Long Time No Post

Hello anyone who is still reading this humble blog. I have not posted in a long time and for that I am sorry. I have been busy with a new job and many other things that being home from school brings. I hope I still have readers because I do not want this blog to fail and fall into the deep dark recesses of the interwebs.
So interesting thing, I am getting checks from the government in the form of tax returns and stuff. Because I am a student I am getting extra money too, it is very exciting. The other day I was reading the newspaper though and I saw that the Canadian government is entering a 50 billion dollar deficit. So I came up with a funny idea, send my tax return money back to the government with a letter saying that I think they need this more then I do. Ha ha that would be funny, but I am not going to do it. I like having money. Anyway short post today but just wanted to say that I am not dead and neither is this blog.

H1N1, the economic crisis and money

So this is a little rant here bear with me. I have a theory you see, a theory that will probably not blow any one's mind but it's something that has been bugging at me. The two "disasters" that we are currently going through (swine flu and the 'economic crisis') have been made up my the news media. Now when it comes to the economy the news media hasn't created the problem, there is an economic problem, but the media has blow it up. As it usually does with anything and we should all know that, but the media making it look like we are on the brink of the next great depression has only made the problem worse.
If it wasn't for the news making this problem into something a lot bigger then it is then I think some of the side effects would not be as bad. The reason it is so hard to get a job is because the media has made it look like we are all going to be jobless in a few months so everyone that has a job is holding on and everyone that hires is looking to save money but not hiring. The thing is the extent of the economic problems is not as large as the news would have you believe. Or economy is not a true capitalism and neither is that of the rest of the world, and because of this a huge horrible depression is almost impossible. We learned from the great depression and have modified our system to be a lot stronger.
Sure a lot of people have lost their jobs, but that has more to do with globalization, outsourcing and terrible management. That and unions that have no clue. If people want to keep working at a car factory for example then they have to recognize that no one wants shitty cars anymore and that they should be willing to take a hit in pay to keep their job. Because that is what it comes down to, take a pay hit or lose your job and people don't realize this until they lose their job because they didn't want to lose a few buck pay. Moving on.
H1N1, this is the biggest media created disaster I can remember. Here are some facts for you: Regular influenza kills on average 100 000 people a year, H1N1 has killed 53 people since it started. There is only one reason why people are worried about this flu, the media. You are better off getting h1n1(aka swine flu) then the regular flu. You are statistically more likely to die if you get the regular flu then if you get h1n1. So yah just had to get that off my chest.
Now one more thing, how to weather the coming global economic collapse followed by the mass deaths caused by h1n1. Save money outside banks, because if the banks go down they are taking your money with them. So save all your cash in an envelope under your mattress. Also make sure you stock up on canned food and shovels. The food so you can eat when the stores are looted clean and the shovels so you can bury your family after they die from swine flu. Or just stop watching the news and the world will start to seem like a much safer place. That's my crazy bad grammar, bad spelling rant. Hope it entertained you for a few minutes.

Angry Dog/cat

Just in case there was some confusion as to my advice the other day here are some handy pictures that will let you know what an angry dog and/or cat looks like.

This is and angry cat, note the fang like needle sharp teeth.



This is an angry dog note the way it looks like it wants to kill you.

Well that should clear up any confusion and make my life advice better.

Email

Now I know everyone has some form of email out there. As in everyone reading this must have an email account of some type and I was thinking today as I deleted 75 junk messages and read the 3 relevant emails that a person's in box is in some way a reflection of their personality. Now I do not know if this has been done before, but I am gonna try to think of the different types of in box out there, and maybe analyze them.
I know personally that my in box is messy as all hell. I delete junk mail without opening it and the emails that I read never get deleted because I read them and move onto the next. So my in box is like 700 read emails that there is no reason for keeping and 3 emails that maybe might be important. I think that this says a lot about me personally, I am a lazy messy person and my in box reflects this laziness and messiness. I am also the kind of person who never throws something away, and the only things I delete in my email are junk mails. Now time to think of other possible in box types...this is actually probably going to be boring because the only other type I can think of is one that is opposite to mine. Hmmmmm, okay loyal readers I ask you (if you have the time) to comment on what your in box is like and see if it reflects you in real life. I might have a pretty viable theory here, maybe something that can fit into my classes on technology and its cultural impacts and reflections.
Sooooooooo, in todays tidbit of advice let us go into the feild of life advice. I am the grand old age of 19 so I probably have some valid advice in this area (that was sarcasim). I am going to try anyway: if a dog looks angry it probably is, if the dog is big and angry do not try to pet it because dogs have sharper teeth then you would think. I guess the same goes for cats, except a cat can't almost kill you. Well that is that until next time stay the opposite of sober.

