Ramblings of My 2020

This is just a laundry list of my activities for 2020 so skip this if you are in a hurry. My intent is to see if you and I can connect in my other levels of interest. Most of you are silent subscribers so it’s a treat when I read your feedback.

INTERNATIONALLY

The new year is here. Many I’ve talked to are glad to be through with 2019 and understandably so. 2019 was a crazy year. I’m surprised nobody has really blamed the media for all the political tensions and violence — they were the ones who benefited from the scare tactics and rumor mongering. Expect an overload of that with this election year. Already I noticed some of the political Youtube videos have suddenly been labeled “restricted” — censorship, here they come. Japan will be hosting the Olympics. That should be interesting.

AT HOME

In case you are interested, here’s what’s in store for me at home.  The pet invasion is our biggest physical challenge. We now have 3 cats and a Corgi. My wife spends more time with the animals than with me. I didn’t know I married Doc. Doolittle. Oh, and our daughter will be moving back home for a while before she moves to Canada to further her studies. We will have a full house.

My wife and I will continue with our Biblical Counseling Course on Thursdays … where we believe in the premise that most of our emotional problems can be cured (not through drugs but) through a refocus on God — who He is, who We are and what is expected of us. If you know anyone needing emotional help, don’t hesitate to ask. We might also start a Bible study group in our home on Wednesday evenings. Invitation is open to all.

BUSINESS

WYNK (What You Need to Know): My marketing, graphic and web design company will continue to help with customized websites and marketing campaigns but this year, I’d like to focus more on book publishing and social media/SEO. One of my favorite clients wants me to design an original board game. That’ll be exciting.

Alpha, my residential property management business will be taking over a new condo complex. The former managers appeared to be charging the residents too much and I’m determined to bring their HOA (Home Owner’s Association) bills down. As our tag line goes: “Bring us your tired, your poor, your disgruntled HOA members and we will give them rest.”

I’d still like to continue doing live caricatures for non-profit organizations. I am one of the most prolific caricaturists in the world (I think I’ve done over 1,700 caricatures in my lifetime) but even this will one day come to an end. Dude, if you don’t have an original “Raoul,” you’re missing out.A day will come and I will do my last caricature because my hands and eyes will no longer coordinate with each other.

I’ve recently been toying with the idea of putting up a new business — producing a special vinaigrette which i concocted. If you like pork chops smothered with vinegar, this is a perfect match. It’s my wife’s favorite food. So far I am in the research and experimental stage. I’ve studied distribution and packaging but I think I might have a problem preserving the spices.

With all of these, I wonder if I will still be able to join my college chums for a week and a half road trip from the West coast to the East coast. We’ve been planning this a few years now. We want to do this before our backs give in, our teeth fall off and our memories wander into the windmills of our minds.

Mama Lou, my aunt, told me (when I was a teenager) that she noticed that I was always busy doing something. I think I am starting to believe her. Isn’t life great?!?

TGIF people!

Raoul

Joke of the Week

Thanks to Peter Paul of S. Pasadena, CA for sharing this joke.

Don’s Puns

Sent by Don of Kelowna, B.C.

Video: Cheapest Travel Rate

Art of Sierra Madre, CA shared this hard-to-believe discount country. You might want to consider this as you plan your travels this year. Can you guess where it is?

Video: This is 2020

Peter Paul of S Pasadena, CA shared this very apt video to welcome the new year.

Parting Shots

Thanks to Don of Kelowna, B.C. who shared this:

Here’s another one from Don:

The post Gettin’ Old appeared first on Traveling Archive.

Fake Schools

You probably know by now that I am a man with many hats. One of my “wardrobe” is a Property Management business. This week, one of our properties sprung a water leak and I had to coordinate the repairs. Do you know how much plumbers charge? $160 an hour! They make more money than many college graduates. And they are very busy. Plus they aren’t burdened with student loans. Surprised? I even know of one who worked as a handyman during High School. He was already earning money while his batch mates struggled in college. Four years later he had enough money to go to Law School and Dental School. Now, bored with just 2 professions, he ran for office and is now also serving as a school superintendent. He drives a Porsche and owns 2 homes. Many of his batch mates are underpaid and heavily in debt.

One may look down at  garbage collectors, truck drivers, construction workers … those blue collar workers … but they earn more than most college grads and, again without the student loans. You’ve heard of mischievous Fake News that have a biased agenda? Well, we have what I cal Fake Schools!

Is a college degree worth the status symbol? I’ve long been an antagonist to the current education system. I believe higher institutions protect the teachers and professors and their industry more than concern for their students. They advertise how wonderful it would be to fulfill one’s dreams of a white collar job but they do not divulge the reality of the over-production of many professions. To be fair, not all vocational schools are good either. I mean, really … how many more beauticians do we need?

