Things I've learned.

Don't ask a question if you are not mentally capable of handling a truthful answer.

Some might think thoughtless, inconsiderate words and actions may not be worth mentioning for fear of of being petty.

It's better to speak up. These little things can silently build up over time and cause major damage to a relationship.

Don't fall asleep to the True Crimes and Serial killer channel.

A task you assign to someone else will be, ignored, screwed up or done half assed most of the time.

Reliance on strangers for your personal safety and well being is foolish at best and deadly at worst.

Always leave yourself an out and don't trust that someone else is looking out for your best interests.

Don't shit where you eat.

No matter how rich you are, no matter how many accountants you have, ALWAYS sign your own checks.

Tips on decent housing or How I learned the hard way.

Finding a decent place to live is probably the most expensive, frustrating, and time consuming thing you can do. Moving is a real pain in the butt and so are mortgages, insurance and taxes. There are some things to consider when choosing what type of place you wish to live in.

Here are some questions you need to ask yourself before looking for a residence.
Do I have or want pets? Is my job secure and steady, How much do I have to spend?
Does my income fluctuate from month to month? How is my credit?

There is nothing wrong with apartments. You can live in a decent neighborhood, hassle free with no yard work or home repairs. The downside is you pay several hundred dollars each month while gaining no equity. Apartment complexes are notorious for odd rules, poor parking and bad neighbors. The lack of privacy and a yard are also things to consider.



Buying a home is another option. If you can save a down payment and get the financing, owning a home is usually the best way to go. A house payment will usually be lower than apartment rent per square foot but you will have to figure in the escrow of taxes and insurance into your monthly payment.If you are a first time home buyer, you can find a realtor to show you around (which can be a colossal waste of time) or you can search for a home yourself and then call the realtor on the sign to arrange a walkthrough.

It’s best to start off buying a small older home in an established neighborhood. You may find that nice new subdivision down the road has gone to the meth labs, graffiti and gang bangers in just a few short years. Also, if you have kids check the school district and sex offender registry in your area before buying.

When negotiating for a house bid low. They will always come back with a counter offer. Never get pressured by the realtor when they say "we have several bids or I have a nice couple coming to look at it in 15 min so you had better make an offer if you want this house" Its all a load of Bull. Take your time, shop around and find a house with the features you will need and want.

Get a reputable home inspector NOT hired by the seller to check out a property. This will cost a couple of hundred dollars but will save you in the long run and will give you negotiation points when it’s time to go back to the bargaining table. Be sure to get the best FIXED interest rate you can and forget about buying points and all that other crap.

Do not get fooled into the interest only loans where you get a $400,000 house for $700 per month for the rest of your life. You never end up owning anything unless the property values skyrocket. Which is unlikely in this market.

Once you get financed and move into your new home. Don’t start any major projects right away. Settle in, unpack and take stock of your new surroundings, do some cheap decorating, clean the place up and paint a few walls before you gut the kitchen or start tearing down walls. Remember, once you start a project it’s easy to lose steam , run out of money and end up miserable in a torn up half finished house.

Keep in mind when making your house payment most of the money will go toward interest for the first several years. After 5 years of paying your mortgage do not be surprised if you only have a few hundred dollars payed toward the principal.

If you want to get some quick equity, be sure to write a separate check or make a payment earmarked for equity aside from your regular mortgage payment. Otherwise, they will put your extra money towards interest. Aren’t banks wonderful?

Whenever possible, try to fix things yourself. Nothing is really that hard if you do a little research and take your time. Fixing toilets, sinks, ceiling fans, drywall, landscaping can be quick and cheap weekend projects. Remember start small and do a little at a time.

If you are physically able, mow and edge your own yard. A self propelled lawn mower and electric edger will cost less that $400 and will save you the $100 plus per month an unreliable landscaper will charge you.

Be sure to install smoke alarms, Carbon monoxide detectors and at least 2 good fire extinguishers.

I learned a lot of this stuff the hard way I hope you don't have to.

Bits of wisdom and a quick hammer video.

When shopping for something mechanical or electronic always weigh each box in your hand and pick the heaviest one. Heavy=good and is more likely to have all the parts included.

