WTF! rant

I hate this feeling. The same feeling I've felt pretty much my whole life. Although, I hate the feeling, I refuse to change/conform to the "norm". I am a nice, caring, respectful guy that wears his heart on his sleeve. It feels like a curse but in the end I'm hoping it is worth it. I put in 110% because my philosophy is either go all in or stay out of the game when it comes to love. I could be like the other guys around me that don't care, disrespect women, old people, etc, with their lack of morals and moving from one woman to the next with no regards for anything. I know one day I will find the woman that compliments my personality, and is everything I want instead of oh well, she's hot, or she's ok but she's _____. I thought I found three women that I felt were the ones (not at the same time)but turns out I messed up with the first because I was to conservative in making a move because I was scared. I thought I learned my mistake so the second one I was more honest and up front with and I'm pretty sure we are just friends even though she didn't say it yet. The third was going great, I felt such connection and then boom a 360, an old flame came back into her life and she wants to be friends. I'm getting slightly better at not messing it up on my end but it still sucks. So I'm back at another dead end road, at least at this moment in my life. Bad timing seems to follow me. I always seem to mess it up then when I finally get my act together; they are taken or not interested, or just want to be friends. Maybe I need to change a little bit. I need to change from the nice guy to the great guy. I read an article this week that said nice guys let people step all over them so that they can please everyone but a great guy knows what he wants, stands up for what he wants, and is still nice about it. I need to become that guy! I'm just tired of women using me, I guess I am to blame because I could say no but I'm sucker when it comes to doing something that makes a lady happy, even if sadly in the end I'm left empty handed and in the dust. I just wish that women knew what they wanted, and realized what they threw away. They say they want nice guy but then you are genuinely nice and they go for a bad guy. I get it that nice guys are predictable but nice guys can be fun, too and they are loyal. Bad guys are just that, they don't care and they will probably never care.

