces with their small production company. I am really looking forward to it.

In the mean time I keep looking for work. Just got another kiss off letter in my email tonight and boy it was a kick in the chest. Apparently Enloe HR is too ignorant to realize that learning technical stuff is the easy part but finding some one that actually knows and understands advanced management theory is difficult to find. That's why so many people complain about their bosses. Their boss got there on technical knowledge but has no idea how to be a leader. Yes I realize that's no way to get a job but they all ready sent me the email telling me they didn't want me. I have run circles around technical people with my management style. I get more out of my people and they are happier. Technical knowlegde has little to do with being a manager. I have never had such a hard time finding a job. I have put out at least 100 resumes and I have had one call back and one interview. I am still waiting to hear back and that was over a week ago. If you think I am frustrated and ticked off then go with that.

So being a Chico resident that actually grew up here I really have reached a point with the anti-Wal Mart crowd that has me questioning their intelligence. You want to know why people go to Wal Mart to get jobs and shop. Because local businesses can't compete in either market. Local businesses offer part time employment with no benefits. They hire college kids who don't need the job but are the only ones that can afford to work for such pathetic wages and no benefits. I have a family. I would love to support you but try supporting the rest of the community too. Quit your whining and and put your money where your mouth is.

I heard a rumor that Enloe wants to buy up the blocks of residences behind them. Tear it all down and expand the hospital. Like I said it was a rumor I heard and I don't know if it's true. If it is there goes a great neighborhood and in comes more cookie cutter substandard housing that tries to cram as much as they can into the space available.

Now for politics. Hillary Clinton in office is an idea that makes me want to leave the country and here is why. She has no moral ground to stand on. He husband cheated on her several times and I am willing to bet the only reason she stayed with him was to ride his coat tails to the oval office. She's worse than all of them. McCain has no interest in you whatsoever. He is a fat cat politician all the way. Don't know enough about Obama or he would be under fire here as well. The best chance we had was Dr. Ron Paul anyone that can not see that needs to pull their head out of the sand and take a look around.

So I am a little upset and taking all my shots at once. Sometimes you need to. I hold back quite a bit out of concern over being seen as offensive but some times the world needs to be offended just to see if they are actually paying attention. So many spend way too much time worrying about what they say that it gets so sanitized that they never actually say anything. I am angry and you should be too. If you want to be angry at me go ahead, I can take it. What you should be angry about is the way this country is being taken from us more and more every day. They are coming after our freedom. They want you with your head in the sand not paying attention to what is going on. They want you subservient buying into whatever they are selling this week.

You think a tax incentive check is going to solve anything or cutting interest rates, not bloody likely. What would help is if they imposed fines on companies that ship jobs over seas. We need more jobs. People with out jobs can't spend money they don't have. Tens of thousands of jobs are being shipped out every year til we hit a depression and then the government is going to offer something that we would not except unless we are that desperate. Seriously people wake up and start demanding our government work for us the people not the corporations.

I have worked for Fortune 100 companies and for Fortune 500 companies and I have watched them ship jobs over seas. I have worked for companies that were offering a severance package to people after sending their jobs some where else. They had to stay for a few months to get the severance and I was instructed to see how many I could fire or encourage to quit so the company would not have to pay anything out. Yes that was here in Chico. To avoid problems I am not going to name the company.

Like I said I write 2 other blogs one has had over 700,00 hits world wide since the beginning of the year and because of my writing there I have been offered to join a movie production company and have been asked to review the future films of a second company. One is my one free blog where my language is quite profane. I write here. I guess I may have let something slip and some one took notice. My apologies. I understand that is not allowed here and I have no problem with that. But the next person that tells me I am small town guy that does not know what he is talking about is going to get an earful.

I served 4 honorable years in the Air Force where I have seen things that would blow your mind. I have been all over the country and to a few other countries. I have seen and done things in my 33 years that a lot of people don't do in 50. Yes I take a great amount of offense to people who think they know where I am coming from with out knowing me. I know people that died in terrorist acts. I have watched people die. I have seen some of the poorest people in the world and lived with them. I have no compassion for the whining over Wal Mart. Wal Mart at least provides employment. When you have been out of work for a few months and can't find anything then we will talk about how evil Wal Mart is. It's called capitalism and that's the way it works. Wal Mart does better business than you so either get with the competition or quit taking up space.

