a99kitten's Musings

Have to say, I thought this movie was going to be more upbeat. I prefer my sports movies upbeat. Think Rocky! Major League! Blind Side! Heck…The Color of Money!  :) I did like the winning home run in the bottom of the 9th by the 1st baseman who was given his second chance on the As. That was feel good. But that was kind of it.

The acting and casting were good. Philip Seymour Hoffman was almost unrecognizable as a baseball manager and Robin Wright Penn (does she still use Penn?) has a small role as Brad’s ex-wife. But (SPOILER!!!!……if you don’t follow baseball anyway) he loses again. BUT his system is considered a winner so receives a huge offer from another team (The Red Sox who do go on to win the World Series using his system) but then turns that down to stay in Oakland where he is still losing to this day.

And you could say “well the team was his family so he wanted to stay with them.” That would be a fine argument, but it was made clear that he didn’t view it that way. That it was business. He didn’t fraternize with the players so it could stay business. So he could trade or cut them if needed. And they (the players) understood how it worked because they were professional ball players.

I suppose you could argue he wanted to stay in CA to be closer to his daughter. But I don’t think they made that clear at all if that was the defining motive to stay.

And, perhaps most importantly, Brad didn’t look all that cute in it. What is up with that?

So then message here was….?

p.s. it was funny that Brad was eating in most scenes like in Ocean’s Eleven and Twelve.

Watched Margin Call last weekend. It was kinda meh. OK, but didn’t love it. No Wall Street. Not even Money Never Sleeps. But I like Paul Bettany and his character. And he has a small dialogue towards the end that, IMHO, rings quite true:

“If you really want to do this with your life you have to believe that you’re necessary. And you are. People want to live like this in their cars and their big fucking houses that they can’t even pay for? Then you’re necessary. The only reason they all get to continue living like kings is because we’ve got our fingers on the scales in their favor. I take my hand off and the whole world gets really fucking fair really fucking quickly and nobody actually wants that. They say they do but they don’t. They want what we have to give them, but they also want to play innocent and pretend they have no idea where it came from. That’s more hypocrisy than I’m willing to swallow. Fuck them. Fuck normal people.”

Many would probably see it as a greedy bastard banker speech. And it is. But I also see it as relatively factual view point that the average person doesn’t want to admit to being part of. Gordon Gekko touched on that in Money Never Sleeps too. Although I much preferred his Teldar Paper speech :)

…but politicians don’t believe that.

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2102864/Staring-abyss-Faced-losing-job-Greek-woman-threatens-jump-death-desperate-despairing-nation-hungry-families-queuing-soup-kitchens.html#ixzz1mlJyhc38

“The crisis was partly caused by politicians hugely increasing the size of the public sector after the country joined the euro. In 12 years, the wage bill of the Greek state sector doubled — and this excludes ‘fakelaki’, the notorious cash-filled envelopes needed when dealing with officials. It was decreed that those in ‘arduous’ jobs could start receiving pensions from the age of 50 — and hairdressers and waiters were among 600 jobs classified as arduous”

How the hell are waiters and hairdressers even on the public payroll?? Government is SO corrupt. Or is it just stupid? Everywhere. And not just “everywhere but here.”

The “Hope and Change” elected in 2008 is not as far off of this as you might think.

What do you think would happen if welfare or government funded (aka taxpayer funded) pensions was cut here? Do you really think the reaction would be any different? There are multi-generational families that depend on welfare payments and other government assistance. And that doesn’t even count the ever-growing (federal and states) government payroll who all depend on their paychecks and their forever long healthcare and pensions being paid by the taxpayer. But at some point, even the people who are horrible at math, have to realize that you can’t keep spending and spending to inflate your “recovery numbers”, and taxing and taxing those few who can afford it, to keep everyone afloat. It’s actually pretty far frackin’ away from fair. Polar opposite of fair.

If you think about it, it’s actually rather ridiculous that social security and medicare are the first things bandied about to cut. These are at least things you or your employer paid into. Foolishly but that’s another conversation. But welfare? Government housing? Free cell phones for “the poor”? Annual raises for government employees? A long laundry list of money the government hands out and cannot possibly monitor properly. Not cut.  Of course I also won’t start on the stupid list of pet projects that tax payer money goes to via political maneuvering. Again, another conversation.

I hope America wakes up. We are a fantastic country. The best. Filled with smart people that want to succeed. But sadly also filled with people that feel they are owed something. And politicians that just want to be re-elected. Sickening.

This morning I saw a trending topic on twitter “Who is Paul McCartney”.  My first thought was “Hmm..End of Days is here.” I clicked over to it (I pretty much NEVER click on the trending topics as they are typically stupid unless some major news or sports event just occurred) and saw mostly outrage at the topic like my own, but did see a couple tweets indicating they didn’t know. They could have been messing around. But why would you make yourself look so dumb on purpose? (don’t answer…)

Anyway, I tweeted “Who is Paul McCartney is trending on twitter. It’s official. Twitter been taken over by 13 yr olds. Dumb 13 yr olds.” Since then, my phone has been blowing up with retweets, favorited and some responses – a few from offended 13 yr olds. Heh.

