WHAT THE HECK IS GOING ON HERE? I just can’t figure this out! Seems like every time I turn on the TV, another Bank has been robbed. Or at least another attempted robbery. Seems like most of them don’t get away with it and those that do make it out the door end up with a bag full of blue dye.

Now, I realize that times are tough and people have to do what they have to do to survive. Please don’t take this the wrong way, I’m in NO WAY condoning ANY type of illegal activity. Not whatsoever. In fact, I couldn’t be more against it.

I’m old school in my thinking and I believe we all have to work for what we get in life. And the harder we work, the more money we make. Or at least that’s how it should be anyway.

Our Country was founded on this principal and I believe that’s what has helped to create the Superpower that we are today. Well, that we were at one time. Not too sure where we stand in the global scheme of things these days but I’m sure you understand what I’m attempting to say.

But hard work seems to have been replaced by taking the easy way out. How can I get the most for doing the least. The world owes me, now gimme mine! And no doubt that type of mentality is going to be our demise.

Which brings me back to all these Bank robberies. There probably aren’t as many attempts as it appears, due to the vast amount of Banks that are out there in relation to the amount of attempts, yet they always seem to make headlines. Whether it be in print or online, there’s no shortage of bad guys lookin’ for a free ride.

This got me to thinkin’. I know, uh oh, there he goes thinkin’ again. This COULD be dangerous! No really, this is starting to bug me. Recession or no recession, there’s just no excuse for stupidity. If you’re going to do anything in life, do it right the FIRST time.

I don’t know about you but I can’t EVER recall walking in to a Bank, completely avoiding the mini~maze that guides you to the Teller windows (yeah, the one with the huge sign that says ENTER HERE!), proceeding to walk straight up to one of the Tellers that is just waiting for you with open arms and saying “Gimme ALL Your Money, NOW!”

First off, seems to me like just as soon as you walk in the Branch, someone, whether it’s a Guard or somebody in New Accounts will make eye contact and smile. I always like to smile back, it makes for a better day.

Next obstacle is the Maze, a series of twists and turns, designed to create some semblance of uniformity and to guide you to where you REALLY wanna go. Which of course is the Teller window.

Not that it hasn’t happened but it’s very rare, like one out of every forty times, that this maze is empty. As I mentioned, extremely rare. Yet even on those special occasions, I STILL do as the sign tells me and I begin my journey at the entrance to the maze.

Don’t get me started on those rule breakers that, once they’ve taken care of their banking, INSIST on walking backwards through the maze. What are they thinking, don’t they KNOW they are breaking the rules? Apparently not or they wouldn’t do it in the first place, right? Actually I’m not too sure but it definitely makes no sense to me. Perhaps they like to live life on the edge.

So chances are, once you get to the line up, there will be at the very least one or two people in front of you. More than likely there will be many more than that but let’s just assume that you won’t be the only person waiting for a Teller.

Some people filling out Deposit slips, others scratching out their info on a Withdrawl slip, HOPING that they will have sufficient funds to complete the transaction. Some even on their Cell Phones, trying to look important, all in an effort to make the Tellers hurry up. Good luck with THAT one.

Of those making withdrawls, most of these people need a different amount of money than what the ATM has to offer. And if you’re at all like me, you’ve had those times where you needed cash but your account balance showed less than $20. Yep, I said it. LESS than the $20 minimum and NO, I’m not proud of that statement.

Unfortunately that’s when you HAVE to take the walk of shame, going inside the Branch, coming face to face with a Teller and asking for your $18.69. Out of nowhere it suddenly dawns on you that you need a balance of at least $10 just to keep your account open. Then it’s decision time.

With about forty eyes staring at you from the lineup in the maze, burning holes in the back of your head, PRESSURING you to HURRY UP and make up your mind so they can complete their transactions and get back to their day, you HAVE to make a split second decision. On the fly no less because you surely weren’t prepared to make such a life altering decision when you walked in the door.

Hmmm, should I take out $8.69 and keep my account open or just say screw it, take the entire $18.69 out and close it down? But if you close your account, won’t that mean you’ll have to fill out a bunch of extra paperwork? Oh, the anxiety.

That in itself could take even longer than YOU planned. But what the hell is $8 gonna buy you? One trip to the Jack in the Box Dollar Menu and that pretty much blows you’re wad. YIKES, What SHOULD I Do? Just thinkin’ about this is stressing me out, I gotta move on.

OK, so you’re finally at the front of the line. So close you can almost read the names on the little signs next to each Teller window. Out of the thirty eight teller windows available, only three are open. Why is that?

