Sep 172011
 

This is the full text of an email that was sent to me:

“[G]overnment can, instead of extending freedom, restrict freedom. And note … that the ‘can’ quickly becomes ‘will’ the moment the holders of government power are left to their own devices. This is because of the corrupting influence of power, the natural tendency of men who possess some power to take unto themselves more power. The tendency leads eventually to the acquisition of all power — whether in the hands of one or many makes little difference to the freedom of those left on the outside.” –U. S. Senator Barry Goldwater (1909-1998)

Remember,

Not only did you contribute to Social Security but your employer did too.

It totaled 15% of your income before taxes.

If you averaged only $30K over your working life, that’s close to $220,500.

If you calculate the future value of $4,500 per year (yours & your employer’s contribution) at a simple 5% (less than what the govt. pays on the money that it borrows), after 49 years of working you’d have $892,919.98.

If you took out only 3% per year, you’d receive $26,787.60 per year and it would last better than 30 years (until you’re 95 if you retire at age 65) and that’s with no interest paid on that final amount on deposit!

If you bought an annuity and it paid 4% per year, you’d have a lifetime income of $2,976.40 per month.

The folks in Washington have pulled off a bigger Ponzi scheme than Bernie Madhoff ever had.

Entitlement my ass, I paid cash for my social security insurance!!!!

Just because they borrowed the money, doesn’t make my benefits some kind of charity or handout!!

Congressional benefits, aka. free healthcare, outrageous retirement packages, 67 paid holidays, three weeks paid vacation, unlimited paid sick days, now that’s welfare, and they have the nerve to call my social security retirement entitlements?

We’re “broke” and can’t help our own Seniors, Veterans, Orphans, Homeless etc.!

In the last months we have provided aid to Haiti , Chile , and Turkey .

And now Pakistan ……home of bin Laden. Literally, BILLIONS of DOLLARS!!!

Our retired seniors living on a ‘fixed income’ receive no aid nor do they get any breaks while our government and religious organizations pour Hundreds of Billions of $$$$$$’s and tons of food to foreign countries!

They call Social Security and Medicare an entitlement even though most of us have been paying for it all our working lives and now when its time for us to collect, the government is running out of money.

Why did the government borrow from it in the first place, and shouldn’t it have to pay interest on the “loans” it took?

Imagine if the GOVERNMENT gave ‘US’ the same support they give to other countries.

Sad isn’t it?

Sep 072011
 

It’s been an exciting evening at the Willow house. First of all, Mikie found a possum hanging out in a bird-house on the side yard.

Possum in the Bird House 1

Possum in the Bird House 2

Then, shortly after that, we lost all water pressure at the house. Went outside to investigate and saw some emergency vehicles down the block. Found out that the water main for the neighborhood ruptured and they are having to dig up the street to repair it. It’s a work in progress.

Water line break on Willow Street

Sep 172010
 

Fun with AT&T Tech Support

OK on the way into work this morning I noticed that the 3G data connection was not working on both my iPhone and my 3G-enabled iPad. When I got to work I contacted AT&T’s live online support. The agent assigned to help me was Thomas Roberson.

I explained the situation to him and I emphasized the facts that:

  • both devices worked fine yesterday
  • I cycled power on both devices
  • These devices have separate and unrelated data plans
  • I had a co-worker test his 3G data connection and his is also non-functional

In spite of all of this information, “Thomas” insisted on walking me through this painful canned troubleshooting procedure for my iPhone which by the way ended up reseting all of my network settings so I now have to go back in and set-up my corporate VPN again and also re-enter the various 802-11 network passwords that I regularly use.

An attempting to contact someone in AT&T support via phone now. Wish me luck.

Sep 052010
 

Strength Training

Did the Strength 1/B workout from New Rules of Lifting. Just for fun I stopped at the gym that Lifetime Fitness bought over on W. Lake Houston in Kingwood. This used to be QLS. It is most definitely not up to the standards of a LTF. The weight room was a mess and they don’t have towel service yet. I think their one interesting feature is their pool. They have a saltwater swimming pool. Next time I’m due for a swim workout and I’m in that area I’ll check it out.

Oct 102009
 

Triathlon Training – Day 13

Running with Kingwood Fit (Morning)

Met with the Kingwood Fit running club at the Christ the King Lutheran Church early this morning. Our group took off at about 06:15. We were scheduled for only 9 miles today, which is a nice break. Here are the splits:

Split Time Distance Elevation Gain Elevation Loss Avg Speed Max Speed Avg HR Max HR Calories
1 00:09:16 1.00 55 136 09:16 07:30 130 144 144
2 00:08:42 1.00 39 54 08:42 07:24 143 147 145
3 00:08:54 1.00 123 136 08:54 06:11 142 146 148
4 00:08:36 1.00 120 99 08:36 06:54 146 153 147
5 00:08:30 1.00 47 73 08:30 06:14 149 162 146
6 00:08:42 1.00 99 129 08:42 05:50 148 154 148
7 00:08:34 1.00 95 55 08:34 06:32 150 158 148
8 00:08:14 1.00 28 36 08:14 06:15 154 165 146
9 00:06:53 0.87 32 0 07:57 06:07 161 169 129
Summary 01:16:25 8.87 639 718 08:37 05:50 146 169 1301

It was a nice run. The temperature was about 57 degrees F. Sweet! We are scheduled to do 15 miles next Saturday, which I have to miss, so I’m going to do the 15 mile run very early Friday morning with a couple other guys in our pace group who also cannot make next Saturday’s run.

Swim – 200s variable pace (afternoon)

This was at Lifetime Fitness in Atascocita, TX. Here was the program:

WU: Build effort on each rep. 100 swim, 50 kick, 100 swim, 50 kick, 100 swim.

MS: Each numbered set is done non-stop as a 200.

1—100 easy, 50 mod, 50 fast (10”).

2—50 easy, 100 mod, 50 fast (20”).

3—50 easy, 50 mod, 100 fast (30”).

4—100 fast, 50 easy, 50 mod (20”).

5—50 fast, 100 easy, 50 mod (10”).

6—50 fast, 50 easy, 100 mod. (60”)

Repeat #1, 2, 3.

CD: 150 easy with drills. Total: 2350

Oct 092009
 

Update from Iraq!

Just got a call from Gordon Jr. He is currently at Camp Buehring in Kuwait. The time there is 10 hours ahead of US/Central time. Gordy will be in Kuwait for probably a couple of weeks for training. After that he is scheduled to be at FOB Delta. I do not have a mailing address for him yet. He will be able to check email occasionally.

They had flown from Camp Benning, GA. They made a stop in Frankfurt, Germany and then continued on to Kuwait.

I’ll keep everyone posted as I find out more. Gordy sounds like he is doing fine.

Triathlon Training – Day 12

Strength Training – AA, 3-4 sets Description After warm up do 3-4 sets of AA. Cool down with 5-10 minutes of spinning in easy gear/resistance at high rpm. Details Warm up: 10 min on Elliptical

  1. squat: 115x20,20,20
  2. standing bent arm lat pulldown: (cybex) 45x20,20,20
  3. leg press: 140x20,20,20
  4. chest press: (hammer) 30x20,20,20
  5. seated row: 110x30,30,30
  6. seated calf raises: 35x20,20,20
  7. ab with twist: bwx16,9

Was scheduled to do a running workout as my second workout of the day. I wasn’t able to schedule it earlier so I started to run on the Treadmill, but quit after 10 minutes due to pain in lower-left leg.