The Push to Return to Church

I posted this on social media as a comment to someone’s post saying Churches should reopen. The Church I attend has opened and now making it a sin if you don’t. This is my thinking.

Churches aren’t making their weekly collections and are obligating partitioners to return for this reason. Even though in their announcements they agree their are exceptions to this decree. Its mind boggling.

We are living in the biggest communication shift in 500 years. We are living in a world where everything comes to us. Want a movie, stream it. Want groceries, shop online and have it delivered. Want to see someone face to face, video chat. The Church needs to recognize this is the new way of communicating.

The Church will always maintain it’s Sacred Traditions but it should be available for it to come to the parishioners, not the other way around. The printing press changed the world by providing the Word to the public and now we have the internet that has become so common in our daily lives we hardly think about it.

They should be focusing on tending their flocks through this medium rather than holding onto old methods during a pandemic. God granted people with gifts to understand and protect mankind from this virus and we need to be patient and allow God’s plan to reveal itself in his way and in his time. Forcing people back in the Church is not good.

Do you think your plan is better than God’s?

The [insert political party name] Media Agenda

A friend of mine posted a link to this video with the caption “If 0 dollars in tips is great then they are right.” I read the transcript and I sort of went on a tangent that I found amusing and decided to keep.

“If you’re working at a McDonald’s or a small little restaurant where you’re making tips, you’re right.”

I don’t think they were saying McDonald’s workers get tips but rather local ma and pa diners”

Now, I’m not defending them. I think they are very full of themselves to decide what people can and can’t do. If someone wants to make a career at McDonald’s then that is their right. If the only stable and gainful employment in their community are billion dollar corporations that killed the small business in their area, what choice do they have? Or had a job that supported them well I’m the 80s and 90s but they lost it after 2008 or forced out another way (age, cut backs, restructuring) and now to make ends meet they need to work a minimum wage job because they have no other skills and no one will hire them. Is it so much to say “Look, we see how you live. We are a part of this company too and we make the actual product you just sell it. All we are asking for is a little more piece of that pie.”

These drips in their hundreds of dollars suits and dresses sit in this air conditioned studio being pampered and catered to while regurgitating fear tactics over and over to the same people asking for a fair wage watching this trash 24/7.

It just sucks now that liberal media’s most clicked links seem to be stories about this kind of stuff. “Oh shit! Did you hear the mental slip up on Fox and Friends starring Ainsley Earhardt, Brian Kilmeades that airs every day at 7 am on the FoxNews Channel? (PS. It’s the President’s favorite show)” All they are doing is spreading the message that there is a group of people out there that don’t want to increase minimum wage because it would affect their bottom line and rather spend that money they could be using to help this nation to prevent them from losing a couple million and not be able to buy that 3rd summer vacation house in Italy and instead point the attention back at them that these people are just millennials and cry babies that need safe space and that they should just pull themselves by the bootstraps and do it the way they did in the 70s and 80s because look they turned out great.

Sorry for the rant.

Stock Trading Order Types

BUY ORDERS

**Market order** – Market orders execute at the following market price. Market buy orders are adjusted to limit orders collared up to 5%. Limit orders higher than the current offering will be executed at the next best available price. Keep in mind that the price you see when you enter the order may differ from the following price. Please note that market sell orders are not collared, and market buy order collars may vary depending on prices of instruments, market conditions, and other factors.

**Limit order** – Limit orders specify the maximum amount you are willing to pay for a stock.

Ex. ABC stock is trading at $10. A limit order can be placed at $9 which will execute when ABC stock is offered at $9 or lower.

**Stop loss** – Stop loss orders trigger a market order to buy when the stop price is reached. Stop loss orders are sent as stop limit orders with the limit price collared up to 5% above the stop price.

Ex. ABC stock is trading at $10. A stop order can be placed at $11 to trigger a market buy order when a trade executes at $11 or higher.

**Stop limit order** – Stop limit orders will trigger a specified limit order when the stop price is met. This may be used to limit the price your trade will execute for after the stop is triggered, but there is risk that it will not execute if the stock moves past it.

Ex. ABC stock is trading at $10. A stop limit order is entered at an $11 stop and a $11.10 limit. Once there is an execution at $11, a limit order will be triggered to buy ABC stock when it is offered at $11.10 or lower.

SELL ORDERS

**Market order** – The order will sell at the next best available price. Keep in mind that the price you see when you place the order may differ from the following price.