Where the hell is Denise, Becky, Sherrie, Lisa, Tanya, Robin, Shaniqua, Melissa, Terri, Carla, Justine, Ricki, Charlene, Dustin, Christy, Yolanda, Shana, Missy, Barbara, Deborah, Mary, Joshua, Katherine, Brandi and all the other missing peeps. Why aren’t they at work? Don’t they realize I’m in a hurry? I’ve got places to go, things to do, people to meet! I’ve got to get on with my day. Jeez, if you’re not gonna show up for work at least have the courtesy to take your sign down the night before. It just looks tacky, you and your time off, rubbin’ it in our faces. Why must you mock us?

That’s about the time that I see IT! The giant HD Big Screen TV monitor, seemingly staring at me. Actually, it’s difficult to avoid looking at it since it’s right in front of you, staring back at you.

Hmmm, that guy looks kinda familiar. I’m not the least bit into guys but he’s kinda handsome, a bit rugged lookin’. Perhaps he’s a GQ Model? He looks a bit like me but 20lbs. heavier. Wait a minute, that IS me! That’s ME staring at me! But from a completely different angle. How can that be?

Then it dawns on me that I’m being filmed by some kinda Nanny Cam, probably in the ceiling or something. That answers the question about the weird angle. Jeez, I feel like I’m at the local Indian Casino, about to lose my last dollar on some rigged game of Blackjack.

Wow, until now I never thought about the similarities between the two establishments, the Bank and the Casino. Taking out my last dollar, about to throw it away. ON CAMERA! Not good.

And I sure hope I wasn’t cussing out loud about all the truant employees, they’d have it on file. I’d sure hate to have them treat me differently after viewing the footage, that would truly be a shame.

“Ummm, I Can Help You Over Here!” A bit startled, I’m faintly aware of a voice coming from somewhere far off in the distance. I look around and then I see IT. Scanning the entire counter, spanning just about the same distance as the front straightaway at the Indy 500, down near the end I can barely make out a slight movement above the counter top. Is that a Hummingbird? Nope, it’s the Tellers hand waving to me, signaling me to head in her direction.

Can’t really see any more than her hand, especially from this distance. The Teller wall is kinda tall so it makes it difficult to actually see anybody until you’re directly in line with the window. So I begin the long walk, kinda like in the movie Nine Mile and I start to hear the crowd in the maze chanting Dead Man Walkin’ and… ooops, gettin’ a bit side tracked.

Finally, face to face with the Teller. Such a beautiful smile, perfect for a Teller. Looking at her sign, I break the ice with a “Hi Brittney, how are you today?” Of course, as I’m saying this I’m just hoping that she’s working at her own station and not somebody elses. That would really be embarassing if I called her by the wrong name.

“Please swipe your card.” Well, I guess that’s about it for the idle chit chat. She’s got a job to do and she wants to get it done. No BS’n around today. Which is more than fine with me. After being in line for what seems like forever, I’m about ready to get this whole thing over with because by now it’s just about lunch time and there’s bound to be a huge lineup in the Drive Thru at Jack in the Box!

With the transaction completed, I begin heading for the front door. Why is it that they have everything so blocked off that you’re forced to walk by all of the angry people still waiting in the maze, dying to get to the cheese? Cruel I tell ya’, just down right cruel.

Getting back in my car, I can’t help but reflect a bit on this mornings experience. This whole banking thing seems rather ridiculous at this point. Isn’t it MY money? Last time I checked it was anyway. If so, then why the hell is it so hard to get it back in my pocket? I could go on and on about this but I won’t. That’s an entirely different story, one I’ll save for later.

Finally, made it to Jack in the Box. Jeez, I’m starving, can’t wait to get me some food. What the heck is this, another lineup? You gotta be kidding me! It’s not even lunch time yet. Good thing I got out of the Bank so quickly, any later and this line could have really been bad.

As I stared at the “If you can read this, YOU’RE TOO CLOSE!” bumper sticker on the minivan in front of me, I began to think about all the people waiting in the Drive Thru in front of me. Then I noticed the Mi Familia stickers on the back window. You know which ones I’m talking about, the little cut outs that show the entire family, right down to the dog.

Yikes, there’s Papi, Mami and about fourteen kids. Oh, and their dog Pepe’. I sure hope they aren’t ordering for the entire family AND the dog, that could take forever. Oh well, I guess I should be grateful that I made it this far. I mean, there could have been some friggin’ idiot tryin’ to rob the bank at the same time I was in there so in essence, I’m pretty lucky.

Which got me to thinkin’ about the Bank again. And the fools that try to pull off these heists. I guess what intrigues me the most is how on earth are these so called Bank Robbers getting through the maze and up to the Teller windows without being spotted? I mean c’mon, they don’t seem to posess a whole lot of creativity, not to mention zero individuality.

It’s as if they all bought BANK ROBBERY FOR DUMMIES, quickly glanced over Chapter One on *How to dress properly for the occasion*, then got so excited that they didn’t read any further before they ran to the Bank to test out all of their newly discovered knowledge. All of them seem to exude such a high degree of stupidity, it amazes me that so many of them make it as far along in the process as they do.

