With everything that has happened over the past 12 or so years I forgot how good it is to work for yourself. Sure the temptation is there to say, “What the hell”, or something similar and take the day off,….not me. I’m up in my office about six thirty in the morning, take a break for breakfast with my wife whenever it’s ready, then back to work. I usually work til “Pub time” which is about 4 p.m. (all work and no Guinness makes Jack definitely a dull boy!) Sometimes if the weather is warmer than it has been, I’ll walk a few miles in the neighborhood, or if it’s cold or rainy, off to the gym for a good four miles at least. I usually vary the times from 6 a.m. to late morning 10:30 a.m. to early afternoon, or mid afternoon, even on the weekends, except Sunday. (I figure if it’s good enough for God to take Sunday off,…well I can too.)

        Anyway, the health is becoming much better now. When I first started walking I couldn’t get to a half a mile and my heart was pounding along at 100+, now after a scant six months I am amazing myself and getting up to three and a half miles before I can make it hit 100! I decided to put the emphasis on the cardio until after the first of the year, and then start adding in the strength training in earnest after the first. (I couldn’t cope with becoming Adonis all at once:).

         But between putting along on my book, working out, getting ready to activate my first client January 1, and feeling about 25 years younger life is just about “as usual”.

        I cleaned up my entire office, “the Pit”, a week or so ago, and I can’t tell you how many times I’ve looked for something that I used to know exactly which pile it was in on the floor or the couch, but now I have to figure out what I filed it under!

        Well I’ll most likely do a few more blogs before Christmas, but for now gotta run, have to get to the bank and put money in, check on one of my “former” employers customers to be sure the elevator in the building got fixed and is working now. (I know, not my responsibility, I’m just one of those old fashioned if I start a project I’ll finish it with or without a paycheck. It’s an investment in the future for Public Relations and good recommendations. Man I sure am typing slow today, though tI would be able to write more before the clock said “Get your ass out of the chair and get to the bank dummy,….and I mean now!) You got one of those talking clocks?

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       There are many, many life changing events, like your first beer, your first kiss, your first car, and on and on. Each of those dates carries with it a long term memory for years to come. Those memories make you feel great, it’s the “notches in your gun” of life. Well,…today the gun backfired! I achieved another “first”,….but not really one I wanted to receive.

         My Medicare card arrived! Ever since it got here and when I opened the envelope and looked at it,…..well it was depressing. I know all the bullshit about I’m entitled to it, the government is just here to help me as I age (now that is the biggest pile of horse manure I’ve ever heard,we know they are not seriously here to help anyone!)

        I have an almost uncontrollable urge to go back to bed and wait to go to the hospital and die. I don’t look forward to the embarrassment of having to present my Medicare card at the pharmacy and be pigeon holed as “just another old fart”. I mean really do all these high end executives give their medicare cards when they go in to refill their prescriptions?

       It has become the “Gold Watch” of retirement aging now. It’s almost a “Here you go, enjoy,….you’re gonna die soon anyway.”

        (sigh) Well I guess I’ll see if they accept it at the Pub this evening, after all Guinness is good for you. In fact it’s known as “Vitamin G”. (Now where can I go buy a cane and a shawl in my “elderly period”)

         Speaking of that I must be getting old, I didn’t even get dressed today. I came up to “the Pit” to try and get a little work done before breakfast and here I am at 4 p.m. still up here working away, (or maybe it’s tomorrow already and when I look down over the railing at the dining room table my breakfast will be sitting there waiting for me,….naw, the damn cat would have eaten it by now for sure.)

          Tried my new Christmas present out yesterday at the gym, my heart monitor calorie counting, exercise zone charting device, wrist watch. It works very well. I was “benchmarking it against the heart monitors on the treadmill, and they stayed within one beat of each other for two hours. I’m impressed. It looks a little “gompy” , kind of like one of those “diver’s watches” with the black rubber wrist bands, and digital faces, (sigh) see another sign of old age, I prefer Mickey’s hands telling me what time it is, not some damn computer chip! But the numbers are nice and big so I can really read them, and one of the damn buttons on it lights up the time as well, (if I can just figure out which one!)

       Then to make everything worse they are having some kind of a “Blackberry e-mail outage” so I’m here at my desktop almost afraid to go pee because my B’berry won’t tell me it’s getting an important spam message for me about wheel chairs that are battery powered and shit like that!

       Oh,……sorry! Just dozed off, they tell me us old farts do that from time to time.

        Well I’m out of here, (oh shit, I don’t have a GPS in my car! Sure hope the car knows the way to the Pub and back.)

       Until we meet again mon ami. (Bet you didn’t know I could speak Chinese did ya’

-30-

    Well this year it’s a lot like New England,….cold as an ice cube! We have been down in the high 30’s and low 40’s for the past week or so. (Now granted in New England it got down to the -10’s or so,…but that’s why I left and came down here to get away from the cold and dismal!