The cubed and shredded cheeses in the deli may seem like a good deal but they were trimmed from the middle of a moldy block and re=packaged. Give em the sniff test if you don't believe me.

You can buy off brand Kahlua, it all tastes the same.

You can take a stale bag of chips spread them on a cookie sheet and bake at 350 for 5 min and make them as good as new.

All toothpaste and mouthwashes are the same. They all have the same ingredients Save your money and buy the cheap stuff.

A half a lemon dipped in table salt cleans counter tops better than most off the shelf products.

Always buy generic store brand medicines. Exact same ingredients half the price.

Don't take Tylenol if you drink. Bad combination for your liver. Remember, almost all cold medicines contain acetaminophen as well.

Remember to read something aloud before you hit the leave comment button. (I'm bad about it)

If you drink and blog and have failed to get the word verification correct more than 7 times in a row your comment probably isn't any good anyway.

The word "cunt" should be kept behind glass and only used in emergencies.

A Stranger to my own life.

Kirsten pointed out that some people tend to get different things out of the stories I write.

This got me to thinking.

When I write something autobiographical on my blog I usually have no idea what it's going to be about. Usually I pick a time period then begin writing about whatever pops into my head. The details that come out of my keyboard are often a surpirse to me. I find myself wondering what is going to happen next as my fingers tap out the story.

Writing this blog seems to be a form of self hypnosis. Often times I will re-read what I wrote several times and am amazed at it. Like it all happened to someone else. Retelling notable events from my life is thereputic as well. I am able to figure out my own fears, behaviors and personal pitfalls by reading my own stuff as an outside observer.

Lots of things I previously took for granted take on a life of their own when put into writing. I've got a keen memory but often censor myself when speaking. People tend to lose interest when I'm talking to them, unless they are drunk or high... Maybe its a result of our modern society and the short attention spans it creates. Or maybe I'm just boring in real life ...

Blogs seem to be different in the way they reach people. I guess the written word is far from dead. It seems to be more powerful than I first imagined.

When I look into the blogstats to see what people are reading I'm shocked to see readers online for hours on end with dozens of page views. Normally anything over 10 min I would have attributed it to someone leaving the blog and going to take a dump.

I'm humbled and grateful for all of you that get enjoyment or insight out of reading my regurgitations and write such kind insightful things in the comments. Reading what you guys think makes my day much more interesting and helps me to better understand my own mind.

Thanks.

Infomercials AKA liar liar pants on fire.

I'm kind of high strung and have trouble getting to sleep most of the time. Sometimes I find myself laying in front of the TV watching infomercials at 3:00am. I can only stand them for a few minutes before I have to change the channel. These people must make quite a bit of money with their lies and bullshit because I don't see the infomercials going away. Just suffice it to say, I checked this stuff out myself. Luckily, I didn't lose much money but instead gained valuable wisdom regarding shysters, swindlers, chiselers and snake oil salesmen.

Professional marketing people make the product on the infomercial look really good. The job of advertisers is to embellish, coax, cajole and weasel their way into your pocketbook.

I'm in a generous mood today so I'll say that 99% of the products and services advertised on late night TV are complete scams, hoaxes and piles of crap.

Car oil additives and gizmos that increase air intake.
None of these are scientifically proven. I've done research myself on my own cars. No added compression, no additional gas mileage and no added horsepower. Just empty wallet, empty promises and a pile of horse shit.

Work from home, piece jobs, and envelope stuffing.
These shysters want a couple hundred bucks to send you information you can get for free on the Internet or through the mail. These work at home programs are often really shitty due to the fact that you cannot trust them to pay you for work completed, they pad their rejection rate and charge you for "wasted materials"

Buy homes for 100 dollars and sell them for $40,000.
Let me just let you in on a secret folks; The auctions can be ok for an experienced professional home broker. The $100 homes are just weird flukes. There is no get rich quick here. When the infomercial shows an interview with the "people" that claim to be instant millionaires, just whip out your electron microscope and you can see that the small print on the bottom of the screen reads "paid actor" "results not typical"

Pots, pans, knives, choppers, slicers dicers and steamers.
I have seen some of these products in garage sales, dollar stores, flea markets and received them as gifts. Do you know why? Because they are pieces of shit, big bleeding piles of crap. That pan that has three separate cooking chambers is made of spray painted beer can metal. It warps in about three seconds and the "Teflon" paint layer peels off into whatever you are cooking.

