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Feb 08
Dec 23
Merry Christmas
To Everyone!
& to all a Great 2010!
Ok I know first off this kinda breaks my owns rules about posting a blog that has little to do with remodeling, home improvements, construction or products that are related to the home-improvement or construction industry. Nor does this have anything to do with my own home improvement or remodeling experiences. Now with that said, I just want to say Merry Christmas.
With the new year of 2010 we expect to grow like the economy fell in 09, | Quickly! But enough of the negative past its time to focus on the positive future of 2010
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Thank You,
Dec 09
There’s nothing like owning your own home. To some it means freedom. No more dealing with the fat ass of a lazy landlord who won’t fix what’s broken. No more noisy apartment buildings, where you have to deal with the neighbor’s kid who just happens to be a crackhead thief, that likes to ogle your daughter on her the way to the bus stop. To others, it’s a fresh start, a new beginning. You know, you graduate college, meet a girl, get married, and buy a freaking house. Or graduate bartending school, get a job at your local dive bar, meet a few girls, turn into a misogynistic ass and THEN buy a house. Whatever your version of the clichéd American dream is, it usually ends with owning a home.
Now buying a home obviously comes with a few minor headaches from the stress of trying to handle the load of credit checks, mortgage companies, sub contractors and the like… That’s what I HEAR, anyway. (I wouldn’t know personally, because I’m still working on becoming a misogynistic ass, but I digress) Unfortunately, to a lot of the Ozzies and Harrietts of the new millennium,100,000 and counting , the headaches are far from minor. So is the’ persistent coughing, the nausea and vomiting, and itchy skin. It’s not the purchasing of the house that’s causing these reactions; it’s the house itself. It’s the drywall, to be more specific.
Along with the housing BOOM a few years ago, there were also quite a few hurricanes in the southeast. Katrina, being the most memorable, and the most destructive as we all know. Well during this time, WE, America, became a little shorthanded of a few of the necessary items to build homes…so WHO did we turn to, to satisfy our construction needs? The Brits? Noooo. The Japanese? Noooooo. The Irish? Noooo. We turn to a country that has been producing quality products for ages now. They produce powered milk that causes their children’s heads to swell to twice its normal size AND, that causes liver failure. (MAKE MINE A MILKSHAKE MOMMIE!) And the toothpaste that this country produces, WOW! If bleeding OUT, from your ear canals and gum line is in your TOP 10 preferred ways of saying “hello” to your “maker”, then I say “GO FOR IT MY FRIEND!” Because you’re not going to find a more superior product in Amercia . I mean that’s QUALITY toothpaste! It’s sure as hell above and beyond ANY brand name toothpaste that the United States carries, we should BE so lucky! And let’s not forget about the carcinogenic lipstick ladies! I don’t know about you, but cancerous tumors protruding from the face of MY better half….WOOF! Still don’t know of whom I speak..? Why it’s the Chinese of course!! THAT’S RIGHT! FROM THE MAKERS THAT BROUGHT YOU SUCH WONDERFUL TOYS AS “TOMMY the TOXIC Talking CHOO CHOO” and “DORA the LEAD PURGING EXPLORA” . The Chinese have so graciously bestowed upon us the NEW and IMPROVED building materials of the future! “Ancient Chinese secret huh?” NOT ANYMORE!!!!! YES, YOU TOO CAN LIVE LIFE ON THE EDGE BY PURCHASING ONE OF THESE FETID, FUNKY, “FORMALDEHYDE” DIPPED DOMICILES! EACH HOUSE COMES FULLY STOCKED WITH WALL-TO-WALL, FLORID, RUBY RED FRIEZE CARPETING TO MATCH THE BLOOD THAT WILL BE FLOWING FREELY FROM YOUR NASAL PASSAGES!
