Top Ten Plus Six Equals Top Sixteen The Garbage Collector Picks Up

The garbage collector is a metaphor. A good or service yesterday was useful. A good or service today is useless. It's garbage. Toss the garbage out. The garbage is the old. Clear the garbage. Make space for the new. Bring the replacements. Many people underestimate the power of goodbye. Everything and everyone become garbage eventually; for example, professional computer programmers say "all code is garbage" because new code is written. There are exceptions.

Here are the top ten plus six equals top sixteen the garbage collector picks up.

16. Brita Water Pitcher. I'm allergic to the retail grocery store water filtration products. I was sick in May-Jun 2014. I stopped drinking water from Brita. Instant recovery.

15. Former Family Dentist. The family changed dentists in 2019. The previous dentist was part of the family between 1998 and 2018. The practice went downhill for years. Prices increased. Outdated technology.

14. My Second Boss Was Fired. My second boss at my second company in the commercial real estate industry was fired. Management gave her advance notice to find another job. The termination reason was incompetence. I continue to remember the lesson: have nothing, do nothing, get nothing, be nothing, and people treat you like nothing. Never be a nobody.

13. Unfollow Twitter Accounts. Self explanatory. People change. I change for which I lose interest. They change their tweets for which I lose interest.

12. Old Technology. Self explanatory. Never stop learning new technology. Use the latest and greatest to be relevant. Use the latest and greatest to be productive.

11. My Bookshelf. My bookshelf is full of books. I purge my own library. The least desirable books are donated or placed inside free neighborhood libraries. Some books may be desirable today. Give it time. Some books may not be needed tomorrow. Free shelf space. Less clutter.

10. eBay Auctions. My junk is another person's treasure. Some examples of my auctions include board games, DVDs, anime, and toys.

9. Clothes. No more polo shirts. No more plain white t-shirts. Dress appropriately for the occasion.

8. Items blocking the walkways are removed.

7. Friends. People come and go in our lives. It's natural partings. It's life. In particular, say goodbye to the people dragging you down. Don't let people hold you back. If you can't find good friends, then take a chance going alone. Mismatches. There are opportunities to meet new people. There is time to find matching friends.

6. Incorrect Gym Workouts. It took me 10 years from 1998 to 2008 to find out my gym workouts were wrong. A friend told me about bodybuilding.com. I threw away bad workout plans. I follow good workout plans.

5. People don't pay their debts. People who don't respect themselves. Tenants not paying rent are stealing. These people are examples of garbage.

4. Role Playing Games (RPG). Many of my past friends and current RPGs disagree with number four. Playing RPGs was a waste of my time. RPGs was a poor escape from life. RPGs was a poor leisure activity. It should not have been a match for my hobbies. I continue catching up what I missed today.

3. Family Guy. I donated all my Family Guy DVDs. My intelligence improved afterwards. I can't explain it.

2. Liquids. No drinking eight glasses of water a day. No drinking milk. No drinking green tea. No drinking processed orange juice when I'm sick.

I'm in the minority regarding the health benefits of green tea. Drinking green tea daily negatively affects my body. I stopped drinking eight glasses of water after my two surgeries at O'Connor Hospital in Mar 2017. I drink water when I'm thirsty. I'm the healthiest I've ever been.

1. Junk Food Or Processed Food. No eating processed food in moderation. I minimize eating processed foods. No candy for breakfast. Fast food restaurants are included in the processed foods. The only day I eat processed foods all day is Super Bowl Sunday.

Update On A Past Blog

My Washington Canada 2008 vacation from Nov 15, 2008 to Nov 20, 2008 summed up a human nature lesson. Every human is the same. We want to be with people. We work. We attend school. We spend our leisure with our favorite hobbies. We want to be happy. I want to add every human wants to succeed. Click link to read my Washington Canada 2008: Epilogue written on Jan 27, 2009.

Throwback Blog: Work Sat Jan 10, 2015

Blogger's Note: Throwback blogs are blogs from my past. I start posting past blogs reflecting what I wrote. It's like my "A Second Look" blogs for which I give myself feedback.

Today's throwback blog is titled Work Sat Jan 10, 2015 written on Jan 10, 2015. I was a Data Entry Specialist contractor at a tech company making network servers. I supported a Senior Quality Reliability Engineer. I share my thoughts remembering the time in bullet format.

*I didn't take any vacation time during my six months. I worked on Dec 26, 2014. The company was closed on Dec 24-25, 2014.

*I never ate frozen hash browns for breakfast after my contractor was satisfied thereafter.

*I could have purchased a Calm Radio lifetime subscription for $300.00. I didn't pay because I thought Calm Radio goes out of business. Calm Radio still exists.

*A mistake I vowed never to repeat was waking up late. I must sleep early on the night before I work the next day.

*The language tone convinced me today I was unprofessional. Nobody cared about my commute. The commute text sounded like I complained too much. However, my job was data entry. The job was unexciting.

*The co-worker who was fired didn't know the Excel VLOOKUP function. Only God knew how she was hired. The interview process is more sales pitch or selling oneself and less knowledge and experience. My intuition tells me today's interview system incompetent workers are hired even though the interview exams should eliminate the unqualified candidates.

I forgot to mention security was present during the firing.

*"I met with the SAP administrator for a meeting explaining the SAP export problems. He explained he must follow a procedure including submitting an IT ticket and informing his management. I anticipated a long wait for the SAP enhancements. I'm required to test the enhancements in the development side."

There were procedures. Procedures were procedures. There were rules. Rules were rules. His department didn't revolve around my SAP export problems. I waited.

*". . . there are too many job openings in today's tough job market requiring too much experience. Many job openings don't require lots of experience."

There are too few job openings in today's tough job market requiring too much experience. I still believe many of the few job openings require little experience.

Wed Dec 31: I ate Safeway bagels for the first time working at the company. I purchased frozen hash browns for New Year's Day breakfast. I stored the hash browns in the coffee room freezer.

The audit continued today. Be slow. Be calm. I listened to music from calmradio.com. I checked my Facebook from time to time before lunch.

Thur Jan 1, 2015: Happy New Year. Company was closed.

Fri Jan 2: I arrived to work at 8:45am. I forgot to shave. The building was dead. I was ready to upload the audits from one of the vendors. It should be a smooth export to the SAP database. I spoke too soon. There were problems with the upload and there was a minor error on the interposer template. I emailed the SAP administrator documenting the problems with screenshots. I troubleshooted and corrected the interposer template. I listened to podcasts throughout the day. I listen to more podcasts and less music at work.

The cafeteria closed minutes after I ordered chicken tenders. One out of three stations and the salad bar were open.

Mon Jan 5: I experienced trouble waking up. I was ready physically. I wasn't ready mentally. My mind needed more rest. It was worth the additional rest waking up at 7am instead of 6am. I arrived to work at 9am.

I ate my granola bar in the coffee room. I small talked with the engineer I don't know his name from another department. The conversations included movies and our Christmas holiday.

I saw facility workers installing two cigarette receptacles at the court yard walking to the cafeteria.

My engineer emailed me more RMAs from another vendor to enter in the SAP database. The additional RMAs and the SAP export problems gave me optimism my contract is extended beyond four months.

Tue Jan 6: Another 9am-6pm workday. I was ready physically. I wasn't ready mentally. My mind needed more rest. The morning commute took 30 minutes. I experienced my first red light after El Camino Real. My prior morning commutes the intersections between El Camion Real and before my left turn were 100% green lights.

A co-worker was fired in my work area. It was the first time I was present during a firing. My past company firings I was informed after the employee exited the building. I gave her the extension cord I borrowed and I gave her my contact information. Other co-workers gave her their contact information. She was escorted by someone in human resources. A facilities worker pushed a cart to assist in taking her belongings. The three workers exited using the service elevator.

