And the winner is.....

I woke up this morning and headed off to the bathroom. I sat down at the toilet as I pulled up the New York Times [NYT] on my BlackBerry. I am doing my part by going green and reading the paper on my BlackBerry rather than filling my house with pointless newsprint.

The headline read: 'Obama Awarded Nobel Peace Prize'

My bowels evacuated just as I realized what the Nobel Peace Prize has become, a piece of shit.

I am a proud American who will stand behind his country, but what I don't understand is how they awarded the Nobel Prize to Obama only after 10 months in office. They stated they awarded the Prize to Obama for his, "...for his extraordinary efforts to strengthen international diplomacy and cooperation between peoples."

What the hell does that mean? So, they gave him the Prize because he tried really hard? They are awarding his effort, but not the accomplishment? Did he go to the Middle East and give a speech in Cairo? Yes. Did he go overseas and talk to a bunch of people? Yes. But how can they say that his efforts were worthy of such a Prize? How can 10 months in office equate success in diplomacy. It is like he was just inducted into the Hall of Fame after only the 1st quarter of his first game of his rookie year.

So I went to the all knowing oracle and asked it a question. What is the mission of the Nobel Prize? How does one get a Nobel Prize? Wikipedia states the award shall be awarded "to the person who shall have done the most or best work for fraternity between nations, for the abolition or reduction of standing armies and for the holding and promotion of peace congresses."

So has Obama done the "most or best work" for the fraternity between nations? How is it possible?

I think we, and the world, were quick to crucify Bush for his policies and even quicker to award Obama for his without their due vetting process.

We can go back and talk about Bush all we want, but the track that he was on was not all that bad.

Bush wanted to keep the tax cuts for the upper echelons of the income brackets because they are people who employ people. They are people who own businesses. The Democrats voted down that tax break in an effort to share the burden with the rest of the working class. Now the Democrats in Congress are talking about giving tax breaks to small businesses so they can hire more people. Well, if they never voted down the tax break in the first place, maybe we would be on our way to recovery. Way to think that one through Democrats!

Well 12 months later, the democrats have their chosen one in office and the economy is in the tank, still, even after all the money they threw at the problem. All this administration has accomplished was growing the bailouts [that Bush was critisized openly about by the Democratic Congress and fiscal irresponsibility] from $450 billion to $8.2 trillion.

Tell me, how do we save money by spending more money.

Seriously taking financial advice from a Democrat is just like taking investment advice from someone on welfare. I would rather take money advice from a rich Republican than a poor Democrat.

So let's put it together, Obama won a Nobel Prize for his efforts in diplomacy, but not his accomplishments. Obama's accomplishments have been to spend his way into even bigger bailouts to those who have put us into this whole economic disaster.

Obama is printing money which has devalued the dollar everywhere. Foreign countries' entire economies are tied to the value of our dollar, so what is Obama doing? He will kill those countries in the end.

Other notable Nobel Prize winners that didn't deserve it just as much as Obama doesn't now.

1. Jimmy Carter in 2002. Enough said.

2. Al Gore in 2007. Let's sit around and make shit up, then film it. He should give back his Oscar too.

3. Kofi Annan and the United Nations in 2001. They let a tyrant wipe his ass with their resolutions, and he got the prize for not enforcing the policies that are supposed to keep this whole world safe through international cooperation, but in the end, it's just another group that has lost it's purpose. BTW, there isn't even a reason as to why they awarded it to the U.N.

4. Yasser Arafat, Shimon Peres, Yitzhak Rabin for their efforts in to create peace in the Middle East in 1994. We see how well they succeeded. Again, awarding effort and not accomplishments.

5. Mikhail Gorbachev in 1990 for helping bring down the Cold War. Really? Didn't Regan have just as much to do with that as this guy? Wasn't he building it up until he realized that his war machine was just a rusted out Ford Pinto? Oh yeah, Regan was a Republican, they don't promote peace, they just ruin nations. Yeah I forgot. Regan got us out of a recession in the 80's and made us a proud world power again. I forgot, he destroys the world.

There are also notable snubs from the Nobel Prize commitee.

Where is Gandhi on that list? Pope John Paul? Corazon Aquino, the 11th president of the Philippines, and the first woman president elected in an country in Asia, and oh yeah, she re-drafted their Constitution to limit the sweeping powers of the president and restored a democracy in the Philippines. Oh yeah, she doesn't deserve it. Let's give it to Obama who tried really really hard, but as of yet, has accomplished nothing.

The White House

I must say, a guilty pleasure of mine is to watch anything and everything about life in the White House, or life as a President of the USA. The History Channel has done a ton of stuff, Discovery has also done a bunch, and NBC has a tradition of following around a President for an entire day. They tell you what it's like to work in the Office of the White House [read: West Wing].

NBC's special on the 'Obama White House' is very similar to the 'Bush White House'. Meaning, the the scenery was the same, but the plot lines, people, were all different. The biggest thing that I noticed about the special was how laid back Obama was. Now, Brian Williams says in the beginning, "we are here to show you what life is like in the West Wing, and the White House is here to show you what they want you to see." So with a grain of salt I say he's laid back. It could have been a schtick, but then again, it could have been genuine. During the special I am sure Obama 'scheduled' his trip to '5 guys' for the cameras, but then again, I have gotten a '5 guys' craving in the middle of work before too. I never offer to buy for the staff, but then again, I am not a millionaire either.

