The Cantina

I started playing music at a very young age. My step dad played guitar so there was always one or two sitting around the house. I’d say it started at maybe age 5 or 6 for me. I continued to play through high school just for fun, for myself. My brothers and step brother played too. It was kind of a family thing. We lived on a farm with shitty tv reception. There wasn’t much else to do really.

By the time I hit my late teens I was good enough to play the bar circuit and that’s what I did. I played my guitar and sang for people for a long time. I played and sang for every reason a person plays and sings. To share the music. To share the emotion. To share the feeling. To be popular. To get girls. To play for money. To make a living. To play for fun. Every stage of the game was for one of those reasons.

I did pretty good. I hooked up with some great musicians. I made a record. I had a few great bands. I opened for national acts. I opened for Jonny Winter, Marshall tucker, Joan Osbourne, Lonnie Brooks and many more. I played on stage with Bo Diddley. It was a great accomplishment and a great time in my life. I used to love the thrill of the crowd and the excitement of the performance. I used to love everything about it. But then it wore off.

I like to be alone now. I spent so many years in the spotlight that I hate the spotlight now. I hate being recognized. I’ve gone the complete opposite. I moved to the mountains. I don’t keep in contact with anyone. I hate when someone recognizes me. I haven’t been in a bar in over 2 years. I seldom talk about those days and I’m not sure why I’m talking about it now. I had fun back then. More fun than most can imagine. But I’ve been there and done that and now, I just enjoy the memory.

My guitars sit in their cases. Untouched, abandoned and forgotten. I never play them anymore. I don’t want to pour my heart and soul out on a stage anymore. The little piece of myself that I have left I want to keep to myself. It’s weird.

Anyway, I enjoy every memory I have of that time in my life and I wouldn’t trade it for anything. I’ve just sort of moved on. Not ahead or behind. Just….moved on.

The pic is of a gig I did with Bo Didley at Gullifty’s in New Cumberland back in the early 90’s. That’s Bo up front, Ski playing drums and me in the back playing guitar. What a night!

Tags: Entertainment, General by Ron
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Thanks Kimmer. I’ve been obsessed with this ever since you sent me that article. (Read my earlier post on the subject if you don’t know what I’m talking about).

I almost hate what I’m about to write because it’s going to sound so……Democratic. But I think it’s common sense. Illegal immigration is a huge problem in the good ‘ol US of A. I could sit here and type all the reasons and costs of why it’s such a big problem, but why do that when the government already did. You can read the staggering numbers right at this study on the Center for Immigration Studies website. For more information, go to the root domain right here and follow some of the links.

You’ll learn some amazing numbers and some really stupid ideas on how to fix the problem. Like building a big fence. Like assimilation and granting citizenship. Perhaps you’ll read long enough to read about political asylum.

All bad ideas if you ask me. All are reactive measures that don’t even look in the direction of the real problem, let alone address it. The real problem is that the mexican people that are desperatly trying to enter this country are trying to escape the horror of extreme poverty, disease and starvation. You don’t see Mexico’s elite scaling a fence or hiding in the back of a manure truck trying to get here. You don’t see Mexico’s businessmen and Mexican doctors running through the Arizona desert. You see Mexico’s poorest, most destitute people trying to save themselves and their families from a lifetime of misery.

Stick with me here for a minute. Say you have an asshole neighbor. Say that asshole neighbor has a dog chained up out back. Day after day and week after week you see this dog tied up out in the back yard of your asshole neighbor’s house. The asshole never gives him any fresh water. Maybe once or twice a week you actually see food in the dog’s dish. There’s no shelter. No box or doghouse to get in out of the rain and snow and wind. Just a poor shivering, starving dog trapped in a life of misery with an uncaring asshole in charge of his destiny, chained to a tree in the asshole neighbor’s back yard.

Then one day the dog gets so thin from the abuse and starvation that he slips out of his collar and breaks free. First thing he does is go to the trash cans and knocks them over to get something to eat because he’s starving. Let’s say you’re a nice person and actually put out a bowl of food and water for him and he sneaks up to your porch to get it. The asshole neighbor sees this, beats the dog and chains him back up to the tree, but since he’s an asshole, he doesn’t change anything. He still starves the dog and putting water out for him is a pain in his ass so he only does it once a week.