This is what a real rant looks like. I do feel much better thank you. If you think I am being irrational look up the word rant before you comment.

Posted by Jccjr at 09:49 PM | Permalink | Comments (3)

I got my brand new computer yesterday. I bough an HP. I am not a MAC a user. Vista is not Windows, it's MAC.

So Wednesday night I was like a kid the night before Christmas. I did not go to sleep until around 4 because I was so excited. Of course The Dude did not care that daddy had only 2-3 hours of sleep and coffee was not having it's normal effect. Around 12:30-1pm I saw the Fed Ex truck and reverted to being 8 years old. I began the process of pulling everything out of the boxes and systematically setting up the monitor, speakers, and tower. Then I turned it on.

Here is where things get interesting. I had also ordered the transfer cable because I had a lot of stuff on my old machine that I wanted to keep. So here I am on the floor in the living room with my new computer humming along while I am trying to get the old computer configured for the transfer. What I did not realize is that I was going to need the internet on both machines for little bit as I figured out how to transfer my Firefox bookmarks and passwords. I ended up using Google Browser Sync and it worked flawlessly. Now I was on the ground on all fours unplugging my Ethernet cable from one computer and plugging it in to the new one. Now keep in mind that every five minute I have Eddie (girlfriends 8 yr old daughter) and The Dude coming in the room to tell on each other. Things like this make me think that if you only have one you are not a real parent but that's another post. Where was my girlfriend? Being that she is smarter than me, she hid out in the bedroom reading knowing I was involved in this project and nothing would go smooth. I spent about 2 hours setting up the transfer yelling at kids, making dinner and being accosted by Uma (the dog) and Dartanian the cat.

OK so everything is transfered and I am ready to go right? Wrong. I sat down in my recliner and put the keyboard in my lap, grabbed the keyboard and began searching for my treasured files. First the start button is gone. Replaced by this little windows symbol. I click and I get this thing that kind of looks nothing like Windows. So I figure I would go to My Computer and look. My Computer is gone. You have to go through the start menu and click computer. Then the window looks nothing like the Windows Explorer window I have know and love. Hunting stuff down in Vista is an adventure of Indiana Jones proportions. It sure as hell looks pretty though, especially with the LCD flat screen monitor. Greg you were right about that. There seems to be a lot of extra stuff on here, more than what you have with Windows. If you want to tweak something or check your network connection you have to click about 4 times instead of just clicking the icon in the tray.

I have come to the conclusion that I have to take everything I know about PC's and flush it down the toilet. it's like learning how to use a computer all over again. I am sure I will comaplin about it from time to time. I am off to take the wookie Drewbacca to work (one of my friends, if you saw him you would under stand why we call him Drewbacca). Drewbacca is a wookie and lives at Jeffs's house. Jeff's house is now the Millennium Falcon and Jeff is Jeffe Solo (pronounced Heffay). This does not make sense. Not even in my warped little mind. Have fun kids.

Posted by Jccjr at 09:50 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

There is something that has been bothering me for a while now. I have one child in the public school system here in Chico and it seems now they are getting weeks off for no apparent reason. OK so well there is a reason. They think kids need more of a break. However they seem to be oblivious to the fact that many house holds do not have a parent at home. So every time they give the kids a week off we have parents that are scrambling to find care for their kids while the parents have to work.

This usually ends up with the parents calling family and friends or shelling out big cash to have their kid in a program or daycare. If they can't find anything then they have to take time off work. There really are not that many employers that are sympathetic to this nor should they be. Your kid is your responsibility not theirs. You made a commitment to your employer to be at work and in return they give you money. This comes from a parent of 2 kids. The schools job is to educate our children. If our kids need this break then why not make the school year shorter. Of course then we as parents still need to have the summer taken care of but at least then it is something consistent that we can plan for.

