No President rules my life.

People get so worked up when the presidential elections roll around. It affects some people physically. They pour over the news and polls and stories, they obsess. They think that the person who they want to win will change their life and the other guy will ruin it.

I remember when I was a kid around 7 years old, when Carter imposed a grain embargo. My family farmed and still does farm for a living. I don't remember much from age 7 but that day I remember like yesterday because I can still see how upset my Mom and Dad were sitting in front of the TV when it was announced. They didn't say much, they didn't have to. I could not tell you if the embargo affected our income that year or not. They never let it show. We still had clothes, food and still went on vacation (which was a big thing for us kids). I am sure if it did affect us, that Mom and Dad did what they always did and still do, work harder to make up. We made it through.

The first presidential election I voted in was 1992 and I haven't missed one since. I don' t think I have missed any opportunities to vote. I have lived and worked through Nixon, Ford, Carter, Reagan, H.W. Bush, Clinton, and W. Bush. As a result of MY hard work, I have a house and two funeral homes, along with a great wife and four wonderful kids, one of which is not with us anymore.

Regardless of who the President was I continued to improve my life. None of them had a role in that. I honestly don't think any of the last four Presidents created either a obstacle or opportunity for me directly or indirectly. Sure I know who I am voting for next week and I hope he wins but either way I still have a job to do and a family to care for and neither of them are going to help me with that and I don't want either of them to.

I encourage everyone to vote. It is vitally important that you do that. The thing to remember is, there is only one person who can truly improve your life or make it worse. That person is not the President of the United States.

Election Day Holiday?

Well sounds nice on the surface. Wifey however in her infinite wisdom, pointed out that if it were a holiday there would be no school and Mom's and Dad's would have an even harder time going to vote because they would have their children with them. Many government buildings would still have to be open for polling places (can't let election workers take the day off). A lot of parents around here really don't like all these extra holidays, our kids have about one day off a month from school already between legal holidays and the infamous "Teacher Work Day". The latter might just be an Ohio thing. Shouldn't they be working even when the kids are there? **sarcasm** From a funeral director's perspective, I guarantee that I will end up with a funeral that day anyways.

I could just go on and on, suffice it to say that it's better to look at these things from a logical rather than emotional perspective.

Don't ruin my music with your politics

Roger is at it again.

You know, I don't/won't talk about politics here other than my own local involvement. The reason why is because anything I have liked, (music, celebrities, websites, blogs, etc.), that were not political in nature to begin with, have been soured because they decided to inject politics into what they do.
Why would I want to have some political image pop into my head everytime I hear my beloved PF? I know that some of their songs have political and social overtones, but it's more of a general, timeless kind of thing. Do you think Dark Side of the Moon would be as popular if they were specifically targeting the politicians of that era with the music?

Now I need to find my copy of Meddle and a cigar and flush my mind out.

TCB

Well this morning I had three families scheduled to come in to Berlin Heights today. One of them did not show (we got our wires crossed and they are coming tomorrow), but three would definitely be a record for me in one day. I was hoping to take a nap before my evening meeting but alas no time for that.

Being on Village Council means much more than just showing up for the once a month meeting. Every council member is assigned to committees by the mayor. There are 14 standing committees and I am a member of eight of them. Many of them do not meet on a regular basis (ie. Special Ordinance Committee). They only meet when there is an issue to discuss. One of them, Fire Board, meets monthly. It has four members, two village council members and two township trustees.

Well I need to get ready civic duty is calling.

200th post!

Well I guess this is some sort of milestone, I just noticed it when I logged on to post something.

Well I survived the cub scout winter camp-out. Now I need to survive my first council meeting tonight.

I have been trying to get all of my Village Council work to be paperless. I have been using my portable scanner and a program called pdf annotator. It allows me to take notes on a pdf document and save it.

I can take notes and others can open the pdf file and see my notes without any special viewer.
Well back to work.

Coincidence?

Welcome to the Machine

My fedora's in the ring

Well for those of you who follow my blog, you know I was elected to the Wakeman Village Council. Today I was sworn in by Mayor Stanley Wolfe. I know many in my line of work shun politics, but I saw many more advantages to this civic duty than disadvantages. The majority of business owners in Wakeman do not live here so they have no vote. Improving our town has been one of my priorities lately. In addition to this I am also working with some of the business owners to start a business association.

I approved this blog entry

I haven't followed the Presidential Primary much. In the interest of disclosure I am a Republican. When I saw this on YouTube I had to post it here. I really don't know anything about Mike Huckabee, but if he's Chuck Norris Approved, he's OK in my book.

Politics & Taxes

Last night I went to one of two Village Council meetings before I take office. I am so ready for these lame duck sessions to be over.
In addition to all the other stuff I do, I also am President of a local charity fund. Believe it or not non-profit orgs must file yearly with the IRS. Its a royal pain. So I was on the phone with the IRS & my lawyer today before a special meeting tomorrow of our Board. last year we gave away approx $80,000.00 Not bad for a small town charity. Well now that I have finished a long day of power brokering its time to sleep.

Pet Peeve

Just about everyone uses a nick when they post comments anywhere. I have never thought twice about this until recently. Our local paper has been running articles about my town, some good, some bad. At the end of each online article you can post comments. Well many things have been said and so far I am the only one who has used my real name. It has really made me think twice about making comments online, especially since insults and false statements have been made about either me or a good friend. Now keep in mind that these comments really don't represent the majority of our town. If it did, I wouldn't have won the election. Just something for you to think about the next time you have something to say online.

I won!!!!!!

Just got home from the newly elected mayor's house. I have been elected to our Village Council. I am quite happy with the results. Time for bed.

Campaigning

Well I did some more door-to-door work in town for my election next week.

Things I learned going door-to-door
1. Not many people have screen doors anymore
2. Lots of people have dogs.