Roadrash

So my longtime (3 week) readers will know that I enjoy long boarding. Well I am not that great at long boarding and the other day I decided to take a cruise down one of the steepest hills in my neighborhood, bad idea. I got some killer speed wobble and hit a crack and it was over from there. The whole left side of my body is road rash its fun. I don't regret it though, it was fun while it lasted and I learned that I will have to work up to killer hills. It reminded me that if you fall you can pick yourself up and try again or just walk away, and its a lot more fun to try again. There is something important and relevant in that I just don't know what. Maybe like if you fail at something financial you can give up or try again, or if you fail at school, I guess it applies to anything. Well that's my quick post for the day and I will get pictures when I get a camera. Until then a youtube video of long boarding.

Gainful Employment

So after weeks of searching in vain I finally found a job. I am still broke but that will hopefully change once the money starts moving in. The odd thing is that I am kind of skeptical about this job, it seems too sudden. I guess I had just resigned myself to a life of unemployment and now that I am working it feels weird. I have been scammed by jobs in the past and am therefore worried that this might be a scam (its a small family run business). By scam I mean I am slightly worried that I won't get paid, but we will of course have to wait and see.
On that note I give a list of way to avoid getting scammed by your employer.
1.) If it is a big company and you are legally working for them then do not worry because if they do anything to you it will hurt their company image too much so they won't risk it.

2.) Do a google search on the company. Scroll down and look through a few pages of results looking for anything negative about the company.

3.) Pay attention to how they plan on paying you and when. If they pay you at the end of each month you have a lot more to lose if the check doesn't go through.

4.) Talk to any long time employees of the company. Chances are that if people have been working their a few years then they are a decent employer.

5.) If you hear anything along the lines of checks bouncing, people not getting paid the right amount or anything like that be ready to leave and possibly take a hit. The money you might lose will be smaller then if you continue to work and still end up not getting paid.

Well those are my suggestions, if you have any ideas of your own please leave a comment.

Insomnia

So I can't sleep tonight, just adjusting to normal schedule I guess. Anyway I present to you loyal non-existent reader a rant. Insurance, I want to start an insurance company. It seems like the best friggin way to make money, people pay you money and the only thing you have to do is pay for their bills if something happens to go wrong. The best part is people are forced to pay you by the government. I think that if everyone just put all the money they pay in insurance into a savings account that they only used when they needed the money for an accident or something then they would have a lot more money to spend on stuff. Like at least that way people would be in control of their money. Anyway I want to start an insurence company, everyone send me 50 bucks a month and if something bad happens ill send you a hundred bucks (you just have to pay me a 50 doller deductable). All my money problems are solved.

New food: Vietnamese Beef And Lettuce Curry

I made this a few days ago and let me tell you personally it is amazing. Just thinking about it is making my mouth water, it was so good. Best part is that its cheap and easy to make, and it tastes better then ordering food. So I think this works well for a student to make because 1.) its cheap and 2.) it tastes good and 3.) there are a lot of left overs so you can have dinner for like a week. Without further stalling here is the recipe:

Ingredients:

1 cup uncooked long grain white rice 2 cups water 5 teaspoons white sugar 1 clove garlic, minced 1/4 cup fish sauce 5 tablespoons water 1 1/2 tablespoons chile sauce

1 lemon, juiced 2 tablespoons vegetable oil 3 cloves garlic, minced 1 pound ground beef 1 tablespoon ground cumin 1 (28 ounce) can canned diced tomatoes 2 cups lettuce leaves, torn into 1/2 inch wide strips

Directions:

1.	In a pot, bring the rice and water to a boil. Reduce heat to low, cover, and simmer 25 minutes.
2.	In a bowl, mash together the sugar and 1 clove garlic with a pestle. Mix in the fish sauce, water, chile sauce, and lemon juice.
3.	Heat the oil in a wok over high heat, and quickly saute the 3 cloves garlic. Mix the beef into the wok, season with cumin, and cook until evenly brown. Pour in the tomatoes and about 1/2 the fish sauce mixture. Reduce heat to low, and simmer 20 minutes, until thickened.
4.	Toss the lettuce into the beef mixture. Serve at once over the cooked rice with the remaining fish sauce mixture on the side. And here it is your done, enjoy.