The Jury Duty Experience

If you’ve never been to Jury Duty I can give you a pretty first hand experience of making it to the final 7 people and, luckily*, not getting added to jury. I get to the Criminal Justice Center a bit before 8 when we are asked to arrive at 8:15. Parking is going to cost me 28 bucks but I literally parked directly next to the court house so that was convenient. I didn’t bring my phone in but there was nothing prohibiting you from doing so. I check in and I’d guess along with 150 other people you file into one big room. In unbelievable fashion I somehow become Juror #2 out of 60 other people sent to a different room. In this 2nd room they show you a video on how to fill out the questionnaire and then ask you to fill it out. You give the the questionnaire back and then they come back and start eliminating people based on the answers. I assume if you check something like you are on drugs or something, you get dismissed. I answered all my questions honestly and moved on to the next round.

Juror #2 then led the way into the court room (along with 30 others or so) where we meet the prosecution, the defendants, the judge, and the criminals. They go through some broad questions and eliminate people with hardships and other issues with not being able to be a juror. Then they lead about 25 of us into one room. At this point I became juror #1 because the real 1 was dismissed and they asked 7 of us to move to the panel so the judge and the lawyers can ask some questions. Out of the every single person I kick things off with the judge asking me questions about my schooling, my background, my roommates work, and where I’m from. Then the lawyers ask me questions to confirm that I’m able to give a their clients a fair trial. I answered everything honestly and even though these two guys who were there for homicide looked exactly how I would picture murderers, I said I could give them a fair trial. We did this for the 7 potential jurors and they picked 3 of the 7 to actually be jurors for the trial. Talk about getting down to the skin of my teeth.

They dismissed me and I ended up getting a bombass cheese steak from the Reading Terminal market at a place called ByGeorge and then went back to the room to wait out the remainder of the day which finished at about 2 or 2:30. I was paid 9 dollars for the day. Even though it would have been pretty cool to be a juror for a homicide case, I wouldn’t have been scared or nervous at all. I actually think I would have done a good job. I assume I wasn’t picked because of either my level of education or the fact that they could sense in me I lacked compassion for the murderers. It was pretty interesting though and I can say I’ve had the experience. Definitely bring a book though because there is a ton of downtime waiting and waiting for slow things to happen. I finished about 100 pages in the 5 hour span to give you an idea of how often you aren’t doing anything.

By |2011-04-13T10:01:40-04:00April 13th, 2011|My Life|1 Comment

A day is a day

I just tried to sit down 4 times and each time I stood up after 10 seconds of thinking what to write about and then I got up to eat some wheat thins. I’ve got a ton of little things, but none of them really add up to a quality post so I’m just sort of considering putting in a bunch of thoughts together to form an entry. I’ll just start off with my Sunday and work from there especially because I was too lazy today to write anything.

I woke up at about 11 after Riverpalooza feeling ok but was pretty tired to say the least. I went back to sleep at around 2 something and slept to 5 something. Exciting I know. Then I watched the Masters, ate some food and watched some TV. JKash and the Lamps came over to play a rousing game of Scattergories till about midnight. I thought the 3 person format was pretty good but since you really only need one person to side with you, 4 people is ideal. JKash has become known for any category that has to do with drugs or medicine to bust out some random Teva drug that he acts shocked when no one has any clue about it. Some of the better answers were a Neap Tide for things found in the ocean, a Tyrannosaurs Rex in a science fiction movie, Flipping pancakes as a household chore, and the discussion on whether the Gall Bladder is hidden. Just a final thought on the night, the Lamps was asking what I thought about Smashed buying a case of water specifically for her, and then drinking it for himself when she’s not there, and as long as you have bottled water because the princess can’t drink from the tap, I think he should be allowed to drink as much as he wants.

After work today, I went to the golf range with CK4 to shag some balls. Even with the ankle not 100% I was hitting the ball consistently well. Hardly any mishits and most were straight opposed to off center. I actually surprised myself with a first time range outing with how well I was making contact. Hitting a target is another story but that comes with time. After that I made a mistake and tried to run on my ankle and I was only out for 10 minutes or so but at this point it’s just stupid to try. I’ve decided my Broad St run is not happening and will sell my entry to anyone who wants it.