**Limit order** – Limit orders specify the minimum amount you are willing to receive when selling a stock.

Ex. XYZ stock is trading at $25. A limit order can be placed at $30 which will execute when ABC stock is selling at $30 or higher.

**Stop Loss** – Stop loss orders trigger a market order to sell when the stop price is met.

Ex. XYZ stock is trading at $25. A stop order can be placed at $20 to trigger a market sell order when a trade executes at $20 or lower.

**Stop limit order** – Stop limit orders will trigger a specified limit order when the stop price is reached. This may be used to limit the price your trade will execute for after the stop is triggered, but there is risk that it will not execute if the stock moves past it.

Ex. XYZ stock is trading at $25. A stop limit order is entered at a $20 stop and $19.90 limit. Once the last trade price of $20 is reached, a limit order will be triggered to sell ABC stock when it is selling at $19.90 or higher.

Dabbling with Stocks

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Magic the Gathering Arena Closed Beta was released about 9 months ago & I haven’t played paper magic aside from the occasional pack wars since. When I started collecting MTG again, it was Return to Ravnica, late 2012. I bought so many cards and I put them into a binder. The binder is a large 3″ D ring binder and it’s heavy. I continued this trend for 5 years. I have about 10 2-3″ D ring binders and boxes and boxes of other cards. I have a lot of cards. And I have nothing to do with them. But in 2017 MTG Arena came out. None of my friends were playing MTG anymore, no matter how hard I tried to get them to come out. So MTG Arena became my magic fix. Being able to find anyone to play with, being able to play standard (probably my favorite format) and a way to collect more cards.

One of the nice things about MTGA is it’s whole lot cheaper than paper magic. I’ve put in maybe $300 into MTGA and I have 2 top tier decks I bounce back and forth with when playing. And the game does a pretty good job with matching you up with other fringe decks so if you build something that is meta you’ll at least not have to play a tier 1 deck but something janky like yours.

Magic is a hobby and with most hobbies it involves spending money. Some hobbies are cheaper and more expensive than other hobbies but usually a hobby will also cost some money. In paper magic, I would spend probably about $300-$500 each time a new set would come out which was about 3 times a year. With MTGA, maybe $300 since it was released a beta a year ago.

Over the year I’ve taken a good hard look at where a lot of my income goes and I realized my hobbies were a good chunk of the pie. Granted, MTG isn’t my only hobby but at it’s peak it was an expensive hobby.

One thing I hope that I get from the cards I collected over the years is that some day down the road they will give me some money back. It’s highly unlikely it will be a profit, but at least I can sell it to make some money back.

Which got me into thinking about investing. When I started a 401k through my employer, it was the first time any money I earned was going into investment somehow. This was the first time it wasn’t a tax, insurance, it wasn’t a savings account. This was something different. So I explored further what it was and I discovered something called a portolio. And then I discovered a website where I could put money into it and it would go into this portfolio and you will be buying a small percent of shares from a company. And I got a good understanding of long term investing.

By the way… how bullshit is it that I had to learn this stuff on my own. Why isn’t this something I would have learned in school? This seems like it’s something I should have a basic understanding on and what things mean and how not to get fucked over as you get older. But… I digress…

So then you see movie like The Wolf on Wall Street and you hear about something called a penny stock and then yadda yadda yadda, Leonardo Di Caprio is banging Margot Robbie. And he did this because he had money. In my opinion.

So, I’m not sure how I found it to be honest but I think I was looking for other places to put extra money I had. I first found Stash and liked it but was looking for more. So after I signed up for Stash, I found Betterment. And then another and then finally Robinhood. I put some money in and read some websites and groups and picked a stock other’s were suggesting. Let’s just say, I haven’t made a profit yet. But that’s the nice thing about penny stocks is that it lets you get your feet wet.

Penny stock is pretty much anything under $5. There are companies that have shares they are selling for less that a dime. So you find a hot tip and in this app you search for stock, tell it how many shares you want. Ten. It tells you at it’s current price it’s going to cost you $1. What’s a dollar?! If I lose it oh well. If I it goes up to $0.15 a share, I’ve now made $0.50. If it goes up to $0.20 a share, I’ve now doubled my dollar. So you do that… awesome I’m up a dollar at the end of the day. So let’s let it ride right? Start buying a little more shares, more expensive shares. Finally you get 1 share for $12. The next day the share tanks to $6. So now when you were like, ‘eh I lost a $1 to man I lost $6. And then days go by and that $6 a share still lingers. And you’re like… I want to get out of this stagnant stock but at the same time, I want my $12 back. I guess that’s the risk. I’m holding it still. Some random guy on the internet said keep it so that’s what I’m working with.