But seriously, the drywall that we, the United States, have purchased is beyond tainted. It was made with high amounts of sulphur. When the drywall is used in areas with high humidity, such as the southeast, the chemical reaction results in noxious fumes filling the home that cause severe headaches, nose bleeds, impaired breathing and these are moderately healthy human beings I’m talking about here. Can you imagine what this stuff would do to a child?! Due to extreme amount sulphur used in the Chinese drywall there has also been reported damage to the wiring, and plumbing of these homes, basically to any metals used in the building of these houses! In some cases electronics and appliances have been affected. These people are STUCK with these homes! Insurance companies aren’t going to pay out! It’s not their fault! The government says that they are going to step in and help out, but it’s the fault of the governments to begin with. We need to raise the standard of inspections for imported products! Especially, if that product is coming from China!
I guess the question is, if the products that the Chinese offer are SO below sub par, then why is our government continuing to buy from them? I mean they’re selling these things to their OWN people, and have killed many, and injured even more! Why buy these products?! We buy them probably because we owe the Chinese government $4 TRILLION dollars…..and it’s only going to get worse if something isn’t done about it.(STOP IT OBAMA!!! )
Consumers NEED to STOP buying products from China! Sounds easy enough, right? Try buying a child’s toy that doesn’t have Made in China stamped on it. You’ll be hard pressed to do so. But consumers NEED to know more about the products that they are buying. I mean from leather couches to paint brushes, from T-shirts to Toothpaste,from mattresses to instant mashed potatoes. Know where it comes from!!! I guess this is what they mean by GLOBAL ECONOMY, pretty freaking scary……Gives a whole new meaning to BUYER BEWARE! But that’s just me………..
Matt
Dec 09
I found this on Yahoo News and thought it was an interesting read you may also view this at http://news.yahoo.com/s/time/20091209/us_time/08599194608800
or view at Time at http://www.time.com/time/business/article/0,8599,1946088,00.html?xid=rss-fullnation-yahoo
What does this mean for us?
The Job Market: Is a College Degree Worth Less?
By Kristi Oloffson Tuesday, Dec. 08, 2009
Christopher Furlong / Getty
Employers and career experts see a growing problem in American society – an abundance of college graduates, many burdened with tuition-loan debt, heading into the work world with a degree that doesn’t mean much anymore.
The problem isn’t just a soft job market – it’s an oversupply of graduates. In 1973, a bachelor’s degree was more of a rarity, since just 47% of high school graduates went on to college. By October 2008, that number had risen to nearly 70%. For many Americans today, a trip through college is considered as much of a birthright as a driver’s license. (See pictures of the college dorm’s evolution.)
Marty Nemko, a career and education expert who has taught at U.C. Berkeley’s Graduate School of Education, contends that the overflow in degree holders is the result of many weaker students attending colleges when other options may have served them better. “There is tremendous pressure to push kids through,” he says, adding that as a result, too many students who aren’t skilled become degree holders, promoting a perception among employers that higher education doesn’t work. “That piece of paper no longer means very much, and employers know that,” says Nemko. “Everybody’s got it, so it’s watered down.”
What’s not watered down is the tab. The cost of average tuition rose 6.5% this fall, and a report released on Dec. 1 by the Project on Student Debt showed that the IOU is getting bigger. Two-thirds of all students now leave college with outstanding loans; the average amount of debt rose to $23,200 in 2008. In the last academic year, the total amount loaned to students increased about 18% from the previous year, to $81 billion, according to the U.S. Department of Education.
Meanwhile, the unemployment rate for recent grads rose as well. It is now 10.6%, a record high.
The devaluation of a college degree is no secret on campus. An annual survey by the Higher Education Research Institute has long asked freshmen what they think their highest academic degree will be. In 1972, 38% of respondents said a bachelor’s degree, but in 2008 only 22% answered the same. The number of freshmen planning to get a master’s degree rose from 31% in 1972 to 42% in 2008. Says John Pryor, the institute’s director: “Years ago, the bachelor’s degree was the key to getting better jobs. Now you really need more than that.” (See TIME’s special report on paying for college.)