It’s hard enough for us regular folks to get to the Teller window, how in the heck are THEY making it with such apparent ease? Especially when they are wearing some of the most ridiculous disguises ever conceived.

Just a quick heads up to all the Bank Managers and Tellers out there. When you see a guy (or gal) walk in the front door wearing a Baseball Hat and Sunglasses, there’s a pretty good chance that they’re up to no good and you might want to think about keeping an eye on ‘em. Perhaps even put your hand on the secret button, just in case. I don’t know, it’s just a thought.

And is it just me or is this THE most popular Bank Robber outfit out there? Running a close second has to be the Hoodie with the bandana around the neck. After that, you’re pretty much in the Ex Presidents Mask Category and at that point, it’s pretty obvious that you’re not there to make a Deposit. No doubt it’s going to be an Illegal Withdrawl and things are gonna get ugly real quick!

A bit startled, I hear “My name is Felicia, would you like to try our new Jackalicious Jackburger Combo Meal Supremo for only $14.99?” blurbling through the loud speaker. My first thought is jeez, for that price it better come with a Lobster Tail. And melted butter.

Somewhat stunned, I mutter “Uh, no thank you, I can’t really afford that. Can I just get two Chicken Sandwiches, small Fries and a small Diet Coke?” To which she replies, “OK, so that’s two Chicken Neckwiches, Le Mini Fries and a Dixie Cup Size Diet Coke? That’ll be $17.88 at the first window. Please pull forward!”

Dang, that seems expensive! Maybe I SHOULD have gotten the Jackalicious Jackburger Combo after all. Too late now, I’ve already ordered and I sure as heck ain’t gonna try and back up. Too many people in line behind me. Man, if these prices keep goin’ up, I’m gonna have to rob a Bank!

If you can relate to all of the random craziness at the Banks, I’d appreciate hearing your perspective on things and if you know of anyone else that might enjoy reading this post, please feel free to share it with them. Thank you.

It’s just another one of those dreaded must do things that we all have to go through, at least those of us lucky enough to own a car. Yep, it’s time for another oil change. The little sticker up in the corner of the windshield, left there about three or four thousand miles ago by the previous oil changer, says I’m [over] due so it must be true.

Time to begin rearranging our schedules in an attempt to squeeze it in, somewhere between everything else we have to do during our hectic weekly routine.

Oh, somehow we’ll fit it in, we always do. After all, we know that changing our cars engine oil is a big part of maintaining our vehicles and keeping our warranty in good standing. The penalty for not keeping up with proper maintenance could mean expensive repairs, beggin’ for rides from friends and neighbors or even worse, waitin’ for the Bus in the middle of summer! None of those are too appealing, to say the least.

Ok, so who’s gonna be the lucky one to do the work? Some of us can do it ourselves. Warm it up, pull it into the garage [carport], jack it up and start draining the oil.

Careful though, that oil is HOT! And so is the oil filter, which should also be replaced. Then, after all that you’re stuck with an old oil filter and about six or seven quarts of black goo that needs to go to the recycler.

That’s if you aren’t wearing half of it in your hair, down your arms and back or heaven forbid, didn’t have a mini BP Gulf Disaster all over your garage floor and driveway.

Most of us have come to learn that all this mechanic’n stuff is better left to those with the proper facilities and tools to best handle such a task. Not to mention those that enjoy getting greasy.

Option #2, you can always go to one of those EZ Jiffy Quicky Pronto Lubification establishments. Surely they can handle the job. Only problem is that sometimes they tend to get you in the door with that giant teaser sign blowin’ in the wind out front. “Today only, from 11am to 1pm, only $19.95 for an oil change, including 6 quarts of oil and filter. Does not include blah blah blah….” only to find out that it’s gonna cost you about five times that much by the time they release your car.

Then, if you really want to embarass yourself, you’ll get all gutsy and ask them exactly what the fine print says. It’s not that you don’t trust them, it’s just that you want to know exactly what your options are.

“Oh, the fine print? All it says is that if your car takes an extra drop of oil to bring it up to the correct level, we won’t add it. We won’t put a new gasket on the drain plug when we reinstall it. Heck, we won’t even guarantee that we WILL reinstall it. If your car happens to blow up just after you leave because our ASEBGFD nonCertified Mechanic forgot to put oil back in your engine after he drained it, we’re not at all liable. Little insignificant stuff like that. Nothing to worry about, I’m sure none of that stuff will have any effect on you.”

Jeez, that’s alot to take into consideration. But knowing that none of that would ever actually happen in real life, you decide to go for it. Heck, everybody likes a good deal, just too hard to pass up. So you go ahead and sign on the dotted line, knowing you’re in good hands.

Weird thing is is that just about the time you put the pen down, your car is being hoisted up on the rack! How on earth did they know you were going to give them the go ahead for the oil change?

