Florida

Today is the most telling day of the election season. Florida is up for grabs by the GOP and whichever candidate wins tonight will likely be the nominee for the general election in November.

I'll have to listen to it on the WunderRadio app at work this evening but it'll be interesting. Romney has a big lead thus far. I've been very clear that I'm not a Romney fan. If I had my druthers I'd take Ron Paul in the general against Obama.

I was watching WWII in Color on the Military Channel over the weekend. They were showing the events that lead us up to WWII. We had a massive and booming economy, we were the forefront of industry in the world bar none. We had a military but it wasn't near the military we have today. The public was still war weary from WWI and had no interest in fighting for Europe again.

Slowly FDR prepared us for another conflict against evil and then the Japanese did what FDR couldn't and got us involved.

My point is that the economy that we had prior to December 7, 1941 is what Americans today want again. A vibrant and booming economy. We want to be the world's leader again in everything. We need to be building flat screens here again, we need to be building iPhones here, we need to start cutting China out of the manufacturing loop and bringing these plants home for Americans to man.

That's my libertarian side of me talking because we don't need to be isolationists right now but we do need to start withdrawing a lot of our interests from around the world home and put those resources to work for us for a while. We've always been accused of nation building, well right now we need to do that on our shores for a while. Whatever laws politicians have put in the way of that need to be done away with and corporations need to be rewarded for packing up from abroad and building plants here.

We have so many natural resources in this nation that we haven't touched yet, including labor, there is no reason we can't be the dominate financial force in the world again. That's what is at stake today. I don't know if Romney is that candidate or not but I know Obama isn't.

After Tonight

I will work nine straight days at Walmart. Then it appears I'll be back to my Thursday and Friday off schedule once again. Yesterday was nice though. This weekend was really needed and will help me get through the coming workdays.

Yesterday The Date house managed children's theatre and then some friends came over and we headed out to watch a local band with a very talented piano player! All in all we had a lot of fun!

It's easy listening to such amazing talent!

Tomorrow is the Florida Primary and it'll be very telling on the whole Romney/Gingrich race. Likely whoever has the upper hand tomorrow will land the nomination and go on to kick Obama out of office. I'm not a fan of either of the front runners, both have flaws that are hard to look past. Neither one of them are Obama though and both would do a better job of governing than what we have.

Sunday At Home

My baby is heading up to the theatre in a bit to house manage and help wrangle two hundred children. She had a busy day yesterday, mine was as well at work but overall not bad.

The Date's favorite restaurant is P.F. Chang's. She loves the lettuce wraps. So I tried to replicate that recipe today and make her a special treat to help fuel her endurance and strength for child wrangling:)

The Things are both at work today and I'm not. Rare day off but I'm going to be able to tackle the week again. It'll help! So here's to the upcoming week, I'm going to be ready for it!

Five And A Half Hours

That's all that stands between me and a genuine three day weekend! I'll take care of that short shift today that lands right in the middle of my weekend. After that I'll be off to enjoy the rest of the weekend!

Last night we had dinner with Chianti and M. It was great and we came home with half a pan of Paula Deen brownies! We had a great time, it's been a while since we've hung out together.

Right now The Date and Thing 2 are at the theatre preparing for the children's theatre show, Alice in Wonderland. I'm making jambalaya and I'll be heading off to start and finish my day's work. Mannix is on Cloo network right now, it's seemingly a marathon. I'm glad this network is putting old classic detective shows on again. With any luck they'll start running Columbo or Rockford Files soon!

Day Off

I took the day off! I feel fine, feeling good actually!
Making some grilled baked beans and onion rings for a get together tonight.

I only work five and a half hours tomorrow and then I've got another full day off on Sunday!

Nothing To Write

I just don't have much this morning to write about. I'm feeling pretty good this morning, I'm off from Walmart for a couple of days. I get to work some overtime at my job on Saturday morning and then go to Walmart after that to finish a shift.

