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Monday, June 27, 2011

Another Recession? Keep your eyes peeled for August 2nd.

I found this post on HUFFINGTONPOST.COM and I do not own the rights or any part of this article at all, but merely I am sharing it because the American debt ceiling is trying to be raised by the government, and Republicans said 'we have to try' to get this fixed before our economy crashes again. Clearly they're putting every piece of motivation into this. Just take a quick read...



Debt Ceiling Talks: Mitch McConnell, Jon Kyl Firm On Taxes Ahead Of Obama Meeting (VIDEO)

Mitch Mcconnell Debt Ceiling
First Posted: 06/26/11 01:24 PM ET Updated: 06/26/11 03:59 PM ET
(Reuters) - The Senate's top two Republicans on Sunday stood firm against including tax increases in any deal to raise the debt limit and shrink budget deficits one day before a meeting with President Barack Obama, but said the showdown need not go down to the "11th hour."
Obama is to meet separately with Senate Democratic and Republican leaders on Monday to try to revive negotiations that collapsed on Thursday when Republicans walked out over Democrats' demands for tax increases.
Sending a message to Obama in appearances on Sunday news interview shows, Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell and Jon Kyl, his deputy in the leadership, presented a unified front demanding spending cuts and opposing tax hikes.
"We have a spending problem. We don't have a problem because we tax too little," McConnell said on the ABC program "This Week."
"We need to quit borrowing, quit spending, and get us our trajectory heading in the right direction. Throwing more tax revenue into the mix is simply not going to produce a desirable result, and it won't pass," McConnell added.
Obama said on Saturday he remained committed to working with Congress to solve the government's debt problem, but the focus could not be only on spending cuts, as Republicans demand.
The $14.3 trillion U.S. debt ceiling must be raised before August 2 or the Treasury Department will run out of money to pay the nation's bills. A default on debt payments could send markets plunging globally and raise the risk of another U.S. recession.
"One of the reasons we are meeting tomorrow (Monday) is that I think both the Democrats and the Republicans would like to come together and finish this negotiation and finish it sometime soon. It need not necessarily go to the 11th hour," McConnell said.
"We need to put something together that will actually pass and make a difference, impress Standard & Poor's and Moody's and the rating agencies that are about to downgrade the U.S. credit rating for the first time in our history," he added.
'KILL THE ECONOMY'
The U.S. federal deficit stands at $1.4 trillion, among the highest levels relative to the economy since World War Two.
Speaking on "Fox News Sunday," Kyl said "we have to try" to get a deal by August 2.
"I think the president has to make a decision -- which is more important to him: solving this problem, reducing spending somewhat, or making sure that we raise taxes on American economy?" Kyl said.
"If you want to kill the economy, raise taxes. Are we going to vote to absolutely put another anchor around the neck of the economy, which is struggling to try to recover here? Absolutely not. It's terrible policy," Kyl added.
Democrats have eased back from their insistence that personal income tax rates need to rise on the wealthiest Americans to focus instead on ending a wide range of tax breaks on everything from corporate jets to oil and gas subsidies.
They have also proposed closing tax breaks that benefit the wealthy, such as limiting the deductions for households making more than $500,000 a year.
Republicans control the House of Representatives while the Democrats control the Senate.
Appearing on CNN's "State of the Union" program, House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi said Democrats must have a say in crafting an agreement, especially if Republicans in the chamber cannot generate enough support on their own to pass a final plan.
Pelosi said any package that only cuts spending is unworkable, suggesting that closing what she and other Democrats call corporate "tax subsidies" for oil companies and other businesses should be included in any deal.
"You cannot achieve what you set out to do if you say it's just about cutting. It has to be about increasing the revenue stream as well. There are many things you can do in terms of special interest loopholes," Pelosi said.
Republican Senator Jim DeMint, a favorite of the conservative Tea Party movement advocating deep spending cuts, said he believes the United States would not default on its obligations if Congress fails to raise the debt ceiling.
"If we add another $2 trillion to our debt without taking control of it, I think you're going to see the markets respond in a much worse way," DeMint said on CNN.
(Reporting by John Crawley, Paul Simao, Paul Eckert and Lucia Mutikani; Writing by Will Dunham; Editing by Vicki Allen)
Copyright 2011 Thomson Reuters. Click for Restrictions.

Saturday, June 25, 2011

New England Weather

You can't change the weather, so why even get upset about it?

I'm not a fan of this recent rain, I don't know if you can recall this spring (the wet season) or the harsh winter we've endured over the past two years, but I've had about enough. I can easily put up with the awful transition seasons but when it becomes summer I expect a good amount of decent weather.

Is it climate change? What's going on?

