Watching HGTV

We like watching HGTV just so we can sit there criticizing other people's behavior, opinion, and sense of style. Some of them crack me up. They will walk through a bedroom and comment on how small it is when it is already bigger than what they currently live in. Another sticking point is the whole "2 sinks in the bathroom" deal. I don't think I have ever lived in a house with 2 sinks in 1 bathroom. Whirlpool bathtubs or "spa tubs" as they are called, apparently are another big wish list item. Never had one. I would think it would take forever to fill up and just be a big waste. The last one I saw was being used to store excess clothing! People complain about traffic noise, wallpaper, size of yard, and amount of renovation needed all the time. The one that gets me the most is the guy having to fix or renovate something and complaining about it. Now, in all fairness, I think remodeling is a hobby. I don't know what these guys would be doing if they didn't have to paint, replace, or otherwise change something in the house. What would you do? Watch TV? Play golf? Xbox? I guess everyone has their own take on this.

We watched a "House Hunters" episode last night where the couple was downsizing because the guy had lost his job in banking. Judging by some of his comments, he must have been in construction at some time because he was always commenting on how he would have to re-do something. They had 4 kids. They were looking for a 5 bedroom house with a budget of $400k. That doesn't sound much like downsizing to me! They were looking at 4000 sq ft houses with granite counter tops and all the bells and whistles. I did find out that they were moving out of a 7500 sq ft house so I guess you could call it downsizing.

The House Hunter Internationals shows are even more irritating. It amazes me how someone would want to buy a house 6000 miles away that you would have to fly to in order to get there. How much does it cost to fly 4 people from Dublin, Ireland to Rio once a month? I can't believe how small some of the houses and apartments are in Europe. No wonder they are always sitting outside a cafe somewhere! They can't fit in the house. We apparently have it made in the US with big rooms and actual yards. (disclaimer: I never lived in a densely populated urban area - you know - like big cities)

I think HGTV played a large role in the housing crash. They had all these shows about flipping houses and appraising houses to see how much equity one could borrow against for renovations, additions, or new boats. Even after the crash, they still have people buying houses with no money down. The ones that piss me off the most are those who consistently low-ball houses and then can't understand why they didn't get the house. I had someone low-ball me once and I told my realtor that the guy could kiss my ass and that I wouldn't sell him the house, no matter what. Since selling the house was in my realtor's best interest, he smoothed things over and I did sell the guy the house but he was still an asshole!

As seen on TV ....

Shake weights are weird. I wonder if the inventor is laughing his ass off when watching the commercials. It's an odd motion unless you spank the monkey regularly. Saturday Night Live has spoofed it but if you want to know the real reason for Shake Weights, watch the Southpark episode about them.


Charlie Sheen has finally gone officially crazy! I guess years of alcohol and hooker/strippers will do that to you. His rants on various talk shows have revealed just how crazy he is. He is so delusional about his importance and I get the impression that he actually believes all the bullshit he spouts. The talk shows are just having him on as a guest to see if he steps in more crap. I can't believe there are college students wanting him to do their graduation speech. Doesn't say much for college, does it? I'm glad to see that Warner fired him, although it sure took them about a week longer than it would have taken me!


Gas prices are starting to piss me off. The current runup in prices is being blamed on Libya. The rumors of $4 gas by Memorial Day are circulating. The news media seems to forget that, about a month ago, there was a report of $4 gas because the Saudi oil production volume had peaked and would continually go down as they deplete their resources. Our government is debating on releasing some of the Strategic Oil Reserve product to stabilize prices. The numbers I saw were that we have about 730 million barrels in reserve, but we use 20 million barrels a day. Our whole reserve would only last 36 days or so. That wouldn't do much good and we would just have to replace it with higher priced oil, which would bite us on the ass at a later date. Too bad we as consumers can't add a fuel surcharge like everyone else does!

Who wants to keep their job?

I was going to write a blog about employment opportunities ( or the lack thereof) last year, but decided not to at the time. Recent events and news have changed my mind for me. I read an article yesterday dealing with the fact that our wages have actually gone down in the past 20 years when you factor in inflation and loss of benefits and job security. Employers are in the catbird seat when it comes to hiring decisions and payroll amounts. It seems their whole attitude is one of " be glad you have a job and oh yeah, let me shit on you some more". Unless you have some serious parchment on the wall and the skills most sought after in a particular business, you are shit out of luck. There is always someone younger and hungrier than you these days. In my case, with no college and only 30 years experience in my field, it is tough to find anything better because employers know that I know more than they do so they wouldn't be able to bullshit me like a more inexperienced younger person. Also, with so much reliance on computers to solve their business problems, experience and intuition are not as important anymore. That's a scary thought in the years to come! Maybe nothing will fall down! I watched the recent events in Wisconsin, which amounts to union-busting and at first, I thought "Who needs unions now?" I have since realized that maybe we still need them since employers seem to be hell-bent on taking away most worker rights in the name of budget cutting. Of course, that only pertains to the jobs they are keeping in the US, not those going to India. A little more than 2 years ago, I took a big cut in pay and hours. Things continue to get worse. In the name of "tightening the proverbial belt", my sidekick worked his last day today. Now, I have to do his job and mine for the same pay. As slow as it is, it isn't a problem yet, but any bump in orders will change that. I will be curious to see how well this works out as there is no more room to cut. A one employee company doesn't have many options. It's interesting that production is up, even though the working population is down. Apparently, everyone is working harder for less, just to keep from being replaced by the burgeoning unemployed. I hope that things turn around to the point that we as employees can, at some point, do our own arm-twisting!