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starting the weekend Two days back at work after a four day weekend is not a good combination for me, because I felt every minute of my twenty hours sitting there in the box. Gone was the sun and open sky. All that I had was the hum of the machines and some flickering screens to amuse and or distract me. It was strange to be back in the sterile world when earlier in the day a trio of white tailed deer had run across the road as I was riding on my bicycle. The world that I had left behind was so much better. ... Quarter after three in the afternoon. It's been a while since I complained about my job so I think that I was due for a rant. There are some changes happening at work that have led to my recent frustration. I am getting a new boss and I have yet to decide if that is a good thing or not, because the new person in charge is someone who most of the people in my department can not stand and that would include myself. Sigh. Then again maybe nothing will change since this person has some of the worst people skills that I have ever seen in the business world. There is definitely some truth to the saying that people who spend most of their time working with machines have problems relating to people. ... A friend and I at work were talking about our mortgages and it struck me how odd the concept is when one thinks about it from a detached perspective. People can spend anywhere from fifteen to thirty years to pay off a house. Obviously not everyone takes that long to finish paying, but the standard mortgage offered is usually one of those terms and I found that odd, because a hundred years ago people would build their own homes and that would be the end of it. Of course some people today can also pay to have their houses built and avoid a mortgage as well, but I don't think that it is as common. Most people start by renting, move up to a starter home and then finally get something that they really want. Very seldom is it a quick process for people to have a place that makes them truly happy. I guess my main point is that a hundred years ago people wouldn't spend decades paying for something so basic to life. Okay, there were other problems a hundred years ago such as growing food as well as building shelter, but mortgages still strike me as being a modern idea and not a natural one. So much money goes towards something that should be a given in life and at one time was for people. Yes, I know that I am simplifying things, but mortgages are a still a common part of modern life when it didn't always have to be that way. Plus I also know that a hundred years ago people paid rent and lived in worse living conditions than what people have today so a mortgage is not a completely negative concept. My friend is a step or two ahead of me. He plans on having his mortgage paid off in about three years and I doubt that I will. Then again he has his girlfriend helping him make payments and I'm the only one paying for mine. ... The two of us also decided that instead of working for the man, we are going to open a summer camp. This idea came to me when a relative of mine told me that a customer of his charges four thousand dollars per camper and that's just for a month long session. Yes, I said four thousand dollars. Now multiple that figure by one hundred fifty campers and that is some easy money. Then there are two sessions a year so that new total gets doubled and the idea gets even more attractive. I can not imagine spending four thousand dollars to send a child to summer camp when none of my four vacations cost that much. |