I already can hear "they give out a schedule at the beginning of the year" and really if that is all you have then wake up and join the discussion. Yes I am a little hot on this issue and have taken the tongue out of the cheek. If you need this reference explained, please do us all a favor and stay indoors.

Normally I try to leave emotion out of my posts but this is one that really gets under my skin. I would file this under rant. That means that I am in no way trying to present a rational or intelligent argument. It means that I am venting and I am not really concerned about offending anyone. Actually with my mood this morning the more offended you are the happier I will be. We all have those days from time to time. This is one of those days. I am angry about a great many things that are going on in our country and this topic just happened to be the straw that broke the camels back. As always I invite your comments as I believe that blogging is not a spectators sport. It is a participatory event.

Now back to the kids. I love my kids. But my kids can drive me crazy faster than any one. It's because they know you won't actually follow through on some of the threats we as parents throw out there. Our kids know how to push our buttons and when you take them out of their structured environment and give them free time and then give them paranoid parents that will not let them do all the stuff we did as kids because we have seen too many horrific news reports about child predators. If I had a week off as a kid and one of my parents were at home, they would not have seen much of me anyway. I would leave the house at 9 or 10am and be gone all day until near dark. I grew up on Heather Circle just off 5th Avenue and Mangrove. My play area went from Hooker Oak Elementary to Lindo Channel. I had from Sheridan to Mangrove. I had a big space to go play and have fun. I had a big area to find new and different ways to nearly kill myself on a daily basis doing something stupid like kids do. Now we are so protective of our children that we are stealing their childhood away. I realize I have gone another route but hey this is how my brain works. Even though I am aware of this I still have same fears as the rest of you. Somewhere along the way we as parents forgot the freedom we had when we were young and replaced those memories with our fear. Every so often when we get together with other parents we talk about those memories but the conversation always ends the same. Even when I am out and about and see some kids doing the same things I did as a kid I always think "do their parents know where they are?"

So now back to the week off. Yesterday I had dinner with my girlfriends family. One of her Uncles is a teacher. His statement was that the kids are still in for 185 days and he gets paid for 185 days regardless of how they split it up and he likes having the time off. That may or may not be a typical answer for a teacher. I don't know, I have not talked to enough teachers. Let's say for the sake of argument that it is the typical response. Then here is my answer. Hey moron your job is teaching kids and you get the summer off. Why in the blue hell do need any more time off. The rest of us that are not teachers get little to no time off and we work 52 weeks a year. If we are lucky we get the occasional holiday off. Try stepping into the real for a while and then maybe you will understand what this puts us through. I am a little over the top on this and that is on purpose. Some times going over the top is the only to get any ones attention. Normally I like to take a calmer and more intelligent approach but some times it just feels good to let go and rant like a mad man and damn the consequences. To sum I can end my argument in one simple statement. Life is not fair and if you expect anything different, you are only setting yourself up for disappointment.

Posted by Jccjr at 09:35 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)

I was watching Dune again today and when I saw Patrick Stewart I naturally had thoughts of Star Trek. then I had a question. So in the future they have all this wonderful advanced medical science. They have a cure for cancer. They have cure for everything we know about. Which makes me want to ask this question. How is it this far in the future that they have not found a cure for male pattern baldness?

I know it's best not to dwell on such things, but such is my life.

I wonder if I am ging to go anywhere with this.

Maybe.

You think.

I do.

OK

So where are we going?

This way.

Which way?

No that way.

Ok

So here we go.

Now if you are still here I will explain the above. I have my personal blog that I write and I have a new weekly piece I call Blog Storming. Blog Storming is me sitting here just wroiting what ever thoughts may be going through my head. It is an exercise in exploring my ADD. Now you know. Proceed at your own risk.

"Inconceivable!"

"I do not think that means what you think it means."

Yes I am watching The Princess Bride again. Watching with the family as I type. How you ask. Well I have a small computer desk that I can put my Lazy boy behind and sit in my recliner while online. I put up with the kids talking through the movie and they put up with me typing through the movie. It's fair trade. Now for something completely different.

