Responsibility

OK, so here it is guys. As with my last post, I'm very sorry I haven't been writing blogs more frequently. Life just gets in the way sometimes ya know? I am going to be out of town for two weeks starting Thursday but when I get back I'm going to try and write blogs on an at least semi-regular basis.

Anywho, this one is going to be about responsibility. Now, I'm not the oldest or wisest person in the world, but I like to think, and I have been told, I'm pretty good at managing my responsibilities. I attribute this ability to my parents. Now if you've read my blog at all, you know what's been going on in my life. There's a blog or two about my folks and they weren't under the best of conditions. However, I attribute this ability to prioritize my day to them. They always told me "You've got to do what you've got to do before you can do what you want to do." This statement is so ridiculously true it's not even funny.

Lately I've run into some people who desperately need to meet my mother and take her lesson on responsibility. There are certain things that you absolutely need to do before you go out and do anything for fun.

1. The first thing you must do is make sure all of your stuff that you've pulled out is cleaned up. Seriously. If you use something, for example a dish. When you're done eating off of that dish, just put it in the sink. How hard is that?
2. Make sure that nobody is depending upon you to do something. If there is somone waiting for something from you, then don't leave without at least sending a text telling them what's up first. Or actually, they just came out with this new technology. You see, if you press the numbers on your phone in the correct sequence and hit the green button, you can actually hear someone else and have a conversation with them. crazy huh? It's amazing the technology that is available now...
3. Check your financial status. It's not the smartest idea to go out and spend money if you don't have money to spend. You need to make sure that you have the money to pay bills. Bills are more important than anything you would ever go out and spend money on.

Now, I honestly don't think that these things are really all that hard. It's mostly common sense if you ask me. I am not anyone's parent. It is not my responsibility to remind you to pick up your mess. I'm not your mother telling you to clean your room or you're grounded. It's not high school anymore folks. It's the real world, and the real world doesn't give two shits about you. It's about time to grow up and be a big kid "I'm a big kid now" (sorry, song popped into my head lol). It only gets harder from here. I promise...

It's Been Awhile...

Hey guys, sorry it's been so long. Been busy I'll give you a quick update before we get down to business.

I found a job! Workin for an interior systems company near my hometown. :) but because I was laid off for 5 weeks, money is really really tight. I'm umpiring Rec League baseball for money and am actually starting to give pitching lessons this weekend as well.

Um, The Girlfriend and I broke up. It sucks but it is what it is. I ended up spending $4500 in 4 months paying bills in her name and on things we needed / wanted for the place. That was my entire life savings. There is nothing left in case I get laid off or have a rough month on bills.  That's part of the reason we broke up. But at the same time, it felt like she was taking advantage of my kindness.

 I mean, the girl I was with before her, we split because after 6 months of fighting she was doing nothing with her life. She just lived with and off of her parents and was completely content with it. I have bigger dreams than that. Sorry. So with the most recent girlfriend, things were good while I was working and even though she told me she was still searching hard for a job, I found out recently that reality was that she had sort of lost interest and didn't make a big deal of it until I got laid off.

I called in a favor to get her a job. She wrote a blog saying how excited she was and how she had to be at work in "X" number of hours. If you do the math from that many hours from the time stamp you get 10 am. She told me she worked at 2 pm. She got a call the next day saying that she should have been at work already and that they were just going to pick a better suited person for the job. Boom. She got fired. I am not sure if it is a weird coincidence that she was supposed to be there at 10 and her blog shows (by using some simple math) that she should have been there at 10. But somehow, she thought 2 pm. Which apparently was supposed to be her finish time according to her should be employer.

Well we moved back to my hometown. After spending all that money paying the rent at her place and all the bills and whatnot, we still ended up leaving early on the lease. She still ended up taking on the debt that I was trying so hard to stop her from having. She didn't even take my advice on telling the landlord that we were leaving or on cleaning the place up before we left. So she got a bill and is awaiting a court date. We were informed of this all by her ex fiance and his friend (who weren't supposed to know where I live) showing up on my doorstep to tell us. It's about an hour drive from where he lives...

