Category Archives: Random Thoughts

Life, Random Thoughts

RAISES? WHAT SHOULD YOU GET?

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SONY DSC

This is a topic that we have all thought about at one time or another. We all want that Raise, more money is always appreciated but more importantly, What am I worth?

Today’s economy is driven by greed. Greed is good though, it pushes innovation, it causes us to push the envelope of what can be done.  Why then do we have such a dramatic problem with poverty and wealth?

whataverageworkers

looking at these ratios, we see averages in the US of Poverty driving salarys.  This ratio says that the CEO is 354 times more valuable than the people doing the day to day work, or is it that the CEO’s of the world do 354 times more work.  That must make your ego feel really good if you are the CEO but if you are a CEO, how do you believe this makes the ego of your workers feel. I will say this, although I do not know all the answers I will say that there is some simple ignorance involved here.

A personal experience may open this a little. At one time I worked in a company were, I spent much time with people working at all levels of the company. At one time, we were visiting an executive of this this company at his home. As the evening progressed, one of them said, “You guys should move into our neighborhood”. Knowing this area was well out of our financial reach, we simply expressed that it was out of our budget. This, is where things get a bit frustrating. Their response was ” it is not that much, Mortgages in the area are only $####,##” so casually, implying that it was not that much. Considering they knew the position I held at the company and the approximate wage I was receiving. This had to be shear ignorance because, the cost of a mortgage payment they mentioned was over 2/3 my monthly gross income. That combined with utilities for the house  would have well exceeded any income I was receiving at the time.

It is my belief that when these executives set salaries for their employees, they are looking at what is the standard or what is the least we can pay and still keep the position functioning. They are not asking “What is this person or what they are doing really worth to the company by comparison to what everyone else is making”

Does any of this really answer any of the above mentioned questions? NO, the only thing I can really answer is you are likely worth far more than you are making.

Life, Random Thoughts

Friends

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There has a been a lot of different times in my life where the term Friends took on a whole new meaning.. as a kid it was someone who I could “Play” with.. as I got older, it was people that I “hung” with while doing things I enjoyed (Mostly at the BMX track). Then as a “Young adult” it was more focused on the opposite Gender *wink wink*  but after getting Married and having a family, I was lost. What were friends supposed to be like in this stage in life? I would watch to see what others would consider “Friends”. Up until now, the concept of a friend came so naturally now, Sometimes it was really just the parents of our kid’s friends, that always seemed weird. Some cases,  it may  just the neighbors (ours were old enough usually to be our parents or grandparents). Then I thought I saw what I thought looked like a friendship, but later found out that they have been friends since they were kids and still live in the same neighborhood they grew up in.

I will admit, I am Weird! I am what I would think is classified as a Introvert. On top of that, I am not just a motorcyclist, I am not just a Mechanic, I am not just a father, husband, neighbor, home owner, inventor, innovator, handyman, or munitions or R/C hobbyist. I am all of these, within these interests are Sub-interests, What type of inventor, what type of R/C and so on. I enjoy associating with people involved in all of these but is it common that I am goning to meet someone that enjoyes all of these same interests and sub-interests? Not really, in fact, I don’t know that I have ever met someone that would meet that criteria.  The question I use to ask myself is am I really that weird? I Have come to the conclusion that I am not but rather we all are.

Recently I started and new mission in life, a new endeavor, a new stage in my life that I felt uncomfortable doing. The more I though about it the more I realized that there are people out there that have already been there and done that. Not just people, but people that I knew. Not the conventional way but through communities online such as Youtube, Linkedin, facebook, and so many more.. people that I could call friends. I was blown away at the response I got from so many of them when I would message them with questions. Many of these people I have only met in person 1 or 2 times, many of them I have not seen for a year or more.  Some responded with an email with tons of detail, encouragement, tips, and help of all kinds. Some responded with phone calls, not just a 5 min but there was one inpaticular that spent a lot of time almost an hour, an hour of his valuable time,  guiding me and my thoughts through processes, teaching me things that I had overlooked. WOW was the only thing I could think of.. I could only question, would I be willing to do the same.. I hope so. But I do know this.. there are some awesome people out there! When I thought the world was full of selfish people and that socity as we knew it was falling apart because social interaction had become almost obsolete, I realized that with the technology we have at our hands, scocal interaction had not stoped, it has expanded. Now friendships that used to be based on geographical location are now coming from expances of the globe..

Life, Random Thoughts

Life after this one – A Mechanics Perspective

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This week we are going to take a break from the norm. Today I had an epiphany and thought I would share this with you.

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Many of you already know that I am a religious person. I Believe in a life after this one but, I have always had the difficulty with the concept of what life would be like after this one. I know that some religions believe that we become angles, others believe that we move on to other aspects of our heavenly father’s plans. No matter the believe structure,  there is usually not a belief that accounts for someone that has the Mechanical, Computer or other “worldly skill set”. To me, I will say that my skills are what  I feel define me and that when this life is over, they would potentially be left behind when I leave this life. That scares me and it left me with the thoughts of “do I really want to go to “Heaven”?  Today as we studied several scriptures including one in Abraham chapter 3, it was discussed that we were individuals before we came here and that we now are just what we were before but with more experience.   I felt the strong impression that this is the solution to my frustration. we do not know what the next life looks like, we only have some glimpses from the prophets as to what it looks like. I can only suspect that because I am only an extension of who I was before coming here that I was happy there before and that there was a place for me.