Oh, these guys are slick! Absolute magicians I tell you. Hope they’re as quick with the oil change as they were at getting the car hoisted up because I’ve got lot’s of errands to run today.

With your car safely up on the rack, you can begin to relax a little. So you grab the latest [ok, 3 months old, greasy finger prints everywhere and every page wrinkled] issue of Slick ‘n’ EZ Oil Changer magazine off the dusty table and settle down into the greasy orange vinyl covered chair and begin to peruse all the latest news in the oil change industry.

KABLAM! What the hell was that? Startled, you peer out through the Customer Connection window and you see ‘Sammy Certification’ fishing around in the drain bucket in an attempt to retrieve the wrench that he just dropped.

Then, with a resounding GOT IT, you see that his arm is half covered in oil but thankfully he found the wrench. Good thing it wasn’t the drain plug, that would have been much tougher to find. Like finding a needle in an oily as hell haystack, no fun at all.

Just as you turn your head back to the magazine, you hear a faint ‘kerplunk’. NO, tell me that didn’t just happen! Tell me it’s not what I think it is. Tell me it’s not my drain plug that just fell in the drain bucket.

Yep, you guessed it. As you return your focus to the oil change bay, you see both of the mechanics legs flailing around in the air. He’s upside down in the bucket, scowering around in the bottom for your drain plug. I guess they never taught him about using a magnet on a retractable rod in ASEBGFD School.

FOUND IT!!! Just about everybody in the entire place jumped for joy at the same time. At this point we’re all pretty much like family. We’re all hoping that each of our experiences turns out to be a pleasant one.

Phew, glad that’s over. I’d hate to imagine how much losing that drain plug would have cut into my errand running time. I can only hope the gasket is still attached, otherwise that could be a nightmare in itself.

Like a river of mud, the oil continues to blurble out of the oil pan. That’s about the time I realize how glad I am that I’m not laying on the hot asphalt, changing the oil myself. Good thing I let the experts handle it. Ok, now I can get back to the magazine.

All of a sudden, this pimply faced kid in a bluish brown shirt peers around the corner of the doorway. My first thought is How can my car be ready so soon? My second thought is, it can’t be ready that soon and so it’s just about that time that I begin to hope and pray that he’s looking for somebody else.

Nope, he’s eyeballin’ ME and I have a feelin’ it’s not gonna be good. Then comes the bad news. “Uh, Mr. Smith, while we were draining your oil we noticed a couple other items that require your immediate attention. Can you please follow me? I’d like to show you what we found.”

“Jeez, I only came in for a cheap oil change, I never asked you guys to check anything else.” “I realize that Mr. Smith but we feel it’s our duty to inform all of our loyal customers of any pending danger related to their automobiles as we would never want anything to happen to them or their vehicles. Above all else, safety is our number one concern here at EZ Jiffy Quicky Pronto Lubrification Centers and it’s in everyones best interest that we do all we can to keep our customers safe at all cost. I’m sure you understand.”

“Huh, understand? You pretty much lost me at duty to inform. Ok, let’s go take a look. I’m sure you’re right, better safe than sorry. I mean, after all, how much extra could it be, right?”

Following the mechanic outside, the words ‘at all cost’ begin to swim around in my head. As far as I know, I’m the one that’s going to be paying at all cost and no doubt that’s in their best interest.

“Take a look here, you can see that your Muffler Bearings are completely shot. Heck they’re almost falling off. And take a look right here, your Johnson Rod has a big ol’ crack in it and it’s just about to break! Boy, you’re so lucky. You brought your car in just in time.”

“What exactly are you pointing to, I just don’t see anything wrong here? Matter of fact, I’ve never even heard of Muffler Bearings OR a Johnson Rod. Are you sure they’re going bad?”

“Oh yes sir, trust me, they’re going bad and you really should have them repaired right away to prevent any further damage to any other components that could possibly be interrelated to the damaged items that we previously mentioned”

“Alright, let’s just say I did decide to have those fixed, how long would it take and even more importantly, how much extra is it gonna cost me?”

“Come on back inside and we’ll run some numbers. Let’s see here, new Muffler Bearings, click, click, click, new Johnson Rod, click click, click, about nine hours Labor, click, click, click, that leaves us with a guesstimate of about $1281.56, plus tax. Oh, and that’s not including the $88.26 for the oil change. Keep in mind that this guesstimate is based on parts availability and those prices could go up dramatically if we find there have been any price increases that we are unaware of at the time of this guesstimate. Also, please remember to keep in mind that due to our high demand for quality, we only use Factory parts. We don’t mess around with aftermarket parts here because as you know, safety is…”

“Yeah, Yeah, I KNOW! Safety is your thing! Got it! But that just seems outrageous for parts that I can’t even see are wrong, let alone that I’ve never even heard of and I’ve been around cars for quite some time.”

