Hometown to Ghost Town

Saturday June 25^th 2011 marked the 2 year anniversary of Michael Jackson the "King of Pop". I was born in 1968 the year the Jackson Family packed up and headed out West for fame and fortune. I grew up in Gary with my family and headed South after High School in 1986. I just looked at the numbers and that is kinda creepy. 1968, 1986... Anyways...

All of us in Gary hoped we had some type of connection with the famous family. We hoped for a homecoming, maybe a concert at the Genesis Center in downtown Gary or even to the Star Plaza in Merrillville. Closest we got were tour stops in Chicago and Indianapolis in the 80's and early 90's. Fact is, none of the Jacksons ever returned home for anything except for that failed song "2300 Jackson Street" song. Now Michael did return on June 11th 2003 for a bogus lawsuit from these cats wanting money from pre-Jackson 5 fame and after that MJ went to City Hall, his old house, Roosevelt High School and did the whole "I am proud to be from Gary" stunt. Got a key to the city, signed a promissory note to help with a performing arts center, blah blah blah. Quite a gap in homecoming 1968-2003! If there was not the legal issue he had to give a deposition for, I doubt Gary would have gotten a visit.

He was generous to kids and causes all over the world no one can ever dispute the generosity and his giving. None of those millions upon millions of dollars ever made it to Gary Indiana the place he was "proud to be from". It doesn't take me to tell ya that Gary could have used a few bucks throughout the years when he was alive. Since he has passed, both his parents have stopped by in Gary and coincidently after they visited, plans were announced to build the huge Jackson Museum in Gary that has damn near died off. Was the visit to get the hometown approval for such a ridiculous project?

All the people still in Gary that flock to 2300 Jackson Street that might not live in the greatest neighborhoods in the greatest of living conditions have to be somewhat pissed at the lack of help from the famous family. But you can see from the news footage from the house on the anniversary that when in doubt, "help yourselves"! I doubt any of the souvenirs that are being sold outside of the old house are licensed or have approval from MJ's "estate".

I would love to see one of these lawyers try and stop the survival instinct that is 2^nd nature in Michaels hometown that is now a ghost town..

Just 1 of 3 new videos on my YouTube page!

A week

Until I head to surgery to repair an "umbilical hernia". Having it done on a Friday sucks since I will miss Peppers but it does give me 4 solid days to rest and then return back to work after the holiday on July 5^th. The only time I have had off from work has been medical related so that does suck. No time to take a "vacation" since 2 of my 3 weeks I get from the day job was spent in the hospital. But I am lucky to have a job, insurance and my health for the most part so I am not complaining. Well maybe just a tiny bit…

You can’t spell Blame without

"Me"

Take accountability for your actions even when the blame game seems to be an easier way out!

None of us are perfect in life but most of us strive to do the right thing and make it as best we can in this crazy world. Social networking like Facebook brings me amusement as I read random updates and see what people are posting for the world to see (or at least for the people that are on the friends list)

Perhaps #1 on my list is irresponsible reproduction. You can't go out like you used to, you can't afford whatever yet you will breed till you hit the brink of poverty just so you can say you have a child. Some people have kids for many wrong reasons. Some had no idea in planning yet will lay the blame on everyone else on how broke they are or can't "do what I used to" etc. Some people use it to trap their partner or use that to speed up otherwise stalled progress in the relationship. The kids end up suffering the most in the long run. And that is not fair. As long as Uncle Sam is around to pick up part of the tab or maybe your parents that wanna piss away their retirement helping out these sometimes silly choices, everything is ok.

Stop with the entitlement issues. If you don't like where you live then move. If you don't like where you shop or dine out or whatever, go spend your money elsewhere. You need to make the changes, people are not going to change for you. If your job is sucking then get a 2^nd job or make the change to a better career. And by now everyone should know that school WILL NOT guarantee employment or the income you may need to make it in this world. Nothing is more annoying that someone with entitlement issues waving "a degree" and not having that job they think they deserve and only talking about needing a change and not aggressively and actively pursuing it. Most times people end up paying back student loans on the same level of income that they started school with.

Change whatever you have control over, don't make the same mistakes over. You can't spell "Blame" without "Me". Own it when you know you have to! Work hard each and every day. Make today different from yesterday!

Who prefers

This week I scheduled a doctor's appointment and dentist appointment on the same day. I figured it made sense to take care of as much stuff as I could in a day. The doctor was a visit with my new physician and was a follow up to the surgery and all of that from a few months back. Great guy and much closer to home so I feel great about that move.

My blood pressure has always been kinda high I suppose. There is a long list from my work schedule, sleep schedule, how I eat, etc. The doc decided to put me on Blood Pressure medicine to see if that would help me any. I got 2 weeks' worth of a sample and a prescription for when that runs out. Since I had ample time between doctor and dentist, I went to fill my prescription at my local CVS.

I again will say that I am very lucky to have insurance and not one day goes by and I take that for granted. When it was time for me to pick up my meds, I was told it was $55! My insurance paid $1.07! I was stunned and asked the clerk why it was so much and she said I had to call my insurance company. Getting a bill like that and seeing how insurance only paid so little would not keep anyone's blood pressure down.

My Insurance Company told me that my medicine must not be on the "preferred list" of medications. So I asked "then what is" and she said "I don't have that list you will have to go to this website, etc". I thought to myself, you can tell me this medicine is not "preferred" and deny paying anything on it but cannot give me the option on what is? So someone sitting behind a desk at the insurance company who is probably in cahoots with the pharmaceutical companies and doesn't know a thing about me and my conditions is now deciding what is good for me.

And that is going to keep my blood pressure down?

Turn this up LOUD!

In the 80's these cats were the pioneers of "electronic"