See the news anchors on TV? To begin with, there are not a lot of positions in that arena and we’ve watched the wrinkles develop (over 20 years) on some of them and they still aren’t stepping down to give the younger ones a break at the spotlight. Yet schools churn up a lot of these wanna-be MasCom grads. Notice the many British and Australian actors pretending to be Americans in TV and movie shows? Why is that? Notice that the same extras always appear in different shows? It’s like a very small circuit of privileged actors always getting the jobs.

Whoever said “follow your passion” did not consider the practical realities because there are a lot of waiters and Fast Food graduates who followed their dreams. Did Bill Gates, Steve Jobs, Mark Zuckerberg finish college? If you really want to go to college choose a career that is practical rather than comfortable.

‘Tis the season of graduation and moving to higher learning. Do you know someone who’s haggling for a student loan? Please help them be discerning. Tell them to do the research. Is there a demand for their skill? Will their salary pay off their student loans and lifestyle? If their annual tuition is more than their potential annual salary, it doesn’t make sense. Will the career they choose still be relevant in a few years? Unless you’re a surgeon, regular doctors don’t earn as much as they used to. A.I. (like IBM’s Watson) is diagnosing more accurately than a collection of doctors. For the architects, sound technicians, printers, photographers, musicians, etc. — technology has revolutionized their trade. Sadly, some teachers only know the old trade. What can you expect them to teach? Many say colleges are brainwashing camps where students learn to parrot rather than think. Is that true?

I apologize if I sound so negative. But I am negative only to those who are blind to reality. There is so much hope for those who “see.”

But this is just me. Interested to know your thoughts on this matter. TGIF people!

Joke of the Week

Thanks to Don of Kelowna, B.C. for sending this joke.

Video of the Week

Smooth, Funny, Amazing: Mac King’s Rope Trick
Sent by Mike of New York

Don’s Puns

From Don’s collection of puns

Something to Think About

Sent by Rodney of Manitoba, B.C.

Parting Shot

Thanks to Don of Kelowna, B.C. who shared this.

The post Made Up Words appeared first on Traveling Archive.

Email Blackmail:

A Public Service Article to Defend Against the Cyber Criminal Minds

TGIF people!

“It has become appallingly obvious that our technology has exceeded our humanity”
— attributed to Albert Einstein in my email but “Sam” pointed out that it probably came from the movie “Powder” … see comments below

Joke of the Week

Witty Sayings By Phyllis Diller

Shared by Don of Kelowna, B.C.

Videos of the Week

Carbonaro Effect: Survival Backpack
Sent by Tom of Pasadena, CA

This is the ultimate backpack. It’s like the Swiss Army Knife of survival backpacks and the customer is totally amazed!

WATCH VIDEO

Creepy Google
Sent by Art of Sierra Madre, CA

I include this video because I want you to be aware of the present tech power. Just to be clear, this video comes from a conservative media but regardless of your political persuasion, I think it is accurate, complex and interesting. It discusses just how far Google has dominated the tech world and our private data. Kinda sad and bothersome. This is the reason I hardly use Social Media. You should avoid it too.

Don’t be too depressed. Here’s a related discussion that assures us that these tech giants will be overtaken by a new technology in the near future. CLICK HERE.

WATCH VIDEO

Don’s Puns

From Don’s collection of puns

Parting Shot

Thanks to Don of Kelowna, B.C. who shared this photo

The post Phyllis Dillerisms Part 1 appeared first on Traveling Archive.

Did you get the memo? The world was supposed to end last January 13, a Saturday! There are rumors that the false alarm about a North Korean Nuclear attack headed for Hawaii was real … so was the false alarm headed towards Japan three days after. Silly you say, but rumors also contend that the increased military activities going on in South East Asia are in direct response to that. We were fortunate that the US counter offensive was able to thwart the attack. In other words, “the good guys” prevented a nuclear war.

Think about it. It’s like barely missing a car accident. You swerve and prevent a life changing episode; then 5 seconds later, you forget your blessings.

What were you doing that day? That Saturday I was holding 2 meetings in La Habra with my partner John and looking forward to visiting my son in New York in a few days. Imagine, on that day all our wealth, all our debts, all our obligations, all our hopes and dreams — should have been erased instantly in a nuclear cloud (at least for those near Hawaii and Japan).

Would you have been prepared to go in a violent flash? A more important question: where would you have gone? Let’s go down the line of popular beliefs.

Atheists would say their existence would have ended right there. No spiritual mumbo jumbo to elevate to. Ta dah! The End!