     After a time in a warmer climate you blood tends to thin out a bit as well,…so the cold bothers the hell out of you more. But I will survive.

    Anyway it’s getting to be Christmas and I’m actually excited, number one because I’m still alive and kicking on the top side of the grass, and number two because I just am!

    My book is coming alone pretty well I’m into writing Chapter 10 and re-re-revising the previous ones when I don’t feel like writing. I have enough back up and reference material to become a downright expert on Cardio Re-hab, exercise and dieting to stay alive.

     Pet Peeve: the commercials on TV for all the drugs for depression and anxiety. It’s not the commercial it’s the A**hole at the end ripping through all the “possible side effects” which always include death and mayhem. Come on I understand we are a very litigious society, but after all, how about a General Motors Ad that adds, “And buying this car may lead to mild to severe cases of whiplash in an accident or possible death”? Or a cosmetics ad, for the ladies of course saying, …”And prolonged use of this coloring hair agent may lead to extreme loss of your hair and a stiffing of the hair to the consistency of wire”.  And then again how about an Ice Cream commercial,….”"Use of this product in large doses will make you obese and subject to severe diabetes and eventual loss of fingers, toes, arms and/or legs and eventual death.” Or even a fast food ad, like the Colonel’s Fried Chicken,….” The surgeon General requires that you be made aware that the fats used in the frying process as well as the inherent fats in the product itself may lead to plaque in your blood stream in excessive quantities that will potentially cause a serious medical condition such as a stroke, coronary artery replacement, or in some cases death.”

        Man,…is nothing safe on this planet anymore. Even water has been linked to being overdosed and dying. (No lie, I read an article on it where someone drank so much water the kidneys could not take it any more and shut down and the went on to the “designer water” heaven.

        They stopped talking incessantly about cell phones causing brain tumors because of the inherent microwaves being beamed in and out of them, and it has promoted an entire new generation that came totally communicate without using a single properly spelled word for years,…”b-gud r I kik yo but”

        To much for our elderly senior citizens, and folks like my wife are extremely stubborn about it.  (First thing I had to do when I got her a newer used car and took over hers was to rip off the bumper sticker that said “Hang up the damn cell phone  and just drive”

        My newest pet peeve however is all the “challenged” folks playing those stupid mindless pre-school games like “Farmville” and the like on facebook. It has actually driven me to go on a whole pursuit of how to “UN-friend” someone on my “friends” list on my facebook. Ask me if I really give a shit that you planted some beans, or cleaned up an oil spill. I mean it just ain’t real and if you think about the pure waste of energy, brain cells and time involved you are screwing up my precious time because I am wearing our the scroll button on my blackberry trying to scroll past this crap to see what friends are actually doing or how they are feeling. Go get a job, a life, or whatever it takes to float your boat, but stop insulting my Intelligence with this crap!

     (Sorry, got a little “rip roaring” on that one   )

       For all Southern American Males the year ended a few weeks ago when the College Football season ended, and all that remain are the “bowl games”. I suppose they were called that because way back when the winner got a silver bowl or the like as the trophy for winning. Now there are so many of then that rage on into the new year that they are a joke. Don’t get me wrong I like watching College football, but why not have a “Tidi-Bowl”, or a “Salad Bowl” or “The Soup Bowl”, or the “Cereal Bowl” ? Some are legitimate, like “The Sugar Bowl”, The Orange Bowl, but “The Rose Bowl” or the “Cotton Bowl”. I ask you when was the last time you saw cotton in a bowl, or roses even.

       Things not to do again,….Eat at “Jim and Nick’s BBQ”. Damn gained four pounds in one meal there over the weekend! I had the same experience the last time but I thought it was an aberration,…guess not (sigh) but damn is that good BBQ and the jot little cheese muffins in the basket (like about ten per basket), and the homemade potato salad with “Dukes” mayonnaise. (Dukes, like many other ” Southern specialties” were invented long before the world knew what a “calorie” , a “cholesterol reading”, or the word “obese” were ever coined, and still consumed by the tub full down here. (Incidentally the make a pimento cheese dip to die for, Literally. It’ s cream cheese with cheddar cheese, pimento and just about an equal portion of “Dukes” mayonnaise. As a concession to the health conscious it is served with celery sticks or the more traditional “crackers” (Damn,…more drool on the keyboard, sorry!)