Employers stress that a basic degree remains essential, carefully tiptoeing around the idea that its value has plummeted. But they admit that the degree alone is not the ace it once was; now they emphasize work experience as a way to make yourself stand out. Dan Black, director of campus recruiting in the Americas for Ernst & Young, and his team will hire more than 4,000 people this year out of 20,000 applicants. There are a lot of things besides a degree “that will help differentiate how much attention you get,” says the veteran hirer, who has been screening graduates for 15 years.
Enterprise Rent-A-Car hiring guru Marie Artim, who says her company will hire 8,000 of 20,000 applicants, has found that her applicant pool is changing. “While 10 years ago we may have had the same numbers, today we have higher-quality and better-qualified applicants,” she says.
So what does it take to impress recruiters today? Daniel Pink, an author on motivation in the workplace, agrees that the bachelor’s degree “is necessary, but it’s just not sufficient,” at times doing little more than verifying “that you can more or less show up on time and stick with it.” The author of A Whole New Mind: Why Right Brainers Will Rule the Future says companies want more. They’re looking for people who can do jobs that can’t be outsourced, he says, and graduates who “don’t require a lot of hand-holding.” (Read “The Incredible Climbing Cost of College.”)
Left-brain abilities that used to guarantee jobs have become easy to automate, while right-brain abilities are harder to find – “design, seeing the big picture, connecting the dots,” Pink says. He cites cognitive skills and self-direction as the types of things companies look for in job candidates. “People have to be able to do stuff that’s hard to outsource,” he says. “It used to be for blue collar; it’s now for white collar too.”
For now, graduates can steer their careers where job growth is strong – education, health care and nonprofit programs like Teach for America, says Trudy Steinfeld, a career counselor at New York University. “Every college degree is not cookie cutter. It’s what you have done during that degree to distinguish yourself.”
By Kristi Oloffson Tuesday, Dec. 08, 2009
What does this mean for us?
Some…… in-fact…. many in our industry do have a college degree but still most don’t. With the increase of people going after college degrees in the past few years the number of available people in our industry has dropped. For some it meant a pay raise and for others it meant competing with undocumented workers.
Now What?
Thank You,
Nov 15
I posted this blog sometime ago and thought it worthy to be posted again as I read it to myself one more time.
How to be Successful a quick look
To start with, success only comes before work in one place and that is the dictionary.
- Be prepared to work hard
- Have a business plan – or at least have a plan.
- Know your business – have some hands on experience.
- Stay educated on your business – don’t turn your mind off to new ideas.
- Be prepared to work hard – for little to no money for yourself.
- Keep your business legal – insurance, license, taxes…
- Have reasonable goals – monthly, quarterly, annually & meet those goals.
- Get up when knock down – you will have those days.
- Be prepared to work harder than your employees.
- Remember who pays your bills – the customers or clients.
- Remember those you have at home. – wife, kids…
- Remember their is someone up above. – Most High God…
- Remember employees are just that employees – this can be a dangerous line to cross…
- Re-invest your money – in the business.
- Always, always buy good quality equipment – it will save you money & time.
- Always do good work – and stand behind your work.
- Take care of your employees – don’t be to hard on them.
- Take care of yourself – don’t be to hard on yourself.
- Stay focused on the goal – don’t get relaxed to early…
- If all fails and you go out of business. – get up and do it again.
- If this is the 10th time you have failed, then get up 1 more time.
- Make sure you are in the right business for you.
- And start your new business for the 11th or 20th time…But start… again.
- Be prepared to work hard
- Never give up. – always believe in yourself…even if others don’t…
Successful people have always failed, been knock down, not believed in, where their very own cheerleader, took chances nobody else would.
But never gave up, always got back up, learned from their mistakes and said to themselves JUST ONE MORE TIME!!!!!