I met with the SAP administrator for a meeting explaining the SAP export problems. He explained he must follow a procedure including submitting an IT ticket and informing his management. I anticipated a long wait for the SAP enhancements. I'm required to test the enhancements in the development side.

My evening commute took 24 minutes. It was the first time my evening commute was shorter than my morning commute.

Wed Jan 7: Another 30 minute morning commute. I woke up at 7am for the third time in a row. I was awake mentally. I was still tired physically. I went to bed earlier last night. I must be adjusting from my holiday sleep schedule. I contemplated skipping the gym. No skip. I worked out at the company's gym.

Another worker entered the elevator area 3-5 seconds before me arriving to work. He held the elevator door open when I entered the elevator area. My thanks. I pay it forward the next time I'm ahead of another worker entering the elevator area.

Thur Jan 8: I was motivated to wake up at 6am because I want a 20 minute or less morning commute. Today's commute was 17 minutes.

My engineer told me more background story on the RMAs missing data points. He said the problems with the RMA data and the server component database existed before he started at the company. I thought about his story minutes after I sat at my cubicle. I realized why some job openings require lots of experience. One reason is the successful candidate must solve problems on day one. I'm guessing my engineer was hired because he has the experience to solve problems in quality control. On the other hand, there are too many job openings in today's tough job market requiring too much experience. Many job openings don't require lots of experience.

I exited the building at 5:15pm. There was still daylight. Daylight is getting longer.

Fri Jan 9: I continued with the audits. I continued listening to podcasts. I continued listening to KNBR 680AM at 3pm. There's no timetable when I complete the audits in full.

My engineer went home early because he had an appointment. He worked at home for the rest of the day.

People Fail Intentionally Or Unintentionally

Today's blog is an update on a past blog.

Update On A Past Blog

I write another thought on the blog I Did It Right written on Nov 14, 2013. I wrote I lived life correctly no matter the good times and the bad times, the successes and the failures, and the good lucks and the bad lucks. The blog was another reminder of growing up. I can't control everything. Never stop learning. Correct mistakes. Be grateful. Forgiveness.

I complete the plan. I follow the instructions. I adapt the system. I perform my job. I work everything correctly. Learning is finished. Training is completed. I'm sincere. I'm honest. The end result is failure.

There are 32 NFL football teams. Two of the 32 teams play for the NFL championship at the Super Bowl. The two teams' coaching staff create a plan. The two teams' players follow their instructions. The systems are established. All players know their jobs. They practice hard. One team wins. The other team loses. One team is successful. The other team and the 30 other teams not playing in the Super Bowl are failures.

An oversimplified hiring process for an open job position. 500 people apply for the job opening. 20% of the applicants qualify. 100 people remain. 20% of the applicants exceed the job requirements. 20 people remain. The hiring manager selects 6 candidates to interview. One candidate is hired. The other 499 people are not hired. The other 499 people fail for whatever reasons.

People can do everything correctly. People do fail. The people include me. The people include the reader. Most projects fail. Most businesses fail. Most relationships fail. Most people fail. Success is relative. Failure is absolute. Although, successful people can be wrong. Successful people can be lucky. Life is weird. Life is unfair.

There are false losers. I wrote about These Young People Are False Losers on Aug 7, 2022. These young people experience bad breaks and bad luck.

Professional Knowledge Shared As Common Knowledge

Here are knowledge from professionals in their fields people should know. The information can be false. Some professionals may not do. The reader should do their due diligence to verify. Source: What's a "secret" from your profession that everyone should probably know? from Reddit.

1. Financial institutions use older versions of Excel.

2. Document everything.

3. Daycare teachers clean toys and equipment.

4. Gloves are not necessary to handle old books, rare books, and special collection books. Clean and dry hands are the best. Wearing gloves are more likely to rip a page because the person can't feel them well compared with bare hands. There are exceptions such as handling artifacts, moldy items, toxic books, and photographs.

5. Bibles are not rare. The Bible is the most printed book in the world.

6. You need two coats of paint.

7. Bacteria and microbes as a whole are small cells or capsules. They are bad at sticking to random solid objects by themselves. It's like hanging on a rocky hillside with your hands. Water from above hits you. You're going to be flushed down wherever the water goes. A simple water rinse can remove 99% of the bacteria.

8. There are corrupt employers who don't pay their workers, close the business, and reopen under a different name. They fraudulently transfer all their assets under another person's name.

9. Dog and cats need rabies vaccine because rabies is transmissible to humans. Also, pets can have fleas regardless of being indoor pets or outdoor pets. Fleas can be anywhere. And a local veterinarian likely doesn't see wildlife and reptiles.

10. Generally speaking, retail stores don't hide stuff in the back. We want to sell. If it's in the back, it doesn't sell. Everything we sell is out.

11. Fire sprinklers go off where the actual fire is. Not all fire sprinklers go off like in the movies. The water is gross and stinky. A properly maintained sprinkler system is flushed.

12. Most modern homes or residential construction are built with the cheapest ingredients. They may not last more than 30 years without exterior refurbishing. Further, never buy a new home for which the buyer picks a floor plan A, B, C, D, or . . . . 90% of these new homes are made from shitty materials. Buy an actual quality custom home.

13. Dental professionals can't always tell if you floss or not. However, if the dental profession flosses the patient and bleeding occurs, then he or she can tell.

14. If you have the feeling of a medical life threatening emergency, then go to the emergency room.

15. Abusive parents are more common than you think. They include the nicest neighbors and volunteers. Child Protective Services can't catch everyone. There are mental abuse, emotional abuse, and psychological abuse.

16. IT Googles all day. We're better at Googling than other people.

17. Architects say 50% of major home remodels the couple divorces.

18. Financial institutions software security is outdated.

19. Tugboat pilots are bored. They look at their phones 95% of the time.

20. College students should attend classes even if you don't pay attention. Students can accidentally learn. Also, attend class, read the chapters, do the homework, and show up at the office hours. Students are more likely to earn an A or a B.

21. You don't have to top off freon every year for the air conditioner.

22. Buy the cheapest cemetery vault. All vaults are not 100% waterproof.

23. Patients should ask for an itemized bill because it can lower the cost. Hospitals avoid adding unnecessary fees. There are programs to lower medical bills.

24. The majority of children sex crimes are family members. Neighbors, family friends, and pastors are included.

25. Family and relationship therapists' solution for 50% of their clients: just go get a divorce already.

The Flaw Becoming Interested In Others

Becoming interested in others is a human relation rule. Becoming interested in others is a skill to get along with other people. Becoming interested in others is a skill to meet new people. There is a flaw. There are people not meant to be with other people. There is a mismatch. A person gets along with one person. The same person doesn't get along with another person. The person is rude. The person is obnoxious. Personalities don't connect. The person smells bad. The person is an idiot. The person has poor communication skills. Their hobbies don't interest the other person. Blame life. Everyone is different. Anyone who tells you people can get along with everyone is wrong. Nobody gets along with everybody.

Update On A Past Blog

Read the blog The Real Life Match Game written on Jun 12, 2019. Marriages fail daily. A top reason is mismatch couples. The couple is not a match. Connect the dots backwards. The marriage started to fail on day one. The marriage was doomed since day one.

The Bottom Line Is A Big Change Influencer

Here's a typical scenario. A customer, client, patient, or buyer recognizes an error, discrepancy, miscalculation, or exclusion. The party converses professionally to management, agent, doctor, ownership, or seller. The talking points are clear. Tones are calm. Spoken words are mature. Everyone is patient. Unfortunately, sometimes talking points are confusing. Tones are conflicted. Spoken words are shouted. No more patience. Regardless, there is no change. The management party and the like changes nothing even if the customer party and the like are correct.

