travis' brain dump

That’s right folks… with the DNC (that’s the democratic national convention for those of you who are living in a box somewhere) in Denver it has brought all kinds of fun and interesting people to our little part of the world.

Among the list of characters we have on display this week, we have delegates and protesters. While the delegates have their plans pretty much mapped out and the protesters like to think they do, I think we’ll focus on the protesters in this little blog. 🙂

By far these individuals are more fun than a trip to the zoo. Why do I compare it to the zoo? Well, when they get out of hand we throw them in cages too. WOOOHOOO! We’ve even setup a “special” little spot for them in a warehouse just outside of downtown in case we need to throw the whole lot of em in there. Of course, these animals, due to the fact complaining is in their nature, have already starting protesting about the fact we have a little place for them to stay in should they get rowdy. They claim it is crossing the line and impacting on their civil liberties. I say good for the police. 🙂 I mean, these people are out there taking martial arts classes in public parks to “gear up” before their protests. (I’m not kidding, article here) In defense again of the police, the protesters decided to do an unauthorized march yesterday which they didn’t do any mass arrests and showed much restraint. Again, good job guys! (link about march)

Ooo, I just recieved word of excitement! Evidently they just called in for some police reinforcement to resteer of some protesters that marched and deviated into the 16th street mall area. YAY! EXCITEMENT! IGNORANT DRAMA! 🙂

I did actually get a free t-shirt today from Q-Doba. It reads ‘ Burritos for Obama ‘ … it was entertaining.

So Myke and I are scheduling a couple walks a day this week. Preferably before lunch and after lunch to help keep all the free food from sticking to our bellies. 🙂

I’ve come to the conclusion I like it when the circus comes to town. I particularly enjoy when they throw the clowns into the police cars and point guns at people who don’t stop at intersections they’ve closed off so a VIP can roll through in their mini motorcade. This week is going to be fun. *grin*

http://www.cnn.com/2008/US/08/20/corporal.punishment/index.html

Feel free to go read that article if you must but either way my opinion is about to be posted.

Personally, I think these human rights groups need to do us all a favor and move to a little island somewhere that they can hash out their differences while their own children turn into criminals. 🙂

I’m so sick and tired of reading about people whining and complaining and comparing spanking children to ‘beating’ them. PLEASE. There is a HUGE difference between beating your kids abusively and handing them down some discipline via a smack on the rear-end. The same rules should definitely apply at a school as well though.

Beating Kids -> BAD
Whippin some butt -> USEFUL

No wonder this world is so screwed up. There aren’t any painful consequences for your actions when you’re a kid anymore so you don’t think it will ever happen. *rolls eyes*

All these “activists” are the same – they have to have something to complain about… constantly. Just mind your own business and leave people alone. If someone needs to spank their kid to get a point across, let em. Not all kids can be talked out of or convinced with empty threats that ransacking the dvd’s or pouring milk on the floor because it’s ‘fun’ is not okay. Geez.

With all things though, moderation is key. 🙂 ok, so I just laughed a little to myself over that comment but it’s true. A 5 yr old misbehaving suffices just fine with 1-3 pops on the butt. 3 is reserved for something serious and 1 is used for a reminder that *YOU* are the parent and *THEY* are the child.

For the record, my daughter is loved by all, behaves herself, is polite and does what she is told to do 95% of the time. I have NEVER gotten a bad report on her wherever she goes. I can count on one hand how many times she’s been spanked because every time I’ve told her she was getting one, I followed through. Granted she’s spent some serious time in a corner too, but a nose in the corner just doesn’t cut it all the time.

While all kids aren’t a model child like she is and granted my next kid will probably be a tiny terror, consistency is the key. If you punish a child by following through a threat, they get the point otherwise they don’t take you seriously. Most of the time that punishment can be a passive one but sometimes you need to be able to up the consequences a little. Having consistency is key so I’d have to say, what they get at home, they should get at school – minor, put you in the corner… a little more up there, spank em!

If all I had to do was spend some time in the corner for killing someone, the highways would be empty. *big grin* You get my point?  

For a quality rant on this because i’m too tired/lazy to write one… check out Myke’s take on things – he says it well.

soooo yeah… http://www.ihatemykereinhold.com/ — i’m not gonna say anything more.

You know what I find disgusting? When we use less and less of a resource in our house and yet it  costs more and more each month. Pretty lame huh?

I’m just irritated that they keep bringing these rates up in exponential percentages and then electing to cut off electricity for people who are 30 days late on the nose. While I’ve been fortunate enough to not have to worry about such things, I can’t help but think about people who are really struggling. What a pain in the rear end. Luckily for some of those people we have programs here in Colorado which help out people who are unable to afford these hikes. The sad part is, it’s those who can afford it which are also helping programs like this out through donations and other things so in the grand scheme of things if you’re helping out and donating then you’re paying not only the hikes you’re incurring but helping others to pay theirs as well.

Just as an example of these hikes, we were paying $0.02506 per kWh at the beginning of this year. From April to June they bumped it up to $0.03849 and in July they slammed it up again to $0.04824. Now to put that into perspective for you since I know you’re seeing it as “only a penny” lets explain what’s going on here. For say, 1000 kWh’s of electricity used, which is a pretty low average for a hot summer and a small house, you have to not only pay your electricity usage fee of $0.040 per kWh but you have to pay the ECA (as wells as other fees) on top of that. Broken down, the following usage+ECA is what you get:

Electric Bill 1st Quarter 2008: $40.11 in usage + $25.06 ECA -> $65.17

Electric Bill 2st Quarter 2008: $40.11 in usage + $38.49 ECA -> $78.60

Electric Bill 3rd Quarter 2008: $40.11 in usage + $48.24 ECA -> $88.35

So what you’re seeing is in the span of 7 months the cost of the same amount of electricity has gone up $23.18 in fees. For some that’s not a real big issue. For others it’s a huge issue. I realize, again, that we’re talking about a matter of pennies here but for someone who are already struggling to pay a $65.00 electric bill along with outrageous amounts for gasoline in order to get to work in the first place to pay that bill, it’s creating some serious hurt.

Now, I realize that the ECA is used to offset some costs, but you’d figure for a company who has a net income of around $105 million in the second quarter this year alone could cut some people a little slack as this goes well beyond ‘ passing the cost along to the customer ‘.

*shrug* but what do I know? i’m just the customer so I have no way of comprehending the “actual reasons” behind such hikes.