Modern Shackles

I posted a status on social media today regarding a brief conversation with my late grandfather's friend, Greg, who works with me at Teleflex. The contents of which I'll post here:

Me: (As Greg strolls by with the mail cart) *sarcastically salutes* How are you today, sir?

Greg: Ehhh, I'm only here so I don't get fired.

Me: Ha! Just you?

Sometimes work is a pretty swell place to be.

Of course, a brief nothing as innocent as this got me thinking...

Hating the job we currently have is a tale as old as time. Some people really and genuinely like the job they have. Maybe they are Veterinarians, who really like animals. Maybe they are builders who have a real sense of accomplishment after they help build a house for a family or a skyscraper for a city/business(es). Unfortunately, due to professional protocol, it's REALLY hard to change careers. Especially in this day and age, it's near impossible to change careers without going back to school and forking over a(nother) life's worth of money first.

So what do we do?

Well, I don't know. And I know you don't know either, or at least I'm sure MOST of you (you equaling the general population) do not. What I do know is that we are a species (or at least a country) full of complainers. People use the #FirstWorldProblems hashtag like it's their job. Yes, I DO see that they are making fun of themselves for silly grievances, but they're complaining nonetheless even if it is passive. Getting back on track, my point is this: We're always analyzing ourselves and others on what makes each other happy, ultimately. I know that we are in control of our own path, but I think it's pretty clear that our society and our culture aid in our emotional confusion.

My mind says I should do this; my friend says I should do this; my mom says I should do this; my current job says I do this, and then *brain explodes*

With all of that said, we will always have to work. Unless we hit a 100 million dollar lottery, it's an unfortunate truth. Therefore, I'm looking for some of your ideas if you care to share them! If you're unhappy with your job now or have been unhappy with a job before, what was your best course of action? Did it aid in your overall happiness or decrease it?  Moreover, do you believe your job has a big impact on your happiness? Why or why not?

Personally, I think it plays a big role. I also think there are certain things regarding jobs that make people happy. For instance: in Europe employees are generally given 2 months off throughout the year. Some companies do a better job with team morale practices, whereas others just suck. I generally believe that more time with family is what really makes people happy. Family can be defined however you want it to be: Parents, friends, significant others, children, etc. 

Whatcha think?

- PatInTheHat

American Sniper: Review

So, I finally got to see the movie that has been a target of controversy since it hit theaters earlier this month. Now that I have, I can give my honest opinion of what I believe the producers and director--none other than Clint Eastwood--was trying to portray.

There were articles popping up all over the place about this movie, and although I skimmed one or two, I really tried not to read too much into them because I wanted to try to enjoy the movie as a movie and nothing else. Therefore, I will first review how I saw the movie as a movie, and then I will talk about whether the movie should be regarded as a controversial piece or not.

Spoiler Alert: I am going to do my best not to give a lot of the movie away, but know that it'll be a bit hard not to spoil a few things in the process. I'll do my best to keep the spoiling to a minimum. Moreover, I will be referencing another movie called Black Hawk Down. If you've never seen that movie, and want to, then you might not want to read this part. Your call.

The movie review: I genuinely believe the movie served its purpose. Since the movie was set in Afghanistan, it had a similar feel as Black Hawk Down. To me, the movie was basically a recreation of Black Hawk Down, except it was about one person as opposed to the rescue of a chopper that crash-landed. As I said to a colleague at the: the movie was just like any other middle-east war movie. It's exactly what you'd expect (mostly). The movie follows around a protagonist and his fleet that is attempting to dismantle the progress of [an] antagonist(s) and their fleet. It's also an American-made war movie so take a guess at who wins the battle between American and non-American. Yeah, you get where I'm coming from.

Bradley Cooper was the absolute cornerstone of the film. Though I never met Chris Kyle in person, I thought Bradley Cooper played a Texan very well. Chris Kyle was practically a warrior from birth, and Bradley Cooper played a stone-faced ass-kicking American very well. Huge props to his fantastic Texan accent and all the work he put in to build his body up for the role he played. Even though I thought the movie was pretty typical for a war movie, I thought Bradley Cooper was basically sensational. Considering how little the character who played his wife, Elise Robertson, was in the film, I thought she was pretty great, too. Fantastic raw-emotional acting on her part when it was needed.