Then after we were moved in, everything finally settled down. I went to go train with the Marine Corps. The first day I get there, she sends me a text. It's a picture. Of my Jeep. With the radiator exposed and no lights. Apparently the whole front end "just fell off". Magically the bumper pushed itself in and the paint on the drivers side wheel well must have just appeared as well... But at least she ordered the parts... Kind of...
I ended up with $120 in parts with a $70 shipping fee to a Jeep that is a completely different model than the one I have. Not a single part fits. Nor can I force it to. I called the Jeep dealership. They wanted $1500 for the parts new. After making phone calls, driving and looking, and then ultimately driving a 4 hour round trip ride to spend $300 on the parts.

And last but not least. I was at a friends house recently. This is after the ex girlfriend and I broke up (she is however still living with me). At my friends apartment complex, there is apparently a designated visitor parking area. She told me I'd be fine parked out front of her apartment. That nothing would happen, and if it did, she knew the maintenance guy who lived in the place right next to hers. She could get me out of any trouble that could be caused. I woke up the next morning with the Jeep I just fixed attached to the back of a tow truck. To make a long story short, my friend couldn't get me out of it and I ended up spending $145 to get the guy to unhook the chain. My friend apologized profusely and told me that she would pay me back for it that night because it was her fault. Well, when I talked to her later on and asked, she sent me this "Should I really have to pay for it though?" Why yes, yes you should. You were the one that told me it would be ok and it wasn't. It's your fault. Now fix what you broke. She never paid me because I got so fed up with it that I just told her to go away and never come back.

Now, I told you that story to tell you this one. The ex girlfriend and my friend are like super best friends in the world now. The ex girlfriend even had my friend do a tattoo and has plans for her to do an entire side piece. This is the most awkward thing I have ever had happen to me. Someone I don't like because of how I was treated and now the ex girlfriend is telling me how she cares about me and only wants what's best for me and the whole time hanging out with someone that cost me my rent money? Seriously? It's ridiculous and quite honestly just serves to piss me off.

OK well I'm ending things here. I'm just getting frustrated and upset. I about threw my laptop across the room a couple of times already. Sorry, I know I said it would be quick and we'd get down to business but this took way longer and served to be a longer story than I thought. I'll save the non personal portion for it's own unique blog tomorrow. Thanks for tuning in and reading about my failing life. Stay tuned for more episodes...

St. Richard II

Well, I know this one is gonna piss some people off but oh well. The views expressed in this blog are my own and are not intended to offend anyone. Just wanted to talk about it. Here it goes...

The girlfriend and I went to my old church today. I had taken her to the church I was attending while still living in Chesterton and she absolutely fell in love with it. I wanted to take her to another church with similar if not exactly the same ideals but a much higher budget so she could see where I wanted to see my church someday. It went rather well. She wasn't as stoked about today's church but the trip served it's purpose to show her what can be done aesthetically with the right amount of pocket change. To read her full interpretation of the day, click here.

Well, on the way back home we started talking about the ideas behind the Christian faith. She was raised Catholic. I absolutely cannot stand Catholicism. There's just too many things that don't make sense or add up to something completely unrelated to Christianity. The main principle behind the faith is that Jesus Christ is our lord and savior. He died upon a cross as a sacrifice for our sins. The only way to the father (meaning God) is through him. (John 14:6) This is the main ideal. This is the key to everything. Now there are "rules" to Christianity. They're not necessarily rules that have any religiously based consequences here on earth. They're more like (for lack of a better term) strong moral suggestions. They are just things that any good person would normally abide by regardless of their religious intent. There's 10 of them that can really be summed up by an 11th. These are known as the 10 Commandments. Everyone has heard of them. Even if you're not religious. All of these can be summed up by what's known as the "Golden Rule". Treat your neighbor as yourself. If you treat everyone the way you would want to be treated, then nothing would ever be wrong and the world would be a perfect place. Would you want someone to steal from you, be unfaithful in a relationship with you, or murder you? I'm going to assume the answer here is no. So just treat everyone with dignity and respect and ultimately don't do anything to them that you would not want them to do to you. These two facts are the basics of Christianity. There you go. Christianity 101. And they said I could never be a college professor...

