Term Limits

So....I was going to write about Pastors and Politicians this morning.   You know, those two topics EVERYONE wants to talk about.  Religion and Politics. But I changed my mind.  I don't know what it's like to be a politician or a pastor.  I know that they have their fair share of stress.

The point I wanted to make was not going to be a solid stance on term limits, but rather a desire to help them continue to remember why they started their career in the first place.

I don't know what it takes to become either.  So who am I to offer up an opinion?

Here is my big concern though.  The further in you get, it's easy to start trying to keep a paycheck instead of doing the right thing.

I could be wrong on this, but it seems like when a pastor is hired their isn't much of a previous relationship with the church.  They submit their resume and a selection committee reviews it and determines if the pastor is a good fit.  What if after two years the new pastor starts having to realizations about his or her faith.  What do they do with it?  Especially if it's somewhat of a controversial belief within the church.  Like...is hell real?  Is there really a hell?  Do we let homosexuals serve in the church?  Is the old testament real or just a story?

I'm worried that pastors don't have much of an open door to walk through some of those topics with their congregations.  Because depending on how long the old pastor was there, they might have that congregation trained to believe a certain way.  And I'm afraid that more often than not, pastors don't bring up these topics and just keep preaching a generic message instead of making things potentially more difficult.

I can't blame them.  But then they are left to deal with their thoughts and feelings alone.  And that's not right.  Congregations need to be more open to have their hearts changed about long held beliefs that may be wrong.  In the very least, entertain the conversation.

As far as politicians...I thought they did have term limits called elections.  But I guess many of them don't.  I have no idea.  But as one that serves for the best interests of the people of which you govern, I think it might be wise to work hard to keep your position.  You chose that line of work, so this should be a no brainer for you.  Not just one to earn a paycheck.

Basic Need Providers Deserve Their Basic Needs Provided and then some.

I turned on punk rock music to write this one to.

I was chatting with a friend yesterday who works his tail off as an author and artist in music and video production and also works all but full time at a very busy restaurant chain.  Not McDonald's, but it makes no difference.  He makes less than $10 an hour.  Also trying to move forward in life, find a place to live, and establish himself.  After taxes, this take home is around $1000-1200 a month.  And this is probably the norm for many people in America.  How do you live on that?  Is it possible, maybe.  But figuring it out would be work in itself.

I'm not going to pretend I have all the answers.  But my opinion is that if a company needs someone to work 30-40 hours a week to keep their business open, they should pay their employees an hourly wage that meets living standards for their area.  Whatever that is.  Or offer lots of bonus opportunities for those that want to pursue more work and income.  Many places don't.  And many of these places don't offer a set schedule so the worker can easily figure out hours for a second job.  Throw a kid into the mix and that usually means expensive day care.

This is a very complex topic. So many different variables.  But I think it's safe to say that the places that mass hire people at minimum wage are also the places making the CEO's and owners a shit ton of money.  Which is great, they probably have a specific skill set that put them in that position.  But what if they didn't have all those employees to prop them up?  You'd think they'd pay their employees a fair wage that showed a glimmer of a reflection of their success.  Since without the employees, they wouldn't be making all the money they do.

Another thing that pisses me off is memes like this one.  I don't want to put a value on the people and worth of what they do.  How much money does the position enable the company to make?   Meme's like this imply that somehow someone demanding a living wage is somehow more "entitled" than the ones working as an EMS.  Ummmm, have you seen the charges in the medical field?  They can easily pay the ems workers more.  Have you seen the military budget?  The gov't can easily pay soldiers more money and offer more long term care.  And aren't you the ones that utilize the services of minimum wage workers EVERY DAY?  What if they all up and quit?  What ever will you do?  Where will you buy your food?  Your clothes? All of your basic needs are purchased at stores that pay their employees less than a living wage.   This would result in you needed more time to take care of your family and less time to earn for yourself.  As it stands now, you can just waltz right in and buy your shit and get out.  What if all of that was gone?

I know there is a lot more than could be written and a lot more that begs to be considered.  I'm also not saying just give people a big raise and not monitor their work skills.  Initiate more expectations and requirements.  If someone is constantly late, find out why.  Lazy worker, disruptive or plain disrespectful?  Fire them.  With more money comes more responsibility.  And expect that.  You still think raising minimum will raise prices?  Well, you haven't been really concerned about that yet, have you?