Follow the pattern. There are more errors, discrepancies, miscalculations, or exclusions. The management party and the like continue changing nothing. It doesn't matter who's correct and who's incorrect. The system is unchanged. Give it time. The best change instigator is money. The catalyst for change is profit. The bottom line is the wake up call. We see changes everyday in the business news. A company misses their forecasts. A company announces changes. We see changes everyday in the sporting news. A professional sports team with multiple losing seasons. Ownership announces coaching changes.

Money talks. Profit talks. Problems are no longer ignored.

There Is Truth Serum During COVID-19 And After COVID-19

Governments declared the COVID-19 global pandemic ended in 2023. However, the COVID-19 virus is clear and present indefinitely people need an annual vaccine like the annual flu vaccine.

Sodium pentothal or the truth serum was administered during the global pandemic. There is more sodium pentothal administered afterwards. Living a life with lies has been harder. Anyone lying maintaining the lies are difficult. Resilience faked during the pandemic is not faked afterwards. Calling out dishonestly has been easier. People waiting for the evidence to prove lies must be patient. It's impossible for 100% of the people globally their lives change for the better because life is unfair. There are winners. There are losers. The losers are identified. The percentage applies to me and everyone I know. The truth is coming soon from the lies I notice. The equalizer is coming soon for the appropriate situations or moments.

Social media is untrustworthy overall. I go with the information present. Lies? Maybe. Deceit? Maybe. Give them time. The lies and the deceit are exposed.

The truth serum is administered anywhere at anytime. It's given at the workplaces such as nurses and the hospitals, teachers and the schools, first responders and the stations, and postal employees and the post office. It's given at the supply chains. It's given in manufacturing. It's given in retail businesses. It's given in the public sector. It's given in governments. It's given in the banks. Money decreasing. Stress increasing. Respect decreasing.

My Second Boss Was Fired

I experienced a manager was fired for the first time in Sep 2002. She was my second manager overall. It happened at my second company after I graduated at San Jose State University. She was hired in Sep 1999 to replace my first manager who hired me at my first company and my second company. I warned the office manager the replacement was a poor choice. The office manager ignored my warnings like many office managers disregarding worker concerns.

My intuition told me the managing partner needed to layoff staff due to the dot-com recession and the brokers complained about my manager's performance. The managing partner told the office manager to fire my manager. The office manager came to the Research Dept for an impromptu meeting to acquire justification. The meeting lasted ten minutes. The final question was, "Is Research going to be affected if she leaves?" The co-worker and I said the answer "no" immediately.

The office email stated she found another job. I received inside information from a broker's assistant my manager was informed her firing beforehand. The office fired her after she found another job. The broker's assistant also told me my manager's salary was "very high."

I learned a life lesson from my manager firing: have nothing, do nothing, get nothing, be nothing, and people treat you like nothing. Never be a nobody.

Afterwards

The next 4.5 years another office manager was the Research Dept's manager. The previous office manager admitted her mistake to me in 2003. My co-worker maintained the database. I ran the operations. The managing partner wrote the quarterly newsletters. All was peaceful. Why? Everybody was winners. Each year were record setting revenues. Each year brokers surpassed their previous year's sales targets.

Staff members began to leave the partnership and my office starting in late 2006. I worked at Cisco in Mar 2007. My co-worker worked at another commercial real estate company in Jul 2007. Winning hides weaknesses. Winning ignores problems hoping they go away. Problems were clear and present starting in late 2006.

Underachieve And Did Nothing About It

I dreamed last night I was an options trader about to be laid off. The company founder and CEO was Roseanne Barr.

I worked at a four story freestanding building. I rarely traded options because I'm conservative. I rarely cold called. My commissions earned was petty. One particular option was a call option for the SPDR Dow Jones Industrial Average ETF Trust (DIA) stock. A call option is a bet the stock price for DIA increases. The call option owner has the right and not the obligation to buy 100 shares of DIA for every one option of DIA at the call option price before a particular date. The DIA stock price must be at the call option price or above for the call option owner to buy the 100 shares. The call option price is called the strike price.

I was responsible for one DIA call option at a particular strike price. The DIA stock price traded above the strike price. I exercised my right for one DIA option to buy 100 shares. I kept the remaining options as options. My computer screen showed I was responsible for three call options. Three is too little for a professional options trader. The reader should deduce I was unqualified. The reader should also deduce I was lazy.

Enter Roseanne Barr

Barr walked to my station. She wanted to talk to me. I followed her from the third floor to her office on the first floor. The center of the building was an atrium with indoor trees and plants. We entered through a thick glass door. There was a waiting room consisting of ten chairs like a waiting room in a doctor's office. Barr told me to wait. I was the only person. Time passed. More people entered the waiting room. One person was a co-worker. He told me I was getting laid off. Barr entered the waiting room immediately. She became angry at my co-worker because I was informed of my laid off before she told me.

Barr told me she's ready for our conversation. We entered her office. Barr explained the reasons for being laid off. The reasons were standard: poor performance, lack of motivation to become a better worker, and the recession. I said, "The company is going to be bankrupt because fewer option traders and fewer clients buying and selling options." She acknowledged money spending is tightening.

Barr ran another business on the first floor. She was the owner of a spa. She offered me a one hour massage as part of my severance. I thought about the message. I woke up.

Every Person Has A Breaking Point Dream

I dreamed last night I worked at my second company in the commercial real estate industry. It was a dark dream like a dark comedy or dark drama. The two-story office building prepared for a Valentine's Day celebration. The air, the environment, and the lighting felt dark except the reception area. There were no decorations. One of the administrative staff prepared many bowls of candy bars like Halloween. Perhaps, the Halloween explained the darky feeling. The back area prepared for a barbeque.

I worked in the Research Department. One of my primary responsibilities was maintaining the database. There was one R&D broker who needed closed deals entered in the database. The broker was a professional, a top producer, patient, respected, and focused. He was preparing a presentation for one of his top clients in the early afternoon. I received the closed deals he submitted in the department inbox in the morning. I delayed entering the closed deals. The broker asked me did I input the closed dealers. I answered, "I get to it." I was distracted. I was interrupted. One incident involved an industrial broker's daughter who started today as an intern. She was going to take my workspace. I was going to take my co-worker's workspace. My co-worker was going to be fired. I refused to switch my workspace. The conversation between the R&D broker and I continued throughout the morning.

Another conversation was during the 12:00pm hour. I didn't input the closed deals in the database. The R&D broker lost it. He grabbed me by the throat with two hands. He lifted me up. He threw me through a window on the second floor. I fell down at the back area where the barbeque was held. My body shattered. Blood came out from my body. I died immediately.

The dream fast forwarded to the evening. The perspective changed to third person who was me watching from above. Maybe I was a ghost. Maybe I was an angel seeing from heaven. The sheriff's department arrived at the R&D broker's house. The R&D broker's wife distracted the deputies as they walked inside the house tactically. He was an emergency medical technician before he became a commercial real estate broker. He drove out of the garage in an ambulance. He crashed the ambulance at another house on the same street. Additional deputy units were around the neighborhood. They surrounded the crashed ambulance. I woke up.

My morale of the dream is every person has a breaking point.

Richard Nixon And Watergate Previews Donald Trump And The 2020 Election

Former President Richard Nixon conspired to cover up a break-in of the Democratic National Committee headquarters at the Watergate Office Building in Washington, D.C. on Jun 17, 1972. The burglars intended to install wiretaps. 48 of the 69 people indicted were convicted. Nixon's Watergate scandal was a Mickey Mouse juvenile crime compared to former President Donald Trump's 2020 Election interference.

