Stimulus Shmimulas

Fran Roberts Asked:

So what do you think about the stimulus package?

First let me start out by saying I am neither a Republican nor a Democrat, I was listed as independent, but now they show me as non-affiliated. I do hate the way they play with words. I tend to be very central, neutral, maybe even a bit of fence sitter, on most issues. When it comes to economic issues I tend to fall to the right.

I think that the democratic leadership has taken the first steps towards dropping us down a deep spiraling hole. Quite an awesome task considering the hole this country was already in. Don't even get me started on Speaker Pelosi. It is my opinion that the democratically run congress contributed far more to the dyer economic state we are in than the previous president did. But that is a post for another day the question at hand is the "Stimulus Package".

I am not a fan a Big Government and this plan will add more volume & girth to the monster. I believe the less the Government is involved in the better. I do understand, and agree, that something had to be done. Extreme measures needed to be taken, and it still may not help. A Stimulus package was needed but this is not the right one. I disagree with the idea that putting something out there is better than doing nothing. I think the President should have pushed back a bit more, and eliminated some of the crap that was added to this package. I understand there are over 8000 pork barrel items in this thing. Every Senator and Congressman trying to get their little pet project paid for. Most of these items adding nothing of value, and will not contribute to the turn around of this economy. This was not the time or the place to pay for some of these things.

More needed to be done to put people back to work this year. They still have not resolved the housing problem. More attention from this package needed to go to solving those issues. This plan does offer some tax relief, but not nearly enough. The Republicans were right to try to push for more tax breaks. It's been proven over and over again that keeping the money in the hands of the tax payer is the best way to move the economy forward.

I hope I am wrong. I myself am in a position that can be hurt if we do not turn this economy around this year. I will spend a little time getting more informed about the Stimulus Package itself, and Re-Post a more articulate response to this question.

For now, This is What Mack Thinks.

I think scrabble questions can be detrimental to a relationship. So please be careful.

Thank you Pidge for throwing out the first question. Pidge Asked:

Bev and I have a constant debate over the use of the 2 and 3 letter word list in scrabble. According to the rules, these words are completely legitimate and great for your scores, however, I believe they are absurd and ridiculous to use in a friendly game. In a tournament, you should absolutely use them, but in a non-competition game amongst friends, they take away from the game.
Here are some good examples of the absurdity of what is allowable in competitive play: AA, AE, MI, MM (what kind of a word is that?!), UH, OUD, HEH, BRR, HM...the list goes on. These are not in my mind real words. Debate...

MM, I just ate a warm chocolate chip cookie. UH, my initial reaction to this question was to say "HEH, this is an easy one." But the more I pondered it, I had to stop and think, HM, maybe there is more to this question than I first thought. BRR, it suddenly got cold in here. MI,MI,MI, sorry had to prep my voice.

One rule of thumb might be, if you can use the word in a sentence then it should be allowed in Scrabble.

I don't know from competitive tournament Scrabble, but I think it's a bit strange that the official rules would allow words that are not in the dictionary to be counted. The way we have always played is the word must be in the dictionary, although I don't recall anyone ever actually checking.

One of my rules is, if you can come up with a reasonably agreeable definition for a word, then most people will allow it. (except maybe Carol.) But I digress. We are talking about 2 & 3 letter words here. Personally I feel the 2 & 3 letter words are the life blood of the game. Because most of the time that is all I can come up with when I play. I will admit though the "words" you gave as examples would never have occurred to me as acceptable in Scrabble. But, if the official rules state that they are acceptable, then I think you have to allow them.

If you are about to play a "non-competitive game amongst friends" (like there is such a thing.) Then I would suggest declaring, and agreeing, before the game starts that 2 & 3 letter words will not be allowed. If I were a regular player of the game, and was not involved in tournament play, then I would prefer to leave those words out and force the players (friends?) to think, and develop real words to keep the game more interesting. High score is not everything. (This coming from someone who has never been the high scorer.)

This is What Mack Thinks!

OH, this is interesting, my spellcheck only flagged AE, OUD, & HEH.

What do you think about this?

I think I have decided to try to make this blog into an "Ask Mack" sort of a site. Anyone can pose a question to this blog, and I will tell you what I think, and then everyone else can comment on my thoughts or give their own opinion on the original question. Ask about any subject that is on your mind.
-If you just have a subject, or an idea, that you have been thinking about, and want to here other opinions, ask me, and I will tell you what I think.
-Maybe you and a friend are arguing over something and cannot come to an agreement. Tell me what the disagreement is about, and I will tell you what I think.
- If you have a situation that you might just need a different perspective on. Tell me about it, and I will tell you what I think
- Questions about Business, Money, Relationships, Anything at all that is on your mind.

Post your question anonymously, or tell me about yourself.
Between my thoughts and advise, and the other readers opinions, you may find the solution you are looking for.

I will also continue to post random thoughts of my own from time to time for you to comment on.