        Here’s a “too damn dumb to learn” anecdote: My wife was in her usual festive holiday mood and decorating this past week end, I went to the gym to run because as I am always reminded my taste is in my shoes (never quite figured out what that meant, but I’m sure it’s not good.:) ) Anyway I came home and walked in and she had put this new Christmassy floor mat inside the door from the garage to the house. As I started to enter, my fantastic peripheral vision picked up what my minds eye deemed to be a couple of shoes on this mat,…so I sort of tripped trying not to step on them as I entered. Well ,…lo and behold, what they really were were three penguins on the mat. (Work with me here, penguin, lying on his back, white chest, and surrounded by a thicker black body,….don;t look directly at it but let your peripheral downward vision look at it. OK, now you know what I saw!)

       Anyhow not once, not twice, but the next three times I came in the door I almost tripped from trying not to step on the “perceived shoes” on the mat. Finally I said “Please move this damn mat somewhere else so I don’t kill my self tripping on it.”  And after the usual comments about my lack of memory and awareness or the “CRS syndrome” (“Can’t Remember Shit”) it was moved.

        I swear they really did look like shes, …I not lyin’!!

        Well got to get back to work. Since there is no “Boss” looking over my shoulder I decide priorities, and this was this mornings!

-30-

      Isn’t that a great way to start your weekend? I planned on pulling the trigger about January 15th, BUT, the “boy king” was quicker on the trigger,…(sigh). Now the age old question,”Is the glass half empty,…or half full?”

     Actually it’s half full for me. One of my clients is going to switch and use my company (the one I started a year or so ago that’s been on hold because of my little heart situation) so that’s the “half filled” part, the “half empty” part is I need to go beat the bushes and “practice what I preach”. I.e. managing community associations is an impossible job if you have more than three or four, because that is all any human being can individually handle with out “cheating” all of them out of your best efforts on their behalf at managing them full time.

       I never have been a fan of the POTHF managment technique and philosophy. POTHF? Sorry it stands for “Pissing On The Highest Fire”. It works quitte simply, 1) never actually “solve” the problem, …just sort of “lessen” it’s impact and move on to the next client, and 2) make sure when it flares up again you have “plausible deniability” when someone says, “Gee, I thought we took care of this already,….didn’t we?”  (Proper POTHF response: ” We most certainly did because there is no way, based on the solution or correction I put in place could it EVER reoccur,…trust me on that, I’m a professional, and I do this for a living, so I know exactly what I’m doing.”)

         I guess I’m just to old to adapt to that managment technique,…or too honest. Like a told a friend when he heard last evening, I’m 65 years old,…I already missed the “gold ring”, …but I’m working on a silver one that let’s me go home and sleep at night.”

         Soooooo,…..Advanced Property Managment Solutions, LLC (web site www.yourcamcompany.com )  is now actively a working company with our first contract effective in 25 calendar days. Time to “turn ‘n burn” as the old Navy jet pilots used to say. But fear not I will get the 500th Blog finished and posted before I start in earnest on January 1st.

         Now,….don’t go all soft on me here, and DO NOT send me any “Sorry to hear you were let go”, or any “There is always unemplyment compensation” or the old “What kind of an asshole would fire you just before Christmas?” because you know what? I couldn’t be happier,…really! 

         Well I’m in training for this big 5K race I’m in, with my wife (between the two of us we’ve lost a combined total of 90 pounds and still working for an even 100 pounds) next Saturday morning so it’s off to the gym for my four mile treadmill workout, (maybe even 5 miles today), and every day until Saturday.  And then to the Pub to replenish the “vital liquids” and watch my New England Patriots defeat the Miami Dolphins (“squish the fish).

         Stay tuned for tomorrows installment of “life begins at 65″.

         Oh yeah, any comments on my web site or suggestions for improving it, let me know. I’m open to suggestions from anyone, because in the end I can take them or leave them, and damned if other folks don;t have some great ideas. I read them and slap myself on the forehead and say “Damn,…why didn’t I think of that!”

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            I really think God plays with our minds. When we were young, time passed so slowly it was like watching a slow-motion video grotesquely funny, but very trying if you were in it.

           Then as high school came around it seemed like those monthly tests were only two days apart. Lost track of time in College (like they say,” if you remember the 60’s,… you weren’t there”" ,…right sims? We were going through a major cultural shift in the world. the “Classics” became Kerouac, Dylan and Plath, the great tunes became “Hey Jude”, “Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds” , and “We got to get out of this place”.

          The face of war changed to butt ugly, the very first generation of young men prepared to give their life for their country and the freedoms we enjoy were shunned, spit upon, ridiculed,…and isolated.  New things happened, like “Post Traumatic Stress Disorder”, “HIV” , and other “medical advancements”. The life that used to be simple began taking on a dark, foreboding haze, and the country went from a “we” to a “me”.

         Then God had time stand still, as life seemed to go on forever, raising the kids, trying to get and keep a job or career, trying to “buy into” the American Dream and the 2 1/2 bath three bedroom home in the ‘burbs with great neighbors, good kids, and the poor man’s pride and joy,…a green well cut and fertilized lawn!