All in all things are looking good right now. The Date has gone through her script and highlighted all of her lines, she got a couple of leads on jobs yesterday, and tonight is her script read through. The play sounds really funny and she's excited about it!

This show will be the next main stage show after dinner theatre so it's got an important slot as it kicks off the rest of the shows on stage except for Shakespeare. The theatre put together a good lineup of shows this season, they really should be pretty entertaining and my baby is a big part of that!

Mozart And Onions

So there I was last night, culling onions and pretty angry actually. I didn't want to be at work last night, some genius manager had scheduled four of us for most of the night which meant everything was done before I even got to work. That means a looonnggg night for me.

So I took my iPhone and pulled up WunderRadio and started looking for radio stations to play to take my mind off of my circumstances for the evening. I found a classical station from LA called KMozart or something similar. There wasn't a Thunder game on to listen to so I said what the heck. Phone in my shirt pocket and Mozart's Second Piano Concerto was on. At least I think that's what the announcer said. Anyway it started and it really wasn't long before I could feel things relaxing a bit.

The job at hand didn't seem so rough anymore. Before long my imagination was soaring away and up into the stratosphere, taking me away from the onions, the rotten onions, and the thousands of onion skins I was cleaning out of a big bin.

I really don't have an appreciation of classical music. I don't know a D Minor from a Coal Miner. What I know though is that last night, in a night that really didn't want to end, Mozart helped me through it and got me home to my family:)

In other news The Date got a major role in another show at the Theatre! I'm proud of her!

Comic Strips

More and more I turn to the comics in the paper than any other part of it. The world news is seemingly spinning out of control. The EU has banned Iranian oil, there will be a standoff at the Straits of Hormuz, our political race seems to have come down to an adulterer and a cold moderate for President, and who knows about the future crisis that always seem to pop up.

My strategy? Spend all additional cash on the lottery and buy an island somewhere peaceful and away from the political madmen running the world. They turn everything good into everything bad, with a stroke of a pen they can impose more regulations and restrictions on a place they've never been to in their lives and effect families they never knew existed nor wanted to know.

So comic strips are what you should read in the paper. They'll brighten your day a little bit although our local paper has removed Dilbert for some reason. That was my go to strip everyday! Well I do enjoy Gasoline Alley but I've read that forever. Slim Skinner has to be one of the dumbest men alive! I do enjoy the simplicity of Mutts, it's hard to be thoughtful and simple.

I could do without a few and I'd replace Born Loser with Pearls Before Swine, and I'd dump Marvin for Get Fuzzy. Maybe throw in a couple of others here and there and I could design the perfect comic page! Perhaps I've missed my calling.

Here We Go

It's early Monday morning and I'll be headed to work and take Thing 2 to school in less than a half hour. Walmart was super busy yesterday. In fact I was going to take a picture to send it to The Date and let her see how busy it was but I was too busy to be able to do that.

The clogged aisles of disrespectful shoppers was a lot to handle yesterday. Some of them will just take something out of their carts and leave it lying around where ever. Frozen, dairy, it matters not to them. Just as long as they can make more work for an understaffed section they go home happy.

Regardless that's the job and I clean up after them while doing my regular job of moving fruits and vegetables from point A to point B. It'll be slower tonight though, it'll be easier. There won't be nearly as many people out and about and shopping. In another week we'll start to see everyone with a tax return buying new TVs. In the back room I've seen them being stocked up and put out on the floor for sale. That seems to be the number one purchase every tax season.

Anyway, I'm good, I'm feeling good this morning. I'm rested and I'm ready to take on the big bad steel toed world for another week.

Championship Sunday

Today would mean something to me a few years ago. I'd have waited on watching these games but last weekend would have been my favorite of the playoffs. Eight teams down to four and this weekend down to two.