So I am going to recess back into my obsession that is politics. I am not a trained observer, nor am I a credibile resource for comprehensive political coverage and I get that. I am an entertainer, just like Rush Limbaugh, Bill O'Reiley, Jim Alger, Keith Olberman, and yes, even Brian Williams. So I cannot wait until the next glimpse into the life of Our President.

My favorite special regarding the President is the 60 minutes interview with President Bush right after the 9/11 attacks.

Adam vs. Jim Alger

I guess while I have a few minutes to write a post, I am taking advantage.  

Usually my vacations are filled with a bunch of tiny little blogs, or now that I have time to digest the news and comment, that is usually what happens.

So who is Jim Alger?  I have not heard of this fella before yesterday.  And to tell you more about how I came to learn who he was, I must catch you up on a few things.

I jumped on the twitter bandwagon.  What is twitter?  It's just Internet chatter.  It's a bunch of narcissistic jerks, talking about what we are doing.  Well I caught a little bit of the news before bed Thursday night and watched the news Friday morning and then I saw the melted faced freak we like to call Nancy Pelosi, aka, madame speaker, aka, whiny little Grandma [if one were to Google Search narcissism and then click on the images, you will see Nancy Pelosi].  

Now I will be pretty honest.  I don't know much about who she is, or what she has done for her district in California, but what I do know is that she is a spotlight loving, finger pointing, nobody.  I am not impressed with her in the least.  It's bad enough I have to stare at that melting face while I watch the State of the Union Addresses, but now she has found a new sense of authority now that her party is ruling the country.  I say ruling and not governing because we are slowly slipping into the world of socialism.  More about that later, but I am not a fan of Ms. Pelosi.  

So how did my disdain for Nancy Pelosi turn into an argument with Jim Alger?

Here is the deal.

Here is where is started.  Please look at the times at the bottom of all the posts. [Now when you read these things, when you see 'acgercak' it denotes that I have said something.  When you see '@acgercak' it means that Jim is talking back.  When you see 'acgercak@JimAlger' it means I am talking back to Jimmy.  Now you have your crash course on how to read a twitter feed.]

acgercak:Nancy Pelosi is just as guilty as anyone else. I'm pulling a page from HER playbook. Let's prosecute her for being accessory.6:15 AM May 15th from UberTwitter

@acgercak She had no authority to stop it and would have been a crime to disclose it... get your facts straight6:19 AM May 15th from TweetDeck in reply to acgercak
acgercak@JimAlger then why hasn't she said that? She is saying she was lied to. She said she had NO knowledge of it taking place.6:39 AM May 15th from UberTwitter in reply to JimAlger
@acgercak Well, I doubt she is lying - it could be dumb if she was, but the entire thing is irrelevant. They have been after her for years.6:41 AM May 15th from TweetDeck in reply to acgercak
acgercak@JimAlger and she has done nothing but blame the bush for all the ills of our nation, when will anyone but bush shoulder the blame?6:42 AM May 15th from UberTwitter in reply to JimAlger
@acgercak well.. he was the one who issued the orders, but an investigation would flush this all out6:44 AM May 15th from TweetDeck in reply to acgercak
acgercak@JimAlger I think the data would prove that dems were just as guilty, which is the reason there isn't one.6:51 AM May 15th from UberTwitter in reply to JimAlger
acgercak@JimAlger which now why you see this, 'I didn't know' speak from pelosi.6:51 AM May 15th from UberTwitter in reply to JimAlger
acgercak@JimAlger so she was the only one lied too?? I don't hear anyone else jumping on her melted face bandwagon7:14 AM May 15th from UberTwitter in reply to JimAlger
@acgercak Change the channel, 3 others have now said the same thing11:15 AM May 15th from TweetDeck in reply to acgercak
acgercak@JimAlger I only read the times and the post, but that's ok, I'm sure they are skewed11:17 AM May 15th  from UberTwitter in reply to JimAlger
acgercak@JimAlger and besides ALL that, its the CIA that's what they do. If you saw inside their closet, it would make you squirm.11:18 AM May 15th  from UberTwitter in reply to JimAlger
So that was the whole conversation.  It started early, and Jim stopped talking.  I guess that is what he does.  He will go and try and pick a fight, but when someone actually talks back and challenges his ideas, he stops trying.  I then went back to see his twitter feed and it was funny.  I was blocked.  I was then reported to twitter as being a spammer.  Ok cool.  I had to send a whole bunch of e-mails to twitter to prove that I was not a spammer.  My account was shut down for a short time today, which really pisses me off. 
So here is a more coherent little opinion piece I would like to call, Fuck you Alger.  
It's just like someone who has nothing else to say that 'they' are after one of their precious leaders.  Who are 'they'?  Is that me?  Is that you?  Is it the Democratic base?  Who are they?  Because the phrase "they have been after her for years" came out of a Democrats mouth, I would only assume that Jimmy boy is referring to the 'Right' or Republicans for those who are slow at catching up.    So who knows who they are.
I think it's time for EVERYONE in Congress to end this finger pointing.  Pelosi is saying that the CIA didn't tell her that they were using water boarding or that water boarding was deemed legal, but they were not using it.  The truth is, no one really knows who said what because its all classified.  Having spoken to a few people who have been a part of the 'strong arm of the CIA' [read: special forces] it's highly unlikely that they did NOT tell her, but then again, that's the words of a guy that can kill me and make it look like an accident over an artificially unwrinkled face in comparison.  Which one is lying now?  It's time for the rest of the Democratic party to follow the leader [which my brother would say, they are really really good at] and leave the whole torture thing alone.  Obama is trying to take the high road, while Nancy Pelosi is trying to pull it all down and make sure her armor doesn't get a chink in it.  
I read a very enlightening post from the NYT about what has been going on in the Obama White House.  The fact it came out of the Times surprised me, but it's clear that Bush didn't fuck it all up that bad.  Read the story and you tell me.  
It's a case of easier said than done.  Obama is now seeing all the road blocks and obstacles that comes along with being the guy in charge.  I am not saying the Bush was right or wrong, but I am just tired of hearing that he is THE reason for everything.  
I am pretty sure I even heard Nancy Pelosi blame Bush for her lover's impotency, but I could be wrong, I did read it on her webpage.  