So anyhow, that’s this boring story. The point of this post is just so I can make a category for this hobby so I can have a place to keep notes and talk about what I’ve learn. Perhaps make a blog.

 

asdf

 

Baseball

Ok so hear me out… If baseball is America’s first past time, shouldn’t it be time for us to bring it to present day standards. The term was coined by John Thorn, the author of “Total Baseball,” in the 1850s. That’s around 160 years ago. In the 1850 Charles Darwin published The Origin of Species, the first Neanderthal fossils & Solar Flares are discovered and Taylor, Fillmore, Pierce & Buchanan were the 12th, 13th, 14th and 15th presidents of United States, respectively.

Now the game itself is fine. It’s a spectator sport, like golf or car racing.  Most of the time, it’s amazing athletes and professionals doing what they are paid a whole lot of money for to do what they are good at so well, nothing is happening. It’s when you hear that crack of the bat, snap, something is about to happen. Most of the time still, nothing, foul ball. But every now and then, the ball goes flying, and sometimes someone misses the catch, or it goes over the wall and your team is doing better. The game itself is fine, what I think needs to be brought up to date are the umpires.

What we want is a fair game. How bogus is it when a official of any game makes a terrible call? Baseball player calls a player out when he’s safe. A football referee calls interference when there was none. But in baseball, a sport that’s so old that players can be nanoseconds apart from someone calling safe or out. And not to mention calling a strike when the ball was clearly outside the strike zone. Our TV’s can show us the strike zone, how fast the ball was going, what kind of pitch it was, where it lands on the plane of the strike zone, etc. etc.

So here’s my thought, keep the Umpire but make them the instant reply. Let the computers and cameras take care of the officiating. Now the Umpires can still stick around. Perhaps we allow the teams two challenges and an umpire has to make the final call. Or the umpire would still need to be around to call it out. Strike! Ball! Foul ball!  But I suppose that’s what the stadium announcer is for.

It’s probably not a popular opinion. And I think older and newer generations would want to keep the tradition of baseball the way it is. But personally, I think it would be for the better.

 

The jealous are troublesome to others, but a torment to themselves.

I’ve been with the same company for two years. Nothing really special. My longest stay at a job was about 8 years. But this job is a little different. I started off as entry level. Got my foot in the door. Learned everything I could and performed the best I could. Some stumbles along the way but I did well I would say. About 18 months down the road I was offered a position in a completely different department. It was beyond what I was doing then and it was in a direction I wanted my career to go. I immediately jumped on it, didn’t talk much of it and did what I could to get it. A week later I was given an offer and I took it. I progressed quickly. I had to cut ties with somethings to make room for my new role. It was difficult but it was for the best.

But even though I got this new position and new responsibilities I was still at the same place. Everyone around me was doing something else then what I was doing and this caused people to take notice. They saw me a little more relaxed. They saw me that I was setting my own schedule and doing things my way. They saw that I had more freedom to do what I wanted. This was the first battle of jealousy around me. Almost everyday I would hear “Do you even work?” Yes. Yes, I am working. But people didn’t see that. I wasn’t doing what they were doing I was doing something different. I was acting different. I even dressed differently.

Then came the pressure. “Why are you still here?” referring to my location. “Why don’t you go work at home?” The pressure came from the managers of my previous role. They wanted my location for someone new. I didn’t blame them. I wanted them to have it. But my role did not allow me to work from home. My new supervisor said that I support them actually. But they didn’t see that. I try. But it can be too much sometimes.

So now what? I have people around me that don’t like it that I don’t do what they do and I have managers pressuring me to go somewhere else. I ask my supervisor for assistance and things start rolling.

There is this office that is occupied by someone that comes in to the site once every three months. The remaining time it’s used as storage for IT equipment. (Monitors, keyboards, wires, phones, etc.) After I got my position she already had it in her mind that I was going to be replacing her to a sense. She wants me to do the stuff that she’s supposed to do. Honestly, I didn’t mind. I was just excited to be doing something I enjoy. So, this woman finally packs up and moves out. I swoop in and start claiming it my own under the direction of my supervisor and his supervisor.

I think I was naive to think people would be happy for me. I believed that I would have people coming in sitting there with me talking, having lunch and enjoying that one of the own has gotten this far. Sure, there are the few that high-fived me, or whatever. But there is this hint of envy. This glaze behind their eyes that is saying “Why him? Why not me?”

