From Blog to Book

Some pretty exciting news to report today:

My previous blog, "An American Teacher in Taiwan" is now a book, exclusive to Amazon Kindle.  If you happen to visit that blog and notice that it's a mere shell of its former self...well...that's because  the rights of that blog are now exclusive to Amazon, and they don't really want me to compete with myself.  Can't blame them.

The blog is still up, but from this point it will be mostly to publish any letters I might get from readers, videos, and (of course) promotion for the book.

I have to give Christy most of the credit for this happening.  She was watching a news program on Sunday morning that ran a story on "Self Publishing" and she suggested that I try it.  I began writing that story as a book anyway, but changed it to a blog since I didn't think I had enough material (turned out I had more than enough...since I'm still working on the second part.)

I also want to give a plug to the guy who created the cover.  I tried for hours and hours to create my own cover, but it looked like total, unprofessional shit.  So I found this guy on a website called "Fiverr" who designs Kindle covers for $5.00 (everything is five dollars on Fiverr, thus the name).  His screen name is "idrewdesign" and he did an awesome job for me.  Hopefully I can make that $5.00 back in sales of the book.  :)

So here it is...my first book....for the low, low price of $2.99.  You can click the link to go straight to the Amazon page here.

Driving Off the Fiscal Cliff!

All I hear on the news lately is "THE FISCAL CLIFF" and how we're about to go off it.  On Good Morning America, they have a countdown......
"Just 30 more days till we go over the Fiscal Cliff!"
"25 more days until EVERYONE'S TAXES GO UP!"

If their goal is to scare people, it's probably working.  Hell, the thought of a two thousand dollar tax bill next month scares even me, and I don't get scared easily.  It won't destroy us, but it will do enough damage to our pocketbook that we'd have to make some cuts on non-essential things (going out to dinner, going out to the movies, buying crap etc.), which would...in turn...hurt the economy.  I have a colleague here at work who barely makes enough to make her mortgage payment every month.  She's always looking around for a second job.  A $2000 tax bill could easily cause her to lose her house.  So...yeah...it's kinda scary.  For some people, it could really be a matter of life and death.

A lot of blame will be passed around if this happens.  Some of it will go to Obama, but I think more of it will fall on the feet of the GOP.  The GOP is refusing to let tax rates go up on people who make more than 250k.  They're still grasping onto it with all their strength, not willing to let go.  They don't seem to understand that Obama won re-election based on the platform that taxes would go up on the wealthy.

None of this makes much sense to me.  Just what are the Republicans trying to accomplish by going against the will of the people?  If we do go over the "Fiscal Cliff" because of their stubbornness, they will see massive defeats in the 2014 elections.  It seems more logical to give Obama what he wants, and let the chips fall where they may.  If it's a failure, then it's Obama's failure, and the Republicans will have an excellent chance to take back the White House in 2016.  But continuing to obstruct everything the President does is just political suicide.

Ramblings #20 : Sara, Secession, and R.I.P. Romney

Sara amazes me just about every day with how smart she is.  She just won "Student of the Week" again, the second time in about 3 months.  Almost every paper she brings home has "100" on it.  I went to the parent-teacher conferences a couple of weeks ago, and her teacher told me Sara was the best student in the class.  She also said that she expects Sara to do very well as an adult, and that she has the intelligence and personality to go very far.  This really is the best kind of news a parent can hear about their child.

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So..here we go again.  Texas is leading the way once again to secede from the United States.  So far, they've gathered about 100,000 signatures from people (who I would consider traitors.)  It seems 20 states, including some Democratic ones (like New York!?) have filed petitions to secede from the US.

Come on people, get over it!  Take your loss and move on.  I didn't see all the Democratic states requesting to secede when George W. Bush won the White House, and we had better reason to!  The 2000 election was a sham, and Dubya was elected by a court decision, not the people.  Yes, the Democrats were angry.  But secession?  This kind of divisive talk really needs to stop.

I sent an email to President Obama (as I often do), and I told him that I am embarrassed at the behavior of my fellow Texas residents.  I also pointed out that every major city in Texas voted Democrat (which I'm sure he already knew).  Here was the final count:

AUSTIN:  Obama: 60.2%   Romney: 41.4%
DALLAS:  Obama 57.1%   Romney: 41.7%
EL PASO:  Obama 65.6%   Romney: 33.0%
SAN ANTONIO:   Obama 51.6%   Romney: 47.0%
HOUSTON:  Obama 49.4%  Romney:  49.3%

With the exception of Houston (which still went for Obama), most of these were very wide margins.  So...enough with this secession talk.  Romney may have won the state, but there are still millions of us living here who disagree with you.
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Not too long ago, I said that I thought the "real" Mitt Romney was the guy in the infamous "47% video."  Turns out, I was right.  Romney is now blaming his loss on the voters, saying that he lost because Obama promised "gifts" to the minorities, women, and young voters.  If that's the case, how can he explain losing Maine, New Hampshire, and Iowa?  These are predominantly white states, and probably won't be getting any "gifts" from Obama.  I'm certainly not getting any gifts.

Is it beyond his comprehension that maybe he lost because people just didn't like him or his policies?  Or that maybe his image was damaged from the other GOP candidates talking about rape and abortion?  Or maybe we just thought Paul Ryan's ideas were too extreme?  Or all of the above?  It has nothing to do with "gifts" at all.