        Then one morning you wake up and the clock is moving at a fast forward speed.

         ”It can’t be 9 0′clock, I just got up and haven’t even taken a shower or shaved yet,…damn.”

         “So what’s your schedule this week honey?” 

         “Ecumenical choir practice Sunday afternoon and Monday evening, Catholic Choir Tuesday evening, I’m off Wednesday but I have to work Thursday and Friday nights until close.”

         ”Well I can rustle up some food when I get home and we can have dinner together on Wednesday and how about going out to a movie Saturday night?”

        “Sounds good to me, have a good day at work, I love you.”

        ”Love you too,…shit I’m an hour late already!”

         And now you start getting bombarded with a lot of “Medicare” ads and mailings,…”Shit, I’m too damn young for this I’m only…………oh yeah, sixty-five.”

        Worse yet your pharmacist knows you by first name, and even takes the time to show you the “off the shelf” stuff for $13.97 instead of the exact same bunch of chemicals prescribed by your Doctor for $358.95!! (I guess he likes me because I always call him by name, and when the girl asks, “Do you have any questions on this prescription for the pharmacist?” I always answer, “Yeah, Isn’t it time for you to pick up the tab this time Jack?” And we both smile.

        Well enjoy life, I know I am, afterall it’s 9:45 a.m. and I’m due at work at 8:30 am,……gee guess I’m late so fire me and I’ll sue you, they tell me I’m a senior citizen and you damn well don;t want to mess with us!

        “Why not?” you ask.

        “Think about it dip-shit. We have been working our asses off for fifty years or so, are slowing down big time, it takes you at 30 almost a third less time to run a mile than me. My target heart rate on you would mean your sleeping. I spend more on medication than beer (very sad commentary on life, for it was the beer that used to calm my fears and make life “rosey”) So what have I got to lose, you know. I strangle the shit out of you, sit and have a beer waiting for the cops to come, waive my rights, get the speedy trial, and spend the rest of my life in a FREE 8×10 foot place I can call home with no mortgage payment, three square meals a day, FREE, no cost health and dental care, a big library with tons of stuff to read, my own TV if I’m good, …….and yes it’s prison, but the way this world has been going I got a hunch in a few years one might be safer on the inside,…..you know what I mean?

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    I’ve always liked Thanksgiving because,(at least for the guys)it’s a real laid back relaxed time to eat,have a few drinks, watch some football, eat some more, AND>>>>because Turkey (the traditional entrée for Thanksgiving) has a “drug” called “ triptosomethingsomething a mine” in it you can easily take a “nap” (yea!!)

       Been skipping the gym this week because of all the damn annual meetings I’ve had and frankly given the option of working out after an Annual Owners Meeting, or doing a few “elbow curls” at the Pub,….well do I have to spell it out?

      AS our “recovering economy” progresses in this country I am totally mystified. How does an economy get “better” with more people being unemployed, less consumer spending, healthcare premiums going up by double digits, and a weeks groceries almost twice my first car payment on a brand new car in 1967, and more than my entire monthly mortgage payment in 1970?

       While not the “brightest bulb in the chandelier” my personal educated researched and financially driven estimate and assessment is that the whole thing is Bull Shit! But then again what do I know.

       But I’m ready, my company is up and going,(actually has been for over a year until this heart thingy this year put a “hold” on it) first client signed for February 1st start, computers being “tweaked” in a couple weeks, the “Pit” being cleaned up and now starting to resemble a compact, organized and well run business office dynamo. (Wonder how long I can keep it looking like that?)

        I have developed into a “Pile Management Advocate” over my long and inconspicuous business career. You know, one “In” basket, and when it gets full get a bigger “In” basket,…and when that one starts bulging at the seams and looks like a scale model of Mount Everest,…well start another “pile”, but don’t call it an “In” basket. (Well documented psychological fact, multiple “To Do” or “In” baskets are detrimental to your mental health so it automatically becomes a “pile”. This allows you the luxury of handling you “In” items at your leisure and see yourself making progress at it. (Or something like that)

       But every once in a while as you walk into your “office” or “pit” you have this over whelming feeling of total inadequacy, sloathfulness, and can seriously consider just moving to the Pub for a month or two. BUT there is a solution!

       Just get a good clear night’s rest, in fact sleep in about an hour later than usual, and then get a steaming cup of Coffee, latte, or Tea (Russian or Irish Breakfast Teas being the best for this task) pull up a big trash bag the kind you use for leaves and the like, and shove the first pile created after the “In” basket was no longer able to contain a single sheet of paper, right in it. Don’t bother sorting, you will find as we progress in this task you have plenty of “duplicate copies” (especially bills, God love those guys you owe, they are so accommodating and send you a fresh clean bill every month!)

