I am going to alienate some people I know....

Why are we so many Americans happy about the increasing level of government involvement in our lives? I am scared by this trend. I realize that Barack Obama (hereafter, respectfully, BHO) won the election and he has the obligation to do the things that he said he was going to do during the election, but I just do not remember that it was going to be this intrusive, this wide spread and this expensive.

I think we need government oversight, but I do not think we need government control. Honestly, I have been surprised at the level of corruption and greed that is on display by most companies in the U.S. They have been feeding at the trough of the people for far too long. I am one that believes in the free market, and that over the long run the economy and prices will reach a level of equllibrium. I think that the folks that borrow money with out a clear understanding of what they are doing should be discouraged from borrowing that money. I think that companies that take advantage of these people should be punished if what they did was illegal. I don't think we ought to borrow money from China to prevent the American population from feeling the pain that comes from making a bad financial decison. How else will they learn.

The best lessons I have ever learned were from what I call "Paying the idiot tax". That is not my line and I am not sure where I got it, so to whomever I stole that from thanks. The idiot tax is the cost that you pay from making poor decisions. This tax takes on many forms and is not always financial. Right now, what BHO is doing is trying to prevent the American people from paying their idiot tax. The tax is due and needs to be paid. We have become a nation of whiners and complainers. We are so worried of going without that we are willing to trade in the future financial security of our country so we do not have to feel any of the pain today. We just can not bear to pay the idiot tax, so we are going to borrow the money from China, so we do not have to.

What are we going to do when the Chineese want their money back. How are we ever going to pay that back?

Atlanta Con't

I had a pretty good week in Atlanta. I can not see how the locals deal with the traffic. I went to see an old friend after wrok on Wednesday night. His house was 22 miles from the office. It took 1:40 minutes. Rididoulous. It seems this is a tough spot always...

But, look at this house that is on this route. Some day I'd sure love to have a house like this.

Atlanta Georgia 11/17/2008 - 11/21/2008

I really should take some effort to keep this blog updated.
So I get in last night at 10:10 into Atlanta Hartsfield airport. First, the American Airlines baggage claim is damn near impossible to find. I "bonded" with three other passengers from my flight who also could not find the AA baggage claim. We eventually find it.

Then I head to the Hertz bus. On the way, there was a guy in uniform in the airport who asked me if I needed help, finding my way. I did. He told me how to find the Hertz bus. Nice...

So I get to the Hertz bus, the attendant asks me if I am a Hertz Gold member, I say yes and spell my LAST name. She says welcome Stephen, and I get on the bus. The driver takes over to the Gold Hertz stop. The driver tells us to look for our name on the board. I can not find my name. And apparently neither can the other 25 or 30 Gold Club members. So we line up to get help. Looks like it will be a long wait. Then several of us see that the non Gold Hertz Club rental desk has no one waiting. So we high tail it over there. I am second in line. The guy behind the desk is obviously flustered and angered that we are all there and he is suddenly overwhelmed with customers. I ask him if he can help us Gold Members or if need to head back to the Gold counter. He ignores my question. The guy at the front of the line and at the desk is obviously irritated that Hertz does not have a car for him. I am not sure if he is a Gold member or not. The guy behind the desk calls someone on his Walkie Talkie. He tells the person on the other end of the Walkie Talkie about all of us standing there. I ask again if he will be able to help us. Again he ignores my question. The Hertz guy tells the current customer that he does not have a car with Neverlost. The guy says that he wants one because that is what he reserved. The Hertz guy calls someone else and tells them to look for a Neverlost equipped car.

So then the Hertz guy asks me what my name is. I tell him my last name. I spell is like this "B like in Bravo, I like in India, R like in Romeo .... " . He tells me I do not have a reservation. I tell him that the lady at the Hertz pickup point new my first name, so either she was psychic or I have a reservation. I spell my name three more times. He tells me my car is suppose to be in spot 46; I haul arse out of there. I go past the board, and sure enough I see my name and spot #46.

I guess the Hertz Gold rental board is way behind. Seems that was a valuable piece of information.

Neverlost is working OK. It tells me to take I-75 North. I do that. Then at the last minute, it tells me to take I-85 North. I miss the exit. I get close to the hotel. I can not find it. It seems that having the hotel signage visible from the street is too difficult. Finally in my room at 12:00am. Still need to send an eMail about an issue at work....

Day 1 at Valley Forge

Here is the Hotel. It is a Hilton, but an old Hilton









Me in the Hotel

The beginning of my Travels to Philadelphia

On Monday, I start travelling every other week to Philadelphia. I am going to use this blog to stay in touch with my three girls. Saron, Kaley and Julie.