Bubble Gum

Some people are just easier to photograph than others.

The Thought That Counts

When giving gifts it is often said, "It's the thought that counts".
But that can be a bit misleading.
It isn't the actual thought, but the thought, the individual thought, that was put into the gift.
The thought of, "oh, I'll pick up a gift for them" doesn't really count.
You must think of what a gift will mean to someone, and now just when they receive the gift, but what it means when when they are given the gift from you. Whether you like it or not, you are part of the gift you give.
The exception to this could be a toaster given at a wedding. Something chosen off a large list of items a couple wants. Not much thought goes into giving those gifts, but a good amount of thought may have gone into choosing which gifts are requested.
So when you give gifts, think of what the gift will mean to the person you give it to.
The same exact gift can mean two different thing from two different people, so put some thought into the gifts you give, it matters.

Writing shorter

Well not the idea while writing this here not. Lately i've been working on writing as few words as possible when writing letters, emails, and the like.
To practice this, and test the waters a bit, I've been writing to a friend in a general "Haiku" form.
This is an exercise to remove extra/unnecessary information and put more thought into word choice.

I wonder how long it will take before she notices my uncommon sentence structure.

BerardStuidos not being updated

Hello,

My apologies to those of you wanting updates to BerardStudios.com
I have heard some complaints.
I understand the site has not been updated in several months.
This is because I am currently deployed to the Middle East with the military and was unable to bring the necessary things with me to keep the site updated.
In a few months when return to the 'regular world' the site will be updated.

You're welcome,

Josh

Favorite things

One of my favorite things in the world is a McDonalds Happy Meal. I've just read an article about them, and how McDonalds is working to make them healthier. Why must they do this? For me the Happy Meal was perfect. Well the cheeseburger one with a Sprite, that is the perfect one. For me it is the perfect snack. It used to come in a special cardboard box, usually red with a carrying flap at the top in the shape of the golden arches, but those are becoming increasing more difficult to find.
I get the cheeseburger one, even though the tasteless beef patty is in-between two cardboard buns with some catchup and mustard and a few very thin pickles and some onion bits if you are lucky. The bun really overwhelms the rest of the burger, but that isn't the fault of the bun, it's because the rest of the burger is so small.
The fries are in a very small package, which McDonalds plans to make even smaller, and you will normally find just as many fries at the bottom of the bag as you will in the small fry bag. I do not chalk this up to sloppiness of the employees of the establishment, but to the charm of the meal.
The soda is also something that I really do enjoy. It is enough to fill my craving for sodas each day, but not so much for me to have gone overboard. Think moderation. It also has a wonderful waxed cardboard taste from the cup that it becomes less appealing to have any more that the one small cup.
The toys are also something spectacular in themselves. Inside McDonalds they have displays set up of the toys they put in the happy meals, sometimes free standing and sometimes against walls near the register. I smile to myself when I get a toy that is not on the wall. They are usually left overs from the previous round of toys, but every so often there is a toy that has seemingly nothing to do with anything on the wall or that was in the move theater four months ago.

All those things put together do put a smile on my face, one of the measures that I am happy.

Wordless

I've wanted to write here for a while, but have little of interest to write about.

Maybe another day.

Stuffed Animals

Who is it that designs stuffed animals?
Do they have a target audience in mind with them, or a focus group for the designs?
They must certainly not have my parents dog in mind when they are creating these fluffy toys. My parents dog, you see, is a quite lovable and cute creature, but feels the need to remove the fluff from all stuffed animals. This applies to stuffed animals created for dogs too. She finds those to be even more entertaining with their squeakers. The squeakers she will hunt for and remove first and then continue to remove the rest of the stuffing.
It is quite fun finding all the un-stuffed animals around their house. But be careful if you are there. The dog knows that all the animals are hers and if you pick one up she will want it back, with stuffing or without.

doing without

I've had my hobby taken away from me. Making photographs.
I have no camera here with me in the desert. Well, I have an iPhone with it's camera, but with that I can really only take photos... I cannot finish them. With my phone I lose control and have to take what it gives me. I want control. There should not be a need to collaborate with a computer. The decisions should be left up to me.
It's that and there isn't much of interest to photograph here... sure I could make do and photograph what I have. But what I find to be banal and uninteresting now will I later see as interesting? I'm feeling doubtful on that one. Maybe. Maybe I'll break down and just take what I can get. Beggars cannot be choosers. And it seems that those deployed cannot be real picky either.

This situation is similar to my bike riding situation.
I love riding bikes, but I do not have a bicycle here, so I go to the gym to ride the stationary bike. It's pedaling, and there are handlebars. there's no wind in my hair, but there are televisions to watch.

Space

How much space do you need in your life?
What is the smallest amount of space you could fit everything you own into?
What is the smallest space you could fit just the things that you would not want to live without into? Could you fit them in your car? A few suit cases? Could you put everything you would need into just one back pack. This isn't a question of if you would live or not. It's more of a question of what you could stand to lose and what you want to keep the most. How long will your list be?
I could live without my cameras and bicycle, but I will do everything possible to keep them... within logical reason.

Glide

I will not say that music is a big part of my life.

Flying is a big part of my life.

I could live without music,

But life without flying would be like life without air.

(but then life without air would make flying impossible) hmm...

it sounds like a double sided glass half full

Why must you complain so much?!

You complain about the walk.

You complain about the cold.

You complain about all the BS at work.

You complain about being in Germany. (Really??!)