Now this is the part that is really gonna piss some people off. This is some of the things that I really just cannot stand about Catholicism  One of the main problems is praying to the saints. Now there are many reasons that people practice this. I'll us Saint Mary as an example here. In the Catholic faith, people pray to Jesus through Mary. Now the wording there is very important. They are not praying to Mary, that would be considered idolatry. Reference for this is here. However, I believe this is commonly forgotten and is actually used as idolatry instead of a medium to get to Christ. Well, now that I have defended this belief, I'm going to break it down.

Christianity is not a religion, but a lifestyle. It is something that consumes your whole being. It is brought on by a personal relationship with the Creator. If you have a personal relationship with someone, you talk to them right? So how can you have a relationship with God if you don't talk with him? Here is a link to an Our Daily Bread page. Great organization. It will explain the personal relationship with God better than I can. So now if God wants to have a personal relationship with us and we with him, then we must talk to him.

The idea of talking to God through a saint is a little tough for me. How can I have a relationship with someone by talking through someone else. It's like one big long Chinese telephone and you're supposed to be dating the girl at the other end. Besides that, 1 Timothy 2:5 says "For there is one God and one mediator between God and mankind, the man Christ Jesus." So in the bible it says that the only way to God is through his son, Jesus Christ, and that there is only one mediator to God, known as Jesus Christ. So, I'm sorry if I fail to see where praying to God through Saint Mary is an acceptable thing. Regardless of the potential misconception of idolatry, it's still not right.

And besides, who has decided who is considered a saint? There is a lengthy process involved. First, a person must be declared venerable by the Vatican. This means that a deceased person led a more virtuous life than the standard person. Then there is Beatification, this comes from the latin "beatus" meaning blessed and "facere" meaning to make or do so. So, the Vatican decides if a person is eligible to be considered blessed. Then the third and final step is cannonization. This involves a ceremony, a papal bull, and setting a feast day. There can now be shrines built in honor of this person and this person can be the Patron Saint of somewhere. So in summary here, the Pope decides if you become a Saint. Well, in the Richard Catholic (rather than Roman Catholic) faith I am the Pope and I decide that I will be a Saint when I die. My secretary will be pushing the paperwork through later. Feel free to begin constructing shrines in my honor. The feast will be set for March 3rd the year after I die...

Now as for the other problems I have, they have to do not so much with the beliefs but the hierarchy and attitude. The feeling I've gotten from the various catholic churches I have attended was that the whole faith is about politics and who is "holier" than who. I hate that. If we are respectful towards others then there should be no "I'm holier than you because I do more at the church". That idea is complete and utter bullshit. It's a game of favorites. The people who do more in the church are seen as "better" than those who don't. How does participating in a church more make you any closer to God? What do your actions for people who are already attending a church as saved Christians have anything to do with it? What about that guy who doesn't do anything with the church because he is spending more time preaching the good word on the streets or attempting to convince friends and family to attend? I would dare to say that the man who is out spreading the word about our savior is better than the people who spend their entire lives doing things for the church at the church. However, I would be wrong in that aspect too. No one is "better" or "holier" than anyone else. We are all saved just the same. Now some are more educated about the bible than others, that's why they teach it. I haven't been to seminary and I haven't devoted my whole life to learning and teaching the word of God to others. Sorry, I have a job to do and bills to pay and that's just not my calling. Everyone is called to do something. Not everyone is called to spend their lives inside the church. But everyone has a little piece of the puzzle that brings the whole thing together. So no, just because you're there more or do more there, you are NOT better than anyone else.