All the dog can think about is the glorious day that he broke free and got someting to eat and some fresh water. So now the dog thinks about breaking free all the time, and he does.

Does this make that dog a bad dog or is that just a good dog in a bad situation with natural survival instincts?

I think the answer to the illegal immigration problem lies in working with the Mexican government to put an end to their extreme poverty problem. I think if we spent half of the time, effort and money we spend now on the unsuccessful illegal immigration tactics that we currently employ and put that energy towards creating an environment where these desperately desperate people had some food, education, medical care and career opportunity that they wouldn’t be so quick to slip the chain, jump the fence and run to the neighbor’s house for food and water.

I think the solution lies in helping them out where they are so they don’t want to leave.

It’s time for a true story. I lived in Dauphin for about 12 years of my life. Every day when I’d drive home I’d pass this house that had a cute little Chow chained to a tree out front. The dog rarely had a bowl of water. It was always upside down and bone dry. For months I drove by and saw the dog getting thinner and thinner. I could see his ribs from the moving car. Still no water. That was the dog’s existence. No matter what time of the day or night I went by, he was there. Chained to the tree. No food, no water.

Finally late one night I stopped and unhooked him and put him in my truck and took him home. That’s right. I dog napped him. I fed him and gave him all the water he could drink. The next day I took him to the vet and got him shots and worm medicine that he badly needed. I took him back home and kept him for about three weeks until he started looking nice and healthy again. He was a nice dog. I thought about keeping him, but I couldn’t. I am a lot of things but I’m not a thief. Here’s what I did.

I taped a note to his collar and took him back one night and chained him back up to his tree. The note read something like this.

“I took your dog. He was in dire need of food, water and a vet. The rest of his medicine is in his doghouse. If I see him being neglected again I’m going to kick the shit out of you and then turn you into the authorities for neglect and abuse”.

Believe it or not it worked. They put an unspillable water dish out there. Half the time I’d drive by, he wasn’t there. I imagine he was in the house or somewhere. At least he was getting some kind of attention. He never lost weight or looked neglected after that either. I think they must have got the note.  The moral of the story?  I saw one of God’s creatures desperately in need and I took action at my own time and cost.  I brought him back to a stable level of health and then put him back where I found him with some insightful instructions and menacing consequences if those instructions weren’t followed, and I saved a life.  The same philosophy could easily be applied with the immigration problem.

Anyway, I’m glad I could share that story with you. That was back in the mid 80’s and I’m sure the statute of limitations has expired on the dog napping and threat charges that I could have gotten arrested for, but the meat and moral of the story remains the same.

The answer to the problem lies with creating a suitable environment where they are, so that there is no reason to escape. It’s common sense really. The only Canadians we see breaching our borders are rich ones who want to retire in Florida. Think about it.

Tags: General, Politics by Ron
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Motivation is at an all time low. I woke up this morning and watched as flurries of snow put a light dusting on everything outside. There’s a cold front coming in from the north so as the day goes on, the colder it gets. I don’t want to go outside. I hate the cold. My house needs cleaned in the worst way but I don’t feel like cleaning it. I’ll reluctantly put some laundry in later, just because I need some clean clothes for work next week. My desk is a wreck. The windows need washed and there’s a thick coating of dust on the piano. All the ash trays are full and every table and flat surface in the house has a bunch of shit stacked on it that needs thrown out or put away.

There’s nothing on tv but paid programming and I think that I’ve seen everything there is to see on the internet. There are prolly about 30 little projects around here that need done but I don’t feel like doing any of them. I think I need an optical rectumy. That’s where they snip that nerve that runs from your asshole to your eyeballs that gives you a shitty outlook.

Ok, screw it. Enough whining. I’m gonna grab a broom. I can pretty much guarantee though that it’s not going to be a white tornado in here. Prolly more like a mild drizzle but I have to start somewhere.

