The Story of Stuff

From its extraction through sale, use and disposal, all the stuff in our lives affects communities at home and abroad, yet most of this is hidden from view. The Story of Stuff is a 20-minute, fast-paced, fact-filled look at the underside of our production and consumption patterns. The Story of Stuff exposes the connections between a huge number of environmental and social issues, and calls us together to create a more sustainable and just world. It'll teach you something, it'll make you laugh, and it just may change the way you look at all the stuff in your life forever. http://storyofstuff.org

My Blackberry Is Not Working! - The One Ronnie, Preview - BBC One

Quotes: W.Churchill

"When I look back on all these worries , I remember the story of the old man who said on his deathbed that he had a lot of trouble in his life most of which had never happened."
 

A More Organic Life...Living in Real Time.

While everything Organic seems to be the craze these days I'm talking about getting out there and livng life in real time.  I've spent the last few years in cyber space.  In fact I would say that most of my free time was spent somewhere on the web.  I think the time has come for me to get out there and live in the organic world.

I was thinking about all the stuff that I used to do or wanted to do.  Like fishing. I bought a rod and reel and tackle box and only went fishing two times.  Pretty sucky for someone who as a kid went fishing at the cat fish pond almost everyday after school.

In California summers were spent fishing trout in the Rocky Mountains.

These days everything is all in the computer, the cell phone, the internet.  You don't have to play real basketball you can just hook up to the Wii.

Well I want to get out there again.  Live a life of living rather than a life of virtual living.  don't know how and when and what I'll start doing but I guess the only to get stuff done is in real time. NOt virtual time.

Get What You Can While You Can

We’ve all seen those games shows where they put the contestant in the tube and the money blows all around them and the person fights to catch the money as it flies right through their hands.  They are only in there for such short time so all they can do is get what they can while they can.

Opportunities don’t come often and when they do they don’t always last for long.  In fact there is no way of knowing how long an opportunity is going to last so best to get what you can take advantage of it while you can.

Like my job.  It isn't the best paying job a person could have though it does pay the bills but it also comes with a lot of perks.  Like discounts at restaurants, free admission to all their parks, and the list goes on.  I sometimes either by not being aware or maybe at times I just don't care don't really take advantage of all the perks.  I miss out on times when they have free admission to other places or free food or free movies.  I guess I could be more aware of what is going on so i could take advantage of it


I was at a casino the other day and one of the girls selling drinks said the sodas were free.  I wanted to tip her after I got a free soda but I had no cash it was all in the slot machine.
At first I felt bad because I figured she was out money but no the soda were free she gets them free from the casino and all she has to do is go back and get some more.  I  was already dropping enough money int he slots to cover what the soda would cost me  anyway so I wasn't going to sweat it. I figured if they were giving away free soda then I was going to get my money's worth of soda pop.

Now this advice could work for a lot of things.  Like in business.  I do freelance work soemtiems and well I think I need to learn to include some features during my work.  LIke included meals if the event is long and also have them pay for my parking and other expenses after all I wind up losing money in the end.

Maybe that needs to be one of my new years resolutions...to take advantage of my opportunities while I can.

Playing One Line...Raising the Odds of Winning

Image via WikipediaI have a strategy for playing slots.  Play one line.  All that matters is that one line.  You can bet one or more but simply play that one line.  Sure I don't win all the time but I don't lose as quickly and in the odds of winning the more chances or times you play the better the odds of you winning.  So for five dollars on five cents slots I can last a good while simply playing one line, one bet.  I see the other people around me come and go very quickly.  Some hit the gold mine and leave other just make a quick deposit and go off looking for the next machine to drop more money in.

Its a lot easier to focus on one thing in life rather then five or ten.  You can get severe burn out doing too many things and having too much responsibility.  Better to focus on one thing, and put some or a lot of effort behind it.  It will guarantee success a lot more.

Taking it all for Granted...LIfe

Image via WikipediaThe other day I was watching divorce court.  The couple were fighting about money.  The man had lost his construction job and was working busing tables in a mall.  The woman who'd come from a nice family was not used to living poor as her husband was turning off the breakers at night to save on electricity and forcing his family to take cold showers.  He also had little money to buy food so all they did is eat beans and rice though a healthy meal, to eat it everyday would be nauseating.

The man would never buy food but simply eat what the customers left on their plates.  Despite all this he was paying his rent, paying his bills, and his kids had clothes on their back.  He was doing it the best he could.  Here was an example of a real man.  Not fake ones on TV but a real man with real life problems who was coping with them the best he could.  Doing his best and after all was said and done the wife said she was sorry for not realizing they were so destitute.