        Continue the process until you only have a single “most recent” pile left. At that point take your “In” basket and empty the contents into the Trash bag, carefully check the empty basket to insure any broken or sharp edges are not going to endanger you, if so repair them, then transfer your “most recent” pile into the “In” basket and you have then “processed” your “In” basket.

          Now I hear the comments and fears of missing an “important” item, but in reality any memo that you EVER get it ancient history after eight hours because the sender will call you no more than two hours after sending the memo and asking if you have had a chance to read it yet. Tell them you are working on your “In” basket and will get to it as soon as you can. After that you are home free. The follow up flag the sender put on it they have complied with, and the report, answer, task or “other” wasn’t that important anyway so you have handled it.

       To further help your organizational situation take the “In” box contents and sort them into two distinct categories, the “I OWE” category, and the “I KNOW” category. When you finish take the “I KNOW” pile and place it in the trash bag, …afterall you know it already and keeping it would be useless duplication and wasting you valuable time in re-reading it!

        Take the “I OWE” portion, and look at the amounts you owe per item, or bill. (Now this is the tricky part) Mentally add up the amounts until they exceed the amount you have in your checking account. Take all remaining “I OWE” items and place them in the trash bag. It’s futile to continue to keep them, after all you don’t have the money to pay them,…right?

         Now what remains, usually three or four items, you write a check for, being careful not to exceed the amount you have in the bank to honor the payments. Double check it with a calculator to be sure and you are done.

        Your “In” basket is empty, your piles are taken care of, your coffee, tea, or Latte is gone, and psychologically you feel great. Get your “duster” out and run it over everything in your office, and if you are really feeling good you might even vacuum the office. At that point your self-esteem, your hard work, and your perseverance in the face of what seemed like overwhelming odds has been paid off.

      Go work out, hit the Pub , or go shopping!

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    I just did a post I urge everyone to read and then let your conscious be your guide, but I thought I’d tell you a little more about what I’ve been up too.

     For starters as you all know I am an “info junkie”, like the Robot Johnny Five from the movie, “more input Stephanie”, or the plant from little shop of Horrors, “Feed me Seymour, feed me”.

      Well after my bypass surgery last spring, another trip back to the hospital a few weeks later, and then trying to “get in shape” (i.e. lose weight and exercise) I was devouring everything I could find on all the above subjects, only to find the info was severely limited. Oh there was a ton of it, but nothing cohesive, like a program with step by step instructions. And by and large everyone was “hands off” for fear of liability issues, but not me! I ain’t got anything now so what can you get from me?

        So I started my research, collecting info from all over the internet from Harvard University to South Africa, and viola, soon I had more than enough to write a good book, so that’s where all my “ink” and keyboard time has been going, (other than working out, and occasionally stopping by the office for a few hours a day,…and of course that ancient tradition of “Happy Hour” for a couple Guinness at my “local”.

       I decided to cull through all I had obtained for information, programs and real “down to earth, realistic solutions”. Like how many times have you heard your Doctor, wife, girlfriend, or one of your other friends say, “You know you could stand to lose a little weight and tone up.”, or “So what happened to the sexy sailor I married?” and a dozen more lines like that. Yeah we all know we could do better,….but we liked being who we are in our skin, at least enough so that the alternative of changing was not as appealing as just shrugging off the comments or changing the subject. “So how about those Red Sox,…great game last night.”

        No matter how “good” you feel, or how “satisfied” with you as you think you are, trust me, it ain’t so deep down, and thus began my journey. (Also the idea of being on this side of the grass is a lot more appealing than the alternative!)

           So,…the working title of the book is “OK, so I’m still here,…now what?” the tag line is ” …a physical, emotional, and spiritual diary and a real experience in continuing to stay alive every day.”

         No deep dark secret here, I’ve blogged about the details of all my surgeries, recoveries, etc. several months ago, and even “believed” as Jack Nickolson once said,”I’m back, hee, hee, hee”.  The bottom line is that any kind of heart condition, and there are many different types of them, are, and should be  life altering. Thank God it’s not quite the same as a cancer diagnosis, and it’s wretched program of poisons, via chemotherapy and radiation, with no real guarantees, but most heart related diagnoses are somewhat manageable,….if you really want to manage them.

        It definitely means a long cold hard look into the mirror, and consciously making that decision to “get a life” that for the most part has been alien to you up to this point.

         I’m hoping to have the book finished and then look to be marketing it by April 2010. (I know I could call it “A year of living safely”,…but it doesn’t trip my trigger, and after all to get someone to buy it I need to catch your attention and hold it, hence the current working title.)

        Maybe I’ll post a few pages down the road on this blog for your review AND comments, lord knows you all write  fairly well and I could sure use the help.