Here are five YouTube videos on Watergate. These videos may be considered previews, foreshadowing, forecasting, and predicting Trump's future being indicted four times as of Aug 14, 2023.

President Nixon's First Watergate Speech (April 30, 1973)

From the CBS News Archive: Roger Mudd Watergate Special Report

Richard Nixon's resignation speech

John Ehrlichman: The 60 Minutes Watergate Interview (1973)

From the archives: Nixon officials found guilty in 1975 Watergate cover-up trial

Choose The Best Fraudsters To Lose Your Money

I saw the pic meme above. You have $15. Place your bets. Choose the following people to lose the most amount of money. There is no rule not to bet on a person more than once. Here are the people explained below.

$5 left Sam "SBF" Bankman-Fried. Co-founder and CEO of FTX, a cryptocurrency exchange company.

$5 center Jeffrey Skilling. CEO of Enron, an energy service company.

$5 right Bernie Madoff. Asset manager who committed the largest investment Ponzi scheme in history worth $64.8 billion.

$4 left Martin Shkreli Co-founder and CEO of Turing Pharmaceuticals, a pharmaceutical company produced Daraprim and Vecamyl. Shkreli raised the price of Daraprim from $13.50 to $750.00. However, Shkreli was convicted of securities fraud unrelated to Turing Pharmaceuticals.

$4 center Do Kwon. Co-founder and CEO of Terraform Labs, a cryptocurrency company created TerraUSD and Luna. The two cryptocurrencies collapsed in May 2022.

$4 right Elizabeth Holmes. Founder and CEO of Theranos, a biotechnology company. Holmes was convicted of fraud for blood testing equipment which didn't work.

$3 left Caroline Ellison. CEO of Alameda Research, a hedge fund company.

$3 center Jordan "The Wolf Of Wall Street" Belfort. Stock broker convicted of stock market manipulation with penny stocks.

$3 right Billy McFarland. Co-founder of Fyre Festival, a luxury music festival to promote the Fyre app on Apr 2017 and May 2017. The festival was aborted because of problems with security, food, staff, logistics, accommodations, and talent relations. McFarland was convicted of wire fraud.

$2 left Trevor Milton. Founder, chairman, and CEO of Nikola, an electric vehicle manufacturer company. Milton was convicted of securities fraud and wire fraud.

$2 center Jim Cramer. Money manager and anchor of Mad Money, a CNBC television show on the stock market.

$2 right Adam Neumann. Co-founder and CEO of WeWork, a commercial real estate company providing companies to share commercial space.

$1 left Simon "The Tinder Swindler" Leviev. Thief and con man stealing women's money on Tinder.

$1 center Charles Ponzi. Businessman tricked investors their profits are earned from legitimate businesses. The profits are earned from newer investors giving money which are passed down to older investors. He defined the word Ponzi scheme. Investopedia definition: A Ponzi scheme is a fraudulent investing scam promising high rates of return with little risk to investors. A Ponzi scheme is a fraudulent investing scam which generates returns for earlier investors with money taken from later investors.

$1 right Carlos "Bitconeeeect" Matos. Presenter for the company Bitconnect, a cryptocurrency investment company. Founder Satish Kumbhani indicted on a $2.4 billion Ponzi scheme in Feb 2022. Watch the YouTube video Bitconnect Annual Ceremony High Lights ( Carlos Matos from N.Y. ).

Four Million Reasons From Twitter

Today's blog is an update on a past blog.

Update On A Past Blog

Elon Musk purchased Twitter for $44B which closed on Fri Oct 28, 2022. All shareholders receive $54.20 per share. Twitter becomes a private company. Musk's first business move was firing CEO Parag Agrawal, CFO Ned Sagal, chief legal affairs Vijaya Gadde, and head general counsel Sean Edgett. Musk played the Steve Jobs card. Jobs fired 25% of the executives and senior managers in his bozo list when he returned to Apple in 1997.

Musk tweeted on Nov 4, 2022 Twitter loses $4M a day. The screenshot above is timestamped today at 3:50pm. Layoffs began on Nov 4, 2022. The recent Twitter events reminds me when I worked at a retail start-up from Nov 2013 to Sep 2014. I blogged Another Start-Up Business Is Out Of Business written on Aug 14, 2021 and Three Years Later Scanners For Bar Codes written on Oct 22, 2020. I mentioned bad management or bad ownership in the first blog. "There are no such thing as bad companies; it's bad management makes companies bad" is a common business knowledge. The business sold high-end wine, beer, and sake at discount prices. Great business idea. Poor business ownership. One example of poor business ownership was the second blog. It took three years for ownership to invest in a barcode system for inventory and sales. Barcodes existed for decades. I mentioned make changes when problems are clear and present. Fix the problems now.

Twitter is a great business idea. Twitter is a social media service for people micro blogging. Musk is doing his best to turnaround Twitter with good ownership and good management solving problems now.

The Lowest Of The Low Employee

I dreamed last night I was in a division meeting at a publicly traded large tech company in Silicon Valley. The division consisted of three departments. Each department occupied a long table in the large meeting room. The CEO was present. The time of the meeting was early evening in the fall season. The economy was in a recession.

I was the lowest of the low employee in the division. I felt like fourth grade physical education. I was chosen last to be in a team. I took advantage of my position to speak up. I had nothing to lose. I told the truth. I spoke on the recession. I spoke on the low morale. I spoke on layoffs. I spoke on family finances. I spoke on many people ignoring the economic news of a recession. The CEO asked if there are any questions afterwards. One employee asked about the competition. The CEO asked if he needed to be polite. Employees said no. The CEO answered everyone is screwed. The end of the meeting another employee suggested ramen for a dinner gathering.

I survived the layoffs. How ironic some experienced employees were laid-off. Employees who tell the truth are most likely to be laid-off. Maybe my salary was too cheap.

Update On A Past Blog

Last night's dream included the conversation on layoffs. Be honest. There is a 99% chance an employee is replaceable. The 1% employees are the Michael Jordans, Tom Bradys, Meryl Streeps, and the Michael Jacksons. Specifically, there is a difference between replaceable and layoffs. An employee is replaceable. Undisputable. The question is, "Is the employee going to be laid-off?"

I wrote a blog Higher Priority Job Hiring And Higher Weight Job Hiring on Sep 10, 2017. An employee's complete package is the reason to hire which includes attitude, knowledge, experience, and professionalism. Any of the four examples missing the job candidate is disqualified. Similarly, the four examples apply to an employee's chances of being laid-off.

I wrote, "Artificial Intelligence eliminates more jobs as time moves forward, anyways." Companies can replace employees with artificial intelligence with a 98% accuracy. WarGames (1983) is a movie example of a computer making decisions WarGames (7/11) Movie CLIP - DEFCON 1 (1983) HD.

A Robot With A Camera Sees You And A Speaker Speaks To You

Robots take over the world. Some are present. The most common industries are manufacturing, shipping, and technology. Expect more robots replacing humans for routine jobs. Expect more robots to replace incompetent workers. Driverless robots in the transportation industry driving cars, buses, and trucks. Pharmacist robots filling drug prescriptions 24 hours a day. Robots provide customer service in retail stores. Medical robots diagnosing sick patients. Chef robots cooking. Educator robots teaching students. Robots automate the farming industry including picking fruits and fertilizing crops. Robots officiating games. Postal robots transporting and delivering packages. Robots composing music. Robots are more efficient. Robots commit fewer errors. Robots analyze faster than the human brain. Robots don't need breaks. Robots don't need days off work. Robots are cheaper than paying employee salaries.