The people who spend the most time in the church are obviously the teachers. Those employed by the Church. These are known as Priests in the Catholic faith. Even within these leaders, there is a hierarchy of who is "holier". There is a definite hierarchy of who is better or holier than those below them. This is illustrated below...

Now this seems like a simple way that the church is broken up so that there is a leader among the pack. But there are a few key words that i'd like to point out here. "Cardinals are the elected government of the Roman Catholic Church." The definition of Government is: the act or process of governing; specifically : authoritative direction or control. Direct quote from Merriam-Webster right there. Search it, I'm not lying. Now authoritative direction or control would mean that this "government" is in the business of controlling people. That's what governments do. They set forth rules that they believe are for the good of their people. Now, in 'Merica we elect all of our gubernatorial officials. We get to choose whom we trust to set forth these rules as well as petition them and write to them with our thoughts and feelings. The government was originally set up as a way for us to vote without having to run the poll booths every day. When an issue rises, a senator or representative was intended to cast their vote in congress based upon what the majority of their constituents want done. Not to say it always happens that way but we'll save that for another blog.

Why the lesson on government? Let me bring this all full circle for you. In order to be a Priest, you must attend schooling for it. There are all kinds of rules and regulations to it and not everyone wants to do it. However, in order to become a bishop you must first be a Priest. In order to become an Archbishop, you must first be a Bishop. In order to become a Cardinal, you must first be an Archbishop. In order to become the Pope, you must first be a Cardinal. Now, who decides if you get to become a Priest? The teachers in Seminary. Who decides who becomes a Bishop? People already among a higher level of the hierarchy  I'll save the BS and jump to the end of this. To reach the next level, you must be voted upon by those in your level and those higher than you while the ultimate decision remains with the Pope. So the hierarchy of the Catholic Church is decided by those already inside that hierarchy. How does this represent the one person who attends and is a confirmed Catholic? It doesn't. I don't know about you but I don't trust anyone to make decisions in my life without my input of who it is. Now the argument I can see coming is "But Rich, these are holy men. They have devoted their lives to serving God and doing what is right for Christians." And I'll rebut with "For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God." Everyone makes mistakes, we're human. That's just how it works. I can't trust that there has been no influence on a human other than the will of God. It's not always going to work that way.

Now it also says that an Archbishop is responsible for making sure that Bishops follow the church "rules". I'm going to go ahead and just refer you to my last 2 paragraphs stating that these rules are created by a self-elected and self-service government. These rules apply to Bishops and everyone below them in the hierarchy.

Has anyone noticed that the higher you get into the hierarchy, the bigger and more flamboyant your hat gets?

God must be up there wearing a freakin sombrero or something...

Ok well, that's all for now before I piss off too many people. Remember, these are just my opinions on the subject. No need to go get all butt hurt about things. It's not just Catholicism that bothers me either. I don't understand the purpose of the various denominations of Protestantism. But that'll be for tomorrow. If you have legitimate concerns or a legitimate rebuttal to this. Shoot me an email. I'd love to hear from you! You can reach me here. Tune in tomorrow to get more pissed off!

It's ball season!!

Hey there blog fans. Sorry it's been awhile. Been busy moving to a new place and trying to take care of some other important things.

So I've been laid off for a couple of weeks now, and money is getting kind of tight. I have to do something to be able to pay my bills. I am still actively seeking a job in construction. In fact, I picked up some side work this coming week rebuilding part of a deck.

But my main money maker as of this week is going to be umpiring for local youth baseball. I used to do this awhile back but with all my training for the Corps and school and work and whatever other excuse you can think of, I haven't been doin this for awhile now.

It's a pretty fun job. It does tend to get frustrating at times though. You always have that one coach who thinks he knows the rulebook better than you. Or that one fan who thinks that he's the coach from outside the fence. Or that one fan that just heckles you and the other team and generally pisses you off. But it's all definitely manageable.