       I’ve also been getting ready for “the transition”, i.e. getting my monthly stipend and medicare card from the government. Not that it solves all of life’s problems, but it’s a help after being taxed to death for over fifty years of working. I think sub-consciously in the back of my mind it is going to give me that old, “up yours” ability when it comes to working for idiots and morons. I have and still do maintain that regardless of the unemployment rate there is work for everyone, maybe not your favorite, maybe not your ideal or career position, but something which will let you look in that mirror and say, “I’m pulling my own weight.” It’s sort of a personal self-esteem issue with me, but I can’t speak for everyone.

       Well it’s about time to head for the gym and get my four miles in and some chest and ab exercises. So until next time I leave you with a quote from one of our best Presidents, Ronald Regan.

          “There are no constraints on the human mind, no walls around the human spirit, no barriers to our progress except,….those we place there ourselves.”

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Adding insult to infamy

     Short note of apology to all who have been looking for more articles from me, but I have been straight out and REALLY turned into a gym bunny and am now working out at least 4-5 days a week and walking about four miles a day for all seven. My weight has plateaued a bit, but I still enjoy a couple of Guinness pints a day which makes dealing with a stupid boss, perturbed homeowners, and other wise “dumb shits” who ,….well let’s say that the old adadge that God created Guinness from conquering the world also applies to keeping hot headed Irish Americans like me from saving the gene pool via the expiration of idiots!

      Speaking of idiots I am done writing for today, BUT I am giving you an article that appeared in the Boston Globe this morning that really disgusted me, first as a veteran who put his life in service to our country for about six years, and secondly as an American who is watching his country turn to the most colossal joke on earth from the liberal idiots who run the show.

       If this disgusts you as well please let me know and forward it to anyone you know who was in the service, as they are totally and absolutely more patriotic and worthy of being Americans than our “Jester in Chief” Lord Obama.

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<!– Adding insult to infamy Boston Globe On Veterans Day, Christine Devlin stood in the cold in Westwood for the unveiling of a new memorial to local soldiers lost overseas, including her son Michael, one of the 241 servicemen killed in the bombing of the US Marine barracks in Lebanon in 1983. Bryan Bender November 14, 2009 –>

26 years after attack on Marine barracks in Beirut, families stymied again in bid for restitution

Christine Devlin displayed a photo of her son Michael, who was killed in a 1983 terrorist bombing in Beirut. Below, US Marines pulled survivors from the rubble. (John Tlumacki/ Globe Staff)

By Bryan Bender Globe Staff / November 14, 2009

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On Veterans Day, Christine Devlin stood in the cold in Westwood for the unveiling of a new memorial to local soldiers lost overseas, including her son Michael, one of the 241 servicemen killed in the bombing of the US Marine barracks in Lebanon in 1983.

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Devlin is among 30 Massachusetts relatives of victims of the Beirut attack who have been fighting for more than a decade to get compensation for what many consider the first major terrorist attack against the United States. After a federal judge ruled in 2007 that Iran was liable for $2.65 billion in damages to be shared by 150 families seeking restitution, they believed they were on the cusp of victory.

But now, the Obama administration is going to court to try to block payments from Iranian assets that the families’ lawyers want seized, contending that it would jeopardize sensitive negotiations with Iran over its nuclear program and establish a potentially damaging precedent.

In a little-noticed filing in federal court, the Justice Department is arguing that giving the money to the victims “can have significant, detrimental impact on our foreign relations, as well as the reciprocal treatment of the United States and its extensive overseas property holdings.’’

The Obama administration’s position is a blow to those like Devlin, who is still waiting for some measure of justice for her son, who was 21 when Hezbollah terrorists rammed a suicide truck bomb into the peacekeepers’ headquarters.

“It is offensive that our government – the government that [the Marines] were fighting for, who sent them there – are against us collecting from Iran,’’ Devlin said in an interview this week. “I felt justice was going to be served, but so far it hasn’t.’’

“We can’t go on with our lives,’’ said Marlys Lemnah, 62, of St. Albans, Vt., whose husband, Richard, a Marine sergeant nearing his 20-year retirement, was killed in Beirut. “It’s not about the money. We need something tangible: responsibility and accountability. We will fight until we have no more fight left.’’

The lawsuit, specialists say, also demonstrates the enormous difficulty for terrorism victims in general to collect damages. Despite a host of court rulings in its favor and legislation passed by Congress to make it possible to sue foreign governments that sponsor terrorism, the executive branch has long resisted such payments, arguing that seizing the assets of another country could restrict the president’s ability to conduct diplomacy. There are also significant legal disagreements over what kind of assets can be seized.

“Two branches are supporting [the families’] position and the executive branch is directly trying to undermine them,’’ said David J. Strachman, a Providence lawyer who has represented numerous families in terrorism cases involving Iran, but is not involved in this case.