This year it doesn't mean much at all, real life responsibilities have taken their place and leave little time or interest. I hope by next season the restrictions on my time will be a distant memory and I'll be able to indulge in watching Sunday football again.

The Date is taking care of her dad this weekend and getting him all set for another week! He needs her, it's good that she will look over him! She'll make it back today so she'll be able to take care of me and the Things this week:) We are all lucky to have her in our lives:)

Cast Iron Cooking

I was reading along one of my regular message boards and came across a thread about cast iron cooking. To be honest in all of my years of being able to cook I've never really considered cast iron in my cooking arsenal. I know my grandparents used cast iron, my mom has cast iron skillets, and I know they last many lifetimes if you care for them.

AS for me, well I guess I was just part of the nonstick skillet generation so cast iron just didn't fit in with that.

I might have to reconsider that decision though. With cast iron you can cook nearly anything and when you combine that with my Big Green Egg you can cook just about anything you can imagine. Clean up is actually easier than a nonstick skillet. You don't wash them with soap, ever. In fact according to the great Alton Brown you just take a bit of kosher salt, a dab of oil and a paper towel. Scrub it with the salt and when the salt is brown, it's clean. Dump out the salt and put it back on the stove. Finished.

Yes you can cook perfect steaks in cast iron however why do that when you can grill them? Grilling is the perfect way to cook anything, the Big Green Egg is the most versatile grill out there and can be used as an oven, grill, or smoker. It's self cleaning at temperature and efficient enough to cook steaks at over six hundred degrees while it's freezing and blowing cold outside.

I'll have to look at purchasing some cast iron cookware at some point. I think it would open up a new avenue of cooking I've yet to explore!

Weekend Ahoy!

Who's ready for the weekend? I know I am! More than that I'm ready to come home right after work tonight!

Archer started its new season last night! Great animated show! I would have paid attention to most of it but I found myself a bit inebriated last night. While The Date and Thing 2 went to Third Thursday I decided to have a drink. That turned into two drinks. And then I woke up in bed this morning.

I can't remember the last time I got on the tipsy side as usually a drink is more than enough. Actually drunk drunk has got to be months at least, maybe longer. Regardless I got there last night.

Thanks to my daily regime of drinking over a half gallon of water a day I feel fine and I'm not dehydrated! Now it's time to take Thing 2 to school and get myself to work.

Thursday Night

Since today is Walmart payday I plan on taking the fam on another short trip to eat tonight. The Date suggested a BBQ place a town away so we'll try that tonight and see how it goes.

Eischen's was a blast two weeks ago, great food too and probably worthy of a return trip.

Most importantly I'm off work tonight! No Walmart tonight! I get to come home at a regular time and spend the evening with my family instead of rolling in at ten after a thirteen and a half hour work day! Seven days a week is getting to me, I'll be honest. I'm wearing down. Night's like tonight though will be fun and that's a good thing!

My First Friday

Meaning tonight is the last night of the work week I go to Walmart. I'm glad, it's wearing me thin lately. It goes from insanely busy which makes the shift go by fast to a ghost town which makes five hours a night seem like fifty.

There is some kind of regional inspection today, blah blah blah. The managers were working when I left to get things the way they think they want the other managers to see them. They'll run around like a chicken with their heads cut off putting up displays and moving pallets of food from one section to another. What would happen if there was an unannounced walk through? They'd really start to sweat then.

Oh well, it is what it is. Getting paid every week is a huge help and the work is easy enough although sometimes frustrating. I'm settled in pretty much now and it's easier than it was at the beginning.

Another Work Week

Well four fifths of one anyway:) I had a cigar with Beersnob yesterday and we got to catch up and chat for a couple of hours over an Arturo Fuente. We chatted about politics, the economy, and a lot in between.

We both can't wait to see how Obama defends his record on the economy. How any one of the candidates left would be able to pummel Obama over the head with unemployment, massive spending, and the hopey/changey talk.