Another thing...the people that say burger flippers don't deserve $12.50-$15 dollars an hour?  Ok.  Then make your own burgers.  Make your own french fries.  Pour your own coke at home.  Stop eating out.  But if you are going to utilize the services of these ridiculous money making companies that can EASILY afford to pay their workers more, pay them the value they bring to the company.  AS WITH ANY JOB.  It's not about what you do, it's about the value you bring and the money you make for the company.

Fundraiser for the Troops?

I was going to wait until the 4th of July to write this, but I didn't want to wait.  Piggybacking on my time in Amway yesterday, I'll share about what we did every summer for our military men and women.

But before I start.  This is my experience.  These are the emotions I felt.  I used to be the guy that didn't say anything that might hurt others, even if it needed said.  I'd just carry that secret, even if it ripped me up inside. So this is me getting it all out.

We were part of a team called DC International.  Most of the people we were friends with were really great people.  But as soon as your success depends on the success of others, there really can't be a close personal connection.  See, it sounds nice.  But if you want to succeed and someone else isn't working out, you drop them.  Or work past them.  You say it's about people, but it's only about people if they help you achieve your success.  This "brotherhood"  it's all bullshit.  It's only brotherhood if you are perfect or in the business.  Once you are out, you really are out.  Again, there are still a lot of great people that I believe tried to do it right and not buy into the whole brotherhood family stuff and try to run a business.  So don't assume everything I say about the whole is always about the individual you may know that's in one of these businesses.  This post may even get flagged because I think at one point I heard one of the "leaders" say they had people scouring the internet for negative info about them and had it removed.  They didn't say if the information was truthful or not, just negative.  I'm sorry, but if you want to be transparent, be transparent.

Anyway...every summer we'd fill shoeboxes full of basic needs for a soldier.  A bottle of "perfect" water, sports drinks, energy drinks, food bars, deodorant, toothpaste and toothbrushes etc.  I'm pretty sure if I recall correctly it cost $40 to pack and ship each box.  Guess where we bought all the product?  That's right, our own store.  So we made money off of filling these shoeboxes.  Let alone the fact we could have filled 2.5x the amount of shoeboxes had we used generic products.  But our troops deserved the best!  Then why did you profit of them?  I loved the fundraisers.  This was my jam.  Collect and raise money to help someone other than me.  I was good at that.  Our small team was good at that.  And we rallied.  It dawned on me that we could take the $15, 000 the 20 or so of us raised and multiply that.  How?  Whoever got the highest percent bonus should buy all the product and use that to buy even more product.  So when we raised that much money, we calculated out how much we'd get back and buy that more more.  So the business volume on that $15,000 was about the same, and we'd get 25% back.  So...we'd buy $3750 more product.  And we did the same thing for that extra too.  We turned our $15,000 dollars into $20,000.  That's 125 more shoebox's.  The numbers may not be exact, but you get the drift.   I think at times the whole team raised anywhere from 75-100 thousand dollars.

What if everyone did that?  What if everyone sacrificed they money they would make off the fundraiser and use it to but more product that would essentially be free?  So I suggested it.  And it got turned down.  They couldn't suggest what people do with their business's.  This disgusted me.  It was one of the first nails in the coffin.  And then they actually even sold the fundraiser by telling people they would make an extra bonus by buying all the product from your own business.  As if we don't already benefit enough from the soldiers who fight for freedom, which they so repeatedly reminded everyone.

Of course, when you are in it you don't see all of this stuff as clearly.  Maybe some things have changed, maybe not.  This was my experience.  And I was one of the more excited ones through this whole thing....

We also did service projects over the Christmas season.  Money couldn't be made of off these and we couldn't always incorporate our products into it.  So they didn't gain as much steam.  I'm happy to report that a lot of my "friends" in the business loved to do these Christmas events regardless.  That speaks.  Thank you.

Why do I write this?  Because I want people to know that things aren't always the way they are sold.  And if you see a fundraiser, it's ok to ask questions about it.

I know for every good story, there is a bad one.  I think there is just as much to learn from both of them.  And it's ok to be transparent.

Pheonix Rising

Not long ago, I was an asshole.  Yes, I've since changed.  I've been up for a half hour so far so I think it'll stick this time.

Just kidding, I already kicked the dog once.