Did you here they have a new bionic eye that works on cats? They say in two years they expect to give a blind person sight with bionic eye. Really cool stuff.

Tomorrow Is St Patty's day. Did you know that the irish these day are not big fans of his. Neither are historians and scholars. Know why? He did not chase out the snakes, he chased out the Druids. You know the mystics we still know absolutely nothing about. Thanks dude. Now we will never know what Stone Henge is for.

Now I love my Stumble buitton. Maybe a little too much. AnwayI have blogs set up as a tpic to stumble. 90%of what I come across is blogs telling me how to blog or monetize my blog. Hey nitwits do something original you douche bags. I hit thumbs down a lot. Sometimes I leave nasty comments. Depends on how annoyed I am and how many of them I have stumbled in a row. In other news

there was news.

I like cheese.

I have lost me. If you find me, please return me. I miss me.

So yes actually I do know that insane but since only the truly insane don't know they are insane I think I am safe from the I love me coat. Next

I hope you enjoyed this little trip down the rabbit hole that is my sorted little mind. Untl the next time, be excellent to each other and party one dudes!

Posted by Jccjr at 04:08 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

I want to start by saying that I am basing this all on my experience at Blue Shield of California from 2004-2005. I have no idea what they are currently doing but I am willing to guess things have not changed. Again this opinion and perception and I make no absolute claims.

Where to begin. I left United Healthcare (UHC) to go work for Blue Shield of California (BS) because BS offered me nearly twice my UHC salary. I was actually quite happy at UHC but my ex wife had just had thyroid surgery to remove cancer (She is fine with a full recovery) and it looked like it would be a while before she could go back to work. By taking the BS job I was able to provider her with the ability to stay home with the kids. After discussing it we agreed this was best for us and our family.

I was a supervisor in their ITS Host Claims department in Chico. I should have known this was going to end badly when I got my team assigned to me. I walked around introducing myself to them and taking a couple minutes with each of them to start building a rapport with them. This is something any personnel management training courses will tell you to do. With each person I got the same response. I could see it in their eyes. They were terrified when we first started talking and then confused because I was treating them like real people. I should have run for the door.

You know the beautiful thing about being a non for profit company, you can blow large sums of money frivolously on any one in the company you choose. For example bringing together every member of management in the company in Tahoe and putting them up at a ski resort for 3 days for a cheer leading session. They rolled out their pretty new slogans and insisted it was time to set unreasonable goals and expect to achieve them. In a large crowd we tend to lose IQ points and buy into what is going on around us. When i returned and started going over this stuff with my team all I could see was a depressed group of people that just saw their lives getting tougher. Standards were raised and raised again and raised again.

I fought a lot these changes and was really a champion of my employees sticking up for what I thought was the right thing. Which doing the right thing was a BS value at the time. I don't know if it is anymore. However I was met with the same words over and over again. "You just don't understand."

"That just is not the BS way."

"I don't think you know what you're talking about."

Then something happened that I feel was the most worng thing in the world that you could to do some one. There was another department of keyers in the building and BS decided to give that work to EDS to do. People had a choice, they could take a severance package apply with other departments or apply with EDS. My mom went to EDS and that nightmare is another article. Those that chose the severance package option were required to work in our department under me until a certain date and then they would receive their severance. They had to stay until that date, if they quit they did not get the severance. If they were fired they did not get the severance. This would have been all well fine and dandy had BS lived up to their original promise. Instead when EDS could not meet the dates they had promised that severance date got pushed back indefinitely. So these people were sitting in a new department with little training on the way claims were keyed in this department and were generally regarded as second class citizens. As there supervisor I did what I felt was the right thing and constantly pushed for a firm date. I protected them from a lot of things that were trying to be unfairly pushed upon them. Again this is my opinion and perception and should not be regarded as cold hard fact. Time went on and I was being encouraged to weed them out. No one ever told me out right to try and find ways to fire these people.