Blog traffic has been steadily decreasing but the length of time per visit has been increasing. Basically my Suri Cruise traffic is becoming less and less and people who like the site are slowly increasing. It’s sort of a motivation killer to know that my constant effort is resulting in a decrease of traffic but I don’t think I can really control it. I was getting some people for the Riverpalooza traffic but it was single digits per day. I get random sporadic traffic but still can’t generate anything worth talking about, someday…

Which brings me to, yes I tipped the bartender 100 dollars at Riverpalooza. I didn’t do this to get in her pants, although if she was interested… but she literally hooks me up every single time I go there. She saves me so much more than 100 bucks over the course of time that it’s the least I can do. The ticket sales were basically a wash with that tip I gave and it really doesn’t even matter to me. I was happy to help my friends with discounted tickets and the making of the money is really secondary in the grand scheme of things. The Bike Race will be the next big event come June and that should be equally fun.

Speaking of making money, I have a cush job lined up tomorrow with jury duty. I think that I have to pay 20 bucks or so for parking and then get paid about 6 dollars an hour. I want to bring the book American Psycho, because that’s what I’m currently reading, but I have a feeling a book about a guy who murders the homeless an has a pretty dark viewpoint on life might be frowned upon. I have a few back up books though that are probably better suited for the judicial system. I’m not really looking forward to it but hopefully it will be a life experience and good blogging material.

I really wish this post could have been better but I try to incorporate life events into my blog every once in a while. I personally find them extremely easy to write but also very boring. My rambling posts about stupid topics keep my interest more then these. If I were you and I read this, I would just think “my life is just as boring, why am I reading about your boring life?” I would assume my readers feel the same way?

By |2011-04-11T23:26:57-04:00April 11th, 2011|My Life|1 Comment

Riverpalooza Aftermath

After the softball game, Gusto and Bake came over to go to Riverpalooza. We were planning to get there at 3pm which seemed like a reasonable plan. I had 30 tickets to sell and I knew they raised the price at 3 from 15 to 20 dollars which would make me a bit more money. Turns out that hundreds of people wanted to go at 3pm as well and even if you had a ticket, you had to wait in line. So when we got there I got rid of 28 tickets at about 15 dollars each and sold a few to my friends at 10. The ticket selling process proved to be easy as pie and I probably could have sold 100 more if I tried at 5pm. At one point they said that they couldn’t let anymore people in. Fortunately with my connects with my main man Pat, I was able to get the Shee and Kope in which proved my clout at Mad River.

Once inside it was absolute mayhem. Gusto was so adamant about calling the fire marshal and complaining about how much of a safety hazard there was inside that it took a long time to talk him out of it. There were just people everywhere and it got difficult to move. Getting a drink was a process in itself and even knowing Lindsay didn’t help all that much. When we got there secret service was playing and there were just mobs of people in front of the stage. When we had to piss, we just left the scene and went around the corner to some parking lot that proved to save some time. Gusto saw this chick sitting on the bench and asked her if he could buy her lay and she said he had to earn while simultaneously spreading her legs. I left Gusto at that point but I was cracking up. At around 5 people were already wasted and I was happily still with it.

Just a few random encounters to mention. I talked to Bridget who used to work at Mad River and she was real touchy feely when she was talking to me and I even though she’s married I wondered if she was trying to tell me something. Also I found my favorite bartender, who was looking as fine as ever, and gave her a nice tip for selling me the Riverpalooza tickets and she hooked us up with some drinks. I think I was probably my drunkest at around 8 pm or so, right before Mr Greengenes game on. I found some girl who I was making out with on a previous weekend and I don’t think we said one word to each other but were still macking it on the dancefloor. I would rate her about a 6 and nothing really came out of it. At about midnight we had enough and me, Bake and Gusto left to grab some food and go home. Big props to Bake who drank the entire night and stayed there all day which was not necessarily uncharacteristic but not the easiest thing to do, drink for 10 hours straight. Gusto and I then listened to some Bruce and the Beatles and that’s the end of my night.

I would say that this was an enormous success. I didn’t black out, enjoyed the event, and nothing bad happened. Bake had the odds at 3-1 of me sleeping in my own bed and I’m pretty proud to say that I accomplished this simple task. Now I didn’t bring home any ladies but just making it home in one piece and not blacking out was good enough for me. I had a pretty fun time and can’t think of many better ways to spend a Saturday afternoon.