Seeing this man with his problems made my problems seem really small.  I mean sure I have bills, we all do but I eat fresh food, I have a pretty nice job, and I am not in as bad a situation as him.  He has shown me that perhaps I, and Us and We people get to soft and too comfortable and live charmed existence even if we don't live in Belair.  This mas was hustling.  He was hungry, he didn't make excuses for why things were not happening, or not getting done he just did what he could and did not complain.  It was fine.  He had a strong character and even stronger that because all that hardship had was going through he still sought honest work even if it was only cleaning up at a mall despite taht he was making a quarter of the salary he was working in construction. 
Its stories like these that wake me up and really shake me out of my numbness.  I have to ask am I doing all I can to fix and work on my problems.  I would say no.  I think I get complacent at times and lose focus of my priorities.  It is easy when I have comforts to come home to but this man had none of that.  Every thing tv, food, electricity had a cost and he didn't have the money to spend on the little things that we take for granted.

Mediocrity Is The Norm...High Standards

Image via WikipediaWhat happend to standards.  These days it seems everyone is a professional at everything yet the standards for quality has gone way way way down.

Sure its good not to have such strict standards because it lets everyone have a try but truly when it comes to buying something don't you want it to be highest quality possible for the money that you are paying.
Comparison can be an ugly word when comparing things as all things are original but lets face it something really do belong on the top of the pile and other belong on the bottom of the heap. 

Watching Hell kitchen you realize that people don't have a clue about high standards anymore.  There is no real level of perfection anymore.  Its almost as if creating something close to perfect cost to much so we're only going to mass produce garbage.

We're so used to eating garbage, reading garbage, watching garbage on TV and the MOvies, wearing garbage, that garbage is the norm and new standard.


These days
movies are crap
music is crap
photography is crap
books media food its all crap.

Where is the good shit hiding.  How do we find it.  How do we get it.  I recently went to my favorite chinese restaurant that used to look like crap. It was a run down old building with some of the ugliest bathroom I've seen.  You could catch a bad rashing just by washing your hands.  But the food was good.  REally good sometimes, so so good but still better than most on their bad days.
Now new owners have remodeled the place.  It looks beautiful in side. The bathrooms are immaculate almost like a five star hotel but the food....Crap.  The taste and preparation of the food has gone way way done and I will no long be dining there.  I will be looking for a new place to eat as I refuse to give them my time, money, when I am left feeling so unsatisfied.

Perhaps it is too expensive to have high standards.  And how does one raise the bar anyway.  Perhaps the bar has been set so high from previous artists that the only place to go these days is the bottom.  Which is where I feel everything is at.

A BIG WASTE OF TIME...Spending your time wisely.

Image via CrunchBaseImage via CrunchBaseImage via CrunchBaseWith so many things out there vying for  our attention, our time has become the newest commodity.  Do you have the time to go on You Tube and watch the newest viral video.  Or go to the movie theater and watch one of the latest offering from Hollywood. 

Or go on Facebook, Myspace, or blogs or this website or that one in the end does it all begin to feel like a big waste of time.

I've always been a movie freak but these last few years with the exception of a handful of movies I've felt most of the movies out there have been nothing more than a big waste of time.  I go in watch them and come out wondering if the two hours I spent in the theater could not have been spent doing something more worth while fore me like maybe walking in the park, maybe a few hours of pilates or stretching, or cleaning my house or visiting family and freinds gosh I guess I just dont know what is important anymore.

I want a movie that is worth my time.  Sure I'm shelling our seven dollars to go see the movie but my time is worth so much more.  Even this last harry potter movie was a disappointment for me I'm sure the last one will have all the meat and bones that I desire in the last film but all in all I just feel like I'm not getting my money's worth or shoudl I say my time's worth.

I spend my time even on TV but that has been disappointing also.  I guess I need to spend my time on things with a greater return.  Its kind of like drinking soda pop.  It might taste good but it does more damage than good and it takes away rather than adds anything to your health. Unlike lets say OJ which has potassium, magnesium, vitamin C and some other stuff.  Soda is a man made product and OJ still a man made product but it comes from a natural resource.

Everything seems so empty these days.  As plastic and mass produced as a Mc Donalds hamburger which I had the other day and regretted it for the rest of the day.

I have to learn to spend my time better on thigns that are actually worth while.