This is what really drove me over the edge. I was miserable stuck between trying to do what was the right thing (which was a BS value at the time that I was supposed to emulate) and working in the most oppressive environment I have ever seen.

Not only was there all of this going on but also the ever present threat of closing the Chico office. They built a really nice facility in Redding and immediately moved the customer service department up there. Ever since it has been a forgone conclusion that Chico would be moved to Redding. No I find it interesting that their lease in Chico is up soon and that the owner is looking to sell the building. You do the math and make your own guess as to what will happen. People will be told to move to Redding or find another job.

I have only scratched the surface of my experience there. To give you an idea of how bad it was for me to work for this company, when I got fired, I went home and told my ex-wife and the first words out of her mouth were "Oh thank God."

Many of the employees that were there while I was there stayed because it really is the only place in Chico to make that kind of money with out a degree. I have 10+ years of management experience and I can't get an interview much less a job in Chico as a manager. People stay their out of a lack of options not because they like working at BS. Next week I may be applying at Carl's Junior to flip burgers.

Like I said at the beginning I have no idea what is going on in that office today but I doubt it is any better.

Also the building is up for sale and BS has their lease ending with in the next year. Expect them to be closing up shop soon.

Posted by Jccjr at 12:19 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

I kept coming across this NSFW and had no idea what it meant. When I learned that it stood for Not Safe For Work, well let's just say things got loud for a bit. Let us not forget that if you are at work you probably shouldn't even be on the DAMN INTERNET!

Seriously, why should I sit at home on a Sunday surfing and have to put up this shit. From what I understand this originated in forums warning people of sexually explicit material or audio containing profanity. That is straight from Wikipedia. Ok so this started in forums, this means you were at work on forums. How is this by itself not A DAMN CLUE THAT YOU SHOULDN'T BE THERE ANY DAMN WAY YOU DOLT! You probably already signed the piece of paper that says not to be playing on the internet with company property, and yes I know we all do it anyway, so you are already fired if they catch you at whatever your are doing so who in blue hell cares if sexually explicit or not you damn idiot. This is one of the dumber things I have ever heard of and I shall not tolerate it. From now on anytime I see NSFW on any site I will go out of my way to tell site owner why he/she is an idiot. Really you don't wan to get into this one with me. I am amazed I have not used F*** several hundred times already.

Don't give me the common courtesy argument. Your are already where you are not supposed to be so no additional warnings are necessary. Any one that uses NSFW on their site is a blatant douche bag and this whole thing is a travesty, a sham, a mockery and dare I say it a traveshamockery. I know me. I could go on ranting about this for hours on end. Instead I leave you with these parting words of advice. If you don't want to get fired then simply follow company policy. You are adults and should be able to act accordingly while at work. That's what they F***ing pay you for.

Posted by Jccjr at 10:22 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Be warned I have no idea what this is going to be about but I am fairly certain at some point you may ask if I am on LSD. With that out of the way let us see what happens.

So here I sit brainstorming my blog or blog storming. What is blog storming well the first image that comes to mind is that of a large dark cloud with random blogs pages falling from the sky. I warned you. This may get weird.

Ok so what to write. Hmm... I like cheese.

Speaking of salsa where is my hamster.

I have lost me if you find me please return me because I miss me.

Then I went on to see that every time I hit stumble and it pops something from the topic weblogs, it is a blog tips blog. WHAT IN THE HOLY BLUE HELL IS GOING ON! Then I read an article saying 90% of new blogs fail. Do you see a link? I knew you could. If every one is writing about how to make money blogging and how to be a better blogger and the people reading it is other bloggers that are writing the same shit, then how the hell do you expect to set yourself apart.

Then I got up and got a smoke. I will be right back. For the IM afflicted BRB.

Where was I? oh yes I was blog storming. Trying to figure out what to write. So then I hit the stumble button again and now I see one of those silly user made de-motivational posters. If you don't know what I mean scroll through some of my articles and I am sure you will find one. Don't worry I will wait. 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1 and we continue. If you needed longer than that just wait til after I finish. Please.