The job market evolution has been going on for years. More people become unemployed. There are not enough job openings to satisfy the job seekers.

A robot sees you says, "Good afternoon." Thank you for taking someone's job.

Instant Bullets Blog Feb 15, 2022

*Mulligan Stew Four Basic Food Groups. I learned the four basic food groups from the children education TV series Mulligan Stew. Mulligan Stew promoted the United States Department Of Agriculture (USDA) nutrition guidelines 4-4-3-2. The four basic food groups were milk, meat, fruits and vegetables, and breads and cereals. Mulligan Stew taught children to eat 4 fruits and vegetables, 4 breads and cereals, 3 milk, and 2 meats. The USDA replaced the four basic food groups with the food pyramid in the 1990s. Wiki Mulligan Stew TV Series. Wiki History of USDA nutrition guidelines.

*Does The Term "Aggressively Conservative" Exist? Usually aggressive means go for it. Go for the big win. Take a chance to go up. Conversely speaking, can we be conservative aggressively? Extra cautions. Slow down to a crawl. I call them aggressively conservative.

*An Illustration Expectations Are Too High. The new head coach expectations are as high as the sky the coach needs five wins in four games to impress the bosses.

*The Garden of Earthly Delights. Hieronymus Bosch painted the picture. There are multiple interpretations including indulgences, avoid temptations, and sexual joy. Wiki The Garden of Earthly Delights.

*The Breakfast Club (1985) Movie Favorite Scene. I'm in the smallest minority my favorite scene is the conversation between the principal and the janitor. Quotes are below:

Principal Richard Vernon: What did you wanna be when you were young?
Janitor Carl: When I was a kid, I wanted to be John Lennon.
Vernon: Carl, don't be a goof. I'm trying to make a serious point here. Carl, I've been teaching for 22 years. And each year, these kids get more and more arrogant.
Carl: Oh, bullshit, man. Come on, Vern. The kids haven't changed, you have.
Vernon: (sigh)
Carl: You took a teaching position 'cause you thought it'd be fun, right? Thought you could have summer vacations off. And then you found out it was actually work. That really bummed you out.
Vernon: These kids turned on me. They think I'm a big fucking joke.
Carl: Come on. Listen, Vern. If you were 16, what would you think of you, huh?
Vernon: Hey, Carl, you think I give one rat's ass what these kids think of me?
Carl: Yes, I do.
Vernon: You think about this. When you get old, these kids . . . when I get old, they're gonna be running the country.
Carl: Yeah.
Vernon: Now this is the thought that wakes me up in the middle of the night. When I get older, these kids are gonna take care of me.
Carl: I wouldn't count on it.

*Physics 60 Professor Marvin Morris. I enrolled in Physics 60 Introduction To Physics while I attended San Jose State University. The first day of class Professor Morris told the class if you can't pass the class, then change your major. The classroom was silent for seconds.

*Teens Latest And Greatest. I asked my niece and nephew what is popular and what is not popular for high school teens and junior high teens. I admit the sample size is small. Their answers may not apply to the reader's city. Anime, video games, Star Wars, and Marvel are popular. Board games, Harry Potter, music, and Family Guy are not popular.

*Netflix's Cowboy Bebop Failed. The Japanese anime Cowboy Bebop is considered a classic. Cowboy Bebop is one of my all-time favorite anime series. The Netflix version failed Netflix cancelled it after one season. My intuition tells me Netflix revised the original anime because there is a generation gap from the 1990s and today. Netflix executives changed the series because it's from anime to live action. Netflix Americanized the Japanese Cowboy Bebop. I give credit to my niece for my opinion.

*Immediate Firing. The San Jose Sharks released winger Evander Kane on unconditional wavers. The Sharks organization plans to terminate his contract for violating COVID-19 protocols. My response is why did the Sharks take additional years to remove Kane from the team. The Sharks and Kane have not gotten along for multiple seasons. My general question is why organizations take too long to remove bad people? Why does a group of people keep a bad person or bad people for which they must be removed past due?

*Good Websites. Take a look at the following websites: This Person Does Not Exist create pictures of people who don't exist, Documentaries watch documentaries on your browser, and myNoise listen to music on your browser.

*Love Chair. The love chair was invented by the Soubrier furniture manufacturer. The chair helped British King Edward VII have sex. Wiki Love Chair. Reddit King Edward VII had a custom made "love chair".

*Dysentery. You don't want to get bacterial diarrhea which is bloody diarrhea. The symptoms are fever, abdominal pain, and incomplete defecation. Causes include contaminated food and contaminated water with feces.

*Two Identification Tags On Your Airline Luggage. Airline passengers should include two tags for each checked-in luggage. The first tag is on the outside. The second tag is on the inside. Outside tags can come off. Airlines open lost luggage if there's no outside tag to return lost luggage to passengers.

*Thelma & Louise Movie Favorite Quotes. Quotes are below:

Louise: Thelma, listen up, now. If you even think he knows, I mean, even if you're not sure, I want you to hang up, you understand?
Thelma: [dials the number]
Darryl: [exchanges looks with police, then answers phone] Hello.
Thelma: Darryl, it's me.
Darryl: [with forced cheer] Thelma, hello!
Thelma: [hangs up] He knows.

Max: You know, the one thing I can't figure out is whether these girls are real smart or just real, real lucky?
Hal: Don't matter. Brains'll only get you so far and luck always runs out.

[Thelma ordering the state trooper to enter the trunk of his patrol car at gunpoint.]
State Trooper: [sobbing] Please! I have a wife and kids. Please!
Thelma: You do? Well, you're lucky. You be sweet to 'em, especially your wife. My husband wasn't sweet to me. Look how I turned out.

*San Francisco 49ers at Los Angeles Rams 2021 NFC Championship Game. The 49ers should have gone for it on 4th and 2 on the Rams 45 yard line after a failed second challenge by the Rams with 10:01 remaining in the 4th Quarter. The score was 17-14 49ers. The Rams had no timeouts and no challenges for the rest of the game. The second challenge was a free timeout for 49ers Head Coach Kyle Shanahan for which he could have drawn up a play. "No risk it, no biscuit," said Tampa Bay Buccaneers Head Coach Bruce Arians.

Or Shanahan could say, "Fuck it--let's go do it" which was what John Lennon said to The Beatles when they were indecisive minutes before the rooftop concert on Jan 30, 1969 at the Apple building on Savile Row in London.

*Congratulations to the Los Angeles Rams for winning Super Bowl LVI in the 2021 NFL season. The Rams is an example of going all-in, YOLOing, the present is now, and shoving all the chips in the middle of the table. The bold moves began years ago. The Rams traded their 2020 first-round draft pick, 2021 first-round draft pick, and a 2021 fourth-round draft pick to the Jacksonville Jaguars for cornerback Jalen Ramsey in Oct 2019; traded quarterback Jared Goff, 2022 first-round draft pick, 2023 first-round draft pick, and a 2021 third-round draft pick to the Detroit Lions for quarterback Matthew Stafford in Jan 2021; and traded their 2022 second-round draft pick and 2022 third-round draft picks to the Denver Broncos for Super Bowl L MVP defensive end Von Miller on Nov 1, 2021. The Rams signed wide receiver Odell Beckham, Jr. to a one-year contract after being released from the Cleveland Browns on Nov 11, 2021.

In addition, the Rams either won with the best or lost with the best. The Cincinnati Bengals doubled covered Super Bowl LVI MVP wide receiver Cooper Kupp multiple times during the Rams' game leading drive. Kupp caught four passes for 39 yards including his second touchdown of the game and ran for 7 yards for a critical first down.

Defense wins games. Defensive tackle Aaron Donald sealed the Rams' victory on the Bengals final drive third down play and fourth down play preventing the Bengals getting the next first down.