By |2011-04-10T13:23:49-04:00April 10th, 2011|My Life|1 Comment

Harrah’s Chester – Poker Room

In a sort of unusual action, I decided to go to Harrah’s Chester on Friday night, by myself, to play poker. I left at 6:00pm, the worst time to leave, and it took me about an hour to get there. I knew the best way was 76 to 95 but I started putting faith in the gps to get me around traffic and it just was going in circles. When I got there I was expecting a wait because it’s Friday and I figured the degen’s near by were looking to blow their paychecks. Amazingly there was no line and I got a seat at a 1-2 nl game. I bought in for 300 and even made a pact to myself that I wasn’t going to drink any beer ( I had about 3 throughout the night). To give some thoughts on the table I was at, I was in for 300 and was covered by 2 people at the table who had about 5. Everyone else was in between 1 and 2 hundred.

This is going to be poker related so stop reading if you have no interest. I was in seat 4 and Ray was in seat 2. I point out Ray because him and I played for about 5 hours together and he was easily the life of the table. I drew the best seat in the entire casino (seat 3 would be better but he would be next to me all the time so this literally was the best seat). I couldn’t tell exactly but Ray was decked out in all Phillies gear and was what I thought, bombed. Not only that but Ray had a wad of 50’s that he wasn’t ashamed to flaunt around. Ray played about a 90/10 and went to showdown about 75% of the time.

My first hand came about 5 hands in and I was dealt 88. I made it 10 total and got 4 callers. Flop was K82 two hearts. I bet 25 into the 40 pot and only Ray comes along. I bet 60 on a 9 of hearts turn and Ray called again. The river was a 3 and I put Ray in because I saw him play a hand prior where he called someone down with a pair of twos, so I was about 95% sure my hand was good at this point. Ray says “if you got a King, you got me,” he flipped over pocket jacks and I was up a quick 150 or so because Ray wasn’t in for the max. So after a nice first hand Ray pulls out the roll of 50’s and rebuys for table max. CHA-CHING.

I was folding most hands at this point because the table was full and I wasn’t really seeing anything playable. I get QQ and open to 10 from EP and get called by a female and 2 others. I believed the female to be competent (lol) after an hour or two of play of play with her. The flop came 467 and I made a c-bet to 30 and get called by the woman. The turn brought another 4. I saw her raise a bettor on a similar board with a pair and a gut shot so I thought she could have a hand like 56 or 76, I bet out 60 which was about half pot and she was really staring me down and was asking me if I had a big pair. The more she talked the more I was putting her on 99 or tens and was ready to snap call her if she made a move, unfortunately she laid down the hand.

A few hands later I get AA and 3 bet Ray and some other clown to 35 and ended up getting one caller, not ray. The flop was really good for aces and the guy had about 40 behind. In my mind there was no way he was folding so I put him in and he somehow found a fold after putting in half his stack preflop. The very next hand I’m dealt AA and from EP make it 10 total and get 5 or 6 callers. The flop came K53 with two spades. I put out a nice 45 bet and get a call from the female who I made lay down her overpair a bit earlier. The turn brought another spade and I hoped she had a hand like KQ. I checked the turn and she checked behind. The river brought another spade and I checked again and she bet 40. It was 40 into 140 and I went with my read that she had KQ and hoped the Q wasn’t a spade, she had A3 of spades and I felt like a tard for calling.

After that hand the wind flew out of my sails for a bit and I sort of just folded for a while. Here’s where my boy Ray comes into action. Ray makes it 12, one cold caller and I bump it to 40 with AA. I get one other caller behind me and Ray comes along. The flop comes QQ4. I’m thinking this is one type of flop that can get me in trouble but Ray checks to me and I bet out 60 or so and only Ray calls. The turn comes a ten which really didn’t change much. Starting with 225 or so Ray had already committed 100 bucks and had 125 behind. I checked the turn not wanting to get hit by a Q from Ray who could have hit it on the flop. The river brought a Jack and Ray checked to me. Now at this point I was really uncertain what to do. He was pretty unconventional and had c/r’d rivers with mediocre hands and I really didn’t want to let him off the hook here if I had the best hand because he could literally have anything. This guy could literally show up with any two at anytime. So I mustered up my courage and put Ray all in and he called with KK and I scooped a nice pot. Ray re-buys for 300.

