.:go get your own damn life:.

Friday, 2.15.08, I learned that I apparently own a business in Las Vegas, NV. called “Quantum, LLC”. I also apparently live there…somewhere like 3157 N. Rainbow Road or something like that. Not a huge deal. You know…I mean…sometimes we forget some periods of time in our lives. Sometimes we forget major events like opening businesses. Or moving to a new and exciting place like Las Vegas.

Sometimes we even forget about opening those two American Express business-class cards and charging on the upwards of 20K between the two of them. And then we do things like write bad checks to pay them, which makes the fine folks at American Express not-so-happy. And then they send friendly people like Angela West from National Credit out to collect that money from you.

Gosh…why can’t people just understand that we forget these things…?

…….

OK. So now that’s out there, I’m going to turn my sarcasm meter into the full ‘off’ position. I am now going to switch on over to my trusty ‘WTF, mate’ meter and turn that up to approximately 11. Out of 10. I’ve found that by adding that extra numeric setting on there, I have plenty of room to manuever in the current state of the world today.

Sometimes you just need that little extra level of ‘WTF’ in your life, you know?

Yeah, all of what I said above about Vegas and about a couple of cards being maxed and in collections is all quite true. And…let’s be clear just in case for some reason someone in the judicial system is looking stuff up on me about this and they could potentially misconstrue what I’m saying as, “Yes, I did this.”

1. No, I did not do this…nor would I ever even think of doing something like this.
2. No, I have never lived in Vegas.
3. No, I do not have 2 Amex business cards that I charged a bunch of money to and failed to pay.
4. No, I do not own any kind of business called ‘Quantum, LLC’.

I just found out about this on Friday morning when Miss West informed me about it. She and I spent about 15 minutes on the phone trying to figure out what the heck is going on, and she said she’d get back to me on Monday (tomorrow, 2.18) to let me know what else she has found out. There were a couple of points during the conversation where she said something about maybe not being able to prove that it wasn’t me, in which case I might end up having to pay it or whatever. Of course, uhh, that was a little bit of a shock. But I’m going to chalk it up to being that since she’s low-lady-on-the-totem-pole, she has no ‘effing clue what she’s talking about.

So I spent the rest of my entire day on Friday…at WORK, mind you…attempting to call everywhere that I needed to call in order to put some order to the madness and ensure that the bleeding of my identity and personal life was staunched as quickly as possible. I called the FTC. I called American Express. I called the credit bureaus. I called the police. I called the Texas DPS. I ordered up my credit reports. I’m praying that all of this work I’ve now done will help put this thing behind me as quickly as humanly possible. Fortunately, none of this has hit my credit record yet, which is a very good thing. But it just sucks because if it does, I’m going to have a heck of a time getting it removed.

But beyond the logistics of all of this, man…I can’t emphasize how crazy it is to know that someone out there actually has my social security number and it can be used pretty easily to do things like this. Just to give you an example of exactly how easy, apparently this fine person decided to open up these two cards on October 12th, 2007. Observe that I just said two cards. American Express allowed this person, without any questions or any type of confirmation, to open up two business class cards…on the exact same day. You would think that when a person tries to open up two cards that some kind of trigger would go off in the system that would enable some extra level of clearance/security/etc. But that isn’t the case.

Yep…that’s my latest excitement. If any of you happen to run into someone claiming they’re me and they work for Quantum Group, LLC…do me a favor. Punch ‘em in the face and call 9-1-1. I’ll give you a nice shiny nickle if you do it…

.:if we have a president with the name ‘huckabee…’:.

let’s make this a short post, because there really isn’t much to say about this.

i was flipping through the channels when i heard that mr. huckabee won kansas and louisianna. a few canned political victory lines and some other dumb BS  later, i hear mr. huckabee say something like, ‘i didn’t major in math. i majored in miracles.’

…….

you cannot be f*****g serious. the american public absolutely, positively 100% cannot be serious about voting this guy into the white house. this has to be some kind of sick joke.

ok…so let’s just say that he’s smart enough to be objective and knows that bringing religion into running the country is a bad idea. but…well…we can’t really say that. here’s another genius quote:

“I have opponents in this race who do not want to change the Constitution,” Huckabee told a Michigan audience on Monday. “But I believe it’s a lot easier to change the Constitution than it would be to change the word of the living god. And that’s what we need to do — to amend the Constitution so it’s in God’s standards rather than try to change God’s standards so it lines up with some contemporary view.”

this guy is dangerous. we’re talking about a guy who was a southern baptist minister. not that i have anything at all against anyone’s particular religious practices or upbringing…but seriously. the idea of a guy who is a former preacher running the country raises some pretty serious issues surrounding the idea of separating church and state.

that and the little fact that i don’t want a guy who believes that ‘miracles can happen if ya’ just believe in jesus’ anywhere near the big red ‘launch nuclear warheads’ button.

of course…it’d be sweet if he really were the GOP candidate. obama will wipe the toilet stall floor with mr. huckabee’s face several times over if huckabee does indeed win the nomination.

one final genius quote from america’s newest village idiot:

“But as we all know, a candidate can say one word, do one thing, have one particular moment that can end his whole career so, you know, I’m not saying I’m just driving behind (McCain) at the NASCAR race waiting for him to lose a tire. But crazier things have happened.”

all i have to say is this: mr. huckabee…please, please, please keep talking.