Still kidding.  I didn't kick the dog and I don't think I'm an asshole.  But I was.  Back when I was in Amway and going to an Assemblies of God church.  Now, it wasn't all bad.  But the way I heard them talk about some groups of people from stage certainly played into how I felt about certain people groups.  If you follow my blog, you've heard me talk about my struggles with MLM's and church.  They aren't that much different.  You learn things, some good and some bad.  When we were in Amway, top of the bonus scale, we were touted as a great couple who works really hard.  25%ers.  We had a voice among the people.  A small one, but were edified as a solid couple in business.  And we had to promote these weekend events every three months.  They were fun, I really had a good time at these.  They were great at lighting a fire under you to build your business for the next three months. Oh, these events were huge.  Usually in DC, 8-10k people with a band and lots of speakers.  They talked about God too.  And had a sunday morning church service.  I bought into this.  I'll never forget when my friend, lets call him Harry, went to an event.  He wasn't so fond of God.  And when he heard a religiously motivated story and talk about God providing...blah blah blah, he cringed.  He thought he was coming to a business conference.  Well...it wasn't that exactly.  There was about 3 hours of business advice crammed into 20 hours of talks.  They often talked about the political climate at times and had right wing leaders come do talks.  They also weren't afriad of sharing their thoughts on the homosexual community.  Mostly the older leaders in the business.  The ones everyone promoted and edified.   I even joined in on this.  I condemned gay people to hell.  I ridiculed them and called them an abomination.  Never to their face of course, but I bought into this systematic hate speech hook line and sinker.

I'll never forget when a gay couple joined our business team.  And I was responsible for serving them and helping them get started.

They were the best couple I've ever worked with.  They did everything so well.  Some of the nicest and hospitable people I've ever done a grand opening with.  Then it came time to promote the conference.  I was conflicted.  I didn't want them hearing any of that political bullshit.  Though at the time I could hear it and it wouldn't bother me and I'd get excited about alot of it.  I wouldn't promote it.  I didn't promote.  This was heresy!  Yes, there was weekly meetings too.  And there were three parts.  First for a business breifing.  The second for recognition, the third for teaching.  And then there might even be a nightowl.  Leaders, like us, never left until the very end.  sometimes it was 5 am.  And at one meeting, our last one, we left after the first session and never returned.  To anything. We quit.  We were on the verge of being able to make an extra 50-100k a year.  But we quit.  It wasn't worth it.  For a myriad of reasons, but the biggest one was how some of the "veteran leaders" or legends talked about the current political climate and the gay community from stage.  The latter wasn't often, but it was enough.  We didn't go to the next conference.  I've never looked back.

There was a lot of good things and service projects we did witht these groups, but there were several things that happened and that I saw that pretty much negated a lot of the heart behind those.  I'll share more about some of that later.

Fast forward 5 years.  My views of christianity have changed dramatically and I'm often at odds with the typical Americhristianity.  Especially how they respond to the gay and trans community.  We love you, but.....is the typical reaction.  While there is so much hidden sin inside the church it's sickening. We'll condemn others while we secretely sin.  And then there are the churches that don't really say anything about it.  They might not condemn homosexuality and transgenderism, but they won't exactly except them as an equal member of the church.   This concerns me.  I can give example of example of how every person in the church openly lives in sin. Why make separate rule for only some sin?  I'm not even saying gay is sin.  I don't think it is at all.

But all of the sudden when 100 people are gunned down and 49 of them dying in a florida night club all the churches are softening.  Good.  But the timing is pretty shitty.  And this is just the beginning of seeing people as people.  And it would help if a huge sect of faith that's based on love and and sins being erased on the cross, would actually love everyone with no "buts".  There are actually some christians saying this wasn't a hate crime.

Over the past several years I've met several gay and transgender people and they are some of the most loving, accepting, understanding people I've ever met.  They should be granted all the rights any other person has.  Especially marraige. But the condemnation has to stop.  I don't care what you think the bible says, you really have no idea.  And your ignorance despite your best attempt is no excuse to exclude someone who you think sins differently than you.

What can I do?  What can I do to show my solidarity with a people group that feels hated at times and just wants to be free?  I really can't do much other than be a friend.  But I can be a voice.  I can continue to push for equality.  I can continue to just call people on their bullshit.  Or I can get a tattoo.  And since I wanted one anyway, it seems like the perfect time for a tribute.  The symbolism and story of the Pheonix is awesome.  I love what it represents and the meaning it holds.   A bird that rebirths itself into anew.  Resurrection, protection and new life.  All these things are possible if you want it.  I want to be reminded that even if I am my lowest, I can rise again like the Pheonix.  And in it's grasp, the logo from the Pulse night club where that hate filled man shot and killed so many people.  I'll stand with you.