At this point Ray has lost his buzz and is starting to get a bit upset being down about 1500 or so. He was still playing like a goon but notice he just showed up with KK. The real story happens within about a 15 minute window so literally a few hands later Ray makes it 12 pf and I call with JT of spades and we get one other caller. The flop came K44 with two spades. Ray c-bets to 12 and I call. The turn brings a J and ray bets 24. I’m thinking the Jack is probably good here but I’m not 100% so I call his bet. The river fills my flush and Ray checks. In hindsight I made a pretty big mistake here and I bet 125 into the 90 pot because he didn’t care about how big a bet was in relation to the pot and he ended up folding 99.

The very next hand I get 68 of spades and call a raise from another player seated next to Ray. Ray obviously also calls. The flop comes 67J with two spades. The initial raiser bets 20 and Ray and I call. The turn 4 brings my flush and the initial raiser checks and Ray bets 30. I bump him to 100 which he calls. The turn brought a beautiful 3 and Ray goes all in for 180. I didn’t snap call but after about 15 seconds I decided there is just no way I can fold and he showed a pair of Jacks which gave me another huge pot in a span of 15 minutes. So now I’m sitting at the table with about a K in front of me and Ray is completely steaming at this point. He started arguing about his cards being behind his chips and how the line plays. I ended up going to get something to eat because I honestly thought he was going to kill me after I stuck him pretty good on two hands in a short time. I came back a half hour later and he was on his way out. The game had lost it’s funding and two of the more competent players ended up leaving.

It was about Midnight and there was no more list for 1-2 but we were still full. I only had one more notable hand where I made it 10 pf with KQ and got two callers. The flop came K-2-4 and I bet 17 into the pot of about 30. I got raised by a player who was really tight and seemingly solid to 40. Now I thought about this pretty hard and thought that he wasn’t the type of guy to do this with deuces or fours and he’d of had to flat me with AK, which he was capable of, but I wasn’t completely sold on that. I called his bet and checked to him on an 8 turn. He bet 40 into the 110 pot and I called fairly quickly not backing down from my initial read with a weakish bet. I checked a 6 river and he bet out 60. I pretty much said I’ve come this far and called him and he tabled 99. I just think it’s so weird that I played with the guy for 6 hours, he knew I wasn’t a complete monkey and this was the one hand he decided to play against me. It’s like he just decided his nines were good and he even tabled them like he thought they were. I ended up leaving a little bit later and took home 662 (the Cheese Steak and Pepsi was 13.50) for a profit of 650 bucks.

My conclusion is that the table was really, really soft. There is limping galore, not many 3 bets without the goods and if you have any reasonable concept of hand strength you should come out a winner. I don’t think I could beat the game for a 100 dollar an hour win rate if it wasn’t for Ray, but I think you could win consistently without much trouble. And this is coming from me who, in my opinion, didn’t even play my best poker. I was way to weak preflop in certain spots and made some bad reads. Overall though the poker room is decent (for Chester) and I’d say the experience wasn’t awful but if you are looking for a better time, go to AC.

By |2013-03-15T03:31:28-04:00April 9th, 2011|My Life|0 Comments

Night off

Laura, my sister, and I went out to dinner in the city and had a very nice time. I know that this is interrupting my usual Mad River Thursday’s but I wouldn’t have traded it for the world. Sometimes I lose perspective about what’s really important in life and knowing that your family will always be there for you means a lot. It’s important to make efforts to keep in touch. I’m not always the most socially with it person so sometimes even making the effort is tough but you only get so much time on Earth and you only get one family. Getting caught up in the daily hoopla can cloud this simple task. I titled this post night off because I can’t think of anything to write about and am just going to go to sleep instead of forcing a bad entry. Till tomorrow.