.:feeling bad for a girl:.

I was reading an article this evening about Britney Spears and how big of an economic impact she has. It was right about at the end of the article that I started to feel pretty bad for her. Actually, I’ve felt bad for her for a little while now in that it’s hard to watch a person break down like that. Not that I know what it’s like to have a really big breakdown or anything, but I know that when I’m feeling bad or depressed about something, the last thing I want to do is let anyone see me. I just want to be left the hell alone so I can get things figured out. I can only imagine how compounded the problem becomes when you’re having a genuine mental meltdown like it appears Miss Spears is having.

Don’t get me wrong; I don’t feel as bad for Brittney Spears as, say, the guy who posted that absolutely insane YouTube video awhile back. But I think we tend to forget that when you strip away the ‘image’ of Brittney Spears, you’re left with just another person like you or me.

Yes, it’s certainly true that she sold herself into the hands of a machine that would put her in the eyes of the public. She gave up a large amount of control of her life in return for a large amount of cash. I suppose it could be said that she’s catching the return swing of the double edged sword of that decision right now.

But when do we as the general public, as fellow human beings, say ‘enough’? When do we open our eyes and actually realize that this is not some plastic product, some ‘thing’ that you own a piece of, but a human being, and she’s probably in some pretty serious dire straits?

On one hand, I understand that it’s hard to see Britney Spears as a person because so many different industries have played a role in creating the perception that she’s something beyond human. Of course, these various industries do this all the time with all manner of people and products. For example, when is a car not a car? When it’s a BMW. What do you think of when someone says BMW? Of course you think of a car, but you also think of prestige. You think of clean, well-to-do people driving in the city or out on the open roads. You think of sophistication, refined taste, expensive restaurants and impressed valets. I’m sure I could go on, but the point here is this: That’s a hell of a lot of extra bloat thinking towards what is ultimately just a car.

Marketing does such a fantastic job at altering perceptions of a product through other familiar associations that our brains actually make something out of very little.

Such is the case with Britney Spears. As with all ’stars’, we’ve come to view her as an object, as this somewhat ambiguous representation of things we aspire to. She’s rich…and who doesn’t want to be rich? She’s beautiful…and who doesn’t want looks? She has (or is perceived to have) power…and we all would like to have power. She has houses, cars and surrounds herself with other people that the general public admires and respects. She has a talent for dance and music (well…she can sing………well…I guess that could be argued…but……..whatever…I digress……). And this is part of the reason why the general public has such a hard time turning their eyes when she starts to go down the tubes. The public gets this sick sense of ‘being entertained’…of accepting that this is just another ‘part of the show’, or another ‘additon to the product’.

I feel bad for Brittney Spears for a number of reasons, but I feel especially bad for her when I start thinking that the business that gave her everything she has is the same business that isn’t doing much to help her out because they’re all still profitting from her. What’s even more unfortunate is that even when they do bleed her absolutely dry, there are any number of others just lining up and waiting to take her place. It almost feels like nobody would care if she lives or dies for that reason alone.

So what do you do? I don’t have the answer. It’s hard to turn a blind eye when just about every publication you read has at least some small part of her story ready for consumption. I think the first step, though, is attempting to be empathetic. That might seem silly, as there are a billion other people that have the same, if not worse, problems than she does. And those people probably have far less means of dealing with those problems. But the one thing these others have that she never will is a sense of privacy, of peace, of general time, in the healing process. With the world watching your every move, how can you begin to make a change on your own terms?

.:to use or not:.

Over the past years, I have styled most of my informal writing without the use of captial letters. Why? I had a teacher in my college days named Karen Chang. She taught a Photoshop class, and I remember how she used to write everything in lowercase. When asked why, I believe she said something about how studies had been done that showed lowercase writing was easier to read. Ever since then, I’ve done that. As to whether or not that’s true, I don’t know. I can’t seem to find any kind of proof out there when looking around on the web. Whatever the case, I’ve definitely gotten used to it, and I guess I haven’t even thought about…until recently.

Because I was very proud of my profound discovery of the cheeseburger in a can, I decided that I might send it out to a few friends at work so they too could get a little chuckle. Instead of the expected chuckle, I got one response that said something to the effect of, “Too bad the author doesn’t understand the use of caps,” or something of that nature. At first, I thought, “OK. Whatever,” and just responded that it was a style thing. Then another guy responded saying that he agreed with guy #1, and even went so far as to say that it was ‘negligence’.