“Trust me Mr. Smith, we’d never steer you wrong. Get it? Steer You? That’s just a bit of EZ Jiffy humor. We like to keep things light ‘n’ easy around here. There’s more than enough stress in the world these days and the last thing we want to do is to add to it. Let’s just hope we don’t find anything else wrong with your car while we’re under there [Yeah, let's hope...]. The good news is it looks like your Radiator Springs are ok for now. We can go ahead and wait until your next oil change to replace those.”

Well, so much for the $19.95 oil change. And as far as the NEXT time, I don’t think so.

Which pretty much leaves us with option #3, the local Dealership. Home of honesty, integrity, quality and a job well done. Sure, all this comes at a price but you’re already aware of that going in.

Usually, along with that extra cost comes the comfort of knowing that the necessary extra repairs are truly legit [if you hear the words Muffler Bearings or Johnson Rod, get outta there fast!] and therefore it’s ok to pay a bit extra for that peace of mind and satisfaction of a job well done.

Well, recently a friend of mine was in the position of having to make all these decisions and came away with a very surprising result. She knew I wasn’t about to crawl under her car and change her oil so option #1 was crossed off the list immediately [I crossed it off myself].

Like most of us, she’s already experienced option #2 so that was no longer a viable alternative. That leaves option #3 and so she made an appointment at her local Dealership. She had some work done there previously and while it was sorta expensive, she was satisfied with the job that was done and heck, they even washed her car for her. Out of all her choices, she felt it was her best option.

She arrived about 15 minutes early as she didn’t want to miss her appointment. After standing around for about 20 minutes [so much for showing up early] she was finally approached by the Service Writer and asked for her information.

Her paperwork was filled out along with “Please pour yourself a coffee and have a seat in our waiting room, should only take about an hour.” Made an appointment and still an hour for an oil change? Plus all the time waiting to get checked in. Oh well, at least it will be over with and done right.

About 15 minutes later a gentleman walks up with some paperwork in hand. Thinking to herself, done already, that’s great, he proceeds to inform her of a recalled item on her car that should be fixed at this time. Free of charge and it won’t take long.

“Ok, that’s fine” she replies and continues to sip on her coffee. That’s the beauty of being at the Dealership, they know about these things because their computer tells them about pending issues.

Time continues to tick by and another hour and a half later, her car is ready to go. Ok, so it took a little longer than expected and it costs a bit more in the long run than the other options but at least it comes with the satisfaction of a job well done.

“Ok, Ms. Jones [name changed to protect the innocent], please pay the Cashier and pick up your keys”. Hmmm, $110.00 for an oil change? Wow, that seems like alot more than last time but maybe the cost of a barrel of oil has gone up that much.

Remember, peace of mind has to cost something and they did repair that recalled item at no charge[?] so let’s just pay the Cashier and get outta here. “Thank you M’am, here are your keys and have a great day”. Off she went to pick up her car in the waiting zone.

Just as she was about to turn the key to start her car, she noticed something was out of place. “My Key Ring, my special key ring, it’s missing!” Now, the only reason she even noticed it was gone was because this was a gift from a friend and holds tremendous sentimental value to her.

Luckily she noticed it was missing before she left the Lot. Jumping out of her car, she headed for the Service Writers booth. “I want to see the Manager”. Once paged, he showed up immediately to resolve the issue. Calmly he exclaimed, “Oh, I’m sure this can easily be explained. Somehow it must have fallen off. I’m sure we can find it for you.”

Hmmm, it’s been on there for over a year but somehow it fell off today and no one knows where it is? Amazingly enough, with the Manager jumping on the hot line, a few choice words over the loud speaker and Voila, it magically reappeared from the depths of the Dealership. Truly astounding, I think?

However, by this point the damage was already done. It wasn’t the $25 key ring itself, it’s the fact that the feeling of trust was gone. This put everything about the entire job into question.

What else did I have in the car that might be missing now? Sunglasses, change in the ashtray, did they really do all the work they said they did? OMG! Let the stress test begin!!

Needless to say, the Manager was very apologetic, even saying “The oil change is on the house and here’s a coupon for half off on your next oil change. I truly am sorry this happened.” Next oil change… here? I don’t care if it’s free, I don’t think so.

That bond has been broken, which can’t be repaired and all this over a key ring. Not that she was ever guaranteed to spend a fortune on repairs in the future but the point is now she will never spend another dollar there.

Surely she would not consider buying another car there and if a friend ever asked for her recommendation on where to have repairs done or perhaps even to purchase a car, she can at least tell them where NOT to go.

Word of mouth and positive [or negative] referrals carry a ton of weight in todays world as people are very leary about being taken advantage of and fearful of letting go of their money in any type of monetary transaction.

While this unfortunate incident can not be attributed to the Dealership itself, unfortunately the actions of one individual has put the entire Dealership and all who work there under suspicion.