I'm still liking Ron Paul, the libertarian side of me just wants to see real Constitutional changes take place. I know that with a Paul administration spending would be drastically cut and we as a country would be able to concentrate on us for a while and get over this liberal sickness we've had. It's about to run its course and we're almost better though.

The only candidate I feel who really doesn't want the job is Ron Paul. Yes he is also to whom most 9/11 truthers run to for information but honestly I believe he feels the 9/11 committee wasn't 100% forthcoming. Personally I don't know and don't want to look into it. But I'd take a little paranoia if it limits the size and scope of government rather than the monster that uses agencies to spy on our everyday lives any day. The people should not fear our government, the government should fear us, the people.

Our checks and balances system is corroded and needs to be taken more seriously and we need to put people into place that makes that happen.

Awww

The three day weekend is one of God's great gifts to His creation.

Yeah I'm working this evening but today is mine. I'm off, I'm resting, I'm going to enjoy the day:)

Hunger Games

I've finished the first of the trilogy on my kindle. It was a fast and easy read that I finished in around a week. Not bad considering my work schedule.

I'm glad that all three books are out and I don't have to wait for the trilogy to be finished, I'd have been mad if I got the first book and it ended the way it did and I'd have had to wait for the second book to come out. The story itself is incomplete so I'm withholding judgment on the whole until it's finished.

Thus far though it appears as if the story was strong up until the last fifty pages or so and then it felt rushed. I feel a lot of that should likely be fleshed out in later chapters in the next two books, or at least that's my hope for the story.

The story is brutal though and I did find myself very engaged in every bit of it. As for the upcoming movie, meh. We'll see how it goes for the books first. As a part I wouldn't call this epic, perhaps as a whole it might approach that scale. Certainly not page wise but perhaps story wise. I should be finished with the next two books by mid February if my work schedule stays the same and the next two are as easy reading, maybe as early as February if they are as easy reading.

Good Morning

How's the blogworld doing this morning? Things are good here!
Last night was egg roll night, Teehee sent me his grandmother's egg roll recipe and Thing 2 and I made them together. Rave reviews around the house! We made the dipping sauce as well and I made mine spicy with chili paste as per the instructions.

All in all we were very well fed and we had fun making them together! We'll make them more often as they really only have a couple of ingredients. Ground pork, green onions, a medium yellow onion, carrots, fish sauce, and pepper. That's it. Mix, wrap them up in egg roll wrappers, and deep fry for ten to eleven minutes!

Simplicity!

Thanks Mr. Teehee! You've made us very happy with the recipe:)

Sort Of Three Day Weekend

While The Hunger Games are just beginning I'm due for a three day weekend in a manner of speaking. Yes it's a federal holiday but I'll be working at Walmart and have three full days off of my job. It's not actually even one day off but it's good enough as I'm adjusted to this many hours per week now.

The Date has her dad safely back at home now, he was released yesterday from the hospital. She's getting him settled back in and will be back today. He was pretty happy to finally be released and he was in good shape despite all he's been through.

All is well as can be right now.

Two Nights

I'm off from Walmart now for two full evenings! I'm thrilled with that actually! It's settled into being my weekly schedule now and there haven't been any changes to it in about three weeks. Five days on two days off.

I've started reading The Hunger Games, it's pretty good actually. Very easy reading as well, not as deep as Tolstoy by any stretch but for a different demographic for sure. While Tolstoy expounds on mortality Collins is talking to the GAP traveling teenager. That's not a bad thing, it can speak to adults as well, we just aren't the target audience and it's the literary equivalent to a Snickers bar rather than Tolstoy's steak and potatoes.

Regardless the brain needs fun reads as well as serious reads to maintain a healthy balance hence I'll be reading The Hunger Games trilogy.

The Death Of Ivan Ilyich

A true masterpiece of literature is this short story by Leo Tolstoy. Ivan Ilyich is a man who all his life believed he lived correctly and every step of it measured to his well thought out and exacting measures. From childhood, to law school, to his socially climbing career Ivan Ilyich seemingly had it all.