Letter to employees

Below is a great synopsis from a business owner’s perspective of today’s economic landscape. I received it from a friend and think it is worth sharing To All My Valued Employees, There have been some rumblings around the office about the future of this company, and more specifically, your job. As you know, the economy has changed for the worse and presents many challenges. However, the good news is this: The economy doesn't pose a threat to your job. What does threaten your job however, is the changing political landscape in this country. Of course, as your employer, I am forbidden to tell you whom to vote for - it is against the law to discriminate based on political affiliation, race, creed, religion, etc. Please vote for who you think will serve your interests the best. However, let me tell you some little tidbits of fact which might help you decide what is in your best interest. First, while it is easy to spew rhetoric that casts employers against employees, you have to understand that for every business owner there is a back story. This back story is often neglected and overshadowed by what you see and hear. Sure, you see me park my Mercedes outside. You saw my big home at last year's Christmas party. I'm sure all these flashy icons of luxury conjure up some idealized thoughts about my life. However, what you don't see is the back story. I started this company 12 years ago. At that time, I lived in a 300 square foot studio apartment for 3 years. My entire living space was converted into an office so I could put forth 100% effort into building a company, which by the way, would eventually employ you. My diet consisted of Ramen Pride noodles because every dollar I spent went back into this company. I drove a rusty Toyota Corolla with a defective transmission. I didn't have time to date. Often times, I stayed home on weekends, while my friends went out drinking and partying. In fact, I was married to my business -- hard work, discipline, and sacrifice. Meanwhile, my friends got jobs. They worked 40 hours a week and made a modest $50K a year and spent every dime they earned. They drove flashy cars and lived in expensive homes and wore fancy designer clothes. Instead of hitting Nordstrom's for the latest hot fashion item, I was trolling through the Goodwill store extracting any clothing item that didn't look like it was birthed in the 70's. My friends refinanced their mortgages and lived a life of luxury. I, however, did not. I put my time, my money, and my life into a business --- with a vision that eventually, some day, I too, will be able to afford these luxuries my friends supposedly had. So, while you physically arrive at the office at 9 am, mentally check in at about noon, and then leave at 5 PM, I don't. There is no "off" button for me. When you leave the office, you are done and you have a weekend all to yourself. I unfortunately do not have the freedom. I eat, ****, and breathe this company every minute of the day. There is no rest. There is no weekend. There is no happy hour. Every day this business is attached to me like a 1 day old baby. You, of course, only see the fruits of that garden -- the nice house, the Mercedes, the vacations... You never realize the back story and the sacrifices I've made. Now, the economy is falling apart and I, the guy that made all the right decisions and saved his money, have to bail out all the people who didn't. The people that overspent their paychecks suddenly feel entitled to the same luxuries that I earned and sacrificed a decade of my life for. Yes, business ownership has its benefits but the price I've paid is steep and not without wounds. Unfortunately, the cost of running this business, and employing you, is starting to eclipse the threshold of marginal benefit and let me tell you why: I am being taxed to death and the government thinks I don't pay enough. I have state taxes. Federal taxes. Property taxes. Sales and use taxes. Payroll taxes. Workers compensation taxes. Unemployment taxes. Taxes on taxes. I have to hire a tax man to manage all these taxes and then guess what? I have to pay taxes for employing him. Government mandates and regulations and all the accounting that goes with it, now occupy most of my time. On Oct 15th, I wrote a check to the US Treasury for $288,000 for quarterly taxes. You know what my "stimulus" check was? Zero. Nada. Zilch. The question I have is this: Who is stimulating the economy? Me, the guy who has provided 14 people good paying jobs and serves over 2,200,000 people per year with a flourishing business? Or, the single mother sitting at home pregnant with her fourth child waiting for her next welfare check? Obviously, government feels the latter is the economic stimulus of this country. The fact is, if I deducted (Read: Stole) 50% of your paycheck you'd quit and you wouldn't work here. I mean, why should you? That's nuts. Who wants to get rewarded only 50% of their hard work? Well, I agree which is why your job is in jeopardy. Here is what many of you don't understand .. to stimulate the economy you need to stimulate what runs the economy. Had suddenly government mandated to me that I didn't need to pay taxes, guess what? Instead of depositing that $288,000 into the Washington black-hole, I would have spent it, hired more employees, and generated substantial economic growth. My employees would have enjoyed the wealth of that tax cut in the form of promotions and better salaries. But you can forget it now. When you have a comatose man on the verge of death, you don't defibrillate and shock his thumb thinking that will bring him back to life, do you? Or, do you defibrillate his heart? Business is at the heart of America and always has been. To restart it, you must stimulate it, not kill it. Suddenly, the power brokers in Washington believe the mud of America are the essential drivers of the American economic engine. Nothing could be further from the truth and this is the type of change you can keep. So where am I going with all this? It's quite simple. If any new taxes are levied on me, or my company, my reaction will be swift and simple. I fire you. I fire your co-workers. You can then plead with the government to pay for your mortgage, your SUV, and your child's future. Frankly, it isn't my problem anymore. Then, I will close this company down, move to another country, and retire. You see, I'm done. I'm done with a country that penalizes the productive and gives to the unproductive. My motivation to work and to provide jobs will be destroyed, and with it, will be my citizenship. While tax cuts to 95% of America sounds great on paper, don't forget the back story: If there is no job, there is no income to tax. A tax cut on zero dollars is zero. So, when you make decision to vote, ask yourself, who understands the economics of business ownership and who doesn't? Whose policies will endanger your job? Answer those questions and you should know who might be the one capable of saving your job. While the media wants to tell you "It's the economy Stupid" I'm telling you it isn't. If you lose your job, it won't be at the hands of the economy; it will be at the hands of a political hurricane that swept through this country, steamrolled the Constitution, and will have changed its landscape forever. If that happens, you can find me in the South Caribbean sitting on a beach, retired, and with no employees to worry about. Signed, Your boss, Michael A. Crowley, PE Crowley, Crisp & Associates, Inc. Professional Engineers 1906 South Main Street, Suite 122 Wake Forest, NC 27587

Stop this idiocracy!

Do we really need another costly stimulus package? I heard there is talks of making yet another package that will inevitably cost us taxpayers even more money to help maybe 5% of the intended recipients, while the rest gets lost in his pocket, her pocket, etc. It didn't work the first few times, it only delayed it by a few years and increased unemployment to over 8%, doing the same thing expecting the different results is just a terrible concept to believe in. Plus, adding more government jobs does not help anyone. If we don't get private sector jobs booming again, it doesn't matter how many jobs obama creates in the government because eventually there will not be enough tax income to support the top heavy government. No money from taxes from private sector employees and employers no money for government employees. Simple as that. Government jobs take away from growth and private sector jobs increase growth! This government needs to kick Bernanke and the fed out of their high and mighty unaccountable positions and stop holding us hostage with our own money. We need to take back our power to print our own money and control our own markets not some private banking firms without oversight tell us what is right or wrong to do with our own money. Then we need to just stop printing the money and inflating it's value, we need to shut the government down. Yes I said shut it down for a few days, weeks, however long it takes. It will hurt, and get worse before it gets better but once we overcome that we can become better, stronger, and efficient reevaluating our priorities, stopping wasteful spending. Taxes, stimulus, etc is not the problem it is wreck-less spending done by the people we put in power and its time for a regime change, get new blood into congress, fix the country the right way, not by throwing our money into a fire hoping to put it out with magic. Stop spending/printing it period! We have to cut costs in our budget so the government should too. China can't support us forever, even they are getting a little leery on our good faith of paying them back.