Tags: General by Ron
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I got home from work tonight and checked my mail as I usually do. I got an “Important Notice” from my credit card company, Capital One. I got one from American Express last week too but I just threw it out because I have a zero balance on that card and I rarely use it. Anyway, I get this notice and open it. Click on the picture to read it. It’s amazing.

It goes on to say that I don’t have to accept these terms. I can close my account and pay off my balance with my existing terms, which is exactly what I’d do if I owed them any real money. Fact is, I’ve been paying it off over the last few months because I saw this coming a mile away from the banks. You see, the only way they can recover the bad debt that they lent to losers and people who over extended themselves is by begging the government and hosing their good loyal customers who pay on time every month. So for their bad lending decisions and the idiots who over extended themselves and have stuck them with the bill, this is what the good guys get.

I only owe about $400 more dollars on that account and I’ll pay that this week. I’d close the account but that would be too easy. I intend to use that card about once a month for small purchases. Like, maybe a pack of cigarettes. That’ll make the monthy interest payment so low that it’ll actually cost them more to process the transaction and send me a bill that what they will make on the interest.

What will it really cost them? Pennies???? Sure, but it’ll be my little way of “sticking it to the man”.

By the way, my interest rates before this letter were 6.47% on purchases and 19.80% on cash, so they are basically more than doubling my rate.

A word to the wise. Pay down your debt if you can, and keep a close eye on the percentages on your statements.

Tags: General by Ron
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Hate is a strong word. That’s why I used it. When I was younger I never really payed much attention to politics. I was blissfully ignorant of what was going on in Washington and even in my own state as far as politics go. Now that I’m getting older, I’m paying more attention to it, and it really torques my screws. Especially the proposals of the democratic party and what they believe in.

Tonight’s source of my anguish is the SCHIP tax. For those of you who don’t know, SHICP stands for State Children’s Health Insurance Program, and the tax I’m talking about is the tax increase that they are going to put on tobacco products to fund it.

Now, I agree that the health care program needs help and it needs funding. I do NOT believe that people that use tobacco products should carry the burden squarely on their shoulders to fund every one’s children’s health care. Alone. This is a fine example of the democratic party’s skewed view of a fair and free country and distributing wealth and responsibility.

I never had children. I never wanted children. Yet, I find myself supporting other people’s children through taxes that I pay. I pay their school taxes. I pay for a lot of children’s programs for people who irresponsibly have children that they can’t pay for. I understand the dilemma. How can you tax people who are already getting a free ride and free medical care from the government?

Here’s my alternative. If you can’t make the irresponsible parents cover the cost of their children’s health care, and you absolutely must put that burden on other Americans, who supposedly create higher health care costs by their lifestyle, pass the burden off this way.

Tax Popeye’s Chicken. Tax KFC. That’ll get a bunch of your government dollars back. Tax MacDonald’s and Tax Burger King. Tax the fat asses that are the statistics of the world’s largest obesity problem in the world. Surely you are aware of the health care costs that are the result of that. Yes, that would tax nearly all Americans, or…a large percent anyway (pun intended). Hell, you’d still get a bunch of my tax dollars. I luvs me a Big Mac now and again.

What you are about to do will drive the tobacco industry into the same situation that the auto industry is in, but for no fault of their own. It will be the democrat’s fault. People will not be able to afford those products anymore or they will boycott those products. Sales will go down and jobs will be lost. Shops and companies will close and more people will be out of work.

The tax that they plan to impose on people making less that $250,000 a year which during the campaign they said they wouldn’t do, will be along the lines as follows.

and this is the grand daddy…

Incredible.

There will be no tax increase on deep fried chicken, colt 45, Big Macs, or french fries.

Tags: Edgy, General, Politics by Ron
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My friend Kimmer turned me on to an article yesterday in the Washington Times about an Arizona rancher who’s ranch is on the Mexican border. In a nutshell, the rancher is being sued by 16 Mexicans who were trying to cross the border illegally, across his land. He held them at gun point with his dog by his side while he called the border patrol to come and arrest the illegals. In fact, he had done this so many times in the past eleven years that he has helped the border patrol arrest 12,000 illegals trying to gain access to this country by using his land as a gateway.

