But in the long run, beer has always held a special place in my drinking routine. I like Guinness and most any dark beer, I am also a big fan of lagers. But given the choice I will normally focus on the micro brews, beer that has not been filtered to death or mainstreamed to the point that I can’t walk into any bar without seeing 3 taps dedicated to it…now there is one exception that I absolutely love, and that is Yuengling. I know that there will be about half of the people reading this thinking (I’ve never heard of it) well of course you haven’t, it’s only available on the east coast (except for Georgia for some reason, at least that’s what I hear). Now, all you light beer drinkers, put down your piss water and drink something real!! It is a fantastic lager brewed a short drive from where I live. And while they make about 8 different varieties, the only one people bother with is the original. It maintains a nice balance between the Hops and barley, while it is filtered, it does maintain a very full flavor.  Just hit up any bar on the east coast and ask if they have a Yuengs and Wings special, if they say no, go to a different bar!!

 

Now that I have spilled the beans on my favorite, it’s your turn. Tell me what your favorite is and why. Even if it is (*blech*) Miller Light.

 

And if everyone is good, I may have another “Hate Me” blog later.

1 in Europe, they have been paying the equivalent to $6 per gallon for years.

2 economists are still predicting gas prices could break the $10 mark.

3 yes the oil companies are reporting record profits, but it has a lot to do with mergers and selling off less profitable subsidiaries...and a big reason to be mentioned later (most likely in bold capital letters)

4 Oil prices and gas prices really don’t have that much to do with each other. Just because one goes up and the other goes down does not mean that it’s a conspiracy.

 

Now, I will expand on #4 a bit. I’m sure most of you are familiar with the concept of “Investing in Futures” for this, a person would contact Merrill Lynch (well not anymore you wouldn’t) or a company like it. and request a buy-in of oil futures where you would spend slightly more that the current rate of oil to lock in a price for oil that was currently still in the ground. You can hold on to that for as long as you want(provided an expiration wasn’t written into the agreement) now you wait until oil prices rise above the amount you spent for it, then you sell. If prices are down, nobody is selling, people are buying more, so the actual amount of oil on the market drops, gas supply drops, PRICES GO UP.

Now, because the supply of oil is low, prices rise, people sell their futures, supply goes up, the quantity of gas produced rises, the price of gas drops. Because everyone is selling their futures, there is now too much oil on the market, the value drops, people stop selling, the price of gas goes back up.

This is a constant cycle, 2 wavy lines across a graph trying to catch each other and cancel each other out. As time passes, those waves even out, futures become almost irrelevant since the price of oil tomorrow will be the same as it is today, so people start to invest in corn, beats, coal…something else. Then something like a hurricane happens (or maybe the news comes on and they start screaming recession). This is like dropping a stone in a pool of water, the waves start off large, if the topic that’s under attack is the gas companies or refineries the wave starts by punching up the price of gas, everyone tries to sell what they are holding to meet an increase in demand and oil prices drop. Or if the attack is against an oil field, the price of oil skyrockets, everyone sells, and gas prices drop shortly after.

NOW….why are the Oil companies making record profits? Because 1 they hold the most oil futures out of anyone…and 2, IT”S THEIR JOB AS PUBLICLY HELD COMPANIES TO MAKE AS MUCH MONEY AS THEY CAN FOR THE PEOPLE WHO INVEST IN THEM!!!!

 

There that’s my rant, if you don’t like it, call the government and demand they switch to communism, or move to Cuba, because this is the way it is under our current style of government, no candidate is going to fix it, all they can do is hope to keep the number of stones thrown into the pond to a minimum.

 

And now that I just got my finger smashed by an electric stapler(no really, I didnt' know these things had a battery backup.)….I’m done blogging for the day.

First off, about 2 months ago, I applied for a promotion, the interview went very well, I knew the type of person they wanted and knew that I fit into that description. What I did not plan on was EEO restrictions that prevented them from picking me. I was enthusiastically asked to apply for another promotion, which I gladly did, once again I felt good about the interview, felt good about the requirements, and again they picked someone else. I have just submitted an application for another promotion within that area of work. I am keeping my hopes high, but trying to prepare myself for the worst. I have been turned down for promotions before, I’ve even take a promotion only to take a voluntary demotion because of an ethical conflict. I am known for my ethical approach, something that is more valuable than experience for an accountant, but I always seem to be one point off from getting another promotion.  

            Now, I normally enjoy discussing politics, it is something I follow rather closely. But I have to put up with a lot of slander with my job and, in order to prevent any negative impact on my chances for promotions, have to keep my mouth shut. Once I am put in a situation where I can then speak my mind I have a tendency to get a bit over zealous, piss people off, and get very, very mad at them for being pissed off.

I know this is just part of day to day activities, playing office politics, and trying to advance, but I never thought I would end up having to do this crap myself. I know what a lot of you are going to say, “you’re only 26, you’re already a manager, what more could you want…the promotions will come in time” but for the most part I am not a patient person when it comes to something I can get now, I know that sounds a bit Timmy-like, but I work in an organization where a majority of the people don’t want promotions, they don’t want their jobs to change, and unless you actively pursue a something, it will never happen. About the only time someone like me has a chance to move up is when someone higher on the pole retires or dies.

            Now on to other weird things…I think the world is trying to tell us(my wife and myself) something, every time, over the past 2 weeks, we get into the car, it is always playing one of our favorite songs, last Saturday we pick up a nail in the tire of our SUV, so I take it in to the service center, while I wait, our sales guy grabs me to go test drive the new Genesis(the car I want) it’s fully loaded with the turbo V6(I want the V8, but I couldn’t argue with the performance) in the color I want, with the options I want, at a price that’s a lot less than the last quote I got…it was soooo tempting, but I resisted. Sunday my parents went on vacation (with little warning, just as the hurricane is hitting the place they were going) so now we have to house sit as well….then yesterday our neighbor’s house (one road over) burns to the ground in about 30 min….and the strangest thing of all, I went to sleep last night at 11(so freaking early for me) and I woke up this morning before my wife!!! .something is going on in the world and I can’t tell if it’s good, bad…I don’t know. But something else is going to happen, I just don’t think I want to know what it is.

A-man-