At the very least, they have lost one customer but in actuality it is impossible to guesstimate the true repercussions. And while you might say c’mon now, it was just a key ring! You’re right, It’s Just A Key Ring….but it encompasses so much more.

If you’ve had any type of similar experiences, I’d enjoy hearing about them. I always appreciate your comments and if you enjoyed reading this post, please pass it along to your friends.

Yes, you’re right. I should have known better. And even though I didn’t want to face facts, I had an idea it might happen but yet, I still had to try. If I never tried, I never would have known for sure and that feeling of not knowing, gnawing away at me wouldn’t have been any less painful and so I had to give it my best shot and let the cards fall where they may.

I decided to make my own Mind Movie. Now, I’m sure most of you out there know what I’m referring to but for those that don’t here’s a quickie explanation. Basically a Mind Movie is a ‘Vision Board’ turned in to a Video, streaming along with the music of your choice. Meant to inspire you to chase after your dreams, remain focused on your goals and to pursue your passions. While a Vision Board is just a static collection of pictures meant to inspire you, a Mind Movie has much more of an impact on the mind. You are also able to add various pieces of text, here ‘n’ there which adds a bit of a ‘subliminal messaging’ kind of a feel to your movie.

All of this in hopes of helping to remind you of why you’re going through all the daily stuggles, the trials and tribulations of life and enabling you to stay focused on your goals and dreams. We all can use a constant reminder to help us stay on track, a way of keeping the negativity at bay.

So I began to make a list of most of the ‘things’ I wanted for myself, my family and my friends. Not necessarily just things in a tangible sense, like cars, etc. but basically the way I wanted my entire life to be overall.

First step, gotta be Google to find lots of pictures to fill my Video with. Next thing you know, I have too many pictures but I can always narrow it down to the chosen few. OK, I now have a pretty good idea of which ones I’ll use here. Some aren’t exactly what I’d hoped for but they will do as reminders to help me stay focused and on track.

Then it’s on to finding the right music to go along with my movie. Hmmm…. should I get something to pump me up, like a Rocky Theme or something along those lines? Or perhaps one of my favorite songs? One that brings back good memories, back when life was good? Not that life was ever really that good but with time comes faded memories and some of the bad stuff has a way of disappearing. Hmmm, with or without lyrics? Jeez, didn’t realize that this would be the most difficult part. Finally had a pretty good idea of what I wanted. Now, how to get that song downloaded, saved and then add it to my video.

That whole process turned out to be a project in itself but again, thanks to Google and all the other wonderful people on the internet that have had to struggle with that as well, I was able to find the info needed to tackle it and so I finally had my song of choice added to my video.

Of course, it was then that I noticed the rather large discrepancy between the length of my song and the timeline of my pictures. No need to worry, I still have to add in all the text boxes, the subliminal messaging and so with those added to the mix, should help to lengthen the video overall and bring things a little more in line. I wanted the pictures to end at the exact same time as the song. I mean, what self respecting music video director/producer/editor would have it any other way?

Hadn’t realized how difficult it was going to be to come up with ‘stuff’ to say, meaningful little messages to myself throughout the video that would inspire and motivate me. And so off to You Tube I went in search of other Mind Movies to find a bit of inspiration. I began noticing that they were all basically very similar. “Here’s my Yacht, Here I am flying my plane, Here I am driving my new Lamborghini.” I didn’t want such a ‘generic’ video, one that was more or less a one size fits all. I wanted my video to be a bit more personalized, like my pictures are and so I decided to go through the pictures I had already selected and add my ‘sayings’ according to the different places and things in my storyline.

Wow, I’m kinda liking this. It’s finally starting to take shape. So after adding all my text, my song was still longer than the length of my video. Not wanting the song to come to an abrupt ending, just when the vibes were starting to feel really good, I needed to add a few pictures in various places in order to make everything copasetic at the end. Voila, looks like everything lines up. Pictures and the audio all seem to stop in the same place. Damn I’m good! But something’s still not quite right. Hmmm….

Got it! The song just goes so great with the pictures but things would flow even better if the pictures were arranged to go with certain parts of the song. I had no idea how addicting this video editing thing can be but what a difference it’s making. Syncing the pictures with the high and lows of the music really adds to the feeling of the pictures, the text and the overall video. So after a bit more tweaking, I had to call it done. While there are still a couple things I’d like to change, overall I’m reasonably happy with the finished product. Especially for my first attempt at a music video. HA, HA!

BRYANS MIND MOVIE

OK then, save it to my computer and I’m done. Now I have a video I can watch any time I wanna get motivated, stoked on life. Then it occured to me, might as well add it to my You Tube Channel. I haven’t posted a new video there in months so no doubt I really need to anyway. This should work out great, way under the ‘time limit’ that You Tube specifies and giving my subscribers a little more inside info on me as a person has to be a good thing, right?