Now, the latest group of 16 Mexicans that he caught are suing him. You can read the whole story here.

I’ve thought deeply on this story since I read it. Just who do these people think they are? We stole this country fair and square. Our forefathers came over boat by boat and ship by ship to this land. They slaughtered scores of native Americans by introducing them to the business end of the firearms that they brought with them. They desecrated those heathen savages in every way possible, many times raping their women and killing their children until there was nothing left of them and leaving them nothing. Not even their pride. We stole this land fair and square right?

Our fore fathers brought slaves over from Africa. Ship by ship and boat by boat, cleared farm land, planted food and cotton with the aforementioned slave labor. They built this country on that stolen land and made it in to what it is today and that is something we can all be proud of right?

I am a proud American but sometimes, I really don’t feel so proud.

You can tell that I have mixed feelings about this. As a young man I thought I had seen poverty in America. I thought I knew what poverty was. I’d seen homeless people before. Not a lot, but I’d seen them. I didn’t know shit.

I went to Puerta Vallarta in about 1998 on a vacation. While I was there, I left the resort to go into town and check out some of the local shops and what not. I strayed a little farther past the outskirts of town than most Americans travel and that is where I saw true poverty. I saw true fear, hunger and despair in the eyes of innocent children. I saw an old woman in her 70s holding a baby in one hand and a tin cup begging for coins in the other while her daughter and grand daughter were trying to hawk up some business in the whorehouse a few doors down the street. These people’s best days don’t even come close to our worst. I sympathize and empathize with them. I’ve seen how they live and I can understand their desperation. I understand why they are willing to risk their lives to cross our border to make a few dollars an hour picking beans and chilies on our farms. I hold no animosity toward these people at all. They are just people, who are a lot worse off than we are, trying to survive.

Having said all that, do I feel that they deserve a free ticket to the US? I don’t know. I don’t know that I even deserve to be here. I don’t know that you deserve to be here either. If I steal your car like our great great grandparents stole this land, do I deserve to keep it just because I have a bigger gun? Is posession really nine tenths of the law?

These are tuff economic times, not only in this country, but world wide. Does anyone really think that a laid off GM worker is going to pick lima beans for three or four dollars an hour? Who’s jobs are they really taking or are they actually doing work that Americans are to fat and spoiled to do?

I have no answers on this. I feel sorry for the rancher whose land and belongings are being ravaged and vandalized by these people. I feel sorry for the Mexicans because I’ve seen the horror they are trying to escape. I feel sorry for the Americans who feel they deserve the luxury of $5 cups of Starbucks coffee just because their forefathers sodomized the native American culture. I feel sorry. I feel sorry that I’m somehow part of it and I don’t have the answers. I am sorry.

Tags: General, Politics by Ron
31 Comments »

Man that’s the best advice I’ve ever heard. I used to live like that. I honestly did, and I wish I still did. I wonder what happened.

From the time I was 18 till I was about 30 it was all about the moment. Living in the moment. Screw tomorrow. Tomorrow may never come. White water kayaking, ultralight airplanes, living spur of the moment, and doing a hundred miles an hour on the wrong side of the road.

There’s nothing better than a warm summer night full of stars, a good running harley, a few good friends and some neon. I lived a good part of my life like that. Not caring what would happen tomorrow or if there was a tomorrow. I sit here now and I wonder what happend to that feeling. What happend to that lifestyle and what happened to that dream.

I’m responsible now. That’s what it is. I have a career instead of a job. I own a house. I want my parents to be proud of me. I wonder why they weren’t proud of me while I was living my dream. While I was living every moment and while I was sucking the life out of life, instead of life sucking the life out of me.

I long for those days and I remember them well. I have so many great memories that I forget many of them until someone reminds me of them. If I live long enough, I’ll go back to that mindset and I’ll re-kindle that dream. I’ll dream like I’ll live forever and live like I’ll die tomorrow.

The picture is me and my friend Dave Conrad doing about 80 miles an hour on the Kangamangus Highway in New Hamsphire during bike week sometime in the 90’s. We were having fun. Dave is up front. That’s me in the background.