By |2011-04-07T23:08:04-04:00April 7th, 2011|My Life|0 Comments

Social Interaction

I went to a softball meeting at the Bayou yesterday because each team has to send a representative and naturally that falls on me because I live the closest, (even though I dislike softball the most on the entire team). So the meeting is at 7 and I get there a few minutes early. It’s a weird place to hold a meeting because there are only a few tables so people awkwardly start crowding around. When I got there all of the tables were taken and I was just going to stand against the wall near the back when this girl, who was by herself at a table of 6, asked if I wanted to sit down. I’m thinking that I’d probably prefer to stand but decided I didn’t want to look rude so I sat down across from her. For the first minute or so she was looking at her phone and I was just sitting there literally doing nothing but glancing at a TV. I could write a whole post on why I think the smartphone is ruining people interactions with each other but she looked enthralled using hers, not to mention the other handful of people around who have theirs glued to their hands. Back on topic, she goes to the bar and grabs and beer and I decide that I’m not going to sit in awkward silence, so I can’t remember my exact words but I ask her how nonsensical these meetings are hoping to find some common ground to spur a conversation. So she’s there for kickball (it’s a softball meeting) and I start asking her about the other sports she does and how work gets in the way of weekday drinking and everything is going along swimmingly. I ask her what she does and she says something like “designing materinity clothes” and I immediately say “cool” and she looks at me like I’m from space because obviously her job isn’t that cool. This was just my instinctual reaction to anything she was going to say, then I had to ask her again because I didn’t really hear what she said the first time which made me look like a tool. She asks me about my job and yada yada, then the softball meeting starts and she realizes she shouldn’t be there, chugs her beer, and then she left. That’s my story.

I write this to show my readers that this is what goes on in my mind. She’s a reasonably attractive female, I’m just trying to be normal and this is how normal I can be. I think about all the social interactions I have with people and I’d guess 80% of the time, alcohol is involved because I’m just not around too many people sober. To reference Sam’s post post, my SOCIAL conversations are done in a drunk state of mind most of the time. However, I’m using this post as a reference to show my ability to hold normal conversations, not under the influence. Now I could have sat there like a shell and not said anything to this girl but I went out of my way to be socially normal. I think to some people these thoughts of having a conversation with others in society isn’t so thought provoking. They just go up to someone and talk to them like it’s just another routine act. In my world, this is what runs through my brain. Pretty sad that I have to use a mere conversation with a female as an entire topic for a post. This should give an idea of socially evolved I am.

By |2011-04-07T10:27:38-04:00April 7th, 2011|My Life|2 Comments

Riverpalooza – 4/9/11

I just wanted to make a post dedicated to Riverpalooza in the Spring of 11′. Considering this is my “Cheers” bar in Manayunk, I feel like its my job to promote one of their best events of the year. I can tell already that it has a decent hype around it and they have been promoting it like crazy so there’s no doubt it’s going to be packed full of drunks and sluts looking to have a good time all day long. With an early start time of 12pm, people will be sloshed by 3 and then slowly getting drunker as the day wears on. 14 straight hours of drinking is unheard of and probably impossible without severe repercussions. A midday nap or at least a break from drinking is necessary somewhere along the way. A huge ups to the employees and bartenders who put their job ahead of the fun and make this day possible.

The live music all day long is what really makes the event. Go Go Gadget leads the day off and they are one of my favorite cover bands. The lead singer is obviously musically talented when he’s able to play the drums, horn, trashcan and even sing Lady Gaga reasonably well for a male. I’ve seen Secret Service only a few times but I know they have a big following with an older crowd and play some different tunes that you don’t hear from younger bands. Stellar Mojo and Split Decision are staples of the cover band seen in the Philly area and both quality performances. Mr. Greengenes gets the most hype and deservedly so. I don’t think I’ve seen them not rock the audience and have everyone going nuts.

This really is a day that people look forward to. One of my favorite activities, day drinking, is highlighted and a good time is guaranteed. There aren’t always events specifically geared to getting hammered starting at noon. Sure there is tailgating but if you get too wasted you can’t enjoy the game. With Riverpalooza you can’t enjoy the event unless you get too wasted. This is why everyone loves this date. People who feel conservative and don’t like to get hammered until it’s 11pm and time to go to the bar get pushed into an afternoon atmosphere where it’s OK to get wasted. I think the best feeling is when 4pm rolls around and you look at your watch and think “man I feel awesome and I still have the rest of the day and the entire night to party.” If you want to go and are waiting in line you can give me a call because I should probably have some spare tickets thanks to a few kind hearted individuals who I will payback handily.