Even the courts have grown frustrated. Royce C. Lamberth, chief judge of the US District Court in Washington who ruled in favor of the Beirut families, wrote in a Sept. 30 opinion that “these case have consumed substantial judicial resources while achieving few tangible results for the victims.’’

Over the years, Iran, which since 1984 has been designated a state sponsor of terrorism by the US government, has been found liable for nearly $10 billion in damages for attacks on Americans attributed to the Lebanese Hezbollah and Palestinian terror groups including Hamas and Islamic Jihad that the United States says are financed and trained by Iran.

But in only a few cases have any Iranian funds been seized as compensation for the victims or their families – most notably from Iranian funds held by the US government before the two countries severed diplomatic relations in 1979.

Lawyers representing the Beirut families first went to court seeking damages in 2001, after Congress passed a law giving US courts jurisdiction over such lawsuits against nations that sponsor international terrorism.

Building the case took four years of depositions from victims’ relatives, US government officials, and even a former Hezbollah member, amounting to 30,000 pages of testimony, according to Thomas F. Fay, one of the lawyers representing the families.

The families’ first victory came in 2003 when the US District Court in Washington found that Iran’s Ministry of Information and Security helped plan and facilitate the Oct. 23, 1983, attack. Then, two years ago, the same court ruled the Iranian government was liable for the $2.65 billion in damages.

The families’ legal advisers and the Obama administration – like the Bush administration before it – disagree on how many Iranian assets could be legally seized in the case.

The Treasury Department estimates there is only $45 million in seizable Iranian assets in the United States and has argued in court that some of the property that the families’ lawyers have sought is outside the United States and cannot be legally seized.

“The total amount of judgments against terrorist states for exceeds the assets of debtor states known to exist within the jurisdiction of US courts,’’ an analysis published by the Congressional Research Service, which advises lawmakers, concluded last year.

But Fay maintains that he has identified as much as $2 billion worth of seizable Iranian assets, including securities held in a vault in New York that he said a senior US official has testified under oath is owned by Iran. Another source of funds he previously identified is an office tower in Manhattan, estimated to be worth $1 billion, that was among properties seized Thursday by federal prosecutors who assert they are owned by a foundation that is a front for the Iranian government.

“It is clear from the seizures of Iranian assets in New York and elsewhere that the government of Iran does indeed have significant tangible financial holdings in the United States,’’ Fay said yesterday.

Still, a deeper disagreement revolves around the possible consequences of seizing the assets of a foreign state and handing them over to victims of terrorism.

Fay and other lawyers who have represented terrorism victims assert that doing so would strengthen the government’s leverage with nations like Iran because there would be a clear price to pay for supporting terrorism.

The Justice Department declined to comment further on the administration’s position, but as the congressional analysis stated, “The issue has pitted the compensation of victims of terrorism against US foreign policy goals and some business interests.’’

Bryan Bender can be reached at bender@globe.com

© Copyright 2009 Globe Newspaper Company.

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      Playing around a little bit today on my new computer program Dragon speaking naturally version 10 this is absolutely amazing! I feel like Scotty Starship Enterprise talking to his computer I’m sitting here watching you type this blog as I just sit here in in the pit

       well I guess we have really come a long way when you considered your computer and talk to it and want to type away for you and do its own correction and understand your dialect or your accent and guess what? It also does not print out the “aaah”’s or the “umm”s”. Of course it does seem to make a few mistakes like on this particular paragraph it did not capitalize the first word in the paragraph and sentence so I guess that means I’ll have to allow the manual and see how it may be that but I am excited by this because now is the opportunity to what I do best to talk and have what I say put into the written word so maybe that book that I’d like to write could be a little bit closer.

         Well don’t take a short break here go back to the manual and see what I’m doing right and what I’m doing wrong . I’ve always been one of those people who simply take it out of the box plug-in and can push go not the kind that sit down. I never read a manual unless the program stops or jams up I use intuition more than anything else but now I need to find out how to get it to read it back to me is dead but it was read back to me in a female voice and I would really rather have it read back to me in a male voice well TTFN from the old cartoon show where snagglepuss the mountain lion used that TTFN which means ta ta for now.

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       The old ABC Wide World of Sports TV program used to start with a collage of athletes crossing the finish lines, showing their unbridled enthusiasm at succeeding, all the while the voice over announcer was saying “…the thrill of victory”. Then there was a collage of losers and second placers showing disappointment, and then finally this swedish, I believe, ski jumper tearing out of the starting gate on the jump and losing it almost immediately and flying off the side and being smashed like a rag doll as his limp body came tumbling, slamming, and surely what I thought was his accidental death, with the voice over announcer saying”….and the agony of defeat.”

      That is probably the best analogy of life I’ve ever seen. There really is no ”middle of the road” path in this life,…not if you are going to live it. If you like the middle of the road you are NOT living life, but simply going through it, trying always to be in the middle of that road. 