Was it or was it not controversial: No. It should be noted that Chris Kyle, before he died, obviously, aided in the production of the film. I'm quite sure that the movie portrayal is as real as it gets. The ending scenes show real footage of Kyle's funeral. I guess what I'm saying is: I don't buy the "glorification" argument. I mean, guys, comon, wake up. It's an American-made film. It no more glorifies war than Pearl Harbor, than Black Hawk Down, than Band of Brothers (I know it's a mini-series and not a film, but still). I mean, fortunately, we have the best military in the world. Like, hands down. No one can touch us. It's the one thing that keeps countries from nuking us, because they know if they tried that shit, they'd be in a world of hurt.

I hate war. I mean, I REALLY hate war. I generally think that war for a country that is in financial struggles is just no good for a country given that whole "history repeats itself" rule. The Roman Empire did the same thing. They warred everything until they spread themselves too thin, and then were in a world of hurt when the Ottoman's built up their empire and just said, "Yeah, nope, not anymore." With that said, people need to understand the effect of our military, and the affect the military has on us. For instance, if we didn't have a military, then we would be shieldless, so to speak. I mean, things like September 11th would just happen all the time. Because our men and women in arms are over there, in those other countries, that means that those shitty terrorists aren't so concerned about trying to attack here. See what I'm saying? Plus, even the way Chris Kyle was portrayed in the movie, as this humble "hero," (I put hero in quotes because our idea of a hero is different than our enemy's idea of a hero. It should be noted that we call their heroes terrorists. I wonder what they call our heroes, yeah?) who literally saved more lives than he killed. Yes, it's terrible that he had to kill anyone at all, but he had to. I mean, men, women, and children were being used as war pawns regularly. One of the Arabic men in the movie used a drill as his primary weapon. If you want to see the movie I won't spoil things for you, but A DRILL! If that was real, then he needed to be dead. There's no place on this planet for people who use drills on their "own people."

Not only that, but the way that Chris Kyle died was just terrible. Again, I'm not going to spoil the movie (or his life if you want to keep yourself from Googling him), so I won't.

Ultimately, go see the movie if you like war films. Just stop with this controversial shit, please?

Kthanks,bye

- PatInTheSassyHat

Beating A Dead Horse

Welp, it looks like there's been another killing by police just South of Philadelphia in the Bridgeton area of New Jersey. The incident is from December 30th, 2014, but the video has only recently been released  by officials--since anything like this that happens is public record.*

The story hasn't gotten a ton of news, yet, but it will. A man who got out of a car with his hands raised in the air got shot and killed. It's understood that the 36 year-old African-American man had a list of priors on his record including the shooting of an officer in his teens. Bridgeton is known as an impoverished area, and since this kind of news has been happening often, along with the fact that the gentleman who was shot and killed had priors, there is a decent chance this story DOES NOT get the news it should.

Some people throughout the country are probably saying, "He was a bad man and a suspicious man, I totally get why they shot him to death." Here's the thing, though: He served his time. He's been free for years. According to the video and numerous other reports, there WAS a gun in the vehicle. A gun which was confiscated by police shortly after the traffic stop, so the danger for the cops, at the very least, was minimized.

You'll see that the cops kept telling the two gentlemen in the car to stay in their vehicles (It should be noted that this traffic stop was for running a stop sign. The man who was shot and killed was not behind the wheel. He was just a passenger...not that that information makes the killing more or less acceptable, but the passenger, despite his known priors, was doing the least wrong from the get-go). Yes, the passenger does get out of the car, but he comes out with his hands up, surrendering. Although I'm not in his mind, he was probably trying to allow the officer to further search the vehicle, since it looks like that's what the officer on the right of the video was doing. The officer kept warning that he would shoot if he reached for anything. That didn't happen. So instead, he shot the guy for nothing.

This shit is just getting exhausting, isn't it?

*Here's the video  and story for you to make your own opinons about the situation: http://www.nj.com/opinion/index.ssf/2015/01/video_of_bridgeton_police_killing_of_jerame_c_reid.html

SOTU

I do not have a lot to say about the State of the Union other than to say that I thought Barack Obama did a great job.

I have neither agreed with his foreign policy, nor his corporate dealings, but I believe him when he says that he has tried to make this country a better place since being elected into the White House. Other than Fox news, that news-source that's not really a news-source, I think it's hard to say that POTUS Barack Obama was unsuccessful as President. Yeah, he still has 2 years left, and he could tank out of nowhere, but I do not believe he will. He's been too good; he's been too consistent in the right direction for this country.

The only cringe-worthy part to the SOTU was when President Obama briefly mentioned his dealings with drones. I think that was the one part of his speech that we could all collectively call bullshit on. He mentioned that he is still using drones in the best interest of the people or some mumbo jumbo, and I don't believe that for a second. After all of this ISIS/ISIL stuff going on, I didn't care about the problems he created with the drones anymore--but there were plenty. Yes, he needs to stop killing hundreds of thousands of innocents. But if we need drones to help figure out what little sneaks like ISIS are doing, then I'm all for it.