I can’t guarantee when I’ll be there because you can’t make any promises for an event like this. The unpredictable nature of Riverpalooza makes this a day you can’t miss and definitely won’t remember.

By |2016-10-28T15:56:24-04:00April 6th, 2011|My Life|0 Comments

Wednesday 4/6/11

When you can’t think of a clever title you can just use the date and no one thinks anything of it. It’s like saying you just want to get down to business with no wasting time. Also I want to point out that I find myself using extra words and when I delete them, everything makes sense and makes it more concise. Like that 2nd sentence, I just delete “it’s like saying” and that’s how I should be starting sentences. I do it all the time with words like actually, probably, and phrases like “I think”. So there’s an example of how I get straight down to business.

I was up at 5:30 today to drive Ck4 to the airport because he’s heading to San Diego on business. I mention this because gladly volunteering to drive people to airport is a smart thing to do. When I say smart, I’m not doing it because I’m trying to get something out of it, but doing nice things for people means that they feel more obligated do something nice for you when the time comes. Plus it’s not even an inconvenience for me because it’s a few minutes outside of my way to work and it gives me the opportunity to blog in the wee morning hours which doesn’t happen often.

I don’t have too much going on in my life right now. I’ve cut back severely on the poker playing after cashing out 1300 dollars in about a month time (probably 60 hours of work, at least). I think some people might look at that and think it’s pretty impressive but the harsh reality is that it occupies a ton of time for not a ton of money. Now, also consider I had about 5 or 6 deep runs in big tournies (below) that could have hit big if I just was able to close. Now that I can walk again, I’ve pretty much (there are those wasted words) been trying to do more things besides sit in a chair and watch a screen. I’m still probably about a week away from running on my ankle which will get me away from the bloody elliptical. That machines just kills my back. I’ve been feeling better physically though due to being able to at least get to the gym again. Overall, my life is starting to get back on track with hopefully the idea of moving at top speed again with a little assistance. Every once in a while I try to throw a post in about my life even though people probably prefer to be entertained with amusing content.

I know not everyone is interested in this but a screenshot below of some MTT’s that I played in. Taking down one of those bigger tournaments is worth thousands of dollars and I pretty much have proven I’m about 90% of the way there but not quite all the way.

By |2011-04-06T07:11:58-04:00April 6th, 2011|My Life|1 Comment

Bball Vids

I have a few more that if these are really that well received you can comment and tell me to post the others that aren’t as good as these. CK4, you’ll be happy to know that I only have one of yours but have at least 4 others in the archive. Enjoy.

Let’s lead with the highlight of the footage. I’ve watched this video a dozen times and still can’t decide if it’s a walk or not but it’s good to see someone on our team do something impressive.

Jess Baker’s commentary makes this clip. DRAINO!

I think this clip was pretty funny with Bake holding form like it was supposed to go in.

This was actually does go in.

Ck4, I’ve got about 3 of these similar “you shooting” videos but unfortunately the end result never changes… Cavity Kashub for 3! (root canals)

Mark Zumoff’s job will not be threatened by me.

Sorry Evan, Jka$h felt the wrath last week, this week you get the honor.

I didn’t forget any words in the title, the to is for Turnover, nice finish by Jeff though.

By |2016-10-28T15:58:09-04:00April 5th, 2011|My Life|1 Comment

People Helping People

I use the people helping people line a fair amount so just get used to it. My mood tends to shift from time to time on how generous I want to be with people. My good moods tend to lead to me being nice and pleasant and bad moves to flipping people off and telling them to go jump in a lake. Here are a few examples of situations I come across.

We received an email from one of my dad’s friends saying that he can save us money by switching us to a different energy provider and not paying Peco direct. Basically you maintain providers, he makes money by signing you up for a new company’s billing plan and everything else stays the same. Now this would be helping someone out by putting money into their pocket by just switching to a 3rd party energy provider. You know what I said? Absolutely not. I’d rather pay Peco the extra money than give the salesman a commission. Why? Because 9 times out of 10, if the situation were reversed, I ask myself would this person do this for me? The majority of people in life are acquaintances and not your friends. People who actually care about you are different then people who only like you because you are giving them money. I tend to relate this to why all the bartenders seem to like me.

