An Introduction

Welcome to the world of Free Thinking and Contributive Debate! Here, you will be able to contribute to the articles and conversations that will take place.  I will cover topics that I feel need to be covered, as well as topics that have been contributed. Regular contributors may be granted Author status at a later point in time and be allowed to post their own articles here.

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Cinder Blocks and BBQ

Well, with the shed mostly up, it was time to get back to preparing the rest of the back yard. First step was power washing the patio and re-building the BBQ Fire Pit.

I went pretty much with a basic Cinder Block design I found online. Eventually I want to do a poured fine-top cement slab to make it more like a BBQ with built in dining area for outside, but for now it is just the Cinder Blocks with the Brick trim.

I have already used the BBQ once the other night for some small Tri-Tip steaks. They came out amazing! A individual size of Charcoal and 2 logs make for a nice and hot cooking area inside the BBQ, but thanks to the cinder blocks, the outside was cool to the touch!

Going to modify the design a bit to allow for some steel sliders for the grates and a front "gate" and cover to allow a controlled smoke release.

Simply Not Enough Time

Good evening, everyone! I write this update as I am laying in bed; getting ready to enter dream land. Before I do though I just had some thoughts that I wanted to share from today.

First off: Anyone keeping up on the news? Apparently today the US capped out it's deat ceiling. Meaning things ought to start getting interesting real fast.

Been working on a few projects as of late... Building a shed, closing down the office, getting ready for the garden, laying fresh data cable (CAT 6 Even!). Overall things have been going alright. Breaking internet protocal though: Have not been active this last week on here due to the fact that my 11 yr old Kitty passed away last Tuesday rather unexpectedlyBeen trying to do a little more each day though, getting back into the swing of things.

Anyway: Bought a few books and magazines today on gardening and sustainable living. Should provide some interesting articles at least and get some good ideas for my garden. My goal is to have the boulders out within a year and replaced with cinder blocks. When I built my house, I was strongly encouraged to go with the boulders because of their visual appeal. They are very nice to look at, but with the wheelchair, they make gardening very impractical.

The Shed is almost done: have some trim work to do, attach the exterior felt, and then side and paint it to match the house. It is a nice little shed thogh: 8'x10' by 9' tall.

Okay: Short update done.... Still alive, still here... better posts to come shortly.

 

The Art of Teaching Form Filling

References: Oregon Live Article, Oregon Live House Bill Information, News Radio 1190 KEX Live Interview

I agree with most Adult these days in that the Youth of today do not appear to be as motivated, or educated as generations prior. Having a plan for after High School is a great idea for kids today, but making a few more forms required to graduate, is not.

Having gone through the paces myself already almost 10 years ago, I honestly can say that the approach that the politicians in Salem, OR are proposing to "encourage" our youth to graduate, are almost "Dronish". I am sure at some level they care about the future of our state, but they have a funny way to show it. While listening to the interview on the radio last Tuesday (1 week ago), I remember that I became very disheartened when a statement was made in the tone of "Even if they do not go on to college, the ability to fill out forms is valuable in any industry". It truly appears that we have become a nation of Form Fillers.

While it WAS mentioned, I do not believe enough emphasis was placed on "What IF" current students didn't plan on attending a 4 or 2 year college, trade school, or military. What if, say, they wanted to continue the family business, or start their own? Sure, many aspects of these endeavors would benefit from some college or trade courses, but depending on the industry, not required.

For instance: To get into the landscaping industry, you can go through and get your associates in the related field, or in Oregon at least you can in place of that, work for two years first in just general Lawn Care before submitting the required applications.

I understand that the public school system is government funded, but there is so much bloatware in our education system that it could use some thinning.

You want to really learn some new material, from Science to Literature? Try reading through the Book of Knowledge (If you can find them). Highly informative and entertaining. Sure, it's supposed to be a Children's encyclopedia, but with as much as our current education system waters down information, 10 to 1 says that by going through these books, and just updating current events with them, a child could receive a better education as a whole than the average that is produced in our current k-12 system.

And for the most part, this has nothing to do with the educators. Most of the educators that I know are top-notch. They have a passion to teach, but are often limited by the current system and regulations in place... Now the different districts will have to keep track of who applied to where as well, If House Bill 2732 passes all the way through.

Do we really need this? Curiously, what would happen if an entire graduating class DID NOT complete the requirements willingly? Would the entire year not graduate, or would the state get the message?

Clearing the Office

It has been a great last two years at my Retail office in Newberg. However, I just have not been there enough to warrant keeping it.

For those of you that have been out of the loop or just do not know: I have had a office in Newberg for the last two years where I ran Quixjote's Computers and Services. QC&S is still in operation, but just not from that location anymore. Over the last 3 or 4 months I have only been at my office enough time to collect bills, pay bills and collect payments that have been mailed in.

The plan now is to run my business from my house in Newberg Oregon (Also where all of the legal aspects of my Business are tied to anyways, just have to update this years City of Newberg business registration to reflect the change). I still do web application development, but as my business morphs over time, I see myself doing less of it.

As many of you know (or didn't know, although I am not sure how with all the blurbs that I have made over the last year), I have been working with Darren and James on a Lawn Care business. With this, we have been very fortunate so far. We have a few profitable contracts and are actively looking to extend the business for lawn care. In a couple years we have talked about expanding, taking the courses required and getting the licensing necessary to go more into landscaping instead of just lawn care.

Anyway, back to the plan; As I mentioned, I see myself doing less programming over time, expanding a bit away from the "Computers" portion of Quixjote's Computers and Services to just be "Quixjote's Services". Basically being the administration aspect to many small "start-ups", like I am with the lawn care portion of my business. This will allow others on a small scale to build their business under the Quixjote's Services name, and then when they have a solid foothold in their market they can grow apart from Quixjote's Services, either paying a flat "finders fee" one-time, or a percentage of their business for "X" amount of time.

Moving out of the office right now is the best thing that could have happened, because I will be able to focus on building my business in the ways that it NEEDS to grow, and not have to worry about the extra expense that it incurred while I was at the office.

$4.00 Gasoline is Good For Us... Really!

Somehow, right now, people of a particular political party are saying that the High Gas Prices are good for us... Good for us because it promotes families to be together. Good for us because it promotes people to drive less. Good for us because it will put less pollutants into the air.

Yet... Somehow, back in 2008 before the election these same people were blaming Republicans, President Bush and his "Gas Buddies" of causing the High Gas Prices and how it was not good for anyone.

Why the change in tone? The Shoe is only on the other foot.

Oh, also: Back in late January I was going off about $5.00/Gal gas prices and Many of you said that there is no way it would get much past $3.50/Gal this year (Currently $3.85/Gal average for both USA and Portland, OR for Oct 87)... Would you please take off your rose colored glasses now? We are all in this together and at some point people are going to have to impress common sense upon others. Gas prices have been raising for over a month straight!

Most recent speculation on why gas prices are rising according to the media... Well, among other things: The Weather. I kid you not. Yesterday on the radio when interviewed about the rise, Weather was honestly a contributing factor. Well... That's it. We are all screwed. The dang weather men have trouble predicting the weather, so how the hell are we going to predict the price of gasoline. Anything is game anymore.

Get ready for $6.00/Gal at the high point. Hopefully the yearly price dip around Memorial Day will offset this a bit. But as it stands, we are already looking at about $4.15/Gal by June 7th. Ug. That means that Price for my van will be around $4.35/gal.

If we follow a linear prediction model, when will we hit the $5.00 mark? Around October 5th.

I am seriously considering becoming a hermit and just staying home. I seriously would be saving about $100/Wk at that point.