PodCast #5 feat music from Dot Dot Dot

Welcome to PodCast #5!

This week we are featuring music from the band, DOT DOT DOT. Fantastic Band from Chicago.

This week's highlights.

1. Steve from All My Friends Are Make Believe was in the house. Listen to all the nonsense that ensued.
2. Pirates and Navy Seals. Fun
3. We are gonna talk about taxes and how NOT to pay them.

Enjoy this week's PodCast. Rambling Mess. Lots of microphone noise, the stupid mic stands, don't hold onto them.


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No One Seems to Care!

At the top of every hour on news talk radio, the lead story is about Chrysler and GM and their impending bankruptcy. Despite the Obama administration's influx of cash, our cash, and 'leadership' from the President, GM and Chrysler cannot keep their companies from bankruptcy. The American auto maker is dieing. Now what? Most Americans, financial advisers, and even we, the taxpayer have been very vigilant in crying out about a bailout. What was going to happen in September and October still happened. It didn't matter. We still gave Chrysler and GM billions and billions of cash to keep their businesses afloat, and now what? They are going to go into bankruptcy with billions of OUR money. Our investment wasn't on the line. If I wanted to invest in GM, I would have bought their junk stock. I didn't, but I guess that isn't true, we all bought into GM against our will.

Where are the TEA parties now? Why aren't we more pissed off about this. The mainstream media has yet to hammer this point home. What the hell?

Right behind this lead off story about the eminent demise of GM and Chrysler, is angry UAW workers chastising Americans for buying foreign cars. Who gives a hell what KIND of car it is, as long as it Americans who are building it. Quick economic lesson. If you buy a car in Ohio [insert your state here] you pay something called sales tax. It is usually 6-8% of the total value of your purchase. So if you buy your car in my county in Ohio, you pay 6.75% sales tax. You buy a foreign car, with an average sticker price of $14,800, you are paying $925.00 to the state of Ohio. Do you know how much you pay if the same car was made by GM or Chrysler because it was made in America? The same exact amount. Do you know how many Ohioans are employed by Honda vs. GM? The same exact amount. How many Ohioans have Honda laid off? Zero. How many has GM laid off? Too many to count, but they have also shut down their plant in Lordstown for 3 more weeks than normal.

Why do I want to buy a GM or Chrysler car again? Oh right, it's American.

Well let's talk about what American made is all about. American made is not getting handout, which is something the current administration is getting all too familiar at giving. From welfare, to bank bailouts, Obama's administration has given more of the taxpayers money away in bailouts, so that those companies can still fail. Some might say that it was inherited and he is just trying to do the right thing. Well let's talk about principals and convictions. If I was walked into a situation where the previous person was doing something I was fundamentally opposed to, I would stop that practice, scrap it, and start over. Let those who built their businesses upon sand fall, and let those who built their businesses on rock, stand. It's Darwin's theory of natural selection, economy style. We are a free market, and let the market manage itself. Sure we have gone into Depression based on poor business practices of greedy CEO's and monopolies. So if Obama thought what Bush was doing was wrong, then why is he still writing checks with money he has yet to print?

In all of this, no one in the media has commented on a HUGE story. The Ford Motor company announced today that, it posted a loss of $1.4 billion dollars. That doesn't sound like a success, but when you look at what the analysts were saying the loss was going to be, it beat their forecast. That is great news. Once you look into what Ford has done, it can be considered nothing less than a success. Sure, posting a loss of $1.4 billion dollars is horrible, but you have to look into what kind of money they lost. Their own. They have accepted absolutely zero tax payer dollars to stay afloat. The leadership of Ford was able to restructure their debt by renegotiating their contract with UAW and restructuring their debt. They cut back on everything. They did something not a single other car manufacturer did, they refocused. They turned away from dumping money into the SUV bandwagon and moved back into the European model, small fuel efficient cars. Phase 1. Stop burning through cash. They did that. Phase 2. Refocus on the Focus. Fuel efficient, small, compact, cheap. Notice the Focus is a better looking car now. That isn't an accident. Let's check Phase 2 off. Phase 3. Reintroduce the cars that were successful before the SUV. Enter the new Taurus sedan. It will launch in '10 line-up. Phase 4. Hybrid technology. '10 is bringing in the year of the Fusion Hybrid. Already in the line-up, but they are heavily investing to ensure the success. Sure Ford knows Hybrid technology is much like putting a nice dress on an ugly woman. It is what we want to see, but you still might not want to buy it, but this is what WE are asking for.

Now let's bring it all together. There are unhappy people working at GM and Chrysler who think that Americans need to buy American. Their ignorance astounds me because it doesn't matter what kind of car you buy, the government gets the same % on taxes. Sure the profits go overseas to foreign owners, but shit, look what the American car makers are doing with their profits. They fucked it up. We are ignoring the fact that Ford Motor has taken losses year over year, but still have not gotten a penny in bailout money. Where are the high five's? No where.