So I just gave an example of why I don’t like helping weasels, do I like to help people who may legitimately need help like beggars and homeless? My sympathy tends to run light for people on the street. Why am I so cold hearted? The people who you give money to don’t appreciate you, they just appreciate the money. They probably wouldn’t remember you the next day. JC gave me a good story of him giving a guy who sells newpapers on the street a 10 dollar bill. His reasoning was that the guy is trying the best he can to EARN a living and JC is fortunate enough to help him out. This stuck with me because I too tend to side with a guy who is really giving it his all and just can’t seem to get ahead, compared to a bum looking to score some drugs. Now maybe the newpaper guy uses all his money on drugs but at least I see some effort and work ethic. There is no such thing as a free lunch and I believe you should have to work for things to appreciate them.

So I don’t like helping weasels or the homeless, what about charity’s? You know that the money is being used for a good cause (at least you hope) and you should feel good knowing that you are positively affecting other people’s lives. On celebrity apprentice last night they had wealthy people donating $100,000 to these charity’s per item auctioned. I think that’s fantastic. If I had 10 million dollars in the bank I’d be inclined to give away large chunks of money too. Newsflash, most of the people on Earth are barely scraping by, how can you expect people to donate money when they can’t afford their next meal? And this is supposed to be one of the wealthiest countries on Earth, I can’t imagine other places quality of life. To be honest, I’ve given small sums of money to charity but until I become independently wealthy, I have a hard time giving others my money over #1.

I’ve made posts on tipping before but I have noticed it has become a part of my life to overtip. I’m talking insane amounts of tipping. Scenario 1, you open a bar tab and have 10 beers at 2 dollars each. It’s 20 dollars and you leave a generous tip of 5 dollars. Scenario 2, You get 10 beers and tip 1 dollar each time the bartender gives you a beer. Both standard scenarios. If you forget to tip the bartender ONE time in scenario 2, they’ll remember it forever. I tip poker dealers, delivery men, taxi drivers, you name it I tip them. Worst thing is I over tip everyone because I think they’ll like me more. It’s in my blood to appease people and not have people think of me as a nit. It’s fucking insane to think a big tip to a taxi driver is smart. You’ll never see them again in your life! I swear if you added up all the money I tipped and gave it to a charity, I’d need my own fund raising software to keep track of it. Do I get any credit though for my generosity? No, it’s probably the reverse because I used my blog to tell people how generous I am that now they probably think I’m even more of a douchebag.

Am I wrong to think that most people don’t share my views? Are there way more caring people out there than I give credit to? My underlying feeling is that I probably even overestimate the amount of good hearted people. I just get the feeling that everyone has their own agenda and it usually involves benefiting themselves instead of benefiting you. The world will run you over if you let it.

A final story to finish off this long winded post. After I uploaded all this basketball video and sent it to my email address, I over shot my 150mb of data by 100 mb. CK4 says to call up and not pay the 20 dollars in surcharge use. I’ve given it some thought and would rather just pay the 20 dollars. I signed a contract, I went over my limit according to the terms of service and now I’m going to pay the penalty because it’s the right thing to do. To quote CK4 after telling a car salesmen why he bought from another dealership: “By now you are probably staring at your computer monitor with a dumbfounded facial expression. To answer the question that you have had since doubling clicking on this email: the reason that I took my time to write this email is simply put:
Because it is the right thing to do.
Full letter here for those amused and missed it previously.

Could I bitch and moan and threaten to leave Verizon and get my 20 dollars? Most likely, but then I ask myself how I would like it if customers started calling me and demanding refunds because they dropped a tool off the roof and it broke. It’s not my fault you broke the tool and are demanding another one the same way it isn’t Verizon’s fault I went over my data plan. If the charge was 2,000 dollars I’d probably feel differently but I will pay the money because I’m not a swindler. Ck4 said I should have negotiated some Mad River tickets better, instead of paying 10 dollars I could have haggled it to 8 or something. In my opinion, what CK4 doesn’t get is that in an effort to save 10 dollars, I have a bartender who thinks that I worry over every single dollar and that’s just not my style. Call me a bad business men or poor negotiator but money is only money, your personality and peoples perception of you holds much more then a dollar value.

By |2011-04-04T17:23:39-04:00April 4th, 2011|My Life|1 Comment
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