Some say Romney was done in by all of Obama's negative TV ads.  Well...during the primaries, there was a 30 minute ad called "When Mitt Romney Came to Town" which was funded by his own party!  Sheldon Adelson paid for that attack ad when he was supporting Newt Gingrich.  Thanks to the Republicans, we learned very early on what a snake Romney was.

I'm getting really tired of all this talk about who the "makers and the takers" are.  If anyone is a taker, it's Romney.  Here's a guy who's made tons of money for himself and stored it away overseas.  Never investing in America.  He's always bet against America, and now he wanted us to bet on him?  Sorry.  And Mitt, you should keep in mind that you too offered gifts to those who voted for you.  The only difference is, only a very small percent of the country would benefit from those gifts.

So...goodbye and farewell Mr. Romney.  This will be the last time I bring up his name in my blog.  If it gives him any solace, he can always go back to his millions in the Cayman Islands, his car elevators, and his dancing horses.  He won't be missed.

Ramblings #19: Diapers, Teeth...and Go Vote!

Well...this is it.  Election Day.  I hope everyone out there gets a chance to vote (yes, even if it's for Romney.)  The more who vote, the better.  Christy and I already voted early.  I hope this is the last day I have to wake up to television ads and constant emails from the Obama campaign asking me to donate money.  For the record, I haven't donated anything to his campaign.  I've had too many unexpected bills over the last six months (including one that I'll mention a little later in this post.)

The big question this election year seems to be:  Are you better off now than you were 4 years ago?  For some, possibly many people, that answer would be no.  But for me, the answer is...absolutely.

You know where I was 4 years ago?  All you have to do is go back and read my blog in 2008.  I was living in an Extended Stay Motel!  I was looking for work, not sure if we would have to pack up and move back to Taiwan or not.  We moved back here in May of 2008, when things were pretty much at their worst, economy wise.

In the last 4 years, both of us found jobs.  We bought a brand new car and a brand new house.  We both have 401k plans that have seen substantial gains.  We've done pretty well.  I see things improving, slowly but surely.  So...obviously I think we should stay on the path we're on.  We'll see what happens tonight.
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My kids are now finally diaper free as of this week.  Surprisingly, Kyle was the first one to stop wearing diapers about six months ago.  Now finally Sara has stopped...after 7 1/2 years!  She wasn't wearing diapers all day, but she did need to wear them overnight.

I tried to get her prepared for it.  When I opened the last bag of diapers, I would tell her, "Okay, this is it.  When this bag is gone, you're on your own.  If you need to go to the bathroom during the evening, just get up and go!"  Christy likes to remind her that when she was a kid in Taiwan, she actually had to leave her house and go outside in the cold if she wanted to use the bathroom.  Sara only has to walk a few feet.

So this is great news, since diapers are getting more and more expensive.  Even if she just used one diaper a day, we were still spending at least $20 a month on a bag of diapers.
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So I'm here at home all today on Election Day, and I'm heavily medicated on Vicodin.  Why?  Because for the past year, I have had no dental insurance.  When I switched to part time work at the hospital, I lost my benefits.  I bought my own health insurance policy through Aetna (which they recently raised by $20 a month....but...look on the bright side...I just saved $20 a month by not buying diapers anymore!)

I considered going on my wife's dental plan, but it was obscenely expensive.  We're talking over a hundred dollars a month here...just for freakin' dental!  I figured I could just go one year without dental coverage, and then buy my own policy later.  I take good care of my teeth, and never had any major problems before, so I thought I'd be okay for a year.  I was wrong.

In the course of that year, I had a cavity in one of my wisdom teeth (for you dental experts, that's tooth #17, the one at the very back left.)  Since I didn't realize I had a cavity due to the lack of my regular dental exam, the cavity turned into an infection of the tooth (an abscess).  One day I wake up and have intense pain coming from my tooth.  I waited about a week or so, thinking it might go away, but it didn't.  It got worse and worse.  So I made an appointment with my regular dentist for a "limited exam" ($62) just for her to tell me what I was already fairly sure of.  Luckily, it was a wisdom tooth, so it didn't require a root canal.  Even with insurance, root canals are expensive.  Imagine having to get one without insurance.

My dentist refers me to an oral surgeon, because apparently she doesn't like to do extractions (not sure why).  So now I have to wait an additional week to see the oral surgeon, all the while still suffering from this crazy pain.  It was so bad that even drinking a glass of water was torture.

I finally got the tooth pulled yesterday (at the bargain price of $365!).  So now I have gone from one type of pain to another.  The infection pain is gone, but now I have the pain of a tooth being ripped out from the root, thus the need for Vicodin (which is doing pretty well so far.)

So kiddies, here's your lesson for today:  go to your dental checkups twice a year!

Halloween 2012

More Halloween fun.  This year Sara dressed up as Belle from "Beauty and the Beast" and Kyle dressed up as "Thomas the Tank Engine."

 

Video - Red Hot Chili Peppers - Under the Bridge - ACL 2012

Okay, here's my final video from ACL 2012.  One of the best songs by The Red Hot Chili Peppers, and one of the last songs of the festival.  Thankfully, it was a slow song, so I didn't get body-slammed in the middle of it.

Video - Neil Young - Powderfinger - ACL 2012

Another classic from the "Rust Never Sleeps" album.