A couple of clicks and let the uploading begin. While that’s going on, I’m filling in the video title, description, tags, all that stuff and after a few minutes I get the message that everything has uploaded and I’m good to go. Woo Hoo, mission accomplished! Another video added to my Channel. Then up pops the message saying that the audio portion of my video has been disabled, muted, shut down. What? Disabled? How can that be? They say that it’s a copyright issue but this song is on tons of other You Tube videos so it really makes no sense. Then they send me a link to some ‘library’ of random BS songs that are nowhere near the right length, let alone the same ‘feeling’ of my video. After spending all that time editing, making sure the song was aligned with the pictures the best way I could, just wasn’t gonna happen. Wouldn’t do my video justice to have some other random song playing on it, no way.

Of course I took it a bit further to see how others were getting around this situation and basically, if your video is muted by WMG then you are out of luck. So after looking over the library of offerings, just in case I could find something ‘close’ that will allow me to post the video anyway, I see that now they have removed my video entirely. Who knows what happened, just a complete removal. I guess my video was just so damn good that they felt threatened by my editing skills as well as the use of ‘their’ song. I did see a couple places where people mentioned that this whole copyright thing should be worked out sometime in January but I’m not gonna hold my breath, that’s for sure.

So it looks as if I’m going to have to keep my Mind Movie to myself, which is how it was originally intended anyway. Kind of a shame as I wanted to be able to see it when I went to my You Tube Channel but I don’t want to risk having my entire Channel deleted, so I’m not about to press the issue.

Then it occured to me, I wonder if I can post it on my own Blog? Might as well give it a shot. As far as I know, they can’t delete my WordPress.org Blog so I really shouldn’t have anything to lose. Well, looks like I was finally able to pull it off. I seem to have my Mind Movie posted within my blog post, right where it belongs. I can’t say it wasn’t a battle as it surely was but seeing as how I’m just too dumb to know when to quit, my perseverance has pulled me through and I have been able to conquer something that as of a few days ago was just kickin’ my butt. Woo Hoo, GO ME!!!

So let this be a lesson to others out there that hope to have their video on You Tube, better check with the library first. You have been warned…..

]]> http://www.bryangira.com/2009/11/i-have-been-warned-or-should-i-say-warnered/feed/ 2 http://www.bryangira.com/2009/10/i-want-my-mojo-back/ http://www.bryangira.com/2009/10/i-want-my-mojo-back/#comments Fri, 30 Oct 2009 17:17:02 +0000 Bryan B. Bloggin http://www.bryangira.com/?p=177

Hmmm, can’t figure it out. Somehow I lost my MOJO and I have no idea where it went. I have a pretty good idea how I lost it. That’s relatively easy to figure out. Heck, I’m sure there are plenty of people out there that have lost theirs recently. You don’t even need to watch TV, read the newspaper or go online to know that the economy is hurting these days and it has more than likely affected someone you know. Family, friends, coworkers, perhaps even you yourself have been affected in one way or another. Recession has become another household word.

Unemployment is hovering around 10% but here in So. Cal. it seems more like 25%. For the most part, ‘basic’ jobs are non existent. The days of walking in to your local auto parts store, grocery store, even a pizza delivery place, plunking down your paper application and at the very least landing a part time job are over and done. Nowadays you pretty much need a PHD to bag groceries. Well, at the very minimum an MBA. There are so many over qualified people out of work these days that it has created a major bottleneck at the door to HR.

Add to that the fact that if companies aren’t outsourcing all their job openings, then they are eliminating the jobs all together. When I think about the hourly wage required to survive in this country, it’s no wonder businesses are looking overseas for labor. Add to that the taxes, insurance, etc. and it’s just off the charts. We just can’t afford to hire our own. Not sure how or even if we will ever get back to ‘normal’, whatever normal is. Been so long since we’ve seen anything normal around here, if it does show up more than likely we won’t even recognize it.

With the general consensus being that the entire country is pretty much in the crapper, no wonder I along with quite a few others have lost our Mojo. Now I define “MOJO” as motivation, drive, desire, pretty much any reason to get out of bed in the morning. A reason to get out there and battle another day, to struggle against all odds, continuing to hope for a better outcome. A better life. When the odds continue to be stacked against us, with no signs of clearing up anytime soon, it’s tough to continue forward knowing that it will indeed get better. Difficult to even find a reason to keep trying let alone stay focused on it.

Then I got to thinking about the world and the economy in general. After all I’m sure most would agree that the entire world economy has been affected, not just in the US. With the media continuing to create this feeling that the sky is indeed falling, on everyone, it’s no wonder this ‘viewpoint’ is so wide spread. And being a Realtor, watching the housing market drop off the cliff and into the ocean, a big chunk of the world as I knew it has left the building and more than likely won’t return anytime soon.