So what can WE do to help? Buy a Ford. Ford has done their part by not taking our money. Now we need to do our part and support their product. Before I get into my pitch for Ford, you can also buy a Camry from Toyota, Accord from Honda, and Civic from Honda, as they are all made in the United States as well.

Now why buy Ford? There are a number of different reasons. First and foremost, their CEO's have recognized what it did wrong and are making their adjustments to change to the demand in their products. From spinning off subsidiary brands such as Volvo, Land Rover, and Jaguar they have simplified their portfolio to cut their cash expenditures.

They are using technology and green technology better than any other company. They are using the ideas that I have told you about by consolidating many different devices into 1 device using an investment from Microsoft and their SYNC system. SYNC is a bluetooth package that allows you to play your tunes from your phone, through your car speakers. It also allows you to take phone calls from your car as well. Did you know they have over 100 pending patents in their 'full' hybrid technology?

Innovation. From Henry Ford's assembly lines to the Fusions 3 different interior packages, Ford is redefining what it is to drive American. Their ability to change to the demand of the public is much better and more nimble that other American car makers and even forgein cars. Did you know Mercedes doesn't even have a stereo bluetooth technology in it? Honda doesn't have it either.

Ford is the way to go anymore. They have what it takes to make it through this recession. This is the redefinition of the American car maker. Their cut backs have made it easier to position itself for a bounce back. By the time GM and Chrysler finish their bankruptcy proceedings, Ford will be turning a profit.

As of this post, Ford's stock price was up 11.36%.

Not the blog I was going to post

This is not the blog I planned on posting today, but a set of circumstances were set into motion that I could not let pass without commenting, or making a commentary on the ills of our strange world.

My daughter is involved with competitive cheer leading. It's an activity she really enjoys and her life in enriched by this activity, which is what I like. Besides developing herself socially, she is also developing physically, and it keeps her in shape and social which is what I love. Wednesdays have become the day that Audrey and I get to spend together with just she and I.

I have made comments before on this blog what it is like to be at cheer practice. The cheer mom's that are living through their children, the constant critiquing of all their practices, but nothing prepared me for the experience that happened today.

Audrey and I walked through the door about 10 minutes before practice to a smell that is all together different. To describe it, I would to tell you; to get a replica of this smell is to walk through the hospice ward of your local nursing home. The smell was revolting. Much like rotting flesh or the smell of a dead body that was left in a home after a week. It permeates you clothing, concrete, and pretty much anything else that you could think of. It was almost an instant eye watering.

I walked down the hall to what I affectionately call the observation deck. Its a set of windows that looks into the gym so we can watch, and not interfere with practice. We can see progress, and not try and coach from the bleachers. The smell had not made its way towards the observation deck, so I figured it was a problem with the plumbing or something and decided that the smell was only by the door, near the bathroom. I'm sure coach had it taken care of. As more and more parents showed up, the smell just got worse and more concentrated. We all started to talk about the smell. We all had our theories as to what the smell was, but as we sat there I got more and more curious. I noticed that there was a girl missing from Audrey's team. I turned to one of the other moms and said that I was going to go look for the source of that smell, seeing as it was getting worse and coach seemed not to care about what it was.

As girls came back and forth from the gym to the locker room it just wafted the smell around. I looked into the office. Didn't see anything. I looked in the lobby. Didn't see anything. I looked in the waiting room off the lobby. Didn't see anything. So I decided to go outside and get a breath of fresh air. I looked back in the door to find the mom I was sitting next to also looking around. She checked the bathroom as I was walking back into the building. I decided to look back into the waiting room and noticed the entire thing was empty with the exception of another mom and her son playing on the floor, but they were talking to someone. I poked my head in and looked all the way inside and noticed the missing girl from Audrey's team.

She sat there and looked up with her big eyes, shrink wrapped with tears. The smell was all the more pungent now, and I fought my gag reflex. I turned back to the mom with me and said that this poor girl pooped herself. The smell was not that of healthy poop. It was the smell of the type you get when you are sick beyond belief. Upon further review I could see the pooling in this poor girl's chair.

I text messaged one of the coaches in the other room and told him where the source of the smell was. They all had no idea that this poor girl was sitting in the waiting room with a pair of pants and a plastic chair, full of human excrement. The coach phoned her parents. They were sending her sister. This poor girl couldn't wait for anyone, she needed to get cleaned up. I told her coach that I would clean her up, but a male, in a bathroom with a little girl, that needs to be stripped down and cleaned up, would probably not be a good idea. So another mom offered, but by the time we all got organized, her sister had arrived. She got all cleaned up and about 30 minutes later they left discreetly as the team kept practicing. They never knew that their team mate had totally disqualified herself. They all smelled it in the hallway, but thanks to some quick thinking parents and coaches, they never knew who it was.

Now I feel terrible for this girl. As I sit and think about how this whole thing played out, my feelings of pity for this girl is quickly turning into anger at this child's parents.

I spoke about this with some of the other team moms and come to find out, this poor child is 1 of 10 children in her household. She and her sister [whom is also on my daughter's team] were adopted by this family. I am not sure, but I also think a majority of the children in this household were adopted. Now I always have respect for a family who adopts, but as I dig into this situation, it seems to be that the mother and father are using the foster care and adoption system to live off of [read: Obama's base].