Been dealing with these “office politics” for months. It’s exhausting. Putting up a fake smile and trying not to let the “Do you ever work?”, “What do you do?”, “I wish I could take an hour lunch.”, “I wish I had an office so I could do nothing.” And after so much, you start to believe it. It’s discouraging.

So I moved into this storage office. In this office is boxes upon boxes. In some boxes are phones that will never get used, cables that are obsolete, keyboards and mice that have a grime on them they should just be thrown out. There are monitors crowding space and more boxes that are empty but are needed in case something was to actually get shipped from that department. I have a desk, and I have some cabinets that I’ve put some person things and work related things. I have a drawer still that I keep my snacks and a drawer to keep person effects like books and games and desk toys. I never really get to use that drawer anymore. I have my keyboard and mouse. My dual monitors and a laptop that I sometimes wish was a desktop. I sit in a chair and work in Excel and bounce between Internet Explorer and Email all day. I answer the occasional phone call and the random drop in. I have a job. I know what it is. I do the best I can at it.

Today, I sat in that office. I had the door closed. On the outside of the door I could hear people talking. Someone laughing. Inside the office, its quiet. The hum from the florescent lights and the whirl of the tiny fan in the laptop is all I can hear. I do have headphones and I could be listening to music or a podcast. But sitting in there, listening to them and looking at myself, I felt alone. And thinking about the jealousy from the people around me and the envy from the people I consider my friend makes me feel like I did something wrong.

I was placed in that office because the equipment in it needs to be locked up. Company policy. I took it upon myself even before this position to get it organized. It was a disaster before me. One giant box of cables, broken keyboards, obsolete equipment. It was bad. But I took ownership of it. I made it my own and I tackled the problem and found a solution. I made it more efficient and easy to use. With little to no thanks from my superiors; I didn’t care. I put passion into something and it came out great. I was proud for what I did. Well, that’s where I am now. In my passion.

So I guess I really don’t have a point to this post. This was more just a journal entry really. I guess this is just my way to help me justify what I’m feeling. I went to go play a game with the girlfriend tonight but my heart wasn’t in it. I didn’t want to be competitive anymore. I didn’t want to put on a fake smile, a fake laugh a fake interest in people. I’ve done that enough and I wanted a break. To my disappointment I didn’t get that in something I loved to do tonight. I don’t know if I can put the blame on what has been happening. It’s probably a multi-factor issue I’m having. But this… this has been stressful.

Now I realize, I may be being overly sensitive about all of this. I mean, I have a good job. I like what I do. I work with great people. I’m sure no one really has any ill feelings towards me. I’m sure most would say to my face “Good for you” if they could.

I just wish they would.

What hurt the most

Do you know what hurt the most? On my 31st birthday, I stayed at the home we bought together and nursed you back to health. You were sick with something he gave you. I gave up my birthday to make sure you were ok. I stayed and waited and took care of our son while you slept. I gave you medicine and fed you and made sure you were comfortable. I nursed you. But then you started to get better which was my intention and do you know what you did? I was upstairs doing something I could hear someone talking through the laundry chute. I went downstairs thinking someone was in the basement and there you were on the steps, on your phone, talking to him. I spent my birthday nursing you and after you got better, you called him. And you know what else, when I gave you a look like what the fuck are you doing, you looked back at me and shrugged. You shrugged. What a horrible thing to do. Not a thank-you for taking care of our son. No thank you for giving you medicine. No apologies for not celebrating my birthday. A shrug. That’s all it was to you. You shrugged me off like I was nothing.

 

That’s what hurt the most.

Another Sad Lonely Night

 

i miss her.

Facebook Friends are not real friends

Over the last few days I’ve been coming across a strange phenomenon. Friends. Particularly, Facebook friends. I recently got asked to go to a person’s birthday party. He’s about the same age as me and we know each other from seven years ago when we worked together. That was it. We worked together for maybe a year or so and then I went to a different job and that was it. We were Facebook friends during that time. Years later I got a new job and became Facebook friends with people from that job. I found out a girl I worked with was married to that guy I used to work with years ago. (Small world I know) Anyhow the point being that you accumulate friends from your travels in real life. So fast forward to present day and I get asked to that guy’s birthday by his wife. I tell her I’d have to check my schedule. Day of the event I said I can’t make it I gotta work and I have my kid and I just won’t work for me. So then they go on a rant on Facebook about why does she have Facebook and why does she even try and blah blah blah. Well then a few days later someone I haven’t talked to in YEARS sends me a message about how she got to have dinner with an old friend of hers that I met once or twice WAAAY back when. I’m happy for her and yadda yadda and I sarcastically (which doesn’t do to well via text) say to her “Well thanks for letting me know you hung out with someone I barely remember.” Apparently this was rude and whatever she stopped talking to me. And then on that very same day I get asked by some guy I haven’t talked to since… middle school …asked if I can get him a discount at the job I work.