In contrast to this tale of mortality stands Kurosawa's masterpiece of cinema Ikiru which I've blogged about before. While loosely based upon The Death of Ivan Ilyich, Ikiru's protagonist Kanji Watanabe learns that he is dying of an inoperable tumor and decides how he is going to spend his remaining time.

The tragedy of Ivan Ilyich is that he doesn't realize his life has been dwindling away for decades until he succumbs to his illness which everyone around him has been lying to him about, even the doctor as I said. Ivan Ilyich dies at age forty five after weeks of suffering spent reflecting on how he had lived his life so correctly so why should he suffer so. Watanabe on the other hand embraces his fate and attempts to learn to life after being a lifelong servant of the state in a mindless bureaucracy.

While Watanabe attempts to find what it means to live in night clubbing, love, and other indulgences Ivan Ilyich merely enjoyed bridge, his supposed friends who only cared about moving up in position of the court system in which employed Ivan Ilyich. They dreaded going to his funeral and his wife only wanted to know from them how she could get more monthly money from the government upon his death.

Ivan Ilyich only inconvenienced his family while dying, Watanabe took up a crusade and perished knowing he made a difference to some as it came to light by those discussing him at his funeral. They only realized the magnitude of what he had accomplished when the beneficiaries of his one man crusade showed up to weep for him.

Ivan Ilyich is deep but accessible to any with a love of literature. It'll move you and perhaps you'll examine your own life in return. Ikiru is a benchmark of cinema and really speaks to anyone willing to invest the time

New Hampshire

Today is the first primary of the election year and there will be no surprises after the polls close tonight. Romney will likely be the leader despite finding conservatism while campaigning. He sure didn't govern that way but it might be different if he had big margins in congress to hold him accountable and stop the liberal agenda from creeping in.

Ron Paul will have a strong showing again and Santorum will probably place. Huntsman will likely be looking for a new job come tomorrow morning and Perry will go back to Texas after South Carolina. What can I say? I'd vote for any of the over Obama and I believe Americans that are fed up with Marxism light will as well. There's a lot of work to be done for the new President, lots of work for the new congress as well. Repealing four years of Obama regulation that has kept the job market stagnant and declining for one.

I can't imagine how a lame duck Obama would serve this country for another four years if the first four are any indication. Another four years of record debt, another four years of heavy regulation that keeps industry from thriving, and Obamacare where every employer will quit paying for their portion of your health insurance and you'll be thrown into the public system. It's darkest before the dawn and it's pretty dark out there now, more problems with Iran are on the horizon and Obama is not the man to lead us into or out of those problems.

Hurry up November, this man needs to join the unemployment lines.

New Week

Last week was a short week with the holidays and all wrapping up. This week is the first real work week of the new year. Five days at work, three more at Walmart and then I'm off from Walmart until the weekend. I'm liking the Thursday and Friday nights off schedule. It's nice and it helps give me something to look forward to each week.

This morning is a bit brisk out, it's been a mild winter thus far. I hope it stays that way since last winter was harsh and very cold and wet. Perhaps our summer will be mild as well since last summer was also very harsh and dry.

Today I'm in a pretty good mood, got lots of sleep last night. I was worn out! Hollywood Actor came over and I helped him with his laptop. There was a malicious program on it that had to come off. Crime Writer came over as well because I made lasagna and that's one of his favorite dishes that I make. So we had a houseful and I cooked! There's a lot of joy for me in cooking for others. It makes me happy and since everyone has to eat then I can make a lot of people out there happy in the right circumstances!

It won't be long before I'll be able to cook one night a week for friends again! The Date is job hunting today and I've got a great feeling she's going to find a good job before long! Her dad is doing better and will be getting out of the hospital this week. She's been handling all of his affairs and that's taken up a lot of her time. Now it's almost over and he'll be settled back into his home late this week.