It pays pretty well. Can't complain about that. It's not what I'd make in a 70 hour week at my last job but it'll cover the bills for the time being. Who knows, maybe my work schedule will allow me to continue to do it when i get a job? I don' know. We'll find out.

Keep me in thoughts and prayers as I look for a job. I could use all the help I can get.

Sorry this is so short, just felt bad for not posting. There'll be more to come soon! Promise!

carpentry nerd...

Ok well I don't know if there is such a thing as being a carpentry nerd, but I am one.

Soooo excited. Got a lead on a side job from a family friend. Redecking an outside patio. Pretty simple really. Gotta tear the old deckboards off and put on new ones. Minimal cutting, Minimal everything. I already have a really nice circular saw that my dad got me for christmas. Craftsman 15 amp worm drive saw. It's pretty sweet. :) but in order to screw down the deckboards, I need a drill.

Now I didn't really want to be dragging extension cords all over the deck while I'm trying to do this so I definitely wanted to get a cordless one. I looked online at Ace Hardware and Home Depot and was finding the exact ones that I would like to have, but they were upwards of $250 for one drill, one battery, and a charger. So what do I do? Craigslist.

I found one guy who was selling a single Ryobi drill with 2 batteries and 1 charger brand new in the box. Not necessarily the best drill. Brand new it's about $80 but he was asking $50 so I sent him an e-mail. Not ten minutes after I set up the meet with this guy, I get another phone call from a different ad I replied to.
This guy has 3 drills, 7 batteries, 3 chargers, and 2 cases as well as extension cords and anything else I might need. He's ready to meet whenever and he's only askin $75 for all of it.

Well, we meet up with this guy and start talkin a little bit. He's a Union Sheetmetal Worker. Currently laid off, hard times in our area. He's cleaning out his garage of shit he hasn't looked at since '98 when he moved in and decided "eh, I'll try and sell it on Craigslist." Long story short, we spent probably an hour just talkin and bullshitting with the guy and walked out with all 3 drills, all 7 batteries, all 3 chargers, both cases, and 2 extension cords for $80. Two of the drills are Dewalt Impact 18v cordless drills and the other is a standard 18v cordless drill. Mind you, just one of the impact drills with 2 batteries, a charger, and a case is over $100 at Home Depot. This is the deal of the century! and now this guys wife can let him out of the doghouse because she can park in the garage again lol

Well, that's all for now folks. Sorry for the kinda personal post that doesn't glean any usable information. Just got a little excited lol

Stolen Valor

OK ya'll, Here's a story that comes real close to making me go find people and beat the sense into them.

Subject: Stolen Valor

One of the most frustrating things I have seen on my computer screen lately is people who want to make up stories of fighting in the desert and getting wounded and being this big war hero. If you didn't do it, then don't say you did. There are countless stories that people have made up. Now, if it's a sly comment made in a bar or somewhere to get that cute girl to talk to you, then I'll let it go. I understand that you're completely uninteresting and have nothing going for your fat nasty ass so you have to make something up to get laid. I almost feel bad for you. Now as for the other things that have been coming across my screen, you folks are Grade A shitbags. I seriously dislike you. If I ever met you, I'd personally beat the hell out of you. Then maybe you'll have some "cool" scars to show off.

Here are some examples...

1) Craig Pusley
        This winner decided to put on a Marine Corps Desert Utility Uniform and stand guard outside Hughson Elementary School in California. His story was simple, he was standing guard at the school immediately following the Sandy Hook shooting. Sounds believable right? I mean the Marines are good hearted folks that would do anything they could to help keep 'Merica safe. There's just a few problems here with his story...

• Marines don't wear camouflage utilites in public. It doesn't happen. I am a US Marine Reservist. I can't even go buy a pack of smokes on the way home from drill if I'm in uniform.
• His original story is that he was discharged after an injury sustained in combat, later on says that he is a reservist.
• There's more, best embodied by this video ---->Shitbag Craig Pusley

2) Jeffrey Scott Kepler

        This guy decided that healthcare was too expensive so he'd just get it free from the VA. He stole over $100,000 from the VA in healthcare services. A couple of issues that this brings up.