Tags: General by Ron
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That’s what it was outside when I woke up this morning. 5 below zero. There was a thick layer of ice on the inside of all my windows from the condensation forming, then freezing overnight. The doggie door was wedged open about an inch from Sky going in and out on patrol. Frigid air was just pouring in. I turned on all the heaters to the low setting last night before I went to bed. It was about 50 degrees throughout the house this morning despite that fact. I blocked off Sky’s door with some cardbaord and cranked up the heat.

I made a cup of tea and started some home fries. I had to drink the tea quickly because within about 4 minutes, it was luke warm. It took about an hour of serious heat crankage to get the house to a balmy 66 degrees and we’re nearing 70 now. Outside, it just crested 6 degrees.

I like living in Pennsylvania but this part of winter is honestly one thing I could do without.

Tags: General by Ron
1 Comment »

I got this in email today and thought I’d like to share it with you. I suspect that this is closer to the truth than most of us would like to believe. It’s supposed to be from a teacher in the Nashville area.
———————–
The most eye-opening civics lesson I ever had was while teaching third grade this year. The presidential election was heating up and some of the children showed an interest. I decided we would have an election for a class president. We would choose our nominees. They would make a campaign speech and the class would vote. To simplify the process, candidates were nominated by other class members. We discussed what kinds of characteristics these students should have. We got many nominations and from those, Jamie and Olivia were picked to run for the top spot.

The class had done a great job in their selections. Both candidates were good kids. I thought Jamie might have an advantage because he got lots of parental support. I had never seen Olivia’s mother.

The day arrived when they were to make their speeches. Jamie went first. He had specific ideas about how to make our class a better place. He ended by promising to do his very best. Every one applauded. He sat down and Olivia came to the podium.

Her speech was concise. She said, “If you will vote for me, I will give you ice cream.” She sat down. The class went wild.

“Yes! Yes! We want ice cream.”

She surely would say more. She did not have to. A discussion followed. How did she plan to pay for the ice cream? She wasn’t sure. Would her parents buy it or would the class pay for it. She didn’t know. The class really didn’t care. All they were thinking about was ice cream.

Jamie was forgotten. Olivia won by a landslide.

Tags: General by Ron
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Okay, I’m full of venom. I just got my RV insurance bill from Progressive and tried to pay it online like I always do. I plug in my policy number. Next page. It asks for the last 4 digits of my social security number to verify who I am, so I plug that in. Keep in mind, I’m going to pay them money, not withdraw anything. Now I’m directed to a login screen that tells me some obsucre 10 digit login and asks for my password, which of course I don’t know. It’s been a year since I paid my last goddamn RV insurance bill and I don’t remember having to log in then, and I certainly don’t remember the password, if I was ever given one.

Yer killing me.

When I go to Geico.com to pay my auto insurance bill it askes my policy number, then verifies who I am by my SS number, then takes me to a screen that displays and verifies my policy, and my bill, and lets me actually pay it. Imagine that.

Is the asshole that wrote Progressive’s website so security paranoid that he thinks that some rogue websurfer or hacker is going to pay my bill? Or is it some director that directed the pointy headed PERL guy to write it that way? Either way I don’t care, but this isn’t the first time that the multi-step form filling out process has driven me to the fantasy of perching myself on a high rooftop with a loaded rifle.

Job applications are another source of this phenomenon. There are many companies that put together online job application forms and then have the webmaster parse the forms for certain phrases to either qualify or disqualify the application for the applied position.

I’m a 16 year IT professional and have held positions as a field sevice technician, a technical support technician (windows and unix), a tech support supervisor, *NIX system administrator, NOC technician, NOC engineer, NOC manager, and senior manager of NOC operations.

I’ve filled out job applications in the recent past for Unisys, Raytheon and the state of Pennsylvania, and found out that according to their application process, I’m not even qualified to be interviewed for an entry level computer operator.

Everytime I come across one of these moronic processes I just shake my head in deep chagrin and wonder what kind of webtard is in charge of it and what in the world are they thinking.

Tags: General by Ron
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