Now it's time for me to head to work, I'll be back home a bit after ten tonight. Long day but these long days are nearly at an end:)

I Miss Lazy Sundays

I'll get there again though, we'll (The Date and I) will get there again. Here's what I'm looking forward to:
1. Cozy evenings at home with my family.

2. An evening of cooking for friends. Before I took this extra job we had started a weekly tradition of having a couple or three people over and I cooked and we ate together. I got to try new recipes and everyone enjoyed the experience.

3. Free time. I'm looking forward to free time and relaxing weekends. Not having two schedules to go by will be a great thing that I took for granted in the past!

That's good enough for now, we'll revise it as we need to:)

Going To Work

Thing 1 is recovering from bronchitis. The Date took her to the doctor yesterday and then she started hurting last night so we took her to the ER. She's doing fine now, has plenty of medicine, and is resting comfortably.

My brother was over this morning and we got the plumbing 100% lined out on the shower! I sealed up everything and it's drying nicely! A few pieces of molding are left and it'll be finished!

Got a haircut after work last night at a new barber shop. They offer not only very good haircuts but they trim everything up with a straight razor and offer straight razor shaves. I've got thick hair on my head but can't grow a beard at all so it's not that necessary for me. It'd probably be nice to have one done someday but I'd have to go without shaving for almost a couple of weeks to make it worth going. I'll probably be a regular there for haircuts though. Very professional and it's just like an old fashioned barber shop.

Now I'm off to work in a short while. Working until six so it's only five and a half hours today. Not bad.

Eischen's

Yesterday was payday from Walmart so I thought we'd have some fun and drive to Eischen's bar. It's actually a restaurant that sells chicken and not much else. It was featured on Guy Fieri's show Diner's, Drive Ins, and Dives right here.

You buy whole chickens, chili, or sandwiches, massive amounts of okra, and as for sides they give you pickles (bread and butter) and onions and some bread. Drinks? Well you can have beer, pop, or water. Pop is served from a can and you pour it yourself.

It's an experience and it's really worth the drive. A short drive for us. It was packed on a Thursday night, I mean packed! We enjoyed the experience and food as it was a great break from our routine! I'm thinking we should do this every time I get paid from Walmart, so in two weeks we'll go to another restaurant out of town and have supper.

The food itself? Well the chicken had great flavor, it was moist, not dry. the okra was your standard deep friend breaded okra, I make better pickles but that's just my bias, they were fine:) Thirteen dollars for a whole chicken and everyone was stuffed driving home so it's reasonably priced. All in all a fun time and we as a family needed that so that makes it priceless:)

BBQ Pit Boys

For you grillers out there I'd like to show you these guys! They take grilling, which is an art and science, and reduce it for the food heating challenged. The recipe above is for baby back ribs in pineapple whiskey sauce.

I made the stroganoff recipe last week while I was off and it's a tremendously good recipe! From their Weber Performer grill you'll learn to make all kinds of great dishes and they are made simple to understand. You don't think you can cook a brisket? Watch the BBQ Pit Boys! You don't think you can cook a pizza on the grill? Watch the BBQ Pit Boys! Great ribs been a mystery to you? Watch the BBQ Pit Boys!

From soups, chile, incredible burgers, potatoes, and even some occasional seafood, if it can be grilled they can grill it! Masters of the fire and food alike! Who doesn't enjoy watching a machete style knife doing the majority of the cutting?!?!

Even if you have no grill they are fun to watch and make grilling easy (hint: it is easy, you just have to know a few things first) and enjoyable! So here is their main You Tube page, and try not to drool on the keyboard!

And It's Mitt By A Whisker

The liberal's conservative pulled out a fraction of a win last night over the surging Rick Santorum. Ron Paul finished in show with a strong showing but not quite strong enough. Relegated to irrelevant are Gingrich, Huntsman, Perry, and Bachmann.