But let’s take a look at this from the other side. So Real Estate, New Constuction, both Residential and Commercial Real Estate in general have gone south right along with the Stock Market. Everybodys 401Ks are worthless, most peoples Portfolios have lost at least half of their previous ‘perceived’ value. I stress the word perceived here because just as in Real Estate, it’s only money once you sell the home or cash in the stock. Until that point it’s all play money. So in essence you never really had the money anyway. You were just banking on the rest of the world order following suit which would cause your ‘paper’ to go up in value. Well, as we all know that didn’t happen.

So lets take an overall view of this situation. Even if Real Estate, the Stock Market, Auto Makers and basic Unemployment were all taken into account along with the general slowdown of the economy itself, that still leaves plenty of people out there working. Continuing to bring home a paycheck, paying bills and buying goods and services. The whole world hasn’t gone under, just a very large portion of it but it seems much larger than that as the media continues to focus on the bad news, as they always do because as we know all too well, bad news sells better than good news. And if you tell people that things are bad enough times, they will begin to believe it and they will also tell the people around them so that they have someone to commiserate with, someone to feel their pain. Next thing you know, the world is waiting in a big line at the edge of the cliff, ready to jump off.

But hold on here. Just because a very large portion of our population is hurting doesn’t mean they all are. I was reminded of this over the last few days as a friend of mine has been going through lots of struggles lately. He’s in the constuction trade, a very hard hit segment of our economy. Work for him has been pretty much non existent over the last couple years. When he does find work, he’s working for half of what he used to make and begging to get those jobs at that. Competition is very fierce as so many big companies are drastically cutting their labor rates, making it difficult to say the least for the ‘little guys’ to survive.

Which brings me around to my point. His father bought an old ’32 Ford Coupe sometime to prior to my buddy being born. He had hopes of restoring it someday but like many before him, life and his family had to come first and so the project was put on hold.

The car sat covered up in the back yard, just a dream that never came to fruition. His father passed away I believe approx. eight or nine years ago and his mother passed a couple years after that. My buddy ‘G’ had loved that car since he was a kid and after his mother passed, he was the most likely of the family to ever get it running and so after jumping over a series of family hurdles, it became his. Not having the resources to do it justice, it remained in pieces yet all the while the dream was still there to resurrect it as his father had always hoped to. Imagine the sorrow he recently felt when he finally had to give in and realize that after 50 years, he was going to have to let go of the family dream and sell it. The guilt was overwhelming but money problems and his own dire situation have forced him to have to face a harsh reality, one where survival meant having to let go of a family ‘jewel’.

Long story short, the ‘new’ owner came by with the money last monday, the car and all its parts were loaded up and off they went. Lots of tears were shed as reality sunk in that the dream of restoring it was never going to come true.

He held on as long as he could but yet he couldn’t fight the inevitable. All he could hope was that the new owner would do the car justice, restore it the way both ‘G’ and his father had hoped to. And I have to admit that I truly felt bad for him. I have been involved with antique and classic cars from as far back as I can remember. My father was also a car buff and so I couldn’t help but feel his pain as the life long dream of the family was on its way down the street, hopefully to fulfill the dreams of another family elsewhere.

That’s when it really triggered me, forced me to realize the guy that just bought this car had just plunked down $20,000.00 without really thinking much about it, with plans of putting another $50K in it! Yes, he plans on having a minimum of $70K in the car. That’s alot of mortgage payments, monthly bills and pork ‘n’ beans. Obviously he’s not hurting for money. Come to find out there was another interested buyer in Washington that was ready and willing to purchase the car also, if the ‘family friend’ decided to back out of the deal. More proof that not everyone in the US is broke.

We continually hear so much about the demise of the economy, how the recession has a grip on the whole country so that the thought of another person having any money just seems purely absurd. And yet, here are two gentlemen that have obscene amounts of money, money that they have no problem spending on ‘toys’ or whatever else they decide they want. And so it got me to thinking, “I wanna be like them!” I want to be in a position to be able to do what I want, when I want and not have to be able to worry about not having a dollar to do it. Now, I myself have never stopped thinking about money since over the last couple years I have more or less lost everything but more recently what I had lost was the desire to fight, to go out and get mine! Sure, that’s a lofty dream and I realize that everyone more or less has that same dream but I also know that many of us have gotten so wrapped up in the demise of the world that we have lost all hope, any sort of faith that there truly is a way out of this mess. A way of living a much better life, for our families and for ourselves.

So with this little scenario playing out more or less right in front of me, it surely opened my eyes to the fact that there is still hope out there. I’m a firm believer in the ol’ saying, “If one man can do it, so can another” and so I am going to do my best to stay focused on that, to keep my eyes on the prize because one thing’s for sure, I’m in it to win it and if I don’t keep trying, I’ll never get there. I have a feeling that more than likely I’m gonna find my Mojo again as well. Matter of fact, I’ll bet it’s right around the corner.