No one really knows for sure. People have always typically just said, 'Oh it's New England, it'll change in five minutes.' But it's been more than five days of gray overcast weather that has begun to shut down operations here in the North East. Realistically, the only time small businesses make money in New England seems to be the tourism season from early summer to late fall. And it's been tough. Working for a small business myself, the effects of the recently horrible weather have definitely put a damper on peoples spirits and have lightened their wallets.

What can we do about it?

Well blogging ain't gonna help much, I suppose I'll go put on my grown up pants and suck it up until the next nice day comes along. 'Till Then Folks!

Thursday, June 23, 2011

Work smarter, not harder.

Sometimes we all think one way, as if we work that much harder, we're going to make that much more money. 

This isn't the necessarily the case. Although I've been doing the multiple job trend for over a few years now to try and rack up my bank account, I still have found myself to being about the same ratio as spending as much as I do when I only have one job. 

Which brings me to the point that working three jobs may not be the smartest option to go. Why work onle 20-25 hours at three different jobs? Whats the point if your still only saving the necessary minimum you need to go back to school? Am I spending too much? Or am I rewarding myself with the costs of hard earned labor? Either way, perhaps I should have gone a bit further out of my way to earn a bit more cash. It's ultimately up to us, the working class to determine where those boundaries lay where the cost of getting there (Example driving 45 miles to Hampton Beach to wait tables at a soul sucking bar) and possibly earning a few hundre dollars a night, or simply working a few jobs within a 15 mile radius and keeping youe sanity but earning less cash. I guess what I'm trying to determine is that your sanity and your compensation for the work your doing is up to you. So far, I like what I'm doing and have kept my sanity much more than I did last year, working at the #1 Brewery on the seacoast being a line cook. 

And I'm just not sure you can put a price on that. So Long Folks!- Cam

Friday, June 17, 2011

When your blog might suck....

I've taken a bit of time off, but certainly haven't moved out of the realm of pondering about what to write about next.

It's tough to write about, and the thing that's been catching my mind as of late, has been the distraction of blogging about 'too many topics.' Why do I write about all these random things? It's because a wide variety of occasions occur within my lifestyle, perhaps causing me to lose focus of some of my favorite things. And perhaps my favorite things I am not writing about enough. There are blogs dedicated to urban and street graffiti in Britain, and then there are those travel writer blogs, as well as those extreme sports blogs. How do I narrow my audience? How do I find if there is an audience for what I'm writing about?

These questions have plagued me and my writing styles as I've searched for answers over the past week.While I realize I'm only twenty-one years old and have not developed the advanced techniques to describe something of particular relevance to the average American, I'm still finding my blog to be hit with over a thousand views.

Now, 500 of those have got to be my parents and twitter fan base (currently at 106 random followers) but I'm looking for more. I'm not vying to be in the top percentile of page views, but I want my blog as well as my adventures to be well documented. I've come to the fact that over the years it's going to be useful to have something to look back on at least randomly for me to see how I've become somewhat of a writer. But still the tempting questions that every blogger faces have hit me hard over the past week, causing me to lose motivation to blog.

Is what I'm writing helping anyone in any way? Am I promoting something or merely listing my thoughts and interactions through the days? Is that ok? Do I need to have a purpose to blog? Am I lacking with pictures?

I've gotten on to thinking about writing opinionated articles with sarcasm as a 'How To' blog, but I feel as if chances are that someones got a much better and well developed blog for that. There's a blog for almost everything, and internet searching proves that.

I feel as if the things and interactions I do on a daily basis are cool and slightly above the average, so I blog them. I obviously don't blog everything and I'd hate to look like a puffed up pigeon on the internet because I'm NOT the coolest guy on the block.

My final conclusion is that life has caught up to me thus far, and working three jobs and skydving and hangout time with friends has caused an utter lack of structural education outside of school. I simply don't have enough time in the day, and it's getting to the point where I've experienced so many different things (traveling, meeting people, general good times) that it's time I begin to narrow them down. Scope my view for the rest of my life so to speak. So let's begin anew, and I'll continue to write my opinions on more 'How To' articles as well as showcase some pictures.

Monday, June 13, 2011

How to get out of a funk or a bad mood.

So you've found yourself being anally retentive and have since turned to the internet to help you solve the crisis of your current bad or weird mood.

Well lucky for you I'm continuing my 'How To' trend on what to do when uncertain things happen and you don't have a clear solution. Let me be the first to admit to you that I also have no more answers than the next blog available to you on the same subject, all I can really do is offer some sort of theory as to solve your current bad mood and propose several ways to get you out of it.

1. Physical release is important when dealing with stress.

Whether your just milling about and deciding on something or you've become physically angry where you can no longer retain yourself, you need to find an outlet. And quick. The gym is a great way to release physical energy, or some type of other workout, running, biking, hiking, or whatever your decision may be. Sex can be another outlet if that option is available to you, for some people this isn't always an option which is why the proposal of going to the gym may fill your needs for now. Either way, you've got to blow off some steam through physical means.

