The Future

I'm thinking about going back to school, trying to figure out how to fund it and how to make ends meet while I study. I know where I want to go and what I want to do. I simply can't figure out the money part. I used to be so good at making decisions and making things happen. I haven't been able to do that lately. My sense of security in my abilities to have life work out was shaken to the core and I cant' seem to get my strength back. I used to just make stuff happen. I would set a goal, make decisions and it would all fall in place, and I never worried. Things always seemed to work out, even when I wasn't entirely sober. If I took the leap of faith, things fell into place. Now, not so much. Life just doesn't seem to work. I'm scared shitless to make a wrong move, I have nothing to fall back on now. I used to be able to believe in life and the universe and me. I'm beginning to not believe in anything anymore. And I hate that. I've always been optomistic, brave, forward thinking, ready for any and all action and really out there going for it. Now I don't. I go to work, go to meetings, pay the bills, hike with Callie and sometimes friends, sleep a lot, cry a lot, and wish it had been so different. My world has gotten so small, so much lost. I always wanted so much more for my life...so much more. I've never been a negative fatalist by nature, but so many things have happened that have dampened my view of my life and it's purpose and meaning and ending. What will I have contributed to this world after I am gone? It feels like it has been nothing but wasted space. I hate that I think like that. It makes me so sad.

We'll See

In a Tuesday morning appearance on ESPN Radio's Mike & Mike In The Morning, former NFL coach Tony Dungy talked about the interest in quarterback Mike Vick.

Said Dungy: "I think something's gonna happen this week." Dungy also explained that his comments from Sunday night's Hall of Fame game broadcast on NBC regarding the level of interest in Vick arises from the fact that a dozen NFL coaches have called Dungy for input on Vick.

Dungy said that Vick needs to "get with a football family," and that the sooner it happens, the better off Vick will be.

We agree.

If Vick had been with a team as of last week, we might not have seen his "interview" last weekend with Young Jeezy, which doesn't project the kind of change that people are looking for from Vick.As we explained yesterday, some of the teams that have said they aren't interested in Vick are actually pursuing him. We heard five teams are currently after him; Mark Maske of the Washington Post reports that "at least five teams" are interested.

I guess I am going to be surprised. I won't be surprised until the ink is dry on a new contract. Apparently this "Interview" did not show Vick in a favorable light. I tried to view it and it has been removed.

Beyond ridiculous

NEW YORK - A New York City woman who says she can't find a job is suing the college where she earned a bachelor's degree.

Trina Thompson filed a lawsuit last week against Monroe College in Bronx Supreme Court. The 27-year-old is seeking the $70,000 she spent on tuition.

Thompson says she's been unable to find gainful employment since she received her information technology degree in April.

This is simply ridiculous. When Information Technology started to collapse in 2000 I began thinking of a career transition (I was working as a software/hardware engineer recruiter). I went back to school and obtained a paralegal certificate. I attended a school certified by the American Bar Association to increase my credibility with potential employers. The school I went to advertised that they helped with job placement. However, I knew that it was all up to me to find a job suited toward my skills and impress potential employers with my abilities. The economy was in a serious downturn then, not as bad as now, but it was very slow. I found jobs on my own because of basic persistence. In the beginning I had to take contract hourly positions and finally in a year found something with more stability. I think people are expecting the world to be rosy if they get a degree, any degree, from any school. That simply isn't how it works. People need to take what jobs are there and work their up or into a position that they desire. Jobs don't get handed to people on a silver platter because they have a piece of paper. Suing the school because of her inability to find work shows she lacks personal responsibility. Employers will look at that.

School Supply Season

My favorite time of year. I'm easing back on the purchase of school supplies this year. I have plenty of supplies to move forward with my current writing projects, but there is something about freshly sharpened pencils, new model pens and fresh highlighters in millions of colors that gets my blood pumping! At work, we have to begin to work around school schedules and two of the other managers were quite frustrated about it yesterday. I pointed out that at least we have kids working for us who have goals and are in school, rather than drop-outs with no ambition but to find an employer to take advantage of and abuse, and then quit and end up on welfare for the rest of their natural lives. I may join some of them in school again in the spring...hopefully.

Who are Mutt and Jeff?

Callie and I were walking through the park this morning and saw a couple walking their dogs. One dog was enormous, the other an itty-bitty little thing that came up to the other dogs ankles. I immediately thought of Mutt and Jeff, and then realized I have been using that phrase forever and don't really know who Mutt and Jeff are. Now I do, and discover that as with many facts about life, I have been using it as a misnomer. I probably will continue to do so.


A comic strip created in 1907 by Bud Fisher.


Augustus Mutt is a tall, dimwitted racetrack character, a fanatic horse-race gambler, who is motivated by greed. Mutt has a wife and a son, Cicero, whose cat starred in the Mutt and Jeff spin-off strip Cicero's Cat. Mutt encounters the half-pint Jeff, an inmate of an insane asylum, who shares the passion for horseracing. They appeared in more and more strips together until the strip abandoned the horse-race theme and concentrated on Mutt's other get-rich-quick schemes, with Jeff as a sometimes unwilling partner.


The original inspiration for the character of "Jeff" was Jacques "Jakie" Fehr, a tiny (4'8") irascible Swiss-born shopkeeper in the village of Occidental, California. One summer day in 1908, Fisher, a member of San Francisco's Bohemian Club, was riding the North Pacific Coast narrow-gauge railway passenger train northbound to the Bohemian Grove, the club's summer campsite. During a stop in Occidental, Fisher got off the train to stretch his legs and observed the diminutive walrus-moustached Fehr in heated altercation with the tall and lanky "candy butcher," who sold refreshments on the train and also distributed newspapers to shops in towns along the train route. The comic potential in this scene prompted Fisher to add the character of Jeff to his A. Mutt comic strip, with great success.



I think about a lot of things as Callie and I are walking our route in the morning. The other thing that came to mind was the word dogfight. Is it dog fight or dogfight? I have noticed several articles have used it both ways, as have I. According to my research, both uses are correct. Regardless, my research also showed that while illegal across the globe, and a felony in the United States in particular, it seems to be a widespread "sport". What I hope through Michael Vick as a public example, this horrendous criminal activity will eventually come to an end. Whether you use the term as one or two words, it is cruel, unnecessary and serves no purpose for the betterment of humanity.