I think what this means is not so much that 13 yr olds DO know who Paul McCartney is (which some wanted to point out that they do) but that plenty of people think twitter has been taken over by 13 yr olds (dumb or not.) Sometimes the trending topics I see are sure signs that civilization has cratered into stupidity.  But perhaps I am being insulting to 13 yr olds. Some of those topics are most assuredly created/followed by adult-aged humans.

Another 2 trending topics at the same time were about how awesome Chris Brown is. So there’s that.

Was emailed this in a joke list and yet…not entirely funny so much as pathetic….

Pythagorean Theorem………………………………………………………24 words.
The Lord’s Prayer……………………………………………………………..66 words.
Archimedes’ Principle……………………………………………………….67 words.
Ten Commandments……………………………………………………….179 words.
Gettysburg Address………………………………………………………..286 words.
Declaration of Independence………………………………………..1,300 words.
US Constitution with all 27 Amendments………………………..7,818 words.
US Government regulations on the selling of cabbage……26,911 words.

Sort of puts things into proper perspective…

I read a story today about an NBC newswoman who had to undergo facial surgery due to being bit by a dog on set during a “feel good” segment.  The dog has been quarantined for 10 days by animal control. They better not hurt that dog. I’m assuming it is a rabies quarantine. And the owner, who the news station asked to bring the dog, gets a ticket for “allowing the dog to bite.”  Umm.

Don’t get me wrong, I hope the woman is OK and her face is fine, I’ve been bit before and it frackin’ hurts. And let’s be clear – if that dog wanted to savage her, she would have no face left. The dog bit her in a reaction to make her get away. It was her own STUPID fault. Here is a dog who just went through a traumatic experience (had to be rescued from ice, etc.), was now on a crowded, highly lit and probably hectic set and the woman bends down and puts her face right in the dog’s face. She clearly knows nothing about dogs. Which would seem not to be true since they do these feel good segments regularly apparently.

But anyone who knows anything about dogs should know not to get in the face when they are experiencing any kind of stress or stressful situation. And you are a stranger to them. DUH!? People come up to pretty much every single day and ask to pet the huskies. And if they just want to pet their backs or heads, fine. But the people whose kids come running up to them, and who are basically on eye level with them,  I have to go through the whole teaching experience of how to properly approach and pet dogs. Mind you, 9 times of 10 the parents don’t do that. Or even say “Ask first.” A few have – which is nice but mostly nope.

And the huskies are sooooo well mannered and gentle., But guess what? If they feel threatened in a weird way or some kind of stressor (someone walks by with a growly dog, etc.) they can react. And frankly, they are also really good judges of character and might want nothing to do with you. They have successfully picked out the bad employees at work. They are also huskies and generally want nothing to do with people who aren’t in their pack. But I just don’t let people come up and put their faces in theirs. Ever.

And of course the dog in the story is a mastiff who already get this mean/bad reputation since people use them as guard dogs. And they are HUGE. So really…you thought it was wise to get in his face?

Again. I am not shocked but simply annoyed by the never-ending stupidity.

http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/cutline/rescued-dog-bites-nbc-anchor-face-during-feel-141755422.html

*According to the online Merriam-Webster dictionary, the words “stupid” and “stupidity” entered the English language in 1541. Since then, stupidity has taken place along with “fool,” “idiot,” “dumb,” “moron,” and related concepts as a pejorative appellation for human misdeeds, whether purposeful or accidental, due to absence of mental capacity.*

Yesterday once again proved to me that the work ethic and personal responsibility level of the average person is crap. Now, I feel this way pretty much all the time but sometimes things happen that make is SO glaringly obvious, it makes me sad for mankind’s future.

Yesterday I received our FSA  accounting for the new plan year from the company that handles our COBRA and FSA administration. I’ve had issues with them in the past but I complained about the account manager and told the CEO that the idiot needed to be removed from our account and never deal with me or our account ever again. Anyway, yesterday I was going through the data they sent over and I found 2 people missing from the spreadsheet and not showing any contributions for the 2012 Plan Year (which there were in January.) No big deal, I send our account rep an email saying “Hey, you forgot to add these 2 people. Please correct it and send me the updated info.”

I get back an email, in a rather terse tone, saying I never sent the enrollment forms for those 2 people nor were they on the spreadsheet I sent her so it all had to be re-done and to please send over the missing information ASAP. Umm. OK. So, I’m pretty anal retentive about making sure people’s benefits are correct. I pulled up the email I sent her on January 17 and oh look – there are not only the 2 “missing” enrollment forms attached along with all the others but the spreadsheet attached has them listed with all of their data as well (so even IF I hadn’t sent the enrollment forms, you’d think she would see the names on the spreadsheet and ask me about them?) So I forward that email to her with a simple note “Here is the email/data you were sent on 1/17/12.”  I get back “Oh, sorry. You are right. I missed the scroll. Sometime I am too blond.”