2. Figuring out what's causing your bad mood and replacing it.

Bad energy comes and goes, it's just the way of the world and everyone becomes stressed out at one point. You've got to learn that as it comes and goes, you can take advantage of it by replacing it with good energy. If you have enough money for a weekend get away then do it. If you have enough money to go jump out of a plane, then do it. If you treat yourself and a loved one to a nice meal then do it. You've got to think about how you got to be in that bad mood and avoid it for the next time.

3. You've got to take care of yourself before you can take care of others.

This is not being selfish. Even Mother Theresa took time for herself. That doesn't mean you stop helping people, but seriously you need to treat yourself and keep yourself happy to live an enjoyable lifestyle with your friends and family in it. It's simple think of yourself as a water fountain and the areas of your life are the layered pools of water below. Water must run from the top of the fountain before spilling down on the other layers.

4. It's all in moderation and moderation is in your head.

You've got to be level-headed. Just think before you act. You've heard that before and it's true. Anything in excess can be bad, so you've got to really think about what your doing. If your in a funk, then drinking in excess may not be the smartest thing for you to do.

If your somehow still in a funk, and none of these ideas have cured your insatiable weird mood, then try listening to music. Change your environment. You could be upset with how your current life situation is, and it's so simple to change it. Most of us are just scared to change, and there's nothing wrong with that. But if your unhappy, which easily stems from odd moods, It's time for a change, and change is good.

How to get a girl to like you

Step 1, get off the internet

Step 2, go to the gym stupid.

Saturday, June 11, 2011

The Law of Attraction

It's something I haven't used in quite some time, and when things are going good, we as humans tend to stop working hard for what we want.

In the poor efforts of you googling the unkown have since brought you here under searching for the 'Law of Attraction" your possibly in the right place. You've probably heard about it at some point, and from the context of the phrase itself you can most likely imagine what the "Law" is.

I'll give you the shorter un-edited version of it. The Law of Attraction is a simple tool that humans have been secretly using for thousands of years. You know when you were a little kid and your parents told you that you could be anything? Even the president of an astronaut and you believed it? Yes, well there in lies the "Law" itself. It's the simple possibility of you thinking about something so much and wanting it that your combined efforts of positive thinking push you to produce quality work, which in turn gets you what your mind has been drooling about. Whether it be that nicer house on the corner, or that new more slim faster porsche that's coming out next month, the Law of Attraction says if you believe it, you can achieve it.

Now foolproof becomes the catch phrase here. Being someone that used the Law of Attraction on many occassions and enjoying the most luxurious of fruition because of it, that's not to say it's worked 100% of the time. Many of my friends have mocked me and others who have sworn by this "Secret" to help us better our lives, and some people turn and laugh. My simple theology here is that thinking positively in any sort of way is going to get you out of the mud hole and help you achieve what you want. Negative thinking is not conducive to producing things of quality in ones life.

Why am I blogging about this when there's a bazillion other articles about it? It's because it works in a way and you ought to give it a shot. Now just because your thoughts haven't manifested themselves into what you wanted within a week doesn't mean you should give up and recant this article, I'm merely passing on a trick that has allowed me to manifest a few of my thoughts and dreams into some of the best things of my life, and surely has gotten me out of some dark points in my life.

I suppose I'm writing this as well because I'm going to continue to use the secret for my next set of goals that I'd like to accomplish (the purchasing of skydiving gear) and hope that it somehow comes to fruition by the end of the season. So this is where I dare you to begin to use this life tip, and keep me posted on the dealings and creations that your mind has attracted into your life. A strong determination and relentless positive vibes will bring you what you want, but just know that you gotta work for it too.

Friday, June 10, 2011

A license certification!

It was almost a year to the exact date (366 days) since I first took my AFF first jump course.

It feels even better to say that I've gotten the official stamp, and pat on the back, and an even firmer kick in the ass to get back on the plane. I've got my A license certification for skydiving! And It feels great. 27 jumps in and I still feel like I've only skimmed a bit of the surface on the ocean of knowledge that skydiving is.

A lot of hard work goes into getting that certification, and some people do it in as little as 10 days with almost a 200% percent determination, and then other people such as myself leisurely work it into our schedules. But alas! It's done and I can now join the thousands of licensed skydivers across the US and rest of the world.

Keep in mind that if you are thinking about getting your license, your A license is essentially a 'license to learn' if that makes sense. While in keeping with the traditions of your AFF gear checks and speaking with instructors before your jump, just because you have passed one of the many hurdles into being a certified skydiver, this is not an invitation for you to kick back and put yourself and others at risk.