Obviously, the best part about the speech--aside from Obama's hysterical one-liner directed at the GOP after they applauded him after explaining that he has no more campaigns ahead of him--was the soap opera happening behind President Obama between Vice President Biden and that Boener guy. Every time Obama used the line "It's the right thing to do," 9 times out of 10 Boener sat still while everyone else--minus some other members of the GOP--gave applause. One article writer after one specific "It's the right thing to do," moment said, "The GOP don't even pretend to care about people." After subjects on gender equality, equal pay among genders, climate change etc, the GOP, along with Boener, generally didn't applaud. Most of the democratic party likely wouldn't have known most of the GOP was there if they didn't sit in their reserved seats.

Subsequent to SOTU, the Republicans used Joni Ernst to voice their rebuttal. Needless to say, she was terrible. She denied that the Affordable Healthcare act was working, and continued to deny that climate change is a problem. Good job, republicans. Keep up the terrible work. At this rate, you will see, in the first time in American history, a Democrat following a Democrat in presidency. And, honestly, that's fine by me.

- PatInThePatrioticHat

Highest Learning

Suppose someone is 26+ years old, still living with their middle-class mother and father, and educated, but they have nowhere to go. They might even feel like they did everything they thought they could do to actually succeed. I'm sure that student loans is probably something that drives this person crazy, because they've come to realize that the value of their degree is significantly less than the value of their education--this is a problem, by the way. What I mean by that, is that if a 4-year degree costs $30 grand on average,* but the degree doesn't get the student a job, then the degree is useless and, more important to the point, worthless. There are a lot of people who laugh at students that go to school for subjects that are hard to be successful in, i.e. art, social services, etc, but they shouldn't be laughing. They should be realizing that there's a problem with the educational system. A problem with schools that over-value degrees for students that seldom lead to a career.

To put this idea into perspective, here's an example: Let's say we use engineering as the degree and the school as Drexel. Well, a 4-year degree at Drexel costs students $43,135. This does not include the potential  for scholarship--which would lower the cost--nor does it include room and board--which would significantly increase the cost. It doesn't matter what major you go to Drexel for, Drexel is charging every student the same thing even though Drexel's engineering program is near impossible to pass the first year in...so that would be 43 grand down the drain. However, if you made it through, 43 times 4 is da-da-daaaa 172. So that's $172 grand of debt with an engineering degree (assuming the student can't pay any of it out of pocket, which on-average is a poor assumption--don't worry, just scroll up, then scroll back down to the bottom to know what I'm talking about. Definitely scroll up first, though, and re-read everything. Streamlining is for quitters!). That's definitely a lot of debt, but on average a bachelors in engineering for a student will receive a $96,200 salary right out of school! Even with the loans that high, that's 3 of your $30K/year jobs combined--I'm pretty sure that person will be fine. I'm an accountant by trade, so I'll do the bi-weekly math for you: before taxes that's $3,700 each check. Yeah, in my dreams. No one wants to have a lot of payments, but with that type of money ($7,400 monthly) a $1,500 loan payment doesn't seem so bad. (In some cases, the monthly loan payment could be greater or lesser than the amount I'm giving. I've found that $1,200 is about the average considering both private and federal loans.) Engineers are the highest paid professionals without needing another degree, i.e. masters, PhD, etc.

Now, let's take a look at someone with a bachelors in business administration. Their average starting salary? $54,000. That's $2,076 per check and $4,152 per month. In other words, good luck ever leaving your parents basement, you piece of worthless crap. (Yes, I know that's still a good chunk of change, and I'm sure not many would be complaining, but after taxes, which nowadays is roughly one-third of your gross wages, you're never going to be able to afford an apartment that is more than 600 bucks a month. So, say "hi" to the roaches for me.) Oh, and P.s. $54,000 is not the lowest salary you can obtain out of school. That would be Animal Science, which obtains a whopping $31,100 average salary. They'll have to wait 10 years just to approach $54,000. Yuck.**

I know, I'm sure some of you already want to kill yourselves by this point because 1. This is some pretty depressing stuff and/or 2. You just hate anything that has to do with math. I understand that, but please stay with me, I'm getting to the important part.