Reincarnationists (?) would wake up as a dog, a flea of the dog or a bacteria of the flea (depending on how good they were). Sadly, when they wake up as the next creature the nuclear dust would kill them again and they would cycle down to something even more insignificant. (At least that seems to be the logical progression).

The God-fearing people? Well, depending on their belief they’d wake up in a place of comfort or a place of suffering.
None of those choices seem very inviting, do they? Everything you’ve ever done on this earth would crescendo to this moment in time … the moment of truth. It should be your most important moment because it’s the end of your journey in this present life. What are you doing about it? Are you in car crash memory lapse mode?

Wouldn’t it be nice to know how to wind up in that “comfortable place?” (Wanna call or email me to discuss? I’d love to hear your take on this). My intent is to let you think because we are all living on borrowed time (literally speaking). God, in His infinite wisdom, has given us extra time to prepare and discuss that moment, with people we love and trust, the evidence that would demand a verdict. The truth is out there. I believe in a loving God and I believe He provided that answer. We just need to look for it.

Even if the rumors aren’t true. Why dilly dally? Remember: at this very moment, forces are gearing up for battle in South East Asia. Who knows? Our borrowed time may soon return to its maker.

“Ask and it will be given to you. Seek and you will find. Knock and the door will be opened to you”
— Luke 11:9

TGIF people!

Unique

Contributed by Tom of Pasadena, CA

Tech Support for Marriage

Contributed by Mike of New York

The young woman who submitted the tech support message below (about her relationship with her husband) presumably did it as a joke.

Then she got a reply that was way too good to keep to herself. The tech support people’s love advice was hilarious and genius!

THE QUERY

Dear Tech Support,

Last year I upgraded from Boyfriend 5.0 to Husband 1.0 and noticed a distinct slowdown in overall system performance, particularly in the flower and jewelry applications and intimacy, which operated flawlessly under Boyfriend 5.0.

In addition, Husband 1.0 uninstalled many other valuable programs, such as Romance 9.5 and Personal Attention 6.5, and then installed undesirable programs such as: NBA 5.0, NFL 3.0 and Golf 4.1.

Conversation 8.0 no longer runs, and House Cleaning 2.6 simply crashes the system.

Please note that I have tried running Nagging 5.3 to fix these problems, but to no avail. What can I do?

Signed,

Desperate

The response (that came weeks later out of the blue):

Dear Desperate,

First keep in mind, Boyfriend 5.0 is an Entertainment Package, while Husband 1.0 is an operating system.

Please enter command: I thought you loved me.html and try to download Tears 6.2.

Do not forget to install the Guilt 3.0 update. If that application works as designed, Husband 1.0 should then automatically run the applications Jewelry 2.0 and Flowers 3.5.

However, remember, overuse of the above application can cause Husband 1.0 to default to Grumpy Silence 2.5, Happy Hour 7.0, or Beer 6.1.

Please note that Beer 6.1 is a very bad program that will download the Farting and Snoring Loudly Beta version.

Whatever you do, DO NOT, under any circumstances, install Mother-In-Law 1.0 as it runs a virus in the background that will eventually seize control of all your system resources.

In addition, please do not attempt to re-install the Boyfriend 5.0 program. These are unsupported applications and will crash Husband 1.0.

In summary, Husband 1.0 is a great program, but it does have limited memory and cannot learn new applications quickly.

You might consider buying additional software to improve memory and performance.

We recommend Cooking 3.0.

3 Original Low-Tech Memory Tricks

Contributed by John of Rancho Palos Verdes, CA

When something EXTRA special comes up, one has 3 choices on how to remember it.

1) Tie a knot in your hanky and blow your nose frequently on the day of the “Event.” Only untie knot AFTER the event.

2) Wear a funny suit so that folks ask you “Why are you wearing THAT?” so you can reply “I need to remind myself of something IMPORTANT TODAY.”

3) Carry a VERY heavy weight in your pocket with a note that says “Event: 4pm” (or whatever). As it’s so heavy you’ll want to take frequently take it out. You always see why it’s there.

Note: These are actual spur of the moment ideas my good British friend, John, came up with. This is perfect for technically challenged seniors. It should work nicely. Thanks John!

TGIF Videos

Man With Many Accents
Sent by Art of Sierra Madre, CA

This guy can talk with flawless different accents. Pretty entertaining.

WATCH

The Magician and The Spoiler
Sent by Peter Paul of S Pasadena, CA

Pretty cool Chinese magician … except that his friend’s there to ruin everything.

WATCH

Parting Shot

Thanks to Jackie of Whittier, CA who shared this photo

The post You Are Unique appeared first on Traveling Archive.