Despite me sitting here and preaching, I'd also tell you that I indeed still know very little (just the bare minimum in fact) about skydiving. In my second year of working at a drop zone, I'm still learning the basics and developing the basic skill set to hopefully become a respectable skydiver someday. As adrenaline pumping and unreal as skydiving actually is, keep in mind there is SO MUCH to learn about this unique sport. Most people generally do a tandem jump and then look towards getting certified, and if you have stumbled across this blog and have never skydived before, I highly suggest you try it! And get the DVD! It's so worth it!

Kudos to all the other jumpers that have gotten their licenses this week as well, and I promise I'll get some pictures on this blog as soon as I buy myself some free time! Good luck! And have fun amigos!

Monday, June 6, 2011

Falling out of Tune.

I guess it's time for another update..or more like an apology.

It seems I have fallen out of my blogging habits once again. These double work shifts and little to no extra time being consumed by skydiving and playing video games (on occasion going to the gym) have been frustrating to say the least, but alas, College tuition has got to be paid for right?

Nonetheless I shall be back to my usual rants and writings of raw emotions to deliver to you on a daily basis shortly. My one goal for this blog is to begin taking the some occasional photos and posting them here as well.

As for now, a lot more of my quicker faster and more exciting visuals come on the form of facebook and twitter.

My facebook name is Cam King and you can follow me on twitter @Kingcam1989. Feel free to go and add/follow me right after this. I promise more funny articles poking fun at politicians and other ways of life to come soon enough. Summer is indeed a busy time! Keep you posted! - CK

Thursday, June 2, 2011

Work Hard Play Hard.

That really sore feeling when you get up at 6 am to work a full 15 shift really can suck big time.

But knowing that your bank account will have a nice padding by the end of the summer really makes it worth it. Before you start assuming that I'm complaining again hold it, there's a lesson buried in these words somewhere. The motto my family has passed down to me has always been the typical, 'Do what you HAVE to do, so you can do what you WANT to do.'

Stereotypical right? Your parents probably said something along the lines of that as well.

And you should thank them for it. If you have been fortunate to abide by this simple rule, your hard work and achievements will slowly trickle down from your brain sometime after your perspiration has soaked through your t shirt. (Can you tell I move furniture 6-8 hours a day?) But seriously, hard work does not just come in the form of water coming out your pores. Some people like to break a mental sweat too.

The key is as simple as the phrase above. Just do what you have to do because when play time comes you'll have a ball. It's true believe me, play time now as an adult is way better because I actually work much harder for it now. Not to say I didn't have fun as a kid, but that really sore feeling of getting older and getting less sleep on average makes up for a nice paycheck at the end of the week and a solid feeling when you go to bed after a hard days work. It's just those first 15 minutes of the morning where you really regret then next 14 hours ahead of you. Oh well, here's to hard work! More playtime stories to come when we're done tomorrow at 9:30 pm. Woof.

Wednesday, June 1, 2011

Mitt Romney...The Meathead.

Don't get me wrong, before this I kinda liked Mitt Romney, but seriously what the hell is he doing now?

You don't climb upwards by climbing on other peoples backs and pulling them down. That doesn't get you anywhere. The slander campaign that Mitt Romney has begun to help attempt to speed up his nomination for the Republican Candidate in 2012 is being run on the fact that he is bashing President Obama. Mitt Romney essentially calls Obama an 'utter failure' and I'm going to have to strongly disagree. Mitt Romney said that the Obama administration doesn't have a foreign policy that sticks with the ideals of America and that's where he's dead wrong. President Obama is extremely well liked on behalf of A LOT more countries due to the fact that he is open for criticisms of the US and adapts for change.

The Reagan 'esque' idealism to foreign policy gets us now where but behind in the education system, and in the economic systems of the world. While it's true that Obama has made more concessions to other countries thatn Presidents in the past, it's about time we made some apologies. We've seriously messed up a lot in this country and if Mitt Romney won't admit that, then I've lost a lot of respect. On an individual basis, if your doing good financially and don't have anything to worry about, then it may be easy to not like President Obama because he's not entirely fighting for your ideals. What our current President is doing now is setting up a bigger brighter future for the middle class of America, and for the wealthy rich successful mormon business men (like Mitt Romney) that's not a good thing for you.

So this is my plea Mr. Romney, #1 quit bashing the President and run on your own campaign.  #2 You say you can reverse our economy now explain how. #3 You really want to be an iconic figure, well work with your enemies instead of pushing them aside.

The fighting in politics needs to end, and somebody's got to take the reigns. Personally, I'd like to see Mr. Obama keep up the extremely hard work that he's done so far. And with so many mediocre candidates in the Republican primary, I think Mr. Obama will have an easy time gaining a sequential victory to his first presidency.