This isn’t meant to be an exact how to be successful, just some advice from past experience…
Good Luck
_________________
Aug 15
Observation’s while mowing the yard
I have a big yard it takes me about 3 hours to mow on a good day and that is without any weed eating. I shouldn’t complain, before I bought my 72 inch cut Hustler Zero Turn Mower I had a 46 inch cut John Deer standard riding lawn mower and I thought I was big time with the 46 inch cut. Before we bought this place our last place took about 3 hours with the 46 inch after we bought this place it took from 10 to 12 hours, YES that’s right 10 too 12 hours with no weed eating. So 3 years later after the poor john deer just finally gave up we bought our 72 inch Hustler, what a difference!
Before we had to cut the grass every 4 or 5 days or it would just be a horrible long day cutting the grass, BUT with the 72″ Hustler the grass can get to be knee high and just give it a little extra gas and plow right through it in still 3 hours.
I was doing some think today as I cut the grass. I do have 3 hours, I talk to God, think about the wife and kids, the website (MyContractorList.com) its never to far away in my thoughts but that’s another blog. My point was 3 hours a week, 12 hours a month at least 120 hours a year before weed eating and just keep adding up the years, no wounder old people move to condos and retirement homes! at some point they realized they have spent have of their life mowing the yard! its time to relax.
Bad observations
While cutting the grass I observe every time that I need to do some landscaping or hire a professional landscaper. I would like to add a fountain and I know my wife has many, many ideas but someday when money is better I will let my wife go crazy. Either way I still have to look at the tress with no straw around them the flower beds that need some attention but I just don’t want to spend the money right now, you know how the economy is right now. So every week week that same thoughts about the landscaping and try to look the other way, you know try to pretend there not there.
The other bad thing I have to look at the house, it needs a paint job, my wife has threaten to call a painter. I am after all a contractor but I have other things to do right now and its hot outside. Then, I look at my roof – every time I mow the grass, a white roof with trees near the house NOT a good idea. Our roof is only 4 years old it was put on just before we bought our house, the roofing contractor must of had a great deal on these use to be white shingles, now they have blotches of brown on them from the leaves…so every time I mow the grass I dream of black architectural shingles and yes I know there are some better types, colors and styles of roofing material out there. Sometimes the best of the best is not what you need or will work for your home or area, my home will look the best with black architectural shingles that being said I also notice every time I need gutters.
Positive observation’s
While mowing the grass near the house, I think someday I want have to mow here because this is where that GIANT Deck my wife and I want will go. I mow this part of the yard and realize this is where the pool is supposed to be, someday I want be mowing here either, and over there is where we are going to create a little nature get away complete with a camping area a place for a good old fashion fire pit. Then I get to the back part of the yard and look out over our acreage and think every time I think this, someday we will build a fence around the property, a barn but not just any barn a horse barn and have some horses running around maybe a cow.
The dream
While mowing the grass and dreaming about, the yard being perfect, the house having a paint job and the correct roof on it, the fencing around the property and the horse barn. I imagine my wife in the pool, her mother who loves horses riding/feeding the horses and my kids camping out with their “paw-paw” I will still be cutting grass.!!
Conclusion
We all have homes or want one, we all have dreams, some will be achieved and sadly some will not. My home isn’t really that bad off but we all look at our home and want to do more, make it look nicer, “keep up with the Jones” or we just simple need to do some maintenance. Somethings we can do ourselves but that dosn’t mean we should. With my website MyContractorList.com in case you forgot we have many good contractors listed in my area, we are still adding new contractors, we don’t have all trades covered yet, we don’t even have many states covered but someday like my dream yard this will be achieved.
So next time you start dreaming about home improvement ideas give our contractors a chance to help you achieve your dreams. We may not have the trade or trades you need in your area listed and if we don’t contact us and we will help you find the right contractor to help you achieve your home-improvements dreams.
Jonathan, MyContractorList.com
Thank You,
MyContractorList.com
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Jul 22
MyContractorList.com – Looking for home-improvement & construction bloggers
We are looking for anyone who would like to blog or post their blogs about home-improvement, contracting or construction industry related topics, to post their blogs at www.mycontractorlist.com/blog
You don’t have to be a paying member to participate
Jul 22
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