November 2012

Today marked one of the busiest shopping days of the year, Black Friday. And then Monday is Cyber Monday and at some time soon there is the Shop Small, which encourages shoppers to shop local.

Shopping has gotten out of hand. It use to be that Black Friday started in the morning, usually around 9 or 10am for stores to open. Now, we have stores opening up at 10pm on Thanksgiving night, just to get the leg up on other stores that are opening at Midnight. Here is an idea, let’s put the focus back on the family and not on shopping.

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I am seeing a lot of people that are posting their 30 days of Thanksgiving for the month of November on Facebook. And it got me wondering, what are you thankful for?  And shouldn’t we be thankful all year and not just 1 month?

So today, I am thankful for my family and friends. I am thankful for a great job. A roof over my head. And the ability to help others in need.

But, I am also thankful for this song:

So today, as you eat too much. Plan your shopping purchases for the next day or wake up from afternoon nap, just remember how fortunate we are to live in the greatest country in the world.

Happy Thanksgiving, from my family to yours.

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We are just a few days away from Thanksgiving and the start of Christmas. But as we get into the crazy times of the holidays, I wonder, what are you giving to others? And I don’t mean toys and Starbucks giftcards (always a nice gift by the way), but are you giving of your time this year? Are you giving to charities?

Let’s be honest for a moment, our economy is not doing well.  That is just a basic and simple fact and who suffers from that? Yes, those that have lost their jobs, but so does the church, charities, etc. So, this year, my family is doing something different. I have finally hit my point of being frustrated with the Christmas season and all of the giving to give. Not this year. This year, we are giving to others. We are buying gifts for 4 families this year from the Angel tree at church. We are giving to the Ronald McDonald House, the one that my niece stayed at for a week and they supported my sister and brother in law for that week and helped them get through a time of uncertainty. We are giving to St. Jude, because today, we have two wonderful and healthy little boys and if there is ever a problem with them, I’m packing up and taking them there.

So what are you giving this year? Are you giving your family crappy gifts that are either given to someone else or worse, thrown away? This year, I challenge you to do something different. Step outside of your comfort zone and give to someone else in need. If you have been blessed this past year with a job and food on your table and a roof over your head, then help someone that has not been so lucky.

Here is the St. Jude’s video, I defy you to watch it without getting a little teary eyed. Giving is a wonderful thing, and can give more sanctification than giving a family member a tie. So, give. Give because you can and you want to.

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Have you ever taken a trip and as you were coming back home, you realized that it would be x number of months before you next trip? Well, it happened to us and somewhere along the way, we started changing our plans.

Instead of taking a trip and coming home to nothing planned, we started planning our next trip before we left for the first trip. Makes sense, right?

Well, changing our thought process changed our thinking on trips too. Now, as we returned home yesterday from a long weekend, we were not focused on returning to work, instead we were focused on our next trip. Where we wanted to go and what we wanted to do.

Sometimes, it is all about the next trip in life.

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The day after the election. Where to begin?

Shocked. Frustrated. Disappointed. Those are just a few of the nice and clean words that I can use today, the day after the election.

You see, this election changes a lot of things, it changes the way that campaigns will be run going forward. The demographics have changed. Target audiences have changed. The amount needed to run a campaign set a new bar to achieve.

But you have to also look at the bigger picture too. What does this mean for families? Are the Bush tax credits going to be renewed? The President said no, so what does that mean for families? For me, at the minimum, it means an increase of about $5,000 in new taxes. But what else? There will be a new tax levied when we put our house no the market next year now.  But what don’t we know is what really bothers me.

A close friend of mine told me that “Love” won last night. And I told him that I didn’t agree. I told him that the middle class lost last night, and especially families of the middle class. And when I explained why, his first statement was, “I didn’t realize that would effect you”. That is right, he didn’t bother to look to see and learn what he was voting for. But, he got his “Love” vote.