What mother in their right mind would allow their child to go to cheer practice/school/out of the house if they are sick? What parent in their right mind would get a call from a cheer coach saying their child has pooped themselves at practice and send a 17 year old to clean up the mess, let alone a 17 year old who had just gotten out of the hospital because she lost feeling in her legs after a cheer practice herself without explanation?

These parents need to be smacked. They are unemployed and taking government assistance to care for children that need a good home and not one that is using them.

I feel for these children. I only know 3 of them out of the 10, and these girls just want to be loved. Their parents got them involved in cheer to help develop them socially because the situation they were coming out of was abusive. Their development was severely retarded. I am not saying retarded in the sense that they have mental retardation issues, I say retarded as in, this girl is 6, but has the mental capacity for a 2-3 year old. She has come a long way in a year, but to have a 17 year old taking these girls to and from practice is bullshit. The parents need to be there to support their children. They are not working so to say they don't have the time, or that they are at work is not an excuse.

We as a society allow this to happen. It's the mentality that everyone should be in the same playing field [read: socialist]. We want the poor to not be poor, and we want the rich to share what they have worked for. Because of this we allow ignorant and opportunistic people the ability to adopt more and more children or give birth to more and more children who don't have the capability to care for these kids properly. Welfare keeps these families afloat. These people are holding onto a life raft without kicking their feet to keep themselves afloat.

I don't know about you, but I want my life raft back. Who knows when I might need it myself.

The 'Crisis'

I have been trying to write this blog all day. I cannot seem to get it right. I have been trying to prove that the economic situation is being perpetuated by the media. I went into these long diatribes about how the media starts every news cast with horrible news. It's like it has become the apocolypse. I went back and got transcripts of every single speech Obama has made since he became the Democratic nominee to prove that Obama, the savior of America, is at the top of the negative food chain. I went back and compared our situation right now to the Great Depression. All the while, I wasn't proving a thing. I was just another part of the problem I was trying to eliminate.

So as I went back to re-read what I had written, I hit ctrl+a and hit delete. I started over.

We all watch the news, we all listen to Obama [supporters and non-supporters alike], and most of us have a job, yet all we hear in the media is what is going wrong. The obituary of our economy plays everyday on the news at 6pm.

The 'crisis' is fear. The media is out to scare us. The President is out to scare us. We are out to scare us.

Everday the news starts with a bad news story about the economic crisis. The stock market lost XYZ points today. The recession creeps closer to the "brink of the abyss of depression" as Chris Matthews tells us. CNN told me today that the economic outlooks is "abysmal".

So how do Americans feel? They feel scared. Of course they would. The President said the journey is going to be "long and hard". He describes it like it's John Holmes and we are the ungreased assholes [pornographic I know, but again I don't care]. If I was sitting at home and my savings was drying up, my 401k was losing value, and my company was going out of business, I would be scared too. There have been so many casualties of this economic 'war' that every person with a job is on the cutting block, or so they feel.

Yesterday I sat in a large conference with the leaders of my company. They were announcing our 4th quarter results and setting the ground work for 2009. Where have we been? Where are we going? Everyone wanted to know what our outlook was for 2009, considering the crisis. The area president was there, the company COO was there. They brought out the big guns. Everyone in the room was nervous. We had just spend a ton of cash on aquiring another company. Our 4th quarter results were not to the expectations of Wall Street anaylists, what is going to happen with our company?

As the conference rolled on we heard from our finance guys. We heard from our network guys. We heard from our marketing guys. We heard from our advanced data guys. With every presenter my excitement grew. It was like the slow creep of the roller coaster up the first hill. With every foot closer to the top, the adrenaline in your blood stream gets more and more potent. After all the presenters were up, our COO took the stage for his speech.

His tone was not akin to a funeral. It was quite the opposite.

He looked at all of his employees and addressed the economic crisis. He gave us a history. He told us a story of how he got into the cellular business. It was 1973. He just moved from the state of Arkansas to New York to start a business where people could be mobile, yet still talk on the phone. He was literally selling air to companies. At the time the Oil Crisis of 1973 was in full swing. Inflation was rampant, unemployement was in the double digits, and people were literally fighting at the gas pumps. The crisis we have on our hands now is not as bad as it was back then, yet we are gathering canned food for our bomb shelters.

As his speech continued he gave us an example of his sales process back then. He said he had to figure out what his client needed. He needed to find a reason why he couldn't live without my product. At this point mobile phones were an unnecessary convienience, and a cumbersome suitcase. They were not popular, they were barely reliable, but he was able to leverage the customer's needs, with the benfits of his product. He had to show that by buying his product, they would get a return on their investment in time saved and convenience.

A lot has changed in my industry, but they are exactly the same as they were in 1973. The only thing that has changed since is the wide use of cell phones and the ease in which customers will part with their money to buy a cellular phone.

Many businesses would say that people aren't buying. I would say that those businesses haven't given the consumer a reason to spend money. The media would say that consumer spending has fallen off because of the economic crisis. I would say consumer spending has fallen off because the businesses haven't done a good job at adapting to the economic outlook.

I am not naive enough to think that there is not a problem. But my COO said something that rings true.