Everyone knows that Romney has been the front runner and odds on favorite to actually win the nomination. He's liberal enough to appeal to people who are fed up with Soetoro...er I mean Obama. He's conservative enough, and I use that term loosely, to appeal to the mainstream media's idea of conservative.

I was hoping for a Paul victory. I'm in an isolationist mood. Here's the reality of the world as I see it, we are drowning in debt. The federal government has spent way more than was allowed by law until they changed the law. We'll literally have to grow our way out of that mess and we can't do that without establishing a robust manufacturing base again. The EU is an epic failure and when it implodes we'll be the ones printing fake money out of thin air to bail it all out! All of that is happening with the rising Chinese in the background.

If pulling back some of our resources from abroad and slashing foreign aid will rebuild our manufacturing industry and help us recover from the Obonomy then I'm all for it and if Romney is the guy to convince me of that then so be it. I know Paul would have done that for sure and I know that Santorum has a plan for doing something along those lines as well.

We as a country need to concentrate on us for now and deal with the chips as they hit the floor.

Back To Work

Tonight, and for probably the remainder of my stay at Walmart I go to work right after work. I'm also likely off every Thursday and Friday! Not too bad at all as far as hours go.

Today is also the official start of the primary season! Iowa has the starter's pistol and they fired it! Now we are off and running to see which candidate has the honor of knocking off Obama and relegating him to the ash heap of history along side fellow relics such as Jimmy Carter and the Soviet Union. With presidents like him you don't need communist China!

I'm the super bowl champion of both of my leagues! Next season I'll try to pay attention to what's going on again. It was very tough this season as I was working every weekend and I just had very little interest as more pressing matters held me at bay.

It's alright though, I'm recharged now after this semi-week off and I'm feeling pretty good! Yeah, no more afternoon naps though! It'll take a day or two to get back into the swing of work but thankfully I've got a pretty good job and I can take my time.

Last Day

Yes, today was my last day off from regular work. Sad day for me. It's ok though, we all have to earn a living:)

Not much to post today as I'm enjoying the moment!

2012 And Beyond

Ok, I poked fun of the 2012 doomsday Mayan thing last night on my Facebook by saying, "Happy New Year! Go Mayans!"

Truth is the whole thing is just a calendar reset, nothing more nothing less. There's no doomsday quickly approaching us because they chiseled something in stone in the sixth century...BC. Their calendar just resets itself and starts over.

That however does not mean we are out of hot water. 2012 will be a year of turmoil on the global stage. Unless D.C. gets spending under control we'll have a worthless dollar. The EU will likely crack further apart, Spain will likely go Greece, Syria will well be Syria and be a mess.

The Mideast will be all turmoily still because that's what they do best. If there were no oil there no one would care or pay attention to their little fits. We'll have natural disasters, wars, rumors of war, famine, sicknesses, and everything we have every other year. Some lunatic will go on a shooting spree somewhere because that's what lunatics do. He'll hurt people because he's a psycho. It'll make the news cycle for a week and disappear.

Barack Obama will have his presidency ended by the American people who are fed up with him and he'll fade to a close comparison of Jimmy Carter. The GOP nominees can squabble all they want I'll vote for any one of them over what we have now, even Romney.(blech) Anyone of the GOP candidates will be far superior to Obama.

People look at a new year as a fresh slate and that's what it is for individuals and families. It'll be in the frame of what happens above though but it's up to us to make it the best year we can make it for us. No Mayan calendar will change that.

There will be ups and downs this year. Greats, goods, neutrals, mehs, and horribles happen to everyone. You won't be able to change what happens to you that's outside of your control but you can control how you react to those events. You can suck it up, toughen up, and move forward as you learn from it or you can not do that and wallow for a while and risk being stuck there for a long time.

So don't sweat the Mayans and December 21st, 2012. It'll work out just fine:)