We don't need to remember the shooter.  His name will fade with dust in the wind...but those lives he took need remembered and they will never be forgotten.

Stanley Almodovar III, 23 years old

Amanda Alvear, 25 years old

Oscar A Aracena-Montero, 26 years old

Rodolfo Ayala-Ayala, 33 years old

Antonio Davon Brown, 29 years old

Darryl Roman Burt II, 29 years old

Angel L. Candelario-Padro, 28 years old

Juan Chevez-Martinez, 25 years old

Luis Daniel Conde, 39 years old

Cory James Connell, 21 years old

Tevin Eugene Crosby, 25 years old

Deonka Deidra Drayton, 32 years old

Simon Adrian Carrillo Fernandez, 31 years old

Leroy Valentin Fernandez, 25 years old

Mercedez Marisol Flores, 26 years old

Peter O. Gonzalez-Cruz, 22 years old

Juan Ramon Guerrero, 22 years old

Paul Terrell Henry, 41 years old

Frank Hernandez, 27 years old

Miguel Angel Honorato, 30 years old

Javier Jorge-Reyes, 40 years old

Jason Benjamin Josaphat, 19 years old

Eddie Jamoldroy Justice, 30 years old

Anthony Luis Laureanodisla, 25 years old

Christopher Andrew Leinonen, 32 years old

Alejandro Barrios Martinez, 21 years old

Brenda Lee Marquez McCool, 49 years old

Gilberto Ramon Silva Menendez, 25 years old

Kimberly Morris, 37 years old

Akyra Monet Murray, 18 years old

Luis Omar Ocasio-Capo, 20 years old

Geraldo A. Ortiz-Jimenez, 25 years old

Eric Ivan Ortiz-Rivera, 36 years old

Joel Rayon Paniagua, 32 years old

Jean Carlos Mendez Perez, 35 years old

Enrique L. Rios, Jr., 25 years old

Jean C. Nives Rodriguez, 27 years old

Xavier Emmanuel Serrano Rosado, 35 years old

Christopher Joseph Sanfeliz, 24 years old

Yilmary Rodriguez Solivan, 24 years old

Edward Sotomayor Jr., 34 years old

Shane Evan Tomlinson, 33 years old

Martin Benitez Torres, 33 years old

Jonathan Antonio Camuy Vega, 24 years old

Juan P. Rivera Velazquez, 37 years old

Luis S. Vielma, 22 years old

Franky Jimmy Dejesus Velazquez, 50 years old

Luis Daniel Wilson-Leon, 37 years old

Jerald Arthur Wright, 31 years old

I'll show you mine if you show me yours

I'm a little over 5 weeks into my HFLC way of eating.  That's high fat low carb in case you were wondering.  By high fat I mean anywhere from 100g - 400g a day.  Usually for me it's around 200-250.  But I haven't really been tracking for about 2-3 weeks.  Low carb is usually around 10-15g per day.  Protein around 75g.

Why?  To train my body to burn fat as it's primary source of fuel instead of carbs.  As well as experience all the health benefits of ketosis.  WITHOUT using some product to put me into it instead of changing my bad eating habits.  It's not that hard.  You just have to do it.

I hear people say they could never give up beer.  Or bread, noodles, or fruit.  Yes.  Fruit.  You can have some low sugar berries though.  In moderation.  With your standard american weight loss diet, you will lose weight with enough diet and exercise.  You are also probably cutting out a lot of processed foods and counting calories.  You have to work really hard.  Forever.  You  still get sugar cravings and have to fight them constantly.  If you can maintain this, you rock!  It's really hard!  Following HFLC, it was hard for 2-3 weeks till you get your diet dialed in.  But then something magical happens.  If you stop eating and drinking carbs, the cravings go away.  It's not even about will power, you just don't want to eat sweets.  It's incredible.  That's one of my favorite parts about this diet.  Most people think in order for it to work, you have to fight those cravings forever.  you don't.  Just for a few weeks.  And after about 6-8 weeks you will become fat adapted...as long as you didn't cheat.  Then if you do eat to many carbs, you may drop out of ketosis but you losing your fat adaptation status?  That would take many more bad decisions.  And getting back into ketosis is a breeze once you are fat adapted.