Rams head coach Sean McVay is the youngest head coach to win a Super Bowl at age 36. Credit Rams ownership lead by Stan Kroenke for the bold hiring in 2017 when McVay was 30 at the time of hire.

*misassembled: to put the parts of something together in an incorrect manner; to assemble wrongly

Update On A Past Blog

Here is another thought for My Second Company I Worked Moved Closer To Downtown blog I wrote on Jan 30, 2022. *Everyone is winners in an up market. I remember a conversation with a broker during the dot-com recession. He said anyone can make their yearly sales targets in a market where rents skyrockets. I reword in my words, "Any bozo can make money when the economy is up. Sales, profits, investments, commissions, and interest payments."

My Second Company I Worked Moved Closer To Downtown

I found out the second company I worked after I graduated at San Jose State University moved. I refer to the second company in the commercial real estate industry as "CPI." CPI moved closer to Downtown San Jose. Their new location is inside a high-rise office building occupying an entire floor. Their previous location was a two-story freestanding building. My guess is the move happened in 2018 according to my research. I blog my thoughts in no particular order.

*Corporate. My intuition tells me CPI became corporate after visiting their new website. CPI used to be independent.

*2,949 Days. I worked at CPI for eight years. I was a Research Analyst in the Research Department. The sales support staff consisted of Research, Graphics, and Administration departments.

*CPI is one of too many examples life is always changing. Life is always moving. It's rare a company is the same for decades. It's rare for people to be the same for decades. Life finds a way to change people if people don't want to change. Life finds a way to move people if people don't want to move.

*Brokers Got My Back. I realized the brokers got my back if I communicated my problems years later after I left the company. If I called out the problems, then management must solve the problems. It was like I wore the immunity idol from the TV series Survivor.

*A Cry For Help. My co-worker and I didn't get along in the department. The Research Department consisted of two people without a department manager for most of my employment days. The office manager was our closest manager. She did nothing.

My co-worker was an idiot. He was a middle-aged immature person. He had personal problems including family, health, and relationships. Work productivity was too slow. Brokers complained he completed their requests late. He took too many smoking breaks. He worked at home and worked on weekends to catch up. I think back to those years of his unprofessional behavior. Was he crying for help?

*The Building Freddy Wanted. I refer to the managing partner as "Freddy." Freddy wanted the previous location building because he had the best corner office in the two-story freestanding building. He analyzed the pros and cons of moving. His bias analysis convinced most brokers to accept the move. Objectively speaking, the company needed to move to a bigger building. The question was where in the city. Freddy wanted to move to the two-story freestanding building.

*50% of the sales support staff was divorced.

*The Dumbest Person I Ever Met. The previous office manager is the dumbest person I ever met as of today's blog post.

*I Ignored The Warning Signs. The warnings signs were clear and present. The company experienced growing pains, mismanagement, confusion, poor leadership, and, to paraphrase the late Steve Jobs, ". . . and they just didn't get it, even when they saw the map they couldn't even copy it well. How dumb do you have to be to not see it, once you see it." The company was positioned to be the number one commercial real estate company in the market by year consistently. The company had the best support staff, experienced brokers, top marketing, accurate research, and the latest technology. The company was number one for one year during my eight years. The number one was during the dot-com boom. Any half-ass company can make record profits in a good year.

The buyer who worked for three months who talked bad behind the CFO's back, the graphic artists who worked for one year and quit, the CEO who resigned, the human resources director who was fired, the Vice President of IT who was forced to resign, the helpdesk manager who was forced to resign, and the multiple projects to build the new database failed. The Vice President of IT before he resigned assigned the network administrator to build the new database out of desperation. Also, the research department manager who hired me warned me the commercial real estate statistics were calculated incorrectly before he moved out of the country. The signs were clear and present. I was a twentysomething year old naive employee.

*The Nothing Wisdom. The one wisdom I most remembered is don't be a nobody. The last research manager was a nobody. Don't be nothing. The brokers didn't like her. Management ignored her nothingness until the company cut the budget. My co-worker and I didn't like her; moreover, it was our only commonality. The last Research Department manger worked for two years. Management told the Research Department manager to find another job because she's going to be fired. The official reason she left was she found another job. The unofficial reason she left was the company terminated her.

Lesson learned: have nothing, do nothing, get nothing, be nothing, and people treat you like nothing. Never be a nobody.

*The Late Steve Jobs Ignore Problems Hoping They Went Our Way Didn't Work. The company played the Steve Jobs ignoring problems hoping they go away. Some did, some didn't. The problems they ignored became bigger problems. The company is still in business in contrast to Steve Jobs ignoring his health problems resulting in Jobs passing way due to pancreatic cancer. Perhaps, going corporate was good for the company.

*Keep Your Job By Keeping Quiet. Another example of ignoring problems. Brokers who spoke up their contracts were terminated. Sales support staff who spoke up were terminated.

*The Job Skills Were All Wrong. I was taught incorrectly. I was trained incorrectly. Everything I learned was wrong. Databases, statistics, Excel, and reports were wrong. I applied the incorrect job knowledge to my future jobs. I was ineffective. Fortunately, I corrected myself years later by self-training.

*Guinea Pig Continued. I experienced bad luck and bad timing being a guinea pig multiple times at San Jose State University; for example, a professor teaching a class for the first time, the department starting a new class series, and the university system changing the graduation requirements for new students. I was a guinea pig at the second company. Company growing pains, a new research manager, numerous failed experiments, and a new office manager with no previous experience. I was a twentysomething year old who survived without a mentor. I distrusted management.

*Winning Disguised The Problems. The company earned record profits after the dot-com recession. Management didn't break the flow or if it wasn't broken, then don't fix it. The two-man Research Department did our jobs quietly literally. I was responsible for the operations. My co-worker was responsible for the database administration. The managing partner wrote the quarterly reports. The system worked. The other sales support departments Administration and Graphics did their jobs without complaints. The end of the year the sales support staff got our yearly reviews and our merit raises. The exception was the staff who talked to management about the problems resulting in termination. Nevertheless, the company never reached number one in the commercial real estate market after the dot-com recession.

Give it time. I'm confident many of the disguised problems were exposed causing trouble which could have been prevented or minimized after I left the company.

*Cursed Freestanding Building. One could say the building cursed the company. Obviously, there were problems in a newly constructed building such as plumbing and electrical. It seemed there was a time period a broker, a staff, or the building itself a problem arisen.

*By The Numbers. The managing partner managed by the numbers. The decisions were based off sales numbers and financial numbers. Brokers were rewarded doing well. Brokers were punished doing poorly.

Update On A Past Blog

I wrote about my co-worker in Did The Dumb Ass Co-Worker Wanted To Change? on Jul 15, 2009. If you click on the link, you find out the name of the CPI company.

Shelter In-Place COVID-19 Blog October 2021

California issued shelter in-place orders on Tue Mar 17, 2020. I have been logging the highlights and lowlights. Oct was the slowest month of the year. There were a few days which went fast. Christmas sales and early Black Friday sales were seen in stores and in advertisements. Governments issued relaxing restrictions and stopping mandates.

Fri Oct 1. Total US cases 43,500,000. Total US deaths 700,000. Worldwide cases 219,000,000. Worldwide deaths 4,550,000.

Governor Gavin Newsom mandates all eligible students in CA private schools and public schools to be vaccinated. It's the first school mandate in the US beginning in the 2022-2023 school year. The expectation is the Food And Drug Administration (FDA) approves vaccines for ages 5-11 beyond emergency authorization. Religious and medical exceptions are granted when requested.