I think I am totally screwing up my puppy

I don't think I realized how different dogs can be to train. Molly, our new white German Shepard has been terrorizing our home. I thought I could handle any dog, because 10 years ago I had a Shepard mix puppy named Maya and she was a very good dog most of the time. I took her to puppy school and learned the basic training techniques, and she did well. So when we got Molly I figured, no problem I know how to train her. Well needless to say she has a few issues that Maya did not . She is afraid of any strangers that come into the house, and she violently protects her space from our 7 year old White Shepard, Jake. The more I try to work with her the worse she seems to get. I feel myself loosing patients and I know that can hinder the training. I wish I could be like Jake. He just ignores her even when she is millimeters away from his face, growling and snapping. (She has never bitten him). He pretends she is not even there, even as I am yelling at her to stop. Sometimes I wonder if he would just snap back at her or put her down, then she might get the message and stop.

We adopted Molly from a rescue agency about 3 months ago. She was 15 weeks old at the time. It is unusual to find puppies through a rescue, but Molly's mother had been turned into a shelter while she was pregnant and the shelter could not take care of the puppies, so the mom and her pups were rescued and placed in foster homes until they were old enough to be adopted. We decided Jake needed a new companion after Maya passed. I think Jake was just as happy to be the only pet in the house.

Molly and I have enrolled in a "good manners" training class and hope to find the source of her issues and stop this unwanted behavior. It is more work than I expected but once you make a commitment to a pet you have to stick with it. She is a part of our family now and we love her. She is very good with Jake when they are eating, or when playing out in the back yard, and when we go on walks together. But when she is laying in her spot, (her spot can be where ever she is lying down at the moment,) she gets real nasty if Jake comes walking by.

The problem did not present itself right away and it has gotten progressively worse, which is why I feel I am totally screwing up this poor dog. We will keep at it though, and I will update you all on her progress.

20 things I thought about in the minute it took to write this blog.

1. I think writing a good blog is harder than it sounds.
2. I think taking care of two puppies is harder than taking care of two kids.
3. I think my wife thinks I am working hard at my computer when I am just blogging.
4. I think my daughter may be a better cook than my wife.
5. I think my seven year old dog is not to happy we have a puppy now.
6. I think we are going through a major paradigm shift, not just an economic recession.
7. I think the government wastefully spends our money.
8. I think I would like to pay less taxes than I do now.
9. I think it is important to have few really close Friends.
10. I think it is fun to have many friends from all walks of life.
11. I think it is good to spend as much time as you can with your entire extended family.
12. I think the Patriots made the right move by making Matt Cassel a franchise player.
13. I think Football is the best professional sport.
14. I think Baseball is boring
15. I think I need a new computer.
16. I think Verizon sucks. (Although I have not tried fios yet)
17. I think I would like to get an I-phone.
18. I think working from home is the way to go.
19. I think it is time to take the dogs for a walk.
20. I think if I really thought about it I could come up with a better list of the things I think about.

I think I like working from home

I think working from home for yourself can, and should, be far more rewarding than going to an office every day. Although I do miss the social aspect of working with a good group of people.

I have been working from home for a couple of years now, closing out contracts and disposing of assets for a company that decided to move their operations out of State. Although I am not officially working for myself, I have found that I enjoy working from home, setting my own hours, and having the time to do and learn other things.

As I wrap up the work I am doing now, I need to start thinking about what I will do for a living. In this economy it is difficult to find a job through normal channels and I really want to continue working from home. That is why I am looking into several different opportunities. Earning money working on-line sounds nice, but I have found there is lot of crap out there. Everyone wants to sell you an opportunity to earn money on-line. I am not looking to buy a job, I am looking to get paid to work.

I believe it is necessary, and desirable, to have multiple streams of income. So instead of looking for that one high paying, time consuming, opportunity, I have decided to try and find multiple, less time consuming, but still high potential for earnings. Nothing is easy but the process can be simple. I am learning how to blog and hope to find a niche subject matter to blog about and eventually attract money making opportunities from that. I also have started doing voice over work, which is expectantly slow but I will continue to work hard and market myself to build a clientele. I also do some article writing on-line through O-desk, and can generate some cash from that every week. I am also a process server and bring regular cash flow in from serving legal papers. The main focus of my time while working from home is developing a website for a water filtration products company and help them to increase their on-line sales. None of these things requires 40-60 hours of work per week on there own, but all can bring revenue in. As the voice over work takes off I will redirect my focus, or if I find the Water Filtration business is growing then I will maintain my focus on that. All the while supplementing my income with the other lines of business.

I will continue to look for other opportunities to bring in income from different sources. I think and believe I am onto something here, and am excited about continuing to work from home. Working from home allows me to spend more time with my wife and daughter and allows time to enjoy our dogs. Even in these tough economic times it is important to decide how you want to attack life and go after what you want. The important thing is to take some action today!

Please let me know what opportunities you have found that allow you to enjoy the freedoms of working from home, and still bring in a good living for you and your family.

Mack

I think I should start writing. I started this blog in order to post the message about Simple-ology's blogging course, which aloud me to get the course for free. As I take the course I am sure you will see dramatic improvements in this blog.

The thing about Simple-ology is, it has helped me to start doing the things that I think and talk about. Like setting up a blog page for instance. I had thought about it several times but never made any real attempt to start one. But now I make note of the things I want to do and accomplish, and I take the steps to get them done. It's "simple".

I will let you know how the course is after I complete it. Hopefully you will see how it is working just by reading this blog.

If you have taken the Simple-ology blogging course, let us know what you thought. If you haven't then click on the link in my first post and check it out.