The Knives are the cheapest, thinnest and dullest junk you can imagine. I had one of the steak knives disintegrate in my hand while cutting a baked potato.

Classic rock CD's from the 50's 60's and 70's.
They play great music during the commercial. Kinda makes you want to get a couple of sets for the car. They say these CDs and classic songs are sung by the original artists. Well technically or legally they can claim that. The producers of these albums might dig up a drummer that used to be a session artist for one of the famous supergroups, add the people that create muzac, find a bus station bathroom to use as a recording studio, and hocus pocus! it's Creedence Clearwater Revival. If they find an original singer, they pay him with a bottle of old smuggler and have him belt off a couple of tunes then digitally "remaster" the drunken bastard.

My wife bought a pile of this shit music in preparation for a driving trip. I popped in of these disks when we were about 200 miles out. I couldn't help it. All I could ask was: How much did you pay for this fucking shit?

The newest one is "Sell Chinese plastic garbage on Ebay"
This MMC company is trying to convince you that With their $475 mentoring program you can make 50K per month selling plastic dolphin lampshades.

Don't fall for it. These people are getting rich passing off shit as Shinola.

What is collodial silver?

Good question from Kirsten Namskau

Collodial silver is silver metal that is disolved in distilled water by means of electrolosis.It can be made at home with a simple device or it can be bought in concentrated form.

I usually get it from healthfood stores. Be sure to buy the highest PPM (parts per million) that you can get I usually get 500ppm to 1500 ppm and dilute it as needed.

Here is a good article on collodial silver: http://fennterra.com/articles.html

I have used it to cure just about anything relating to germs or viruses.

I haven't been to a doctor in 13 years thanks in no small part to this substance.

From the article:
"To prevent disease, ancient Greeks lined their eating and drinking vessels with silver, as did many cultures throughout the world. . (Encyclopedia Britannica, 1910)Silverware became popular 1,900 years ago when Physicians advised their patients to only eat with silver if they wanted to stay healthy.

During the 14th century, about 25% of the people in Europe died from the bubonic plague. Wealthy parents gave their children silver spoons to suck on to battle the plague. This lead to the expression, "Born with a silver spoon in your mouth".In 1884, Dr. Crede. a German obstetrician, discovered that a mild silver solution put in a babies eyes at birth, would prevent eye infections. This practice rapidly became mandated and is still practiced today in hospitals throughout the world. In 1915 Dr. Leggeroe also worked with adult eyes. He said it was "the most useful opthalmic remedy he had ever seen for eye infections."Pioneers of the American West would put a silver dollar in a jug of milk to keep it fresh without refrigeration. (Health Consciousness Magazine, Vol. 15, No. 4)

Dr. Henry Crooks found that Silver, in the colloidal state, may be applied in a much more concentrated form, with corresponding better results. All fungus, virus, bacterium, streptococcus, staphylococcus, and other pathogenic organisms are killed in three or four minutes [invitro]; in fact, there is no microbe known that is not killed by Colloidal Silver in six minutes or less, at dilution of as little as five parts per million, although there are no side effects whatsoever from high concentrations. - (Use of Colloids in Health and Disease, Health Consciousness Magazine, Vol. 15, No. 4) "

Hope this helps.

Helpful hints

If you see an ant mound in your yard, buy a 5 pound bag of white sugar and pour it generously over all the mounds. The ants will cease foraging and consume the empty calorie sugar and starve to death within 48 hours.

Use rubbing alcohol to remove ink stains

Colloidal silver will kill any germ, virus or fungus with no side effects. I use it for cuts, mouthwash and soured laundry. It also prevents milk from going bad without altering the taste.

Microwave your underwear if you suffer from crotch rot or a yeast infection.

Gargling with pure squeezed lemon juice will clear a sore throat and kill most of the germs residing on the tonsils.

Take 4 aspirin before going to bed if you have been drinking.

Soak your faucet aerators in vinegar overnight if you have hard water. Run a quart of vinegar in your dishwasher to remove scale and get the lime off of your dishes.