I think Facebook and social media in general is amazing. It’s shaping the way of our society, our culture and our civilization in a way never seen in the history of mankind. We connect with people in ways never dream of. We have instantaneous access to someone across the globe and at the same time someone in the other room with just a click of a button.

We gain friends and lose friends through life. You just lose touch. You go onto other things and explore no places, people and things. It’s not that you wanted to stop talking to them, it just somehow happens. Same goes for family. When you’re younger your best friends were your cousins. You’re aunts and uncles from different states or even the other side of town. But as time goes, families grow. And you don’t see those people as much. And sometimes you don’t see them again until something tragic like a death or wonderful like a marriage.  But the point being is when you run into these people later in life it’s usually just a blip on the radar of life. You catch up a little, reminisce old times and then carry on your way. No big whoop. You remember them for as exactly as they were years ago.

In todays world you can choose to stay in touch with all those people though. You Facebook friend people and then that’s it. Their friends with you until you decide not to.

Take my story from before about being invited to a party. If I wasn’t Facebook friends with them they would have never asked me. I don’t live near these people, I don’t interact with them anymore, they would have not invited me. There are many instances of this happening because I believe people have the wrong idea of what it means to be a Facebook friend. When you’re a Facebook friend your total amount of interaction is based online. Unless you have a social instance where you have to interact with this person outside of the internet, you are not friends. You are that guy I used to work with or that girl I used to hang out with. You are an acquaintance. You are not friends, you are Facebook Friends. There is a difference.

“When in doubt, go for the dick joke.” -Robin Williams

The loss of Robin Williams impacts some more than others. For me it hit home in some ways but it was a gradual effect. Having to have dealt with depression in my life I know the struggles Mr. Williams may have faced. Granted, him and I are from two separate worlds but I think the struggles are the same. Suicide sucks. I’ve known many people who’ve taken that road, and I know more that have at least tried. Some people don’t understand depression. Some people think “what is there to be sad about?” I feel sorry for those who feel this way about depression. 

Robin Williams death didn’t really hit me until recently this evening. I saw it on Facebook first and there was a twinge in the bottom of my stomach, a lump in my throat. Man, that sucks. Then you think what did he do recently… nothing really. He had that show that was terrible quite honestly.

As I was clicking through Imgur and seeing all these pictures and dedications to Robin I started to feel sad. Robin Williams. A actor from before I was born but have known about him all my life.

Popeye, Good Morning, Vietnam, Dead Poets Society, Cadillac Man, Hook, Toys, Aladdin, Ferngully, Mrs. Doubtfire, Jumanji, Jack, The Birdcage, Good Will Hunting, Flubber, Patch Adams, What Dreams May Come, Bicentennial Man, Jakob the Liar, A.I., Insomnia, Death to Smoochy, One Hour Photo, Robots, Man of the Year, Night at the Museum, Happy Feet, Everyone’s Hero, RV, The Butler

One Hour Photo, Jakob the Liar, Jack, Cadillac Man, Good Will Hunting, What Dreams May Come <- In that order.

One of my son’s favorite movies when he was a wee lad was Everyone’s Hero. Although he played a character that wasn’t the hero, I recognized him.

I guess that’s all I got for this. I just need to let some feels out. It’s hard to think that he’s done. I mean I suppose his ship sort of sailed back in the 90’s. But boy, he made an impact.

On a final note, I think Robin Williams commiting suicide because of depression should be a real eye opener. It’s hard to say what can be done about it, but people should be aware of it. Even the happiest person can wear that mask and cover up that hurt and that sadness. People who suffer from depression are usually the ones you would pretty much least expect. Depression is real. It’s something people carry with them for a very long time. And sometimes that burden becomes too much and it’s just easier to get out rather than to keep pulling along that curse. There’s no one thing that causes it. It’s a lifetime of pain and anguish and it’s something that’s wired into people’s brains. Some people can bury feelings and let them go, other people bottle it. And sometimes that bottle becomes to much to carry for someone and the unfortunately take a path everyone hates.

Thanks for the jeers and leers, Robin.