Now, I wasn’t upset by the initial mistake. They happen. Whatever. And you could have avoided looking SO stupid on this one by first searching for the data I sent you to make sure you didn’t leave it off and then, seeing that you did, fixing the error and letting me know it’s all fixed. No big deal. But no. You felt it more fitting to get pissy with me and say how I must have not sent it to you. And then your response to being wrong is Oops you are too blond? Really? That’s how you handle clients?

Happened a couple weeks ago with our old 401k vendor. They insisted we hadn’t paid for a Final Plan Report (we switched vendors after our acquisition) and were quite rude in their assertion. Really? So I dig through my old file and emails and find copies of all the emails where we discussed the costs, the reports needed and finally my signed form requesting the report along with a copy of the check we sent with the fed-ex airbill. The check that was cashed by them in August of 2010. The email I get back is “Oh. right.”  So there was no way for you to look for that data before being a jerk with me and me having to spend time getting it out and sending it to you again?

In my job, I see this kind of stuff fairly often (again…sad) from employees doing things incorrectly. I don’t understand that since it directly effects you – so shouldn’t you understand insurance, 401k, payroll, payroll taxes, etc??? A little bit?? The basics? You’ve been in the workforce for how long now? BUT, from companies whose sole jobs it is to manage these things, I expect you do to your job very well. Silly wabbit.

Maybe I’m the odd one because I will make sure I have the back-up data before calling someone out on something. Stupidity bothers me. Mistakes don’t bother me so much (unless they are mine) when they are identified, easily fixable and fixed without much fuss (as long as you don’t keep making them.)

But stupidity? Or laziness No, there is no excuse for that.  I wonder quite frequently how people manage to get through life if they typically handle things with such (non) care and (non) attention to detail. I would assume your job is a place you DID pay attention and want to do well. But I know that assumption is making an ass out of u and me.

And rudeness? Well, you sure as hell better be right if you are going to play that card with me. And that doesn’t excuse it – just makes you appear not necessarily stupid and instead simply like the ass you are.

Just ranting examples of why I want my own island. And why I prefer dogs. And now I think I should have a glass of wine…

I am rooting for the NFC in the ProBowl as usual (49ers!!) and yet rooting for the Patriots (AFC) in the Super Bowl because I just can’t root for NY Giants (NFC) after they beat my Niners last week.

Plus Tom Brady said his idol growing up was Joe Montana today at the press conference.I will cut him a teeny-tiny bit of slack for that statement. (have read that before but I understood the words comin’ from his mouth today.)

Sports loyalties are tough work. (And this doesn’t even include the fantasy football loyalties through the season. Sheesh.)

But my Super Bowl party theme next week is still “The Superbowl the 49ers should have been in!” :)

YAY!!!!

I have been a 49er fan since I moved to California. That was back in the Joe Montana days! My old boss would give me tickets for the games. He was a HUGE 49er and Montana fan as well. As a hedge fund manager, a lot of brokers, traders, etc would float tickets his way. So when he got extra or he couldn’t go, he would give them to me. So I was spoiled :)  I remember back then trying to get him season tickets and it was impossible.  Understand, this was back before the Internet (yes, I am that ancient) so no online ticket scalpers err…brokers. There were ticket broker offices where I would go sometimes (the one in Palo Alto by Hobee’s) but no one was selling their seat rights. And there was a looooong waiting list for season tickets with the 49ers in those days.

The one good thing an ex-boyfriend ever did for me was give me a signed Montana football for Christmas. He was a douche – trust me. But it was a great gift. I have it on display in a special case in my office.

After Joe left and Steve Young came in as our starter, I was bummed about Joe but was still a 49er fan. And we still played well! But with Eddie D forced out and Steve Young retired, we started to lose and then lose more than win. I admit I did lose my fervor. I still loved the old 49ers but the current 49ers were meh.

I did always root for them to win and followed their drafts and win/loss record but hadn’t been to a game in years. And I remember thinking as we got worse that we should buy season tickets now as I bet people released some between the 49ers being so bad and the economy tanking but never did. But I was so into Fantasy football that it was more fun to stay home and watch the RedZone Channel and the NFL season ticket! Plus we traveled back and forth to Tahoe pretty much every weekend. Then throw in trying to convince a Charger fan husband (who still hasn’t gotten over the beat down the 49ers gave the Chargers in the 1995 Superbowl) that we should have 49ers season tickets  – not an easy sell.

We got tickets to the MNF game against the Steelers. And we had a GREAT time! It helps to go early and tailgate. You get to relax and have fun with friends and then watch the game. So that reignited my bug.

BUT, now that our schedules are more flexible I did it! I bought season tickets!!! Husband said if I really wanted them, we should. YAY!!! Paid for them today! We are going to see how many times we actually go and make sure we love it. If so, we will look into buying rights to better seats. I think our seats now are actually pretty good but I would like to be in the Lower Box (spoiled by the tickets we have bought for games this season.) Plus I *think* that might help us for the new stadium!

But I SO EXCITED!!!!! Squeeeee!

Now let’s hope the 49ers beat the Saints!!!! Have my tickets and parking pass in hand for necessary tailgating for Saturday! GO NINERS!