SPENT

The Urban Ministries of Durham  has this game out called SPENT I have played through it several times, and I highly recommend you do the same. The game profiles what it could be like if you lost your job and had to revert to something a bit less than what you may be used to. You get to pick between three jobs with the highest pay of $9 a hour, and a savings of $1000, and you have to last a month. After you pick your job, you go through each day or two and have to make choices on how you're going to spend your money. Then it gives you little bits of information on your choice. It's a sad and heart breaking game, but it gives you an idea of how it is for people who live way below the poverty line and on the verge of homelessness. Now, I've been in situations similar to this in the past, and it was fucking hard to make it from week to week. But, luckily I had the benefit of friends and family to work for to earn some extra cash during those times, so I wasn't anywhere near homeless, nor did I ever have the fear of losing my home. And, yes there were times I didn't have a job, but I always worked. You gotta do what you have to to keep some money coming in, especially when you have a family. Although, I can sympathize with people that are in this situation, I can't in good conscious say that I know how it feels. And, playing this game brought back some memories for me, and made me think of how lucky I was. It also makes me think of how hard it has to be for people that don't have the opportunities that I did, and how they must live in fear every day of losing their homes, or their child getting sick, or if they're going to eat next week. No wonder why our country is wrought with sickness, high obesity rates, minions of smokers, and a high average debt. Although this game gives you extreme circumstances, they are possibilities, and could happen during this time. According to the US Census Bureau, the median household income in '09 was just shy of $50k, that's before the government gets it's share (read before taxes). Then you add in expenses of rent or mortgage, utilities, fuel, (if both parents work which is very common today) child care, food, lawn care, and maintenance. That $50k goes away quickly, and most people have in addition to the basic bills necessary to live, they also have a vehicle loan, cell phone, Internet, cable/satellite, land line, both vehicle and home insurance, health and life insurance, then you have separate vision, and dental insurance, and that doesn't even consider incidentals like tires, tickets, unexpected repairs, emergency room visits, co-pays, things not covered by insurance, and taking off work to take care of things as they should happen. Then God forbid you want a piece of peace and happiness, and buy a pet or try to take a vacation.



2009 Poverty Thresholds, Selected Family Types
Single Individual	Under 65 years	$ 11,161
	65 years & older	$ 10,289
Single Parent	One child	$ 14,787
	Two children	$ 17,285
Two Adults	No children	$ 14,366
	One child	$ 17,268
	Two children	$ 21,756
	Three children	$ 25,603

The poverty thresholds above show what 14.3 percent of the U.S. population lived with in the year 2009. In the game mentioned above, with the highest paying job, you make about $18k a year.

Now let us look at some more stats.



Children Under 18 Living in Poverty, 2008
Category	Number (in thousands)	Percent
All children under 18	15, 451	20.7
White only, non-Hispanic	4, 850	11.9
Black	4,480	35.4
Hispanic	5,610	33.1
Asian	531	13.3

As you read the chart above, think about all the info-mercials you see on television today. People and groups asking you to send money to help feed the children in Cambodia, Nigeria, Chile, or where ever they can think of. Yet, how many do you see to help feed the hungry children in the good 'ole U.S. of A.? I personally don't recall any ads on television for them. I know we have our soup kitchens, and charities. And, personally I'd rather give to them, either my time or money, than to send it overseas. I say if we can feed some foreigner kid for less than a dollar a day, then we need to import some of that damn food, give 'um a buck and a half or two bucks for it, let the buy their damn own, and feed our own kids for two or three bucks a day. Shit, if I could get away with five a day for each of my kids, I'd be living high on the hog.

Well, I don't really have much more to say on this subject, so I'll just leave you with this. Think about the less fortunate next time you're at McDonald's or the grocery store. Or next time you see one of those television commercials asking you to send them money and you think about picking up the phone with credit card in hand. That $20 would be better spent down at your local homeless shelter. And, I can almost guarantee that 100 percent of the proceeds go to helping the homeless in your city.

The above charts and stats came from the University of Michigan's National Poverty Center. It was a lot easier to navigate and find the information I wanted than the U.S. Census website.

A Kind Word And A Compliment

You guys are on the mark today. While continuing my reading, I stumbled across another excellent post by Kipp at rockbottom. Enjoy.

This Truly Sucks

While going through my reading list I came across this post at Dribble by Mynx, it's also a problem I have. And, the memory card slot in your head is a great idea. She also has some nice pics on this post.

The New Truck

Well, got my newer truck. It's not new but new to me, and quite a bit newer than the Bronco, by twelve years anyway. '06 Rnager, five speed and 4wd. Easy on the gas and not bad on the eyes either.

And, with me going back out on a rig, and moving farther from work I need to keep my fuel bill down as much as possible. A lot of little changes going on, moving, new truck, back to the rigs. But, I'll all be for the better when things get settled down.

Oh hell, I dunno.

Just sittin here thinking about everything and nothing at the same time. Been doing the moving thing, just gettin my move on. However you want to put it. Been a bit busy, packing and unpacking. Looking to get back on a rig, get back in the derrick and latch some pipe. It's nice when you have time to spread out the move, instead of having to move every possession you have in a weekend. Got two and a half months before I have to get everything moved, so that should be plenty of time. Also, since I'm going to be living farther away from work, I'm working on getting a more fuel efficient truck, the Bronco just uses too much fuel for my liking. So I'm looking at something like a Ranger or Nissan Hardbody, four wheel drive of course. Well, we'll see how the next couple of weeks go. Can't wait to get back on the rig, and the sooner the better on the truck.