Tue Oct 5. Northwell Health fired 1,400 or 1.8% of the workforce who failed to comply with New York's COVID-19 vaccine mandate. The company is the largest health care provider in New York.

Wed Oct 6. Kaiser Permanente suspended 2,200 unvaccinated employees nationwide. These employees must be vaccinated before Dec 1 or be terminated.

Thur Oct 7. Shopped at Costco during the 1pm hour. It was dead. Social distancing was easy. I ordered take-out at The Pasta Market afterwards.

Mon Oct 11. TX Governor Greg Abbott issued an executive order to ban COVID-19 vaccine mandate on workers. He asked state lawmakers to pass the ban into law. MT passed a law preventing employers from mandating workers to get vaccines.

Dr. Anthony Fauci said Halloween trick-or-treat is safe as long as it's outdoors and everyone is vaccinated.

Tue Oct 12. 70,000 CA residents died from COVID-19. The number was the highest in the US. TX was second. FL was third. CA was below average per capita at 177 deaths per 100,000. The US average per capita was 214 deaths per 100,000.

Thur Oct 14. Purchased gas. Purchased Get Back by The Beatles book and groceries at Costco. The food court opened.

Fri Oct 15. US travel restrictions lifted for fully vaccinated foreigners from 33 countries begin on Mon Nov 8. United Kingdom, France, Italy, Spain, and China are some of the countries. Proof of vaccination and a negative test are required within three days of travel.

Non-essential travel restrictions lifted from Canada and Mexico. The travelers must be fully vaccinated.

San Francisco County and Marin County lifted indoor mask mandates in certain situations. The situations include offices, gyms, religious gatherings, and college classes with less than 100 people. Facilities must be properly ventilated, no recent outbreaks, and no children under 12. Masks are required in restaurants, stores, and K-12 schools. Marin County and Contra Costa County lift indoor mask mandates on Nov 1.

Mon Oct 18. A second friend tested positive for COVID-19.

Former Secretary Of State Colin Powell died from COVID-19 complications. He was fully vaccinated.

People protested the school vaccine mandate at the CA capitol in Sacramento. Some parents pulled their children out of school to attend the rally. Some parents kept their children out from school as a statewide protest.

Wed Oct 20. The FDA approved the Moderna vaccine and Johnson & Johnson vaccine for booster shots. Mixing vaccines are okay.

San Francisco shut down the In-N-Out restaurant for indoor dining in Fisherman's Wharf for violating the city's COVID-19 health order. The staff didn't check customers for proof of vaccination.

Thur Oct 21. The Center For Disease Control (CDC) approved the Moderna vaccine and Johnson & Johnson vaccine for booster shots. Mixing vaccines are okay. Nursing home residents, people with underlying health problems, front line workers, education workers, and people in homeless shelters can get boosters.

Fri Oct 22. A summary for people eligible for boosters. Mixing vaccines from different companies okay. However, the CDC doesn't recommend mixing.

Pfizer and Moderna: People must wait a minimum of six months after the second dose and must be 65 or older. People 18 or older living in long-term care, a front line worker, or with an underlying medical condition.

Johnson & Johnson: People must wait a minimum of two months after the dose. Age 12 or older and other factors are irrelevant.

Sat Oct 23. The COVID-19 delta variant was detected in CA, DC, MA, NC, and WA.

COVID-19 cases increase in Britain. Hospitalizations and deaths increasing. The government is not planning to restrict daily life.

Sun Oct 24. First day of rain for the rainy season. It rained all day non-stop.

Wed Oct 27. Errand day. I went to the post office, repaired my windshield, smog check, and shopped at Costco. Costco crowd was a prepandemic busy afternoon at 3pm. I ordered from the food court kiosk for the first time. The self checkouts were moved closer to the center of the checkout registers.

Fri Oct 29. Music festival Outside Lands happened at Golden Gate Park during Halloween weekend. People must show proof of vaccination or proof of a negative test within 72 hours. Masks were required.

Costco's Black Friday ad arrived from the mail.

FDA approved Pfizer vaccine for children 5-11 for emergency use. The dosage is 1/3 of the teen and adult dosage. The second shot is administered three weeks later.

Sat Oct 30. Total US deaths 740,000. Worldwide deaths 5,000,000. Britain deaths 140,000. Brazil deaths 600,000. Italy deaths 132,000.

Throwback Blog: Third Blog Entry: Breaking Rule Number

Blogger's Note: Throwback blogs are blogs from my past. I start posting past blogs reflecting what I wrote. It's like my "A Second Look" blogs for which I give myself feedback.

Today's throwback blog is titled Third Blog Entry: Breaking Rule Number written on Jan 7, 2006. The third blog out of three blogs on the day talked about my second job after I graduated from San Jose State University. My job sucked. I started searching for a job in Jan 2007. I couldn't explain the logic for the one year delay. The company went downhill at the end of 2006. My life was great outside the workplace which made me forget my job.

I choose the criticisms I respond decades later. Today's blog is another example time heals all wounds. Wisdom is acquired as we get older. Lessons are learned. No mistakes are repeated. I connect the dots backwards.

*Like many jobs that suck, my job sucks. What makes my job suck? I work in the Research Department. The department has two workers: me and my co-worker. The department supports 70+ brokers in the local office . . . The office I worked was an outlier. A typical commercial real estate company has an ample support staff to help the brokers. Most of the 70+ brokers were self-sufficient for which they required minimal support staff. Most of the 70+ brokers were trained beyond commercial real estate and salesperson skills. Moreover, I wrote the rant in a Jan month. Jan was the busiest month in a calendar year because of the previous year's annual report and annual conference the Research Dept. was involved. Otherwise, the Feb-Dec months were normal with the exception of the quarterly reports which took significantly less time compared with the annual report.

*My co-worker is an idiot. Should have been fired a long time ago. Somehow, when he fucks up, he gets away with it. Nothing lasts forever. My co-worker was never going to be fired. One reason was two people worked in the Research Dept. supporting 70+ brokers. Another reason was the managing partner and my co-worker had a close relationship. For instance, my co-worker worked on Sat. The managing partner emailed my co-worker for research statistics on Sat. My co-worker completed the request hours later.

My co-worker's fuck up was discovered on Jul 2007. He was transferred to another brokerage house instead of being fired. I don't know why he wasn't fired. I don't know how the two brokerage houses negotiated the transfer. I should have said "never say never" instead of "Nothing lasts forever."

*Also, the managing partner in charge of the office is not a managing partner; rather a major pain. The guy has shit in his brains. The answer was simple. The managing partner ran the office by the sales numbers. His job security was strong as long as the sales numbers were good. Winning disguised problems.

*My feelings are I'm lonely. When I started the company, there was nobody to be my mentor. Heck, I never had a mentor in my life. There was nobody to show me around. The lonely feeling was incorrect. I realized years later the brokers got my back. If I spoke up, then management responded because of the brokers. Management couldn't fire me. Also, one magical day I spoke up at a workplace outing. The Administration Dept and the Graphics Dept talked to me. There was a new permanent connection.

No mentor in my life was true. 95% of all my problems I solved myself by learning from my mistakes, acquiring wisdom at the right place at the right time, and growing up. I'm lucky my life today is my best life. I'm the strongest, smartest, wisest, and healthiest ever. Ironically, I'm George Costanza being unemployed and living with my parents.

*Problem number two is I trust nobody. Nobody has proven to me, nobody has earned my trust, nobody earned the right to know me, to listen to me sincerity. Nobody has my credibility if anyone wants to give me advice. As far as I'm concern, anyone who tells me anything is full of crap. Why should I believe you? Who are you? I don't know who the people are and people don't know who I am, and even if I tell them who I am, they probably don't give a shit. Been there, done that. I was full of shit. Don't waste time figuring out what I said. It was a cry for help. If I said the shit today, then I need professional help. I'm not the shit person today.