The $54,000 salary average for business admin divided by the $92,600 salary average for engineers is 58%!!! Holy fuck-balls, mom and dad! OK, so with that in mind, what I'm trying to say is that institutions should lower business degrees by roughly 42%--this way degrees are directly proportional to the amount of potential salary they'll likely obtain leaving college. That means that business degrees should be offered for $25,233/per year for the Drexel student. So on and so forth for the other majors. Using the same formula, Animal Science would be roughly $14,014/year at Drexel.

I'm sure this sounds a bit idealistic. I know there's a lot more number crunching that would have to go on for Universities to make this work, i.e. wages, other expenses, etc. but here's the start of the conversation! Let's get it going!

- PatInTheMonocleAndTopHat

* No joke. I thought it was higher than this originally, but here's the article for proof: http://www.usnews.com/news/articles/2014/11/13/average-student-loan-debt-hits-30-000
** Here's your top ten lowest paying salaries. Until the educational system gets fixed, I'd stray away from some of these: http://college.usatoday.com/2014/08/13/the-top-10-lowest-paying-college-majors/

Who Wrote the Book of Love?

Love.

Real love is hard work. Married couples know this. Those that aren't married or have only been married for the better part of a year (aka: the honeymoon period) seem to think they know the secret behind everlasting love. I've seen articles written all over the place about this, and I hate that these articles make love sound like a "quick-fix" to your life.

"Just do this and you'll feel like your flying through rainbows on top of a Pegasus! Weeeeee!"

No.

The only people that understand the power of committed love are parents, grandparents, aunts & uncles, etc. that have been together for years and years.

So, what's the one constant I've heard from both of those parties in my life?

Answer: Hard work, an indomitable will, and compromise. Everything else is just a prolonged chemical reaction within the body.

If you find someone who feels the same way, then, hey look, you've found your soul-mate.

'Nuff said.

- PatInTheHeartHat

My Name Is French

There has been a ton of negative headlines lately. Those negative headlines normally turn into a negatively charged rant by yours truly, but this time around you may be surprised to see less hostility. At least, for the most part.

It is definitely sad to hear about what happened to Charlie Hebdo. Terrorism is a terrible thing. I'm glad that there are enough countries out there that agree that terrorism should never happen, because sometimes it looks like the world is going to implode on itself with the amount of internationally recognized organized crime.

I'm also glad that a good majority of the world is joining around France to show that France has allies that will always stand against terrorism (along side them and hopefully any other country that gets terrorized). I'm NOT glad that our American leaders do not seem to be one of them (by action). I'd LIKE to believe that Obama and the others at the very least called and told French leaders that they can't attend the unity rally for some reason, but that they will always stand with them against terrorism. I'm not sure of that, but I'd really like to believe that. I'd also really like to believe that our American leaders aren't showing bitterness towards the WORLD with this action--by not attending the unity rally--because of the lack of koombaya-esque world-unifying unity rallies after 9/11. I really would like to believe that, but I know this is America and America is full of bitterness.

It's also strange looking at all of this from the outside looking in. It was almost 14 years ago that a monstrous terrorist attack occurred on American soil. In the first moments after the attacks, we likely felt like sheep. But after we realized what happened--that we were terrorized by Al Qaeda and Osama Bin Laden's henchmen--the country came together and realized we could take control back.

We did.

France has always been an iffy country to stand behind for Americans. I'm sure we all remember a few years ago when tensions were rising between France, America, and a few other allies to the point that we denounced the name of a McDonald's cornerstone: The "French Fry." Subsequently, we dubbed the fried potato slices as Freedom Fries! And then we all koombaya-ed again!

As an aside: Looking at this situation holistically as I (annoyingly) do all the time, it kind of bothers me a tad to see the majority of America being like, "Oh, yeah, we like you guys now!" after this attack. Why does it take a people to be terrorized to stand behind them? Maybe that's just me. I mean, don't get me wrong, the outpouring of support is awesome to see, it's just, I feel like we should be focusing on Charlie Hebdo and not necessarily France as a whole, yeah? No? I've seen a lot of people specifically supporting Charlie Hebdo and not necessarily France, but I guess one of the reasons people are upset with the Obama administration is because they didn't go to France to support France. I also think it's possible that the Obama administration was too afraid to send all of its leaders in a group with a lot of other leaders without a lot (enough) of security and potential chance for more terrorist threats. /rant

Ultimately, I really appreciate what I've seen. I appreciate that people can come together and support free speech. There were a lot of people who even wrote in saying that they don't necessarily agree with the message that Hebdo's comics were portraying, but that free speech should not be POD in any situation ever!

Let's end terrorism together!

- JeSuisCharlie