• First of all it's wrong. If you don't rate benefits from the VA which is intended for veterans then don't take them. If you haven't earned it, then you don't rate. Sorry. Deal with it. I'm in the reserves and don't rate a lot of VA benefits. Why should you?
• Guys that do things like this make it much harder for people who rate these benefits to get the benefits they need. Now there's going to be a much lengthier screening to make sure that you really are who you are and that you rate all the benefits you are applying for. You may even get disqualified for certain ones because of mix ups in all the extra paperwork. Who knows?

Here's the link about this twat waffle. Many more if you keep reading... ---->Jeffrey Scott Kepler "The Twat Waffle"

3) Rick Duncan

        This guy had good intentions (in my own opinion), at least in the beginning. However, he went about it the wrong way. He posed as a former Marine in order to create an organization to help veterans. Fair enough. See where you were going with that............But I still wanna beat the hell out of you for doing it. A few issues yet again.

• He claims to have been in a battle related incident where he was seriously injured. He claims to have a partial cranial replacement, a fake hip, a finger blown off, partial fake ribs, and a couple pieces of metal left in him that he calls "internal body bling". OK now, there is no fake ribs made to my knowledge, he has all his fingers (I do believe they're rather hard to reattach when you lose it in an explosion and likely can't find it), and if I ever hear anyone call shrapnel wounds internal body bling I'll personally fly anywhere in the country to slap the shit out of you. There are men and women who actually have shrapnel still in their bodies and they actually got injured and went through the pain and torment of battle. That's just disrespectful.
• The Colorado Veterans Alliance is kind of a sham. This was a way for him to be noticed by Military and Political leaders. He used some of the money raised through the CVA to endorse political candidates (mostly democrats from my understanding) and even appeared in a tv ad for a candidate. 

Link is here! -----> Should have kept his Cum Dumpster shut....

There's a whole shit pot more fakers out there. Here's a video that kind of shows how many people actually fake it out there.  ------> Don Shipley US Navy Seal Testimony

If you ever run into anyone who is absolutely faking their story, call them out on it. If you run into a story that just seems kind of off, ask more about it. If you get the details and they don't add up then you'll know it's a fake. There are so many things wrong with it. If you have any respect for military veterans then stop the fakes. It's ridiculously disrespectful. 

As pissed off as I am about the subject of this whole post, I can't leave you off on a bad note, so here's a funny video to close it out. See ya'll again soon!

-----> Stolen And I Know It... <------

FREEDOM!!!!!!

Here's the background story:

So the girlfriend and I have been living in a house that was formerly leased by her and her ex boyfriend. He moved out and I moved in. They had nothing but problems and after I moved in, the problems continued. The management is terrible, they care nothing about you or your situation. The property manager takes a vacation every other week and you can never get a hold of her, then when you do get in to see her, she's a bit of an asshole. She wouldn't talk to me about anything even when the primary leaseholder was present and gave consent. It's bullshit. Took them an entire month to fix some very minor things that were broken in our place but only 24 hours to charge us for "rule violations". This place has done nothing but piss me off since day 1.

I called a friend of mine who works at a hardware store back in my hometown. Got the girlfriend a hookup for a job. :) Yay!!! The job is 50+ miles away so we can break the lease at the spot we're currently in. Moving back home baby :) spending a lot less money on rent and the job she has is within bike riding distance of the new apartment :) I'm so excited!!! We'll both be closer to friends and family and she'll finally have a job instead of being cooped up in our house for so long. Got an apartment back in my hometown.

This is the first break/relief we've had since I moved in. Maybe things are starting to look up? I don't know. Now I've just gotta wait and get a job after I got laid off two weeks ago...