So today, the day after the election, I sit discouraged and frustrated. Not that Mitt Romney lost, but that a new route this country is taking. Unemployment is at record highs (I’ve discussed how the numbers on this are wrong and that the real rate of Unemployment is double what is reported), dependency on the State and Federal Government is at all time record highs, and companies that were hoping to hire more people, are at risk of shutting down.

So what do I tell my sons? How do I tell them that the elections are about the future and right direction?  I am lucky, my sons will not understand politics for a while and I hope, that in the next 4 years, that things get better. I have my doubts though.

So today, I am. I am shocked. I am beyond frustrated. And I don’t know if disappointed is even the right word to used today, the day after the election.

 

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Every 2 years we go through Election Night, but every 4 years, the Election Night means more and tonight is no different. For the last several months, I spent a lot of time watching polls, reading articles, and talking with others about what they thought about the upcoming elections and most were either excited, frustrated or feed-up with the elections.  And with the staggering figure of over $2 Billion dollars has been spent to get either Governor Mitt Romney elected or our current President, President Obama re-elected. That’s right, over $2 Billion dollars.

So tonight, I as many other American’s are sitting down and waiting on the results for our next President.  However, will we know for sure who our next President will be? Will this be another hanging chad election? Or, will this be an election of change and thus a landslide, similar to 2008 when President Obama was elected?

Tonight, I too will be glued into the tv, yes, I will be watching Fox News for those of my friends that are reading this and have any doubts. It will be probably a late night for me, but there are a few key states that I’ll be watching for:

  • Florida
  • North Carolina
  • Ohio
  • Iowa
  • and the all important Pennsylvania

If Governor Mitt Romney were to secure wins in each of these states, he will be our next President. However, if President Obama is able to win both Pennsylvania and Ohio, then he will retain the Presidency for another 4 years. And, depending on polls, this race could go down to either Ohio or Pennsylvania this year and if Pennsylvania is the decider, then it is really down to 1 county.

So here are 4 major insights into tonight’s Election Results and why I think that Governor Mitt Romney will win:

  • No incumbent has ever won re-election with a polling under 50% with 3 days before the election.
    – The President is currently polling at 47%
  • This is the highest unemployment for incumbent since FDR.
    – The current unemployment rate is at 7.9%
  • The young voters are not as engaged and supportive of the President as they were in 2008.
  • When factoring in Independent votes, Romney leads in the majority of the polls.

So, as election night comes to an end, we should/hopefully will know who our next President will be, but I stick to my guess of 300+ Electoral votes. Tomorrow I’ll post a day after review of the election and what my overall thoughts are from election night.

 

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Every four years, the night before the Presidential election, Election Eve, I follow a tradition. I read over polls, one last time. I have steak and baked potato, and 2 Shiner Bock beers. Why? I don’t have the first clue, but it is the tradition that I have started for Election Eve. Tonight, is like my Christmas Eve, except, I don’t leave milk and cookies out for Santa.

Both candidates have run, and I think that most would agree, respectable campaigns. Yes, there has been mudslinging, but tell me a campaign in the last 20 years that has not had that? The money spent on this Presidential election is astronomical, but at the same time, welcome to the new way of running a campaign.

So tonight, as both candidates go to sleep, all they can now do is wait.  I know that I’ll be watching for returns as often as I can, and tomorrow night, though I do think that we will have a clear winner tomorrow night, it might go on until late in the evening. So with that, I bid you all a good Election Eve and stay tuned for tomorrow.

Happy Election Eve to all and to all a good night.

 

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As the cleanup begins from Hurricane Sandy, I am reminded of how lucky we truly are.  We were very fortunate to come away with only water damage and never lost power. As I watched the storm on the news make landfall and effect other parts of the east coast, I begin to realize that even though we were put out because of the storm, we could have experienced much more damage than we did.

So tonight, as you eat dinner, watch tv, enjoy a shower, take a moment and think about those that were effected by Hurricane Sandy and what they are going through.

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