Many companies are slashing prices to attract customers, and they are in fact ruining their industries. Our company sells a better product than our competition and we charge more for it. Sure we have not grown our customers to the analysts expectations, but we out sold our competition. We "kept selling and we didn't slash the prices and ruin our industry." We went back to the ROI [return on investment] selling. During the height of the cell phone boom in the late 90's, people would line up outside the stores to get a cell phone. Now that people are holding onto their money like a life raft and we have to assure people that by purchasing our products, they are not letting go of the life raft and wrapping their arms around a cinder block. Cell phones aren't a luxury anymore, they are a necessity. How do we sell to a customer that just lost their job and are depending on unemployment until they get a new job? How do we sell to a family who has 2 kids in college and their investments are losing value, and their income isn't going up?

"We need to step our game up."

This is not a time for us to lick our wounds and feel sorry for ourself. The mantra that my COO was touting from his soap box rings true for the rest of America. We need to step our game up! We need to stop feeling sorry for ourselves and start holding ourselves accountable.

Right now retails sales is tough. But right now, nothing is easy. Instead of letting the economy be an excuse for poor results, I must make an investment in myself. I must push forward and better my skills. I have to polish myself like a stainless steel kitchen. Poor economy is not a reason to sit at home and hunker down. It is a time where the strong get stronger, and the weak get weaker. I have to polish my presentation skills like I am a chef plating a dish. I have to look at my subjects differently like I am a photographer looking for the perfect shot. I am not cooking, I am not taking a picture, but I am trying to get you to part with your money and make an investment in me.

If you are among the weak, you will fail unless you try and do something different. You don't win Top Chef with a deviled egg.

There is a paper factory in Wisconson that closed down. There was 500 employees out of work. What did they do? Went back to school to learn a new trade. If Obama gets his way, the construction industry is in for a big boom, so most of those 500 employees are learning to weld and drive trucks. These employees are not sulking with a woe is me attitude, like the news media wants us to. They are proactively seeking a new skill.

What America needs is a pep talk. Obama has inspired us all with his vision of hope, but he has not inspired anyone to act. My COO inspired me to act. He has inspired me to take off the practice jersey and put on my varsity letters.

The road ahead is not going to be easy. This is a time to sink or swim. I have signed up for my swimming lessons. Have you?

Why I Hate the iPhone!

There are those of you out there who are excited to see the title of this post. Some of you, maybe not so much.

To all those iPhone users out there let me say this.

I hate your phone and everything it stands for.

I have had a BlackBerry for quite some time now. It does everything.

Let me take you through a typical day with my BlackBerry.

7am: My BlackBerry's alarm wakes me up. I hit snooze for about 20 minutes.

7:30am: 1 of the 4 different e-mail addresses alerts me to today's headlines delivered from the New York Times mobile site.

8:30am: I am in the car to work. My BlackBerry's charging and it resting for the long day ahead. If inspiration hits me, the voice recorder is there to capture my thoughts.

9:00am: Work e-mails start to trickle in. By 9:30am I have 42 unread e-mails in my Corporate e-mail box. I delete the stupid ones and the forwards of forwards and respond to 3 important e-mails. New product launches, sales updates, and action plans. All of this before I step foot into the office.

10:30am: My BB messenger wakes up. My wife is telling me she is on her way to work and to have a nice day. I respond back.

12pm: I have answered 30 e-mails already and I haven't logged into my computer at work yet. I have sold 2 BlackBerrys in the morning just by using it at work.

1pm: Lunch. I sit down at lunch, turn on some tunes and log into my RSS reader [Viigo] and check for blog updates. 3 new blogs to read. I read them all. Then check on the headlines on CNN mobile and New York Times Mobile. Both have BlackBerry quick launchers

2pm: 3 facebook messages come in. 1 myspace message. I ignore them and wait to get off to answer those.

3pm: My BlackBerry calander tells me that I have a conference call in 30 minutes.

5pm: I hang up my BlackBerry after the conference call. I get more e-mails from my personal e-mail accounts [3 total on my BlackBerry], and countless e-mail from my work e-mail account.

6pm: Time to go home. I text my wife and see where she is. On her way home, so am I.

6:15pm: Call from my daughter's Mom. There is a cheer thing I need to be at on Thursday. She sends me the calander invite and I accept it into my BlackBerry.

7pm: Arrive home. I get hourly updates on sales numbers from my BlackBerry. I check in on my team and make sure all is well still.

8pm: I write a blog. I can't get to a computer so I write it from my BlackBerry.

8:30pm: The wife and I decided to go to dinner. What's close? I Pull out the BlackBerry. I boot up the GPS system. I search for Eating and Drinking Places around my location. 10 places show up. I get the numbers from the GPS program. I call ahead, see how busy they are, and the wife and I are out the door. This is a new place in a part of town I'm not familiar with. I hit navigate on the GPS program on my BlackBerry and it gives me directions [like a Garmin would] from my phone.

9pm: Go home, set the alarm, and go to bed.

Now, my BlackBerry can do more than what I described, but that's how I use it on a daily basis. Keep in mind, between every major task I do with it, I also use it for small tasks like phone calls, and I text message all day. My customers now text me with their issues, so I can address them, but not stop what I am doing and take their call.

My all time texting record. 7500 in one month. My daily e-mail traffic is about 100 e-mails total between work and personal e-mails.

The BlackBerry can do a ton of things.

Here is a comprehensive list.