      I have never been a “middle of the road” guy, that’s why my favorite motivational quote, framed above my desk in “the pit” is that of a deaf mute named Helen Keller,…”Life is either a daring adventure,..or it is nothing!”

       You can always tell someone with entrepreneurial spirit, when they seek a job they don’t care what the pay is, because it simply pays bills. The “wealth” in the job is the accumulated experience you can draw from it and eventually use it in your pursuit of something, regardless of the costs. Why?  Because it is “your dream”, your “nirvana”, your “crowning glory” because you molded it, you nurtured it, you sweat and bled for it, and you know what? The money is still not the most important thing.

       But I must warn you the road is rocky, and full of potholes so you have to develope your own road map to get to where you want to go, and some days you get there and say,…”Aw shit, this is not where I want to be.” An entrepreneur will take out his pen and plot another route to get where he wants to go, a “worker bee” will simply ask someone else for directions, or retreat into their “blanky” (American slang for a childs favorite blanket which is their security blanket,…much like Linus in the Peanuts comic strip.)

        Once after I had been very successful and was “where I wanted to go” , for the time being, I set about taking care of my kids a bit. Now my daughter has that same spirit I do, but she was married to this “middle of the road” guy. I started an advertising  franchise with the full intention of handing it over to my daughter and her husband as a “gift” . He was already selling advertising, and my daughter could sell mink coats in Miami or ice cubes in Alaska, so I know it would work.

        I sat down with her husband one day and as is my custom offered him the job of sales manager, and told him of the plan to build the business through sales, and at the end of the year give it to them, no strings. What do you think his first question was? “What is my salary?” I told him it could be anywhere from zero to a couple of thousand dollars a week, depending what he put into it. “No, I know that but what is my salary per week?” I told him it’s based on what he sold that week, the more you sell the more you make. “But what is my guarantee each week, in a paycheck?” And I replied “Zero, Nada, Zilch, Nothing. Rule number one of being a business owner is that there are no guarantees. As an owner you are 100% at risk, all the time. End of conversation at that point. He was NOT even close to being an entrepreneur, he just wanted a guarantee! Those  kind of folks are your absolutely worst investment, and if you want a partner you want them in the swamp up to their waist, draining it just like you, regardless of how many alligators there are in that swamp. With risk comes success, or failure, but it’s all up to you> That would be me.

        Long way around, even my wife and kids are all entrepreneurs now, some actually, some biding their time to act, but the mindset is there, and that’s what counts. Summed up, “If it’s to be it’s up to ME!”

       I never worked harder in my life than when I was running my own businesses, I never worked more hours, more nights and weekends, It was at least five years until I took a vacations and that was only three days long before I was back at my desk cranking out numbers and analysis and working with my sales staff. I can honestly say I never saw a paycheck in all those years. Because my wife was the head bookkeeper and I told her, “Just take whatever you need to pay the bills, the rest is for the growth of the company.” Yeah I’ve had CPA’s come into my office twice in the past forty years to tell me I was legitimately a millionaire now, at different businesses. But you know what,….I don’t care! That is not what it is all about.

         I never got sick, I was always a lot more pleasant, when I relaxed ,…well I was R-E-L-A-X-E-D. Not only did I grow my own businesses and take care of people, BUT I nurtured employees who ultimately went on the become their own “entrepreneurs”, but I’ve written on that in older blogs.

        There were times like the athlete crossing the finish line, like the time I won a brand new Datsun (Nissan now) 300ZX the first year they came out by beating out dozens of other folks even major markets like Chicago, New York, and L.A. in performance.

        But there were also the times when I sat alone in my office at eight o’clock with a glass of Irish Whiskey in hand wondering how I was ever going to be able to pay these people tomorrow, or why I was being hounded by the IRS because a disgruntled employee we fired called them and told them we were keeping two sets of books, which was a damn lie.

        But enough of this, I was, am , and always will be an “Entrepreneur” no matter what I do, and I have to believe I will be successful, maybe not every time, but more often than not. When I was in the U.S.Navy I started out as a weather forecaster, (well not immediately but after a year or two and some specialized training and bitching testing) and I always wondered,….”Why am I considered ‘very good’ at my job when I was only right 85% of the time?” Guess it’s the nature of the beast and the nature of life.

           I’ve never been one for politics, and the “politically correct” thing to do, plus I am as unorthodox as you’ll ever find walking this earth. I can be a Junk yard dog, or a pussy cat but it’s what “I” want to be that dictates inner peace, happiness, and being “right with the world”.

          I know there a bunch more like me and I have dear friends who are also entrepreneurs who are part of our “Elite’” club.

         Life truly is either an amazing adventure, or …it is nothing. Don’t ever doubt that for if you do you have already past your life by.

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         Next blog – “What do I do next?”