*When I go to work, the real me doesn't enter the building ;__; It's a stranger even I'm not comfortable being. Outside work, I'm very cheerful and always busy doing stuff like reading books, playing video games, watching anime, listening to CDs, going to the gym, cooking, researching stocks, and just being myself. That's the real me. I was not the real me inside work and outside work. It was true I was busy outside work doing the stuff above. I was not cheerful outside work.

Life advice and professional workplace advice. If you're not you going to work, then changes are warranted. Everybody is human. Nobody can tolerate being a different person in a workplace indefinitely. I'm not thinking what my life is today if I continued working at the company today.

*Side note: there were four people I don't respect specifically. Two of them are no longer in my office. Another workplace advice I should have learned years ago. Anytime a group of people resign in a short time period is a sign there's something happening to the company or to the department in a negative way. I was one of four people who found better jobs in the company in early 2007. Retail is the exception because the retail industry always has high turnover by nature.

In Dale Carnegie's book How To Win Friends and Influence People, rule number one is Don't Criticize, Condemn, or Complain. The third blog entry, however, I'm going to break the rule and rant. Rant, complain, let my stress out, let my anger out. It doesn't matter to me. I need to vent frustration regardless whether the reader thinks I'm complaining or not complaining. More important, the following is going to be unedited; in other words, [sic] or verbatim.

Like many jobs that suck, my job sucks. What makes my job suck? I work in the Research Department. The department has two workers: me and my co-worker. The department supports 70+ brokers in the local office and 10+ brokers in a satellite office north. 80+ brokers. Two people in the department. Hello, senior management. The department needs additional help. No need to research the facts. Furthermore, I'm not going to be working in the company forever.

My co-worker is an idiot. Should have been fired a long time ago. Somehow, when he fucks up, he gets away with it. Nothing lasts forever. One day you are going to mess up big and you are going to be fucked!!! What has he done and got away with? Start the list:

*In 1997, the server crashed and he didn't back up the research data.
*In 2002, he calculated absorption wrong for 12 years. I found the error in five minutes 0:-) Any national real estate firm needing a researcher with new ideas? I'm available for hire >.<
*I taught him how to calculate weighted averages. He never knew what a weighted average; moreover, he never calculated rents. Come on, researchers must know basic math.
*He is still using an 80s system to calculate statistics in the 21st century. One step further, he's an obsolete 80s robot because he acts like a robot.
*He makes careless mistakes, and it's getting worst.

Lesson: if it acts like a duck, walks like a duck, talks like a duck, thinks like a duck, it's probably a duck {:V

Also, the managing partner in charge of the office is not a managing partner; rather a major pain. The guy has shit in his brains. I have been working in the company for seven years. Man, that's too long to work there. I can't think of one incident where he has taken an active role in, well, anything. Come to think of it, he's done nothing to the company to make it a better place to work. Nothing. Zip. Zilch. Jack shit. The chances of him leaving the company are next to nothing because the position requires a brokers or sales license to sign off completed deals.

As for me, personally, what are my feelings? My feelings are I'm lonely. When I started the company, there was nobody to be my mentor. Heck, I never had a mentor in my life. There was nobody to show me around. I learned almost everything about the company myself (which was really nothing to learn come to think of it). I can't trust anyone because nobody in the company earned my respect, my trust, my credibility. Respect, trust, and credibility must be earned whether he or she is the janitor, engineer, director, or senior vice president; likewise for parents . . . if you want sons and daughters to learn, to love, to be good sons and daughters, you must earn their trust, their love, and their bond; otherwise, they are not going to believe what you say to them. Perhaps, that's one reason why runaway kids leave their parents. Trust, love, bond, etc. are not automatic just because Mom and Dad are parents. All must be earned and demonstrated sincerely and without deception. The same goes with co-workers, management, and executives. Earn them (respect, trust, credibility, sincerity) or lose them (co-workers).

It's out in the air. I'm lonely. I should tell somebody. Problem number two is I trust nobody. Nobody has proven to me, nobody has earned my trust, nobody earned the right to know me, to listen to me sincerity. Nobody has my credibility if anyone wants to give me advice. As far as I'm concern, anyone who tells me anything is full of crap. Why should I believe you? Who are you? I don't know who the people are and people don't know who I am, and even if I tell them who I am, they probably don't give a shit. Been there, done that.

When I started in 1999, the research department was pathetic. Terrible. An embarrassment. In one year, I provide new reports, accepted new responsibilities, increase turn-over rate to less than one business day for most requests, new ideas, etc. I proved that I can do a whole shit load for the company. What has the company proved to me? Nothing. It's the same company since 1999. No improvements, nothing new, nothing the latest and greatest (except computers of course), no innovating. Heck, my company doesn't have a CEO and a CFO. The CEO fucked up and the CFO resigned.

When I go to work, the real me doesn't enter the building ;__; It's a stranger even I'm not comfortable being. Outside work, I'm very cheerful and always busy doing stuff like reading books, playing video games, watching anime, listening to CDs, going to the gym, cooking, researching stocks, and just being myself. That's the real me. The guy who never stop innovating and wants to meet more people XD

I feel much better now and I'm going to get a good night's sleep (-,-)

Side note: there were four people I don't respect specifically. Two of them are no longer in my office. The first person was eliminated in August 2002. Officially, the position was eliminated. Unofficially, she was laid-off. The second person was transferred to the corporate office in January 2006. Her replacement started in January 2006. We shall see how the replacement does, and I'm going to have high expectations because she was promoted in my office.

Side note 2: there are a selected few co-workers I'm comfortable in a conversation; however, it's as far as the communication goes--casual conversation.

Everyone Gets A Piece Of The Pie

The Los Angeles Angels fired visiting clubhouse manager Brian "Bubba" Harkins in Mar 2020. Harkins worked with the Angels since 1990. A visiting clubhouse manager and his staff prepare equipment and uniforms for the players before the game starts. Also, a visiting clubhouse manager is like a hotel concierge.

Harkins provided a "foreign substance" for pitchers to improve their control pitching the baseball. Harkins was taught how to make the "foreign substance" by Angels' pitcher Troy Percival 20 years ago. The substance was available by request. Most pitchers and coaches paid Harkins to cover the costs. No profit was made. Any "foreign substance" on a baseball or doctoring is against baseball rules. Pitchers were quoted Major League Baseball (MLB) allowed doctoring for at least a century. However, the middle of 2021 MLB announced umpires search suspected pitchers for any "foreign substance." Pitchers caught with a "foreign substance" are suspended. No pitcher has been terminated for cheating.

Harkins filed lawsuit against the Angels and MLB for defamation and being the scapegoat on Aug 2020. The Angels and MLB filed a motion for dismissal on Nov 2020. The Orange County Superior Court dismissed the lawsuit on Jan 2021.

Equal Access

My response is the "foreign substance" is open to everyone. Everyone gets access. All pitchers are included. All MLB teams are included. No pitcher wants to exclude another pitcher because the pitcher may get angry. The angry pitcher tells MLB officials the illegal activity even though MLB doesn't enforce the rules. The piece of the pie is available. All parties are satisfied. Everyone is happy at the end of the day.

Update On A Past Blog

Today's blog contradicts The Size Of The Pie Is Still The Same on Jun 23, 2016. I wrote there are too many people living on Earth. The size of the pie doesn't increase to accommodate the increasing amount of people. More people don't get a piece of the pie. A genius can solve the problem by eliminating greed.

The Jul 15, 2019 blog Too Many People was about a church building 44 affordable apartment units. The church received over 5,000 applications. The 44 unit pie didn't increase.