Many people ask what my cholesterol is.  What my blood pressure is too.  The short answer, I have no idea.  I called the doctors office to get them checked and they didn't seem to concerned.  So august 4th I'll let you know.  My question is, why are you concerned?  Have you check yours after eating that box of twinkies?  How about your nightly ice cream dish?  How about your instant oatmeal, apple, orange juice and donut in the morning?  Are you as concerned about what YOUR food is doing to your health as you are as mine?  Have you ever considered what that food does in your body to effect not only your physical health, but your mental health as well?

While I think everyone should follow this way of eating, I'm not going to say every needs too.  What are your weight loss goals?  What are your athletic goals?  Do you have any diseases that may be related to what you are, or aren't eating?  Are you sick of all the pills you have to eat to be "healthy", when a diet change might help?  Nothing changes if nothing changes.

If you are interested more in HFLC, listen to people that are experts.  I'm not.  I just listen to podcasts and books about it for 4 hours a day.  But there are several great resources on it.  There are also products that put you into a state of fat burning.  This is NOT nutritional ketosis and will not help you change your eating habits.  Unless you don't care about changing your habits....do whatever you want.  I know there might be a time and place to use such product, but if you are interested in the long term over the short term....skip the products.

What's Your Idol?

You know you have one.  We all do.  Some of us have several.  But none of us really want to admit it.  An idol is typically referred to as something you worship as a God.  What do you we put our effort into.  What is that thing we usually "have" to do everyday that takes away from things that are really important?

                 

I'm not going to start pinpointing all the different things that we place in a high regard.  But you can do a little digging on your own.  Idols, addictions, habits....to me they are all very closely related.  Some of them may be beneficial to you while others may not be.  Some of them you might not think are causing you any problems at all...until they do.  And by then you might have some reversal to do. What about the screen you sit in from of every night?  Can you walk away from that?  I'm not saying it's harmful, but would you be able to not watch your favorite shows?  If not, what is it about it that keeps you around other than you like the story?  

Can you poop without using your phone?  Can you go a day without looking at facebook?  Can you stop eating processed foods?  Can you stop drinking?  Can you stop smoking?  

Again, I'm not saying any or all of these things are wrong.  Or if they are right.  I think it would be a fun experiment to find the things you can live without but use them or do them anyway and try to give them up for three days and see what happens.  Sometimes it may be beneficial to take back control of your life. Set some boundaries.  

Raising Children is Tough.

Yesterday as I was reading more into the ketogenic way of eating, a thought occured to me. What is corn?  It seems like it's put in everything.  But really, corn, it's not even accepted by our body.  It comes out a day later fully intact.  You know what I mean.  We give it to cows and pigs to fatten them up.  It's not a vegetable.  It's not even good for you.  The only thing truly good for you is if you load it up with real butter and salt.

We have warehouses full of food.  Wait.  Warehouses full of food.  Sitting on a shelf waiting to be shipped off to a store where it will sit on a shelf.  Then you will buy it, sit it on your shelf.  And it stays, edible?  It's been sitting on a shelf for who knows how long and we think it will break down in our bodies and actually be good for us?   C'mon.....

Or we'll do what I used to do.  Exercise so you feel like you can eat whatever you want.  How's that working?

And it's not just us.  We feed our kids this stuff too.  I do it, although I'm really starting to get convicted about the foods I feed my kids.  It's one thing to change what I eat.  It's another to change what they eat and expect whoever watches them to hold that diet.  Figuring this out will be difficult.  But worth it.  Because I care about the long term health of my kids and I don't want to have them addicted to biggest legal drug, carbohydrates.  Don't think their addicting? Try quitting them!  You say you don't have too, ok.  Fine.  Still try it and see if it's not an addiction.  There is a reason they are in everything....carbs are soooo easy to make money off of.

So..speaking of long term health for our kids.  I'd venture to say that what they eay and what they put into their bodies is so much more important than if they say "shit" when they stub their toe instead of "shoot".  I'm not advocating kids start cussing, but I know many parents that beat themselves up if the say certain words around their kids but they feed their kids ho-ho's, cheeto's and fruity-o's all day long that does not add any value at all to your childs physical health.  So don't sweat it when you say "damnit!" when you spill your coffee.  You are doing much worse things to your children in what you feed them.