You complain about going to work before the sun. (hours before, but still)

You complain about others not appearing to be working.

You complain about the pay,

about the hours.

Complain about stuff that matters,

about stuff you can change,

about stuff others are not jealous of. (cough, Germany)

And don't lecture me because you think I arguing with you. I was asking questions. I was trying to learn. My sarcastic apologies if I tried to express what I thought and why I was confused. Lets hope you were having a bad day, because I plan to ask more questions.

view from an uninformed (collective bargaining rights/wisconsin)

I'm getting exhausted hearing how people are protesting so much in Wisconsin... a product of our economy.

Why do we have unions? By that I'm not asking what their purpose is, but why do they need to exist?

I've only been a part of one union, ever. It was while working in regional grocery store and being in the union was mandatory. We seemed to have this union for a few reasons. It provided scheduled raises over time, made it more difficult to fire employees, and provided me with an opportunity to give away part of my paycheck that I wouldn't see again.

So scheduled raises... we would need a union to enforce those because we don't trust the ones who run the company we work for. what does that say to our management?

The raises also ended up being based on time employed and not skill level or merit.

Which makes the argument that one would be deserving of a raise because they have existed for a period of time, not because of worth.

When a company needs to downsize, apart from making the process difficult, they would require the company to select from the bottom of the list, the employees who have not been there as long and have less 'seniority', instead of selecting from the poorest performing individuals... this process is setup only to prevent the company from disposing of the individuals who are paid the most money.

This process insults the integrity of the companies' interest of having a better preforming company over spending less money on their overall workforce.

The union dues that I had the obligatory privilege to pay went to pay "union officials", which is basically the group that controls the rights of the union, wants to be seen as the 'voice' of the union, and wants us to believe that the company we work for would pay us less than we deserve.

So we have the unions because company wanted to screw over their employees.

Without any real facts or data, (because i can't be bothered to look it up) how many companies in the list of "best companies to work for" have unions?

Also in this economy, companies are pressured to retain their workforce, while pinching pennies to pay them, while employees are having a difficult time making ends meet with the little bit they are being paid.

I don't care if you are a trash man, a postal worker, a restaurant server, a florist, a mechanical engineer, a used car salesman, ect. I just want you to take pride in how you do your work, and go home each day satisfied with the effort you made.

In a perfect world, companies would reward effort.

but we don't live in a perfect world.

On a side note: I am very fascinated by strikes... they can be very effective, like sanitation strikes, and airline company strikes. But with those who strike, they must be willing to let their company completely fail without them. A strike must be able to show a company that they need you, not as an worker, but as an individual.

A strike must be personal and must be an ultimatum and not a means to a compromise.

the tough decisions

the decisions i've made in life are not because they were the easy ones.

i don't want to get to the end of my life and know that i took the easy path.

it may cost 1 to get to 1, but 10 is better, even if it costs 100 to get there.

go get 10. it will not be easy, but it will be worth it.

a 1 stays a 1 forever, but 10 can grow and become a 20.

a 1 costs 1 again and again and again. but a 10 only costs 100 for a short period of time before it doesn't cost anything at all.

make the choice.

have lots of small simple accomplishments, or put in the work and have fewer very extraordinary accomplishments that you can truly be proud of.

this weekend i'm spending improving my life, you may not see it now, or next week, but someday, and for the rest of my life.

Saving money

If I take enough time considering if I want to buy something, I usually don't. Partly because I'll realize that I don't really need what I'm considering, or the thing I'm considering is seasonal and my contemplation time period will surpass the time where the item would be useful and therefore make it unnecessary and pointless to buy... it would be, what you would call, a waste of money.

This works especially well with food. If you put off buying food, you will have none to eat. Then the closest grocery store closes and you have no food for dinner, so you go hungry.

The next morning you eat breakfast, but you do not also eat dinner. Money Saved!

Does this add up? Maybe. Or it could cause a depression, where by causing the rationalization of spending money on morale improvement items such as songs, videos, games, trips, candy, clothing, and the such.

I like to think that I break even in those situations.

But I am definitely saving money with my prepaid phone, vs. having a contract here in Germany.

The world of cars

So, Just checked the Toyota website to try and like the current Toyota Matrix. I'm having a tough time with it.

I'm not sure why the gas mileage or a Toyota has gone down over the last 8 years.

I still see it as the station wagon version of the Corolla.

The exterior has developed a more angled "flame" styling, which you would think help it cut through the air more efficiently, but with the gas mileage that doesn't seem to be the case.

The interior has not changed significantly over the last eight years either. The main difference can be seen in the new glovebox design and a spot for sunglasses just above the rear view mirror.

Being from Toyota, it is expected to be reliable and safe to drive.

While there is no denying that it qualifies as a station wagon, it qualifies as a hatchback and can certainly feel like a small car.

A huge part of me potentially liking this car is it's wheels.

I have never cared (at all) for "standard rims" with wheel covers. They feel (and are) cheap. The use of "rims" on any car makes it feel more like a quality auto.

All in all the Toyota Matrix does it's job quite well. A 4-door hatchback with the space of an SUV and the fun-to-drive (nearly) qualities of a smaller car.

The main thing to when buying a car, is to get one that you absolutely love. Then if someone criticizes it, you can just smile, and say, "yea, but I really like it." Everyone should have car that makes them smile. Everyone should have a car that they are proud to own.

It's just to bad there are very few post-2000 cars under $30,000 that I actually like.