• Phone
• Calander
• Address Book
  
• Text and Picture Message [SMS and MMS]
• Assisted GPS [check your mobile carrier for availability]
• E-mail Box [up to 10 different e-mail addresses at once]
• Task Manager [Think virtual post it notes]
  
• Internet
• MP3 player
• Video Player [plays most video formats]
• 2.0 mega pixel camera [not great for photography, but great at clicking and sending in a pinch]
• Voice Recorder
  
• Expandable memory card up to 8GB [16 GB when it becomes available]-This is important for the Camera, MP3 player, and Video Player
• Documents to Go [can translate most word processor files, spreadsheet files, and slide show presentations like all the Microsoft Office products]
• Tethering [It can interface with your laptop or desktop computer and turn into a modem to gain access to the internet from your PC or Mac---think WiFi hotspot just for you, where ever you feel like]
• Downloadable Quick Launch Buttons like ESPN mobile, NYT Mobile, CNN Mobile, Fox News Mobile, NBC Mobile, Weather Bug Mobile, White Trash Bingo Mobile [sorry shameless plug for my website], I can go on......oh yeah, best thing about all of these is that they are free
• Downloadable Programs like FaceBook Mobile, MySpace Mobile, Yahoo to Go, Google Apps, Weather Bug App, RSS Feed Programs like Viigo, Slacker Mobile [Streaming Radio] and these too are mostly all free too

The funny thing is, the iPhone can do mostly all of these things too. Except MMS messaging, Tethering, Downloading Quick Launch Apps, and expandable memory.

It's not the phone that bothers me. It's the snobbery that it's users have. I can be showing a smart phone and an iPhone user will come by and say, the iPhone is better. Or an iPhone user will come by and ask to see a phone. I will go through what it does and how awesome it is and then they will say, well my iPhone can do more. Against a BlackBerry? You wish!

I don't give a shit about you or your iPhone. Truth be told the iPhone cannot even take its battery out. It can't even send a simple picture message. It has WiFi capabilities because the carrier they chose to use for distribution has the smallest 3G network in the industry, it needs WiFi to work because chances are, you're not going to be able to use the internet otherwise. If I run out of memory I have to start deleting crap off it to cram more stuff into it. 8GB or 16GB, 2 options.

The world doesn't revolve around the iPhone. I hate you and your catchy advertising. I hate you and your slick design. I hate you and your 1 button. I hate all[Most] your snobish users! My iPhone this and my iPhone that!

I'm tired of the iPhone being the new 'Gold Standard' for smart phones.

The BlackBerry has been around longer, and it does everything the iPhone can do[Everything you can do, BlackBerry does better], but oh yeah, the ruler of the free world carrys a BlackBerry. Sorry iPhone. You're slick, but not secure enough to be used by the President of the United States! The BlackBerry just might save the world!

I guess I am just annoyed that out of nowhere a product comes out that completely catches America's attention and because Steve Jobs tells them its new, they eat it up. The iPhone isn't new, its just hip. The iPhone isn't breaking any barriers in the cellphone world. It's just riding on the coat tales of the iPod which is another useless piece of garbage if you have a BlackBerry. If you want an iPod with a phone on it, great, get the iPhone, but other than that, its just a BlackBerry in tight jeans.

If you, Mr iPhone, were dropped on the tarmac of an airfield your glossy glass screen would crack and thus make you useless. Not the BlackBerry. Drop it, Kick it, and Abuse it. It'll keep working. If it doesn't, I can insure it through my wireless carrier. That's something else you can't do with the iPhone!

Perspective

This picture is supposed to mean different things to different people. For those of you who know me outside of this blog, this photo is a jab at the core of the Democratic Party, the poor, the unemployed. That’s what I had to tell my older and more talented brother with Photoshop for him to make this for me.

For those of you who just got mad at me. Get over it. Let me finish my thought.

I said that the picture means different things to different people.

What I think this picture would be to most is the fact that George W. Bush messed up this country so bad that the unemployment rate is so high, it quite possible this photo is speaking some truth.

Now, its time for me to tell some truths.

Today the people of America witnessed history. They watched as a black man took the oath of office of the president for the first time in American History. America has finally embraced the idea that a man without pale white skin can finally take office.

* as a quick note to my readers. I will not use the term ‘African-American’. Because you have darker skin doesn’t make you African. Yes, it is true, you might be able to trace your ancestry back to Africa, but to call yourself ‘African-American’ is just denying what you are, American.. Once my family came over from Europe they became Americans. Yes, I am Irish and Welsh and Czechoslovakian, but I would never presume to insert all those destinations of origin before I call myself American. I am American. Plain and simple. Doesn’t matter where I came from [although we all must remember our roots], just matters what I am today. Barack Obama didn’t ever call himself African-American, although he is. He is just an American with a really really nice tan.

Today most of America threw out the old and welcomed in the change that America needs, and so desperately wants.

Never in my short life have I seen or felt America so energized by something that has happened 44 times before this day. This inauguration probably had more television viewers than 20 Super Bowls combined. Many stations had uninterrupted coverage, just do the viewers at home didn’t miss a single thing. Political commentary all day, celebration. George Bush, thanks, but no thanks. Get the hell out, we are done with you.

Is it just me, or does watching George Bush leave office feel like I am breaking up with a girlfriend?

Nevertheless, as I sit at home, sipping some bourbon, which by the way, is the official spirit of America. For those who clicked, and then clicked back and thought I inserted the wrong link, I didn’t. It’s #11 on his episode list.

Where was I? Oh yeah.

As I sit at home, sipping some bourbon, I realized that everyone on the media said that the last 8 years have been a complete failure. No one had anything good to say about what he did while he was in office. So, when I got home, I kissed the wife, ate some dinner, and began searching the internet. I was looking up anything and everything about the George W. Bush Presidency. If the media was going to focus on his failures, I figured I could devote a little time to his successes.