?

I’ve been thinking about it ever since. Is it really that big of a deal? Does it make that big of a difference in your ability or your wanting to read what’s there if something is not written ‘correctly’? It’s not like I don’t use any punctuation or anything; I just don’t use caps. It’s interesting to note that both of them are in their late thirties. Does age have something to do with it?

Any thoughts from the outside on this one?

.:be a consumer. it does a body good:.

i’m feeling mildly uninspired as of late. i don’t know what the hell is going on.

i know that something is wrong when i want to go out and blow a lot of money on something that i kind of want, but i know it’s going to be a bad idea in the long-term. i feel like the stereotypical girl who gets all depressed and upset and decides to go on a shopping spree. except the problem here is that i want really expensive stuff. christy likes to give me a hard time about things like this. no, she is not a nag or being stupid about it. i’m actually glad she does it because she serves as my voice of reason. she always says, ‘you have all of these expensive interests. why can’t you have a simple interest that you can indulge in?’

and my answer to that is typically, ‘uh, i don’t know.’ actually, even if i did have a ’simple interest’, i’d most likely indulge in mass quantities of it, thereby negating its relatively harmless monetary dent.

here are things i want to buy right now…

1. a car: but, you see, i don’t even need a new car. i have a 2006 honda CR-V that i like just fine. i just have it in my head that i’d like to have a new car that is more befitting of my awesomeness. like a nice acura TSX or TL. why? i have no idea. and what’s even more ‘effed is that, in my head, i play hopscotch between what car i really want. one day it’s the acura. another day i want a new camry. and yet on another day i’ll have convinced myself that a prius or some kind of hybrid SUV is the way to go. WTF, mate?

2. a motorcycle: to top off the new car thing, i really want a motorcycle. i went and got my license this past summer for it. i had a scooter AND a motorcycle (a beater) for a short time and i sold them both to be a responsible debt payer-offer. and now that i have that all taken care of, i’ve got it in my skull that april is going to be when this happens. actually, a motorcycle will probably happen. that short time i had my scooter/bike…wow…it was great. i’ve always loved them. so…perhaps i can solve the fuel-efficiency thing AND the new vehicle thing in one shiny new motorcycle. the only problem here is that i do the same thing i do with the cars; i jump from one to another. in this case, it’s between a honda, a suzuki and a…yep…harley. the sportsters are well within my price range (surprisingly) and…come on…it’s a freakin’ harley. don’t laugh. i know i wouldn’t exactly be a striking harley rider guy. and that’s just fine with me. i just think they look awesome. however,oddly enough, out of the three models i’m looking at from the three different manufacturers, the harley gets the worst rating! and i still like it! hahaha! i’m an idiot.

3. an ipod touch: but…i just got an ipod classic 80gb for my birthday in september. this was the time when apple had just released the new classics and said that the touch was going to be released sometime a couple months down the road. my argument for buying the classic at the time was, ‘well, i’m more interested in space…not necessarily cool new functionality.’ and now here i am, looking at the touch thinking that i missed out.

4. a larger flatscreen TV: my 32″ is not cutting it anymore, if for no reason other than the fact that it’s not something bigger. and it doesn’t have an HDMI in. and it doesn’t display 1080p. and it’s not a sony bravia or a sharp aquos or a samsung something-or-other. <—- all of that goes through my head when i’m looking at this stuff. it’s like my brain is attempting to sabotage me into buying it by storing up all of these little factual nuggets that, when big-pictured, don’t mean a damn thing. as with the car…as with EVERYTHING in this post…i don’t NEED a new TV. the one i have works fine/looks fine/is fine. but i still want one.

5. a new bed: alright, so we broke down and bought a new one. shoot me. with the anticipation of more people coming to visit us, we figured we’d just go ahead and get a new bed. no, not for you people that are coming to visit. you’re going to get our old queen bed, which is some kind of nice serta model that i can’t recall. however, it doesn’t compare to the new queen sized bed we got. holy crapola, batman…it’s like a beautiful fluffy cloud of sleep indulging goodness on my body. it is humorous to note that we bought a futon last year for any potential guests. at the time, that seemed just fine. but now all of a sudden it’s not. so…if you know anyone who wants to buy a nice futon…

6. a leather couch: i’ve been on this kick as of late to upgrade our furniture. i was perfectly content with all of our stuff before, but i think since we bought a leather recliner, the idea of a leather couch has not left my mind. part of it is because i want something matching. and part of it is because leather is much easier to clean when you have a couple of dogs who shed tiny little hairs, one of those dogs being white.
those are the main things. now…if i took all of these and added them up, i would spend approximately $9915.00 in one year (that number is gotten to by estimating a years worth of payments on a car @ $400/mo. and a motorcycle @ $120.00/mo.).

say it with me: you are a dumb man, andrew.

man, the world of consumerism loves >this guy<….