Wait you have a little more time while I search the vast resources of my mind to find another topic. Wait no you don't, I found something. Is it weird for your ex-wife to hug your girlfriend the first time she meets her? I only ask cause it happened. My ex-wife is the same woman that tried to hook me up with a friend of hers for a booty call. She wants to double date with us. The only reason I even talk to her is because of the Dude (AKA my son, you know the cute kid kid in the picture of me on the right).

I was thinking last night about something some one left on a comment for the "Time?" article I wrote. I put it on 2 other sites. Some one presented the idea that time is physical. Interesting idea. If time is physical then it can be manipulated. Imagine time in your hands like a ball of silly puddy. What would you make? I think I would make a snowman. Ok a puddy man, a time puddy man that traveled back and forth through time buying stocks and getting rich until he he came the owner of Microsoft, Apple, IBM and the Federal Reserve. It is a private bank after all. He would be the ruler of the free world going back in time to kill the parents of all that might oppose him. Since he could travel in the future he could snuff you out before you even knew you were going to oppose him. Wrap your head around that while I come up with something else.

What was that?

No, not right now. I am sorry the voices are running rampant right now. I like the voices. They are my friends. I am never really alone with them around. Now for something completely different.

The funny thing about all this is you really have no idea how many topics I skipped while writing this dribble. In case you did not notice from the warning at the beginning this is all done on purpose. Kind of scary isn't it.

I have a choice in front me, do I continue making you doubt my sanity or do I find something of substance?

While I contemplate that I wanted to let you know I saw 3:10 To Yuma the other night and it was incredible. It was funny to watch a guy from down under and a Welsh guy portray characters from the old west.

I came across a picture of a flaming shot and it reminded of a story from my Air Force days. I was 18 and stuck in Biloxi Mississippi for training. Me and a couple friends went to go out drinking. We started the night at Burger King. We ate then played on the playground until we go kicked out for throwing the plastic balls from the ball pool at each other and playing war in the playground. Mind you we were still sober at this point. Next stop, Toys R Us. We threw footballs down the aisles, over the aisles, bounced on the bouncy ball animals and still no one came to talk to us. We stepped it up a notch and started riding scooters around the store. What can I say cramming 2 years of advanced electronic theory into some ones brain in less than six months can have some adverse effects. We finally make it to the bar. The Tropical Daiquiri. There were 2 women behind the bar and we were the only 5 customers they had. So after a few daiquiris and a couple shots the bar tenders start offering me free shots just to see what I will and what I won't drink. So after another couple daiquiris and 6-10 more shots we get the brilliant idea to do flaming shots of Everclear. For those that do not know Everclear has the highest percentage of alcohol of any booze. It is pretty close to moonshine. I go to blow it out and next thing you know my hand is one fire, the bar is on fire, my buddy next to me his arm is on fire. Surprising part of this story is they kept serving us.

Who else is sick and tired of those late night phone chat ads? I only ask because one in on right now. Some of these girls on the commercials are hot and some just scare me.

I just skimmed through and saw that I have made a grievous error. I told you I smoke. Oh no how could I do something so stupid. Now you hate me for smoking. But let me tell you something. I smoke so that others may live because if I didn't I would kill some one.

Ok well I think that may be enough of a little trip inside my mind. Again I would like to thank Mirjam at Me Myself and I for this idea. Until the next time remember to be excellent to each other and... Party on dudes! have a great weekend everyone and thank you for indulging this rambling mad man.

Posted by Jccjr at 11:25 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)

Now you can get away from this guy. I remember a couple jobs I had where I worked with this guy. Anyone that works in an office environment can identify with the Office and Office Space and don't see these as shows but as works of non-fiction. I also see them as being factual and true. Last night on the Office the show starts out with them watching the little DVD cube on the TV hoping it will hit right in the corner. I have actually done this more than once. Here is to everyone stuck in an office, I salute your thankless efforts, you tireless dedication to getting out of work early, and all the sh** you eat in a week with a smile. Go get drunk. Have fun. TGIF!

Posted by Jccjr at 03:33 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)