Oklahoma's Own 2-18-2011

Mr. Vince Gill....









http://www.vincegill.com/main/index.php

Yup, I got a little overzealous on this one and posted more videos than I usually do, there were just so many I liked and couldn't decide which ones I wanted to post. So, I just posted them all. Enjoy.

Just some more quotes.

Optimism is essential to achievement and it is also the foundation of courage and of true progress.
-Nicholas Murray Butler

No matter how often defeated, you are born to victory. The reward of a thing well done is to have done it.
-Ralph Waldo Emerson

Don't go by gossip and rumor, nor by what's to you by others, not by what you hear said, no even by the authority of you traditional teachings. Don't go by reasoning, nor by inferring one thing from another, nor by argument about methods, not from liking an opinion, nor from awe of the teacher and thinking he bust be deferred to. Instead, when you know from within yourselves that sertain theachings are good, that when put into practice they lead to loss and suffering, you must then trust yourselves and reject them.
-  The Anguttara Nikaya

The way to love anything is to realize it might be lost.
-G. K. Chesterton

Who reaches with a clumsy hand for a rose must not complain if the thorns scratch.
-Heinrich Heine, "Rabbi of Bacharach"

What you don't see with you eyes, don't witness with your mouth.
-Jewish Proverb

Aliens Among Us?!

I watch a lot of History Channel and stuff of the like. They have been playing a series called Ancient Aliens quite a bit here lately, I've watched most of them. And, they present a theroy that aliens helped move our civilazation into the stone age and to evolve into what we are now. They cite the Nazca Lines, Stonehenge, The Easter Island Monoliths, The Egyptian, Aztec, Myan, and Incan Pyramids, Crop Circles, and other stuff like that, as signals from both us and aliens to alien pilots. And, as guides for us humans to show where in the sky they came from. They also think that these aliens are the basis of our world religions all through history, from Ra to God. And, that the Angels described in The Bible were infact alien visitors. Now, I'm not saying whether they're right or wrong, thus far it's just a theroy even if they think they're right. Their "proof" if put in a murder context would give speculation of the accused, but not a conviction. They have a lot of interesting evidence, and I do believe that it is in fact possible, and maybe even highly likely, and it still wouldn't be contrary to The Bible or the core beliefs of Christianinty. Just like I don't believe that sicence disproves the existance of a creator. I believe that with enough knowledge of science and religion, that we can and possibly will come to learn that both camps of thought are true to the fullest extent. I'm not saying that the aliens are Gods or that they created us, but it's possible that whoever created us also created them and that they were sent here by our God to help us along and to keep an eye on us.

Oklahoma's Own 2/8/2011

I present to you... The Gap Band from Tulsa, Oklahoma.




Gap Band - You Dropped A Bomb On Me
Uploaded by Discodandan. - Watch more music videos, in HD!

COMING SOON! To A Country Road Near You.... ME!

Put a down payment on a place near my home town of Chickasha yesterday. Pretty nice place, twenty one hundred square foot of mobile/manufactured/trailer home, with redwood decks, forty by forty shop, and nearly two acres. So, it's off to the packing races, but with turtles, we're looking to move in May, let the girls finish out the school year here. While we were out at the place looking around and talking with the neighbours I realized something that I thought was funny. And, that is exactly what perspective is. I spent the first five years of my life on a three hundred acre farm, and the following ten helping my grandpa with chores on the remaining plots he had, one one hundred acre farm on the Washita River, and a couple plots of twenty and forty that we would tend to, he always liked to keep enough land to hold five or six steers. And, even when we moved into town, we moved into a town of fifteen thousand people, yup a small city, but still small enough where we had big 4H and agriculture clubs/classes/memberships what ever you want to call them. Most of the kids I went to school with in Chickasha their parents had land, or their grand parents did. They partially grew up on farms or ranches at the least.

My wife, grew up in towns and cities. Mostly in the Oklahoma City area, and a few years in the Phoenix, AZ and a few years in Watertown, NY. Don't know much about Watertown, but the OKC metro has around three million bodies in it, and I know Phoenix has quite a few more than that. So, we have had different experiences growing up, to say the least.

I noticed how different our upbringin' was while we were out looking at the place we're moving into.
To her two and a half acres is some land, to me it's a big yard. She thinks the sound of coyotes is disturbing, I think the sound of semi's running down the interstate is disturbing. We're a half mile from the city limits, and about three miles from Chickasha proper, to her we're out in the boonies, to me we're on the outskirts of town. The area we're moving to is a hundred acre field that's been divided into two to six acre lots, to her that's out in the country, to me we're in a neighbourhood. It just stuck me as funny how different we were raised. There's nothing wrong with how either of us were raised. It's just different. Personally, I've lived here for a year and a half, and I'm still not used to the interstate traffic, and other city noises. And, I know it'll take her a while to get used to the country noises like the coyotes howlin' the wind blowin, and the crickets chirpin, maybe a bobcat holler every once in a while. And, while she adjusts, I'll be right there with her sippin my whiskey, howlin back at the coyotes. And, doing what I can to make the change as easy as I can on my baby doll.