On January 29, 2001 George W. Bush [W.] set up a White House Office of Faith-Based and Community Initiatives. For those of you who say that this was stupid, and didn’t work, I also looked up his approval ratings. His rating right after this initiative was, 65% according CNN and Gallup.

On June 7, 2001 W. signs the Economic Growth and Tax Relief Reconciliation Act of 2001. This was also called an economic stimulus package. The rebates we got over the last few years were because of W. His approval rating was hovering around 60% at this time. For those of you say that this is what set up the economic failures today, please write the government a check for all the money it gave you and then you can bitch about it. What? Not going to send it back. Quit your whining.

On Sept 11, 2001, America was attacked. The Twin Towers Fall, The Pentagon was attacked, and an airplane in PA crashes. October 7^th, less than a month later, George W. Bush announces his War On Terror. His approval rating at this time is 92% according to ABC. That is this highest approval rating in American History. Not even JFK [80%] or FDR [84%], two of the most beloved of Presidents in America history had an approval rating that high. The second highest approval in American History was W’s father, which was 89%, which he got just after the Gulf War.

October 26, 2001, W signs into law the USA Patriot Act. Still at a 90% approval rating.

January 8, 2002 W signs the ‘No Child Left Behind Bill’. During his initiative, he gives us a line that has become a Bush-ism. “You teach a child to read, and he or her will be able to pass a literacy test.” Townsend, TN Feb 21, 2001. Besides the poor grammar, he was right. As stupid as he sounded, his intentions and priorities are in the right place.

January 29, 2002 W gives his first State of the Union address. During his speech he stated that Iran, Iraq, and North Korea constitute an ‘axis of evil’. After his speech, his approval ratings were 75%. The speech he was reading was penned by a young speechwriter named David Frum. He later wrote a book titled, ‘The Right Man’. This book goes into depth into what it was like to work in the Bush White House. The theme of the book was “the Right Man at the Right Time.” He said that George Bush was the person to lead us through this tough time in American History, in reference to the 9/11 terror attacks. Sound familiar? America agreed, because at the time of the 9/11 crisis his rating was 92%

June 24, 2002 W announces a new Middle East policy, supporting a new Palestinian State, with the condition that Hamas and Yasser Arrifat are not in charge. The Jews didn’t like that, because he was back down to a 50% approval rating.

March 19, 2003 W announces the start of the War in Iraq at 10:16pm EST. W’s approval-rating jump to 75%. The war drags on, and his ratings drop, and once Saddam was captured, his approval ratings shot back up from a 50% rating to a 65% rating.

May 27, 2003 W signs the U.S. Leadership Against AIDS/HIV, Tuberculosis and Malaria Act of 2003. This act provided $15 billion over the next 5 years to fight AIDS abroad, and in particular Africa. This is the largest amount of money pledged by any country in the World for the cause to fight AIDS/HIV. All you Gay, Bi, and Transsexuals out there who champion this cause, the man you all hate, pledged YOUR money to fight a cause YOU want to fight. His approval rating was 65%, so you liked him almost 3 years into his presidency.

December 8, 2003 W improves Medicare which was the largest overhaul in that programs 38-year history.

November 2, 2004 We re-elect W. His approval rating was, so-so, only 49%.

It wasn’t until Hurricane Katrina we decided we didn’t like W. His FEMA messed up the response to the Hurricane and we watched as hundreds of people die in New Orleans. I am still under the impression that the whole tragedy could have been avoided had the local leadership mandated an evacuation. There are photos of 30 busses just sitting under water, still parked and not in use. These busses could have evacuated the lower ninth Ward. How is that Bush’s fault? Yes, it was his fault the response from the government sucked, because he appointed the Horse Judge as his FEMA guy, but again, avoiding it was the first problem. Kanye West also said George Bush doesn’t like Black people. I don’t think that is true, because he pledged $15 billion to AIDS research which affects millions of black people every year. More than any other race in the world. Yeah, he hates all of you!

Here is my long drawn out point. We were so quick to support Bush early in his presidency, but we were really quick to throw him to the wolves. George W. Bush had the highest (92%) and also the lowest(19%) approval rating in the history of approval ratings. Yes he may have messed up, but to call all 8 years of his presidency a failure, get off it. It wasn’t.

Again, this is why I call this a break up from a girlfriend. You can only think of the bad things, and not the good that he did. I think W is right. History will judge his presidency.

Now that we are talking about approval ratings, Obama comes into office with an 80% approval rating. This is all based on the idea that he might do the right thing. He got his approval rating based on speech and rhetoric, but he hasn’t done a damn thing, yet.

I do say yet.

Mark my words. The instant he makes a mistake, even his most ‘loyal’ supporters will turn on him. Obama has a lot on his shoulders. He reminds us of that every time he opens his mouth. It seems as though he is trying so hard to lower the expectations of America that he worked so hard to conjure up to elect him. He talked big and as the veil lifts, and he can see all the facts, you can see his small retractions. Before he was like, I’m gonna get this done, I’m gonna get this done, and I’m going to do it fast. Now he says that the road will be long, and it’s not going to happen in 4 years. Seems as though he is campaigning for re-election already.

I say, shut up Obama. It’s obvious that you can inspire America. I am inspired listening to you. But I want substance. I want you to shut up and get to work.

Make it happen.

Enjoy your day America. Enjoy your day Obama. Your accelerated aging starts tomorrow.