Another thought is that I may not really be so much into cars as I am into fixing things and that I have an aptitude to learn specific things quickly. Maybe, just maybe that is really how I am. I have to trust that there is a place for me that my father has prepared knowing who I am. I am sure he knew before I came to this world that there would be trials in relation to my skill set and the belief that there is a heaven.  It is interesting to me that after about 12 years of seriously struggling with this that it all of this came to me in a moment, not a special moment but one just like any other.

I will say this, and the only reason I say this is so that you know what has gotten me by until now. I know he is there. Some call him God, I like to call him Father. I know he knows who I am and loves me. I will say I am fortunate to have a good relationship with my earthly father which has helped me to understand my heavily father more. I have had experiences over the years that has reminded me of this. literally little Miracles that were put in place to remind me of these facts.

I am not super religious, I am a normal person that tries to do what I am supposed to and often loses track of the path I am trying to take. I am just a man, an individual with worldly tendencies.  That all said, I am a son of God. I know that and I can only pray that I do not ever lose sight of that as life presents me with the many trails it still has in store for me. I also pray that any who read this will have that same understanding.

Around The House, Life, Random Thoughts

Your new house really isn’t yours!

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Numbers_341_to_385_Lordship_Lane_N17         (Please note this is not meant to offend anyone but rather educate or at least provoke thought about how a person approaches a situation)

I cannot say that I am a professional home buyer by any extent but I have now bought 2 homes (which I still currently own both of them still) but a thought came to me after the purchase of my second home and seeing that the reaction of the neighbors to the changes I made to the homes soon after my purchase. That is the cause for my question, Is you new house really yours? More in the eyes of others.. It is already understood that once you buy a new house, you are going to do things to make it feel like home to you. Things that include: Paint, landscape, plants. yard decor (my wife says plumbing fixtures and broke down cars are not yard decor), and so many other things.

I know upon buying our first home, the house had been neglected, the worst was the landscaping. There were TAM bushes all around the house with extreme amounts of overgrowth and a huge lilac bush square on top of the main sprinkler system. ( I will get pictures up as soon as I can) Our first move was to remove any bushes that were not salvageable and trim the ones that could be. In the process of doing this, several people made the comments that “those were their favorite plants” or “the last home owner loved that plant so much”. Not to upset anyone but I really did not care, it was our house now and there were things that I felt needed to be done. I do recall at one time discussing this with my wife and mentioning “if it is their favorite bush, why do they not have one of their own?”.  When we bought our most recent house my wife and I got several of the same comments.. Now  a comment like this coming from someone that is already a friend may be taken differently than that of someone that does not know you all that well. Then again, I do not recall any of the friends making comments like that, so, no biggy.  I will not go into great detail but there were several comments about “how would my mother-in-law (who we bought the house from) allow us to make the changes we did?”. I think it all too funny how quickly people forget that when there is a change of owner ship, everyone makes some changes to the house. Some are bigger than others but they are still done.. As we purchase a house, the natural need it so make that house become a home, not just a any home but OUR home.. I know the other night on the way home from an activity, as we approached the house I had a strong sense of being HOME. I cannot tell you the importance of that feeling after a solid year of feeling like nothing in our life was a long term situation. I was once told that a home is just a place to hang your hat, how false that really is. A Home is a place that a person can be themselves, a place that they can relax after a long day, a place to invite friends and family to for the intent of having a good time, a place of peace and above all a place that the spirit can dwell, bringing that, so needed level of peace to our lives. In all you do, make your house your home! You live there, you live with the way it was built and the way it looks more than anyone else..

Life, Random Thoughts

The art of nodding

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NoddingI know, I know, this is not really an art… or, is it? Many people nod as an indication of greeting or acknowledgement. Much of this “Nod” is subconscious and thus is done based on thoughts that you are not making consciously. You may have had a conscious thought  about this at one time and then it is set in memory and just takes place “automatically” but, did you know that there is meaning to how you nod? Similar to the way information is sent subconsciously with a nod, it is likewise received the same way, leaving an undertone of emotion associated with that person. Here is what I am getting at. If you are sent before the king, you will notice that he is sitting in a throne that is conveniently placed up several steps making it so that even when he is sitting, he is higher than those he is speaking to. Placing him Higher or “better” than the people because of his royalty, wisdom, or any other reason they feel justified to be “above” the people. A nod performs a similar act, when you walk past a person that nods at you, do they nod upward (pride) or downward (humility) ?  Likewise, which direction do you nod? The way you nod in a greeting or acknowledgement environment shows the person that you are nodding at how you feel about them or rather if you feel that you are better than them. The nod upward is a way if trying to place yourself above the other person. A downward nod would indicate humility and respect. Also in relation to the way a person nods back, the lack of a nod (if it is recognized of course) in return can be meant as an insult. Now keep in mind that there are different meanings for each of these indicators in different cultures. Some of the variations that you should be aware of is similar to a downward nod can indicate agreement, a upward nod can also indicate disagreement or NO. As it relates to friends, (this is where it is a bit sketchy) an upward nod can indicated a less formal friendly greeting similar to, walking up to a friend and saying “hey Punk!” could be accepted as a less formal and friendly greeting whereas walking up to someone that you do not know as well and saying the same thing is considered an insult. It is believed that Nodding started as a less formal way to bow but still show respect.

Now that you know, How do you Nod? How do people Nod at you? but more importantly, how does knowing this affect the way you communicate and receive communications?